Cyclops and Cyclops King

Stronghold creatures
Level 1
Goblin
Hobgoblin
Level 2
Wolf Rider
Wolf Raider
Level 3
Orc
Orc Chieftain
Level 4
Ogre
Ogre Mage
Level 5
Roc
Thunderbird
Level 6
Cyclops
Cyclops King
Level 7
Behemoth
Ancient Behemoth
Towns

Statistics
Cyclops
Cost per troop  750
	Attack 15 Defense 12 Damage 16–20 Health 70 Speed 6 Movement Ground Size 1 Shots 16 Growth 2 AI Value 1266
Special abilities:
• Ranged attack • Can attack siege walls (Basic Ballistics)
Cyclops King
Cost per troop  1100
	Attack 17 Defense 13 Damage 16–20 Health 70 Speed 8 Movement Ground Size 1 Shots 24 Growth 2 AI Value 1443
Special abilities:
• Ranged attack • Can attack siege walls (Advanced Ballistics)
Portraits

Cyclopes and Cyclops Kings are the level 6 creatures of Stronghold. They are recruited from the Cyclops Cave, and can be received as a reward from Wolf Raider Pickets . (Note that the plural form of 'cyclops' is 'cyclopes')

"Cyclopses and cyclops kings attack at range by throwing boulders to devastating effect. Both can target siege walls and damage them like a catapult... Cyclops catapult attacks are applied with Basic Ballistics skill. Cyclops kings do the same at the Advanced Ballistics skill level..." ^{RoE manual}

Heroes with a specialty

• Yog the Barbarian has cyclopes as a specialty, which increases the Attack and Defense skills of any Cyclops or Cyclops King he commands for each level he attains after the 6th level, and gives them a speed bonus of 1. Note that in Birth of a Barbarian campaign, Yog is a Wizard and thus doesn't have cyclopes specialty (he is based on Solmyr).

User commentary

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The cyclopes deal good damage and have good attack skill, but their defense is rather low and so is their health. They should be protected in order to have them in large numbers and deal a lot of damage. Also, their regular dwelling costs 20 crystals , double of what is needed for the Behemoth Lair, so their dwelling is usually built a while after the Behemoth's, which results in lower numbers and efficiency on smaller maps especially. Cyclops Kings have brilliant speed for a ranged unit, and thus are able to act prior to many strong enemies (e.g. they're faster than Crusaders or Pit Lords). When having accumulated large amounts of them, use Cyclops Kings as your main ranged unit, replacing slow and not very strong Orcs. Don't neglect the upgrade of Cyclopes, as fast shooter is a rare thing in the game. When playing with Yog, Cyclops Kings will be unstoppable having outstanding speed 9 and stats rising throughout the game, which makes him one of the best Stronghold heroes. Destroying fortifications is not reliable, but still may help a lot during a siege. If you have open slots in a siege, consider splitting your Cyclopes/Cyclops Kings into as many stacks as possible. Every additional stack of these guys is ~= another catapult!

See also:

• List of creatures

• Comparison of Level 6 Creatures
• Comparison of Ranged Creatures