Woad Raider

Partial

unique · Castle · castle Age

Celt unique infantry. Fast for infantry, good at raids and at catching siege.

Idle Villager is current for Update 177723, with minor updates through 180059. Facts on this page were checked on 2026-09-19. Counters are not unconditional. Numbers, upgrades, terrain, and micro change the fight.

What it does

Raid woodlines and dive Onagers. Let Siege Onagers win the fair fight.

Strengths

Train time 10 seconds.
Catches siege.
Celt infantry speed bonus.

Weaknesses

Low pierce armor.
No Squires on Celts, but the civ bonus already speeds infantry.

Strong counters

Strategic advice built on verified armor classes and unit access. Not unconditional.

Archer · cost-effective · can win in equal numbers
Low pierce armor. Archers farm Woads.
- Speed can still reach a small archer group.
- Celt siege behind them.
Knight · cost-effective · can win in equal numbers
Knights win the 1v1. Woads win the raid if Knights are elsewhere.
- Halberdiers on the Celt side.

Situational counters

None published in this category yet.

What it counters

No published reverse rows yet. Use the strengths list above.

Why matchups work

Speed and train time create map pressure. Archers still farm low pierce armor.

Line, cost, and age

Verified fact from the aoe2techtree dat extract. Base stats, no civ bonuses.

Woad Raider line stats
Unit	Age	HP	Attack	Range	Armor	Cost
Woad Raider	castle	70	11 melee	0	0/1	70f 25g

Upgrades

Celt infantry speeddark Age
+5/10/15/20% movement by age.
Furor Celticaimperial Age
Siege +40% HP, not a Woad bonus.

Common mistakes when fighting it

Woads into mass archers.
Ignoring the actual Celt win condition, which is siege.

Supporting units

Civilization-specific exceptions

These sit on top of the generic matchup, not inside it.

Celts
Only Celts train Woad Raiders.
verified fact