Cavalry Guide

A warm greeting from Clan Gerudo,

here we go again with another gem from the Gerudo archives so please enjoy this modest Cavalry Guide. Again please comment if you liked it or found it useful and remember that you can still ask for guides on certain topics. :)

Cavalry Guide

Light Cavalry:

Light cavalry and Yari cavalry are the fastest cavalry units in the game. And obviously the best units for chasing down enemy units and launching surprise attacks on the enemy. The low cost is what makes this unit deserves a place in your army. In most fights I would have liked to have light cav in my army, but my otherwise cheap army makes it difficult to use up all the money if I bring light cav. Light cavalry is best used when it is sacrificed to charge into enemy bow units or to deliver a charge just before your melee line hits the enemy. It's main use is to mess up the enemy army and to launch fast flank attacks. A sacrifice for the greater good. Another good use for the light cav is to use it harass the enemy and keep him alert, by moving to enemy flanks and read. You can always escape if he sends his cavalry to chase your light cav. This way you can keep the enemy alert and he has to contribute unit to guard against your cheap light cav unit. Also having units in the enemy's flank or rear will reduce the morale of his units.

Should you vet this unit? No. Keep the unit cheap.

Weaknesses: spears, matchlocks and other cavalry units

Strengths: speed and low cost

Katana Cavalry:

Katana cavalry is great against any non-spear infantry. A katana samurai unit will rout in a matter of seconds and Katana cavalry will only loose 5-10 men in the process. That is some bang for your buck. Katana cavalry is used differently than other cavalry units. While other cavalry units perform hammer and anvil like charge and retreat attacks. Katana cavalry is best used to charge into combat and then just left there to hack all non-spear inf to pieces. Katana cavalry is to be kept safe from all other cavalry units. I would suggest sometimes being more aggressive with katana cavalry and even using katana cavalry against enemy infantry when there is yari ashigaru present. You can almost totally overlook enemy yari ashigaru if it is guarding a high value target like a matchlock unit. Katana cavalry will slaughter even yari ashigaru, but lose some men and obviously its not worth it to use katana cav against just yari ashigaru.

Shoud I vet this unit? Totally up to you, I would upgrade melee defense because that makes these units harder to kill and they last longer in prolonged combat. Melee attack is also another option to be upgraded, but I prefer melee defense.

Weaknesses: spears, matchlocks and all other cavalry.

Strengths: High melee attack, non-spear infantry, the ability to survive in prolonged combat, high morale.

Naginata Warrior Monk Cavalry:

Monk cavalry is a hybrid between yari cav and katana cav. And is to be treated as such. A yari cav unit will still beat this unit and it will not perform so well fighting against non-spear infantry. With the cost being only 50 lower than yari cav and 50 more than katana cav. I still find this unit quite nice and handy in multiple situations and when vetting this unit it really comes into play! High melee defense makes this unit last so long fighting against cavalry or melee infantry. The warcy ability on cavalry unit can be devastating. And some even opt to go all out and get hold firm. If you give this unit 4x melee defense, 2x bonus vs cav and warcy it will cost 1149 (with -5% cost retainer) and it will be able to take out a great guard in cavalry melee. The trick is though to get this unit into melee without absorbing the charge from a great guard. Since that will absolutely destroy monk cav.

Should I vet this units? Yes, you should.

Weaknesses: spears, missiles in general and other cav.

Strengths: versatility, high melee defense and morale, survivability in melee combat, the ability to upgrade bonus vs. cav, warcry and hold firm.

Yari Cavalry:

This is the "basic" cavalry unit. It is good against other cavalry units (same bonus vs cav as great guards) and it can deliver devastating charges against inf. It is also as fast as light cav. When facing infantry this unit is to be used to deliver hammer and anvil like charge and retreat attacks. This way the unit will beat a katana samurai, but if left in combat yari cav will loose to a katana samurai. So charge and retreat is the key to using this unit against infantry. Against cav I would never disengage from combat, unless it is truly necessary. (enemy closing in with spear or matchlock units) Yari cav charging into any other inf unit than spears is always a good idea, just remember to pull out as soon as the charge hits. Yari cav is great against melee spammers or just against closing melee units. It can hammer the closing infantry causing their formations to shatter and thus slowing them down, while you have more time to get your infantry ready or hammer them with bows and/or matchlocks. Doesn't really matter if you cant get behind them, just charge the melee lines from the front. Though remember that hitting a unit from the flank equals -4 morale and from the back -6 morale.

While this unit is great against cav, it still gets slaughtered by great guards and I would never charge my yari cav unsupported by spearmen or matchlocks into great guards. Just a waste of koku.

Should I vet this unit? I don't recommend vetting yari cavalry. Yari cavalry is such a fragile unit after all that you don't really want to invest anymore koku on them.

Weaknesses: spears, matchlocks and Great Guards.

Strengths: strong vs cav, speed and charge bonus.

Fire Cavalry:

Well not much to say here, came with the Sengoku Jidai dlc meaning only max 1 in avatar mode. Power/unit wise fits right between great guards and yari cavalry. And is best used as such. Or you might opt out to get a third great guard and vet this unit quite highly. But remember though, it will not be as powerful as a great guard. Upgrading monk cav might be a better option for this. But if you are a player that likes to use vetted yari cavalry it might be wise to just choose Fire cavalry instead.

