Loved that little clip of the Paladin riding off into the sunset, forsaken by the world that once rested on his shoulders. It needs to become its own little movie just like Supremacy.

2:32 he actually did that joke lmao

"Not putting the Spanish in the honorable mentions" *Gonzalo, bring the pike*

That solitary frankish knight was so sad, is there a place for him in this world?

I missed you man! Great video :D

And now siege and then top overall. Great video as well.

i'm seeing a pattern of qantity over quality : Best archers = Mayans (archer line discount), best infantry = Goths (infantry discount), best cavalry = Berbers (cavalry discount)

You underestimate how amazing the Frank berry gather bonus + free farm techs + basically free bloodlines is. It lets them get to Feudal age with a good economy and immediately have upgraded farms which can then be used to make scouts (which have extra health) or progress toward Castle age where they immediately get another farm upgrade for gathering food for making knights that, again, immediately have extra health with no upgrade-time required. This means the Franks have hands down the strongest knights in early-Castle Age. In Imperial Age, their Paladins are (I’m pretty sure) THE strongest paladins in the game, and they produce *_40%_* faster!

Fun fact, Franks are currently the strongest 1v1 civilization in the game at very high level on Voobly while Berbers perform poorly. I think overall "discounts" prices are overrated in your analysis. It doesn't quite play a big part in late game when you have your eco rolling. I would argue, for example, that Persians and Burmese have stronger late game cavalry than the Berbers. It also depends whether you factor team games in the mix, in early imp, Huns are a powerhouse, and the Franks chivalry tech is incredibly useful to get fast access to cavalier and paladin.

Hey Spirit of the Law, could you remake that top 5 cavalry civilisations including AoE2DE changes? I am a new player and would appreciate it!

I have to say, I just went back and saw some of your older videos again and man your comfort/enthusiasm really has sky rocketed since. Your personality has come out into your content so much and it really feels empty without it. How do you get yourself in the video making mood? I've been interested in being a content creator but I'm not the most comfortable behind a mic.

the best channel I've ever seen. I like your chilling voice so much. Thanks for these videos.

I’m a huge fan of Lithuanian scout rushes. Extra 150 food means 3 more villagers right off the bat, which translates to 2 more on food 1 more on gold for blacksmith upgrades.

I haven't played this game in months, I just love your vids

Hello Spirit, thanks for your AOE2 videos it help me a lot in playing this game, and if i may suggest Turk civ perhaps could be added in your honorable mentions since they have a complete cavalry upgrade in their blacksmith surprisingly. I know it's not a cavalry civ but i think it worth to be considered. Anyway keep up the good work and i can't wait for your next video.

I waited this video for so long :3

Nice video, could watch your stuff all day

Keep these up! Always quality videos man, love 'em.

Yay! More content from Spirit of the Law!

awesome video! i was desperately waiting for new content!

Always so happy when you upload a new video

Hey Spirit, love the content dude, extremely well put together, informative and entertaining! I was wondering if you would consider doing some online battles with you playing, just i reckon it'd make for some great videos

I'm a simple man, i see the alert of spirit's new video and I just click it as fast as possible. Thanks Spirit!!! And please, try to post videos faster next time, i really love your job!!!

I would like you to add to your top 5, not only the best cavalry but the combos of civilizations for cavalry. It would be a top 5 of the best combination among cavalry civilizations.

History is yet to produce a Malian knight, especially when there is no record of domestication of horse in sub-Sahara. Age of Empires 2 is yet to produce an Indian knight, funny when you find most of India's historic generals were expert equestrian.

I love the music that Spirit uses for the #1 Civ in this series

>SotL Uploads a vid >I drop everything, make some popcorn, and fill up a big cup of soda. >I watch the 8 minute video.

Woah!! Can't believe you pick my 2 fav cav civ at the top Go Berbers and Magyars!!!

I'm not sure if you have already done this, but if you haven't, could you please do a top naval civ list?

omg Spirit. that part starting at 2:57 is just so brilliantly funny. Thanks for that laugh.

Hi Spirit, new subscriber here-I love your videos! You mentioned Lanchester's square law in this one; have you looked into some of the fascinating math that follows from the differential equations behind Lanchester's laws, including the Pythagorean Theorem of RTS's? In particular, as you may already know, if an army of size y fights a smaller army of size x, and both armies are composed of the same units, at the end of the fight the superior army will have sqrt(y^2 - x^2) surviving soldiers, assuming the armies are large and all involved soldiers are active in the fight at all times-hence why people call it the Pythagorean theorem. It's one of the coolest bits of RTS-related math I've learned, and you can see it play out in the scenario editor. I'm just letting you know because it seems like the sort of thing you might find interesting. Thank you for all the great work you do! Your videos have gotten me back into the game.

