You'll HATE Me For This COMPLETE Total War Ranked Tier List

[@AndysTake]

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[@Eliel-Lin]

The logic ”too old” doesnt fit too well with rome if you are going to place Medieval in S.

[@AndysTake]

Yea it does, because as I explained, they really do feel extremely different. Whereas Medieval 2 feels so much more fluid and modern during the battles, Rome just doesn’t.

[@nybethobdilord6912]

yeah that answer is kinda bs. lol Medieval 2 isn't really even an improvement over Rome. It's just in a different setting for the most part. The only thing that really stands out is the introduction of gunpowder and the crusade mechanic.

[@nsawatchlistbait289]

I still am sad that Napoleon's map is not as big as Empire's. Imagine if they gave us a dlc to have the grand campaign from Empire... I would totally be into it

[@AttiliusRex]

yes and no, the map is a bit larger than empires, but it represents a smaller area (europe only)

[@nsawatchlistbait289]

@@AttiliusRex I know but the scope and variety we could have gotten...

[@AttiliusRex]

@@nsawatchlistbait289 yup, but even then, theres more unique uniforms in napoleon than in empire. Remember than napoleon was what empire was meant to be, but a much smaller scale. They refined empire but still had to narrow the scope to deliver. The game we (and the devs wanted) was not the game they could deliver :/

[@nsawatchlistbait289]

@@AttiliusRex they could atleast have made the campaign map moddable 😔

[@intotheunknown21]

It's in the title of the game. It's focused on Napoleon's conquests. How can you make the map bigger than the scope of what the game was made to be?

[@Hfsm33]

I really love Atilla, it's the closest Total War ever felt to a horror game, you felt the impending doom and destruction as you prepared for the worst. Everything felt unpredictable and challenging. Hardest Total War ever possibly?

[@AndysTake]

100%

[@re-birth8865]

its easier than shogun 2 legendary by a mile

[@ericthe3rd]

I think wre on barbarian invasion is harder

[@denisdenak]

@@ericthe3rd WRE on legendary level definitely has the hardest gameplay of all total wars

[@ericthe3rd]

Yeah ok then

[@Jeulz1998]

Medieval 1 and Shogun 1 like : „Aren’t we a total war game too?“

[@Lp-army1]

Prob not needed since shogun 2 and medival 2 outshadow the originals in every way plus its way too old to feesibly play on modern equipment

[@01dom]

@@Lp-army1 why have rome 1 then

[@rolgolding]

@@01dom Maybe because Rome II isn't as good as improvement over the original

[@masterexploder9668]

While Medieval 2 and Shogun 2 are perfect sequels, I think extracting soundtracks from the originals wouldn't be a bad idea. Jeff composed fire straight from the first Shogun.

[@RatiousMax]

@@Lp-army1 Both are listed on steam and can play them with 0 problem.

[@TrojanR6]

TW 3 Kingdoms is a revolutionary Total War Game. Amazing Optimization, Story Telling, Diplomatic Occurances, the special events you have to unlock, and so much more...

[@CptSlow89]

Good but Troy is the best optimized tw game ever.

[@taher9358]

3 kingdom is by far the best total war yet.. no other total war comes close.. and I’m not even being bias

[@shirohige9376]

@@taher9358 your are 💯 right, people didn’t like three kingdoms cause it’s about Chinese history not about the game itself, u can see they glorify every total war about romans

[@karebushmarebu233]

@@shirohige9376 100%! There is so so much anti Chinese propaganda in the west nowadays and its contributed to this incredibly eurocentric way of seeing things. Any self proclaimed history buff knows China has some of the most interesting and deeply important history in the world, how can a history fan call the three kingdoms period uninteresting?

[@GAMER123GAMING]

@@shirohige9376 As a fan of chinese history i hated it

[@cvanvslivs2406]

Yes! Total War Attila definally deserves a S tier! I also think this game really help gain people's attention to the rich but often overlooked history of late antiquity.

[@AndysTake]

Exactly! That’s part of why I love it so much!

[@kyleparnell7317]

L

[@kyleparnell7317]

@@AndysTake troy total wars ss tier

[@paul_5848]

cool game but to me the ai gets messy since everyone blows up WRE it means they get really positive relations with eachother and also end up with random provs all over the spot. Jute North France and West spain is annoying. Mods are amazing though and overall is more polished version of Rome 2 like Napoleon is to Empire though maybe ironically both probably move away to less popular time periods.

[@tperkins17]

@@paul_5848 Yeah this is my biggest gripe with it. Like if you're playing as the Franks you essentially have to rush western Europe or else everything gets snatched up way too quickly by random Celtic and Nordic factions. It's very common for a patchwork map of random Caledonian/Pictish/Ebdanian territories throughout France and Spain. I think one of the most annoying elements of the AI is that it doesn't 1) prioritize controlling entire provinces, and 2) attacking common foes generates too much diplomatic favor, and you end up with huge coalitions attacking WRE together with absolutely zero rhyme or reason to it. Would make a lot more sense if the barbarian factions would fight each other just as much as they do Rome - since that's how it went down IRL. The Battle of the Catalaunian Fields featured Goths, Franks, Alamans, Burgundians, and others on both sides of the battle. The Huns and Romans might've been leading their respective coalitions, but the majority of forces were Germanic/Gothic warriors. Hell, the Romans actually made a lot of allies out of the barbarian tribes. There is no real function to make a friend out of, say, the Visigoths when they settle in your lands. Just makes no sense.

[@jessemackey3270]

Did he just rank Troy over rome

[@K.R.98]

The graphics aren’t the best, that’s true. But the art-style is just amazing and the little bugs are features at this point in time. I think he is insane to not rank rome1 S-tier. Also: Troy is pure garbage. It’s C-tier at best I‘m okay with rome2 as B-tier. They really messed up some part of the game such as artificially limiting the number of armies. The building mechanics are also extremely weak EDIT: if I was subscribed to this channel I would unsubscribe now. 😂

[@comradegab3344]

The title explicitly says you will hate him for it

[@isaaczatopek2300]

Medieval 2s soundtrack deserves a lot of credit I think, the best in the series made you really hyped to play

[@AndysTake]

I agree!

[@JB-xl2jc]

Medieval 2 has so many bangers. Empire has a few great tracks. Warhammer has some incredible ones too, but of course they're a bit more fantastical.

