The Aztecs are an infantry- and Monk-oriented civilization. They are also well known for their early-game aggression and strong economy on land maps.
Strengths[]
Their infantry technologies, units, and bonuses make them a strong infantry civilization. Their unique technology, Garland Wars, gives infantry +4 attack, which puts them among the best for attack. Their unique unit, the Jaguar Warrior, can defeat almost any other infantry unit, and do so with good value due to their relatively low cost. The Eagle Warrior benefits from all infantry upgrades and is a strong choice against Monks, archers, and siege weapons. Their Monks are also some of the best in the game. The Aztecs can research every single Monastery technology, and their Monks receive extra hit points every time one is researched. With all Monk technologies researched, an Aztec Monk has 100 hit points. This allows them to survive a Siege Onager shot, as well as making them much more durable against everything. The Atlatl unique technology greatly benefits their Skirmishers thanks to its effect of +1 attack and +1 range. They have access to the Siege Onager and Siege Ram, giving them an overall solid siege tree.
The Aztec economy bonuses are strong in every stage of the game. Villagers carry +3 extra resources, meaning they gather faster from everything, particularly farms. The +50 gold is very good early on, as it allows the player to perform early aggression, such as training five Militia without having to task any Villagers to mine gold. Their Relic bonus is useful later, particularly against civilizations who rely heavily on gold. The Aztecs' team bonus means for every Relic in their Monastery, they will have +100 gold every ten minutes compared to generic civilization. It is also very helpful for those Aztec allies who rely on very expensive units. Aztecs, due to their strong economy and units, as well as their military unit creation bonus, can apply effective pressure from early Dark Age to late Imperial Age on both open and closed maps.
Weaknesses[]
The Aztecs' total lack of cavalry or gunpowder puts them at a huge disadvantage in the late game. While Eagle Warriors make decent cavalry substitutes, their gold cost means they cannot effectively replace Hussars. While Aztec Pikemen have greater standard attack than other civilizations' Halberdiers, they are nowhere near as effective against cavalry.
The Aztecs have one of the weakest late game navies, as they are the only civilization which can create neither Galleons nor Cannon Galleons. Lacking the latter fails to reward any naval dominance the Aztecs achieve, as they cannot bombard an opponent's buildings from the water. Overall, they prove extremely weak on water maps in the Imperial Age. Their only exception to naval weakness is their fully upgradable Fast Fire Ships and their ability to provide military pressure.
They also have a weak defense because they are unable to build Keeps or Bombard Towers. Also, Aztecs lack Architecture, Hoardings, and even Masonry.
Even though the Aztecs have Arbalesters, they are missing two important archer upgrades (Thumb Ring and Ring Archer Armor), making their archers fairly weak late-game when compared to civilizations with stronger archers.
Strategy[]
In a 1v1, Aztec players should almost always employ a Dark Age rush (drush) with Militia as it is one of their key advantages. The Aztecs begin with +50 gold and create military units faster than other civilizations, allowing them to drush with 5 Militia while a standard drush consists of only three. This means the Aztec drush is particularly powerful, especially when the opponent attempts a drush as well. A Militia rush can disturb the enemy's economy by attacking Villagers and buildings while the Aztec player gathers their strength with their very strong economy and advances quickly to the next ages. This early aggression can secure a quick victory for an Aztec player in the early game. However, Eagle Scouts can also be useful if the opponent trains archers. They are also only hard-countered by Men-at-Arms in the Feudal Age, so they are able to avoid costly fights.
Aztecs have a powerful economic advantage because of their Villagers' carrying bonus. Combined with the extra starting gold, this can make a large economic difference.
In the Castle and Imperial Ages, an Aztec player should use Monks, Eagle Warriors, Jaguar Warriors, and Champions as needed. Monks can deter cavalry charges with proper support, Eagle Warriors are great against archers and for raiding, and Jaguar Warriors can easily defeat other infantry, especially Champions, who have a bonus against Eagle Warriors. The player should mix Siege Onagers and Siege Rams in their army for better results. Crossbowmen are also a great option early on in the Castle Age, though they fall off later.
