I Told a 1500 Elo Player to Castle Drop Me | AoE2

[@arthurreede4478]

Step 1: Place defensive walls Step 2: Be Hera

[@10colossal]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@nelsonmejiaslozada9362]

Or Step 1: Be Hera and play in automatic mode.

[@MichaelJia-s6u]

it’s like a kun fu master saying to his students: “try to punch me” and just dodges every hit

[@MichaelJia-s6u]

kongfu*

[@agustinfranco0]

@@MichaelJia-s6u kung fu*

[@chuy27arts]

"Its easy to execute a castle drop" k let me try *proceeds to make a daut castle*

[@GavinPotts-d1u]

Hera, you could make this a weekly series! So much more relatable in the 1100-1600 opponent range for the viewers.

[@BVC3PEAT]

Hera is pleased with his community, we are pleased with him.

[@JimothyB]

WTF you posted the request like 2 hours ago and the video is already out??? How??

[@DoriaPy]

Hello Hera. Cheers from Paraguay. We play against ARG tonight. Hope we win :D. Just wanted to say, I've been winning most of my Arabia games, but get trashed on arena (800 ELO). This is so helpful. Thanks a lot. Been watching you for a year now almost. Love your content. Bought the Georgians DLC bc of you and learning them atm

[@agustinfranco0]

tendrian que haberlo echado al jugador de uds jaja, igual nosotros jugamos re mal, erraban todos los pases

[@Rxon012]

Im 1700 and this is incredibly helpfull, hera is the goat for all levels

[@ashley-paul]

Hera just straight up guessing opponent vil counts will always impress me.

[@Trojan_Hell]

Same! OMG he so good at it lolol

[@pmasch831BAE]

Great tips I will definitely use some and I love Hera but this video is hilarious. The only reason he made it out of that situation was in fact because he’s Hera. Most people can’t micro that well all while still expanding economy like you weren’t even being attacked lol. I think he realized it too during the video. He was like don’t get me wrong you could just die to this lol😂😂😂

[@gdgd5194]

Voyage + Tech Voytech = Wojtek xD kurwa

[@ORy652]

you were so blessed with all the backyard area of your map :) definitely helped a lot

[@ariisee]

As a Polish person, I need to say it... Wojtek is NOT pronounced "Watchtech", it's more like "Voytekh".

[@aa01blue38]

Do polish people like when people pronounce words correctly? it's not very easy... XD

[@ariisee]

@@aa01blue38 We don't exactly mind people not being able to pronounce our words correctly, we know it's hard... but if you DO pronounce it correctly, your effort to learn it will be really hugely appreciated :D So of course we like it when other people can pronounce Polish right (I'm even more extreme about it but that's another thing), we aren't really annoyed much if you don't, because, well... it's frickin Polish after all XD

[@deek0146]

I would say in english spelling its pronounced Voycheck

[@davesyndrome87]

His avatar is a bear, do you think its in reference to the brown bear the Polish Corps adopted during WW2 and it kind of became their mascot?

[@ariisee]

@@davesyndrome87 It's possible indeed

[@Igelme]

Something important imho for lower elos: do anything you can can do beforehand. Hera waited until the very last moment to fully wall, build a siege workshop, monastery. You can do all of these things beforehand. Yes it's an investment, but look under preassure how many things Hera had to deal with and how he floated res, got housed, had to rebuild market, and he is top 1. If that happens to you, you're definetly folding to the preassure.

[@imchris5000]

rams full of infantry do really well vs this if you hit castle at the same time fully filled rams do huge amounts of damage really fast just resist the urge to trickle them you have to send at least 3

[@fefek7172]

second blacksmith into gg, noted

[@insslava]

It all depends on a map. Yesterday I got triple castle dropped with all my gold and stone at the front. I did a second layer of "walls" but was out of space. I did a really good job defending with monks, but eventually got trebbed down due to the lack of my own castle and trebs/bbcs.

[@themagician016]

Usually in these rounds the castle dropping player reaches IMP long before you as their first pressure is done with a few units and then idling and market going to imp. Then 2 3 Trebs behind their castle and ure done coz cant dive.