[@MrFaqmetal]

I often use it in background to study or while im working in home, maybe for nostalgic reasons and same with the OSD of Skyrim and Assassins creed 2

[@nomooon]

Med 2 and Shogun 1 musics all day

[@hovorka21]

True😊

[@nickxplore4265]

Tooooooooooooooooooooootally think TW3K deserves an A-tier regardless of the personal interest setting. Why? Because it geuinely brought the series as a whole to a new stepping stone, like Shogun did back in its years. That Diplomacy, the character interractions, the agent scheme mechanics, the deployable defensive structures, the incredibly smooth and satisfying battle animations and mechanics and releasing with perfect performance in terms of hardware.

[@lt.danicecream]

I enjoyed it, the lack of unit diversity was a weak point

[@DanielsY2J]

@@lt.danicecream so was Napoleon, praticaly a mono race game. still he put it at A tier

[@lt.danicecream]

@@DanielsY2J I agree, very boring in that aspect.

[@lyhthegreat]

@@DanielsY2J isn't shogun a mono race game too?

[@DanielsY2J]

@@lyhthegreat indeed

[@THEJustinOfAllTime]

"Rome total war is B tier because its not modern enough" "Rome total war remaster is great because it makes it playable today, B tier" Bro what?

[@scorpius666999]

Man, if CA could make a Total War Medieval 3, that has attrition, factions, map mechanics and sieges of Atilla, diplomacy of Three Kingdoms, and epic battles of Medieval 2 (with those intro speeches before battle like in Shogun 2) - that's it, I'd restore my faith in humanity.

[@DoguiDougua]

TW3Kingdoms is so underrated in my opinion. When you know a bit more about the characters, you just want to collect them into your empire!

[@NyangisKhan]

The diplomacy added a lot of replay value. Peace treaties actually meant something. And winning battles allowed you to take a settlement or two with peace treaties. Vassal feeding was a genuine mechanic in 3K. As a strategy game 3K was a step up from every other totalwar. As an avid PDX game enjoyer, 3K was imo the best totalwar. In every other totalwar you're thrown into an endless cycle of war without any depth.

[@schoolofshortstories]

this game is so overhated. Sometimes I feel like total war fans are just ungrateful

[@tankchikato9603]

TW3k is pokemon game haaha

[@brandonl7759]

Warhammer is S tier imo. There's just so much to do, so many different campaigns and systems. Just a masterpiece of a series

[@lateralus6512]

Now that most of us have a PC that can run Attila, we're starting to see it rise up as one of the best games in the series!

[@AndysTake]

Hear hear! :D

[@JB-xl2jc]

The ONLY knock I have for it aside from how well it runs, is that in the vanilla game the presence of the GIGANTIC Roman empires limits some of the variety in start positions. But I can mod in some more fragmented empires and boom, the mechanics shine all the more!

[@iyankov96]

How well does the game run for you? I have friends with a 9900k and a 3080 and they still have pretty bad performance.

[@AndysTake]

@@iyankov96 it’s still pretty bad, but it’s playable

[@georgetrillana5108]

@@iyankov96 You just need to do some tweaks in the settings outside of the game like increasing the video memory and editing how many CPU threads it uses

[@mattg2306]

Playing as the Western Roman Empire on Attila Total War is so challenging. I love it. Fighting wave after wave of barbarians is exhausting, only to realize they are just the beginning; they're fleeing from the Huns. I imagine this must've been how the WRE felt at the time. I eventually beat the campaign on very hard, but it was definitely a challenge for me. Attila Total War is certainly one of my favorite TW titles.

[@NontonSejarah-drg.naufal]

I just destroy almost all the WRE settlement, and Focus on some rich places

[@ragnarok6521]

@@NontonSejarah-drg.naufal Same, sold all buildings in outer regions and razed them the turn after if not taken, then focused on italy and its surroundings with a massive amount of wealth and ready to conquer. Once the Huns came about, I just used night attack and destroyed them all 1 by 1 in a single turn. Pretty easy playthrough as WRE. Nomadic factions etc. sucked because of the lack of tech and units. overall never liked Atilla much, to little diversity and pretty meh overall. Rome 2 ended up being pretty good, especially with mods. 3 Kingdoms and Saga titles pretty much killed it for me, no good historical titles for a decade and now comes Pharaoh -_-

[@NontonSejarah-drg.naufal]

@@ragnarok6521 they must delete Hittie and Canaanite and focus only on Egypt if they don't add Mycenaean, Babylon, Assyrian and Elamite

[@thisusernameiscurrentlytak7877]

How the hell did you manage to do that, I cant seem to find a way to beat it no matter what i do 😭

[@NontonSejarah-drg.naufal]

@@thisusernameiscurrentlytak7877 In first turn 1. Make sure you have soldiers to defend the rich region (such as Italy or North Africa), because when you raze all of other sattlement, public order Will drop in hundreds or thousand, so there Will be rebelion with provincial name (one in one province (per 3 sattlements)) 2. Raze all other sattlement, except all 3 sattlement in your chosen provinces of course some Will be occupied by barbarians but it's oke. I used to do it with seperate provinces, one in Italy, one in Africa and one in Hispania. 3. Don't forget to delete your useless soldiers.

[@ancaoraathasach]

I feel like Total War Attila was only a bit more optimisation and patching away from being the best historical title. It covers such a fascinating yet obscure period. Trying to resurrect and restore the sick man of Europe is such a rare campaign in a Total War. It's a shame they just dumped it instead of bringing out it's best like they did with Rome II.

[@AndysTake]

I completely agree. Now you made me wish for an Ottoman Empire based game trying to restore the empire, or an HRE based game to once again unify the German lands under the emperor!

[@ancaoraathasach]

@@AndysTake Victoria 3 might help with the Ottoman Empire. Also, Empire: Total War perhaps.

[@AndysTake]

@@ancaoraathasach Definitely. I just want that scope that newer Total War titles have.

