Top 5 Most Underrated Civilizations | AoE2

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00:00 - 00:26 Intro
00:26 - 02:05 5
02:05 - 04:10 4
04:10 - 05:38 3
05:38 - 07:12 2
07:12 - 08:11 Honorable mention
08:11 - 10:21 1
10:21 - Final Talk & Outro
Edits by / @k1aoe

[@K1AoE]

The voice-over in this video was recorded before the upcoming balance change news

[@Sparklester]

Do the balance changes affect the underratedness of any of these civs?

[@wololojohnson6293]

​@@Sparklester At least Malians and Incas got a more than decent buff from the new patch. Not sure about the other civs

[@zanderfaust]

Thx! I won't waste my time watching this then!

[@davidmolina-lx6zf]

@@wololojohnson6293 malian are getting nerf on nomad 😞

[@mazinrobox2546]

​@@SparklesterOf course. This new patch is so big it will change the meta a lot.

[@connorwilliams3542]

Your place holder base layouts are underrated! These are satisfying to look at

[@gherlwinfireson8582]

For sure!

[@Tommy1nnovates]

Great video. I was sure you were going to mention teutons. I'm a big fan of the infantry civs (which have always been underrated.) They're my favorite to watch/spectate.

[@allenfinkenaur5001]

Super interested in Burmese infantry with gambisons if all the PUP changes come through!

[@domingossn]

"And it's a Hera video, so you know I wanna talk about hussars anyways" -- Pure Gold

[@philip2111]

The title at 00:07 in the video says “Overrated” and should be “underrated” btw.

[@K1AoE]

yeaaah my bad xD

[@AmirMishel]

Ahh... You are the editor guy eh?​@@K1AoE

[@joberiflo89]

I loved koreans since conquerors release, and i love them today. Thanks Hera, i feel really excited when a pro player uses the civ in a tourney

[@kanutahytomka4542]

how can you not love them they have tanks on land and water, and literal sniper towers

[@_AR_1]

Hera selling Korean Hussars like a crypto bro be selling their crypto 😅😅😅

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

11

[@incrizza]

Ty for this. I think I've heard a cat in the background. Making this vid 100% better.

[@burstslinky7113]

honestly i think magyars should be on here almost never get to see them in high level play, but the scouts early and the cav archers are beyond insane lategame also the magyar huszar, while needing castles, is just great as a meatshield and as an answer to siege

[@leventebardossy5962]

They're, I think, a bit predictable. All civs can counter it, you need to be quicker than your opponent to pull it off, otherwise the attack will be a suicide. This haste leaves you vulnerable in a 1v1.

[@satyakisil9711]

I bet you can see them in maps like Steppe, African clearing, Land Madness, etc. in team games. The maps don't really suit them.

[@Kawabongahlive]

Let's go my burmese boys!!! I love that civ just like you do, Hera, so underrated. The wood upgrade bonus is insane because it's a mandatory tech that you get for free and instantly.

[@scorch527]

Burmese are one of my favourites to play! So many options, and today I won a game by switching to Champion and my opponent had no clue how to counter it.

[@gunar.kroeger]

I hate them I random into them, but it must be because I don't know their options. Understandable since I mainly play archer or cav archer style units

[@AGoodLittleSub]

​​​@@gunar.kroeger They have great cav, which is an option in every stage of the game. But I guess from what you are saying, Arambai should be your goal to get to. You can even open maa -> archers -> xbows and then switch to cav, the xbows just don't have the greatest longevity. If you want to, you can consider them as a standart cav civ with free woodupgrades. Their Imp UT is ridiculously strong when playing cav vs archers (+5 on FU Hussar, FU Cavalier and FU Battle Eles with +1/+1 more armour). The switch to infantry if needed is stronger as most civs, your monks are good, and when you run into mass infantry/pikes, Arambai are insane, if a bit hard to get to, or you can mostly destroy them with your own infantry due to your increased damage output (+3 for free in imp). Your stronger spearline also makes a great addition to any early archer/ xbow play and support for monks and or Arambai

[@SoulBadoulibur2024]

I miss the old Burmese with their +5 attack against buildings it was so fun to play even if it was broken 😭

[@krystofcisar469]

I like them too.They are so strong af if played well. I Usually open with swordsmen+archers, switch to arambai/knight or monk/siege and later cavalier or elephants and some hussars. Nothing more satysfing than deathball of 50elephants and 15 cannons :D Their champions are crazy good too, cant wait till they will have gambesons!

