Heavy Horse Archer

In game

Heavy Horse Archer — Vital statistics
Archers	Light cavalry unit, with a fast, javelin-based attack. Very useful against slow-moving targets, but must be protected from cavalry and archers. Strong versus melee infantry Weak versus buildings, cavalry and units armed with pikes, crossbows or javelins.
Prereq:	Build time	HP	LOS	Attack	Attack speed	Movement speed	Upgrade of
	11.1s (166t)	95	8	15	1.6s (24t)	30	l
Cost			Created from	Armour	Weapon range	Specialty
Base	Ramp	Pop
: 30; : 30	: 5	1		4	0–15	Can attack enemies to the left while moving. Damage bonus versus infantry. Damage penalty versus heavy cavalry.

Overall strategy

The Heavy Horse Archer is a late-game unit which replaces Javelin Cavalry for three civs - mainly, Assur, Babylon, and the Thracians. This unit is probably the best horse archer (not to say the only one around) which can be used for fast hit-and-run attacks, as well as providing a skirmish ability. Still, it lacks the powerful, anti-light infantry capability of the Heavy Chariot, which is exclusively meant for besting light infantry owing to its splash attacks.

Thus the best use for Heavy Horse Archers, such as they are, is to eliminate any heavy or melee infantry at a distance, since melee infantry usually tends to be some of the slowest walking and slowest-hitting units. Next, they can also be used to eliminate slow-moving melee cavalry, such as Medium Chariots, or Camel Lancers, allowing for your horse cavalry to then engage the enemy. For this reason, Heavy Horse Archers are ideal against enemy factions with slow-moving super units but are deficient in horse cavalry, such as the Achaeans or the Arabs, but are far from ideal if pitted against other factions such as the Iranians or the Iberians who can get fairly good horse cavalry. Otherwise, you may be more interested in using Scythian Horse Archers, who are fairly cheap to use but don't have the same attack of armour as conventional Heavy Horse Archers.

See also

• Okhchular
• Axjitai
• Horse Archer