Once in the Imperial Age, an Aztec player should focus on gold production (Relics are good because of the Aztec team bonus) and mass-produce large numbers of Garland Wars-boosted Elite Eagle Warriors for raiding. At this stage the tech tree becomes wider, giving the player additional options to counter the enemy's army. If the opponent is using lots of heavy cavalry, the player should make Monks to convert them with Pikemen as a buffer. In addition to cavalry, Eagle Warriors can effectively fight archers, Monks, and siege weapons. The main strength of Eagles is their speed and resistance to arrow-fire, allowing them to attack under enemy Castles and Town Centers with near impunity. Their weakness, however, is the fact that almost every other melee infantry unit in the game does bonus damage against them, and heavy cavalry also deals a number. Civilizations that rely heavily on infantry can be effectively countered by the the Jaguar Warrior, making such match-ups quite strong for the Aztecs. Gunpowder units can pose a major threat to the Aztecs' infantry and should be countered with Skirmishers.
If a game goes long enough that all the Gold Mines on the map have been used up, the Aztecs can often end up in a very advantageous position due to their Relic gold bonus.
Despite their access to Shipwright (which reduces the wood cost and ship creation time), their lack of Galleons and Cannon Galleons means late-game naval battles can be a very critical problem for them. It is therefore vitally important on sea-based maps that the Aztecs use their strong economy and faster warship creation speed to gain control of the water in the early game before the opponent can secure the Galleon upgrade, since War Galleys stand no chance against an army of Galleons later on. Fire Ships are a good option for taking the water and holding it, since the Aztecs fortunately get Fast Fire Ships and all the relevant technologies.
Strategy changes in The Forgotten[]
Despite the loss of their free loom bonus (replaced with +50 gold at start), the Aztecs are still a good rushing civilization. Their new unique technology Atlatl improves the range and damage of their Skirmishers, making them one of the best Skirmishers in the game.
Strategy changes in The African Kingdoms[]
The Eagle Scout is now available in the Feudal Age, meaning Aztecs have the option to spend their 50 extra gold on two eagle scouts instead of a five Militia drush. Eagle scouts have a very long build time in the Feudal Age, but Aztecs partially circumvent this with their faster military production. Despite being very expensive, the Eagle Scout is an impressive unit in Feudal Age warfare, countering Archer, Skirmisher, and Spearman lines (in total cost but not taking into account gold scarcity later on). Considering their counter, the Militia line, is very rarely seen in the Feudal Age, that mostly leaves Scout Cavalry as their only contender.
Strategy changes in Rise of the Rajas[]
The military creation bonus no longer applies to Monks, meaning that a Monk Rush will be somewhat delayed, but still viable. They do, however, get access to the Demolition Raft (despite lacking gunpowder), in order to slightly boost their early navy, though they still have the worst navy in the game.
Strategy changes in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition[]
As all civilizations (except the Goths) received the new Barracks technology Supplies, they are now better enabled to perform a Feudal Age rush with Men-at-Arms. Also, later on, their Champions are cheaper thanks to this new technology. They are also able to train Xolotl Warriors if they convert a Stable, so they gain access to a cavalry unit. The effect of Tracking is now applied directly when advancing to the Feudal Age, improving the scouting ability of their Eagle Scouts, as they now do not have to research it. Their navy is no longer the worst, as the Cuman and Bulgarian navy is even worse.
Update 37650 reduced the creation speed of all military units to 10%, preventing them from being too strong in early games and balancing their creation speed if they are allied with Celts, Berbers, Britons and Goths (their team bonuses make Siege Workshops, Castles, Archery Ranges, and Barracks work faster).
Update 42848 reduced the Aztecs' carrying capacity from +5 to +3, while the Jaguar Warrior's creation speed is faster. This means that it will be slightly easier to mass it to crush enemy infantry, with only a little economic reduction.
Update 56005 slightly strengthened the non-Elite Jaguar Warrior, making them fare better in the Castle Age.
Alliances[]
In team games, Aztec players should generally try to play in the pocket position (between two allies), since in this way they can perform an economic boom. They are, however, not ill-placed in the flank either, because of their good rushing abilities. As they lack cavalry and a strong navy, it is preferred that their ally must have cavalry and good navy in order to cover their natural weaknesses. The Aztec team bonus allows allied Monasteries to produce more gold from collected Relics. This gives the entire team an edge.
