Cavalry

* Is invulnerable while riding a horse
* Has permanent Weakness when not riding a horse
* Cannot use a bow/crossbow

## **Strategy**

Cavalry has an unbridled love for their horses, putting the life of their horse above their own. True to this, keeping your horse alive should be of your utmost concern. Keep a close eye on the health of your horse and have a plan for if it gets too low.

As a melee class, Cavalry’s largest concern while fighting is closing the gap between themselves and their enemy. This means they must rely on teammates that are able to wield ranged weapons to keep up the pressure while they move in.

The Riding Crop has multiple uses as a supportive tool. With it having Looting I and Cavalry being invincible while on a horse, Cavalry is well-suited for collecting resources from mobs for their team. Key targets should be cows for extra leather for books, chickens for extra feathers for arrows, and potentially spiders for extra string for bows.

Killing mobs while holding the Riding Crop will also grant Nimble Wheat. You can typically amass a respectable amount of Nimble Wheat by getting your Riding Crop early and killing animals on the surface while holding it. The wheat can be thrown while riding a horse to feed the horse, healing it 1 heart and consuming the wheat. This allows you to get more value out of your horses by planning brief tactical retreats to heal up.

In addition to this, the Riding Crop, being an iron hoe, is able to instantly mine leaves. This allows Cavalry to help its team collect apples quickly without having to worry about wasting too much iron on hoes that break. For best results, find a Roofed Forest biome where there tend to be large bunches of apple-dropping leaves.

## **Tips**

* Mobs cannot deal damage to you while on a horse, and they also won’t directly attack your horse. This means mobs like zombies and spiders are almost completely harmless. You should still be somewhat wary of creepers and skeletons though, as they may hurt your horse while aiming for you.

* Make sure you have a minimum of one horse egg set aside for when you’re ready to spawn your horse.

* When entering a fight, it is often worth having a backup horse eggs. If your horse dies and you’re quick, you might be able to spawn another one before your enemy is able to capitalize on your vulnerability.

* Eating an apple early in the game is typically worth it. This will give you your Riding Crop which can be used to get more apples and collect additional drops from animals. The horse egg can also be used early to safely collect string for bows and crossbows if your teammates are playing classes that can use them.

* Apples can only be eaten if your hunger bar is not full. It's often a good idea to allow yourself to not be at maximum hunger and/or eat foods with low saturation, like raw meat to allow yourself to eat apples as needed.

* Nimble Wheat does not heal your horse instantly, but instead gives it a brief Regeneration effect. The amount of Nimble Wheat thrown on your current horse will be remembered, and the amount of Wheat left for the horse to consume can be seen on your actionbar.

* Consider not throwing all of your Nimble Wheat at once. This can prevent wasting Nimble Wheat while your horse is at full health, or leaving yourself without any Nimble Wheat if your current horse dies.

* Nimble Wheat can also be fed to a horse while not riding it. This can potentially heal the horse much more quickly, at the cost of leaving yourself vulnerable. If considering this, the Wheat can also be crafted into hay bales which cost 9 Wheat to craft and heal a horse 10 hearts when consumed.

* Iron, Gold, and Diamond horse armor are luxuries that can never be guaranteed, but be sure to take them if you are lucky enough to find them in a dungeon, village, or ruined portal chest.

* When your horse takes damage, it will rear up its legs for a short period of time, restricting your movement. For this reason, be extremely wary of getting stun locked by ranged classes.

* Other classes cannot use the saddles your horses come equipped with. However, they can ride the horse if they have a saddle.

* If you are in dire need of leather, or a Pirate on your team needs to satiate their bloodlust, consider spawning a horse to be killed rather than ridden.

## **Notable Matchups**

### **Gladiator**

Upon throwing their trident, the Gladiator is able to move quickly and jump high for 2 seconds. If a Gladiator uses this ability to jump, you can often match their height with a well-timed jump with your horse, meeting them in air with a fully-charged axe hit. However, Gladiator's trident will return to their hand immediately if they land a successful hit. Skilled Gladiators will attempt to impale your horse multiple times in a row if you allow them to.

### **Rogue**

Hitting players on horseback can often be fairly difficult already, due to the horse's head blocking part of your view, and having less reach due to being higher up and thus farther away from your target. With Rogue's ability to cloak and become invisible, this weakness is amplified. Rogues can also use their Dagger to light your horse on fire, which can deal devastating damage if allowed to burn for its entire duration. Make sure to put out your horse's fire with a water bucket if you see it is on fire, and attempt to utilize your horse's consistent speed to chase down the likely-escaping Rogue.

### **Scout**

Your horse is a large target for the bow of an enemy Scout and is harder to hide behind cover. This means you can’t spend much time in the open or chasing them without risking your horse’s health.  As you will not be able to reach them while they are hovering above you, your goal should be to get them to come to you. Try tempting them into chasing you, then using your horse’s speed to turn and rush them when they are in a vulnerable position. And though you have more to shoot at, you can also dodge better than most other classes due to your horse’s speed, so don’t be too afraid to try and make an approach.

### **Trickster**

Despite being invulnerable to their poisonous Spikes while on your horse, Tricksters are still armed with a bow, and can potentially take down your horse before you're able to move in close. A charge across an open field will likely end in you not reaching the Trickster as they either take out your horse, or teleport away. Therefore, you should wait for them to get as close as possible before making your move, and utilize your horse's speed to dodge effectively during your approach. When they use their pearl, consider riding directly toward the magenta particles indicating where they will teleport to as opposed to the Trickster's current position. This will help to minimize the distance between yourself and them, putting you in melee range.

### **Warlock**

The imps of a Warlock will not be able to damage you or your horse while you are in the saddle, so you are well-equipped to take them out for your team.

### **Knight**

The slowness of the Knight magnifies your speed advantage over them, so your strategy should revolve around this. A hit and run or kiting strategy will allow you to minimize damage against you, and with slow move speed and no range, you can run away from them and spawn a new horse if needed with little risk.