Desert bowman

Offensive Ranged Special

A defender of enemy towers and castles in the Burning Sands with ranged attack 92 and defense 125 against ranged and 51 against melee. He cannot be recruited, so for you he is a target, not reinforcement. Against ranged units he is much more resilient than against melee attackers. Send mainly melee units at him, leave your ranged units for the saber warriors and you save troops. The Cultist bowman in the Fire Peaks behaves the same way.

92Attack

51Melee defense

125Ranged defense

25Speed

4Food upkeep

Quick overview

Type	Offensive, Ranged
Source	Special
Game stage	Special
Cost	—
Recommendation	Not recruitable

rating

Attack

Defensive

Cost

Speed

The Desert bowman is a ranged unit that the game lists as an attacking unit, and you meet him as a defender of enemy towers and castles in the Burning Sands. He cannot be recruited. Like every ranged unit he attacks from a distance and his attack is 92. When attacking a tower though, you care more about his defense, 125 against ranged and 51 against melee.

How to use it

In a tower he stands as a defender and in defense the defensive values count, so attack 92 is not the main number for you when attacking a tower. What decides is what you send at him. Melee attackers run into defense 51, your ranged units into 125, which is more than double. Against bowmen it therefore pays mainly to send melee units. In the data he has food 4 and speed 25, but for a tower defender you need not bother with them, you will never feed him or march with him.

What to combine it with

In the Burning Sands towers and castles are also defended by the Saber warrior, who has exactly the opposite defense, 135 against melee and 45 against ranged. The bowman is soft against a melee attack, the saber warrior against ranged units. A mixed attack therefore suits a tower where both stand. The more bowmen in the defense, the more melee units, and the more saber warriors, the more ranged units. If only bowmen stand in the tower, an attack with a majority of melee units pays off. Commander and equipment bonuses add attack to your army on top, they are not in the unit table, which shows the base values.

Weaknesses and what to avoid

Do not send mostly ranged units at a tower full of Desert bowmen. They run into defense 125 and you lose needlessly many troops, while melee attackers would have only 51 against them. For saber warriors it is the other way round, there a purely melee attack runs into 135. Do not let the attacking unit label or attack 92 fool you, in a tower this bowman defends and you should judge him as a defender by his defense. And do not look for him in the Barracks, he is an NPC unit and cannot be recruited.

Pro player tipThe Desert bowman has exactly the same numbers as the Cultist bowman from the Fire Peaks, attack 92, defense 51 against melee and 125 against ranged. What you learn on the towers in the Burning Sands, you will use there too. If you want a similar ranged unit in your own army, the Renegade desert bowman is recruited in level 5 Barracks with attack 94 and defense 54 and 126. That is a player unit though with a price of 96 and food upkeep of 4, so you feed it like any other troops.

Common mistakeA common mistake is treating the Desert bowman as an attacker only because the game lists him that way and he has attack 92, and planning accordingly. In a tower he defends though and his defense counts. The second mistake is sending mostly ranged units at a tower. Against them he has 125, against melee units only 51. The third is not checking beforehand whether more saber warriors than you expect stand in the tower.

Related units

Veteran heavy crossbowman

Veteran deathly horror

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