[@jacobzmr5580]

True. Me and 2 of my brothers still play attila. After playing that game other total wars never did satisfy us at all. It a shame that they are no good patch or updates for attila

[@jojoabc100]

The optimization made Attila trash for what it could have been. Mods have really saved Attila since CA gave up on the game so early

[@panzerlurch2629]

SHOGUN 2 just get an A-Tier!?!?😱 "A shameful Dispray!!!"😅😂👍 For me it's by far the best Total War Game ever. It only went Downhill after the great "Fall of the Samurai"😭

[@AndysTake]

Shogun 2 and FOTS A and S sounds pretty good to me ;) I only miss a better soundtrack in Shogun 2 and a better multiplayer campaign honestly, FOTS has a much better soundtrack and even cooler battles in my opinion

[@alexg5535]

I can't agree on 3K being that low when it has done so much to expand the mechanics and experience of the campaign outside of battles. Even Warhammer III has taken some much needed notes from it on the diplomacy aspect. CA had something going on with 3K but between Covid and the badly handled post-release cycle, 3K didn't had a chance. It also runs magnificent on my toaster. Something that Attila wishes it could do. Despite its amazing mods, I really can't stand its ugly and gritty aesthetic and its poor optimization.

[@christopheralfonsocastro1523]

thats coz the occidental has no interest in the setting.

[@samuelmcl.9474]

What confuses me is how he ranked it below rome 2 and rome remastered while simultaneously saying it has the best diplomacy and battles in the entire total war series. That warrants a B at least, even if you dont like the setting

[@Empobaer]

3K is just too easy especially in the romance mode and the battles were never balanced. Maybe this is fixable by getting the right mods for the battles but solely judging the vanilla version 3K completely failed to make an appealing battle system.

[@vangoghsseveredear]

I just can't get into 3K. I've tried various difference campaigns, bought some DLC's, I even enjoy the time period. Something about it just doesn't make me addicted like Warhammer, Medieval 2 or even Troy. The battles are also insanely fast. Maybe late game it gets different? (I've sunk about 10 hours in, but never got past mid-game). But you get troops stuck in, rain arrows, and run a cav charge and the fight is over. Its also weirdly different, and trying to adjust is weird to me for some reason

[@deusvult6920]

What does covid have to do with anything? People need to quit using that to explain away poor game development . These people literally work on computers literally everything they do doesn't need to ever physically interact with a single person.

[@bluelegocat7520]

Honestly the only problem I had with Rome when I first played it was the camera controls and just changed the bindings. Still think it should be in S tier.

[@ninobrown4516]

too many bog

[@warreng675]

At least A tier

[@Tadicuslegion78]

Part of what makes Rome and Medieval 2 so great is you can play the game as intended or you open the dialogue box and start changing things like crazy which makes it fun, especially in Medieval 2 when you can actually afford to build everything

[@kevinharding3281]

Being a Nobunagas ambition and romance of the three kingdoms buff i will always have bias towards their respective total war counterparts. Great list!

[@AndysTake]

Thank you, Kevin! :D

[@Punggles]

So happy to see FOTS at S tier. As far as pure spectacle and fun, it has by far my favorite battles in the entire series. The clash of new technologies and traditional warfare is fascinating as well.

[@bruceli5348]

I also really like FOTS. It is a 3 dimensional game in the sense that you see the clash between factions(their allegiance), between cultures(western and eastern), and between modern and traditional. Also, their artillery is the best in all the total war games.

[@5erase]

And IDK why everyone says the multiplayer campaign has desync, me and my friend never experienced that but I will say Shogun 2 has the ONLY decent co-op campaign in the entire total war franchise...

[@bucephalusv.6071]

kneel fire!

[@higcraigerson2737]

I had not heard of total war troy, I agree with your listing all except for your Warhammer rankings, the thing about that game is the warhammer setting is best brought out with the total war mechanics, but it works both ways, having multiple mechanic types by having each faction, then having leader specific mechanics really flushes out playstyles better than any other TW has. Just my opinion, it was made for it.

[@obi0914]

I would argue that Rome 2 in its current state as A tier but last. It's become such a better game.

[@jonsnow7092]

In another video, you've claimed that Medieval 2 is a stripped down and rushed version of Rome 1, with good mechanics removed yet, here Med 2 is S tier and Rome only B? And the justification is that Rome did not aged well? Even the remastered, which is miles better graphically thank Med 2, is still B tier? Also, you've talked in those videos how TW games went downhill starting with Empire and how they've traded actual depth and fun mechanics for lazy steam lined gameplay, how they traded complexity for "handcuffing restrictions". And yet, the game you've described as epitome of what TW should be is in B, while the dumbed down ones are above it.

[@GabiN64]

Im surprised with 3 kingdoms being c tier ranked the same with Empire. I thought it would be A or higher. Also surprised to see Troy as A tier ill have to check it out now.

[@lucas-amaral6]

3k in C and Atilla in S...

[@dizlimyui8887]

Because he hate Chinese

[@dizlimyui8887]

For 3 kindom lover should be god tier

[@taher9358]

Yeah I think he is a history lover not actually TW lover or a real gamer. Total War 3 Kingdom slaps all the copy paste TW out of the water with its engine, mechanics, story telling, factions mechanics, uniqueness of each faction, diplomacy. I mean it beats every total war in every category. Truly a superior game and props to the devs for actually working hard making such a game. We should expect more like this and less copy paste titles like these fanboys who orgy over it.. so cringe

[@kylestone7136]

Three kingdoms was a fan service for Dynasty warrior fans. Idk if the creator played Dynasty warriors before which could prove why he didn’t get along with the setting. Its a great game when ur a dynasty warriors fan

[@tommypark2522]

For me Total war Rome is the single best aged game I've ever played. I didn't even play it until it was like 8 years old. Can play it over and over and over.

[@jonsnow7092]

Same, it's just an all time classic.

[@ZZ-cr9pz]

Empire is S tier for sure, so amazing haven't been able to spend that much time in any other total war game to date. The AI and such is rubbish but it dosen't really matter in this epic title. I do wish and pray for Empire 2, who knows maybe the next big one from CA.

[@Mynameisspencer101]

Couldn't agree more. My heart sank when he said C tier. I get that this is very subjective, but I thinks it belongs in at least A tier. If they do something stupid and go for Attila 2 or Rome 3 before Empire 2, I'm gonna lose my shit. Don't get me wrong, I love those, but we need an Empire sequel.

[@deusvult6920]

@@Mynameisspencer101 you can't objectively say an unpolished game is above b

[@dadefrost2059]

In my heart and soul, empire is s+ tier. In my rational brain, its a janky, broken mess that refused to boot about every 3rd patch and was missing features, because they were priotising graphics. I love it with all my parts, and I want empire 2 more than any other total war. But it is hilariously not good.

