Faction Tier List, Best to Worst - Total War: Pharaoh Dynasties

[@MarcelSoares777]

Amonmeses is S tier. Good arches rich AF. Acess to ALL resources and a shitload of gold.

[@pmorales3351]

I agree. You can buy anything with gold. You can buy elite units as well and run around with an army that can create empires.

[@ancienthistorygaming]

Amenmesse also has the Kushite Royal Guards. A medium armored khopesh unit.

[@foxnord]

i agree. U can legit buy the world as him. There is so many gold settlements around him and since he has good gold mechanics you are truly the best character with gold. U can speed run to the crown and control everyone at court since u can buy actions for gold

[@MarcelSoares777]

And the best part, after you kick Menmon in the balls you get a 4 settlement of food in the nile. From that point, you just need to start a civil war and get move to lower egypt claiming everyone

[@kirilld6206]

He has little food and no bonuses to food. He is S only if you take Hatshepsut and set all features avaliable from the start. Bad diplomacy and he has not many options but to expand north, no wood settlements is also bad they have good bonuses. No tier 5 infantry and hard to get t5 from Greece early.

[@AxelDaleTattoo]

Ramasses has a great sandbox campaign and a starting position that allows you to interact with lots of different cultures. The problem is people don't know how to play the faction. It's non-stop war and battles each turn. If you prefer to sit back and chill and snow-ball then it's not the campaign for you. If you like high-octane total war then he's perfect IMO.

[@emanuelalfred1565]

One thing that I believe goes under the radar is the ability to become a vassal. After the first ten turns, you can break your alliance with his dad without getting a reliability penalty. Once that is done, become Merneptah’s vassal. This will drag him into wars you declare and it also allows you to declare war on his vassals without him getting involved. You can start picking him apart from the inside out and allow you to expand into Egypt easier. The key is to time it appropriately to avoid the reliability penalty. So, you must avoid performing diplomatic actions that will destroy your reliability once you become a vassal which isn’t that hard to do. After a while, the AI will grant you independence. You can choose to go back into vassalage or remain independent. If you want to get a little extra safety at your border in Sinai you can take a settlement from the AI and trade it back to them to boost relations. This is an easier way to focus on Egypt without the Canaanite factions he is surrounded by hating him if the player choose not to become a vassal. The player can just sign a NAP and Military access with them… maybe even a defensive alliance.

[@DreXav01]

Surprising tier list. 1) Seems heavily focused on heavy infrantry availability... while my impression is that lethality introduction makes ranged godlike and good javelins outright slaughter all heavy infantry (and everything else. Chariots get debiliated by shooting the spoke skill). Seti doesn't have good heavies but he can command twenty full stacks of lowtier meat that just rolls through entire map before any of the factions get their "good heavy infrantry" unlocked. 2) Also no mention of titles that are quite transformative to gameplay - i.e Kuruna has shadow stance which lets you ambushe people even when attacking, turning all your "best heavy infantry" Suppiluliuma into free pinata bashing ;D plus he has massive raid & raze buffs. Suppiluliuma has...defensive bonuses. Yay. Because that's what most players do, turtle and wait for sieges. 3) Nor any mention of explosive economies like Amenmesse who can buy anything and anyone or even Sea People that get obscene amount of ancillaries and resources with super fast roaming. Walwetes surrounded by everyone? More like target rich enviornment for huge selection of spoils!

[@moneybugvic]

great perspective.

[@cohortConnor]

It’s because ever since Rome 2 everyone just wants heavy infantry and don’t know how to play without them.

[@cleiru7859]

Thanks for pointing this out. I was really doubting this list because of many reasons. One is that he put Bay in F tier, even though his only problem is that there is a strong faction occupying his starting capital. Once that is resolved, Bay is an absolute menace to any royal court he joins. Very easy to snake through the court when you can see everyone's plot. His mechanic makes it so easy to gain regard by using Intrigues even with the Ruler. Once he gets in the court, I find that I can steamroll through the campaign easily, with just a sprinkle of territory and barter trading. In my opinion, Bay at least deserves B tier, but only because he requires experience with Diplomacy and Court mechanics. Otherwise he is S/A-tier.

[@Vileurple]

Solid breakdown. Been really enjoying covering this game and congrats on 50k!

[@milansvancara]

double sea people legendary coop campaign collab, let's go guys!

