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Knight

The backbone of Castle Age armies. Knights combine high HP, strong attack, and good armor into a mobile powerhouse that dominates the mid-game.

Tactical Briefing

The Knight is your Castle Age power unit. With 100 HP, 10 Attack, and 2/2 armor, Knights overwhelm most units in direct combat. Use their speed to raid enemy resources, chase down archers, and crush infantry. Beware of Pikemen and Monks - they are your hard counters. Classes: Cavalry.

Statistics

HP
100
Attack
10
Melee Armor
2
Pierce Armor
2
Speed
1.35

Cost

  • Food: 60
  • Gold: 75

Strong Against

Weak Against

Strategic Analysis

The Knight is the **dominant Castle Age unit**. Its combination of mobility, durability, and damage output makes it the go-to choice for aggressive play. Most civilizations revolve their mid-game around either making Knights or countering them.

  • Economy Raiding: Use Knight speed (1.35) to raid enemy woodlines, gold mines, and farms. Even losing Knights while killing Villagers is often a winning trade.
  • Archer Hunting: Knights destroy archers in melee. Close the distance quickly and don't let them kite you. Force fights near their production buildings.
  • Map Control: Knights control open ground. Use them to deny enemy expansion and protect your own resources while pressuring multiple points.

Warning: **Pikemen** with +22 bonus and **Monks** with conversion are your nightmares. Never fight into Pike masses, and always have Light Cavalry nearby to snipe Monks.

Available Civilizations

Armenians, Berbers, Bohemians, Britons, Bulgarians, Burgundians, Burmese, Byzantines, Celts, Chinese, Cumans, Ethiopians, Franks, Georgians, Goths, Huns, Italians, Japanese, Khmer, Koreans, Lithuanians, Magyars, Malay, Malians, Mongols, Persians, Poles, Portuguese, Romans, Saracens, Sicilians, Slavs, Spanish, Tatars, Teutons, Turks, Vietnamese, Vikings

Meta Context

Knight is the universal Castle Age power unit and the spine of cavalry-based strategies in 2026 meta. With 100 HP, 10 attack and 2/2 armor for 60F/75G, it offers the best HP-per-resource ratio of any Castle Age military unit. Civilizations like Franks, Persians, Lithuanians, Magyars, Berbers, Mongols, Bulgarians and Burgundians treat the Knight rush as a default opening on Arabia. The unit shines because it threatens villagers, chases archers, and overruns most Castle Age compositions before the opponent can mass Pikemen or Camels. The classic "Vinifera build" (M@A → Knights at 21 pop) remains a top-tier 1v1 strategy on open maps.

Patch History

The Knight has gone through over a dozen balance passes since the Definitive Edition launch. Pre-DE, the Cavalier upgrade landed in early Castle Age — DE pushed it to mid-Castle to prevent runaway snowballs. The Frank cavalry HP bonus was buffed from 15% to 20% in 2019. Husbandry was made universally cheaper in 2021. The 2023 patch slightly increased Bloodlines cost to slow down rush-civilizations. The most recent change in late 2025 reduced the Cavalier upgrade research time, indirectly buffing every Knight-line civ in long Castle Age games.

Pro-Level Usage

Knight openings dominate top-level 1v1 play. TheViper, Hera, MbL, DauT, and Liereyy all default to Knights when picking Franks, Magyars, or Persians on Arabia. The Red Bull Wololo Legacy 2025 finals featured a Hera vs Liereyy Frank mirror that came down to who could keep their Knight count higher around minute 22. In team games, two-player Knight pushes (one Frank, one Magyar) are a textbook 4v4 strategy on Black Forest. Watch T90Official's "King of the Desert" casts for masterclass Knight micro: focus-firing villagers, retreating before Pikemen arrive, and using terrain to split enemy production buildings.

In-Depth Counters

Camel Riders are the #1 hard counter — they deal +18 attack vs cavalry and cost only food and gold (no wood, unlike Pikemen). Civilizations like Saracens, Berbers, Hindustanis, and Malians can pivot to Camels mid-Castle Age and instantly stop a Knight push. Pikemen are the budget option (cheap food units with anti-cav bonus) but they're slow and lose if the Knight player retreats and re-engages. Monks are devastating at 4-5 mass — converting two Knights swings the engagement. Skirmishers are useless. The advanced counter is map control: deny stone for the opponent's Castle, force them into Hill Forts where Knights can't flank, and threaten their lumber camps to split their attention.