[@sorendaniels754]

I'm realizing I haven't played many Total War games despite having a lot of hours in the ones I do play. I blame the fact that I have a crap computer 😂. The two that I'm really interested in are Attila and Napoleon. Attila mostly for the Rise of Mordor mod tbh, and Napoleon because I absolutely love the time period it takes place in. Having played both vanilla Shogun 2 and FOTS, I would personally put them both S-Tier. Vanilla Shogun 2 is a such a great blend of simplicity and complexity, with a minimalistic UI and limited unit roster, but also complex and engaging battles. The siege battles in Shogun 2 are my favorite of all the Total War games I've played. My absolute favorite mechanic of FOTS was the naval support in land battles and I wish they'd done that in Napoleon and Empire. It adds a whole new layer of strategy to the campaign map and battles.

[@mekal779]

I was able to play Rome 2 with an Intel e8400 and nvidia gts 250 that hardware is like 15 years old so im sure you could play many of them if you don't care about graphics to much

[@lt.danicecream]

Napoleon isn't bad, it suffers from the same thing 3k suffers from, lack of unit diversity.

[@nuniel8398]

Putting Troy over Three Kingdoms is actually a crime bro...

[@liquidocelot4885]

Imagine thinking troy is better than rome 1..... on what planet is warhammer 3 better than 2? Warhammer 3 is an empty barely functional experience. 2 is a finished product. This tier list was meant to troll

[@AndysTake]

Haha it wasn’t meant to troll! It was just made to take into account my own taste. Is Rome better than Troy when removing the factor of time and quality of life? YES, Rome is legendary. But putting the original Rome, with its issues on modern hardware in a newcomers hands right now compared to Troy? I don’t think so! That’s why I was trying to get at, and why I mentioned the caveat in the beginning

[@liquidocelot4885]

@@AndysTake hey it's your list. I respect your placement even if I disagree vehemently with a couple of them. At least you like napoleon too lol. That game gets too much flak

[@SuperJim44]

I’ve played TW since the first Shogun in 2000. I’ve played them all and hands down the best campaign for me was Three Kingdoms. The diplomacy, visuals, CAI aggressiveness, kept me on my toes like no other game in the series. The problem with TK3 is it lacked replayability, because lack of unit variation and you’re playing same map areas over again.

[@SwissChez]

Completely agree. They did it amazing only to abandon it. Its way overhated

[@RobertusMaximus]

Now this is a BOLD list!

[@AndysTake]

All about going where none have gone before 👀 or just digging my own grave, but that’s part of the risk!

[@JB-xl2jc]

A gloooorious ranking is neaar at hand!!

[@flaggy185]

The Problem of old Total war games: THey are great but lack some mechanics and QOL things of the newer ones! The Problem of new Total War games: They lack the feeling of the old total wars!

[@wesleywyndam-pryce4081]

To appreciate Three kingdoms more you had to be a Dynasty warriors fan 😂 to be seeing and playing all the characters from dynasty warriors was cool I love the siege battles in Atilla and defending your empire in general is so great, Troy's music and campaign map is gorgeous, Rome just has a special place in my heart and such an interesting period and I hope one day Rome 3 will come out and blow everyone away on a new engine

[@corrinhill426]

Being a dynasty warriors fan is what made Three Kingdoms so good for me I would argue it’s still one of the better games mainly because of how smooth it is but I’m definitely byist from playing dynasty warriors 2 back on the ps2

[@EverydayCharacterArc]

Or just had any appreciation for history and epics beyond Europe. Three Kingdoms was my parent's superheroes. They would play in the school yard pretending to be different characters and they would memorize famous lines from the Romance word for word. That's how pervasive it was in East Asian and Southeast Asian culture.

[@gigachad6582]

I honestly never understood why people hated Atilla, its far and away my favorite total war game it has so much depth and options, once you get over the learning curve of the new mechanics it becomes an easy to manage and really fun game

[@AndysTake]

It’s amazing! :D

[@gigachad6582]

@@AndysTake it really is and with the 1212 AD mod it gives it a whole new feel almost like a medieval 3

[@kingmarre9130]

@@gigachad6582 Dont hate Atilla its just not my favorite part in history

[@gigachad6582]

@@kingmarre9130 I understand, you don't have to love the game but I never understood why it got so much hate

[@kingmarre9130]

​@@gigachad6582 Neither do i

[@thisistotalwar]

Completely agree with Attila being S tier👏

[@AndysTake]

Yessss champ!

[@dagda101]

Attila was the first and only game that made me ragequit in single player. Playing as the huns. Im getting hyped all the time by the devs and the game for Atillas birth. I center my entire strategy and role-play of the campaign around this event. (buildup and preparing to burn the world with Atilla). Eventually he comes of age...aaand...ohh boy!!! He's an inbred drooling retard. Not only that he doesnt have any traits or abilities to set him apart from any other random and generic general, but the game spawns him with like 5 negative traits. At this point i'm better off putting my fern in charge of my doomstack and i'm pissed, but i decide to get over it and do my best to make Attila at least..not a pile of dogshit. After years of hard work i manage to make the "almost not a pile of dogshit" playable so i finally feel comfortable to assign him to a proper doomstack and charge him with the destruction of the british islands....aaaand....the instant he steps foot on british lands the Picts spawn a lvl 1 assassin and straight up murders Attila on the first go (he is almost full lvl by now). Attila: The Scourge of Sanity.

[@v_cpt-phasma_v689]

troy above three kingdoms and rome is making me want to cry

[@Lancista]

_17 years Total War Veteran_ *COMPLETELY AGREE* _Napoleon and Shogun 2 were_ *THE LAST TRUE TOTAL WARS*

[@AndysTake]

GLAD TO HEAR IT :D Although I love Attila too

[@mapoleo]

I’m a devoted napoleon total war and it’s not definitely clearly distinguished from my name

[@AndysTake]

@@mapoleo hahaha! Love it!

[@antoninvenzl3772]

I have over 2000 hours of gameplay time in Total War Attila and I don't regret single second ! This game is best of Total war series by far.. It definitely deserves the same treatment as CA gives Rome II

[@Rspenesmit]

You must be one of the lucky ones to get steam to play for you that often? LOL! STEAM suks and just another way to steal our money for a good game.

