Top 11 Castles in AoE2

Which civilizations have the best castles in AoE2?
0:50 #11
1:39 #10
2:21 #8
3:15 #7
4:20 #6
5:14 #4
5:52 #3
7:35 #2
9:24 #1
___________________________________________________________
Patreon: / spiritofthelaw
Background music from Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com
Game: Age of Empires II Definitive Edition

[@dallumm]

The best castle is the one you can call home

[@garlicohen960]

I'll take this literally, and am gonna try dark age house drop.

[@whitehavencpu6813]

Castle Doctrine!

[@AzoiatheCobra]

... This gave me an idea, a very bad one, that i will try in lower difficulties ai... I can only have pop space through castles. Meaning that my starting pop space will be the same through dark age to castle age till my fisrt castle

[@garlicohen960]

@AzoiatheCobra no offense my man, but house drop sounds a lot more feasible.

[@paradix1560]

​@@garlicohen960 i have a strat for this : 1 - Take huns

[@roguebanshee]

When I saw the video thumbnail I thought it was ranking the appearance of the castles, not the special bonuses.

[@tylerrodes2271]

Haha my thoughts exactly, still a great video but I need a visual ranking one now 😂

[@dimitriosdrossidis9633]

Same

[@slimcourage901]

Lol same here. Was expecting a bit of a lighthearted Leap Day video. Still happy with what we actually got!

[@orirune3079]

Bohemians definitely win that one

[@MauricioOsuna-et8et]

For that, we have to call in Shadiversity, the castle specialist!

[@michabaron4129]

Boiling Oil walked so Citadels can run

[@orionl7406]

Looking at the wiki, it did +9 to rams so 6 damage a shot to Siege Rams? But still no bracer 11

[@devangnivatkar2649]

@@orionl7406 Boiling Oil applied only to the first/main arrow in the volley, unlike techs nowadays which apply to all arrows in a volley

[@ObiwanNekody]

​@@orionl7406with Persians having excellent melee options a ram push isn't the main threat to your castle.

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@Gashahn24]

Ahhh. Nothing more satisfying than sniping units with teuton castles.

[@BlueShellshock]

Agreed. I wish infantry was more relevant as a unit so there'd be an excuse to use the second part of the bonus, but the range alone is worth it.

[@CrnaStrela]

Imagine being surrounded by Bombard Cannons and you managed to hold off long enough until Crenelation researched. Seeing those Bombard Cannons getting flattened is very satisfying.

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@Gashahn24]

@@ankitkachchhi7293 Why would you need to purchase it for free?

[@deutscher1a]

@@BlueShellshock tbf if youre teuton you basicly use just 3 unit types Siege: Trebs, bbc and rams as armored troop transport Cav: Pala(obv), scouts are top tier units too(extra armor + teched for pala anyway) Inf: Superb halbs + the mighty, fear indulging and glorious elite deutschritter! If youre on pro level you can use monks too i guess xD Teuton gameplay is very inf heavy and the tech gets its full potential But thats just my feeling as a teuton arena player

[@Pyrrha_Nikos]

11 castles, 11 minutes. Just perfect. Chef kiss

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@urooj09]

​@@ankitkachchhi7293just download from fitgirl

[@cannnds]

11 *herb laugh* 11

[@Waking_Giant]

Teuton castles are also great against rams since they can just garrison infantry for the arrow bonus. When a ram comes up you ungarrison, kill the ram, and regarrison.

[@azh698]

The closest thing to a sally port that we're likely to ever see in this game!

[@pocketgroyper9301]

Tectonic knights also create extremely fast and can counter rams in an emergency

[@ferrisffalcis]

yeah having a melee uu from the castle means you can always hit rams in a pinch too but ig elephants can do that too

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@deutscher1a]

@@pocketgroyper9301 gotta love the capey boys buffs - theyre at 0.9 speed and can easily charge in the enemy lines

[@dembro27]

The best Castle is a Daut Castle.

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@nessesaryschoolthing]

@@ankitkachchhi7293 Not the full version, but you can probably get the basic version for less than $5 in the bargain bin anywhere computer games are sold. It's enough to try and see if you like it.

[@alimarzoog2352]

From steam

[@Ariovisti]

That reference to Stronghold made me giddy with glee.

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@thire7432]

Did you know that there’s a Stronghold Definitive Edition?

[@Velk413]

I get this is talking about functionality of castles, but from an aesthetic standpoint we need unique looking castles for all civs.