[@theredbar-cross8515]

Why does Amenmesse need offensive melee at all? Flanking with archers firing on flat trajectory mows down infantry faster than any melee unit in the game. The Kushite Spears can pin any melee unit in Egypt for more than long enough. And their Shieldwall formation makes them immune to arrow fire, which is a big deal in Egypt.

[@Costin_Gaming]

Settlement battles and sieges.

[@holechek]

@@Costin_Gaming Yeah they would definitely struggle in chokepoints

[@mindfulinventor3595]

​@@Costin_Gaming Agree that sieges are tough but settlement battles are easy as fuck with hia long range merc archers.

[@metrana0724]

Hey Costin, I actually bought total war pharaoh dynasties because of you and a few other KZbinrs, I was wondering if you were interested in making a new player guide that goes over some of the finer campaign map mechanics, like legitimacy, dynasty legacies, and other things that aren't present in things like total Warhammer. This is actually my first historical total war ever, I was introduced through twwh2, I'd also like to know your favorite historical total war ever and why? I'll probably play it after I chew through pharaoh

[@raspberryhats]

I second this

[@Nisan93]

​@@raspberryhats I second your second

[@matthewwebster3143]

Play empire total war, medieval 2, Shogun 2 and Attila total war (has amazing mods) and Rome 2. 🎉

[@christianfelbo3333]

Play the tutorial

[@carineaerts3735]

@@christianfelbo3333does the tutorial go in depth in fine campaign maps, I genuinely don’t know but I think it doesn’t

[@setsunachiame]

Great tier list. Cant wait for the minor factions list

[@reddott2k]

Been waiting on this

[@anthonymichael1259]

Happy to see hatti so well off. Feel like we don't get to see this empire often in games 😅

[@abessia1494]

Late Bronze Age has been needing a game of this type. Hasn't gotten good rep since original Age of Empires. Next, I'm hoping for a total war set in and around the rise of the Achaemenid Persians! They're criminally absent from all but one Total War game (Rome: Alexander). At least the Sassanids got some good rep in Atilla.

[@DeprivedJuice]

Rammeses would be a lot more viable with lethality buffs to his Medjai. Aside from that, I find him the coolest of the Egyptian factions. Maybe that's just the Mummy fan in me. Of the other factions I've played so far, I'm really liking the Babylonian's army for basically being Mesopotamian Skaven. Agamemnon is crazy strong once you unify the Morea.

[@Mysteryboy0007]

Nice!! i cant believe u research all the factions already! its only been a few days haha. But pharaoh faction gotta be higher cuz they have the cool god avatar skins :)

[@lLIBER4TORl]

Picture Egypt on the map. Now turn that map upside down. This is how the Ancient Egyptians viewed the world. This is why upper and lower Egypt are reversed.

[@ncrranger2281]

No its simply because you go UP on the river towards its source and you go down on it to the sea! Simple height stuff.

[@seanzibonanzi64]

Lower Egypt is at sea level, upper Egypt is 1/4 mile above it

[@BlackMothraa]

Its more like the ancient egyptians also saw the river flow from a higher ground to lower ground then to the sea. Thats why they divided Egypt as Upper and Lower because of geography.

[@F3armee]

Love your videos brotha! Even if I haven't played Pharaoh, too many campaigns in TTW WH3...

[@BigGlizz123]

Time stamps would've went crazy for this video...

[@Empowerless]

Great video! I don't know about the unit roster but I had a breeze playing as Seti pre-dynasties as you could pump out a ridiculous amount of low tier units and just autoresolve. Ramesses I agree with though. I too was deceived picking him as my first campaign and I got slaughtered. With Amenmesse it was super easy due the safe start location and easy access to gold (+ free gold from Viceroy of Kush position). I haven't tried either Ramesses or Amenmesse after Dynasties though as I am still +30 hours in on my Babylon trying to get ultimate victory.

[@ancienthistorygaming]

I was pretty decent with Ramesses on normal but after they increased the aggression of the AI that has become a harder campaign. Had one of Merneptah's vassals out of the blue declare war on me which drag in Merneptah and the other vassals. Then there is also a chance Pi-Ramesses will declare war on you as well and Beersheba and Hetch. Strangle Beersheba and Hetch can filled a full army and half even though they are pretty small and lack the enough resources to support such big armies.

