Cavalier and Champion

Castle creatures
Level 1
Pikeman
Halberdier
Level 2
Archer
Marksman
Level 3
Griffin
Royal Griffin
Level 4
Swordsman
Crusader
Level 5
Monk
Zealot
Level 6
Cavalier
Champion
Level 7
Angel
Archangel
Towns

Statistics
Cavalier
Cost per troop  1000
	Attack 15 Defense 15 Damage 15–25 Health 100 Speed 7 Movement Ground Size 2 Growth 2 AI Value 1946
Special abilities:
• Jousting bonus
Champion
Cost per troop  1200
	Attack 16 Defense 16 Damage 20-25 Health 100 Speed 9 Movement Ground Size 2 Growth 2 AI Value 2100
Special abilities:
• Jousting bonus
Portraits

Cavaliers and Champions are level 6 creatures of Castle. They are recruited from Training Grounds.

"The horse-mounted cavalier and champion deal extra impact damage (+5% per hex traveled to creature attacked) when charging into battle." ^{RoE manual}

Cavaliers are upgraded to Champions for free when the hero visits Stables found on the Adventure Map.

Jousting special ability

Moving before the attack will increase their damage by 5% for each hex. This ability has no cap, meaning the higher their Speed and traveled distance before attacking is, the higher their attack damage becomes. Obviously they don't benefit from this ability when counterattacking, and their optimal attack conditions require them to move the furthest possible distance.

Pikemen and Halberdiers are immune to this jousting bonus, which means they only suffer the base damage from Cavaliers and Champions. When fighting them, it makes no difference whether your Champions move 9 hexes before attacking or none at all.

Heroes with a specialty

• Tyris the Knight has cavaliers as a specialty, which increases the attack and defense skills of any cavaliers or champions for each level attained after 6th level, and gives them a speed bonus of 1.

Tactics and info

User commentary

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The jousting ability of Cavaliers can increase their damage up to +35% and Champions up to +45% without any speed-increasing effects, meaning their damage can be higher than any level 6's, but Naga Queens and Dread Knights compensate for this with their specialties. The increase can be even higher, if the hero can increase their speed for example with artifacts (Cape of Velocity, Necklace of Swiftness or Ring of the Wayfarer) or with spells (Haste or Prayer). Additionally, using Tyris who specializes in Cavaliers and Champions or Sir Mullich, whose troops receive +2 to speed, can increase the damage of Cavaliers and Champions significantly. Because of the jousting ability, a player should always prioritize to attack across as many hexes as possible.

15/16 Attack and Defense is decent for level 6 unit. 15-25 damage is about average, but 20-25 of Champions is a bit better. In practice their damage done is almost always higher because even when dueling other stack in the middle of battlefield they can travel at least 3 hexes to get 15% bonus. Their first strikes from maximal range possible are particularly strong, as their average damage after moving full 9 hexes is 22,5 x 1,45 = 32,625, more than even Naga Queens can normally do, and maximum is 36,25 per Champion. 100 health is above average, but they are not as tough as Black Knights. 7-9 Speed is good for a non-flying creature.

Bless and Curse have much stronger effect on Cavaliers than Champions due to larger damage spread. Champions are usually more affected by spells changing their attack, like Bloodlust or Weakness. Shield and Stone Skin are probably their best defense buffs as they are quite fast and unless sieging a town, they will not be taking much ranged fire. Against level 7 creatures use Slayer combined with their jousting charge to ensure great damage. Frenzy can allow them to hit as hard as level 7 creatures themselves, but at cost of losing defense - if Frenzied Champions don't wipe the target out in first strike, they will be hit back hard too. Haste not only increases their initiative and range but also damage, if they can exploit it. Prayer increases their speed, attack and defense at once and stacks with Haste.

When using Cavaliers and Champions, beware of Slow, Force Field, ground obstacles, powerful shooters hiding behind tough melee troops. Conversely, when fighting them, exploit these weaknesses - don't let them charge your units, hide behind obstacles, decimate them from distance before mopping up with your own shock troops.

Curiously, Berserk usually isn't so devastating on Cavaliers as it would be on some other troops, because the "closest other unit" normally means just 1-2 hexes away, which means only 5-10% damage increase from jousting.

In Castle army they have natural synergy with Archangels - one Archangel can resurrect one Cavalier or Champion.

Their 2-hex size means some caution should be exercised when fighting against dragons, especially when you also have Archangels and other melee units in army, as Archangels are also 2-hex sized and when attacking a 2-hex target like all dragons, only 3 melee units at a time can do so safely, as to not expose 2 targets at once to dragon breath. They also might have some pathing issues in sieges or obstacle-ridden battlefield, as unlike Archangels they are land-bound. Remove Obstacle might be useful to solve such problems. Teleport might look useful, but take care not to teleport Cavaliers in a way that might rob them of their jousting damage bonus or leave them blocked by enemy stacks. Be especially careful to not let them cross moats or clear out Tower mines, unless you have plenty of Resurrections available.

Despite awesome damage potential they are not Castle army tanks, rather hit-and-runners who should charge into melee from the longest possible range, exploiting their special ability to kill enemy stack outright or at least weaken it as much as possible and then charge again at a different target. If you let them be surrounded, their otherwise average stats mean they will usually be wiped out or win only at the cost of taking heavy casualties. Their 2-hex size also means they can be relatively easy lured into such traps, surrounded by tough troops, and then overwhelmed or shot at from close distance when they cannot escape or fight their way out.

While their jousting charge allows them to defeat theoretically stronger troops thanks to greatly improved first strike, in prolonged melee combat they are no match for 7th level creatures or even their own 6th level units like Naga Queens and Dread Knights. Do not let them fight such an enemy unsupported.

Obviously the best secondary skills for Cavaliers and Champions are Offense and Armorer. Tactics is very good, as it allows you to set them in the exact place they need to execute a jousting charge, or at least denies use of troop placement to enemy. Leadership might be redundant, as same army type grants +1, Angels provide another +1, and artifacts or objects granting morale bonus are plentiful. Armorer is an obvious choice for any fight in which your Champions will be unable to wipe enemies out before taking some hits.

While they synergize very well with any offense-focused hero like Crag Hack, top-tier selections might not always be available. Any hero with Tactics and Offense or good potential to learn these will do well, like Tyraxor, Dace or Shakti. Tyris is quite good starting hero, specialized in Cavaliers and Champions and having Tactics and Leadership that is later made redundant, but will do for early game. Loynis with his Prayer specialty might be useful, if for some reason you do not have Angels. Magic-oriented heroes can be surprisingly good as Champions can use some magic support, like Haste, Bloodlust or even Slayer. Any hero armed with such spells or even better specializing in them will be a boon to Champions.

See also:

• List of creatures

• Comparison of Level 6 Creatures