How to beat
Rusas Holy Roman Empire
Matchup tips
With Rus, you will never be able to stop their castle age; they don't need to get gold to age up.
If you see a Rus player going for 10 on wood, it usually indicates feudal aggression or at least getting units out to deny relics from a fast castle HRE.
Never underestimate warrior monks: they bring back relics insanely quickly, moving faster than slow infantry while carrying a relic.
The mobility tempo of Rus with horse archers and superior knights is something even HRE can struggle with despite their fantastic boosted economy from the Aachen Chapel. HRE can shut down pro scouting, but it delays them quite a bit and opens them up to harassment. If HRE can stop the deer packs, they might outlast.
Opening with spears can be prudent against Rus because HRE spearmen are faster than regular spearmen, making it easier to deny deer packs from scouts.
Meinwerk Palace can be a good choice against Rus, enabling more early knights and powerful upgraded spears and horsemen, at the cost of economic prowess compared to Aachen Chapel.
Rus typically makes minimal units in Feudal to secure home deer and fast castles for High Trade House income and horse archers. HRE can exploit this by fast castling to grab relics before Rus can contest.
Rus is stronger in the late game due to better composition and passive income, but if HRE secures three or more relics, that advantage can flip completely.
You would think HRE with 40% faster gathering would pull ahead, but Rus's non-stop deer gathering from High Trade House outscales it.
With Saints Blessing you get +2 armor and damage, so you're actually mitigating the barding altogether for the knights of the HRE.
Against Rus, HRE's Dark Age rush is pointless because Rus doesn't mine gold early.
Rus palisades have double HP, making them very tough for HRE to break through.
Rus Unique Units
Rus Landmarks
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