Mangudai

Tactical Briefing

The Mangudai is a cavalry archer with a critical mission: destroy enemy siege. With +3 bonus damage against siege weapons and the fastest firing rate of any cavalry archer, you can delete Mangonels and Scorpions before they fire. Your speed of 1.4 lets you raid anywhere. However, you're fragile with 0 pierce armor - never fight under Castle or TC fire. Always keep moving.

Statistics

HP

60

Attack

6

Melee Armor

0

Pierce Armor

0

Range

4

Speed

1.4

Cost

• Wood: 55
• Gold: 65

Strong Against

• Mangonel
• Scorpion
• Siege Onager
• Trebuchet
• Villager

Weak Against

• Skirmisher
• Huskarl
• Camel Archer
• Eagle Warrior

Strategic Analysis

The Mangudai is the **premier anti-siege cavalry archer**. While other cavalry archers struggle against siege, the Mangudai hunts them. Combined with Mongol faster firing bonus, they shred siege weapons in seconds.

• Siege Hunting: Your +3 bonus vs Siege means you 3-shot Mangonels. Circle around fights to snipe siege before it fires. This protects your own army.
• Hit-and-Run Mastery: At 1.4 speed with Husbandry, nothing catches you. Raid woodlines, snipe villagers, then retreat before reinforcements arrive.
• Mass Critical Threshold: 20+ Mangudai become terrifying. Their combined DPS melts anything. Reach this mass and you control the game.

Warning: **Zero pierce armor** means Town Centers and Castles shred you instantly. Never engage under defensive fire. Skirmishers also counter you hard.

Attack Bonuses

• +3 vs Siege
• +1 vs Spearman

Available Civilizations

Mongols

Meta Context

Mangudai are the defining Mongol unique unit and one of the highest-DPS ranged units in the game when massed. With 80 HP, 6 attack, 5 range, no minimum range, and high speed, they dominate hit-and-run engagements. Their built-in +5 attack vs Siege bonus combined with Drill (Mongol unique tech: Siege moves +50% faster) creates the iconic Mangudai+Siege Onager+Hussar late-Imperial composition. On Arabia, Mongols open with Scouts then transition through Knights or Crossbows into Mangudai by minute 28-32.

Patch History

Mangudai have been balanced more than perhaps any other unique unit. The +5 vs Siege bonus has bounced between +3 and +5 across patches. Accuracy was buffed in 2021, then nerfed in 2022, then partially reverted in 2024. Drill cost was reduced from 500F/450G to 400F/350G in 2023 to make the Mangudai+Siege combo more accessible. The Mongol generic HP buff in late Imperial (2022 patch added +5 HP to Cav Archer line) further pushed Mangudai into S-tier on open maps.

Pro-Level Usage

TheViper's 2023 Wololo Legacy run featured 4 consecutive Mongol picks ending in Mangudai victories. T90Official's "Mangudai parade" cast term refers to the moment when the Mongol player has 30+ Mangudai snowballing the map. In Arena specifically, Mongols are mid-tier — but on Arabia and Hill Fort, they're consistently top-3. The advanced pro micro: split Mangudai into 3 groups of 8 and triangulate around enemy Onagers to deny splash damage.

In-Depth Counters

Skirmishers are cost-effective on paper but Mongols' speed bonus makes them hard to catch. Genitours (Berbers, Saracens) are better — same role as Skirms but mounted. Camel Archers (Berbers) trade favorably. The strongest counter is Cataphracts with Logistica (Byzantines) — they trample-damage Mangudai mass. On chokepoint maps, Mangudai lose to focused Onager fire because they can't kite. The map-control counter: forward Castle on Mongol gold, force them off mass-Mangudai by depriving the resource.