So here are some recurring things I see in high-level (2K+ rating) KT players do that I just don’t understand. Can someone please explain these to me? I feel like I have completely misunderstood this faction after watching these games. Then again they usually lose so, is KT just bad?
They always go hospitallers as their feudal age and then never make a single hospitaller or really make much of an attempt to heal their units all game
Little or no use of cavalry, I thought KT had good cavalry? Even when their opponent is spamming like 80% ranged units they don’t use any cavalry they just double down on archers and infantry
Relying on archer spam most games. Is KT an archer civ? I guess because of the wood bonus?
Making little or no siege. I thought KT had an emphasis on siege with their strong trebuchets and strong wood gathering? The iron being that in a lot of these games they lose because of enemy siege
Saw a guy go for condotierro spam with not a single enemy gunpowder unit in sight (seemed to fail miserably)
Going for heavy spears as a response to ranged unit kiting (seemed to fail miserably)
Making spears as a response to heavy infantry despite having gold (seemed to fail miserably)
Never buy the trebuchet emplacement for their keeps
Don’t seem to care about sacred sites and let their opponents grab most or all of them
They’re not bad; in fact, it’s one of the strongest civilizations this season.
However, because you have 3 different Age-Up options per age, each with unique and diverse units, it’s difficult to master. And you’ll find people who don’t take full advantage of it or make rookie mistakes.
1.- Hospitallers age up (II).- Some people choose this Age-Up option for the +30% Village HP and 10% speed bonus. It works well for facing knight raids if you’re not confident in protecting your villagers with towers or spearmen.
But if you are enough confident to protect yourself your villagers, it’s better to go with another Age-Up option, like the Axe-throwers or the French cost reduction.
2. Good infantry civ
The civilization has good infantry, that has to be acknowledged. And with the Spearman changes this season, full infantry builds are great. That said, only if you know how to use them well. For the late game, some heavy cavalry is always useful.
3.- Wood gathering-archer mistake.-
They’ve always had very good wood gathering, so good that they were top SSS++++ on sea maps, until they were nerfed a few seasons ago.
That also created the idea that a good build for this civ was “Full archers”… but in reality, it’s a waste, since they don’t have, they DON’T HAVE any extra bonus for base archers. It’s better to reach 3rd edition with Genoese and spam them.
6. Forgot Siege
There are people who forget to siege; it’s more of a player error than anything else.
7.- Condottiero Bet
The thing is, you’re taking a gamble with the Condottiero build. You hope the enemy will create gunpowder or ranged units, and you use them as shock infantry to destroy them. But if the enemy doesn’t do that, and instead has full Heavy Cavalry or Heavy Infantry, you’re done for. On top of that, it’s very expensive to produce, so it’s not recommended.
People who go with Venice don’t do it because the Condottiero is overpowered, but because the Market Exchange Bonus is extremely overpowered, so it helps create a massive amount of Keeps. But some people think the success of this build lies in the Condottiero; in that respect, it’s normal for them to fail.
The Heavy Spearman SPAM - was the most common build in the previous 2025 season since we were still in the Age of Knights era. But now in 2026, with the Spearman being better and heavy infantry and archers being relevant, that’s no longer the case. Even so, there are still people who prioritize Heavy Spearman, believing that there will always be knights everywhere. And well, if it turns out that the enemy has 50 samurai or 60 English men-at-arms, you’re screwed! That’s why you should ALWAYS use scouts.
Low Gold Noob Mistake. Some players think that because they don’t have gold and forgot to build an army, it doesn’t matter what they fill it with, but they create cheap units like crazy. They make 40 spearmen and 30 archers for no reason whatsoever, and on top of that, they use “French” units. They deserve to lose, obviously. In this game, builds and counter-units are paramount.
Saving resources? I suppose they save it for other things… although in theory, if they’re going to save so much, it means they’re not managing the civilization’s resources well.
That’s the most common mistake I’ve seen in too many KT players. I suppose they forget that they have a +30% income bonus from sacred sites or relics if the monastery is near a Keep. The fact that KT monks don’t have any production or cost bonuses is perhaps the reason they forget that.
If they’re one of the strongest, why do almost all the videos I see of them have them get absolutely outproduced and demolished? It can’t be a coincidence?
So they really are an infantry civ? Weird, I always thought of them as mainly a cavalry civ that can go into inf if they need to. Are templar brothers just bad? I never ever see them in proplay and when I use them myself they feel weak for their high cost. I generally think they overdid the spear buff, I never see cavalry anymore and I can’t make them work myself either. It’s spears and archers all day this season. LIke I have literally seen 15 knights flee from 2 spearmen.
I’m surprised more people don’t go for sergeants for their age 2, in my casual experience they’re incredibly powerful and versatile and 15% bonus melee damage is great as well.
The condotierro build really confuses me. He spammed them in response to a Malian player spamming heavy infantry and the condotierro were getting wrecked - and he just kept making them. If you want a strong frontline wouldn’t you go teutonic knights?
For that matter I don’t get what condotierro are supposed to be good for. I have tried using them against gunpowder, they got absolutely slaughtered despite vastly outnumbering the gunpowder units.
Also sounds like most of what I’m seeing are rookie mistakes - but how can that be when I’m watching Conq 3 players between 1700 and 2300 rating?
Wait OotD S tier!?!? That CANNOT be accurate I have NEVER seen them win and when I play them they are awful. And last I saw Beasty he set OotD to D tier.
As for KT I see THREE recent threads on this forum about how nerfed and bad they are. Are they one of those civs that are only good if you’re a top 10 player kinda like China in AoE 2?
Is because every Top Players has their “own terms” to decide which civ is OP and which not, hehehehe.
And that’s because each one has their own optimal builds for some civilizations and others has different ones.
And since NO ONE can beat them except each other, they then decide which civilizations they consider S or A.
Yes.
Well, at least for 1v1.
KT in Team Games
As for 3v3 or 4v4, wich Top Players usually don´t play much; KT (Knight Templars) is incredibly powerful.
In the late game, their ability to survive by building 10 or 15 keeps across the map makes them extremely formidable. As long as they have allies to defend them in the early game, they’re one of the most difficult civilizations to counter.
That surprises me because both in my own games and the proplay I’ve watched keeps barely matter. I think they need a buff, they’re pathetic compared to AoE2 even when fully upgraded.
