Best Civilizations in AoE2 (2023)

A compilation of the best civilizations in Age of Empires 2 updated for 2023, including everything from best for beginners to best on a variety of popular maps.
1:05 Best win rate overall (last 6 months)
2:12 Best for new players & beginners
4:10 Top 5 1v1 Arabia 1200+ elo
6:00 Team meta summarized
6:40 Best flank civs (team games)
7:25 Best pocket civs (team games)
8:25 Best arena civs
10:28 Best black forest civs
11:20 Best nomad civ
11:42 Best hybrid map civs
12:15 Best water map civs
__________________________________________________________
Patreon: / spiritofthelaw
Background music from Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com
Game: Age of Empires II Definitive Edition

[@matthewmartin3787]

I like Poles, not because they are the best but because they have a 3x3 mill so farms fit around it *perfectly*.

[@paterson90]

Also their knights are very cheap so you can spam those to rush or defend your base!

[@ramanand5187]

My OCD brain is happy

[@DutchAver]

I prefer the Khmer - no mill needed whatsoever!

[@peterlarson233]

The Poles economy bonus is the size of their mill. It could have worse stats than a regular mill and I would still prefer it.

[@NestorKYAT]

On the one hand I agree, but on the other hand i like the helix shape with 8 farms around normal mills

[@RaynmanPlays]

It's quite an impressive feat of game design that a game with so many civilizations has so many different civilizations rated in top 3 for different situations.

[@ShogunPlasma]

You sure about that? Hindustani, Franks, Teutons, and the Huns were repeatedly on the list for multiple sections for the first half of the video. There's also a bunch of unmentioned civs too that I think are decently good, but get overlooked.

[@ax0r]

Map design plays a big big role in aoe2 meta, which makes everything refreshing: new map pools, different civs reign

[@ElectronicShredder]

It just took 20+ years 😂

[@Cysubtor_8vb]

I only play casually against the computer, so it's always interesting to see how the online meta is evolving.

[@LuciferosDad]

Same, I just got to beating moderate bots in 1v1’s

[@arcadeius7817]

Meta should not exist in gaming

[@SH-mt2xo]

@ARCADEIUS if a game can be played with other people in a competitive fashion the establishment of a meta is inevitable. You don't have to participate in the meta if you don't want too of course

[@AgentForest]

@@arcadeius7817 I mean, in terms of balance, the GOAL is to have everything so balanced that there isn't a "best civ", but competitive environments will always try to optimize wherever they can, and eventually find the imbalances. This is why balance fixes come out regularly in most competitive games. To try to address the inevitable.

[@AgentForest]

I just never enjoyed competitiveness myself. I only really play bot matches, or among friends. In pretty much every game, not just Age of Empires. I used to play League of Legends and was climbing the ranks as a support main, then realized, "I'm so much more stressed doing this than just goofing off against bots." And I just walked away from ranked and never looked back, lol.

[@henryparsons4750]

Chapters! [1:08] Best Overall [2:16] Best for New Players [4:09] Best 1v1 Arabia 1200+ [5:56] Explanation of Team Rankings [6:42] Best Team Flank [7:26] Best Team Pocket [8:16] Best Arena/Closed [10:30] Best Black Forest [11:18] Best Nomad [11:42] Best Hybrid Map [12:16] Best Water Map

[@MusicWizard85]

Since no one else took the time. THANK YOU kind sir! However he has time stamps in the video description. 🙂

[@TheCleontios]

I am a new player playing on Xbox and your videos have been extremely helpful! Enjoying your content.

[@zeroyuki92]

Welcome to the community! How is the gameplay and multiplayer on Xbox so far, if you have tried them?

[@TheCleontios]

@@zeroyuki92 Thanks, the controls are pretty intuitive and well done, I am just slow. I turned off crossplay for multiplayer to level set a little bit and its been really fun. I will turn it back on eventually, but for now I am getting ranked games in 2 minutes or so. The auto-economy feature seems like a blessing and a curse so I am trying to figure out when is optimal to use it. It is really fun on console and the AoE2 community has been fantastic.