[@davidgg8318]

I like your cat in the background Hera!

[@teddyhaines6613]

I've randomed Spanish on Arabia a few times, and my solution was usually to go knight-pikeman or knight-elite skirm. Nothing I wouldn't have preferred to do with Chinese or Franks instead, but it got the job done.

[@MathewCowdery]

Going to try the Persian idea. Love non-standard playstyles.

[@kanutahytomka4542]

hera made a video about all my favourite civs, kinda glad what i turned out to be

[@alt7244]

When I played this game more than 10 years ago, I had no clue how deep it would go

[@SystemLieferant]

The real question here is, how the farms in the first Teutonic Village have perfect alignment with the mill?!

[@satyakisil9711]

Never heard of changing terrains in the editor?

[@gherlwinfireson8582]

@@satyakisil9711 Which means: cheating 11

[@DrRobGilles]

Very intelligent point about Persians. You gotta think intuitively about what window they have an advantage. If you’re spending resources plus build time for 1-2 more TCs and I’m not. Plus I get free resources at the beginning of the game. Plus my first tc is operating better. That’s my time to kill you. And do it well. I think the trap with the Persians is thinking because they have a lot of options and you combine that with the tc bonuses people often become indecisive, less aggressive and ultimately default to a boom I’m honestly surprised that the default Arabia meta for Persians isn’t one tc pushes Closed Maps like bf or arena is when you do the 3-4 tc boom

[@killyekfael4909]

the sound of cat in the background noise make this video perfect. :)

[@omegaj8431]

By adopting nomad builds to build docks first & immediately produce a fishing ships, Persians is very good on hybrid or even water map which can 21p+5 fishing ships to click feudal age (without loom) Persians should be classified as Calvary civilization with sea 11

[@VonKrauzer]

I expected Saracens to be on this list. I feel like they are very underrated and fly under everyone's radar. They have good camels, strong archers, their galleys are among the best, very strong monks and on top of that they can be fierce in post-imp with mameluks and BBC. One might say that they got no early eco bonus, but their market shenanigans can be pretty broken.

[@OneOfGaryBuseysTeeth]

Inca are by far my favorite civ.

[@donjoncraig6804]

also burmese get a free 1 melee and pierce armour for their elephants and also their unique tech gives them another 1 melee and pierce armour so they have tanky elephants that can help with arbalesters

[@krystofcisar469]

Was playing burmese vs. mayans the other day and they are totally busted... If you have full upgrades and like 10 bombard cannons not even plumes with halbs will hold long against it.

[@MathewCowdery]

For the "well-rounded" civs, I've always wondered if a "random" map in tournaments would cause them to be picked more. By that I mean the players won't know what the map will be so they have to pick a well-rounded/versatile civ.

[@gherlwinfireson8582]

Sounds very interesting! Maybe a tournament could be designed specifically towards this concept.

[@LightGreenCorona]

I would install a new layer of strategy, that's for sure. However, this would increase the chance for an uneven matchup, which is not optimal for a competitive setting.

[@krystofcisar469]

@@LightGreenCorona I thought they are trying to make it uneven as possible in the banning/picking phase of tourney :D

[@OJC1992]

Yessss my beloved Inca's! No one listens to me about how solid and well rounded they are ❤️!

[@kevinpriggert6501]

GG

[@paulh462]

I always find Japanese kinda underrated. Top tier halb, good navy, great towers, okay eco bonus, great trebs, archers are good, and the unique unit can be usefull.

[@krystofcisar469]

I was never good meta player so these are kinda classic to me. Koreans are on of the best late game civs imo and burmese are one of my favorite :D If they apply most changes featured in april patch, I can see incas being pretty busted. Anyway, I hope it will be out any day soon!

