Onager
Siege WeaponBase 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.
Evolution
Mangonel
Castle Age Onager
Imperial Age
Siege Onager
Imperial AgeThe coach's briefing
The Onager improves on the Mangonel with 60 HP, 55 attack, and 8 range. The splash radius is larger, killing more units per shot. Essential upgrade if you rely on siege. Still fragile against cavalry - always protect with Halberdiers.
STRONG AGAINST
You win these trades cost-effectively.
WEAK AGAINST
Avoid these fights or bring support.
Prepare your next matchup
Choose both civilizations for a game plan, key threats and an army composition.
Strategic Analysis
Tactical Identity
The Onager is your **upgraded area denial weapon**. Larger splash radius means even more devastating damage against grouped enemies.
Tactical Playbook
Extended Range
8 range (9 with Siege Engineers) outranges most Castle Age units. You can hit archers before they can respond effectively.
Siege vs Siege
Onagers counter enemy Mangonels and Scorpions. The splash damage can destroy multiple siege units at once.
Castle Defense
Onagers behind your Castle create a kill zone. Enemy armies grouping to attack the Castle get devastated.
Critical Point
**Siege Onager friendly fire** - be extremely careful about attacking near your own units. One misclick can wipe your own army.
Understanding The Stats
The Onager is a direct upgrade that improves survivability and damage output without changing the core gameplay.
Stronger Attack
+15 over Mangonel. More one-shot potential against grouped archers.
Better Range
+1 range over Mangonel. With Siege Engineers, you reach 9 range.
More HP
+10 HP. Survives 1 extra Knight hit, which can save your siege.
Larger Splash
Larger area of effect. More units killed per shot.
Coach's Tip
Your 60 HP is still fragile. Paladins with 14 attack kill you in 5 hits. The +10 HP over Mangonel gives you slightly more time to fire, but protection is still essential.
Mechanics & Bonuses
Attack Bonuses
| Target | Bonus Dmg |
|---|---|
| Building | +45 |
| Siege Weapon | +12 |
Armor Classes
Siege Weapon
Takes bonus from Mangonels and Bombard Cannons. Can be repaired.
Key Upgrades
Civilizations
* 44 civilizations have access to this unit.
AoE Coach analysis
Context & meta
The Onager is the Imperial-Age upgrade of the Mangonel and the universal answer to massed ranged units. With 60 HP, 55 attack and 8 range (9 with Siege Engineers) plus a larger blast radius, a single shot can wipe a clump of Archers, Skirmishers or Crossbowmen. It reshapes any ranged war: the moment one player has Onagers and the other does not, grouped armies simply melt. The trade-off is baked into the official design — it is a ranged blast weapon that cannot attack at close range, so it is devastating against tight groups and helpless against anything that reaches it. Civilizations with the Siege Onager upgrade (Ethiopians, Slavs, Celts, Khmer and others) push this into game-ending late-Imperial power.
History & balance
The Mangonel line — Mangonel to Onager to Siege Onager — has always been the game's area-denial spine, and the Onager is its Imperial-Age heart. Its identity sits on a knife-edge: enormous splash damage that does not tell friend from foe, so a misclick can wipe your own army as easily as the enemy's. That friendly-fire risk is the deliberate balance to its power. The University technology Siege Engineers extends its range, and the unit's value scales with how grouped the enemy fights — which is why disciplined players spread out the instant an Onager appears on the field.
In pro play
A single well-placed Onager shot can decide a game by erasing ten grouped units at once, which is why siege micro is a defining pro skill. The technique is the "Onager dance": kiting the slow, fragile weapon behind a wall of Halberdiers, repositioning constantly so cavalry cannot dive it while it lines up shots. Behind a Castle, Onagers create a kill zone that punishes any army that clumps to push. In team games a dedicated siege player spamming Onagers from behind walls sets the timing for every late-game engagement. The counter-play is equally studied: the moment both sides have Onagers, it becomes a positioning duel where terrain and unit spread decide the winner.
How to counter it
The Onager's official weakness is blunt: it cannot attack at close range. So the answer is to get in its face. Light Cavalry and Hussars dive it — it is slow and fragile, and a few Hussars kill an Onager before it fires twice. Knights do the same if they reach it. Bombard Cannons outrange the Onager and destroy it safely, and Petards detonate stationary siege outright. The micro counter costs nothing: spread your army with loose formation so a single blast cannot hit more than one or two units, because grouped units are the only thing an Onager is good against. And never feed an Onager by pushing in with clumped archers — that is exactly the trap. If you keep losing your army to Onager shots and are not sure how to close the distance or what to build, AoE Coach reads your match-up and hands you the counter plan and the timing to execute it.