[@hescamping5982]

@@TheCleontios go to interface settings and change interface to advanced. Lets you customize the auto economy. Super useful bro

[@TheCleontios]

@@hescamping5982 I appreciate it! I will check that out.

[@russodazonasul]

I also play 1v1 on Xbox, both gamepad only and cross play ladders. Enjoying it a lot.

[@utk8718]

i dont even play AOE2 online but i love these videos

[@teddyhaines6613]

I actually think Byzantines are the best 4 lakes civ at the moment, because it's the perfect fire galley map and they win all remotely even fire galley fights. It also helps that they have extremely good matchups against the other top 4 lakes civs in late game, especially Japanese and Huns, whose limited late game tech trees leave them helpless against the Byzantine counter unit spam.

[@mend129]

fire galleys still can be countered by demos, its not a fire vs fire thing and mostly its hard to pressure lakes without land units and good eco. japanese have wood saving and fishing ship bonus, huns have wood saving and highly maneuverable army comp, thats the main reason those civs are better

[@teddyhaines6613]

@@mend129 Are they better, though? I'd point to the T90 Titans League results on Cross, where Byzantines mauled Huns and matched up favorably with Japanese as well. When I say 4 lakes (or Cross) is the perfect fire map, I also mean that demos won't tip things as much because your navy is divided between several ponds. So if you score a good demo and snowball an advantage in the fire war, you only get an edge on one pond. But with several to fight for, you'd need to invest more into demos to counter the fires in multiple areas. And stealth is also key on the map to sneak to enemy ponds and dock them, which is harder to do against Byzantines because of their free town watch. The thing about Japanese is that their bonuses taper off from castle age onwards. The wood savings become insignificant at that point, and their infantry isn't especially impactful either. And on land the entire civ dies to skirmishers plus gunpowder, which Byzantines excel at. For an example of this, watch the KotD4 semifinal between Vinchester and Liereyy, where in game 1 Vinch as Indians pushed Liereyy's Japanese with skirmishers, crossbows, hand cannons and bombards and Liereyy couldn't do a thing because Japanese options are so limited. And remember Byzantines could do the same thing even more easily with their cheap imperial age and cheap skirmishers. Huns for their part struggle against camels and struggle against halb-siege pushes, both things Byzantines also excel at. Furthermore, although their house bonus saves up wood for navy, the navy itself is completely generic, so you need to invest more to keep up with Byzantines or Japanese. If you want an idea of how badly Huns stack up against Byzantines in late game, watch the Hidden Cup 4 match between Ivaylo (The Viper) and John the Fearless (Hera). Viper had 5 relics to 1, a 40 villager lead for most of Imperial Age and turned in what many consider the best performance in AoE2 history and still struggled to pull out a win because Byzantine halb and camel spam was just that hard to stop.

[@yusufsaid]

Also, try Burgundians in four lakes. Early wood upgrade makes so much difference. I lure boar after the first sheep and use the extra food to get the wood upgrade right away. Then I can pump 2 or 3 dock fishing ships in the dark age. Then fast castle into 3 stables Cavaliers. About fire ships, the best solution is not to let opponent dock your pond. Make an outpost or stg

[@yusufsaid]

Plus you can get the second wood upgrade and gilnets right after clicking castle age, all with food discounts.

[@forsakenquery]

Yasama is a strong play on the 4 lakes water as your towers cover most of the area. Tower play gives Japanese the edge here until mid imperial where they fall off. That's bad when you are forced into a slow push but fine if it gets messy in late castle or early imp where your infrantry can push effectively. Once logistica and gunpowder comes out I admit Japanese are out of options, but I think they're a more consistent overall civ.

[@MemeKingGaming]

I have been getting back into the game since it just came out on Xbox after not playing for 10 years. Was watching the old best civs video yesterday from 4 years ago... Great timing 😂 I needed this, thanks!

[@JaceyAnnaB]

Love your work. Your videos are alway informative and your speaking tone, diction and pace are excellent.

[@manen.1350]

Man I love the poles. Everything about them from their unique hussar, chad miners, epic boom, fantastic castles and their versatility. One of the best civ additions ever.