[@MS-io6kl]

Alongside rivers upper means upstream and lower means downstream. E.g. Upperegypt and Loweregypt or Upper- and Loweraustria. Also these names predate modern mapmaking conventions by centuries or in the case of Egypt by millennia and as somebody else already mentioned for the Egyptians their maps had the South on top as it was South where the live giving Nile came from.

[@milansvancara]

Ramses and pretty much all egyptians are nicely balanced when you max out the weather and terrain settings... suddenly makes Ramses and Seti so much better

[@lordhedgehog1887]

Also Ramses buildings are really strong.

[@mangyminotaur30]

Fair tier list. Unfortunately I just never really had the same amount of fun when playing any of the egyptians as opposed to Hatti or even Assyria

[@tahahadada1936]

I tried Ramses and seti I am suffering 😂

[@Mysteryboy0007]

cuz the egyptians r boring af troy is great so is hatti king

[@gkspain1]

Would like to see aFaction Tier list for all Factions, unless you have all ready done this of course.

[@Ben1159a]

Bought the game out of boredom despite my better judgement... and I am really enjoying it.

[@fiendishrabbit8259]

If you think that Ramesses is D/F tier you haven't mastered the art of political manipulation. With non-aggression pacts Ramesses easily turns neighbours into buffer states, allowing him to go wherever he wishes. Set up a decently sized ally in Canaan, pacify them with trade and a non-aggression pact and you're good for a long time and can focus on Egypt. meanwhile being in the Sinai pocket is super strong. In addition. Babylons slinger unit that you casually dismissed is one of the best utility units in the roster. He's a sapper (meaning that you can bully your way past weak fortifications without waiting for siege equipment), he can reload other archers (Babylon has a pretty good access to quality archers and archer chariots) and he's also a competent melee unit in a pinch (with armor piercing axes). You shouldn't spam them (tiny unit size), but never leave home without them.

[@barker505]

Great unit- i put one in each army to siege down forts and settlements quickly. Really lets you steamrool enemies before they can react

[@Corsair158]

Hanilgabat has a court position.

[@pizzaman6784]

Of course I had to choose an F tier faction (Seti) for my first campaign in Pharaoh. I'm only a few turns in, so I might just start a new game, especially since I started with the features locked at campaign start option.

[@DjeauxSheaux]

Disagree about Seti. He starts right next to Akhenaten, and the Aten is the best legacy in the game. You can get a free cult center shortly after you pick your legacy. His roster has an extra large unit of javelinmen, and also an extra large unit of archers is available for native recruitment, both of which are very powerful. He lacks heavy infantry but he does have really large, cheap units of high-lethality axemen to exploit.

[@TheHD803]

Yeah I’ve had some epic seti campaigns love that faction. I have a suspicion he hasn’t played seti. Seti goes hard.

[@TheHD803]

The big veteran sword unit with big axes and clubs on flanks goes hard. With a few of those big javelins on fire support duty. Its all about the big battalions with seti lower egypt hordes.

[@TheHD803]

Especially with a speed boost from the all consuming light of the great aten.

[@rubenlopezusa]

I am about to finish conquering the entire map with Assyria and I have been able to crush anyone who has stood on my way in difficult mode.

[@kevg1617]

Dynasties offers a ton of campaign customization. Why would you disregard minor nations entirely? Memnon of Nubia has multiple 230 range archers and a 210 range chariot, as well as 220 range slingers. Lethality makes every arrow hit much more powerfully. I get not including them for time and focus, but simply disregarding them as all f tier is a bit shallow.

[@DaGamingNeighbor]

Playing as Hatti right now and I agree with the S tier. Thought it was going to be rough because of the emphasizes on garrison buildings but actually went pretty well

[@lord_alderaan9283]

The Hatti King can get free upkeep for entire provinces thanks to his unique -20% upkeep reducing building that effects the entire province instead of just a region. This means that you can have entire province with super elite fort garrisons.

[@Zynbabwe902]

congrats on 50k costin!

[@parttimehero8640]

Man the caanatis are a bit lacking since pharaohs release. Both faction have such a limited way of play. I did really hope to see a DLC that adds a throne Salomon and a other faction. Looking forward with a bit of luck modders will expand the minor factions.

[@polishpat95]

i wish you put a timestamp bar on the slidebar for each character. would be awesome.

