Never idle your TC again.
Master the openings that win games.
23 Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition build orders from top players and the community. Each one is a step-by-step table you can follow mid-game.
Aztec Siege & Monk Push on Arena
Aztecs are dangerous on Arena with a siege and monk push that grinds the opponent down while your economy keeps growing behind it. Every monastery technology gives their monks +5 HP, so the monks survive mangonel shots and scout raids long enough to keep converting. Villagers carrying more, and relics generating extra gold, fund the whole thing. Note this build skips Loom entirely. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Archer Rush into Crossbow
Fast Feudal into 2 Archery Ranges for sustained Archer pressure. Transition into Crossbows in Castle Age for a powerful timing attack. Britons get +1 range for foot archers starting in Castle Age, making this one of the strongest civs for the strategy.
Burgundians on Arabia
Burgundians get economic upgrades an age early at a 50% food discount, and this build cashes that in immediately: Double-Bit Axe goes down in the Dark Age, which is why you go up on 21 pop instead of the usual 20. Safe, wall-heavy, with a very strong Cavalier Castle Age. Finish in early Imperial with Paladins — Burgundians are not a great post-Imperial civ, so the damage has to be done before then. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Byzantine Fast Imperial on Closed Maps
Byzantines get Imperial Age 33% cheaper, so this build clicks Imperial at 16:05 on 1 TC and surprises the opponent with fully upgraded monks, 2 trebuchets and a forward Castle. It is a closed-map "clown" strategy through and through — the whole game revolves around converting the enemy army while your siege does the work. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Cuman 2 TC into Kipchaks
Cumans can build a second Town Center in the Feudal Age, which no other civilisation can do. Done properly it buys you an early mini boom that is very hard to answer, provided the opponent cannot get at your economy before it pays off. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Danes 19 Pop Man-at-Arms Rush
Man-at-Arms opening built on three Danes bonuses. The extra food on drop-off makes an easy fast Feudal Age, the cheaper Man-at-Arms upgrade lets you go to gold later than usual, and every enemy building you destroy gives you back a quarter of its cost. The whole build is about attacking nonstop and destroying buildings. Hit villagers when you can reach them; when they run, hit lumber camps, houses and above all farms. Every farm you kill gives you 15 wood, while your opponent loses the 60 wood it cost. That wood is what keeps your army and your economy going, so never stop raiding. This is a first impression from Hera's pre-release video against the AI, so treat the follow-ups as a starting point, not settled meta.
Franks 19 Pop Scouts Opening
A fast 19 pop Feudal (click at 7:05, arrive 9:15) into Scouts. Best on open or hard-to-wall maps like Acropolis, Land Madness or Four Lakes. Franks are the strongest civ for it thanks to cheap knights and free farm upgrades, but it also works with Magyars, Lithuanians, Mongols, Huns or Persians. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Man at Arms into Archers/Skirms
Militia break walls that archers cannot, and they also scout for you: what the men-at-arms see decides whether you follow up with archers or skirmishers. Works on hybrid maps too, and pairs well with an aggressive tower denying a resource or a key position. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Scouts Opening
The classic Feudal scout opening. It has lost ground lately because people wall earlier than they used to, so by the time the scouts are out the opponent is often already closed off. Still strong on genuinely open maps like Acropolis or Land Madness, and on hybrid maps that are awkward to wall such as Four Lakes. Best on Franks, Magyars, Lithuanians, Mongols, Huns or Persians. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Fast Archer Opening
A 21 pop Feudal (click 7:30, arrive 9:40) straight into archers. Strong on generated land maps you can wall, and punishing when the opponent does not fully wall. Best with archer civs: Britons, Ethiopians, Mayans, Malay, Saracens, Vietnamese or Vikings. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Hybrid Maps (Water and Land)
The most common hybrid-map plan: wall the land and go for a fire galley rush from 2 docks with a 7:55 Feudal click. On small bodies of water fire galleys beat galleys because there is no room to micro. Civs with mixed water and land bonuses like Malay, Japanese or Persians are favoured. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Drush FC into Crossbow
Open with 3 militia to harass the opponent's economy and force walls while you wall up yourself, then go straight to Castle Age behind archers and hit with Crossbows around 17-18 minutes. The militia don't need to kill villagers — a bit of idle time and wasted wood on quick walls is already worth it. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Full Water Opening
A basic Full Water opening for maps with deep fish. Build docks and fishing ships to power your economy off the water, then transition into Feudal with gold and wood for a fleet. A solid, defensive economic opening — only run it on maps with enough deep fish to sustain the fishing ships. A generic reference build, not a pro-specific one.