[@achaean4780]

Yeah, wrote a comment about this exact thing before reading yours. Generally the other guy gets to imp, how best to defend? The other guy will have a headstart on treb production. Granted the rest of his army probably sucks, but fighting under castle fire seems to negate that difference

[@CJ-111]

Thanks for the info. You're a good teacher

[@harryt_aoe]

Man that harryt guy who responded seems like he really knows what he’s talking about Kappa

[@indianajons5847]

Hera: Gets castle on the face, makes 2 monks and 2 mangonels to defend, plus houses as a second wall. Makes eco at the back, loses no vils almost to the attack, gets rid off all the incursion units, survives a second castle on the big gold, makes his castle and goes imp. Me: gets castle on the face, makes 2 monks and 2 mangonels to defend, the second wall of houses gets torn down to ashes in a blink of an eye, he gets the 2 mangonels with that 1 mangonel only (his survives somehow but mine don't), the mangudai snipe the monks, takes the mangudai to the tree line and snipes more vils that the actual number I had (yeah, somehow they kill 25 vils when there were only 17), my idle time skyrockets to historical levels (vils killed and in TC to garrison), he recovers the eco difference, makes the second castle on the big gold, keeps sending mangonels and mangudai, he gets to imp before I can even lift my castle, and I am dead. And that is why he is number 1 of the world and I can barely make it above 1200 elo

[@jim83213]

Hera, this may be the best video in your career. You have gotten so good at teaching.

[@AlLaST0I2]

What about fast feudal, archery range, 8-10 archers with fletching, a couple of outposts, good scouting and ultimately denial of the castle drop? Could this win you the game?

[@seancsnm]

It relies on the opponent not getting suspicious at your fast feudal. Most likely a fast feudal means a trush so he will look for that. When the trush doesn't come he should just boom and drop a defensive castle instead. So unless you break in early and do some damage you will be way behind. But this assumes an adaptable opponent. At lower elo archer defense can just deny the castle and win the game fast.

[@isaisotarriva8162]

I also think houses go forward in a wall but JohnSlow (“the master of arena”) always says that houses should go back because if they are destroyed you get housed. It is more difficult to defend this way of you happen to have both gold piles towards the front. What do you recommend in that case?

[@achaean4780]

Hera, thanks for the great video! However, I do have a question. In my experience, I've won and lost games that looked kinda like this. The main difference though, is that it's very common for my oponent to reach imp before me. I always assumed that was normal, since if I'm 3tc booming it should take some time for my eco to produce enough excess resources, specially compared to someone just spending wood and gold in their UU. Is this the case? How do you hold in that case, just spend whatever you have repairing and hope you catch up on treb numbers?

[@ResellerReview]

Hera calmly handles 2 castles in his face. I literally would have pissed myself, stopped all production, panic'd, and immediately went on Reddit to complain about how unfair FC is. LOL.

[@milagros_miraculos]

really good idea to post a follow up, thax man!

[@SepticIndia]

How to defend against a forward castle drop: Option 1) Do whatever that sticks. Option 2) Be Hera ( Basically the video)

[@DomiNationsGamer123]

Great video, man. Gonna do this from now on. I generally hate Arena 😂

[@imchris5000]

castle drops are fun especially the awkward moment when your vills pass your enemy vills on the way to castle drop your base while your dropping their

[@LukeJAllen]

this was a good video, thanks! I had a couple questions though. - The idea of counter unit first, then power unit, is that a general rule, or was that only in this case? - Second, a defensive castle seems redundant if you have a counter unit already out to defend yourself, am I wrong about that? - Last, what if the opponent goes fast imp behind the first castle? It seems like aiming for a defensive castle in that case would be wrong since it might just get trebbed down later.

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

General rule, defensive castle is to guarentee lock the position down and more importantly for trebs to push back Vs fast imp i usually wouldnt need counter unit and can counter with all in castle age

[@LukeJAllen]

thanks!

[@alfredoalvarezdiaz-comas719]

I think you need to do these type of videos with both player in the same elo range and you couch one. Because your skill level is just impossible to replicate

[@tomas1629]

Great video! Now against Fast imp turks or bohemians 😅

[@davidchazanas5096]

This is a very cool concept for a video. How do you feel about rec reviewing your own games, defending against a pro?

[@MuahMan]

This is why I hop the wall with a Siege Tower and drop the castle on their main gold and TC. Works up until around 1200ish.

[@darcyfiume1915]

Amazing! Always giving the people what they want.

[@michaelwarkentin8163]

What do you do if your stone is foreward and you cant take it?

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

Great question, probably buy the castle. Alternatives is ram push out or wait for bombard cannons, but both of those options have their downsides

[@benedictjajo]

Just type ggwp and find a new match.

[@lukasvideosify1596]

Mister Wojtek actually played this really well!

