Chayton Black
Chayton Black is Black Family Estate hero in Age of Empires III. Its listed ability is Claims treasures; Builds Trading Posts.
Recorded values
- Durability & mobility
- 1,000 hit points · 40% hand resistance · 5.0 speed · 24 line of sight
- Ranged attack
- 40 base damage · range 16 · attack interval 3.0
- Siege attack
- 20 base damage · range 6 · attack interval 3.0
- Hand attack
- 20 base damage · attack interval 1.5
- Hawk Eye
- 750 base damage · range 16 · attack interval 3.0
- Crack shot attack
- 100 base damage · range 16 · attack interval 3.0 · area of effect 3
- Ability
- Claims treasures; Builds Trading Posts
Role, availability & values
It has 1,000 hit points. It moves at 5.0 speed. Attack profile: Ranged attack: 40 damage at range 16; every 3.0 seconds. Siege attack: 20 damage at range 6; every 3.0 seconds. Hand attack: 20 damage; every 1.5 seconds. Hawk Eye: 750 damage at range 16; every 3.0 seconds. Crack shot attack: 100 damage at range 16; every 3.0 seconds; area of effect 3. Special ability or role: Claims treasures; Builds Trading Posts. If reduced to zero hit points, it collapses rather than dying; after regenerating 100 hit points, a friendly unit or building nearby can revive it.
Matchup & timing
Chayton Black combines exploration with a much stronger ranged burst than an ordinary explorer. The 40-damage ranged attack reaches 16, while Hawk Eye deals 750 damage at that range and Crack Shot deals 100 with a three-unit area of effect. Use these attacks to remove a dangerous target or clear a route, then exploit his Treasure-claiming and Trading Post construction abilities to secure map control. His 1,000 hit points and collapse-and-revive rule do not make him disposable: at zero health he must regenerate 100 hit points before a friendly unit or building can revive him. Keep a safe recovery point and avoid spending the hero’s health on a Treasure guardian that can be handled by the regular army.
Character and campaign role
Chayton Black is the central character of Act II: Shadow in The WarChiefs. He is the son of Amelia Black and a Lakota father, the grandson of Nathaniel Black, and the final owner of the Falcon Trading Company. His story follows the conflict between the company's search for wealth and his concern for Lakota land and family. Gold discovered in the Black Hills draws settlers and miners into the region, setting up a series of campaign choices about loyalty and identity. Chayton begins the story connected to both the United States and Lakota communities; his changing affiliation is part of the narrative rather than a general civilization mechanic.
Original campaign storyline
In the original story, Chayton returns west and reunites with Billy Holme, a former associate from the conflict along the Bozeman Trail. Holme tells him about gold in the Black Hills. Chayton initially helps defend the miners and their camps, then seeks an agreement with Crazy Horse after seeing the threat to the Lakota. The attempt at peace collapses when Holme and the miners attack a village. Chayton later turns against Holme after being ordered to destroy another Lakota village, joins the Lakota, and helps destroy the settlers' fort. He asks General Custer for time to find Holme, tracks him to a hidden mine, and confronts him. Holme's attempted attack ends when Chayton shoots first and Holme falls into the mine after an explosion.
From the mine conflict to Little Bighorn
The campaign continues with Chayton trying to prevent Custer's attack at Little Bighorn. He eventually commits fully to the Lakota cause and fights alongside Native leaders, including Crazy Horse in the original version. The closing story leaves Chayton's fate uncertain: Amelia hears that he may have died at Wounded Knee, or that he lived in the Black Hills with a family. The uncertainty is deliberate and belongs to the narrative framing of the original campaign. Chayton's personal arc connects the earlier Black family story to the later western setting, while the game's missions use fictional characters alongside historical events and figures.
Definitive Edition story changes
Definitive Edition rewrites several relationships and motivations. It emphasizes Chayton's Lakota ancestry, gives a larger role to his uncle Frank Warbonnet, and removes Amelia as a visible character. Chayton and Holme are described as former comrades from the Civil War, changing the basis of their relationship in the first scenarios. Holme becomes openly racist toward Chayton, and Chayton turns against him after learning more from his uncle rather than waiting for an order to destroy a village. The Red Cloud War plot is replaced with a rise in outlaw threats around Fort Laramie and Native communities, and the mining-camp attacks receive a different explanation. These changes affect the campaign narrative; they do not create new standard Skirmish units or alter the Black family roster.