[@Casimir2811]

Exactly. I would also love customized troops. One skin for every civ would be quite hard to do, but at least one different type for same geographical areas (Africa, Middle East, South-East Asia, Northern Asia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Central America) would be great. It always bugs me to see that a Frank Longsword looks the same as a Japanese or Aztec one !

[@WangMingGe]

Yes! Regional skins for generic units. @@Casimir2811

[@Mattroid99]

Hard agree

[@PUARockstar]

I think with new civilisations they try more unique designs, as they did with Romans, or at least adding new regional styles with each new DLC with new civs. Slava Ukraine and slavs

[@wholesomebaker5410]

Mongol, Chinese and Koreans having Japanese style castles is the worst💀

[@lincolnvolk7609]

Persian bullets coming from the castle just look to damn good

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@PhilAndOr]

This is where Xerxes went wrong.... he should have used bullets against the 300.

[@arnefriedrich5818]

1 small mistake: Frank castles in Castle Age cost 553 Stone, not 593. Apart from that, again very nice content! 🙂

[@MaximusLongus]

Yeah, that threw me off for a minute. I was like" … did they raise castle cost to 700?" until I did the math :D

[@claytonknowles25]

He also said herbal with the 'h' sound 11 good thing he's a math teacher and not an English teacher :D

[@Andy-uq9eo]

​@@claytonknowles25wtf herbal with h is correct in English

[@satriapratama3162]

Idk bout you guys but that 7:08 kind of hill always annoy me.

[@satriapratama3162]

Idk bout you guys but that 7:08 kind of hill always annoy me.

[@akaMaddy]

3:25 nice reference. 😄

[@apoxpaito]

"The people WORSHIP you, Sire!"

[@akaMaddy]

@@apoxpaito "Your popularity is rising!"

[@jasv49]

Wood needed!

[@tsukujam3080]

"Can't place that there m'lord"

[@lordrotkop]

God damn it. Thank you. Now i really need to play it again

[@TekoraX]

This guy.... How does he manage to find new content every time? I'm amazed and delighted

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@mickethegoblin7167]

​@@ankitkachchhi7293no

[@unimportantcommenter4356]

Personally, I would have also taken the availability of Masonry, Architecture, Hoardings and to a way lesser extent, Treadmill Crane into consideration when ranking the castles. Still the Persians would have been my top pick.

[@unimportantcommenter4356]

@@RickJaeger goddamn typo

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@NivMizzet89]

@@ankitkachchhi7293 It's on Steam, but not for free. You can wait for a sale to get it cheaper.

[@thomasdemetz6145]

funny Stronghold reference got me 😂 Did not expect the top pick, but have to agree after seeing those stats. Great work!

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@thomasdemetz6145]

@@ankitkachchhi7293Age of Empires series and Stronghold games are both very cheap on Steam Sales. Without multiplayer and mods you will miss out a lot. AoE 3 has free trial and Star Craft 2 has free trial Coop too. AoE Online - Project Celeste is for free.

[@F1fan4eva]

The amount of nonchalant wordplay in these scripts is next level. Always a pleasure watching your content, Spirit.

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

Visually, the central european castle (Teutons notably) looks much more defensible, with a drawbridge behind a first gatehouse instead of a big gate.

[@KCPR13]

If it was Polish (exact same territories) would you call it Eastern European?

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

@@KCPR13 I called it depending on the ingame architectural style. So in that case, yes I would have in the current state of the game, as this style is used geographically from the Bohemians to the Slavs (and was mainly designed for the Slavs). (It's how this style is commonly called, notably on the wiki, nothing political)

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

@@ankitkachchhi7293 no one that supports the devs will answer that.

[@mickethegoblin7167]

​@KCPR13 not the exact same... Teutons are the medieval Germans

[@tankofnova9022]

A castle that eliminated its weakness to rams being number 1 works for me

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@oyuyuy]

All I wonder is... why do all the archers in the castle group up and fire from the same window?

[@simonmonto]

Ahahahaha awesome observation. So they all know who to fire at?

[@PhilAndOr]

If you want realism, don't play age of empires...

[@steThanos]

It's like toddlers playing football. The see the ball/target and get too excited 😂

[@carthagosenatus2245]

Til: conscription isnt a mechanical hook, but instead a hand dropping money into another hand. Been playing since childhood and for 20+ years i thought it was a hook, and it was helping my troops be constructed faster. xD

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@t_Heisenberg]

stronghold crusader was a good unique tech too

[@AS91ist]

I would say that Poles's bonus "stone with gold" also indirectly supports your castle-building.

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@BayWa4eva]

Since that doesn't provide more or faster stone i'd say that Bohemians, Burgundians, Armenians and especially Koreans have better mining bonuses for castles. Maybe also Romans and Georgians can be added to that list.

