Aztecs — Civilization Guide (AoE2)

Once known as one of the most fearsome civilizations in Age of Empires 2, the Aztecs are one of the three mesosiths in the game that have since been nerfed in recent patches. Yet their strong economy, fast production, menacing monks and powerful eagles still solidify them as a decent choice for most maps and settings. Welcome to Age of Noob everyone and to the summary guide for the mighty Aztecs. The Aztecs are characterized as an infantry and monk civilization by the developers and it's hard to disagree with this. Let's begin with the civ bonuses first. The Aztec villagers carry three additional resources, their military units create 11% faster, their monks receive 5 additional HP with each monastery technology researched, and they begin the game with 50 extra gold. Also, their team bonus increases relic gold Economically, the Aztecs were once regarded as one of the most formidable civilizations, though this prowess has been somewhat diminished due to multiple nerfs as well as the introduction of many new, eco-heavy civilizations. Nonetheless, villagers gathering three additional resources is still nothing to scoff at as it acts almost like a free but lesser version of wheelbarrow from the start of the game. The Aztecs only miss out on two-man saw and guilds, and their bonus is situational at best to count as a general eco bonus. But apart from these, there's not much else to cover here. Militarily, the Aztecs have only one unique unit and it's the Jaguar Warrior, a very powerful infantry that can beat almost every other infantry unit in the game with the exception of the Samurais and the Teutonic Knights. As usual, they're tough to mass and transition into due to the need of constructing castles, and since castle construction is usually not prioritized in most Aztec playstyles, we don't often get to see the Jaguars in action all that much. The Aztecs' two unique castle technologies are both militarily focused, as Atlatl in the Castle Age provides plus one attack and range to your skirmishers, and Garland Wars in the Imperial Age provides plus four attack to infantry. I'll get into why Atlatl is quite useful in a moment, and, although Garland Wars is also a decent technology, it's a very expensive and gold-heavy investment, so it usually comes last in the priority of technologies to research for your infantry. Being one of the Mesoamerican civilizations, the Aztecs of course don't have access to this stable in regular games, but keep in mind that converted enemy stables can create a unique unit called the Xolotl Warrior. It's akin to the Knight in terms of stats, but since it can neither be reliably massed nor can be upgraded in the Imperial Age, it's more or less a meme unit that shouldn't be taken seriously. At the barracks and blacksmith for infantry units, the Aztecs have a fully open tree with the exception of the Halberdier upgrade. Since they do have exceptional eagles, having access to halbs alongside Garland Wars in the late game would be broken, so the omission makes sense here. That said, for newer players out there, the plus four from Garland Wars is nowhere near enough to make up for the massive difference in bonus damage between pikes and halbs, so late game Aztec pikes aren't really that good. On the flip side, alongside their fantastic eagles, their champions are some of the strongest in the game as well, as they have access to gambesons, Garland Wars, and a production bonus of 11% to mass them quicker. At the archer range, the Aztecs begin to show some of their weaknesses. They of course don't have access to the cavalry archers, but the most notable gaps here are the lack of both thumb ring as well as the final ring archer armor upgrade. The omission of both have big implications, as their crossbows and arbalests may be serviceable in certain scenarios and openings, but they are limited to a time window and will fall weaker as the game progresses. That said, the lack of armor for the skirmishers is thankfully mitigated by the atlatl upgrade. Although not exactly the same, Aztec skirmishers are arguably better than generic, fully upgraded skirmishers against many archer and non-archer units. Yes, the plus one range makes a big difference, but the plus one attack can also sometimes cut the critical mass limit by a half or third depending on the target's pierce armor, so don't underestimate Aztec skirmishers' late game damage against low pierce armor targets when massed. At the siege workshop, the Aztecs have decent options with siege rams as well as siege onagers with siege engineers, but apart from the production bonus, there's nothing special here. The Aztecs' monastery on the other hand is arguably the best in the game, as they have all technologies available and their monks can get up to a maximum of a whopping 95 HP when all technologies are researched. Practically though, it costs roughly 4600 resources to get there, about 3800 of which is gold, so your opponent cannot just casually get to 95 HP monks unless you're not applying any pressure at all. That said, the Aztecs' docks are unexceptional in the early game and very weak in the late game. The only bonus that applies here again is the 11% production bonus, but missing out on almost all imperial upgrades makes them a bad pick and this economic foundation then becomes the bedrock for sustaining your eagle spam into the imperial age. Failing to inflict substantial damage early on leaves you vulnerable to the ascent of more potent late game units from your opponents that can eventually overwhelm your eagles and monks, not to mention that your weak fortifications will crumble against the sieges. Hence, your main composition usually revolves around eagles and monks and you can situationally add mangonels, skirmishers, pikes, champions or even jaguar warriors depending on the matchup and how the game progresses. But yes, your main, go-to unit will almost always be your eagles. This means that not many civilizations can deal with the Aztecs in the castle age and into the early imperial, but once the game goes late enough, the Aztecs will begin to struggle against certain matchups. Your eagles aren't fast enough to deal with mounted unit raids, your pikes are too weak by that stage, your monks will die to massed hussars and their variants, and you will be raided to death due to the weak defenses and lack of albedeer. Hence, high damage or high armor targets as well as mounted units with high pierce armor are your bane of existence and your job as the Aztecs is not to allow your opponent to get to their powerful late game units on even footing. And finally, the Aztecs are not the best in either the flank or pocket position in team games. They're not great at flank positions due to their suboptimal ranged units, and they're not the best in the pocket position either due to the plethora of strong cavalry civilizations that will both outrun and outmuscle your eagles. Hence, although the Aztecs are not detrimental in team games, there are just better stiff choices out there for both positions as the Aztecs are better suited for 1v1s. In summary, the Aztecs are an aggressive civilization that boasts menacing eagles and monks with incredible power spiking in the mid-game. Due to their forceful and rigid playstyle though, the Aztecs' predictability and heavy reliance on execution rewards skilled players but make it otherwise tough to pilot for lower elo ones. They also have an awkward transition from feudal to castle, have weak defenses and are gold reliant. But if you can get to your mass eagles and suffocate your opponent in time, the Aztecs are one of the most oppressive civilizations to play against in Age of Empires 2. Just be sure that you don't let your opponent get to their heavy and mounted units in the late game as the tables will turn very quickly then. To wrap up, let's go back in time to 1521 and revisit the fall of Tenechitlán, waged between the Spanish led by Hernán Cortés and the Aztecs led by Huautemoc, the emperor of Tenechitlán. Hope you all enjoyed this short summary. Be sure to subscribe to Age of Noob for AOE content and Game Noob for game reviews and until our paths cross again, maik hualli tonnali!