All 43 Civilizations Ranked Best to Worst | AoE2

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[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

Remember you can now access build order guides and exclusive content through my patreon! www.patreon.com/heraaoe2 Edit: romans in mid-high C tier. Good on land maps but sometimes awkward to play. Pretty bad on water

[@MusicaBrunoC]

U could have use that last minute for this 11

[@markluk8490]

Hera: How Hoang pick the worst civ in the game and still able to kill you

[@tomyrobinson3196]

Sicilians: Am I a joke to you?

[@ObiwanNekody]

Because Hoang doesn't need silly things like flexibility. He ends the game well before that matters.

[@ashmonkey2572]

Hoang clearly the goat of the game. Has reached the highest elo ever and won countless stier tournaments.

[@PremiumToad]

Noob

[@TheSpiritedFendron]

Who

[@cypherusuh]

"this civ is amazing in open maps, great in water maps, amazing eco and tech tree. it actually viable for any types of games and counters all civ. absolutely solid civ overall. I'll place it on mid C tier"

[@Ssquake]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@dariussonofjazzlin7433]

Boy, am I glad this wasn't an hour long video. <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3595">59:55</a> feels just right.

[@anthonyfontanetta4966]

Always like when a tier list appears normally distributed like this one is. 👍 Too many other lists fill S tier and A tier and leave C and D practically empty

[@QuintemTA]

Even distribution is nice or with a reasonable bell curve.. When the average that is B or C has the least things in it, it's a bit questionable.

[@ZaraTay88]

it's because they're p*ssies

[@smallpseudonym2844]

@@QuintemTA Just means it's a large negative skew - a bulge at the top and a long "negative" tail. In fact, game development is a perfect example of when we would expect skew. Skew is a result of a force acting on the sample. In this case, developer efforts to have all the civs/characters/heroes/classes feel strong.

[@bluedistortions]

I'm going to make a tier list of tier lists. Hera goes in "S" tier. All other tiers are empty as I haven't seen any others. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@camwardart]

@Hera I just got a buddy from another game I played to give age a try. Hes starting with some bot matches and working his way up to online. Thought you would like to know first place I pointed him towards learning the game was your channel! I've said it before but you contribute a lot to the AOE community and (I think I can speak for a lot of us) we appreciate it so much!

[@DrJacobsMD]

Love tier list and tier list update videos! So much helpful information!

[@aspirenux8599]

I love yours tier lists. Next team tier lists, please .

[@Igor369]

And then tier list of Hera's tier lists.

[@ryanforgo3500]

I am curious about this, i personally find buegundians in 1vs1 a broken as fuck civ team bonus BECAUSE ea h relic is abiur 1 late gold vil- 1.5 food vil "about 3 vils early castle" So it feels like burgundians can rush relics which gives 3 vils lead per relic at early castle, and so the relics give as much of advantage as a tc would in some sense but without pop. I also find byzantine the second most op 1vs1 against skirms "matter of fact 1 byz monk can outheam like 5 skirms " so it is such a cool civ bonus. Some underreted civ bonuses are persians too, as knights witb persian bonus kill archers same hits as fully upgraded castle knight can COMPLETELY skip forging and iron casting vs crossbows to get same result as any other knight OR you get both to reduce number of hits by 1 Max tech 14-2 armor = 12 multiplied by 3 = 36 in 3 hits, everyother kngiht needs 4 " 12-2 =2 so 4 hits or no iron casting is 11 -2 =9 also 4 hits" Only persians kill xbows in 3 hits at max tech which to me sounds like it can flip a fight. 3 hits are as good as bulgarians 33% speed 4 hits.

[@joranfokker7477]

​@@ryanforgo3500 bro made a whole essay

[@jon3s3n94]

on april fools he can do a tierlist tierlist where he ranks all of his tierlists

[@ryanforgo3500]

@@joranfokker7477 sure, it's aoe if you don't make an essay you don't know what you are talking about :p

[@Tobotimus]

Nice outro bro On Sicilians - if you think about it, if the donjon is not viable (which it isn't), they basically have no civ bonuses until castle age, other than reduced bonus damage, which in Feudal age only marginally helps in the few circumstances where you want to fight a spear with your scouts.