[@kairon5249]

CA gives Rome II a lot of attention because it is enduringly the most popular Total War game (of the not newly released ones). It was released in 2013 but still has the most active users behind Warhammer III, released in 2023. The setting, scale, and mods like DEI are the main reason for this. (also it is way less buggy than release. The only broken part is really just the naval battles)

[@Mysteryboy0007]

shogun2 is better

[@Barrystue]

While I’d keep mythos Troy in A Tier definitely, I’d probably swap vanilla Troy for 3K. I absolutely love the visuals of the game, it’s strongest suit in my opinion, but also the diplomacy system, the variety of playstyles each faction can offer, and the absolute beauty that is the retinue system. In the late game I’m able to finish the fight on one front and in two-three turns have the whole army redeployed on another, it’s an absolute cheese tactic and I love it. Oh also rn it’s the closest we got to the OG style of army movement where you can separate units from an army.

[@samuelmcl.9474]

Theres a lot of hot takes in this video, but most of them make sense. The three kingdoms one just didnt click with me though, and i would personally but 3k at S. I think the setting is amazing, and i dont really get the “all the soldiers look like peasants complaint” when you then rank troy above it right after

[@owenb8636]

Glad to see Troy getting some love. I really enjoyed the battles, the (mostly) lack of cavalry slowed them down and made them more challenging imo. Previous titles is all just hammer and anvil but you can't do that in Troy. I've had some nail-biting experiences that I never got elsewhere

[@shad0wwarrior475]

This list was great, except I would've put Warhammer II in an A or S tier. I just feel that the ability to combine a strategy game series with a completely fantasy and unhistorical genre was a great success. I really loved the faction variety and the diplomacy particularly, banding together with factions of the same race. The battles also, while controversial, to me felt amazing. Seeing monsters and fantasy creatures attack ranks of infantry head on was very enjoyable and led to one of my personal favourite Total War games behind Medieval II. Nevertheless, this video was great and insightful!

[@AndysTake]

Thank you so much, my friend! And I totally understand why you’d think that about Warhammer, a lot of people absolutely love it, so I’m probably in the minority here :)

[@iyankov96]

A review is someone's opinion at the end of the day. Andy might simply prefer the historical setting over fantasy (as do I despite being a fan of fantasy RPGs). Having the army yell "SHIELDWALL" is much more immersive for me than some beast roaring but, again, at the end of the day you can play and enjoy both.

[@shad0wwarrior475]

@@iyankov96 I completely agree. I really enjoy the historical setting, but on the other hand I think a lot of people enjoyed the breath of fresh air that was the Warhammer games. In the end, the whole, well most, of the Total War franchise is great and I enjoy many of their games

[@AndysTake]

@@iyankov96 speaking facts right here :)

[@chunchunmaru5128]

@@iyankov96 every total war player preferres the historical setting. I've been dragged into a pretty big total war community, and EVERY ONE of the thousands of ppls there absolutely hates the warhammer series. Idk, warhammer and 3k are my favourites, guess i'm the only one

[@martinsoukup562]

Rome 1 not being S tier is crime against humanity

[@dutch0770]

Troy is at A? Attila at S? Good god.... Goodbye haha

[@discobroccoli198]

It’s a shame Thrones of Britannia is so low. It was my first ever total war game and I absolutely loved it. Although I liked Three Kingdoms a lot more when I got that game.

[@AndysTake]

Hey, it’s just my opinion! I’m glad you loved it :)

[@Matti133]

Thrones was still good and shows the strength of the series.

[@atpcliff]

I have, basically, played 4 TW games. Empire, Napoleon, Attila and TOB. I LOVE Atilla, Empire has the best map, and I love the trade ships/trade zones/naval combat, Napoleon is an improved Empire, and I did NOT like TOB. It looks good, but the play seems to me to be not fun at all.

[@wurzelbert84wucher5]

Medieval 2 feels differently than the newer ones, they should have stick with the old formular. Pretty much everything is worse nowadays and CA is not improving in any way shape or form. On the contrary, the decline is real, they focus way too much on monetization and don't care about gameplay, clarity, balance and AI anymore.

[@Barsymatik]

medieval 2 dlc is great too! the aztecs, crusades, william wallace etc. I think the 1st shogun has the best battle mechanics. I will try atilla.

[@thunderbagel3886]

I could never really put my finger on why I don't love the WH games and I think you nailed it: it strips the games of all of the statecraft from previous titles. You never really feel like you're in charge of an empire.

[@dylanzipperer7103]

Agree about attila, but I always include modding potential in my enjoyment of these games and that helps boost empire and rome 2 for me into near s tier status despite thier awful release status. And I love shogun 2 I agree that without FotS it isnt as deep or replabile as other games

[@jaythecee]

I have played every nation in Empire vanilla repeatedly but have never gotten into the mods. Which would you recommend (also for minor factions) imperial splendor, Darthmod or minor faction revenge?

[@j.w.5510]

"Complete Total War Ranked" list... Legit forgot the two OG games. Medieval 1 and Shogun 1, lol.

[@link0606]

Hey Andy! I've recently discovered your channel, I love the content! Keep up the great work!

[@AndysTake]

Thank you so much, Rey! :D glad to have you here!

[@MegaAngryspoon]

Great to see love for Troy, people write it off without playing too much. Have you tried the Mythos/Historical modes that came out?

[@AndysTake]

Yes, the Mythos mode is my favourite part :)

[@TotalWarlord1]

Troy better than 3k? 3k definitely an S Tier objectively speaking

[@AndysTake]

Objectively speaking, there's no objectivity in that sentence, although you're free to your opinion ;)

[@TotalWarlord1]

@@AndysTake I am speaking of course the number of improvements from previous total war, the gameplay mechanics itself which we can objectively say is improved than before. With 3k's gameplay mechanic if it is in a medieval setting I can see it being an S tier, same game different setting and design, the setting is very subjective, the gameplay mechanics is objectively an improvement. I mean just compare 3k's gameplay mechanics to troy and other tw games

[@sam9son]

Troy @ A, u gotta be kidding 3 kingdom worth at least a B

[@Killaginga1]

I think which total war being your favorite post medieval 2, can be split into 3 categories. 1st and least divisive is time period/setting, i love the timeline of empire but arguably its the worst in the entire list in terms of polish and ai skill. next Empire management, some of these total wars excel at you being immersed in the expansion of your nation, such as attila and the survival of the romans or the expansion of the goths. and lastly spectical the pitched battles with thousands of troops, the destruction of your enemies in epic battles. i think warhammer has done well in this department in some aspects. but older titles have proven more compelling with general speeches and requiring the care and maintenance of the individual units. so depending on which of these 3 is the most important to you will determine which game is truly the most enjoyable.

