9 Tricks You Probably Didn’t Know They Exist in Age of Empires 2

Check out my most viewed guide: Age of Empires 2 Tips and Tricks To Become Better

No matter how many hours you spent on playing Age of Empires 2. It just never ceases to be more intriguing, game after game. The amount of fun AOE2 is providing is endless.

I am not talking about 31 civilizations including the Dlcs (Forgotten Empires, African Kingdoms, Rise of Rajas). Neither those long entertaining hours on Blackforest.  Simply those little tricks you learn if you happen to watch a recorded game, a youtube video or a live-stream.

So take a seat and grab some popcorn. Because today we are going to be looking at those exclusive and fascinating tricks along with real-time examples.

1- Tree Hop

Just image your enemy fully walled whereas you have a big army. What are the chances to deal damage if you can NOT get into his base?

Well! Sometimes, all you need to do is observe. Check if your opponent is forming a wall using a straggler tree.

If that straggler tree is chopped => Just build a palisade on top of that tree (without having to actually build it) Then Voila! Get inside your enemy’s base.

if that straggler tree is NOT chopped => Bring a villager to chop the tree and place a palisade on top of it then barge into his base.

Here are some live examples of a tree hop from multiplayer games:

2- Boar save

A very useful trick to rescue your villager from dying to a boar. To successfully pull off the ‘boar save’, you need to anticipate the ‘spot’ where a boar will be walking on, then immediately place a house or a palisade wall on that ‘spot’.

Here is a personal example of mine in a multiplayer game to illustrate a boar save:

Have a look at a video made by TheViper explaining how to perform a boar save:

3- Palisade Spy

This trick is not very common among average to beginner players. It probably may not be useful in the lower league gameplay since aggression is almost absent or delayed.

Only later on when you have a basic understanding of build orders and mechanics. This trick will make your life a piece of cake to anticipate what is your enemy is up to; is he making an army?; is he towering your wood line?; is he mining gold/stone earlier?

First off, you should have already explored the area where you are going to lay down palisade walls. Otherwise, you can not do this tricks if you haven’t already scouted ‘that area’.

here is an example of palisade spying:

4- Tower Hop

Another famous old-school trick that is worth mentioning in this post :) Very common in ‘Arena’ map. By simply binding a tower to the corner of a wall, you get access to your enemy’s town.

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

You might want to be careful trying this trick versus decent players since it is likely to fail. Still, It can work versus beginners or players with low knowledge about the game.

5- Building Spy

Most of you probably don’t know about this one… Did you know that you can see where your enemy’s buildings are rallied to?

Three years ago, I was watching a stream of a Brazilian top player ‘Feage’. He was playing a 1v1 matchup against Dogao in islands. Feage found Dogao docks then clicked them. And on the minimap, he could see a cross mark where Dogao’s war galleys boats were heading to. Therefore, Feage moved his fishing ships to a safer location.

This trick works on all the military buildings. I myself use it in Arabia; At Feudal Age, if my enemy is rallying his barracks to my town, It only means that he is going for a spear/scout push.

Here is an example in 1v1 Arabia:

6- Farm Laming

A very annoying and lame trick… It essentially has the potential to hurt the economy of your opponent early on in feudal age.

Once a farm is laid down (It only has 1 hp) and before the villager begins building it. It can be killed by an enemy unit (e.g. scout); Hence 60 wood is lost too. What if there were more farms laid down?… That would be your lucky day!

7- Straggler Trees Laming

Laming stragglers at the dark age or early feudal age can really hurt!! Particularly, players that rely on farms early on. Few concerned strategies are Drush + Fast Castle, Drush, Scout Rush. You can prevent this laming from happening by having 3 villagers to chop a straggler. Only then It cannot be lamed.

Step One: Explore your enemy

Step Two: Build the palisade

8- Hill Advantage

Obviously, many of you are aware of the hill advantage in Age of Empires 2. Aren’t you? Historically, The military importance of hill advantage has been known for more than 2000 years.

For example in Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, in which armed service leaders were advised to take the high ground and let the enemy make an effort to hit from a lower position. As a result, an army downhill can be quickly harmed due gravity and other factors.

In Age of Empires 2, a unit fighting uphill has 25% attack bonus and 25% armor bonus. Ergo, fighting on a high ground is technically getting an extra attack and armor upgrades.

9- Wolfpack Raid

This is my personal favorite!! Although, the last time I managed to pull it off was in 2014 against a friend of mine. I had the best laugh of my life…

This trick was formally founded by Chris. In one of the funniest expert games of Age of Empires 2.

Honorable Mentions

Boar Lure Using Gaia

This is the example suggested by Gallas:

Also, another video made by T-West  and suggested by nimanoe 

Yet another Vipers tip of the day video

Laming Hunted animals

Are there any more tricks? Please post other tricks in the comment section.