New! Spring Tournaments Event

Spring is here at last and what better time for a seasonal event? Prepare to login May 21 at 10:00 AM PT (1:00 PM ET / 17:00 UTC) through June 18 at 10:00 AM PT (1:00 PM ET / 17:00 UTC) for the Spring Tournaments rewards.

Login Rewards

Ranked Season Seven

To arms! Ranked play kicks off for Season Seven on March 20 at 12:00 pm PT (3:00 pm PT / 20:00 UTC)! Age up through the ranks and earn rewards!

[h4]Map Pool Rotation[/h4]
Season Seven brings another refresh on both map pools. This rotation gives some maps a much-needed break while we reintroduce maps that are excited to meet the new civilizations. High View, Lipany, and Danube River return to Solo Ranked while Prairie and Lipany return to Team Ranked.

See you on the ladder!

1v1 Ranked Map Pool

• Dry Arabia
• Cliffside
• Rocky River
• Forts
• Gorge
• High View
• Danube River
• Lipany
• Four Lakes

New Team Ranked Map Pool

• Dry Arabia
• Cliffside
• Rocky River
• Prairie
• Gorge
• Hill and Dale
• Lipany
• Migration
• Waterholes

Cross-Play is Now Available on PC and Console

You can join your console and PC friends and adversaries on the battlefield with cross-play!

Team Ranked is Now Available on Console

You can now jump into Team Ranked mode on console!

Condensed Victory Objectives

We’ve created an alternate version of win conditions that take up as little screen space as possible, these are enabled by default and can be changed back in the game UI options.

Quick Match Updates

• The Nomad Game Mode was added as a new option and comes with several improvements.
• A new Free for All option has been added, allowing you to queue for 8 Player free for all matches.
[list]
• Quick match Free for All matches are played using the new “Dominion” win condition.

[/list][h4]A Note on Leaderboards and Hidden Elo[/h4]
Free For All will have a new leaderboard and track your hidden Elo separately, this means that matchmaking will result in more balanced games over time. In FFA mode, the winner is the only player to gain Elo and all other players lose Elo based on an even split equal to the amount of Elo that the winner gains.

Additionally, Nomad mode will share a leaderboard with Standard Mode. This means that when you queue for Nomad for the first time, you’ll be more likely to be matched with players close to your skill level.

Nomad Improvements

• Starting Villagers increased from 3 to 5.
• Villagers’ starting distance increased.
• Holy Roman Empire Prelate, Zhu Xi’s Legacy Official, and Mongols Ger are granted upon Town Center construction and not at the start of the match.
• English Villager bows and Chinese Villager build speed bonus are deactivated at the start of the game, reactivated upon Town Center construction.
• Jeanne d’Arc Civilization starts with 3 Villagers plus Jeanne d’Arc.
• Order of the Dragon Civilization starts with 4 Villagers.

New “Dominion” Win Condition

• Enabled/disabled in custom games via the Game Mode Win Conditions section (disabled by default).
• Compatible with Standard, Empire Wars, and Nomad Game Modes as well as all other win condition types.
• Players start with a Monarch that must be protected at all costs, losing a Monarch leads to the instant elimination of the owning player.
[list]
• Eliminating an enemy Monarch grants +50 maximum population.
• If a player is eliminated by Landmark victory, their Monarch remains on the field. Eliminating a neutral Monarch continues to grant +50 maximum population.

Monarchs have two primary abilities:

• Sprint: Temporarily move faster.
• Treason: Reveal the location of enemy Monarchs and ping them on the minimap.

Monarchs are visible on the minimap with a crown icon.

AI players will garrison their Monarch into a safe building.

When loading into a game with no other players or AI, the Dominion win condition will automatically deactivate and not spawn a Monarch at the start.[/list]

Quality of Life Improvements

• Walls under construction can now be converted into gates via an ability on the placed blueprint. Conversion to a gate can happen at any time before the wall section is finished construction, after which it is no longer possible to convert directly, and a Villager must be used. The cost of the conversion is the difference between the cost of the wall and gate. 
• When ungarrisoning from a building, units will exit the building from the location closest to the rally point direction.