Would love a "best siege civilizations" from your channel, your videos are great!

always a good day when spirit makes a vid :D

The Paladin running away montage alone merits my like. Same with Elephant Facts.

I know which one is going to be on top: Aztechs

Last time I was this early, my scout had yet to move!

Yes! He Berbers are my fav civ! They fit in so many scenarios!

big fan of your videos, especially the comparisons! I really like the meso civs and every time I get to post-imp eagles I think to myself that Spirit should do a comparison between three eagle special techs... whats your take on it?

You post a video for every four weeks now I now I don't need to wait for notification

Hey Spirit, first of all, great video, enjoyed it a lot! I was wondering if you would like to do a meta gameplay series? I would say mainly arabia and 1v1 as that is the most comp setting atm. Would love to hear your opinion on this!

love that elephant fact segment is still updating!

that 'the once mighty paladin' montage, so good

Most helpful and funniest AoE2 KZfaqr

Another great video!

I completely disagree with the Berbers being #1 cavalry civilization just because of their discount. Sure it makes their cavalry very cost effective but cost effectiveness isn't everything. There's also population efficiency, which you touched on a tiny bit with Persia and their War Elephants but I feel needs more attention. There's also their ability to perform their role as well as resist anti cavalry units. For example I value the Persian's +2 damage vs archer bonus very highly because 1 of the main roles of cavalry units is to hunt down archers and this bonus makes them more effective at 1 of their main roles than any other civilization's cavalry. Likewise I highly value the Cataphract as a unit because it is resistant to most if not all of the standard cavalry counters, though I agree it still doesn't make Byzantium a top tier cavalry civ as you want the cavalry to be effective in their role and the Cataphract simply isn't as good as even Byzantine Paladins(which as you said are terrible) for hunting down archers for example or rushing down town centers. With the above in mind, I actually think Persia should be #1. The main thing is that they have literally everything, and fully upgraded at that along with War Elephants. Need to hunt down archers? You have the 2nd best Paladins(behind the Franks) and with an archer bonus to boot. Need to mow down masses of non pike infantry? War Elephants will do the trick and your Paladins will still do wonders. Need to win a cavalry war? You have very respectable heavy camels. Again not as good as specialized camel civilizations but than you have all the other cavalry options as well. Need to fight a lot of monks from say Aztecs, Byzantines, etc? A horde of Hussars would do the trick. The Magyars lack the camels flexibility as well as the elephants, and while their elite Huszar is certainly nice it doesn't really add flexibility, just raw power for the weakest type of cavalry(the trash line). Still amazing mind you but I can't see it being better than having the Persian's flexibility. The Magyars should still be #2, with the Berbers down to #3 Imho.

Never miss a video

I thought this was gonna be another top 5 video that completely ignores the Berbers, so first place was very unexpected, glad they have finally gotten the credit they deserve!

The amount of bad puns is too damn high! I love it!

I definitely agree with your list. I appreciate the honorable mention to the Byzantines when judges as a cavalry civ. Of course, more systemically they're weird as hell, because the Cataphract forces a brute force counter, and most brute force counters have a hard counter from a trash unit, which the Byzantines do very well. Most brute force counters are, as it so happens, cavalry (and the other brute force counters (ie. Teutonic Knights) are countered by the cataphracts), which means discounted halberdiers.

What about a top 5 trash units civs?

Is there a paladin Shelter we can donate to?

Can someone tell me the name of the song which plays during the 1. place? i know its from epidemic sound but a name i can search for would be good :D

The music in the end is great!

You finally uploaded something :)

finally a video, plz can you apload more often plzzz?

Quite the Frank evaluation. Good to see a new video. :)

Hi! I just stopped by to ask if you'd be willing to do an Easter-Egg sort of voiceline in a fan project to voice one of the The Forgotten campaigns. Nothing much, just three lines or something

Make a video about the top five defensive civs, please :)

What about the Spanish? I believe that they should have gotten an honorable mention, especially for the multiplayer games. Their constant supply of gold allow them to still dish out Paladins when everybody is stuck with trash units. Not to mention their no-gold blacksmith upgrades.