Identity, family, and the Black lineage
Chayton's family tree links him to the earlier Age of Empires III campaign through Morgan, John, and Nathaniel Black. He is Amelia's son and Nathaniel's grandson, with an unnamed Lakota father in the original character account. The relationship makes him both a member of the Falcon Company and a person with Lakota family ties. His dilemma is not simply whether to lead one army over another: the campaign shows him weighing the miners' economic ambitions against the land and the people his family belongs to. Frank Warbonnet's expanded role in Definitive Edition adds another perspective on this conflict and gives Chayton a direct family connection to the Native side of the story.
Historical setting and fictional elements
The campaign is set against events associated with the Black Hills, the gold rush, and the Battle of Little Bighorn, but Chayton Black is a fictional member of the Black family. The original story uses Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and Custer as historical figures within an alternate campaign narrative. Definitive Edition changes some of those relationships and plot events. The ending's possible Wounded Knee fate and the portrayal of the conflict are narrative devices, not a definitive biography of a historical person. Readers should keep the scenario's story separate from the historical record and use the campaign pages for the actual mission order and objectives.
Following Chayton through the campaign
Chayton first appears in a cutscene connected to The Revolutionary and later becomes the viewpoint character of Act II: Shadow. His story moves through A Reckoning and the gold-focused missions before the closing Battle of the Greasy Grass. Claims shows him reconnecting with Holme after years of temporary peace, while the later missions force him to decide whether the Falcon Company or Lakota interests will guide his actions. The campaign's scenario order is useful context when reading his biography: a single page summarizes both versions, but the missions show how the character's loyalties shift over time. Compare the original and Definitive Edition pages when a plot detail depends on Crazy Horse, Frank Warbonnet, or Amelia's role.
Using the two campaign versions
When reading Chayton's story, identify whether the account follows the original campaign or Definitive Edition. The original narrative gives Amelia a visible role, places Chayton and Holme's relationship on a longer path, and features Crazy Horse in the Lakota storyline. Definitive Edition centers Frank Warbonnet, makes Chayton and Holme former Civil War comrades, and changes the cause of the early conflicts. The two tell different versions of the same campaign arc; combining their scenes into one chronology would create events that do not occur in either version.
Related missions and character links
Chayton's story is spread across the Act II: Shadow scenario pages. A Reckoning introduces the earlier relationship with Holme, Claims revisits that connection during the Black Hills gold rush, and the final Battle of the Greasy Grass follows the conflict with Custer. The character's family links return to Nathaniel and Amelia Black from the earlier acts. Reading the individual mission entries alongside this biography clarifies which events belong to the original version and which were rewritten for Definitive Edition.
A character whose ending remains uncertain
The original campaign does not confirm whether Chayton died at Wounded Knee or built a family in the Black Hills. Definitive Edition retells the story with different relatives and motivations rather than resolving that uncertainty through a single shared canon. His biography is best read as a summary of two game narratives, with each scenario page identifying the version's mission events.
Campaign biography and gameplay scope
Chayton's biography describes a campaign protagonist; it does not define a standard playable civilization or unit. His story is followed through Act II: Shadow's missions, where the Falcon Trading Company and Lakota communities provide the campaign setting. Use the scenario entries for exact mission objectives, starting troops, and enemy forces, and keep the original and Definitive Edition narratives separate.
Protagonist of The WarChiefs campaign
Chayton Black is the protagonist of Act II: Shadow in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs. He is Amelia Black’s son and Nathaniel Black’s grandson, with Lakota heritage through his father. As the final owner of the Falcon Company, he begins the campaign expanding west along the Bozeman Trail. The story places him between the company’s business interests and his concern for the land and Lakota communities as conflict escalates around gold in the Black Hills.
From the Black Hills conflict to the Lakota alliance
In the campaign, Chayton encounters the conflict surrounding Fort Laramie, Billy Holme and the Lakota leaders Red Cloud and Crazy Horse. His decisions shift as the miners’ actions undermine the prospect of peace: he first protects workers and company operations, then rejects an order to destroy a Lakota village and allies with the Lakota against the fort. Later missions continue through the confrontation involving General Custer and the Battle of the Greasy Grass. These events belong to the scripted campaign narrative and should not be treated as ordinary skirmish diplomacy or civilization mechanics.
Character continuity and Definitive Edition
Chayton’s identity continues the Black family story while bringing the campaign’s focus to Lakota history and the westward expansion of the Falcon Company. The Definitive Edition voice is performed by Kalani Queypo, while the original release used Josh Keaton. Mission objectives, allied forces and units change with the scenario, so consult the individual campaign entries for mission goals and use the Lakota page for standard civilization rules.