[@djjazzyjeff1232]

I like them a lot too, but if you're against a crazy Paladin civ like Franks you can be in big trouble. Obuchs are like Pikemen but producing from 3-6 Castles can never keep up with production from 20+ stables even with Arbs to back them up and take advantage of the armor reduction. I've had trouble dealing with the meta Cav civs with Poles.

[@teddyhaines6613]

​@@djjazzyjeff1232 If it's an open map, then your opponent shouldn't be getting to paladins in a 1v1 if you've been able to play aggressively. Go all-in castle age if necessary and pressure the Frank player as he tries to age up so he won't have the resources for paladin when he gets there. Granted, I much prefer Poles on closed maps anyways and would rather play Chinese or Franks on Arabia. Honestly though, between the cost of the paladin upgrade and the savings you get from Szlachta I feel like even paladins should be beatable for the Poles. Forget obuchs or arbs, just outspam them with your cavaliers. Who cares how much better the paladins are 1v1, Poles of all civs couldn't care less about that. To be honest, even without that arbs are a bad choice once paladins hit the field. 7 pierce armor means they take 60 shots to kill a non-Burgundian paladin. Next to useless.

[@manen.1350]

@@djjazzyjeff1232 they're much better on closed maps. But I've found that Obuch trained very quickly that it's easy to mass them up. With arbs behind them they just strip paladin of all their armor and then the arbs easily take them out.

[@nicholase2868]

@@djjazzyjeff1232 pole Cavs beat most paladins with equal resources. So it depends on if you can out produce them.

[@TapeDeSpencer]

@@djjazzyjeff1232 got to remember you can get an upgrade to train obuchs in barricks

[@patricklml5811]

In general, civs with good cavalry that focus on cheapness, or quick food or gold gathering (in most cases), are going to be predominant.

[@nemosgaze]

omg this video feels like some sort of AoE2DE Civ Oscars award ceremony

[@anupammishra8374]

And the award for the worst civ goes to... Goths!

[@Level7Monkey]

Keep my civs name out your flipping mouth

[@JoshuaCL17]

@@anupammishra8374 Burmes and Dravidians: 💀

[@davidsanchez9310]

Love your content man, very informative videos. That’s dedication, thank you good sir. 😊

[@olivertate4983]

Always love to see a new SOTL upload :)

[@CasualWatcher279]

Thanks alot for this video, I've started getting back into AOE2:DE again and this has been some great insight to multiplayer and what to expect

[@Gueleric]

Loved the quick and to the point format !

[@TheRAMBO9191]

Perfect video! I just started age of empires 2 on series x again. Since I stopped playing steam. And I love it! Got an adapter and just plugged in mouse n keyboard.

[@kinbine_]

People sometimes mention powercreep from the dlc civs but this shows that the base are still strong as always

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

Usually new civs are very strong at launch (at least some of them), then are nerfed when their playstyle is figured out.

[@mrguysnailz4907]

Arena and maybe water are the exceptions for powercreep discussions imo

[@voidgods]

@@mrguysnailz4907 that's true, but at the same time they wouldn't nerf or buff any civ based on these maps, even the original ones, so they are guaranteed to be unbalanced

[@ihmpall]

To sell more dlc copies

[@kinbine_]

@@Duke_of_Lorraine yeah absolutely, but they are the exception as the initial state of a civ is usually modified later on

[@geneconnell4393]

It might surprise you to know that at university our engineering lecturer uses this video and sprit of the laws videos as examples of the best ways to compare different solutions objectively.

[@AlejandroIrujo]

Been waiting for this video, thanks SOTL!

[@Flem100DK]

Thank you. I love this kind of videos. Keep em coming :)

[@AlhiXD]

Hey,I'm really grateful for the ease of access to information you are giving. When you put up the banner with the win rate I was just begging inside my brain for the small civ bonuses/playstyle to show up on the same screen---and then it did. Seriously I'm not good at this game, i don't even PVP in it. I really just like to practice my build orders and make mistakes and see what happens. anyway---good job.

[@pointlessvidz13]

I played a lot of Civ 5 before getting into AoE2, and I've gotta say, I love that the Huns are great in this game too. Really helped me transition.