[@stepanpytlik4021]

Attila finally received the recognition it deserves.

[@AndysTake]

Exactly ;)

[@thespiffingbrit]

Where is total war arena ;(

[@AndysTake]

Not in the West :’( (by the way, a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one!)

[@2_Times]

Cries in Empire C-tier, but I cannot disagree. Good list! Love your vids :)

[@darthvader4158]

My first total war was medieval 2 so yeah it's S tier, with warhammer 2 and attila too.

[@alaskanmaffia8514]

I checked out as soon as he put Rome in B tier. Of course you judge a game based on how it was when it released. I dont look back at all the games i loved in the past and say yeah they were awesome but they suck now. Rome is what made me fall in love with total war and i feel like thats true for alot of people.

[@imjustsayingfyi]

Where is Shogun 1 😂

[@angrydoggo7160]

I still love Shogun 1. The first Total War game I ever played. It will forever have a special place in my heart. "Buddha's compassion go with you." If only I could get it to work on W10.

[@bjay6054]

Warhammer 2 is the best total war... The c tier hurt

[@SagaciousOwl]

I agree. History nerds don't like it because its fantasy

[@brandonhughes645]

This is exactly how I rank my favorite total war games. Attila has the rise of mordor and medieval mods aswell.

[@dattilo1]

Wow. 100% agree with the list. Troy, and especially Attila, are absurdly underrated, as well as badly marketed

[@po-cf1ut]

I love Attila, I think that's the one I sunk most hours into. I will check out Troy though as there seems to be some good vibes for it here!

[@ew264]

Putting warhammer 2 in C is a crime. Its the best of the warhamer total wars and top 3 total war ever easily.

[@gabriele3665]

I'd actually put Rome in S and medieval 2 in A. Medieval 2 surely added some mechanics, but on the core it didn't improve any of the basics of rome, specifically the AI. Also I always find much more problem in pathfinding in med2 than Rome. Plus, Rome had barbarian invasion which if you played as the empire was a totally different total war experience. Med 2 Kingdoms didn't really give me similar vibes.

[@AndysTake]

I get it :)

[@sleepyboi8060]

Idk i loved the campaign add ons of medival a lot :p

[@kyrtuck]

I've only played Warhammer 1, and the very first two Total Wars, where you just moved armies from province to province. So I was really curious to see how the whole series ranked.

[@dnaseb9214]

Why do you people always put Napoleon above Empire ? Empire has more steam players, Empire has a better campagne on 3 continents with more choices for factions. Mods fave fixed all of Empires issues, there is no reason to install Napoleon. I actually god Napoleon first, because of these sort of tier lists. Thank god I was able to get a refund.

[@AndysTake]

Napoleon has better battles, more polish, looks better, plays better, better music, better campaign mechanics etc. all Empire has is scope - that’s why empire is so awesome. But other than scope, Napoleon is better on every level.

[@miot22]

I also agree empire>>>napoleon. With such stifled scope, especially in the context of immediately following empire which had the grandest scope really shuts it down hard. As someone who doesn’t care much for animation smoothness and all these nit-picky details, so long as they’re reasonable/passable at the camera level I play at I’m good. I bought napoleon a long time ago, thinking it was an expansion of empire akin to kingdoms for med2. I loaded into it once, and never installed it ever again. It sits in my steam library unloved. I’d rather play empire unmodded than touch any version of napoleon. To me, saying napoleon is better is like arguing barbarian invasion if it was its own game is better than Rome. Simply no.

[@dnaseb9214]

@@AndysTake Nobody plays total war games for the custom battle experience. Plus mods fixed it. There is no fixing a european locked campagn. There is no mod able to add more continents.

[@dnaseb9214]

@@miot22 I think these people are high on copium. They regret buying Napoleon instead of waiting for Empire mods.

[@dannyle2298]

You're right about Medieval II being in the S tier. My favorite game in the total war series

[@divanvanzyl7545]

100% agree with your list. I hope for medieval 3 in the future.

[@AndysTake]

Awesome, Divan! Excited for a future Medieval 3 as well!

[@MavenFade]

Medevil 3 and Empire 2 are long overdue, someone needs to kindly slap CA in the face with the free money they are wasting by not making either one of those games

[@spazn3905]

If you know and grew up the three kingdoms mythical romance, I think they did a really good job bringing those characters to life in a game. I would give it a little higher than C, maybe a B or low A. Def not S but imo not a C

[@dominickhooks639]

It’s funny, we actually have similar rankings because I do love Troy, but we do have our differences because if we took the games without mods added then Rome 2 would be my favorite. With Napoleon at S because I’m biased to the period :). I’ll bear the cross for saying that I feel the exact opposite of you in Warhammer 2 and Attila and would swap their places on the list. Mainly due to Attila’s battles which I absolutely abhor, combat animations notwithstanding.

[@GNBcorporal]

Troy on a tier just crazy

[@samgott8689]

Good call on FotS. I feel like Shogun 2 was in a lot of ways the beginning of the end for TW in making it very arcade-y, but FotS is just brilliant in pretty much every way

[@Sanvone]

As much as I love S2TW I must agree. While it isn't as jarring because of fun rock-paper-scissors between units, it really started arcade micromanagment. While it worked on small and well though roster, it became disaster on anything larger.

[@Rizzbulla]

TW3K has the best combat, TSTW is the best optimized.

[@MateusVIII]

I would bring 3k and Shogun 2 to S tier, I think they are fantastic in terms of campaing, balancing and battles. 3K is for sure the best campaing there is, I think it is only not as popular because it isn't set in Europe (And perhaps because of the focus on the "heroes" instead of beegin more realistic). I would also move the original Rome to A tier, because it holds up exceptionally well, I would say I am more likely to be interested in a RTW MP battle than a Napoleon one, for example.

