Broad Swordsman

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires. For the untrainable unit in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten, see Heavy Swordsman.

Broad Swordsman
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires
Type	Infantry
Civilization	All except Egyptians, Greeks, and Yamato
Age	Bronze Age
Training
Trained at	Barracks
Food	35
Gold	15
Training time	26 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	80
Melee attack	9
Reload time	1.5
Melee armor	1
Pierce armor	0
Armor class	Light infantry
Speed	1
Line of Sight	4
Unit evolution
Upgraded from	Short Swordsman
Upgrades to	Long Swordsman
Upgrade cost	240 food, 100 gold
Upgrade time	90 seconds

“	Upgrade of Short Swordsman. The Broad Swordsman has more hit points, attack strength, and armor.	”
—In-game description in the Definitive Edition

The Broad Swordsman is an infantry unit in Age of Empires that is a stronger upgrade of the Short Swordsman. The Broad Sword technology is available at the Barracks in the Bronze Age for 140 food, 50 gold. The Broad Swordsman can be upgraded further to a Long Swordsman once the Iron Age is reached.

Gameplay

The Broad Swordsman is stronger than the Short Swordsman and is an upgrade available immediately after reaching the Bronze Age. Only three civilizations in the game cannot upgrade to the Broad Sword. It has more hit points and attack, making it useful in the Bronze Age, being better equipped to stand up to cavalry. However, their speed still poses a problem, making them vulnerable to archers, just like Short Swordsmen. However, they do make a good army when massed for a Bronze Age assault.

Further statistics

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Villagers, cavalry
Weak vs.	Hoplites, archers
Upgrades
Attack	Toolworking (+2) Metalworking (+2) Metallurgy (+3)
Armor	Leather Armor Infantry (+2/+0) Scale Armor Infantry (+2/+0) Chain Mail Infantry (+2/+0) Bronze Shield (+0/+1) Iron Shield (+0/+1) Tower Shield (+0/+1)
Cost	Logistics (-0.5 population usage)
Upgrades	Long Sword

Civilization bonuses

• Choson: Broad Swordsmen have +20 hit points.
• Lac Viet: Broad Swordsmen are trained 25% faster.
• Macedonians: Broad Swordsmen have +2 Line of Sight and are four times more resistant to conversion.
• Romans: Broad Swordsmen attack 50% faster.

Team bonuses

• Palmyrans: Upgrading Broad Swordsmen to Long Swordsmen and researching technologies that benefit Broad Swordsmen are 30% faster.

Changelog

Age of Empires

• Broad Swordsmen have 70 hit points.
• Upgrading Broad Swordsmen to Long Swordsmen costs 160 food, 50 gold.

Definitive Edition

• Broad Swordsmen have 80 hit points.
• Choson: Broad Swordsmen get +20 hit points.
• With update 46777, upgrading Broad Swordsmen to Long Swordsmen costs 240 food, 100 gold.

Return of Rome

• Since balance changes of update 46777 were missed, upon release upgrading Broad Swordsmen to Long Swordsmen cost 160 food, 50 gold and Broad Swordsmen had 70 hit points. Both changes were fixed in hotfix 85208.
• Palmyrans (team bonus): Technologies benefiting Broad Swordsmen are researched 30% faster.

History

“	The appearance of bronze short swords led to further advances in weaponry as competing cultures sought an advantage in military technology over their neighbors. Where the early short sword was primarily a piercing weapon, the broad sword evolved as a slashing weapon. The width of the blade increased strength sufficiently to support a slashing attack that could cut into armor and break short swords designed for stabbing.	”
—the Age of Empires manual

Gallery

The Short Swordsman unit line in Return of Rome, with the Broad Swordsman being the second from the left end

A group of Broad Swordsmen in the original game, facing all possible directions.

A group of Gaia-controlled Broad Swordsmen

A Broad Swordsman in the Definitive Edition

Video

BROAD SWORDSMAN vs EVERY UNIT - Age of Empires- Definitive Edition

Tech tree

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