[@interalf6730]

the sicilians used to be overpowered initially. but they nerfed it to balance it but i think they made it to weak.

[@Mattroid99]

​@@interalf6730They have never been overpowered. They were strong because of Hauberk and 50% bonus damage reduction Cavaliers, but their tech tree was designed around that 50% and once it got reduced they completely fell apart.

[@victorsunah4626]

Really like your civ tier lists! Keep up the good work! Hera I have a question... in your opinion, should tatars have bombard cannon? considering they have hand cannoneers and bombard towers.

[@nilayvyas668]

Another great video! Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective.

[@dylandooley5357]

Huns at D had me so shook and then I heard all your reasoning and was like… “dang, he might just be right”

[@EllisvanJason]

Love your totorials lately! Would be nice if you can do it once for team games (2v2,3v3…) (for low & high elo and for close & open maps)

[@danieltravelstead]

Can you a quick list like this but for teams? I liked how you went over everything but the dynamic of team games is often different and civs that may be weaker I think are more top tier

[@lincolnvolk7609]

Good video! I think a list of what maps your considering would be nice, there are just so many maps and not knowing how much you’re valuing each map makes it hard for me to think and agree or disagree with the points made

[@jorsonroctel5768]

I would LOVE this for 4v4 team games

[@ThatElephantSeal]

Theres a lot of power creep ive noticed with new civs vs some of the original AoK civs. AoK was all I played for some 15 years before I moved to HD/Definitive. I wasn't even aware of the conquerors expansion until years later which Im sure will sound stupid lol But Its really sad seeing Britons, Celts, and Franks so low these days. (Especially Celts) They may not have been that great even back then, but they were my favorite to play. Nowadays its really hard, they dont get nearly enough tech flexibility or bonuses

[@Divination432]

Would love to see you do a series on "How To Beat _______". Some of those S-tier teams (especially the Mongols) are terrorizing the ladder currently.

[@sourathghosh5170]

@ Hera , I am a 1300 elo player and lately have been finding an unusual amount of success with pure mongol elite steppe lancers. Imo halberdier just doesn't counter it. I did some testing and the mongol elite steppe lancer ALWAYS wins the 1 vs 1 fight (against generic halbs) with ~4 Hp remaining. In a group of 30 they seem kill a groups of 30 halbs better than what 30 paladins do... and they are wayyy cheaper than paladin, cheaper to upgrade too and it seems easy/faster to get to 200 pop(~120 vills + 80 steppe lancers) compared to opponents going knights or archer +halbs. What are your thoughts and can u make a video on how to counter ~80 elite steppe lancers.

[@rahuldsouza1985]

Tatars and berbers can beat Mongols

[@adamgarbaczewski]

Goths are ADVANCING 😱 They got above Spanish now, I'm looking forward to see them being S+ tier.

[@skipper472]

They are S+ tier in low elo closed maps.

[@adamgarbaczewski]

@@skipper472 True

[@Boj-Anivia]

recently started to play them and I mostly enjoy their Dromons! Their Navi-Onagers :D you can really surprise them with a sneaky harbor and destroy their whole coastline!

[@AmpedIcky]

@<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="2560">42:40</a> Big brain play. Realizes the video will go over an hour at this rate, ups his econ, and finishes with a cool calculated 5 seconds on the clock at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3595">59:55</a>. Best play I've ever seen.

[@janpala5922]

What civ would you recommend learning as my very first civ for all round playing? With my friend or solo. Some middle ground. Thanks!!! Love ur vids, subbed

[@stripedturtle7589]

Nice rant at the end. 😂 love your work Hera thank you.

[@antonharai4665]

Any list without Teutons on S-tier is a wasted opportunity.

