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Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – Lords of the West is now available for pre-order on the Microsoft Store and Steam! Coming January 26th! 👑 Coming January 26th! 👑 Ranked Map Rotation – June 29. We'll know soon enough though, as Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is due to release this fall. If I were a betting man I'd place the date around September 30, the game's 20 th anniversary.

To kick off July with something fresh, we’re updating the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition 1v1 and Team map pools based on feedback from the competitive community. The next time you jump into the matchmaking queue, you’ll be able to choose from the new set of maps highlighted below!

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👤 1v1 RANDOM MAP POOL

• The 1v1 map pool has been narrowed to 7 maps (from 9)
• The number of bans have been reduced to 3.

ARABIA

FOUR LAKES

HIDEOUT

👥 TEAM GAME MAP POOL

• The TEAM GAME map pool still features 9 of the most popular maps (by the numbers). The number of bans remains the same.

ARENA

CENOTES

HIDEOUT

MIGRATION

This AOE 2 Definitive Edition Tier list is based on update 36202 (most recent patch)

If you’ve just gotten into Age of Empires 2 Definitive edition after not having touched the game for years your knowledge might be a little bit rusty. Especially considering the fact that over the years a ton of new civilizations have been added. My knowledge of the game certainly was rusty when I started playing the release of the new DE version. You might be stuck wondering which civilization you should choose and which ones are the best (and the worst) in the game.

I’ve done some research and play testing to conjure up this AOE 2 DE tier list. This tier list is based on the knowledge from 2 of the best AOE 2 players in the world, Hera & TheViper. You can find their tier lists here (hera) and here (theviper).

TheViper’s tier list is based on 1v1 Arabia, while Hera’s tier list is more focused on the game as a whole. In order to make this tier list all encompassing I’ll make 3 parts. The first will be an Age of Empires 2 Definitive edition overall tier list, the second will be a tier list for 1v1 and finally I’ll give a list of civilizations that are good for beginners.

If you’re trying to find your favorite civ on the tier list, press ctrl + f and search for it.

Age of Empires 2 DE overall tier list

S Tier:

• Aztecs
• Chinese
• Persians

A Tier:

• Britons
• Huns
• Khmer
• Mayans
• Mongols
• Vikings

B Tier:

• Celts
• Cumans
• Franks
• Inca
• Indians
• Italians
• Japanese
• Malay
• Malians
• Slavs
• Tatars
• Vietnamese

C Tier:

• Berbers
• Byzantines
• Ethiopians
• Koreans
• Lithuanians
• Magyars
• Saracens
• Spanish
• Portuguese

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Ranked System

D Tier:

• Bulgarians
• Burmese
• Turks

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Guide

F Tier:

• Goths
• Teutons

1v1 Tier List

This is the tier list for 1v1. It’s based on 1v1 Arabia but will not differ too much for 1v1 on any map.

S Tier:

• Chinese
• Aztecs
• Persians
• Britons
• Mayans

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Strategy

A Tier:

• Celts
• Vikings
• Franks
• Huns
• Japanese
• Khmer
• Malay
• Malians
• Slavs

B Tier:

• Byzantines
• Berbers
• Bulgarians
• Burmese
• Cumans
• Ethiopians
• Inca
• Indians
• Italians
• Magyars
• Mongols
• Spanish
• Tatars
• Vietnamese

C Tier:

• Koreans
• Lithuanians
• Portuguese
• Saracens
• Teutons

D Tier:

• Goths
• Turks

Good civilizations for beginners

If you’re new to Age of Empires 2 Definitive edition then the tier list above might not be right for you. For instance, a lot of the civs on the tier list get their ranking based on how well they can scout or archer rush. If you’re new to the game you’re most likely not going for scout or archer rushes anyway. New players often play more defensively. With that being said, here are some good civs to try out when you’re just getting started.

Byzantines

As I’ve mentioned, most beginners tend to play defensively. The Byzantines complement this play style very well. They are a good defensive civ because their buildings have more HP and they have great late game trash units.

Their unique unit, the cataphract is also a ton of fun to play with and can be very strong once they’re fully upgraded. In higher level games you often don’t have the luxury of massing them, but since in lower level games players tend to be more passive you often do have this opportunity, making them very strong.

Teutons

The Teutons are famous for their Teutonic Knights. These tanky melee units destroy anything in their path as long as the enemy doesn’t micro their troops. Since in lower level games micro is almost non-existent, Teutonic knights are a good bet to go for.

On top of that they have cheaper farms and their building have more garrison space.

Britons

The Britons excel in archers. Their unique unit, the elite longbowman has an insane range of 6, which becomes 12 when they’re fully upgraded. This is the longest range archery unit in the game, and they can even outrange castles!

For new players, a mass of upgraded elite longbowmen is often hard to stop, since they will obliterate anything from a safe distance away. For this reason they’re a good civ to start out with. On top of that, they’re fairly highly rated in more high level games as well. This means that you can start playing them when you first pick up the game, and as you get better you won’t have to switch to a civilization that’s higher rated in the tier list.

Franks

If you like cavalry, the Franks are for you. Their paladins are one of the best in the game and the Franks boast one of the highest winrates in low level competitive play.

A huge mass of Frank paladins is very hard to stop, especially if you manage to get them into the opponents economy. Nevertheless, halberdiers do counter them. If you notice that the enemies has halberdiers just mix in some of the Franks unique unit, the throwing axeman. The throwing axeman is a ranged infantry unit that does melee damage from range. They’re extremely good in taking out enemy infantry, including halberdiers.

Conclusion

That’s our Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition tier list. We hope you found it useful, and a huge shout out to TheViper and Hera. If you want to see more on why the civs are in their respective tier, I highly recommend you to check out their videos (links are in the beginning of the post). They explain it way better than I ever could.

Good luck in your games!