[@virusguy5611]

Tausret is pretty fun from my normal playthrough but uhhhh, the issue with Tausret is that her starting position requires you to immediately break off relations with your only ally Seti or else you'd get dragged into wars before you get ready, which is quite counterintuitive. Chariots are also kind mid? Archers really fuck them up and they can't really charge into enemies. But oh god her economy means she can just field *several* armies when you get enough regions and suddenly it don't matter if the enemy units are slightly better when you are two-stacking them.

[@Wulfseal]

Seti was the GOAT for me, hoards of slingers and axe men that do not break easily for their cost combined with lots of sneaky ambushing. Add to this the ability to have an army or two just there to raid and burn minor settlements and the AI was doomed.

[@Nisan93]

Here poor me who just started my first campaign of the game as Ramses. Can't go back now, I'm committed.

[@moneybugvic]

I think you generally undervalue Egyptian factions. Why Twoslet is C tier? More explanation needed. At least Amenmesse and Twoslet deserves be higher. And Se-ti's unique mechanism is really good at playing aggressively in early game though it's not easy to maximize it's potential.

[@UntiltedName]

Walaset wasn't that interesting to me either. The Marauders legacy just didnt do it for me. I tried it with Achilles, too. It felt too open ended. You aren't given difficult decisions to make, but rather "I guess i'll go raze the next city over" 100x, then campaign end. When I played Amonmesse I kept wanting to have some beast mode Hojo siege engines from Shogun 2 to actually handle cities.

[@myrten3124]

You seem to focus heavily on early game and economy, I'd argue that Peleset is S tier (actually strongest faction in the game): - Top tier Archers on par with Troy and only a bit weaker than Amonmense (they lack special ability), and they can also get 100 armor - Super resilient infantry with way over 100 armor and they throw javelins - kinda like bronze age Roman legionnaires - Bonuses to armor and ammo from being a horde army - Ability to pick any legacy This means that you can go to Greece, pick Apollo and then go to Mesopotamia to couple their archers and heavy infantry with cav to get best unit roster in the game and then boost it by Legacy of Hammurabi

[@Mysteryboy0007]

Rly? thought troy had the best archers in game?

[@myrten3124]

@@Mysteryboy0007 Best Troyan archers have 200 range and 44 missile damage, couple factions have archers with those stats (Amonmese, Peleset, Odyseus) but they vary slightly on other stats + different bonuses on decrees.

[@Mysteryboy0007]

@@myrten3124 they can also shoot while moving like chariots others cant

[@myrten3124]

@@Mysteryboy0007 Amonmese generals have that as a talent you can get from start, but it's not that useful to be honest because unlike chariots they can still only shoot in front. Biggest downside to Troy is that they are stuck in Aegean legacies which are much weaker for archers than Egyptian or Mesopotamian. Playing as Odyseus and going for Hamurabbi's legacy I was able to get 310 range and 70 missile damage for my archers, not possible with Troy

[@mypizzaisburnt7904]

Playing Assyria, s tier is accurate

[@tahahadada1936]

I absolutely i agree on ramasess ,it was my first campaign and i tried 5 times and failed . Seti i am actually past turn 30 so far 😅

[@josephkato6678]

The economy in this game is fk up beyond fixable, each food building gave you 200 max which can only maintain two or three basic fucking troopers

[@SuperbiaNox]

Damn, this guy has the worst takes in every game, it seems.

[@PeaceBuny]

Maybe im autistic but your way of valuing is diffrent from mine. Some factions have multiple gold tier units so yea its fair to say their roster is varied. Although everyone can recruit other gold and high tier units from court mechanic and and ancient legacies mechanic. I think in campaign economic power is BiS so i think faction with strong economic boosting buildings like irsu have the most raw power So im thinking irsu and mycene are S tier. If we talk about what is most fun faction then that would be whole diffrent tier list and imo sea peoples are super fun campaigns.

[@unitor699industries]

i bought this game last week and ramses is indeed a really hard campaign, and i got attacked by 4 factions, i chose him because its fucking ramses but he is the weakest faction

[@RandomName55]

Hmm I feel like you didnt take the faction buildings and powers into consideration very much. Set has weaker units for sure, but really strong economy and more recruit slots. plus his generals get armor breaker trait unlocks which makes his low tier units really punch up above their weight. But disagreements aside loving to see more pharaoh content.

[@phil8821]

How has Seti strong economy? with 3 provinces I can't afford one fully stacked army with the cheapest troops, and that's with all of my stuff focused on food production.