[@pickleinspector5948]

3K is not worthy of S tier. The Romance mode is insanely unbalanced. Here's too OP and only 1 infantry unit and some shock cav can deal with them, making you design all your armies around anti-hero warfare. Records mode has not flavour for the Hero's. No abilities, no roles at all beyond recruitment...very lazy from CA. Also the game still has some serious bugs with the dlc which CA couldn't find it in their hearts to bother fixing...3K also had dog shit dlc sadly 3K could have been S tier if CA developed it more. Imagine they made Korea as a faction...If they made the balance a bit better and records more interesting then we would be all having a party.

[@MateusVIII]

@@pickleinspector5948 Honestly I never had any bugs, so I can't attest to that. It is true that heroes are overpowered, but I find that they are less game breaking that in Warhammer, where I had far more situations in which I destroy an enemy army and the Hero is left but he obliterates me. In three kingdoms I am usually able to route them and it does give a layer of trying to distract a hero while you destroy the rest of his army. I really like the three kingdoms period and the romance, which is also why I like the game so much. For this reason I don't really care about DLC, (specially the idea of expanding in Korea, since that wouldn't fit with the story) I think it is worth the S tier because the campaing is by far the most interesting in any total war game, with great mechanics, diplomacy and storytelling potential. Though I agree that the battles could be a bit more balanced I rarely found myself dissapointed at OP heroes (and I usually don't play as them).

[@xSyniK]

I literally don't care that it's in China. I would've enjoyed it more if I wasn't force to have 3 general units in each army and if they just stopped mixing fantasy with history in every fucking new game that comes out. Leave all that fantasy/hero shit in warhammer.

[@MateusVIII]

@@xSyniK The whole point of three kingdoms is that it is based on a historical fantasy novel written in the XIV century. It is not supposed to be an accurate depiction of history, otherwise the whole point of picking the three kingdoms period would be lost, it isn't "Asia: Total War". If you read the novel or watch some of the series/movies on it you will understand how the game is replicating this, and it does it very well. You might not like it but it isn't an arbitrary "lets throw some fantasy stuff" in it, it is the whole point of making a three kingdoms game.

[@xSyniK]

@@MateusVIII I’ve read the book, have you? 1 guy doesn’t kill an entire army in the novel

[@Z130U]

I totally agree with everything you said, you're truly a total war enthusiast

[@evanmcdowell9181]

I personally love Attila for the huge modding community with RoM and 1212

[@spuriusscapula4829]

Rome 1 is S tier. I don't care what anyone says. It's a timeless game, nothing about it is "jarring" except for compatibility issues.

[@MoonManPictures]

It's baffling to me how much I agree with this list. Though the odd one out is, warhammer. I personally think it has gotten better and better and each dlc fleshes it out more on the campaign map. That said of course once the dlc narrative campaigns are played through, the lack of actual mechanics shows which is why I'm not big on ME/IE unless they manage to bring the narrative campaigns in. Also Troy imo was really nice but the narrative didn't play at all, which rendered it a bit borning . Never felt like Troy (the city) had any special meaning or that a narrative truely exists (Paris vs Hector mechanic aside).

[@AndysTake]

Great to hear, a true man of culture! And I agree that the overarching narrative in Troy wasn’t as strong as it could’ve been, including the city itself!

[@DaisyLazyPanda]

you're right, i hate you for that list, putting any warhammer or three kingdoms below anyone on that list, should be a sin, and sentenced to jail

[@nsdapcommunism2780]

Warhammer and three kingdoms are one of the least polished games in the series. Their battles are dogshit and their unit balance is trash (me use one unit me crush everyone). They deserve to be at D tier because everything wrong with TW today is a direct cause of Warhammers popularity- when people consume inferior content, the development and depth continue to degrade.

[@DaisyLazyPanda]

@@nsdapcommunism2780 dude, i can't even take that opinion serious, because i seriously hope you're joking for your own sake. Both games are the total opposite of what you just said, and the faact that it has "units that smash others" and you gotta play around that and counter it and outplay, is indeed, what makes it even better of a game and much more challeging. It's both you and enemies that are allowed to, so in the end, it's just like chess with the Queen, and rocks. Deal with them differently than you deal with pawns. Change your opinion soon or you'll be a very unhappy individual.

[@nsdapcommunism2780]

@@DaisyLazyPanda it’s not chess when you can click a magic button on your infantry unit and it somehow becomes 100% invulnerable to any projectile damage.

[@DaisyLazyPanda]

@nsdapcommunism2780 it is chess the moment you have plenty of skills and spells to counter attack and deny that, and also to know not to approach certain units or factions with that specific unit, for the sake of that not happening. What you're complaining about, is ignorance, and lack of skill, and that's why it annoyes you. If you took the time to understand, then you'd know it's a lot deeper than what you think. Same as crying about why a queen can suddenly kill a pawn from the other side of the board. Prevent it, simple.

[@nsdapcommunism2780]

@ Those are such deep games with great tactical depth. Of course there are some flaws, i.e. the way your formation is structured doesn’t matter at all - as long as you pressed THE button in time you should be fine. But at least you get to do very skilful chungus plays like sending your general in the middle of the enemy’s blob and then casting fireballs on yourself!!! What a great game!

[@Tanuvein]

I'm surprised at how much we agree on the Total War series. My only difference would be placing Warhammer 2 at A tier, specifically because of the DLC-filled final version of Mortal Empires. I would put it below Warhammer 1 at release, much like I would put Warhammer 3 around 2 simply because I think the Vortex campaign is the worst of the three. I hated how much it depended on armies popping out of nowhere, though the Daemons of Chaos are the only faction I was previously familiar with as I am a fan of 40k but don't care about Warhammer Fantasy. I agree with pretty much everything you've said, though I probably wouldn't have rated Three Kingdoms since I've just never been absorbed enough to put sufficient time in it (the fantasy basis hurts more than the Chinese setting), and still haven't gotten around to trying the Rome remaster, as remasters don't usually appeal to me.