[@bannedcommander2932]

Koreans and Incas are definitely very underrated. Koreans have a rep for being a tower rushing one trick pony but they're so much more than that. The Incas are a personal favorite of mine, they're harder to play than Aztecs and Mayans due to the lack of an obvious game plan, but they excel at playing against the enemy's weaknesses. They might even be better after the update. Interesting idea on the Persians, I used to rate them pretty poorly. Can't wait to try out your 1/2 TC strat suggestion.

[@curlywhites]

Yeah, I had a 2v2 arena partner play Incas (this is like...1000 ELO or less) and me as Chinese. They picked on me first slowly wearing me down, but I held on long enough to see my partner just swarm the map with Kamayuk. They just...kill. Nothing stopped them. Just that unit alone has a lot of potential being anti-cav, having extra pierce armor, and benefiting from infantry upgrades (arson specifically). Mass enough of them and you can wipe out their army of cav under caste fire and then take out the castle like it's nothing. Yeah, yeah, low ELO stuff. But I always had an eye on the Incas even though I rarely play them.

[@leonidas_dragas]

5:25 MRRRRREW

[@connorrammler3064]

Korean Hussar. Hera you do know that april 1 was 2 days ago right?

[@Spink_Prime]

Incas also have the same building structure as Aztecs and Mayans. Meso in my book. I'm surprised Teutons weren't on this list. I know people like myself who like the Teutons because they look cool, but I never hear anything about how good they are. They have some great siege, tanky paladins, and a solid tech tree for their melee units. Their buildings also hit harder and further, and they have a solid farm eco bonus, imo. They're one of Viper's favorite civs, i've seen him win with them a lot, but they're always put down in D tier or so. I'm aware of their weaknesses, but I still don't think they're as bad as the general opinion.

[@MasterWololoRealm]

Hope we see some nice strategies with these civilizations in KOTD5.

[@diegoramirez7901]

I love Farimba

[@gherlwinfireson8582]

5:24 meow!

[@gebhard128]

The teutonic vilage is a strong teaser I have to admit that

[@naiweiliu2805]

With coming patch, Malay is underrated. It's going to be a strong civ.

[@ThatDanmGuy]

The spoiler/skimming-resistant chapter titles are a cunning move, wp ;)

[@prankishsquire2663]

I can lose dramaticly with any civ. I blame it on my dog.

[@baizen1]

I just came here for the kitty meowing at 5:00

[@kiss_of_kill]

Can you give us your custom keybinds/shortcuts and a video on how to efficiently use keybinds

[@chronographer]

My vote is for italians on land. People sleep on the cheap bombards. Mid game they have to use the cheaper age up and uni techs and fairly open tech tree just missing siege engineers and halbs. Big weakness is no real early game advantage.

[@christos49]

Yeah, Italians have my vote too. I just wish they had an Imp technology that isn't worthless in non-team games.

[@chronographer]

@@christos49 it's hard to give then a strong imp tech when that's already their big power spike. That's when they get all the gunpowder bonus', and when they get the most out of the dock, university, and age up discounts.

[@christos49]

@@chronographer yeah, i mean the imp tech is strong as it is. Just useless when not in team games is all.

[@krystofcisar469]

Just give them siege engineers and unique tech useful in 1V1 and they are great.(est :D

[@hareshneeraj998]

Yet another Hera video recorded probably just before the new set of balance changes 😂

[@varunmanjunath9123]

Dravidians are underrated. They have whiplash Urumi warriors and machine-gun elephant archers! 11

[@TimWilson89]

Pretty sure that was Milky at 5:25 😂

[@Omynona]

5:20 cat shenanigans

[@derikaem8021]

#persians what about extended feudal play, so you just hit castle age when you already have enough eco to produce from 3 tcs AND army?

[@hansoskar1911]

comparing how Spanish and Koreans feel to play is really telling what the diffrence between being food centered and wood centered in your composition does to your eco.

[@fatback3668]

With the recent update balance change can you do a video with the new top 5 please.

