Best Age of Empires 2 civilizations

20 ELO points separate Persians from Cumans at the top of the Age of Empires 2 ranking, after 3223 duels.

Persians hold the crown with 1341 ELO points and a 67% win rate across 61 duels, but Cumans trail closely at 1325 points with an identical win rate over 64 duels. The sharpest divide sits between ranks 2 and 3, where Cumans edge out Magyars by 20 ELO points. Magyars occupy third place with 1305 points, followed by Saracens at 1295 and Ethiopians at 1289. The top contenders cluster tightly, suggesting fierce competition for dominance. The bottom tier tells a different story: Malay languish at rank 37 with 1029 ELO and a 27% win rate over 59 duels, while Burmese sit just above at 1052 points with the same win percentage across 49 duels. Koreans, at rank 35 with 1087 ELO, fare slightly better but still win only 39% of their 72 duels. The gulf between top and bottom reveals stark divisions in community preference.

This ranking draws from 3223 duels submitted by 28 players across 37 contenders, updated on 12 October 2026. The tight margins between the top civilizations and the wide gaps at the lower end highlight where the community stands. Cast your vote to shift the standings or cement the current hierarchy.

Updated on October 12, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →