Age of Empires 2 has been out for a while now, so lots of people have been able to try out the many civilizations in the game. Thankfully for you, whether you’re a new player or a veteran that just wants to know which AOE2 civilization is the best, we’ve got your back. In this Age of Empires 2 civilization tier list, we will be going over all the civilizations in AOE2 and we will find out what the best AOE2 civilization is.
If you’d like to skip all the text, you can check out the image below which has every single AOE2 civilization ranked visually. Same information that is in the tier list, just without the explanations.
Table of Contents
How many civilizations are there in Age of Empires 2?
There are 37 individual civilizations in Age of Empires 2 in the most up-to-date version of the game in the year 2021. They feature different units, technologies, bonuses, strengths, weaknesses, and play styles. Depending on how you like to play the game you will enjoy specific civilizations over others but this is a tier list of the strongest to weakest civilizations in the game.
S Tier Civilizations
The S Tier civilizations are the strongest civs in Age of Empire 2.
Chinese – The Chinese specialize in archers with their special unit being Chu Ko Nu which can fire multiple arrows at a time. They also have technologies of the Great Wall, which increases the hit points of walls and towers, and Rocketry which gives the Chu Ko Nu and siege Scorpions extra damage. With this mash-up of benefits, they can do well defending themselves from attacks against their towns. They also have good starting bonuses for their town centers supporting an extra five population and spawning three extra villagers at the beginning of the game at the cost of some wood and food.
Lithuanians – The Lithuanians do best with their monks. The best play is to grab relics as fast as possible and place them into your monastery. Monks can be created twenty percent faster and with every relic their Knights and the unique Leitis unit gain one extra point in their attack stat, building up the damage. They also start with an extra 150 food allowing them to get a boost for leveling up in age or making more units early.
Vikings – The Vikings rely quite heavily on their infantry. They have two unique units: Berserk and Longboat. Berserks are melee infantry units that have the amazing ability to regenerate their health. The Vikings get two technologies to boost the Berserkers too: Chieftans, which gives all the civilization’s infantry bonus damage to cavalry, and Berserkgang which allows Berserkers to regenerate faster. Another big bonus the Vikings get is that they get the Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart technologies for free which gives villagers the ability to carry more resources per trip.
A Tier Civilizations
Aztecs – Aztecs deal a lot with gold using monks and have very unique infantry units not seen in other civilizations. They do not get cavalry so they start with an Eagle Scout rather than a Cavalry Scout. Their units are created faster and their infantry can get a plus-four bonus to damage when they are given the Garland Wars technology upgrade. This civilization’s special unit is the Jaguar Warrior which has melee attacks. Their monks gain more maximum hit points as the monastery technologies are researched and any relics stored generate an extra 33% gold.
Britons – The Britons are mainly used for their Longbowmen which have a unique long range. They work best in groups and can be a major threat which even out ranges castles. Their most impactful civilization bonus is that their foot archers get more range in the late game as well as having technologies that also do the same thing. The archery ranges also work 20% faster than that of other civilizations allowing you to create archers more quickly.
Japanese – The Japanese are well-rounded for combat both on the sea and on land. Their special unit is the Samurai who has fast attacks which can be made even faster once you reach the Feudal Age when all their infantry attacks 33% faster. For defense, the Japanese have the Yasama technology giving towers the ability to fire extra arrows and for offense, they have the Kataparuto technology which gives trebuchets a faster fire rate. On the ocean, their Galleys can fire at a longer range and their fishing ships work faster with double the hit points giving the player potential to steal the enemy’s resource of fish.
Mayans – Alike the Aztecs the Mayans do not have the ability to make cavalry. However, instead of relying on infantry, they tend to rely on their archers. Thie special unit is the Plumed Archer which are cost-effective and has good armor values with decent maneuverability. Their walls are also 50% cheaper allowing for some good defensive capabilities.
B Tier Civilizations
Franks – The Frank’s specialty is their cavalry but their special unit is the Throwing Axemen who have short-distance throwing attacks. Despite having such a fun and interesting special unit they only have one technology, especially for them in the form of Bearded Axe which gives them one extra range. They have another technology for cavalry called Chivalry which makes stables produce units 40% faster. The civilization also has bonuses to give mounted units 20% more hit points and their knights have two more lines of sight.