[@Boj-Anivia]

As I played Goths recently quite often i love their Dromons (their Navi-Onagers with 12 range) as you really can surprise the enemy Coastline and with a whole fleet shoot any incoming opponent!

[@matthewmcneany]

Would like to see a similar Team Game ranking.

[@justincronkright5025]

For the Mayans they need to make a Mediaeval version of the Bouncing BomB - just have a Treb switch to another alternate form that bounces a rock along the ground like in LotR & crashes threw enemy siege and infantry. It's not quite grape-shot, but it's along the same lines for doing AoE damage!

[@SK83R4HIM]

I've been hoping for this video!!

[@skimmers]

Teutons as D tier is wild lol. love the content but i could see you winning every fight with them and their seige and how they destroy pladdins and heavy units. w content ur easily the best aoe yt

[@ivotjalma9704]

So where do you place Romans? You mentioned that you will place them but did not see it in the video

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

Pinned comment, my bad i forgot about em

[@kremepye3613]

​@HeraAgeofEmpires2 where would you put em though!?

[@naveendennis]

Hera is indirectly implying that no one knows yet 😂😅😅

[@albertgodoyhernandez2181]

Would Bulgarians work with the comp Hussar + HCA? They have all techs inc. Parthian Tactics for HCA, except ring archer armor. Would that be a good enough answer to Halbs?

[@ottowirtanen]

Hey, good stuff Hera. Just an idea, how about sometimes starting in reversed order. Takes forever to wait for the Teutons always :)

[@MermDaddy]

Sad to see the Huns so low but hard to argue with you. On open land maps they can be snowbally in that late castle age point where the wood savings have actually kicked in but for most of the game they feel really lackluster. I think they need another bonus or maybe just tech tree opened up a little bit.

[@sturmgewehr4471]

This is a top players perspective, for average players no house bounus still makes them top tier civ

[@naveendennis]

“I don’t want this video to be an hour long” - Hera ** foreboding**

[@ezrahn]

C'mon, it's only 59 mins 55 seconds long...

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

LMAO

[@Felix_EN]

"Imma try to go a little faster, I don't want this video to be an hour long" Video: <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3595">59:55</a> Nailed it

[@Felix_EN]

Nice outro btw

[@slothner943]

Can you make one tierlist with teamgames to? Or maybe rank 4v4 combos?

[@jdinnen1]

I rediscovered this game recently after playing it religiously when it first came out and I was a teenager. So, I'm a noob once again. It's interesting to see how people that are really good at the game value each civ. I'd say that a beginner list would be quite different.

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

I have a beginner list on youtube u can find it! Welcome back to aoe2

[@jdinnen1]

@@HeraAgeofEmpires2 just watched it. and yeah. it's very different. Great videos. keep up the good work.

[@tuxness]

Got to the end club. Best outro i’ve seen in my life.

[@iwersonsch5131]

Could you make a tier list of the best and worst closed maps? Including e.g. Arena, Fortress, Regicide Fortress, Aftermath, Hillforts, ZeWall, Hideout, Bypass, Fortified Clearing, Oasis, 1v1 Blackforest, 4v4 Blackforest, 1v1 Blackforest but with 4v4 layout, Amazon Tunnel, FFA Amazon Tunnel, Michi, and Michi with 2 paths through the flanks

[@alexandrarakelov959]

Love Hera for the outros like that😂😂

[@dustyacer]

Regarding lithanians, the identity crisis doesnt exist in teamgames s much as people get a lot elss relics. If your team doesnt need your army as much, u could just go straight 3 tc + monks and get all the relics since its a low priority in teamgames. And the non synergy u state i feel like is more of a getting lith choices.

[@naveendennis]

Content idea: Civ Tier list per map as a KZbin playlist/series

[@connors.1430]

Loved the outro haha

[@floriss9]

awesome ending hera, you nailed it

[@Scarface693]

Can you do best Pocket/Flank combo civs? Also why was this video so short?

