Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition: Complete Guide

A strategy guide for Age of Empires IV. It covers economy fundamentals, a reliable opening, landmarks and aging up, unit counters, civilization notes (including the 2026 Jin Dynasty), ranked play, and the habits that climb ladders.

Researched September 2026. Current as of Patch 16.2.10884 (June 18, 2026) and Ranked Season 13 (started with Yue Fei's Legacy on May 7, 2026). Raiders of the North (Vikings and Scots) is announced for fall 2026. Live games change, so check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

Never stop making Villagers. Constant Town Center production is the single biggest skill difference between beginners and intermediate players.
Don't get supply blocked. Build Houses ahead of time. Each one raises your population cap.
Scout early. Your starting scout finds sheep, gold, stone, deer, and the enemy base. Bring sheep back to the Town Center.
Age up with landmarks. Each civ picks one of two landmarks per age. Landmarks give a bonus and advance your age.
Learn the counter triangle. Spearmen beat cavalry, cavalry beat archers, archers beat spearmen. Heavy infantry and knights beat light units.
Upgrade your economy at the Mill, Lumber Camp, and Mining Camp (Wheelbarrow, gathering upgrades). They pay for themselves quickly.
Use control groups (Ctrl + number) for your army and production buildings.
Play the campaigns or the Art of War challenges to learn mechanics like micro and build orders against a timer.
Start with English or French for your first ranked games. Both are forgiving and strong.

Economy Fundamentals

Four resources: Food, Wood, Gold, Stone. Villagers gather them and drop them off at the Town Center or nearby drop sites.

Source	Notes
Sheep	The fastest early food. Herd them under the Town Center
Berries	Build a Mill next to them. Some civs gather faster
Deer and boar	Good food, but you have to hunt them and carry the meat back
Farms	Infinite food. Your mid-game backbone
Wood	Build Lumber Camps at forest edges. Needed for houses, farms, and archers
Gold	Mining Camps. Needed for aging up and elite units
Stone	Keeps, walls, some landmarks and technologies

Rules of thumb:

Keep drop-off distances short. A Lumber Camp at the tree line beats walking.
Idle Villagers are wasted money. Use the idle Villager button often.
Aim for about 20+ Villagers by Feudal and 40 to 60 in Castle Age for a standard economy. Adjust for civ and strategy.
Sacred Sites and trade are extra gold sources from Castle Age on. Monks capture sites, and Traders move between markets.

A Standard Opening (Generic)

Every civ has its own optimized build, but this skeleton works for most:

Town Center: Queue Villagers immediately and keep queuing.
Villagers 1 to 6: Food (sheep under TC). Use the scout to bring more sheep.
Next few: Wood. Build a House, then a Lumber Camp.
Next: Gold (Mining Camp), or more food on berries or a Mill.
Around 12 to 16 Villagers: Start the Feudal landmark with two to three Villagers, balancing food and gold.
Feudal Age (Age II): Add a military building (Barracks, Archery Range, or Stable), and research Wheelbarrow and the gathering upgrades.
Transition to farms as sheep and berries run out.
Castle Age (Age III) once your economy is stable, around 25 to 35 Villagers depending on strategy.

The Feudal Age landmark costs 400 Food and 200 Gold. Later ages cost more and need more Villagers to build quickly.

Aging Up and Landmarks

Dark Age (I) to Feudal (II) to Castle (III) to Imperial (IV).
Each age: Choose one of two civ-specific landmarks. They have different bonuses (economic, military, defensive). Pick based on your plan.
Landmarks are a victory condition. Destroying all of an enemy's landmarks wins the game (in standard mode).
Abbasid Dynasty and Ayyubids age up by adding wings to the House of Wisdom instead of choosing landmarks.

Victory Conditions

Condition	How
Landmark	Destroy all enemy landmarks (including their Town Center landmark)
Sacred Site	Capture and hold all Sacred Sites for 10 minutes
Wonder	Build a Wonder and defend it until the timer ends
Surrender	The enemy concedes

Ranked 1v1 usually ends by landmark destruction or surrender.

Unit Counters

Unit type	Strong against	Weak against
Spearman	Cavalry	Archers, heavy infantry
Archer	Spearmen, light infantry	Horsemen, Mangonels, heavy armor
Horseman	Archers, siege	Spearmen
Man-at-Arms	Light units, buildings	Crossbowmen, Knights (in numbers)
Knight	Archers, light units	Spearmen, Crossbowmen, camels
Crossbowman	Heavy units (MAA, Knights)	Horsemen, Mangonels
Handcannoneer	Heavy units	Cavalry, splash damage
Mangonel	Clumped infantry and archers	Cavalry, Springalds
Springald	Siege	Infantry and cavalry
Ram / Siege tower	Buildings	Everything with melee (Villagers included)
Trebuchet / Bombard / Culverin	Long-range siege / anti-siege	Cavalry raids

Upgrades matter as much as unit choice. Blacksmith armor and weapon upgrades, and the unit veterancy tiers (Veteran, Elite), change fights dramatically.

Civilization Notes

As of September 2026 there are 23 civilizations. There are 8 base civs, the Anniversary pair (Malians, Ottomans), Byzantines and Japanese from The Sultans Ascend, plus variant civs (Ayyubids, Jeanne d'Arc, Order of the Dragon, Zhu Xi's Legacy, Knights Templar, House of Lancaster, Golden Horde, Macedonian Dynasty, Sengoku Daimyo, Tughlaq Dynasty) and the Jin Dynasty (Yue Fei's Legacy, May 2026). Vikings and Scots arrive with Raiders of the North in fall 2026.