Huns – The Huns have great starting potential because they start with the maximum population cap without the need of building any houses. They then rely on cavalry with their special unit being the Tarkan who have high chances to bypass armor and do a great deal of damage to buildings. The technology Marauders can make it so that their special unit can also be built in the stables with their team bonus being that the stable can create units 20% faster.
Italians – Italians have two special units in the form of Genoese Crossbowmen and Condottiero. However, it’s not the units that are good for this civilization, it is their potential to research their technologies and age up quickly. Given that advancing to the next age is continually 15% cheaper, their fishing ships are also 15% cheaper and dock and university technologies are 33% cheaper they can easily reach the late game before any other player.
Khmer – The Khmer is a good civilization for using siege weapons. They have Ballista Elephants which have the accompanying technologies of Tusk Swords, which boosts their damage, and Double Crossbow which gives them two shots that also affect their Scorpions. Their Scorpions also have extra range.
Koreans – The Koreans specialize in defending themselves with towers. The technology Eupseong gives all towers more range and the civilization has a bonus making tower upgrades free. Their special units are the War Wagon, which has a lot of health and armor but doesn’t do much damage, and the Turtle Ship which does the same thing except for being on the water. Unfortunately, the Koreans don’t have much in a way of attacking benefits past other civilizations making it rather difficult to acquire victory.
Malay – The Malay don’t really have much in the way of units either but their special unit is the Karambit Warrior which is very cheap and quick although very fragile. The most benefit to using this civilization is that they have many benefits to their fishing. Their docks can be upgraded to harbors allowing them to fire arrows with the Thalassocracy technology and their fish traps are cheaper and provide more food. Their docks also have double the line of sight than other civilizations.
Malians – Malians have good cavalry with their Farimba technology giving them +5 to their attack. Their buildings cost 15% cheaper than wood and the universities can research 80% faster. This combination gives you the ability to quickly adapt to combat when needed. Their special unit is the Gbeto which has high long-ranged attacks.
Mongols – The Mongol’s special unit is Mangudai which are mounted archers who are strong against siege units. This unit is good at preventing siege units such as rams from entering your city past your walls. The civilization supports its special unit by having a bonus that gives 25% faster firing to all cavalry archers. The Mongols are also good at scouting out their enemies with their Scout Cavalry having extra line of sight and the majority of their cavalry getting extra hit points.
Portuguese – Not only do the Portuguese get two different special units in the form of the Organ Gun and Caravel but they also get a special building called Feitoria which passively collects resources. Organ Guns are good at area damage and doing damage to large amounts of enemies. They are upgraded with the Arquebus technology which makes them more accurate against moving enemies. The Caravel is upgraded with the Carrack technology giving all ships more armor. The civilization also gives its ships extra hit points. Another great bonus for this civilization is that all technologies are researched quicker.
Vietnamese – The Vietnamese rely heavily on their archers with their special units, Rattan Archer and Imperial Skirmisher, both being ranged units. The Imperial Skirmishers also have the additional bonus of being able to be created at the archery range as well as the castle. The civilization gives more hit points to units created at the archery range and the technology of Conscription is free which increases the production of units at the same building. This civilization has less need to scout as they can see their enemy’s positions at the start of the game.
C Tier Civilizations
Berbers – The Berbers work primarily with camels. They have two special units in the form of the Camel Archer and Genitour both of which are ranged and mounted units. The Genitour is considered more of a fodder unit though as they don’t use any gold in their creation. While the Genitour can be built at the stables as well as the castle this frees up the workload for the castle to make the Camel Archers and with the technology Kasbah your castle can work faster. With the other technology of Maghrebi Camels, which allows camel units to regenerate faster, and the civilization bonus which makes stable units cheaper you can easily make a great mix of Camel Archers and Camel Riders formidable to your foe.