[@pbsoccer2]

The speed of malay scout rush when optimized is highly underrated

[@krystofcisar469]

Faster with less resources...

[@herotalib9556]

@@krystofcisar469 I think you dont understand what optimized means. It doesnt mean faster and less resources. In case of Malay it means FASTER and MORE Resources. Since its takes you less time to click up you can make an extra or 2 villager and then go up. I will even RISK not taking loom since the uptime isnt that bad and will be way ahead. Yeah might not have that surprise factor that mongols or khmer have (I mean is it really even a surprise everyone expects it) but you can make non stop scouts while having amazing FARM eco. Able to get to blacksmith sooner and commit on longer feudal age (Which you always should since going up to castle so fast for you its worth it). You always get to castle first then and imp too. Malay are just broken atm. Honestly just play Malay and you will wins game you really shouldnt at your elo.

[@jennystrandqvist1568]

Got to the end. Great video. Huns will have its revenge!!! Perhaps you forgot they have the mangonel-ship on water maps now -_-

[@tuxness]

Catching the latest civ tier list within 30 mins of it being published? Today is going to be a good day.

[@erikvanheijningen8938]

1 question. Are your Tierlists based on pro players? I found out that looking at the stats, Vikings are currently one of the best trough winrates on arabia for elo 1000-1200. But you rank them as c? Love your work , Big fan!

[@crabby112]

I recently bought the DE. Had like over 15 year hiatus of the game. Possible to add timestamps? so when I come back I can easily check ur thoughts on civs.

[@afromammoth579]

Hello Hera, I wanted to ask what do you think would be a good change to Huns. You ephasized clearly how they are not great in today's meta. Do you think reverting the Cavalry Archers discount to the original AoC one( 10%/20%-> 25%/30%) would make them top tier again or these days cav archers alone are too weak to do it? In latter case what other changes could be done here?

[@antoninreboulet9285]

I think the biggest weakness of huns is camels. Camels actually destroy a bunch of classic civs, to the point I think something like adding +2 VS camels to scorpions would help see more scorps and give all civs an option against camels

[@Mattroid99]

I'd give them Steppe lancers and extend their cheaper cav archer bonus to them as well. So weird that a supposed raiding civ lacks them, and cheap SL is not something we have in game already

[@smugshrug]

AoE 2 Mongols could teach the AoE 4 Mongols a thing or two..

[@PhoebusG]

What's AoE 4, can you eat it? =D

[@heikowesterich3810]

Where would u put Romans? (You forgot to do the add them in. Even thou you said at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="101">1:41</a> you would at them at them end)

[@mikelivingood7797]

Made it to the end, surprises IMO, Italians quite high I looked at TCI and sure enough Hera won with them and lost against them. I will keep my eye open as I like the civ. Vikings and Spanish seem low. I recall Hera saying he was going to showcase the new missionaries but except for that one game, I have not seen much. A very good layout with good explanations all around.

[@alexanderzhen5914]

Also, huge love for these tierlists Hera!! ❤❤

[@awesome283]

I thought the ending was fine. And I really like tier list videos.

[@josegatica6599]

A good work as always man! Keep it goin'

[@Frozen_Sorrow]

Sicilians need a power Cav unit that fit their Norman origins. Probably something like Coustillier.

[@richardgallimore5976]

I like how balanced your tier list is. Many times when people make stuff into a tier list they don't have the least amount of items in S/D, the second least in A/C & the most in B, which always seems off to me. Really solid outro! Not going to lie, this kind of makes me want to come up with good strats for the D tier Civs & pick them, haha.

[@quasibrodo923]

I've given a lot of thought with Bulgarians. I'd try giving them SL. If they go feudal scouts and don't get damage down, they can easily transition to SL in castle age and try again. It also gives them another strategy beyond a krepost drop. With Stirrups their SL would be pretty good. in imperial age, you could have THS w Bagains, w a backline of Elite SL w Stirrups as a composition option. What other comp would really utilize both UTs? sure, I guess you could use THS, back them with CA, skirm, or scorps, and on the sides you're raiding with Hussar. But in a comp when would you be getting full use out of both UTs? Cavaliers and Konniks take up the space a THS would be fighting, but SL can fight from behind. Giving Bulgarians SL doubles down on their aggressive identity, doubles down on their cav identity and in a way that better compliments their infantry, doubles down on their nomadic roots, and gives them a pretty unique comp.

