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This article is about the building in Age of Empires II. For the building in other games on the series, see Watch Tower. |
| “ | Basic stone tower. Automatically attacks enemy units and buildings within range. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Watch Tower is a tower in Age of Empires II that becomes available once the Feudal Age is reached. Watch Towers have a missile attack and provide a good defense in the early game, but falter against larger armies, such as in the late Castle Age.
Watch Towers are available to all civilizations except for the Sicilians, which were replaced by their unique building, Donjons.
Tactics and placement[]
Towers deal strong damage to nearby enemies while also having fair armor and the ability to garrison a few foot troops. These functions are an essential part of any kind of fortification. Towers are also notable for costing stone, and they compete for this resource with additional Town Centers and Castles.
The Watch Tower is the first type of tower capable of attacking to become available and provides early protection to the player's village against raiding parties and rushes. Its missile attack deals twice the damage of an Archer with twice the range, and the building itself has much more HP and armor.
Additionally, up to 5 units may be garrisoned to protect them from being damaged, and Villagers and foot archers will increase the number of arrows Watch Towers fire, thus increasing the damage, and potentially allowing the garrisoned unit to deal more damage to armored enemies or fortifications. As usual, garrisoned units slowly regenerate lost hit points, though at half the rate of Castles.
Ideally, Watch Towers should be placed near valuable resources or choke points to make them more effective. Also, their base should be protected with walls since in the Feudal Age players cannot research Murder Holes, making Watch Towers highly vulnerable to melee attacks. If towers continue to be required, it is a good idea to upgrade them to Guard Towers at the University where possible.
Offensive[]
Watch Towers can also be used offensively; most civilizations can perform a tactic commonly known as the "trush" (tower rush). The idea is not generally to fight the enemy outright but to deny them access to resources. The strategy is based on building several Watch Towers around an enemy settlement, preferably close to valuable resources (usually gold, but Lumber Camps can also be a good target). To employ this tactic, the player must first accumulate some stone for the towers in the Dark and Feudal Ages, build a Blacksmith to improve the Watch Tower attack and range, and then send at least five Villagers to the enemy settlement with some supporting troops (preferably Men-at-Arms). Once the Villagers approach the enemy settlement, they should then build a supporting Watch Tower that must be at a certain distance to not be noticed by the enemy. Then, the first disrupting tower must be placed within the range of the supporting tower, and then the third one, and all subsequent ones must be placed within range of each other and surround the enemy's Town Center. It is also effective to place towers near the main gold, stone, and wood sources for the enemy. If the enemy attacks the Villagers, garrison them in the closest tower to protect them. Placing Palisade Walls around the towers is also helpful in a trush, as it protects them from melee attacks since Murder Holes is not available until Castle Age.
Compared to other Feudal Age rushes, a tower rush is very hard to stop once it has gained momentum, as towers have a lot of hit points. However, they are also vulnerable to enemy military units, especially if unprotected, as Villagers are weak in combat, and having a tower's construction denied is a major setback. For this reason, tower rushing is primarily seen as a counter to a strategy that leaves its user vulnerable, such as a Fast Castle.
Further statistics[]
| Building strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Ships, archers, weak melee units |
| Weak vs. | Siege weapons, Tarkans, Huskarls, War Elephants, Cannon Galleons |
| Upgrades | |
| Hit points |  Masonry (+10%) Architecture (+10%) Great Wall (+30%, Chinese only)
|
| Attack |  Fletching (+1) Bodkin Arrow (+1) Bracer (+1) Chemistry (+1) Arrowslits (+1) 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) Eupseong (+2, Koreans only) Murder Holes (eliminates minimum range)
|
| Firing rate | Stronghold (+33%, Celts only)
|
| Accuracy |  Ballistics (hit moving targets)
|
| Armor | Masonry (+1/+1, +3 building armor) Architecture (+1/+1, +3 building armor)
|
| Line of Sight |  Town Watch (+4) Town Patrol (+4)
|
| Conversion defense |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
|
| Construction speed |  Treadmill Crane (+20%)
|
| Other |  Herbal Medicine (garrisoned units heal faster), Detinets (Replaces 40% stone cost with wood, Slavs only) Crenellations (Garrisoned infantry fire arrows, Teutons only)
|
| Upgrades |  Guard Tower
|
Civilization bonuses[]
Bohemians: Chemistry is available in the Castle Age.- Bulgarians: Fletching, Bodkin Arrow, and Bracer cost -50% food.