Goths Forward
Goths have no economy bonus, so they need to win Dark Age instead: send your first villager forward, steal a boar, wall off the enemy berries and drush from a forward Barracks. Villagers deal extra damage to boar and Loom is instant, which makes this messy anti-meta style the best way to play the civ. If the lame or the idle time lands, you buy enough time to reach a safe Castle Age boom into Huskarls. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
1 TC Cavalry Archers with Huns
Opens identically to the standard scouts build, then diverges on the way to Castle to set up Cavalry Archers. Built for Huns specifically, because their Cavalry Archers are cheaper. You stay on one TC and push, which puts you on a clock: the opponent will be adding town centres, so the damage has to land. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Mongols on Water Maps
Mongols have no water bonus at all, but their hunters gather 40% faster, and that is enough. The hunt takes you to Feudal Age at around 5:50 — early enough to kill enemy fishing ships and own the water before the opponent has even arrived. Strong on Baltic, Mediterranean, Bog Islands and similar, and excellent on MegaRandom where hunt and water are both common. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Persian Douche
Persian Town Centres have double the hit points, so a Persian TC built next to the enemy TC will always win the TC battle. Send 10 villagers forward in Dark Age, delete your own TC as they arrive, and rebuild it next to the opponent's. An all-in surprise strategy that commits half your villagers — hard to stop if the enemy doesn't react correctly.
Saracen Fast Castle with Market Abuse
Saracens have a 5% commodity trading fee and 75 wood markets, so buying and selling costs them far less than anyone else. Open with a Drush, transition into a Fast Castle funded by the market, and hit with fast crossbows — which get +2 attack against buildings on Saracens, so enemy walls are not the obstacle they usually are. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Saxons 19 Pop Archers with Tower
A safe archer opening that uses the Saxons' defensive bonuses. Every mill, lumber camp and mining camp you build gives you extra food and 10 stone, so you reach Feudal Age with enough stone for a tower without a single villager mining stone. Saxon towers shoot double arrows from Castle Age, which makes that tower even stronger later. The plan: two lumber camps for a smooth economy, archers to pressure, a tower on your gold and a full wall at home. In Castle Age go up to 3 Town Centers quickly: every Town Center or Castle makes your foot soldiers 5% cheaper, up to 20%. Then follow up with Varangian Guards and skirmishers, or Hearth Troops. This is a first impression from Hera's pre-release video against the AI, so treat the follow-ups as a starting point, not settled meta.
FC 28+2 Double Castle Conquistadors
A Fast Castle build with 28+2 villagers that drops two Castles on arrival to mass Conquistadors — Spain's unique gunpowder cavalry unit. The double Castle gives you enough production to overwhelm unprepared opponents before they can wall or mass pikemen.
Fast Imperial with Turks on Arena
A 1-TC Turks Fast Imperial that lands around 19:40 and punishes Arena players who boom on 3 TCs with almost no army. Turks get Chemistry for free, so Hand Cannoneers and Bombard Cannons come out the moment you hit Imperial. Weak against Crossbows with Ballistics and fully upgraded Knights. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).
Varangians 19 Pop Scouts into Bloodlines
A standard 19 pop scout opening that uses the Varangians' best early bonus: 10% of the food from herding and hunting is also gold. That trickle pays for Bloodlines without a mining camp, so your Feudal scouts have 75 HP and win nearly every early fight. The plan: go up at 19 pop without Loom, make 3 scouts, get Bloodlines right away and harass while you build farms and wall. Around 35 villagers, build the mining camp and click Castle Age. In Castle Age keep playing cavalry: light cavalry with relic control, a monastery, more Town Centers, then knights or Jarls. This is a first impression from Hera's pre-release video against the AI, so treat the Castle Age follow-ups as a starting point, not settled meta.
Vikings on Water Maps
A Viking galley rush for full water maps. Vikings are top tier here thanks to cheaper galleys and a strong economy from free Wheelbarrow and Handcart. Click Feudal at 7:55, produce galleys from 3-4 docks, then take Castle Age around 20-21 min with War Galley, Bodkin, Bow Saw and Longboats. Capoch streams on Twitch and Kick (kick.com/capoch).