[@NebraskaSXHC]

Back in my day 1v1 Huns Arabia was king and now they D tier 😢

[@oninada]

Nice save on the awkward comment after the outro that lead into the real outro. Also, kind of agree on the last point you made about the 1h mark. The video should be either under 1h or 20+ minutes over.

[@Synophic]

also can you do a team ie 2v2 or more rating?

[@Skyace13]

Got to the awkward end. Solid video

[@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm]

Will you ever do a tier list for Team up civs?

[@diffigawesomedick6986]

Best outro ever! Since it is bellow 1h, I got that time ;)

[@dustyacer]

So imo Berbers is quite good on nomad maps, obviously vills move faster. ship spd helps in normal nomad. There castle drop UU is okay, camel archers counter many common UU civ strats (ie. mongols, koreans, spanish). knight rush is also pretty strong as well. When LN was in teamgame pool, berber was highest wr, ik that is teamgames though, i do want to see some 1v1 for it eventually (but rip nomad style maps in 1v1). Also really strong in african clearing(top 5) and normal nomad they are like a top 5-10 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="600">10:00</a> do bulgarians really lose to halbs? konniks do better than most calvary vs halbs and their calvalier and hussar kill them faster. Their skirms and HCA are FU except last armor which doesnt matter except for archers for the most part, they'll probably have units in front. Skirms with only 2nd armor still do ok vs archers. And finally they have cheaper siege upgrades, so heavy scorps are a great counter. Also they can just go their 2hs which have like 9 melee armor. I kinda agree with Huns. Ive always kinda though they were kinda meh. I do mainly teamgames i think they are better there.

[@mertyilm_z]

Hahaha loved the outro

[@luhyonel]

Thanks for the vid! Not sure how difficult it is to add bookmarks on the videos but it’d be nice to have it for the Tier List vids

[@SLDimarco]

To all those watching, bear in mind that rankings are very elo-dependent, and I am not sure of the target elo for Hera's advice, I assume it's for higher elo players given this is Hera. Take the Aztecs and Celts as an example, Celts have a much higher win rate than the Aztecs for 1100+ elo, about a 5% difference in favor of the Celts, which doesn't quite square up with A v. D tier, but then for the

[@midnight_hih]

"I don't want to have this video be hour long " <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3595">59:55</a> Nice

[@darkranger116]

What if Sicilians got Norman Chevaliers as a new Unique Unit in Imperial Age? Anti-cav spear wielding knights on fast horses (using Robert Guiscard's model for reference)

[@GreetTheSacredCow]

"Next we've got Slavs, I think Slavs are gonna be a solid civ..." D tier lmao

[@IHittusl]

I MADE IT TO THE FUCKING END. great vid hera, thanks for it mate

[@chrisharcar]

You mention Bulgarians not having an answer for Halbs, but can’t they go Cav Archer/hussar late? Sure they miss last archer armor but they get everything else. With the hussar bonus it seems strong.

[@spectre9065]

You are investing a lot into non-fully upgraded Cavalry Archers to counter trash. And Bulgarians' eco bonuses are subpar. Though I'm inclined to say Bulgarians' weakness is Cavalry Archers more than Halbs.

[@brutalarmy4179]

you could say: thank you for watching, I'll see you next time, peace!

[@The-jy3yq]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1523">25:23</a> Fun fact: Goths have fully upgraded Cavalry Archers.

[@LongLiveGojira]

am i crazy or are there only 42 civs listed here and the romans are missing and this was published way after "return of rome" and the romans were released?