- Burmese: Researching Devotion, Faith, and Herbal Medicine is 50% cheaper.
- Byzantines: Watch Towers have +10%/+20%/+30%/+40% hit points in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age, respectively. Town Watch and Town Patrol are free.
- Chinese: Technologies that benefit Watch Towers are 5%/10%/15% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age, respectively.
- Georgians: Watch Towers receive -20% damage (-40% instead of -25%) when fighting from higher elevation.
- Incas: Watch Towers cost -15% stone.
- Italians: University technologies that benefit Watch Towers are 33% cheaper.
- Koreans: The upgrade to the Guard Tower is free.
- Malians: Watch Towers cost -15% wood.
- Persians: Researching Town Watch and Town Patrol is 10%/15%/20% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age, respectively.
- Romans: Watch Towers are built and repaired 5% faster.
- Spanish: Watch Towers are built 30% faster. Fletching, Bodkin Arrow, and Bracer cost no gold. Researching technologies that benefit Watch Towers provides 20 gold each.
- Teutons: Watch Towers 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 are researched 80% faster.
- Georgians: Repairing Watch Towers costs 25% fewer resources.
- Lithuanians: Devotion, Faith, Herbal Medicine, and Heresy are researched 20% faster.
- Malians: University technologies that benefit Watch Towers are researched 80% faster.
- Portuguese: Technologies that benefit Watch Towers are researched 25% faster.
Changelog[]
The Age of Kings[]
- Watch Towers have 1,020 HP regardless of the Age.
- The upgrade to the Guard Tower costs 100 food, 250 stone.
- Watch Towers cost 25 wood, 125 stone.
- Watch Towers have an attack bonus of +7 against camels because they share an armor class with ships.
The Conquerors[]
- The upgrade to the Guard Tower now costs 100 food, 250 wood.
- Watch Towers gain an attack bonus of +2 against Spearmen.
- Herbal Medicine introduced.
- Heresy introduced.
- Britons: Yeomen introduced. It is only available in the Imperial Age.
- Teutons: Crenellations introduced.
The Forgotten[]
- Britons: Yeomen moved to the Castle Age.
- Celts: Stronghold introduced.
- Japanese: Yasama introduced. It gives Watch Towers three additional arrows.
- Koreans: Watch Towers are now built 33% faster.
The African Kingdoms[]
- Camels are moved out of the ship armor class, and the Watch Towers lose their attack bonus against them. They now have +1 attack against them.
- Arrowslits introduced. Initially, it becomes available in the Castle Age and gives Watch Towers +2 attack. With patch 4.8, Arrowslits moved to the Imperial Age and now gives +1 attack.
- Japanese: With patch 4.8, Yasama now gives Watch Towers two additional arrows.
Rise of the Rajas[]
- Watch Towers now cost 50 wood, 125 stone.
- Koreans: With patch 5.8, Watch Towers are now built 5% faster.
Definitive Edition[]
- Watch Towers now have 700 HP before the Castle Age.
- If the player started with a Watch Tower in the Dark Age (e.g. on Fortress maps), then they could build additional Watch Towers in the Dark Age too. This was removed in a patch. This was only true for Watch towers, not the upgrades.
- Koreans: Watch Towers 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[]
- With update 61321, Watch Towers have 850 hit points in the Feudal Age.
- Celts: With update 81058, Stronghold effect is 33% attack speed to Watch Towers.
The Mountain Royals[]
- With update 99311, the Watch Tower has a new unique icon. Before this, it had the same icon as the Keep.
- With update 99311, Devotion was introduced.
History[]
| “ | Some of the earliest fortified stone structures were simple watch towers. From the watch tower a local lord could keep a large area in view. The stone structure made it impregnable to assault except by a major force. The lord could withdraw into the tower, putting his animals on the bottom, stores and treasure on a second floor, living on upper floors, and fighting from the top. The Normans were famous for building stone watch towers across their lands in Normandy and England to provide military and political control. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II manual | ||
Trivia[]
- When playing the Fortress map, every player receives several Watch Towers at the beginning of the game, all randomly placed along the walls surrounding the settlement. The towers serve as a useful early defense system while the players develop.
- The Watch Tower model of the Native American civilizations is inspired by the Palace Observation Tower in Palenque.
- The Mediterranean Watch Tower in the Definitive Edition is based on ancient Roman observation towers.
- Central Asian Watch Towers are the only ones whose base is round instead of square. Western European towers are the only ones with hexagonal bases.
Gallery[]