[@Shokisan1]

Nice shout out to Stronghold. Excellent game.

[@Tommy1nnovates]

Great Video. But, I think Teutons have the best castle across the board.

[@exzenosisharbingaar9000]

3:25 hey hey! Stronghold! Love my Feudal town/castle management sim. "The people *worship* you, sire!"

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@thire7432]

“You are truly the cruelest tyrant in the kingdom your lordship.”

[@Alias_Anybody]

Not quite sure about Persians vs Teutons, because in my experience across multiple RTS range is often king over more damage, because map control, first strike and more options who you are attacking.

[@BrownDaddy007]

I always learn something new watching this channel. Cheers.

[@CptManboobs]

Crenellations is actually a callback to Age of Kings Teutons only you drop castles instead of Town Centers

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@caret_shell]

When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad: the strongest castle in all of England.

[@ankitkachchhi7293]

How and from where to download this game full version for free?? Please help..

[@hugovanpayns9557]

Aaah I was waiting for this one

[@williamangga6164]

Does Byzantines Castle's HP were counted after hoardings? Because I remember fully upgraded one can have 8k+ hp. That never mentioned in this video. Also in your Byz civ overview said that Byz castle with hoardings can take 48 Siege Ram hits/17 Trebuchets hits, while in this video were 36/19. That's quite confusing.

[@ScarletDeathweaverLegacy]

0:00 I subscribed to your channel and support your channel even though I stopped playing this game in 2019 at about 1567 elo because that's how much I love 😘 your videos. Happy Leap Day! 🎉❤️

[@alanjohnson6169]

As someone who was 1500 elo back in 2020 and now 1100 elo in 2024 I encourage you to get back into the game and see how much better players are these days 😂

[@randomguyse7e719]

Havent played the game in over a decade and i find these videos super entertaining.

[@malikshabazz2065]

great stuff SotL! :-)

[@eleh4819]

+rep for including Stronghold the game icon when talking about Celts tech. Legendary game in my books and i still revisit it from time to time

[@user-wq2dp6en1f]

Attempt numero 5: Spirit of the Law please make a Romae ad Bellum series civilisations overview. Another insightful video and keep up the amazing work. :)

[@VegeeMcSalad]

That phrase "Franks lack bracer, while Inca's don't" tripped me up a bit before I had a chance to think about it 😆

[@amoltov496]

In "Detinets" the second syllable is stressed.

[@animangovideo7375]

Thank you for another great video SOTL! Idea for a new video - the new march PUP changed siege weapons' damage distribution to do 100% damage at the center of the hit. Could be cool to see how much harder BBCs now counter onagers/scorpions and how much harder it is to avoid their projectiles with siege. Maybe also for xbows against mangonels.

[@SmilingExecutioner]

*Top 11* I see what you did there

[@gushgaming6642]

Almost thought about quiting life and this guy comes out with a video. 10/10 will live for a while longer.

[@chimbambu]

Gotta love that Stronghold reference. One of the best RTS games out there.

[@firedoom666]

For some reason I thought this was going to be about the Castle appearance. Which imo the best architecture is the South East Asia castles. Maybe one day if you feel like doing a video without math you can just talk about the various Architecture sets and other unique building models in the game

[@diegoramirez3587]

God bless ya Spirit of the Law 🙏🏿

[@phantomaxl1207]

One thing about the bullets from Citadels, is that, they are more concentrated on their target then regular arrows and thus more prone to overkilling their target.

[@magtag6879]

I do love how he says "just my personal list" like he didn't just crunch the numbers and give us absolute objective fact. Granted 99% of what Spirit says is just objective fact and I feel like the game relies on him for the stats.

[@gregoryrolin9738]

Spirit of the Stats. Giving the devs essential data they don't yet realize they need.

[@hughparsonage4446]

Can't wait for the top 13 skirmisher vid.

[@matthewsteele99]

the stronghold reference made me almost as excited as the Caesar 3 reference in the old Britons review

[@ianjohnson8014]

Do a tower one next! Compare with units in them as I’ve always wanted to see which towers can matcha britons one with 5 longbow men in as in my tests against other civs this one seems to beat them all

[@SpaceTalon]

9:39 - when the music kicks in and you know it's gonna be good

[@FranciscoSilva84]

This was a need taking point thansk

[@NivMizzet89]

Detinets discount is great until you force-of-habit sell your wood to buy the final bit of stone, then find yourself with too much stone but not enough wood to afford one. Not that I would ever do that, of course.