Civ	Identity	Beginner notes
English	Longbowmen, cheaper farms, defensive network bonuses	Very forgiving. Longbow Feudal pushes are simple and strong
French	Royal Knights, cheaper economy techs, strong early cavalry	Aggressive cavalry civ. Easy to learn
Holy Roman Empire	Prelates inspire Villagers. Strong infantry	Defensive into a powerful late game
Rus	Gold from hunting, wooden fortresses, Horse Archers	Map-control civ
Mongols	Nomadic (packable buildings), no walls, the Ovoo stone mechanic, Mangudai	Aggressive, harder to master
Chinese	Dynasties, tax collection, Zhuge Nu, Grenadiers, gunpowder	Rewarding but APM-heavy
Delhi Sultanate	Free technologies (slow research sped up by Scholars), War Elephants	Unusual tempo
Abbasid Dynasty	House of Wisdom wings, camels, Ghulams	Economy flexibility
Ottomans	Military Schools produce free units, Janissaries, Great Bombards, Vizier points	Strong mid-late game
Malians	Pit Mines, cattle, Javelin Throwers, Musofadi, Sofa	Gold-rich economy
Byzantines	Olive Oil, cisterns, mercenaries, Cataphracts, Varangian Guard	Complex but powerful
Japanese	Samurai, Onna-Bugeisha, Shinobi, Farmhouses	Strong infantry
Jin Dynasty (2026)	Mounted Villagers, Emissaries, Meng'an Mouke keeps, Iron Pagoda, Mounted Grenadiers, Eruptors, Bed Crossbows	Mobile economy plus strong cavalry and siege. Buffed in patch 16.1.10056

Variant civs share a base with their parent civ but change key mechanics and landmarks. Try them after you learn the parent.

Ranked and Multiplayer

Ranked Season 13 began with Yue Fei's Legacy (May 2026). Ranked decay was disabled in May 2026 while the team reworks it.
Map pool rotation: Since July 2, 2026, the ranked map pool rotates automatically every month, always keeping a set number of open, closed, hybrid, and naval maps.
Map types: Open maps (like Dry Arabia) favor aggression. Closed or hybrid maps favor booming. Naval maps need docks and fishing boats.
Placement matches set your starting rank. Don't spam-queue while tilted.
Veto maps you don't like, but learn at least one naval map. They keep appearing in rotation.

Controls and Settings

Grid hotkeys (a keyboard layout that mirrors the command card) are popular with competitive players. Pick a layout in Settings and stick to it.
Controller support on PC arrived in patch 16.2.10604 (June 2026), with a Villager Priority System and a controller UI for handhelds (Steam Deck, ROG Xbox Ally). Patch 16.2.10884 lets handheld players switch between the controller and keyboard-and-mouse UIs.
Health bars always on and idle Villager notifications help new players a lot.
In replays, open the economy and score overlays to review your Villager count and idle time.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Idle Town Center. The number one beginner mistake. Always queue Villagers.
Supply blocks. Build houses ahead.
Floating resources. Thousands of banked resources means you should be producing more units, buildings, or Villagers.
No scouting. You can't counter what you don't see.
Wrong unit composition. Knights into a wall of spearmen is a gift to the enemy.
Skipping economy upgrades. Wheelbarrow and gathering techs pay off quickly.
Walling everything as a beginner. Some walling is good, but over-walling delays aging up.
Fighting under enemy Keeps or Towers. Bring siege or pull the fight away.

Advanced Tips

Learn one build per civ and drill it until you hit the timings every time. Consistency beats complexity.
Raid with light cavalry (Horsemen) against gold and wood lines. Force the enemy to react, then retreat.
Split your armies to threaten multiple spots once you have the APM.
Use Sacred Sites as both gold income and a threat. Holding all of them forces the enemy to engage.
Relics in Monasteries give gold over time, and some civs get bonuses from them.
Siege and anti-siege: Springalds kill Mangonels and Rams. Mangonels shred clumped archers.
Watch your replays with the economy graphs to spot TC idle time and supply blocks.
Jin Dynasty tip: Mounted Villagers and Emissaries let you relocate economy quickly. Protect them with Meng'an Mouke keeps.

FAQ

Which civilization should I start with? English or French. They're forgiving, strong, and teach good fundamentals.

What's new in Age of Empires IV in 2026? Yue Fei's Legacy (May 7, 2026) added an 8-mission campaign and the Jin Dynasty. Mid-2026 patches added controller UI on PC and handhelds and monthly ranked map rotation. Raiders of the North (Vikings and Scots) is announced for fall 2026.

What is The Crucible? A roguelite single-player mode added with Dynasties of the East (November 2025). Raiders of the North expands its missions.

How many civilizations are there? 23 as of September 2026, counting variant civs and the Jin Dynasty. Raiders of the North adds the Vikings and Scots.

Can I play with a controller or on Steam Deck? Yes. Controller support and the controller UI arrived in June 2026 (patch 16.2.10604), and 16.2.10884 lets handheld players switch UI types.

Is ranked decay on? It was disabled in May 2026 while the developers investigate improvements.