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

When it comes out yes

[@sarudon8412]

Whats your opinion on Farimba Light cav? Not as powerful as some of the hussar civs out there but i can see them having uses in the late game. Underrated or overrated?

[@lizardemperorkorbac4281]

I would say they have the same uses as regular LC, raiding. I guess usually you'd prefer survivability over DPS, so the Hussars extra HP are preferable, especially since the extra damage isn't enough to kill a villager one hit earlier, in fact the slightly higher attack speed of the Hussar allows a generic Hussar to kill a villager quicker than a malians LC. For sniping monks and siege it could be better though. So I don't know if they are under or overrated as I don't know how they are rated in general, but I think I rather have a generic Hussar, however if the Hussar is missing even one upgrade (except Mongols) I'd rather have Malian LC

[@nemdoc8666]

Maybe the Italian are underrated, in all the last patch they never change maybe for the devs are all right but I think they are a strong civ but difficult to use

[@krystofcisar469]

Italians were simply one of the best civs out there for me... And still is. If I really really wanna win some day I usuallypick Italians :D

[@demiserofd]

For Persians, the massive weakness of war elephants to monks is a big part of why they're not that good. Right now elephants are barely used, so the Persians basically have no UU AND no imperial age unique tech(mahouts). What if you gave them Mahouts for free on Elite, and then gave them a second castle age unique tech: one that randomizes enemy conversions? IE, they try to convert the war elephant, but if there are 10 enemy units in range, they'd have an equal chance of converting any of them, and probably wouldn't get the elephant. Converting a trashbow isn't nearly as helpful. This would make elephants MUCH more viable earlier on, since they'd typically be used in small numbers mixed with other units at that point, but wouldn't have much impact on them in the lategame, when you start getting 10+ elephants, because the chances of randomly converting an elephant would go up substantially.

[@mertyilm_z]

Similar to Spanish, i think you rate Turks higher than the others for arabia too

[@JAKEATO]

Yes Incas can counter almost all(except bombard cannon ), Koreans is scarier you can go full war wagons to do a siege a win , Persians have two options be slow(war elefanto ) or speed with Paladins-Trash bows-gunpower and finally the Burmese I saw many people crushing archer civs with the Burmese Skirm and Hussar combo.

[@youcanthandlethetruth5433]

Spanish are great. Conqs delete cavalry in castle age and against archers you can go mangonells knight skirm

[@McLovinlt]

I wonder what Hera thinks is the worst civ in the game then, cause for me its the Incas, I quite like the other civs discussed though

[@tomasferraz7655]

Magic! monsters! Mastering!!!! 🤑

[@CodornaPrince]

Should just call Aztecs, Mayans and Incas the American civs, because that's what they are. Meso stands for Mesoamerican, but Meso only applies to the first two, while American applies to all. Despite what they want people to believe, the burgers aren't the only ones entitled to be called Americans.

[@jackwaite4035]

Burmese are terrible Hera, you just make them look good! 11

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

Nono they are good bro…they make me look good trust

[@krystofcisar469]

Burmese are bonkers!

[@ThatDanmGuy]

Why can't Persians get away with just adding 1-2 extra farmers per TC and keep pumping? They get a free vil lead from Feudal production increase and the reduced Castle age research time, so it shouldn't put their military production *much* behind at that point, right?

[@lolaldanee2743]

asking myself the same question more vills earlier should also mean more resources earlier -> easier to afford making more vills

[@Kawabongahlive]

You can't afford those farms, you need more lumberjacks. If you put them on lumber then you don't have the food for* the vills and you idle the TC as hera explained.

[@UmutKaradabann]

I haven't watched the video but I know no:1 is Burmese knowing Hera

[@JPG-bh4im]

Ngl Incas coming in strong with a nice tasty lama

[@misteral9045]

I honestly only ever notice that bonus on nomad where sometimes it can be hard to find food sources besides dock. It's not very strong.