[@damiencook5957]

AoE2 came to Xbox like a week ago and I've put more hours into watching your videos, thanks for not giving up on one of my favorite games even though it's been a few years since release lol. I hope I can be on Hera and your level some day! subs*

[@some5crub]

Yaaaasssss!! So pumped to see a new video!

[@rodrigoarmijosepulveda6333]

Love the music back! ty for the video

[@Demyx79]

A friend recently gifted me AoE2 and I admit it's a ton of fun. Found your channel and it's been insightful on getting off the ground! So thank you!

[@elzorro.5923]

I played this type of game when I was a kid (Empire Earth, LOTR Battle for Middle earth). So I found out about this game a few days ago and played with the little knowledge I have and tutorial game... it's so impressive how this game caught all my attention to play with friends (takes hours to play a single match) but it's really fun. This tutorial really works 👌

[@grSuchtie19]

I would love to see a video covering the best Team-Bonus combinations or your opinion on the DS version of AoE2 and the trasition of the faktions from PC to DS

[@hbarudi]

Yes, I would like some help on getting all stars on certain scenarios on the ds version of the game.

[@JJBeauregard1]

Props to SotL for doing a video like this given that, in the past, he mentioned not being the biggest fan of meta play and set-in-stone build orders.

[@_jamessimmons]

Great format!

[@robertthurman9866]

Great video, thanks.

[@lukebutler7338]

Only been playing for 10 hrs so glad to find this definitely gonna try Huns franks and poles to see what fits me best

[@pspboy7]

Another SOTL vid is always good! :)

[@chrisl9112]

I'm surprised not to see the Gurjaras within the top 5 best 1v1 civs in general. I suppose the recent nerfs had their intended effect, even though they seemed a bit underwhelming to me at the time.

[@WulfieZi]

Was just watching your old video on this topic. Let's see how things have changed.

[@Undershield]

thank you for updating

[@badjoke_aoc2800]

Nice video. Ty

[@MrFunnyXD]

ty for the video !

[@JohndrewtheSylveonking]

Ey, nice to see Portuguese doing well for once. Probably one of my favorites due to having a rather open tech tree.

[@Gamer_Dad14]

Im loving the Gurjaras even with the bug im experiencing with the siege elephant.

[@zxylo786]

Can you do a top 5 civs for dead match/Ultra high res? I play almost always long games with very high res. So it would be good to know.

[@blackop3765]

I have to know, why were the Spanish not mentioned for team games? I feel like they're a very good all rounder and the team bonus is actually noticeable.

[@teddyhaines6613]

Obviously it depends on the map, but many team games end or (with aggressive play) could easily be ended before trade becomes a factor. Otherwise, they don't have an eco bonus and if you just want to go paladins you may as well pick Franks or something. On Nomad team games you definitely should go Spanish because conqs are still crazy there, but otherwise there are better options.

[@dirkauditore8413]

Spanish are definitely very good for Black Forest team games, with ther trade bonus and their deadly castle drops.

[@Flavourius]

"winning-iest" I don't need to know the content of this vid anymore because this single "word" already made my day.

[@naturalbornpatriot6369]

Cumans are underrated. Feudal age 2nd TC and siege workshop for rams, tack on men at arms and a few skirms and archers, a few spears too. Or late game just mass cav steppe lancers and cav archers with extra speed bonus. Great pocket Civ, and flank if you want to rush.

[@TheKisj]

I've loved the huns since the og aoe2, but it does have a major drawback with no need for houses, and thus changing civ can be tricky, since i forget to build houses.

[@macdam11]

Can you do a video about Monastery techs? I don`t have much feeling which techs are good and which ones to skip

[@teddyhaines6613]

Sanctity and Redemption are the most important castle age upgrades. With Redemption you can convert buildings and siege, which is a potent form of defense if the enemy tries attacking you with mangonels. And with Sanctity your monks can survive a mangonel shot to get the conversion off. These techs are also critical if you want to monk rush the enemy. In Imperial Age block printing is key, especially if you're still relying on Redemption monks to counter siege. They can't convert trebs without getting next to them, but they can convert bombard cannons and siege onagers, which wouldn't be feasible without the range advantage. Theocracy and Illumination are also nice, but only if you're using a lot of monks as part of your main army. Fervor is nice but not that important. Atonement is important if your opponent is also fighting with a ton of monks. I'd advise against Heresy unless your opponent has a ton of monks that you can't answer otherwise. Also, unless you're monk rushing or fending off mangonels, the monastery upgrades aren't that important besides sanctity. Monks are unique in that they do most of what you need of them even without upgrades, so focus on monk numbers before upgrades in most cases.

