Longbowman
ArcherBase values, before Blacksmith upgrades. The Blacksmith raises attack and armour for infantry, cavalry and archers — Blast Furnace, for instance, gives "+2 Attack for infantry & cavalry". Late in a game, the real numbers are higher.
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Longbowman
Castle
Elite Longbowman
ImperialThe coach's briefing
The Longbowman has 5 range in Castle Age, increasing to 6 as Elite. With Yeomen tech, Elite Longbowmen reach 7 range - outranging even Castles. Use this range advantage to safely pick off enemies before they can respond. Keep them in a tight formation and micro them backwards when enemies approach. Your weakness is mobility - at 0.96 speed, cavalry will catch you.
STRONG AGAINST
You win these trades cost-effectively.
WEAK AGAINST
Avoid these fights or bring support.
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Your coach names the counters during the match — not once the game is over.
Strategic Analysis
Tactical Identity
The Longbowman is the **long-range fire support archer**. Range is your primary weapon. You hit enemies before they hit you, creating favorable trades in every engagement.
Tactical Playbook
Range Advantage
5 range vs 4 for normal archers. You get a free shot before they can respond. Stack this advantage with massed Longbowmen.
Castle Sniping
With Yeomen (7 range), you outrange Castles (8 range, but no minimum). You can hit the edge and retreat before taking damage.
Micro Intensive
Your power scales with skill. Constantly micro backwards to maintain range. Good micro turns good units into great units.
Critical Point
**Slow at 0.96 speed**. Hussar raids will catch and kill you. Always have Halberdiers nearby or fight near your own Castles.
Understanding The Stats
The Longbowman sacrifices armor and speed for supreme range. Position and micro are everything.
Superior Range
+1 over standard archers. This extra range is huge in archer vs archer fights.
Low Cost
Cheaper than many unique units. Britons economy bonus helps mass them faster.
Fragile Frame
Very fragile. One Mangonel shot kills groups. Never clump up against siege.
Foot Archer Speed
Standard archer speed. You can't run from cavalry.
Coach's Tip
5 range is your identity. Normal archers have 4. This means you always shoot first. In equal fights, you win by attrition.
Mechanics & Bonuses
Attack Bonuses
| Target | Bonus Dmg |
|---|---|
| Spearman | +2 |
Armor Classes
Archer
Vulnerable to Skirmishers and Huskarls.
Unique Unit
Vulnerable to units with bonus damage vs this class.
Key Upgrades
Imperial Age
Civilizations
* 1 civilizations have access to this unit.
Other Units
AoE Coach analysis
Context & meta
The Longbowman is the Briton unique unit and the reason the civilization exists: range 5, and 6 as an Elite, before Yeomen adds one more point and the Briton civilization bonus adds up to two more in the Imperial Age. Nothing else on foot reaches that far. The body it arrives in is deliberately poor — 35 HP and 6 attack for 35 wood and 40 gold — so the unit is only worth its price where those extra tiles can actually be used. Its bonus against the Spearman-line means the cheap anti-archer answer is not the Pikeman; the official card points at Cavalry and Skirmishers instead.
History & balance
The Longbowman is a unit built on a single statistic. At 35 HP and 6 attack for 35 wood and 40 gold it loses almost every fair exchange; at range 5 — 6 for the Elite version, before the Briton civilisation bonus and Yeomen — it rarely has to take one. That is the entire design: what the unit gives up in body it receives back in distance, and every Briton bonus points the same way. It also explains how map-dependent it is. Behind walls and Towers the range decides the fight; in the open, Cavalry and Skirmishers — the two weaknesses the official help names — simply close it.
In pro play
The Longbowman buys distance and nothing else: 35 HP and 6 attack lose any exchange the unit did not start, so the whole plan is to shoot first and keep shooting. Yeomen (+1 range for foot archers, +2 attack for the Watch Tower line) stacks with the Briton range bonus into an army that outranges everything on foot, which is why it belongs behind walls, gates and Towers rather than in the open. The official help names Cavalry and Skirmishers as the weakness — both close the distance the unit paid for — so keep a spear screen and enough room to walk backwards. At 18 seconds a unit, production capacity is the limit, not cost.
How to counter it
Mangonels and Onagers devastate clumped Longbows — splash damage bypasses their range advantage. Knight or Cavalier rushes before mass forms (typical 2-Castle Longbow timing is ~28 minutes) close the gap before Longbows reach critical mass. Eagle Warriors with their pierce armor dodge well in head-to-head fights. Pikemen + Onagers is the textbook counter on open maps. On Arena, the only counter is your own siege — Trebuchets or Bombard Cannons outrange Longbows and break their Castle drops.