Build Orders

Age of Empires Online Early-Game Build Orders

Villager Rush

1. Put all villagers on food
2. Rally your Town Center to food sources
3. Continue pumping out villagers
4. Put two-three on wood 
5. Build houses as necessary
6. Once you have about 15-20 villagers, attack
1. Alternative: Leave a few villagers behind to gather resources in case it fails

Civilization: Any

Nothing feels better than a successful villager rush

How to Execute it: Scout around the map as soon as possible to know the location of your enemy and figure out if a villager rush is viable. Enemies who decide to advance up the tech tree will be very susceptible to this rush as they would have invested little in an army or static defense. Additionally, you should employ the villager rush only when you're certain that the opponent is not going to rush. Rushers will focus on an army so your villagers will be met with much opposition.

Proper scouting is key to your success. Constantly check the enemy's base with your scout to ensure that your rush will be successful. Right before you attack, ensure that the enemy isn't mass mining stone to repair and build towers.

If he looks weak to the attack, send your scary villager army directly to the opponent's Town Center. Do not try to take down anything else. With everything done right, you will be at an advantage since he'll have nothing to take down your villagers fast enough and not enough stone to repair. By the way, your villagers do bonus damage to buildings.

How to Counter it: The best way to counter this all-in rush is proper scouting. You should have a scout hanging around your opponent's base. You should also build watch towers as they are very effective "set it and forget it" scouters. If you see that the enemy is focusing heavily on resources like food and wood, and foregoing an early army, then you should suspect a villager rush. If the enemy continues with his villager rush, then build your buildings next to your town hall, put more villagers on stone and wood, and build one guard tower. That is all that is needed to thwart a villager rush.