Bulgarians – The Bulgarian’s focus is infantry with a very unique special unit called Konnik. The Konniks are foremost a mounted unit that when killed is reborn as an infantry unit. They can be upgraded with the technology Stirrups, which allows light cavalry, knights, and Konniks to attack 33% faster, and they can be built at the civilization’s unique building called the Krepost. Kreposts are similar to castles in the fact that they can fire and protect units but they are cheaper and are unable to research technologies. The Bulgarians also have good benefits for other infantry units with Militia-line upgrades being free, the Blacksmith’s technologies being cheaper and the Blacksmiths working 80% faster than that of other civilizations.
Burmese – The Burmese have powerful upgrades to Battle Elephants as well as having quick access to gold as they can see relics on the map from the start of the game as well as their monasteries being able to research benefits faster. With the Howdar technology Battle Elephants get extra armor and the Manipur Cavalry gives all the civilization’s cavalry including elephants and their special unit Arambai 6 extra attack against buildings. The Arambai unit fires strong damage but is pretty inaccurate.
Byzantines – The Byzantines civilization is good at defense with all their buildings getting extra hit points, the town watch technology being free and their monks being able to heal 50% faster. Their special unit is the Cataphract which is a heavy cavalry which is good against infantry, especially with the Logistica technology which gives them 6 extra attack against infantry. This civilization is a good counter pick to other civilizations which specialize in infantry and as a team player but is not so good in other situations.
Celts – The Celts have great siege benefits. While passively having the ability for siege workshops to work 20% faster and siege weapons firing 25% faster the Celts also have a technology called Furor Celtica which gives every unit made at the siege workshop 40% extra hit points. The special unit for the Celts is the Woad Raider which is a fast attack infantry that can take out buildings quite well. Unfortunately, the civilization doesn’t have much in the way to benefit these units except for the fact that all infantry passively moves 15% faster.
Ethiopians – The Ethiopians special unit is the Shotel Warrior which is a fragile but fast attacking infantry unit. They are fast to train and can be made faster with the technology Royal Heirs. This makes them good for raiding and slowing enemy progression. You can also secure strategic positions more easily as this civilization has bonus line of sight for towers and outposts allowing you to keep a lookout. This civilization isn’t good for full-scale attacks and would work a lot better as part of a team.
Incas – The Incas have great economical value. Their villagers get benefits usually reserved for infantry from the blacksmith, their houses support 10 population instead of the usual 5, any buildings that use stone to make take 15% less and farms and built 100% quicker. Incas have 2 special units which are the Kamayuk, which are great against cavalry, and the Slinger, which are great against infantry. They both have technologies that benefit them in the form of Andean Sling and Fabric Shields. Although, they don’t have any cavalry units so they can be susceptible to siege.
Indians – Just like the Berbers the Indians seem to love their camels with one of their special units being an Imperial Camel Rider and the other being the Elephant Archer. They have no special technologies for these units but they do have passive bonuses which give them extra armor in the castle and imperials ages and another giving the camels an extra +4 attack. This civilization also has some good economical benefits such as their villagers being cheaper, the Sultans technology making all gold production faster, and fishermen working 10% faster.
Persians – The Persians focus is cavalry with their special unit being War Elephants. The Mahouts technology gives these units 30% faster movement and as a team bonus knights get extra damage against archers making this civilization a great pick against any civilization specializing in archers. They also have the Kamandaran technology which makes all gold cost an archer would cost into wood instead. Unfortunately, if the game goes on long enough this can become a disadvantage as trees are a finite resource.
Saracens – The Saracen’s economical bonuses come in the form of their trade. They can build markets at 100 wood cheaper than other civilizations and the commodity trading fee is only 5%. They also have benefits for their boats with their Galleys getting an extra 25% attack speed boost and their transport ships getting double the amount of hit points and the ability to carry more units. This civilization is another one that likes to use camels with their special unit being Mamelukes which are close-ranged camels and having a technology called Zealotry which gives these Mamelukes and Camel Riders 20 more hit points. Saracens are a good pick for maps with both land and water.
Slavs – The Slavs are good with armies of siege and infantry but also have a decent cavalry special unit called the Boyar which is heavily armored and deals a nice amount of damage. They have a unique technology of Druzhina which allows their infantry to deal damage to units adjacent to that which they are attacking. The technology Supplies is also free which makes infantry cheaper which alongside this civilization to faster working farmers can really help you create a good army. Siege workshop units are also cheaper by 15% which helps you improve your army.
