A mix of Crossbowmen and Pikemen . The Crossbows deal the damage, and the Pikemen act as a "meat shield" to block the stairs.
The most frustrating unit to fight. A skilled player can kill 100 Swordsmen with 20 Horse Archers by shooting, running away, and repeating. The counter? Pikemen (who reduce horse speed) and Crossbowmen (who one-shot them). Horse Archers lose defensively; they must never stop moving.
But numbers were not the only measure of a fortress' fate. Salim had an odd assortment of weapons that feasted on assumptions. On the eastern parapet, old engineers had converted a stable of broken tools into a ragged catapult of their own. It lacked the clean geometry of a Crusader trebuchet, but in the chaos of stone and smoke it made up for elegance with surprise. Its payload shattered a supply cart and sent a cloud of millet and sand into the air; for a moment the Crusaders choked on the unexpected. Humiliation is a weapon.
: Often cited as the best ranged unit due to having 4x the damage of an archer . They excel at piercing armor, making them the hard counter to Pikemen and Swordsmen. However, they have a shorter range and a slower reload time.