[@VioletPrism]

Hype for the outcome :0

[@indnwkybrd]

Kinda hard to argue about the Huns. The only thing your take was really wrong about was anticipating it would get lots of argument here in the comments lol. On top of the general overall power creep... IMHO, the downside to Huns' no-houses bonus has also gradually grown more significant over the decades. Back when Huns were first added in AoC, the meta was very different, people were just not as good at the game as they are today, and not being able to use houses for stuff like walling your base or quickwalling was just less of a drawback. I'm curious: do people think it would be a + change to give Huns the ability to build houses which just don't really do anything but have HP and take up space? Personally, I don't think so, bc (a) not having houses is part of Huns' long-standing unique identity as a civ, like with the Chinese starting w 6 vils, and bc (b) it could be confusing / detrimental for newer players who might end up building them when they don't need to & wasting wood.

[@niklask7635]

So I haven't been playing in some weeks. What happened to Roman's?

[@jurienkoster1340]

You broke my heart with the Sicilians.

[@vinconssier4224]

got to the end, was awkward, loved it

[@nemes1s_aoe]

This list looks accurate if you had to pick one civ for 21 maps of say TCI. But from drafting perspective for a TCI bo21, some B tier civs could be higher.

[@silentgloria]

5 out of the 6 D‐tier civs are infantry ones, I do feel bad for them Keepo At least Malay #1 are carrying the torche for infantry goodness.

[@darkbeetlebot]

Having played only the HD version of the game, I never noticed the huns getting power crept. Though as a bit of a casual, the huns are one of my favorites simply because I'm slow and the saved time from not having to build houses lets me actually keep the town center pumping out villagers with reckless abandon. It's nice for snowballing economy early on, at least as long as the enemy isn't rushing.

[@multitalentedman1284]

Your tier lists have somewhat special place in my heart xD 11%100 agreed.

[@patrickbonnette1701]

They should give the celts another unique unit that's kinda tanky. Call it the claymore warriors

[@manuelurschel3953]

Hey guys, can someone Tell me how I can book a coaching by hera? I want to give it as a birthday present to a friend

[@mrgreatauk]

That outro was the true S tier

[@isaiahmacdonald1922]

Really glad I clicked on this 59 minute and 55 second video.

[@thomasstephens1403]

Got to the end, thanks gonna main khmer now

[@fwosti3548]

For Vietnamese, since shared exploration was made standard for ranked games this translates to even easier <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="0">00:00</a> game-time scouting for everyone. It has translated into them basically having two team bonuses. Additionally, on certain maps like nomad start maps and water maps the <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="0">00:00</a> scouting of the enemy town centers is utterly invaluable. I'm very happy to see you placing them so high.

[@evanmartin333]

I think Vikings, Huns and Teutons are all underrated here

[@timoschmonsees2652]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="490">8:10</a> what extra armor for briton skirms?

[@konradpyszniak976]

I would love to see Huns getting a pillage ability as a civ bonus. Simply you get small % of res for destroying buildings of your enemy. That would fit with the theme of civ as Tarkans are suppose to be strong vs structures.

[@luispalacios2525]

Kechiks already have that hability

[@konradpyszniak976]

@@luispalacios2525 in gold only and its only one UU. For Huns could be for all units and gives mix res

[@The-jy3yq]

Maybe merge that with _Marauders?_ Y'know, Tarkans could have that by default and then you could just get it on the whole army(prolly only melee) similar to Chieftains

[@Poomcha]

someone teach this man how to make good use of lighting

[@PhoebusG]

Got to the end and never learned about the romans, is it bottom of the list? :D Been playing Turks and trying to finally build my ranked score. Focusing on them for now, yes mongols kick my butt often. Malay were also a tough nut in my experience so far.

[@PhoebusG]

ok just saw the pinned post :D

[@AndyGaro]

I love you Hera

[@GolanL]

May the KZbin algorithm be with you

[@sergiochoc4000]

new subscriber what is the meaning of abcd and s? sry and Hera your awesome!

[@marcnino1332]

S being the best and d the worst