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This article is about the building in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. For the building in Age of Empires IV, see Keep (Age of Empires IV). |
| “ | Stronger than Guard Tower. Fires farther and is better armored. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Keep is a tower in Age of Empires II that becomes available once the Imperial Age is reached. Keeps are most useful against ships and are somewhat effective against infantry, archers, and cavalry, but are not very effective against siege weapons.
Availability chart[]
 Available |  Unavailable
|
|---|---|
- x means that the civilizations gets fully upgradeable Keeps. The technologies being considered here are Architecture, Arrowslits, Bracer, and Heated Shot.
- + means that the civilization gets some civilization or team bonus or a unique technology that benefits the Keep.
Tactics and placement[]
The Keep upgrade provides +750 (+50%) hit points, +1 attack, +1/+1 armor, and +1 anti-ship attack. Given the fact that the upgrade has no gold or stone in its cost, this makes the upgrade great for its value.
Defensively, while individual Keeps will not be able to singlehandedly repel large raiding parties, they can be a powerful tool to discourage smaller raids, which otherwise can kill Villagers and disrupt economies disproportionate to their size, especially if they aren't immediately noticed. By passively firing on these raiders, towers can force enemies into larger and more costly attacks, drawing away resources from elsewhere and opening them to counterattacks. However, the player must judge whether it is more cost-effective to use towers to fill this role, or whether walls and/or Castles might instead serve as a cheaper alternative.
Offensively, Keeps can be used for front-line support by restricting enemy movements and asserting map control, allowing the attacking player to move forward with greater confidence and deal more damage during an assault, knowing a safe zone is available if a retreat is needed. In such a retreat, they can hold troops to protect them from archers, heal them once garrisoned, and provide cover fire for offensively placed military buildings. While they serve a similar role to a Castle in this regard, they have the advantage of being a smaller and less risky investment, and of being built more quickly, potentially surprising the defending player with an unexpected fortification they aren't prepared to deal with. However, Bombard Towers also fulfill this role while dealing more damage, albeit with a sizable gold cost. Castles also have higher durability, a higher damage output, and the ability to create Trebuchets to defend themselves.
Keeps are highly vulnerable to siege units, and even to most melee units, so to protect them the player should have melee cavalry near their fortifications, or some Fire Ships that can deal with the Cannon Galleons in case of Keeps placed near the shore.
Keeps should be placed in choke points to make them more effective or behind cliffs or forests. Keeps also work better if placed within range of each other or the range of a friendly Castle since both buildings will provide cover fire for each other. In maps like Archipelago or Islands, it is a wise idea to have several Keeps near the shoreline to take down potentially dangerous enemy fleets and give some support to the player's fleet near the coast. If running for a Relic or Wonder victory, Keeps become a helpful tool to defend the Wonder or the Monasteries holding Relics, but the player will also require the support of several Castles, walls, and other military structures, along with enough troops to counter enemy units.
Comparison among civilizations with prominent Keeps[]
| Civilization |  Britons
|
 Byzantines
|
 Chinese
|
 Japanese
|
 Koreans
|
 Celts
|
 Georgians
|
 Teutons
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hit points | 2723 | 3150 | 3540 | 2475 | 2723 | 2475 | 2723 | 2475 |
| Attack | 8+9 | 8+7 | 8+6 | 8+9 | 8+6 | |||
| Rate of Fire | 2 | 1.5 | 2 | |||||
| Melee/Pierce/Building armor | 3+2/9+2/+6 | 3/9/0 | 3+2/9+2/+6 | 3+1/9+1/+3 | 3+2/9+2/+6 | 3+1/9+1/+3 | 3+2/9+2/+6 | 3+1/9+1/+3 |
| Range | 8+3 | 8+5 | 8+2 | 8+3 | 8+2 | |||
| Extras | Fire two extra arrows | Upgrades are free | Repairing costs 25% less resources, Arrows deal pass-through damage, Receive 20% less damage when fighting from a higher elevation | Resists conversions better, Garrisoned infantry increases arrows, Garrison 10 units and Murder Holes is free | ||||
In addition to these, the Incan and Slavic towers are cheaper (15% and 40% less stone, respectively; the latter stone to wood replacement after Detinets researched) and often used in the late game. They are not included here because they are not statistically better, and also because the Slavs lack access to Keeps, Bracer, and Arrowslits, and both lack Architecture. The Sicilian Donjon is also a good variation, but the comparison is too complicated to be included here, so it is included in the Donjon's page.