[@JPG-bh4im]

@@misteral9045 I find it pretty useful as man at arms opening bonus lol, where you can get to feudal faster and hit them hard...tbf my 1vs 1 ELO rn is 1137 so....yeah might be that

[@misteral9045]

@@JPG-bh4im Haha yeah it might be because of that. For the same reason why Lithuanians starting with +100 (150 before the next patch) is 10x better than starting with a llama that has 100 food, because not only are those resources already in your stockpile (ignoring decay), your villagers are able to spend time gathering more on top of that. And the the nerf to the chinese start mathematically makes little difference, but in practicality it's a straight nerf even accounting for TC idle time because the villager isn't present to be gathering or scouting or building.

[@booradley6832]

Why does the splash screen at 0:09 say "Most overrated" lol? I know mistakes are made sometimes but that was a pretty easy one to catch. Oh well, cant continue to be negative to someone for something they cant fix now, just ask them to be more careful in the future.

[@uniique533]

i wonder where vietnamese fall here, i thought they would fall into honorable mentions, but not in this vid sadge but i find vietnamese a great civ, with the power eco bonus and utility they have

[@krystofcisar469]

Seems liek pro´s also like them. And they are so good.

[@arcan762]

is there a bird or something in the background audio?

[@ordinaryrat]

What does it even mean when it says that resources last longer? Is that just a negative bonus or does it take longer because it provides more resources?

[@BoazMoerman]

It means that you collect them at the same rate as normal, but the mines get depleted more slowly, so each tile gives more gold in total.

[@zeekbt_dores]

Commenting at the beginning of the video; if Burmese aren't on here I'm starting a Flemish revolution

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

Ggwp

[@user-iz2tm5ih4e]

Dravidians are another forgotten Meso civ 😂

[@Blooticus]

Chad Burmese elephants ftw

[@j.p.691]

😘

[@Sparklester]

Your editor messed up the title slide at the very beginning, give the man a break 😂

[@K1AoE]

ohhh my god. shiiiiet 1111

[@ryanforgo3500]

I would personally put saracens at number 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 and 5. It's like 90% of the saracen matches i watch are pros going Monk and siege push and gold heavy + market. To the point almost every time the community talks about it they completely forget how saracens have 10 other strong late game options and they can get better rss abd profit from wood and stone beating almost every other civ in eco bonus. But hey, good fot me as that means they won't be nerfed 😂

[@charleyruwart8983]

I am now aware at how weak I am with selecting meta

[@alistair158]

Can anyone else hear the cat meowing in the background? Lol

[@0344478]

Burmese Manipur Cavalry Upgrade on fully upgraded Hussar DESTROY Arbs ...

[@tartakower5938]

With last 15/20/25/30% food discount on all military units, Incas become best civilization in the game in my opinion. I am curious how games plays out after this last change.

[@AGoodLittleSub]

I'm somewhat scared honestly. However, I do like that basically, really many civs which aren't already quite OP got some type of buff which increases the overall strength of the civs and also their identity. Looking at it, almost all which weren't really strong got some type of buff and only civs like poles/ chinese/ gurjaras remained the same or got slight nerfs. Goths finally have a possibly quite strong eco bonus (~200 more food just from your starting boars), all other non-eagle infantry-civs got buffed by gambesons, slavs get druzhina cheaper and even stronger boyars, spanish got a nice eco bonus fitting their profile etc. So maybe they needed that, as pretty much the overall strength will just increase. Scary still though

[@schierlingsbecher7778]

Slavs are underrated aswell I think.

[@Fruktfisk]

Wait is the cat screaming in the videos too?

[@aurelienwawrzyniak457]

Spanish is a good civ never understood whats the weakness, ok you dont have archer that all, you have best UU in the game, bonuses for building so in a kind of way its a eco bonuse cause you take less time building and FU cav at imp

[@4242brvrdbd]

Ive been wrecking my friends with Burmese on console (we’re all beginners)

[@IhateMTVandVIVA]

Clearly Sicillians.

[@satyakisil9711]

Meanwhile Saracens conitnues to be the meme civ since 1999.

[@K1AoE]

do you really think they are weak?