[@juicermcgooser3352]

GOATED video

[@deathbringer8719]

I always go for khamer in black forest. Unstoppable elephants and scorps to support them get a choke point and steamroll with rams

[@occido]

1vs1 I agree with the britons point on black forest, but 2vs2 I think it's pretty great. I once played it with a friend. The game lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes. opponents with solid spanish trade had earned a total of 238 540 gold, my friend and I had a grand total of 84 588 gold. My friend kept cavalry to destroy enemy siege/skirmishers while I kept a massive longbow army shooting anything drown from a safe distance. Slowly but surely we pushed them until their bases were destroyed

[@stevenfrye8953]

I’m glad so many people like this game again

[@globalmediagroup6805]

Big Fan Sir

[@Crudeliciousbops]

Me and my friend still play as Random civs on LUDIKRIS Arabia with Moderate DE AIs. We usually team against other teams and don’t go on the offensive until we have researched everything. Might sound boring to a lot of you, but we have our differences.

[@robertlewis6915]

Teutons. The ETK's style makes up for any 'practical' difficulties.

[@mickethegoblin7167]

Hey, as long as they get into hitting range....

[@bunyobnymn1483]

portugese is really strong both in arena or arabia. in arabia you can go feudal archer or scout rush 16 vills with loom or 17 vills without loom and keep your economy going. and you will have enough resources for lumber camp and mill tech before putting your farms. you dont even need to push deers. you can take fletching before attack or forging if you go scout rush. in arena organ guns will make the diffferent.

[@BSideWasTaken]

Oh Spirit it's sweet that you think it's the conquistadors that make the Spanish so highly ranked on Nomad but alas it is the infinite castle drop tact that has earned them that spot.

[@nikolaikolev7833]

Are Celts underrated? With great infantry and Siege Bonuses you can make quickly and cheaply a deathball of pikes and onagers. You have cavalry if needed and the wood bonus helps through Castle age a lot.

[@TheAgileFatman]

I bought the DE a couple weeks ago finally and when I was reading the new civs bonuses the Hindustanis seemed so broken

[@ahad1613]

Bro was just sailing through ur channel to find something just like this

[@Coltwhyte]

sometimes i just sit at civ pick screen for ages cant decide, not that i want whats best but there are just so many options xD

[@caioeduardo6660]

I would love to see what civs perform better in pro player games. Also can i consider an >2000 Elo a pro player?

[@Marco0203041]

0:43 The poor monk was left alone :(

[@letswaveabook3183]

I played a considerable amount of Black Forrest team games on the orignal and and I wanted to mention Persians. If you have a good lake (4 fish or more) on Black Forrest, you can take advantage of the starting resources to get the dock early. That kickstarts your eco which develops super quick with the faster working TCs. In those situations you can sometimes boom like crazy and clicking paladin at minute 30 or so (which is before some others reach imp). Also you have a different ace: the extremely pop efficient elephant.

[@andy_v2904]

Hi spirit of the law! Thanks for your content. I am still fairly new to the game and i have to say your videos gave me a great entry point into the game :) I have a content suggestion I wanted to share with you since you did the real world maps aoe video: A video that showcases the different civs in real life and links to what the civ can do ingame with pictures and stuff, like how could we tell that the mayans had good archers for example and stuff like that. leaning more to the history linking to game side if you are into that. anyways i dont want to tell you what to do i just thought maybe if you not already had the idea it might spark your interest. love your content, keep it on :))

[@AgentForest]