[@AndysTake]

I’m so glad you enjoyed the video and that we see eye to eye on most things, Tanuvein! :D

[@harlzAU]

Played Total War since the original Medieval Total War and a casual fan of the Warhammer fantasy/40K universe (haven't playing miniatures since the 90s though). For me, by far the best Total War is by far Warhammer II but hopefully Warhammer III will take the crown after patches and DLCs. You can't beat the sheer variety of factions and units. No other Total War game series has factions which are so different from each other. For me, the best historic Total War game is Three Kingdoms because the battles are so immersive. When two units collide, they're not a solid block of soldiers hitting another block like in Medieval II. Troy was pretty good too. I liked that they added a sprinkling of fantasy. I really hope they do a Medieval III in the style of Three Kingdoms/Troy with improvements.

[@Ganadoes]

Very good list, I agreed with 12/15 of your choices! xD

[@Revan-N7]

I don't hate you at all brother, you were absolutely spot on with this tier list, every ranking is well argumented and i view those games exactly like you did. Perfect tier list.

[@luciusiuniusbrutus8279]

I really liked the graphic of Troy. Its just beatiful but the battles feel in my opinion just not good. I wish they would bring back the animations of Shogun 2

[@AndysTake]

Yeah I really wish so too!

[@Nitrosalami]

Love your videos. We absolutely need a full total war mod tier list since most of us have no interest in going back to play the vanilla versions of these games!!

[@Havie]

Sad to see 3k so low . What didn’t you like about the UI? It is personally one of my all time favorite game UIs with the painterly blank ink and font choices . Works so well for the era.

[@weirddylan7721]

It looks beautiful I think it is the most beautiful but compared to the simplicity of shogun 2 it really sucks kn that way look:S+ difficulty:S

[@Swede_4_DragonBeliever]

Greetings from Sweden! You,Sir, just got yourself a new subscriber.

[@AndysTake]

Thank you so much, Phil from Sweden! :D

[@rhoetusochten4211]

I appreciate the reasoning behind your rankings, though I weight things differently. I haven't tried Attila or WH 2 and 3 yet, because after the debacle of Rome 2, I decided to never buy a TW game full price again. (3k was gifted to me, and Troy was free on Epic) I really liked how WH and 3k made you try different styles of play depending on your faction... at the same time, Empire is my most played game because it us so even on the battlefield. It is the one that most allows you to implement classic tactics. All in all, my tiers shift with my mood, bur Rome2,Troy, and 90% of 3k are bottom tier all the time.

[@AndysTake]

Thanks for your opinions, Rhoetus! Yeah, like here’s the thing. Empire is perhaps better than the ranking suggests, but when trying to put SOME objectivity into in on my part, there are too many issues to really rank it higher. I have times when I’m like “Damn, Empire is awesome”, but then I feel the lack of what could’ve been, a rather lacklustre campaign and bugs on the battlefield etc. But I totally understand loving it a lot!

[@zexfafa2794]

Rome 2 definitly A tier

[@JB-xl2jc]

@@AndysTake The thing I like most about Empire is that it's problems were pretty easy to fix. I downloaded Shokh hates sieges and some AI revamps (both battle and diplomacy) and boom, now I have a gigantic map with fun battles and the best naval battles in the game, and incredibly intricate trade mechanics (IMO the best of any TW ever). HOWEVER even though they're easy fixes, I completely agree with a C or B for absolute vanilla.

[@AndysTake]

@@JB-xl2jc which mods are these? Shok hates sieges?

[@JB-xl2jc]

@@AndysTake Yep, Shokh Hates Sieges removes all of the forts and makes it impossible for AI to build walls (they still exist in a couple of settlements but otherwise the mechanic is utterly gone). For AI there are a few choices, you could of course use the full overhaul mods like DarthMod that include some, but I chose to make smaller tweaks using mods that remove Territorial Expansion (there is also an option to significantly reduce it and increase falloff amount over time), and some economic mods that help the AI keep up a bit. Battle AI is a bit trickier, some of the mods seem to actually make it WORSE rather than better, but then again to be honest AI has always kind of been a weak point in Total War's battles- easily exploited.

[@h-18gamingUK]

Love the total war games! Recently started to stream them on Twitch - Just finished a Shogun 2 campaign and started a Medieval 2 one last night! Favourite is still the Original Rome but big shoutout to the first Shogun as that got me in to Total War!

[@Lil_Smelly]

The Total War franchise is so difficult to rate imho, much of my enjoyment of the games is based pretty much on the time period they are in, and because of that there are some games where I just can't get into just from that reason alone. Every game on this list has its own personal charm, but with that said, this is my own list: S: Rome 2, Rome Remastered A: Medieval 2, Warhammer 2 B: Shogun 2, Rome 1, Warhammer 1, Troy C: TK, Napoleon D: Britannia, Attila, Empire

[@Multieculti]

even tho rome total war and shogun 1 total war is my childhood this tier list is one of the best out there

[@Jake-fy1pn]

This one might be going in the Book of Grudges, warhammer 2 is S, and low ball A with the reviews/dlc content/expanding on the first/amount of copies sold/new players brought into total war/ and the creativity it took to break the traditional total war mold

[@patrickleonard4187]

I played every total war, and had zero experience with Warhammer anything, but always thought TW's platform was perfect for fantasy. Making The Third Age mod for medieval 2 my favorite for years. But Warhammer is just, wow. So unbelievable. There are like 2 dozen completely unique factions in roster and gameplay mechanics. The other games can have a few, but core units are shared. 24 unique rosters. Magic is amazing. Fantasy units are incredible. The looks are spectacular. But too often, ultra complex games by medium sized studios like this are judged at launch for all their many bugs, and not as the magnum opus they become with DLC and patches.

[@serwalter7067]

"COMPLETE" *misses the first title in the series, Shogun: Total War*

[@jimmaynard]

Why are you only going back to Rome 1? Shogun and Medieval 1 bow to no one

[@AndysTake]

Because I wasn’t born in 1985 :/

[@jimmaynard]

​@@AndysTake I personally feel shogun 1 was a proof of concept - so groundbreaking & its successors stand on its shoulders. It also had issues with the pixals and the AI and the pathfinding with battles that usually turned into rock/paper/scissors. I can't complain though because I am delighted CA chose to continue the series. Perhaps my (small) issue is I feel the same about Rome, which evolved the familial dynasty and map pathfinding aspects - yet I echo your complaints on the UI and AI. Maybe I would have put it one tier higher, IMHO Thank you for this video!

[@AndysTake]

@@jimmaynard Thank you, James! I personally love Rome more than the tier suggests, but I tried putting my nostalgia goggles away for a moment :) but I understand your point!