[@myopiniondoesntmatter7068]

Wojtek panicking hard after knowing he's going to be on video. Somehow managed to mess up a 23 pop build (got to feudal later than a 24 pop BO).

[@imchris5000]

I have had very good luck countering castles by making 3+ rams filled with swordsman or pikes depending on what the other player is using filled rams eat castles in seconds those bonus damage of all the inf inside is real

[@pastiyasoundsistema]

this feels like a strong callout for the true grandmaster of arena, johnslow

[@agustinfranco0]

great video, if you plan on doing a "how to do everything wrong" guide or something, i can totally help you with that

[@SirFunkyton]

I think the interesting thing for me was realizing that my dark age is clearly much worse as when i get castle and drop 3 tcs with farms I dont have he wood for a siege workshop, monastery, onager, and monks

[@Clickomancer]

This is very helpful, dont think i have the skill to do what you do here in this video 😅 Hera, is there a video on todays meta openers? scouts, maa, archers? i would really appreciate those ❤

[@mojoxtreme]

Months later and I'm still smh at nilli, you cooked him then and you reheated him now with proof thanks for the tips hera great video

[@MustangGT50bmg]

Hera, it would be great if you could do this same thing with MrYo Sitaux or MBL, Viper or any other pro, it is ok if you dont commentate while playing, you could commentate after game. This video is perfect as well about how to stop forward castle but when it comes from another player it will be probably harder to stop. Also on Arena you wont have access to other parts of map like arabia to boom without enemy knowing. Also you had a great map to expand to right and left this game, some maps are smaller than this on arena. This is a great video thanks.

[@MaximusLight]

"We could loose to the micro" yeah that's generally where the loses happen for me not against the strategy. :P

[@Addictivemeh]

"I'm not a pro player because I don't float res, I'm a pro player because I can spend my res fast when I float it" 👌👌👌

[@seancsnm]

A lot of times when you forward castle drop you really want to get to imp first so that you win the treb war.

[@kingjace4]

bro had unlimited space in the back of his base, every time i get dropped on arena i have the smallest area

[@konradkuaj79]

Very nice explanation

[@broosh41]

You did have back stone and back gold in this one, what would you recommend if all of your resources are forward?

[@lukasvideosify1596]

14:00 Wouldn't it be better to just kill the villagers with the mangonels?

[@acamilicko]

My best counter is to go castle age before opponent and do CD before he does :D

[@AnitaSV]

How did you get the vill count so accurate!!

[@ubuntuscorpious]

Hera how far up the Elo ladder can you get using only one hotkey before losing a match?

[@WhiteFatal]

poor push, not enough pressure, he definitely could hit harder

[@Prawn47]

What if you have a forward stone? The defensive castle and trebs is not possible

[@luddite31]

would it be fair to say this map was kind of favorable for the secondary wall? from your opponents position you'd have to wall off a lot more and have a lot less space behind. I always feel like i've got no space left after the forward castle drop.

[@rihardchannel]

Very useful guidem would be very good to see the same for arabia. Very popular strategy on my noob level 900-1000.

[@doguhanaktas1262]

Nice video against Mangudai he made skirm. What to do against Bohemian UU or Portuguese ?

[@joelfernandes5854]

Mangonel and Monks

[@doguhanaktas1262]

​@@joelfernandes5854 when he has many units it is not working.

[@joelfernandes5854]

@@doguhanaktas12621 mangonel with bad/normal micro should Deal with 3 or 4 organ guns or hussit wagons. If you can micro properly, 5 or 6. If ALL your Gold and Stone are in front, massing skirms should help

[@kylethompson3259]

Great video

[@joaquindamian224]

❤ you could do this kindnof video with some sort of apm limiter set to a normal human average, so then we dont comment things like: Step 1...be Hera😂

[@liugmeh]

now time to play the castle dropper :)

[@andrevc85]

awesome comments, very educational

[@thescottishtraveller]

What happens if they just go 4/5tc boom? I guess you will notice fairly quick but they'll still have tcs down earlier

[@arifchagla8752]

How do you counter khmer or romans mass scorps? I played arena rm vs some civ pickers man.. very painful..

[@Luka5132]

End the saga with a castledrop defend against viper?