Personally, I think the Byzantines are the best civ for a new player trying to learn the game. Your buildings are durable, buying you time to make decisions. Your counter troops are also super cheap. This combo means that if your opponent attacks you first, you can actually have the time to make exactly what you need to fight off their attack, and barely dent your economy. This helps you learn the troop counters, practice amassing troops during a siege, and is consistent and reliable against most other civs and strategies. Once you finally push them back, eating at their gold reserves with your cheap trash units, you can start gathering your cataphracts and siege weapons to end the game. As an economy focused player, this civ saved me so many times. I could boom my economy, wall up, and make several barracks/archery ranges/stables. The other player almost always would attack before I had a serious army, so I'd just see what they brought, and make the counters. By the time they got through my wall, I had all the pikemen, skirmishers, and light cavalry I'd need to surgically dismantle their army. All the while setting aside my gold to make siege and heavy cavalry. I'd build up my real army, but keep using the trash to waste enemy gold until I knew they didn't have the power left to stop a real invasion. I don't play them as much now that I'm better at the game, but they're still a nice "old reliable" for when I don't know what I'm up against.

[@Logan00710]

Teutons too are one of the best civs to learn basics on defense and late game

[@AgentForest]

@@Logan00710 Not gonna lie, they were my first civ I ever really got into playing when I first got the game as a kid, lol. Then Byzantines grew on me for their versatility. Eventually I moved to Koreans, but the Onager range nerf they got (replaced their team bonus with a minimum range reduction) really hurt the strats I used. Couldn't use them in place of Trebs anymore to take down castles.

[@Logan00710]

@@AgentForest yes byzantines are very versatile, they lack on strong units excepts cataphracts on high gold but has variety and you can mix up very well on archers, anticavalry like camelsand halbs, ships and some others. lack bloodlines, but gets some others special skills

[@Doat1911]

Good points

[@georgebethanis3188]

I usually pick Byzantines. Build Cataphracts, and then support them with units that counter my opponents responce to my Cataphracts. Build 5-6 monks to heal them, and boom, easy win. Cataphracts counter so so many units, and very rarely get demolished by another civs army. They are fast, they can retreat from an unfavorable fight, and are very easy to support as they usually need just one other type of supporting unit to have a winning composition. A top civ, but it can get a bit boring after you've used that tactic mulitple times.

[@Logan00710]

well archers and siege can destroy catas with cavalrier, buy yeah you have one of best army compositions with cataphracts with camels, halberdiers and siege units and monks too

[@Dorfjunge]

Yesterday T90 showed an amazing Low-Elo-Legend hunting strategy! Could you PLEASE have a look at this and check the numbers? LeL-Meta incoming?

[@halbarad6924]

Never thought I'd live to see the day that Teutons make top 5 on Arabia.

[@mickethegoblin7167]

It's glorious

[@koldfire7253]

At first i just used all tech because i solely care about the architectural set/language/unique unit of a civ (Mongols till African Kingdoms, Indians after Rise of the Rajas, Gujaras since now while casually Tatars and Mongols again). But really it's just how YOU can learn about the civ. As mongols i just use my sheep and then prioritise hunting over farms. Using Light cavalry and occasionally Cavalry Archer to harass the enemy in castle age. Then I'd go all out with Mangudais and Rams/Trebuchets. It's just how they go. Indians on the other hand are very different. I don't even touch the Elephant archer. I focus mostly on economy while occasionally builind Camels and hand cannoneers. Both units have civ bonuses. So i only get rams amd Trebuchets as a viable siege unit. I'm still learning the Tatars and Gujaras tho

[@alustin]

I would put Khmer as beginner friendly class. the fact that you don't need buildings for age upgrade, and you can build farms anywhere. frees up a lot of apm.

[@edwardblom2661]

“Huns are not nearly as dominant as they were maybe a decade ago” This is depressing since exactly a decade ago, HD edition was released, along with Huns nerf: Cavalry Archers are 15%/25% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age (Was 25/30) Therefore it would probably be more suitable to say two decades ago than one… time flies man.