Further statistics[]
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Ships, archers, weak melee units |
| Weak vs. | Siege weapons, Tarkans, Huskarls, War Elephants, Cannon Galleons |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Masonry (+10%) Architecture (+10%) Great Wall (+30%, Chinese only)
|
| Attack |  Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1) Chemistry (+1) Arrowslits (+3) Heated Shot (+125% attack against ships) Yeomen (+2, Britons only) Yasama (adds two extra arrows, Japanese only) Svan Towers (+2, enables pass-through damage, Georgians only)
|
 Range
|
Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1) Murder Holes (eliminates minimum range) Eupseong (+2, Koreans only)
|
| Accuracy |  Ballistics (hit moving targets)
|
| Armor | Masonry (+1/+1, +3 building armor) Architecture (+1/+1, +3 building armor)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
|
 Attack speed
|
Stronghold (+33%, Celts only)
|
| Line of Sight |  Town Watch (+4) Town Patrol (+4)
|
| Build speed |  Treadmill Crane (+20%)
|
| Other |  Herbal Medicine (garrisoned units heal faster) Crenellations (garrisoned infantry fire arrows, Teutons only)
|
Civilization bonuses[]
Bulgarians: Fletching, Bodkin Arrow, and Bracer cost 50% food.- Burmese: Researching Devotion, Faith, and Herbal Medicine is 50% cheaper.
- Byzantines: Keeps have +40% hit points. Town Watch and Town Patrol are free.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Keeps are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age, respectively.
- Georgians: Keeps receive -20% damage (-40% instead of -25%) when fighting from higher elevation.
- Inca: Keeps cost -15% stone.
- Italians: University technologies that benefit Keeps are 33% cheaper.
- Jurchens: University technologies that benefit Keeps cost -75% wood and research 100% faster.
- Koreans: The Keep upgrade is free.
- Malians: Keeps cost -15% wood.
- Romans: Keeps are built and repaired 5% faster.
- Spanish: Keeps are built 30% faster. Fletching, Bodkin Arrow, and Bracer cost no gold. Researching technologies that benefit Keeps provides 20 gold each.
- Teutons: Keeps can garrison up to 10 units. Murder Holes and Herbal Medicine are free.
- Turks: Chemistry is free.
Team bonuses[]
- Bulgarians: Fletching, Bodkin Arrow, and Bracer upgrades that benefit Keeps are researched 80% faster.
- Georgians: Repairing Keeps costs 25% fewer resources.
- Lithuanians: Devotion, Faith, Herbal Medicine, and Heresy are researched 20% faster.
- Malians: University technologies that benefit Keeps are researched 80% faster.
- Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Keeps are researched 25% faster.
- Teutons: Keeps are more resistant to conversion (+3 min, +1 max cycles).
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Keeps cost 25 wood, 125 stone.
- Keeps have 7 attack.
- Keeps have an attack bonus of +10 against camels because they share an armor class with ships.
The Conquerors[]
- Keeps gain an attack bonus of +2 against Spearmen.
- Herbal Medicine introduced.
- Heresy introduced.
- Britons: Yeomen introduced.
- Teutons: Crenellations introduced.
The Forgotten[]
- Keeps now have 8 attack.
- Celts: Stronghold introduced, which makes Keeps fire 25% faster.
- Inca: Cannot build Keeps.
- Japanese: Yasama introduced. It gives Keeps three additional arrows.
- Koreans: Keeps are now built 33% faster.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Camels are moved out of the ship armor class, and Keeps lose their attack bonus against them. They now have +1 attack against them.
- Arrowslits introduced. Initially, it gives Keeps +6 attack. With patch 4.8, Arrowslits now gives +3 attack.
- Inca: Keep added to the technology tree.
- Japanese: With patch 4.8, Yasama now gives Keeps two additional arrows.
Rise of the Rajas[]
Definitive Edition[]
- Koreans: Keeps are no longer built faster.
- With update 42848, Panokseon is removed from tech tree and replaced by Eupseong.
- With update 42848, towers no longer have +1/+2 range in the Castle/Imperial Age.
Dynasties of India[]
- Celts: With update 81058, Stronghold effect increased to 33%.
The Mountain Royals[]
- With update 99311, Devotion was introduced.
Victors and Vanquished[]
- With update 111772, Keep cost decreased from 50 wood, 125 stone to 35 wood, 125 stone.
History[]
| “ | The central and strongest building inside a castle was called the keep. This was the last bastion of defense inside if the walls and outside towers were taken. The remaining defenders withdrew into the keep for the final defense. The keep was a mini-castle often constructed in place of a castle to cut expenses. Although much smaller than castles, keeps could perform the same function on a smaller scale. They were very difficult to capture except by a large and well-equipped army. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings manual | ||
Trivia[]
- The Keep model of the Native American civilizations is inspired by the Palace Observation Tower in Palenque.
- The description of the Keep states it fires farther than its predecessors. However, that is wrong, all towers of the Watch Tower line have the same range.
- All Keeps have a square base except the Western European version, which is octagonal, the Mediterranean version which is also octagonal, and the Central Asian version, which is round.
- Mediterranean Keeps in the Definitive Edition bear a heavy resemblance to the Roman Guard Towers from Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome.
- Because Cumans and Tatars lack access to the Keep, the Central Asian Keeps appear only in Full Tech Tree games and campaigns.
- Before Dynasties of India, the South Asian Keeps only appeared in Full Tech Tree games and campaigns. With the introduction of Bengalis, Dravidians, and Gurjaras, this is no longer the case.
- Its icon was updated in an update after the release of The Mountain Royals.
Gallery[]