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Chinese: The Chinese team bonus of +10% more food on Farms adds to the Aztecs' faster working farms thanks to their extra carry capacity. Apart from that, Chinese also bring great missile units (including Chu Ko Nu units) and Camel Riders to assist the Aztec infantry, mainly against cavalry.
Lithuanians: Another powerful synergy is with the Lithuanians, since their team bonus makes Monasteries work 20% faster, enabling the Aztec player to better perform a Monk rush. In this case, it is better to bring the Relics to the Lithuanian player, since their cavalry attack increases with garrisoned Relics. In return, the Aztecs cover the two main weaknesses the Lithuanians technology tree has: infantry and siege.
Slavs: The Slav team bonus allows the Aztecs to save some wood or get more population space, and this can prove useful in a rush. The Slavs also have solid late-game cavalry to assist the Aztecs.- Vietnamese: The Aztecs gain a significant boost to their early game aggression with the Vietnamese vision of enemy Town Centers. Later on, the Vietnamese have great archers and decent Bombard Cannons, Halberdiers, and cavalry to address the Aztecs' technological weaknesses, while the Aztecs in return offer strong infantry, siege, and Monks.
Compared advantages and disadvantages[]
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Advantages vs other civilizations[]
- The Jaguar Warrior counters almost all types of infantry, even the infantry from prominent infantry civilizations civilizations.
- Aztec Monks can counter knights, elephant units and several unique types of cavalry, which means civilizations reliant on heavy cavalry, have a hard time against them if the Aztecs exploit their Monk bonus.
- Being a civilization with good early game and able to perform early game raids they can defeat civilizations that fare otherwise (bad early game but good late game), particularly in open maps like Arabia if starting from Feudal and Dark Age.
- As they have access to Eagle Warriors and the Garland Wars and Atlatl technologies, they can give a hard time to archer based civilizations by exploiting the benefits of their Skirmishers and Eagle Warriors. Sometimes this can prove effective against Cavalry Archer based civilizations (as both units deal bonus damage to cavalry archers). Eagle Warriors can also be unpleasant for civilizations that rely on siege engines.
- As their Champions have a high damage output (due to Garland Wars), they get an edge in infantry vs infantry encounters, especially against civilization with poor infantry and even some good infantry civilizations have trouble against Aztecs. Their Champions are also a good asset against trash, so trashing civilizations should avoid Aztec Champions.
Disadvantages vs other civilizations[]
- Since they lack many upgrades at their Dock they fare poorly in naval warfare especially against civilizations that have naval advantages. This is especially noticeable in water based maps like Islands.
- Besides Aztec Monks can be a good counter against heavy cavalry in mid game they require heavy micromanagement so in late game as civilizations with access to good cavalry and the Heresy technology like the Spanish can turn back against the Aztec Monks at late game. Also, civilizations with good light cavalry can counter very effectively the Aztec Monks, similar logic applies to the Eagle Warriors.
Situational advantages[]
- As the Aztecs are primarily a Monk civilization, with all Monastery technologies and a bonus that makes their Monks have better HP, they have a great advantage if playing the "Capture the Relic" game mode, as their Monks have a better chance to survive while retrieving the Relics to the Monastery. They also get Eagle Warriors, which give a substantial advantage. Eagle Warriors can patrol the center of the map and protect the Relic, as they have an attack bonus against Monks, high conversion resistance, and a sizable Line of Sight.
- Considering in Fortress map all players already start with a Barracks, Aztecs can gain an edge early on, since they are an infantry civilization, while at the same time their overall troops are produced faster.
- If playing regicide, as all players start with a Castle, Aztecs gain an edge early on, as they produce all their military units faster. This also applies to the Petard and the Trebuchet.
- In maps like "Holy Line" or "Wolf Hill" they and their team-mates may get a huge edge, as in these maps there are a bunch of Relics on the center. If they hurry up and snatch them, they will have a huge gold boost for the team.