[@Janisurai]

ty

[@ijhuana]

Great video as usual! As an honest feedback I think an index or a bit more of structure would have help to improve it

[@sleepypixie8828]

10:02 first time I'm hearing this pronunciation of feitoria

[@zombieblood7658]

I've always been a fan of Slavs, they are always good all around but exceed in melee and seige combat

[@sjwgenius7347]

Hopefully another video of the worst civ coming up soon

[@Slashixuz]

I am surprised you did not add "Best late game" civs, that is also a very important aspect of a civ.. for example on closed maps like Black forest, Amazon tunnel or Michi the infantry civs like Vikings or japanese, have no chance to beat Celts and their massive siege (players with roughly same skill level) in late game... if the siege is massed it's pretty much unstopable if protected well by halbs too, especially in low elo or unranked lobbies but also in general

[@teddyhaines6613]

The relevance of late game varies with the map. Celts are strong on Black Forest while Vikings or Japanese aren't in part because of their respective late game strength.

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

You know from the start on which map you'll play, but you do not know if the match will last 15 minutes or 2 hours, it's nearly impossible to plan for that. And it doesn't matter how strong a civ is in the late game, when you're getting rushed.

[@lloydreed4721]

I played Michi yesterday and I find the map so monotonous. I don't understand how anyone can have fun on the map.

[@user-iz2tm5ih4e]

Portuguese and Byzantines have to among the best late game civs. Recently, I played as a Dravidian vs Portuguese (AI) and Dravidian vs Bohemians (AI). In the late Imp Age, literally the Portuguese (AI) kept pumping up its vils and military units. It had no problem at all after all gold were mined. As for Byzantine civ, it is a defensive and a cheap trash civ.

[@brydenholley1904]

​@@lloydreed4721 I played that map for the first time a few days ago. Looking at the score, I could see my team was the weaker and would almost certainly lose. So I built a Wonder near the back, and then had all of my allies build castles around it for protection. We made a wall to keep enemies out and put all our armies to stop the enemy from approaching. We won the game, as the enemy was unable to break through our defences in time. Ended up being a fun game. The enemy were really salty about it afterwards, too. But they were just mad they didn't think of building a Wonder first! 🤣

[@madswipe4419]

I was actually quite surprised the Koreans were not in the top 3 on water, I mean they have literal floating tanks

[@TheBlingice]

I watched this video with much attention to think about who I will pick from now on, even if I'm bad so whatever civ I pick, I lose

[@edmorris4103]

Also, I'd love to see some content for Sudden Death matches. I personally love this game type and would be interested in how it stacks up.

[@olivertate4983]

It's surprising there are no archer civs in the top 5, is that true all the way up to 2k+? Has that always been the case or is it that the nerf to attack move and the slightly better unit pathing now favours cavalry?

[@teddyhaines6613]

I believe it's been this way since at least the time of King of the Desert 3 in late 2020 when they changed the ranked ladder version of Arabia to be more like the version used in that tournament. Previously Arabia had larger woodlines close to the players' starting locations, making it easier to wall up. The meta in early Definitive Edition was to open with a drush and wall behind it for a fast castle into crossbows. But after KOTD3 the map became too open for that to work out, and so scout openings have become much stronger. Also, the nerf to Vikings - one of the best drush into FC crossbow civs - with Dawn of the Dukes taking away Thumb Ring didn't help. That being said, ladder win rates aren't everything either. If you talk to pro players, they'll say Huns and Berbers are respectable Arabia choices but are much weaker in practice than Chinese or Aztecs or Mayans. Hindustanis and Franks are also still up there, of course.

[@nicholase2868]

Cavalry are too strong unfortunately. Imo their cost should be higher, horses are expensive. The speed trumps any bonus against them.

[@rovsea-3761]

Chinese, when played to their full potential (i.e. at a high level), are probably among the strongest, if not outright the strongest civ on open maps. It's actually interesting how steeply their winrate falls off as you decrease the elo playing (they're more or less unique in this aspect), but at the very high level they're quite hard to stop. Figured I'd give them a mention since they weren't brought up here.

[@mbvglider]

It's all cavalry civs in 1v1 open maps until you get to very high level. Archer civs are hard to play, and Chinese are the hardest of them, whereas Mayans and Britons are very noob friendly.