[@RandomName55]

@@phil8821 lmao then your provinces are setup horrifically. Check your editcts, econ outposts and bonus buildings my man

[@eaSY1511]

Hi Costin, what mod are you using for the visual representation of some of the characters? Thx for the tier list!!!

[@ncrranger2281]

Its the god avatars available in game.

[@johnvanvoorden3264]

why do some character pictures look totally different?

[@TheHD803]

Disagree heavily I’ve had huge campaigns with seti’s giant hordes. Just running over everything. Usually 15-16 charge heavy 160 strong melee boiz with 3 or 4 javelins. And seti javelins have 120 unit size instead of 90. Even smashed the real sea people from og pharaoh. And he is in a great starting position. I have to imagine this gent hasn’t actually played a seti campaign.

[@JinxBfjv]

Ok so I started with Sethi that is a F faction, that's why im getting crushed lol... I just loved that he worshipped Seth so... I will retry on lower difficulty maybe it would be better, I don't know how to compare between legendary/very hard from Warhammer and there in pharaoh I tried veteran/veteran, but I got my ass kicked by the AI that I found a bit more smarter.

[@LucaPala]

Guys, i'm playing Ramses, is the legitimacy system broken? The game let me ask for legitimacy to other egyptian factions for free and they also donate me resources if I select "balance offer". Am I missing something?

[@Burak95Gaming]

İs it for multiplayer battles?

[@AlecFortescue]

Come on, timestamps!

[@ciprianbulgariu4601]

Foarte frumos

[@kirilld6206]

Suppiluliuma is definitely much weaker than Kurunta as the game works from the launch. Not to mention you can get trade, but even with def settings he is much stronger. Both S with Irsu. All mesopotamia are trash compared to them I swear. From many points of view. For the except of fun of course xD. Egyptians Amenmesse I would say A close to S, Ramses A, Napata A, others complete trash, especially Tausret. Bay is way stronger as he can make shitloads of resources without even a fight. Greeks are all around B, Odysseus, Troy and Agamemnon A I'd say.

[@seankinnane12]

the best minor faction is Shubru

[@lendonpartain8200]

agreed

[@calliduspraceo845]

Bro has completely lost the plot, has he even played the game? The Medjai ARE the best in the world they are the best units compared to anything else that isnt Tier 6 and even tier 6 units suck cuz less menpower. He has the best court mechanic, he can attack in march stance without penatly he has the single best starting province to recruit units he has total freedom where to go and what legacy to choose and some really good buildings on top of that. The only thing medjai are lacking is armor but that just means they dont get the huge debuffs heavy units get.

[@calliduspraceo845]

Bay F tier and Welwetes D tier yeah literally the best heavy infantry but its D tier? Honestpy o back to your other games your done.

[@joshc7656]

I've tried Seti so much and he's literally unplayable. You get attacked by everyone, and it's almost impossible So frustrating and just not fun at all

[@PeteL-u1d]

Do not agree at all. Ramsis should be between A+B and Assyrian campaign is F.

[@Greatiger030]

Bruh, Amenmesse DOESNT NEED melee killing power haha that’s what the archers are for. He has good units too hold the lines while the archers delivers the blow. If he also had melee killing units then it’s OP and not balanced. My man you gotta understand that’s how his gameplay works and it’s the best of the game, archers are the name of the game and man with lethality system they shred units in seconds. So yeah, he doesn’t need melee killing units so go and put it on S tier pls.

[@Taima]

How do you handle besieging a city with just archers? (genuine question since Amenmesse seems really cool based on what I'm reading here and idk who the hell to be)

[@Greatiger030]

@@TaimaVery easy, Amenmesse archers have very long range so you basically have them shoot the enemy up in the walls and generally you win the battle bc of army losses. I have at least 10 units of either Kushite royal or Ta seti long bowman. For besieging the long bowman are the best bc they rang is so high that not even the enemy towers reach them. So you just have them shoot the enemy to shreds and you’ll see.

[@Taima]

@@Greatiger030 gotcha

[@helborgkurt4922]

How is Priam S tier?

[@Costin_Gaming]

Starts as king with two positions in court occupied, has a strong army roster and a good economy.

[@helborgkurt4922]

@@Costin_Gaming ok thanks bro:)

[@Anglo-Brit]

Sea people with no sea to fight in.. Pointless