Nice video SotL, I think you missed one great civ though. Slavs new farming buff probably helps them in the best knight rush out of any civ. I would love to see how Berbers resource saving compares against those. They also have the Boyar which is hard to mass but pretty good. At any rate, I think they atleast deserved an honorable mention.

Does anyone know the piano song that starts playing at around the 3:20 mark or 5:00 remaining mark?

GREAT LIST

"Dude ur so cool" "I know" 11

Excellent Choice!

Hey, spirit. I would like to know the ranking if battle elephants are included. Would you consider answering the question? Or is there anyone nice enough to provide some opinions?

Hey spirit, I have aoe2 rise of Rajas. I didn't get through steam, I downloaded it.I cannot find anybody in the lobby and can't play multiplayer.I have voobly but it doesn't have rise of Rajas lobby...What should I do? Pls help me guys.....

@spirit of the law, I just wanted to know about the update on Vietnamese CIv Overview... I have not seen it yet, if you have already done it please let me know the link I couldn't find it on Search...!

Spirit: "at the number 4 spot is the franks" Aoestates.io: "hold my states"

Hey, I'm early for once! Not a single battle elephant civ in the list? That's surprising, but I can't say any of the others don't deserve to be there, so... Well done, Spirit!

Love your videos Whats the song at 7:18 ? I liked it so much

i cant keep up with all these new civilizations. Are they all still well balanced? Or is there a few bonuses that make a civ overpowered.

Hey guys Spirit Of The Law here. I missed this mention. long time no see!!

@Spirit Of The Law could you make top 5 cavalry units?

Well it was pretty satisfying getting my first win against hard AI with Berbers. Funnily enough the computer was going for a knight rush as well, but that extra 15% reduction in cost ended up making all the difference.

whats the name of song playing 7:20+?

Hey, Spirit. Can you make Top 5 Scout Cavalry-line Civilization, please?

interesting. Can you at one point check if lancesters aquare law is actually a square in this game or might there be another exponent? Since you menion it so often it's worth checking and that would be REALLY mathy.

Spirit, how can i contact you? is there a way?

Hey. Great Work. Can you make a video about the best civs at the sea. I only knew the best sea civs at age of kings. Not from the new civs. :-(

2:23 such painful farm placement x-x, but great vid!

you forgot the guitar intro 💔

Are you going to re do these top 5 with definitive edition?

Hey Spirit, can you make a video that compares the strength different civ's cavalry? Like Chinese Cavalier vs Byzantine Paladin? Also can you make a video that compares towers? Like what's better: Yeoman towers, Yasama towers, Korean towers or Stronghold Celtic towers?

Can you please do a video on cannon galleons and how to use them

I think we all want more SoL videos please. Thanks.

Spirit, did you make one for best monks?

I love your vids

I have a question I'm hoping someone could answer for me. Is there a button or function in the game to drop 1 currently selected unit. Like a clear selection but just for a single unit rather than all currently selected units.

Is it time for a redo of many of these top 5s? We've had so many new civs and patches/updates

Is it time to do a Version 2 of this video? Things have changed, like Teuton armor, introduction of Lithuanians and Cumans. Some variables mixed. I even think that from the existing choices, that Magyars and Berbers could share place 1. Opinions? Ideas?

Genitur (or like wiki says, jineto) was btw in the original AoC map editor, shooting arrows, but with a militia skin

Can you make best unit per population or best late game units video?

Looking at other civs that could have been implemented: Portuguese with their gold cost discount have a great knight rush in Teamgames, and when slung can do big damage in early imp with cavaliers. Slavs with Boyars especially looking at their insane farm eco.

how did you do that , what key need to press pls help mee 2:16

Bro can u pls share the AOE 2 the African kingdoms link for download..bro

What is the Lanchester square law? (Mentioned at 7:50)

Hey Spirit ^^ could you do a viseo about food only units? What i mean by this is can you check which only food unit (Hussar/villager/two-handed swordsman/Husar) is strongest not even by 2 villager vs 1 hussar coz of food costs no! I wanna 1v1 and which civ have best food only unit ;D thank you if you will do that ^^

Does the spanish civ make a top 5 list or honorable mention anywhere? :( I play with them often.

great vid man but you mainly considered more cheaper cavalry units which in my opinion quality is better then quantity as my favourite 3 are franks, byz and persians as they are mainly the only units i use are cavalry. i know u mentioned halbs and monks about elephants but byzantines at least have a awesome cataphract which woulda got my number 1

What do you think about mod called "Age of chivalry Hegemony"?