Mangonel

Tactical Briefing

The Mangonel is your answer to massed archers. It fires stones that deal splash damage, devastating tightly grouped units. It has minimum range - units close to it cannot be targeted. Watch for friendly fire, it will damage your own units. Protect it with infantry against cavalry.

Statistics

HP

50

Attack

40

Melee Armor

0

Pierce Armor

6

Range

3-7

Speed

0.6

Cost

• Wood: 160
• Gold: 135

Strong Against

• Archer
• Infantry
• Building

Weak Against

• Knight
• Cavalry
• Scorpion

Strategic Analysis

The Mangonel is your **anti-mass unit**. When enemies group their archers or infantry together, Mangonels punish them with devastating splash damage.

• Archer Destroyer: Mangonels counter mass Crossbowmen. One good shot kills multiple archers. Force spread formations or suffer heavy losses.
• Siege Push: Use Mangonels to clear defensive positions. They outrange Town Centers and can force Villagers to flee.
• Cut Trees: Mangonels can attack-ground to cut trees, creating surprise attack paths or escape routes.

Warning: **Cavalry will delete you**. Knights close distance fast and your 3 minimum range means you can't fight back. Always have Pikemen or Monks protecting your Mangonels.

Attack Bonuses

• +35 vs Building
• +12 vs Siege Weapon

Available Civilizations

Armenians, Aztecs, Bengalis, Berbers, Bohemians, Britons, Bulgarians, Burgundians, Burmese, Byzantines, Celts, Cumans, Dravidians, Ethiopians, Franks, Georgians, Goths, Gurjaras, Hindustanis, Huns, Incas, Italians, Japanese, Khmer, Lithuanians, Magyars, Malay, Malians, Mayans, Mongols, Persians, Poles, Portuguese, Romans, Saracens, Shu, Sicilians, Slavs, Spanish, Tatars, Teutons, Turks, Vietnamese, Vikings, Wei, Wu

Meta Context

The Mangonel-line (Mangonel → Onager → Siege Onager) is the universal answer to massed ranged units. A single splash shot can wipe 8-12 clumped Skirmishers or Archers. Mangonels reshape Castle Age archer wars: once one player has 2-3 Mangonels and the other doesn't, the engagement is decided. Civilizations with Siege Onager (Ethiopians, Slavs, Tatars, Khmer, Vietnamese, Celts) leverage this for crushing late-Imperial pushes. The trade-off: Mangonels are slow, vulnerable to Light Cav dives, and friendly-fire your own troops if microed poorly.

Patch History

Pre-DE Onagers had a massive splash radius that frequently devastated friendly troops — the "Onager TK" memes of pro casts come from this era. The Definitive Edition tightened friendly-fire detection but it remains punishing. Siege Engineers was buffed in 2023 to extend Mangonel-line range by +1, indirectly buffing all civs with the tech. Onager cost was increased slightly in 2024 to slow runaway Slavic and Ethiopian compositions. The 2025 patch fixed a long-standing bug where Mangonel projectiles would sometimes pass through buildings without damaging them.

Pro-Level Usage

Hera vs DauT in the 2024 KotD final — one Mangonel shot from Hera wiped 11 Skirmishers and decided the game. TheViper's "Onager dance" (kiting Onagers behind Pikemen with constant repositioning) is a signature technique that requires 200+ APM to execute well. T90 has a recurring "Onager moment of the week" segment in his casts. In 2v2 and 3v3 team games, dedicated siege players (one teammate spamming Onagers from a Castle behind walls) define the late-game timing window for any push.

In-Depth Counters

Light Cavalry (especially Hussars with full upgrades) dive Mangonels — three Hussars kill a Mangonel before it can fire twice. Bombard Cannons outrange Mangonels (12 vs 8) and destroy them safely. Petards detonate stationary siege. The micro counter is unit spread: hold Alt+Right-Click to move with formation gaps so a single Mangonel shot can't hit more than 2-3 units. The macro counter is producing your own Mangonels — a Mangonel war becomes a positioning duel where the player with better terrain wins.