[@davidolmoperez3943]

this was very good content

[@OCinneide]

When doing a tutorial you should have things not go your way. I played a lot of EU4 before and there were guides there I used to watch for nations. A few of the guides the youtuber got very lucky with either a quick siege, a good general etc. But there was one guide where the guy purposely got into the worst position, no allies, bad general, long siege and showed how to win from there. That guide was the one I kept going back to even for different nations and when the game updated. I think incorporating this into your gameplay could help as well, having a mega fast imp/castle strat with perfect deer push won't help players that don't have a perfect build order or don't push deer. I know you would probably say that they should learn those techniques if they want to be good but still.

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

This was worst case scenario though, where im pure booming vs it. I spoke about that in the video

[@OCinneide]

@@HeraAgeofEmpires2 I guess it depends on the elo you're targeting.

[@ShadowBeetle]

nice job

[@toboalpha_drums]

FC with Bohemians its the same ?

[@bastian1546]

Doesn somebody knows on which button Hera has his hotkey for 'Drop Off Res'? Thanks.

[@FlorianMoreau-en8fn]

Imagine a video were the "Low Elo" is actually someone like MBL and Hera gets destroyed 11

[@vaclavkutilek6618]

I would like to see the defense without the extra back space.

[@jacobwood3326]

Woah skirms counter LC the next new drama!! 11

[@atomic_sausage-b9w]

now do it with tower rush. that's my kryptonite

[@TheMasteroftrees]

please do a video how to defend vs monk siege push

[@chad4858]

how to defend castle drop: outmicro them to an insane degree :)

[@douglascutis7662]

This is for me. I played my 9th game online e 4 players dropped a castle in my base at 15 min. Edit: After watched the video I can say that I'm loosing bc I'm not Hera. I can't multitask like him

[@rishabhkhevaria6118]

So I get the concept but I dont think at our elo we cant execute that cleanly, I mean the mango micro, I cant do that 11

[@CoconutJewce]

As a 900 player, I think I'll just die. lol

[@ricardobinda]

"our" community sounds better than "my" community. Please consider.

[@IHittusl]

sorry hera, great video, but can we get some hype in the chat for this mad video, leggggooooo.

[@idkmybffjill9682]

lol the top comment on the castle drop vid wasn’t a bad idea but this works too

[@Lecuack]

It could have been me 😢 Nice video, sorry I missed the messages!

[@jellevanbreugel325]

Anyone doing secondary layers of walls? Well, i am now! 😂

[@akashchowdhury5871]

Can you ask someone with Turks CD+Imp or Portuguese CD+imp. They have insane power spikes. Mongol CD is weak.

[@leonardowitt187]

New campain ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@Abstrack88]

"Im not a pro player" 😂

[@yahm0n]

If you want to make a video about how to defend against a 1500 TC drop, I got you.

[@gamingpcgamer459]

Guys I was going to buy aoe2 and now I have to buy it with some stupid dlcs for an extra 15 dollars is it still worth it

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

yes

[@jarreddubery1971]

start with the base game and go from there, I'm pretty sure within afew weeks youll want the extra civs if you playing ranked

[@snap-313]

You don't need dlc at least first month

[@gamingpcgamer459]

@@snap-313 today they updated it so that you need to buy it with the dlcs now it’s 35$ dollars

[@andrewgus8763]

Hera, in 1500+ lobbies he would have reached imp by 25 minutes or earlier even with the 2nd castle esp if he’s Turks, Italians, or Byza.

[@Names-i2g]

No he wouldn't with Turks. That's a lot of opportunity cost with mining stone and walking traded for food and gold to get up to imp at the 25 minute mark. That would be fast imp for the Turks rather than forward castle. He wouldn't be able to do both at the same time within 25 minutes.

[@LUKI-du8zn]

Wojtek zwaliłeś.

[@milagros_miraculos]

use it more often!

[@toboalpha_drums]

so easy when you know 11

[@heavyreynald]

Yeah, but... let's ignore your experience to call the castle drop: half of the deffense is expecting it and here literally you told him to. Thanks for the video but it's meh for me.

[@xeztan]

Bro the fact that he predicted how many vills the opponent had with extreme accuracy 🤯 I fully believe Hera has surpassed Viper, even in his prime. The game is more complex and faster nowadays than when Viper was at the top, so just shows how much better Hera is. And this is coming from a long time Viper fan btw

[@Woch3nende]

Why always this fanboy behaviour ? Its complete nonsense to compare people who are 10 years apart and play completly different games. You will never

[@Buboniica]

im 1100 im way better than 1500

[@ericwilson3606]

He didn't even beat Hera to castle age..... What kind of castle drop is that???

[@ericwilson3606]

I will say he put some pretty dang good pressure on Hera though. Hera had to play pretty skillfully.