Japanese

Civilization in Age of Empires 2

InfantryWater

Ranked 1v1 on Arabia, current patch (since 23 September 2026), mirrors excluded. Source: aoe2companion. Updated weekly.

Overview

Infantry civ: infantry attacks 33% faster from Feudal Age. Mills, Lumber Camps and Mining Camps cost 50% less. Fishing Ships work 5/10/15/20% faster in Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age and have double HP. Cavalry Archers +2 attack vs. ranged soldiers except Skirmishers. Samurai (unique unit from the Castle) have bonus damage against unique units and train in seconds. Yasama: towers fire extra arrows. Kataparuto: Trebuchets attack faster and pack/unpack faster. Team: Galley line +4 line of sight.

Typical army

Feudal Age

Man-at-ArmsArcherSpearmanSkirmisher

Castle Age

SamuraiCrossbowmanElite SkirmisherPikeman

Imperial Age

Elite SamuraiChampionHeavy Cavalry ArcherElite Skirmisher

What to expect from the Japanese

On open maps almost always Barracks first – Hera's Japanese Man-at-Arms Rush: very early Men-at-Arms, then Archers; on closed maps Fast Castle. Their infantry wins early melee fights thanks to the faster attack. On water they snowball with tough, fast Fishing Ships. In Castle Age Crossbowmen, Skirmishers, Pikemen and Samurai. In Imperial Age Elite Samurai and Champions, plus Cavalry Archers and Trebuchets with Kataparuto.

Build orders for the Japanese

• Japanese Man-at-Arms RushMAA Rush · Feudal 8:25 · Advanced · by Hera
• Fast Men-at-ArmsMan-at-Arms Rush · Feudal 9:15 · Advanced · by Build Order Guide
• Fast ScoutsScout Rush · Feudal 8:50 · Castle 18:35 · Intermediate · by xipros
• JAPANESE MMA 20Man-at-Arms Rush · Feudal 9:15 · Castle 19:00 · Intermediate · by SaSa

Plus 149 build orders for every civ – step by step with voice guidance in the player.