[@rovsea-3761]

@@mbvglider Chinese also just have a very strong castle age with a decent ability to tech into whatever they want. I'm by no means a very high level player but even I can feel how strong chinese are once I get out of the early game. :)

[@teddyhaines6613]

@@mbvglider Chinese aren't just an archer civ, though. In fact, they usually open scouts on 1v1 Arabia.

[@shinn3080]

imagen spirit of the law would do audiobooks, dayum.... so chill to listen to the vids and ofc the knowledge is nice, even tho i dont play aoe2 active anymore just soom coop campaign or some noob arabia/BF games every couple weeks xd #notgay

[@TheJackTRabbit]

Does anybody know where he got the information regarding civ win rates for team game? Most sites I checked either have only 1v1 or are outdated.

[@nathanielmerchant3286]

Every few years? You should revisit this topic every few months!

[@mirosalvzimcak5169]

I'm like to play underrate civs like Bulgurians. Cause not many players knows them adn their bonuses. +armor to infantry and konniks are pretty tanky unit. Good agains civs like Portugese or Turks.

[@mrmeredith5935]

in 4v4, before the game, how do you know where on the map you are? e.g Flank and Pocket?

[@teddyhaines6613]

If you're playing ranked, then it depends on your civ color. Basically blue, red, grey and orange are flank and green, yellow, purple and teal are pockets. In the unranked lobby it's more complicated. These will generally hold true if team positions is selected, but they don't stop people from mixing the colors usually associated with team 1 and team 2 and I'm not 100% sure how that all works out.

[@mrmeredith5935]

@@teddyhaines6613 Awesome, Thank you!

[@jamesjury6943]

Kind of sad that infantry civs get left in the dust so much nowadays

[@jon3s3n94]

where do you get the winrates from? every site i found has outdated data

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

Now do the Best 256x Tech Civs ! This was posted by the Ethiopian Torsion ICBMs Enjoyers Club.

[@Lightning_Lance]

The Portuguese relatively low win rate in long games could be caused by them being able to hold on longer in a game they've really already lost, dragging it out?

[@Acsabi44]

Surprised to not see Bohemians anywhere

[@frederik2800]

Where can I find the win rates? Thanks in advance.

[@joeyservo]

Just coming back to AoE 2 since it came to the Xbox. Been playing since it first came out on Win 98 back in the day. These days, whenever I come back to the game after a long layoff I come to Spirit of the Law for an update on whats going on. Still hard to break the habit of picking one of the original 13 civs though, it's like comfort food.

[@chujack706]

Where did you get these statistics? Some of the aoe stats websites are just out of date

[@eurenius91]

+1 wondering this too

[@minikawildflower]

Definitely thought this would just be a list of Japanese 5 times in a row

[@Stewart1499]

Love picking a Calvary civ then just automatically losing because I have to play Hindustanis or Guajaras

[@teddyhaines6613]

Ironically, Gurjaras themselves die hard to other camel civs. Their bonus damage is greatly reduced when fighting other camels, so they only have +1 attack in castle age, which is easily trumped by Hindustani attack rate or Berber or Byzantine cost reduction. So all it takes is one bad camel fight in early to mid castle age to snowball a huge lead in camel numbers, and then Gurjaras can't do anything because of their lack of pikemen.

[@srijitmajumder99]

@@teddyhaines6613 yeah true we all saw that in TTL how vulnerable the Gurjaras are without the first Castle in Castle Age.

[@TheKobasen]

Franks, britons, teutons, and huns is the usual civs on the best winrate. Is it because the civ bonus and tech tree is good or because it's from Europe? (except huns).

[@user-iz2tm5ih4e]

The first three civs are the ones anyone who’s new to AOE learns to play first, since they are there in the campaigns. Remember Age of Kings and Conquerors. So, by default, beginners start with Britons (William Wallace tutorial) and go through Joan of Arc, Barbarossa, Saladin, and others. New players won’t start immediately with DLC civs, right, or would they even get DLCs?

[@TheKobasen]

@@user-iz2tm5ih4e but then why saracens and mongols don't a good winrate among low elo player? I mean even if it's a hard civ to play, if you play it continuously it'll eventually be easier for you.

[@pepito4131]

i discover you , thx for the video , you think that a "sisilian" and "bourguignon" are goods?