Should I vet this unit? A hard one, as I said before, depends on how you like your cavalry.

Weaknesses: GG's, spears, matchlocks, head on charging yari cavalry.

Strengths: Cavalry melee combat, against lesser cavalry. All around good stats.

Great Guard:

The mother of all cav. Great Guards are to be used wisely, they cost a lot but also rack up a lot of skills if used properly. Does not work so well in prolonged combat and best used to perform hammer and anvil strikes against enemy infantry. These units are to be feared in the battlefield and matchlocks should be pointed to shoot great guards when ever possible. These units can really turn a battle around. They also provide a melee buff to nearly enemy units and a well placed second wind (restores the gg's and 3 nearby units fatigue to fresh) can prevent your melee line from routing since exhausted fatigue gives -4 morale.

Should I vet this unit? Up to you, I use lightly vetted great guards, some more melee attack/melee defense never hurts. I do this to gain an advantage over enemy vanilla great guards.

Weaknesses: spears and matchlocks.

Strengths: Sheer power against all cavalry and devastating also against infantry, buffs nearby units morale, second wind ability.

Bow Cavalry:

Bow cavalry is truly an annoying unit. It can harass an army with more or less accurate volleys and the fall back if in danger. When harassing bow units you can avoid being hit by firing a volley and then falling back when being fired at. Also another good use of this unit is to first perform this sort of harassment and when the enemy gets used to it and lets his bow units chase you a bit, charge the bow units. I'm not saying charging into cheaper ashigaru bows is a good idea, but taking out vetted bow monks is always a good idea. Also be aware that bringing alot of bow cav is somewhat waste of money, the kills you get with this unit are fairly small. Only if you can constantly micro them can you get kills worth the cost. I'd recommend a max 2 bow cav. Bow cav is also good because it forces the opponent to do something and move.

Targets for bow cav: The more expensive units you can shoot the better. Cavalry, matchlocks and bows are always good targets.

Should I vet this units? Maybe, extra ammunition never hurts.

Weaknesses: spears, missile fire, matchlocks and other cav. Especially Yari cav and light cav since they are faster than bow cav.

Strengths: Tactical use, mobile bow unit.

Mounted Gunners:

Yes, matchlocks on horse. Sounds pretty good, but it's not. At the moment this unit completely sucks. First of all they face the same problem as bow cav, how can you justify the cost of 1000? You really can't. You would have to get so many kills with the mounted gunners that it is impossible. The micro and patience needed is insane. And that combined with the broken mechanics of this unit that make it absolutely useless. First they don't come reloaded into the battle, so the first time you target someone they start reloading. Then there is the range of 100, you can't properly harass enemy cav since even after they have reloaded they take forever to aim and actually fire. So you almost never get any good shots if the enemy can micro their cav. And sometimes they just end up shooting 10ft in front of them! I AM DISAPPOINT.

Should I vet this unit? No, same idea as bow cav.

Weaknesses: Any cav unit basically, bow units and matchlocks.

Strengths: Devastating volleys if you can actually land some.

About cavalry in general:

Mastering the art of cavalry is essential in winning and stupid cavalry play will often make you lose. I would never suggest going into a battle without cavalry. Enemy cavalry that is allowed free movement because you lack cavalry is always dangerous.

What I also see often is people attacking more powerful cavalry with less powerful cavalry, like cavalry is there just to be thrown at the enemy cavalry. I mean would you charge one katana samurai into two katana samurais? Almost in every match I get charged by enemy cavalry, no matter if I have more or less cavalry than they do. And often these cavalry fights take place right at the beginning of a game. So:

1. Enemy has more/stronger cav than you, assist your cavalry with spears and matchlocks. Keeping your cavalry near your army helps to get spears in fast.

2. You have more/stronger cav, try to fight the cavalry fight early on. And avoid enemy spears and matchlocks.

Pretty simple? Still most people fight cavalry fights that they can't win.

You notice me not recommending upgrading charge and this is just because the charge mechanics in this game are either broken or so confusing that I don't really see the value of upgrading charge at all.

Formations:

Do not use wedge formation. Maybe only in some cases if you need to penetrate thin lines of infantry. It makes your formation tiny and it doesn't really do anything. It's just for show. Use wide formations. In medium size units a formation that has 3 lines of cavalry is the best. You can go even wider, to 2 lines of cavalry.

Charging Enemy Cavalry:

When charging enemy cavalry always try to hit them in the flank, or even better in the rear.The best to achieve this is not to just click all your cavalry to go ahead and attack one cavalry unit, as people usually do. But keep atleast one cav unit a little back and when the cavalry fight has started, go around the fight with that one cavalry unit and charge the enemy cav in the back. NEVER CHARGE CAVALRY THAT IS STANDING STILL AND FACING YOU, since this will absolutely decimate your cav unit. Use this information to your advantage and park your cavalry in front of the enemy cav and let them charge you frontally. (this doesn't apply when charging immobile cav in the flank or in the rear, and that is always a recommended course of action)

Cheerz,

][GERUDO][ Harba