Yoruba Eso Rider
Yoruba Eso Rider is fast heavy cavalry with unusually strong ranged resistance and a serious time-based drawback. It loses hit points continuously until only one remains.
Recorded values
- Available
- Commerce Age · Trading Post or Tambo on a Yoruba kingdom; Native Embassy
- Training
- 20 sec · 18 XP per train
- Durability & mobility
- 200 hit points · 55% hand resistance · 55% ranged resistance · 7.5 speed · 15 line of sight
- Siege attack
- 15 base damage · range 6 · attack interval 3.0-2.0
- Hand attack
- 35 base damage · attack interval 2.0-1.0 · bonus damage: 1.5x vs. Artillery; 1.5x vs. Infantry; 0.67x vs. Heavy infantry; 0.25x vs. Villager
- Trample attack
- 23.33 base damage · attack interval 2.5-1.5 · area of effect 3 · bonus damage: Same as hand attack
Role, availability & values
The unit has 55% ranged resistance and a 7.5 movement speed in its recorded profile, with strong hand damage. Its health loss of 0.75% per second continues over time, so waiting or leaving it idle steadily reduces its survivability.
Matchup & timing
Use it promptly after training: move directly toward a valuable engagement and avoid long detours or idle staging. Its mobility helps choose the fight, but the health drain means it should not be treated as a cavalry unit that can wait indefinitely for a perfect opportunity.
Current statistics and self-draining mechanic
The Yoruba Eso Rider is a Commerce Age native heavy cavalry unit. It costs 90 food and 90 coin, trains in 20 seconds, and is limited to five per Yoruba kingdom. It has 200 hit points, 55% hand resistance, 55% ranged resistance, speed 7.5, and line of sight 15. Its hand attack deals 35 damage, with a 1.5 multiplier against infantry and artillery, 0.67 against heavy infantry, and 0.25 against Villagers. The unit loses 0.75% of its maximum hit points each second until it reaches one hit point. As its health falls, its attack rate increases: hand attacks move from 2.0 toward 1.0 seconds, trample attacks from 2.5 toward 1.5, and siege attacks from 3.0 toward 2.0. The self-drain means the Rider becomes more dangerous but also increasingly fragile if the player leaves it in the field.
Training and native access
Yoruba Eso Riders are trained at a Trading Post or Tambo built on a Yoruba kingdom, or at a Native Embassy. They are native warriors rather than a normal stable unit, so the settlement imposes a small unit limit. Hausa can recruit them at Palaces and Native Embassies after choosing the Yoruba alliance when aging to the Industrial or Imperial Age. Haiti can receive them through African Roots, which adds Yoruba units to the random West Africa shipment pool and unlocks the Yoruba alliance at a Native Embassy. Their 20-second training time makes them arrive quickly once access is secured, but their double-resource cost and five-unit limit prevent them from replacing a standard cavalry mass.
Target selection and tactical window
The Rider is effective against infantry, especially light infantry, and against artillery. Its 7.5 speed lets it reach ranged units quickly; the 55% ranged resistance helps during the approach. Heavy infantry takes reduced damage, and the 0.25 multiplier against Villagers makes the Eso Rider a poor raider despite its speed. Its health decay makes long pursuits and drawn-out battles costly. Use it to strike a high-value target, then retreat or heal before the unit falls to one hit point. Trample attacks can hit a group, but its area damage and attack cadence are also tied to the remaining health. Combine it with ranged units that cover heavy infantry, and avoid leaving it unsupported after the initial charge.
Healing, garrisoning, and Yoruba Wrestling
Unlike many temporary or levied units, Eso Riders can be healed by healing units. Garrisoning one in a ship pauses its health loss, which can preserve it during a water crossing or while the army repositions. Yoruba Wrestling changes the health-loss mechanic by capping the decline at 25% of maximum hit points. This prevents the Rider from collapsing to one hit point, but also caps the attack-rate bonus: at the lowest retained health, its hand attack rate does not fall below 1.25, its trample rate does not fall below 1.75, and its siege rate does not fall below 2.25. The technology trades the most extreme burst speed for a safer, longer-lived cavalry unit. Research it when the Rider must remain in a sustained fight rather than serve as a brief shock attack.
Upgrade line and faction bonuses
Yoruba Warrior Societies costs 150 wood and 100 coin in the Fortress Age and upgrades Eso Riders to Elite with 25% more hit points and damage. Champion Yoruba costs 400 wood and 300 coin, adds 35%, and requires the first upgrade. Legendary Native Warriors later adds 50% for 1,500 food and 1,500 wood; African civilizations receive native warrior upgrades automatically and for free. The self-draining mechanic remains important after upgrades because the percentage is based on maximum health. Health improvements increase the amount of time before the unit is depleted, while healing and Yoruba Wrestling help manage its attack-rate and survival trade-off.
Managing the health timer
The health loss is continuous rather than an attack from the enemy, so an idle Eso Rider still approaches its one-hit-point floor. Keep the timer in mind while marching between fights. Healing can restore it, and a ship can pause the drain while transporting it; Yoruba Wrestling instead limits the maximum loss to one quarter of its health. The choice is between accepting a faster, more dangerous attack cadence at low health or researching the technology to preserve more health at a slower minimum rate.
Limit and reinforcement timing
The limit of five per Yoruba kingdom means the Rider is a short, high-impact reinforcement rather than a unit for continuous mass production. Train the group shortly before the planned engagement so its health timer does not consume the entire window while it waits at home.
Combat recovery
Once the Riders disengage, heal them before sending them back in. Resting alone does not stop their health loss, so waiting without a healer continues to shorten the combat window.
Ship transport
Garrisoning the Rider in a ship pauses the automatic health loss while it is aboard. This is a useful way to move the unit between shore engagements without spending its limited health before it reaches the target.
Timing a Yoruba alliance
Because Hausa access opens only when aging to the Industrial or Imperial Age, that route arrives later than direct access from a Yoruba kingdom. Use the alliance route when the higher-age reinforcement fits the army plan.
Decaying cavalry that accelerates as it weakens
Yoruba Eso Riders are temporary cavalry whose hit points decline over time. They are effective against light infantry and artillery, and their attack rate increases as their health falls. This creates a deliberate timing: send them toward valuable targets soon after they appear, while recognizing that waiting reduces their durability even if it improves attack speed. They are not a unit to hold indefinitely at the base or preserve for a later fight.
Choose an immediate target and protect the route
Eso Riders can overwhelm a light infantry or artillery position if they arrive with support, but their decay makes retreating for a long distance costly. Clear a route, select the target and engage while enough health remains. Keep them away from anti-Cavalry units and avoid wasting their limited lifespan on buildings or low-value chases. Their arrival source and numbers depend on the Hausa/Yoruba option that grants them, so plan around the timing shown by the selected card or production choice.