Tartars – The Tartar’s focus is cavalry archers. The civilization gives you the technologies Thumb Ring and Parthian Tactics for free which combined gives Cavalry Archers improved accuracy and extra armor. The Tartars also passively give these mounted archers extra line of sight in order for better scouting. The technology of Silk Armor also gives armor to this unit but also gives it to their special unit, Keshik, too. This civilization excels with hilly terrain maps as it gives units bonus damage when attacking in this scenario but where this civilization falls short is on the sea.
Turks – The Turks have a liking for gunpowder and explosions. Their special unit is the Janissary which has high attack and good melee armor while being a ranged unit but they are weak if rushed by cavalry. They also have benefits for their lesser gunpowder units, giving them a passive +25% hit points, gunpowder technologies being 50% cheaper, the Chemistry technology being free and gunpowder units are faster to create. They also have an Artillery technology that gives extra range to Bombard Towers, Bombard Cannons, and Bombard Galleons. The main downside for the civilization is that gunpowder units tend to all be inaccurate and can succumb easily to cavalry.
D Tier Civilizations
Cumans – The Cumans special unit is the Kipchak which fires multiple arrows in quick succession. The only unique technology supporting this unit is the Steppe Husbandry which lets them train 50% faster. The only good bonus this civilization has is that they can make siege workshops an age early which can be a very short-lived advantage. Other than that, Palisade Walls get more hit points but as you advance in age these are quickly gotten rid of in favor of stone walls.
Goths – The Goths rely fully on their infantry giving bonuses to their cost, damage against buildings and the Barracks work speed increased by 20%. Their special unit is the Huskarl which has very strong armor to archers. One of the unique technologies that this civilization has is Perfusion which makes the Barracks work 100% faster and the other technology is Anarchy which allows Huskarls to be built at the Barracks. This combination allows you to pump out this special unit quickly. Despite being able to make their special unit quickly and cheaper the Goths don’t have any real bonuses to increase the damage their units do.
Magyars – The Magyars special unit is the Magyar Huszar which is a light and quick cavalry with a melee attack. Research can be done to make this special unit cost no gold with the Corvinian Army technology. However, they don’t get any technological support past that. The Magyars don’t really have much else to benefit them and the best course of action with these is to attack several times with clusters of Magyar Huszars.
Teutons – Most of the Teuton’s benefits go towards healing their units and keeping them safe while they do so. Monks get double the healing range to heal from safe places, towers and town centers have more garrison capacity, they have Murder Holes (which removes minimum range from buildings that shoot) and Herbal Medicine (heals garrisoned units) and the unique Crenellations technology which increases the range of castles. While this is all good they are not game-winning advantages.
F Tier Civilizations
F Tier civs are the lowest on the AOE2 tier list and considered the weakest. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t viable.
Burgundians – The Burgundians play differently to all other civilizations in the Age of Empires. With the Flemish Revolution technology, it turns all existing villagers into the special unit the Flemish Militia. This disrupts the economy of the Burgundians a lot and may be unable to recover so researching this technology needs to be well-timed. The economic balance is slightly restored with the technology Burgundian Vineyards, which makes farmers gather gold as well as the food they provide, and the passive this civilization gets where relics generate both food and gold.
Spanish – The focus of the Spanish is their monks and upgrades for their gunpowder units. They have a special unit monk called the Missionary which is mounted and able to convert units. This civilization supports its gunpowder units by giving them faster firing and their Cannon Galleons better accuracy. They also have a special gunpowder unit in the form of the Conquistador which is mounted and fires a musket. Again, this civilization doesn’t really have any game-winning advantages and many consider the only good thing about it is their Conquistadors.
Sicilians – The Sicilian’s special unit is the Serjeant. This unit can build Kreposts and have high armor but are little help other than a meat shield. The civilization also has the benefit of giving all of its land units, except siege, the ability to absorb 50% of incoming bonus damage. All in all, this civilization specializes in armor which doesn’t win solo wars but can be great to defend teammates in a more multi-person war.