[@jacobwood3326]

One of the creators that can pull me away from Hidden Cup Content 😂

[@LaplacianFourier]

Hey Law, Spirit of the Guys here.

[@3Dthinker-]

I did not realize Persian castles were so good. I expected them in the top 10, but I expected Teutons to be #1. Pretty cool

[@BrownFoxWarrior]

#12: Richard Castle

[@whiteeagleforce2.040]

Your videos are the best to sleep with (no irony nor sarcasm intended)

[@tomselleck6912]

Teutons are easily number 1, not only does the +3 generates a massive extra area of control (area of control grows exponentially with radius) but the whole infantry giving attack power allows garrisoned infantry to attack and if the enemy brings rams you ungarrison and kill them, even if you are not going for infantry, you can use cheap spearmen, since rams have negative melee armor a spearmen with weapon blacksmith upgrades (which you would get anyway since teutons is either cavalry or infantry) does 10 damage per hit to a ram, that mean even siege rams will die from as little as 27 spearmen hits. And even if the enemy pulls out infantry to kill the spearmen, then you shoot them with the castle, but in reality Teutons are usually stronger in terms of infantry vs infantry, and if the enemy is using cavalry you are going to be making halbs anyway. Another thing that its not mentioned is that even trebuchets have issues against Teutons because normally you will be having troops in front to protect a trebuchet, but with teutons the difference between trebs and castles is only 3 range, so there is not much room for a meatshield to operate in.

[@pikilic4481]

Good points even though you assume there are always units aorund your castle. Beware of a small mistake, the area of control grows quadratically with radius, not exponentially.

[@MrDwarfpitcher]

​@@pikilic4481well indeed A castle needs support and assuming it has it is dangerous That said What I loved most about my Teutonic castles is, when my infantry gets damaged yoo much I just heal them in my castle. I do not have the speed to do enough micro management, and to be honest, infantry is usually not worth it. But I use garrison healing far more actively as Teutons than any other civilization

[@pikilic4481]

@@MrDwarfpitcheryou're so right i'm a new player used to aoe3 and i should use garrison healing more often i find it soooooo good especially if you have free herbal medicine the amount of hitpoints you get back is enormous

[@cmdeca]

Byzantines castles can get to over 8000 hit points with hoardings. To me that makes them No. 1

[@sninctbur3726]

I expected the rankings to be on aesthetics/sprites, but this works too.

[@nicholase2868]

I randomed into Persians recently, I saw that tech to make castles fire bullets and was like 😲. Clicked that fast, the damage is so crazy with all upgrades.

[@keelhauler5227]

you can sell the extra stone or have less vills on stone as slavs i thought you'd mention this. love you

[@RoastCDuck]

Could you make a modern tier list of "Going above and beyond" ?

[@jacobdicou699]

Elephant fact: Persian war elephants are really good at unleashing gunpowder from castles.

[@fadhilyudistira8819]

I was teuton main in my earlier days of playing aoe for the castle and the cool looking teutonic knights. castle dropping an upgraded teuton castle never disappointed me.

[@darthleader5806]

Spirit saying facts with his smooth voice :)

[@jakoboka]

This is by far the most funny video i've ever seen in my life 11

[@WWFanatic0]

I wonder if the extra base damage for Persians can impact against capped/siege rams. If memory serves, the extra projectiles is based on the building's DPS compared to the DPS of ranged garrisoned units (can't recall the exact formula). A higher DPS of the projectile means you need more to garrison to get a single extra projectile (hence why only Teutons can get extra bombard shots). A civ with bracer+arb has arbs that do 10 damage and castles that do 15 a ratio of 2/3. Persians have 8 vs 18 a ratio of 4/9 which is a third less than 2/3 (aka 6/9) and should be getting 2/3 of the extra projectiles and probably less given the way breakpoints work. Since they only do 1 extra per shot against capped rams they're not getting nearly as much benefit. Against siege rams this is possible a detriment as both citadels and regular castles do 1 damage per shot and so anything that cuts number of shots is a negative. If it works how I think it does, they should perhaps look to change that a bit. Diminishing returns like against capped rams is one thing, but a tech that is supposed to buff your castles shouldn't have (fairly realistic) cases where it can hurt you.

[@sauravtripathi4128]

They also deal bonus damage against rams. Projectiles deal 2 damage instead of 1 to Capped Rams. The Castles themselves take -25% damage from rams.

[@WWFanatic0]

@@sauravtripathi4128 Yeah on capped rams it's just a reduced effect from garrisoned archers/handcannons than what you'd expect. Against siege rams though, it makes them do less damage as the armor negates the bonus damage. They do get tankier, but also lose on firepower from garrisoned units. Feels weird to have a drawback like that against one of the biggest threats.