[@krystofcisar469]

Lol, for sure :D They got literally EVERYTHING with full upgrades exept cavalier. Arbalest/hussar + siege ram - good luck stopping that. Even memelukes are great on team games or gold rush :D

[@satyakisil9711]

@@krystofcisar469 doesn't matter, nobody plays them and it sucks. Check the win rates and play rates. It's a michi grade civ. Talk about smushing these days. Nobody even uses the galley bonus.

[@torashiki5646]

Just an small correction, but Llama is pronounced Jama, not Lama. Double L in spanish is just a J.

[@johannhowitzer]

Been watching your videos for a bit now, some tiny little editing tips that will take very little effort and I think will significantly increase the quality in some subtle ways. 1. For every clip - or maybe nearly every, I haven't counted - you're doing a very slight zoom-in. Problem is, it's every clip. Just vary that a bit, by going with various angles of subtle pan, maybe pan and zoom, depends on what seems most appropriate for the clip. But having every clip do the exact same slight zoom-in eventually got kind of distracting for me. Mixing it up will keep it from getting stale. 2. The slick line-wipes you're doing for text are just a bit overused in your videos. Keep these for headers, don't feel the need to do this for every single text element. There may be some times you don't use it that I didn't notice, but I have gotten used to seeing that same wipe or a variation on every bit of text. Just save that for the most important ones, especially when dividing up sections of the video. That way, it packs a bigger punch when it shows up.

[@Mortaall1]

And what about Teutons? 🥲

[@hansoskar1911]

Hera: How can Koreans be underrated. They even got Hussars.

[@jvan6582]

Teutons

[@martijnbouman8874]

The text in your video says that this is about 'Overrated' civilizations.

[@jones17188]

No Teutons in the list？ or it's no underrated?

[@timothyswartz5366]

The fact that Vietnamese didn’t make the list proves they’re the truly underrated civ

[@Whokare]

Let me guess Burmese is on the list

[@romaljaiswal8]

me being a goth main waiting for goths to pop in this video :'(((((

[@IndexInvestingWithCole]

My money is on Tatars

[@lizardemperorkorbac4281]

I don't think Incas or Malians will be underated any more after the recent patch ;-) They'll rightfully be considered very strong, possibly even too strong

[@imsmeagol911]

Haven't watched the video yet, but I know Burmese is #1.

[@undefined6341]

I miss the tower rush Koreans and Incas (old Koreans, old Incas). Those were good fun to play for some feudal aggression. I feel like the current versions of the civs (even in the new patch) are just much much worse

[@howercraft56]

Starts with saying "most overrated civs" next video topic leaked :D

[@robertschmidt7512]

Mentor me on xbox im 1400 elo and im stuck

[@misteral9045]

Someone finally recognizing Incas not as a mesoamerican civ. A step in the right direction. Why do they have eagle warriors again? And why do Mayans for that matter? Aoe2 blows Aoe3 out of the water in terms of playability and game design, but Aoe3 puts Aoe2 to complete shame in civ design and historical and thematic accuracy. There is the Chimu runner, which is functionally the same as an eagle, it's just... well... Incan.

[@Tobotimus]

Well you kinda allude to the answer in your comment. Game design. Eagle warriors were introduced as a "regional unit", the 2nd of its kind (after camels). And I'd say the concept was one of the reasons the original meso civs fit into the game so well. It improves player experience, having a common unit between the three American civs, for familiarity. But it also makes it easier for devs to balance, rather than having even more unique units. If you give each civ the same unit but call it and skin it something different (e.g. Chimu runner), that's just confusing for players and viewers IMO.

[@misteral9045]

@@Tobotimus Are you really that stupid that you would get confused? That's a weak argument. Aoe3 also has common and regional units and no one has any trouble with it. Aoe3 failed on the game design because everyone having guns makes combat rather limited, and they made the cardinal sin of putting a snare effect in an RTS. As stated, Incas aren't mesoamerican, so why do they have that regional unit? There are plenty of other ways to give mobility to a civ without cav. Such as a trash infantry version of Hussar. Chimu runner, 60f 20w. Boom. There you go, and it strengthens the incan identity at the same time. Still a civ without cav, which is why the eagle was created in the first place.