[@RecklessInternetting]

The best castle is the one I manage to drop right near enemy towns. The castles that are OP and need nerfing is the one I am fighting at the time.

[@KaoticPhoenix]

Don't know why I thought this video would be about ranking the architecture styles but I came for it anyways

[@UrbanKovac]

Loved the Twotones joke 🫶🏼😂

[@gregoryrolin9738]

I wonder how the various castles compare to buildings from the campaigns, like fortresses or fortified towers.

[@justabarrelbomb4472]

Top 11 siege towers when?

[@joshyjosh3772]

Hey SotL, can you make a video about best looking architectures in game? Like feudal age meditteranean(italians etc) look very good or like castle age southeast asian(vietnamese for example).

[@MrAbgeBrandt]

The Persian castles' hand cannon shots should really spawn more dispersed. It looks like they're firing just one shotgun, or later machine gun, rather than being manned by several cannoneers,

[@mahal1891]

I was hoping for an aesthetic ranking

[@Binarokaro]

Honestly so happy that Boiling Oil got such a huge glowup. In its new incarnation, it's made the Persian castles the best

[@AmmarFarisA]

next you should rank best architecture in aoe

[@cdgncgn]

RoF on castle helps a lot with dps with rams. Even siege rams.Burst come faster.

[@raphaelantoine7331]

Yey my boi Persian getting some love

[@UntiltedName]

I always picked Teutons when I wanted to turtle up against the AI in random maps and have a lazy game. I would usually fish for a map seed that let me line up a wall of castles on a hill.

[@TheKobasen]

Top 11? What an odd number... 😅

[@Bulhakas]

Why not 11? Is it any odder than ten or any other number?

[@sportsfreak33393]

​@Bulhakas yeah, 10 is even

[@Bulhakas]

@@sportsfreak33393 So what? Eleven is a prime number. Shall we list more qualities of numbers?

[@zannrazor8569]

Maybe he just want to go one step beyond

[@davidgulik5556]

@@Bulhakas Do it, dude, I can never get enough talk about numbers!

[@Flem100DK]

2:14. "It probably gets too messy if we start including unique techs, in how we rank castles..." 2:21. "At number 8, we have the Slavs with their unique tech..." :P

[@vodkalord6941]

In your next Civ builder video make a Castle Civ

[@richeybaumann1755]

The best Castle is the one with 256x of the archer attack techs. They can fire through FOW and unexplored map, unlike other archer units, and they reveal map as they fire.

[@TheMrMatx]

For a moment I thought this was a video regarding castle design rather than bonuses and I said "Man I didn't know there were that many designs! How interesting!!". And I must admit I was a little disappointed when I found out I was wrong. Great video regardless!

[@TheDARSOS]

ohh stronghold, i ever wonder that their game mechanics were underrated, i really love stronghold crussader

[@marcinkusmierzak991]

I would add an honorable mention to Mayans. Maybe not a direct bonus but more stone equals more castles or more repair

[@soltiolai7513]

Hi, there’s a mistake in the cost of French castle age castles. 650*0.85 is about 553, not 593.

[@isakthenander2258]

11

[@stuartkingsley257]

Honestly giving Castles guns is pretty OP

[@monkeystealhead]

Can someone make a centermarker for buildings?

[@mythcrafts]

Could you review the AOE2_Golden_DE mod, it has custom units and adds 3 more ages

[@sweetestperfection90]

My favourite castles are the ones that are very far away. They take about a half a day to get there (if you travel by my, uh, dragonfly).

[@notthedroidsyourelookingfo4026]

Does the Celts' castle healing stack, if multiple castles have overlapping healing areas?

[@tamaskosa4456]

I wonder if bombard cannons with siege engineers can be used to attack ground the very EDGE of a teuton castle to outrange it.

[@ahbraveconscript997]

don't forget a very crucial mod that adds Daut's face on every castle that is in construction. with Lord's guidance there is no difference between civs you play as, the castle will the be best it can be (if you can complete it!).

[@urooj09]

Petition for devs to make unique castles fir each civ

[@onikoneko]

I dunno, I would have put Georgians up at #2. I still feel the combination of cheaper repairs and better hill defensive bonuses give them the ultimate staying power in castle and treb wars, and in many games, the castle the stays up the longest defines the victor.

[@Michael-on3ku]

I would switch Georgians and Teutons. As SotL mentioned, the Teuton bonuses are situational whereas the Georgian bonuses are much more flexible and helpful in the common situations you find yourself in with castle warfare.