Khitans — Counters & Civilization Overview

How to play against the Khitans — plus bonuses, unique units, unique techs and the full tech tree.

Go to Unit Counter Hub →
Khitans emblem

The Khitans are an Infantry and Cavalry civilization in Age of Empires 2. Their unique units are the Liao Dao, Mounted Trebuchet. Below: what counters the units they bring, where their tech tree runs out, and the full civilization overview. Jump to the Khitans tech tree.

How to counter the Khitans

Their unique and regional units are the part of the matchup a generic army does not prepare you for. Hard counters beat the unit decisively and win even at a cost disadvantage — usually through bonus damage, area damage, conversion or a speed advantage it cannot escape. Soft counters win the fight too, but only with good numbers and positioning.

Liao Dao Castle Age · Castle

Khitan unique Infantry with powerful attack that wounds enemies, dealing damage over time.

Countered by

Mounted Trebuchet Imperial Age · Siege Workshop

Khitan unique Siege Cavalry with long range, but cannot attack at close range.

Countered by

  • Light Cavalry hard Fast – siege weapons have almost no melee armor
  • Knight hard Fast, high damage
  • Mangudai UU hard UU (Mongols) – Anti-siege
  • Monk soft Conversion
  • Samurai UU soft Attack bonus vs. unique units (+12)

Fire Lancer Castle Age · Barracks

Gunpowder Shock Infantry that fires a short ranged firearm before engaging in melee comba…

Countered by

  • Crossbowman hard No pierce armor — melted by ranged attacks
  • Hand Cannoneer hard No pierce armor, plus bonus vs. infantry
  • Long Swordsman hard Stronger in melee; Fire Lancer has no anti-infantry edge
  • Monk soft Conversion (expensive gold unit)
  • Mangonel soft Clumps up, only 65 HP

Heavy Camel Rider Imperial Age · Stable

Fast moving anti-cavalry Cavalry.

Countered by

Steppe Lancer Castle Age · Stable

Fast moving Cavalry with increased attack range.

Countered by

Rocket Cart Castle Age · Siege Workshop

Siege Gunpowder Unit with ranged blast attack, but cannot attack at close range.

Countered by

  • Light Cavalry hard Fast – siege weapons have almost no melee armor
  • Mangudai UU hard UU (Mongols) – Attack bonus vs. siege
  • Monk soft Conversion
  • Elite Skirmisher soft Cheap ranged mass; target has only 45–70 HP

What the Khitans are strong against

The other side of the matchup: these are the fights their own units are built to win. Walking one of these into them plays to their strengths.

What the Khitans cannot answer

Every civilization is missing something. What matters in a match is which of those gaps you can actually attack. Below are the Khitans gaps that change how a fight plays out — the economic ones are left out on purpose.

Mounted units

  • Knight — No Knight — their Stable never produces a heavy cavalry line, so the Castle Age arrives without the usual mounted threat and your Spearman line can stay small.
  • Bloodlines — No Bloodlines — every mounted unit they field is 20 hit points short, so your Spearman line kills them a little faster in every fight.

Gunpowder

  • Hand Cannoneer — No Hand Cannoneer — the Khitans never get gunpowder infantry, so massed melee infantry keeps working against them deep into the Imperial Age.
  • Bombard Cannon — No Bombard Cannon — they have no gunpowder siege at all. Your own Bombard Cannons out-range every siege unit they can field except the Trebuchet.

Anti-cavalry

  • Halberdier — Their Spearman line stops at the Pikeman — against Paladins and other heavy cavalry they never get the Halberdier's bonus damage. The Fire Lancer covers the anti-cavalry role instead: it deals bonus damage to mounted units.

Blacksmith and unit upgrades

  • Arbalester — Their Archer line stops at the Crossbowman — no Arbalester, so their massed archer fire stays a tier behind yours in the Imperial Age.
  • Blast Furnace — No Blast Furnace — their melee units never reach the last attack upgrade, so every melee trade goes a little further in your favour.

Siege

  • Mangonel — No Mangonel line — nothing they build clears a group of your units at range, so your archers and infantry can stay massed against them.
  • Heavy Scorpion — Their Scorpions stay at the base tier — less range, attack and accuracy, so your archers out-range them.

Monastery and conversion

  • Redemption — No Redemption — their Monks cannot convert your siege or your buildings, so a Trebuchet parked outside their base is safe from the Monastery.
  • Block Printing — No Block Printing — their Monks have to come closer to convert, which walks them into range of your archers first.
  • Herbal Medicine — No Herbal Medicine — units they garrison to heal recover slowly, so a wounded army stays wounded and your follow-up attack lands.

Defensive buildings

  • Keep — No Keep — their towers stay at Guard Tower strength, so your siege takes a tower line down noticeably faster.
  • Bombard Tower — No Bombard Tower — their towers never become gunpowder towers, so your siege can set up against a tower line instead of being shelled off it.
  • Arrowslits — No Arrowslits — their towers hit softer at close range, so rams and infantry clear them with fewer losses.
  • Hoardings — No Hoardings — their Castles keep base hit points, so your siege brings one down in far fewer shots.
  • Architecture — No Architecture — their buildings keep base armour and hit points, so your siege takes them down faster.

Navy

  • Galleon — Their Galley line stops at the War Galley — no Galleon, so your warships out-damage them in a straight naval fight.
  • Heavy Demo Ship — Their Demolition Ships stay at the base tier — no Heavy Demo Ship, so one detonation no longer wipes a group of your warships.
  • Elite Cannon Galleon — Their Cannon Galleons stay at the base tier — less range and damage than the Elite version.
  • Dry Dock — No Dry Dock — their ships stay a pierce armour short, so your own warships and shore towers cut through them faster.
  • Shipwright — No Shipwright — their warships cost more and build slower in the Imperial Age, so a replaced fleet comes back later than yours.

Everything the Khitans do and do not have, unit by unit, is in the Khitans tech tree further down.

Khitans: Civilization and Team Bonuses

Civilization Bonuses

  • Pastures replace Farms
  • Melee attack upgrade effects are doubled
  • Skirmishers, Spearman-, and Scout Cavalry-line train and upgrade +15% faster
  • Heavy Cavalry Archer upgrade available in Castle Age and costs -50%

Team Bonus

Infantry +2 attack vs. Ranged Soldiers

Unique Units

Liao Dao
Liao Dao · InfantryKhitan unique Infantry with powerful attack that wounds enemies, dealing damage over time. Strong vs. Cavalry and Infantry. Weak vs. Ranged Soldiers at long range.
Mounted Trebuchet
Mounted Trebuchet · Siege CavalryKhitan unique Siege Cavalry with long range, but cannot attack at close range. Projectiles leave lingering fire on the ground. Strong vs. Siege Weapons and tight groups of units. Weak vs. units at close range.

Unique Technologies

Lamellar ArmorInfantry and Skirmishers reflect 25% melee damage back to the attacker
Ordo CavalryCavalry regenerates HP in combat

Khitans Tech Tree

The full Khitans tech tree in Age of Empires 2 — every unit, upgrade and technology they can research, and everything they cannot. Units are shown as their upgrade lines, followed by the technologies available at each building. Greyed-out entries are missing from the Khitans tech tree.

Barracks

  1. Militia D
  2. Man-at-Arms F
  3. Long Swordsman C
  4. Two-Handed Swordsman I
  5. Champion I
  1. Spearman F
  2. Pikeman C
  3. Halberdier I
  1. Fire Lancer C
  2. Elite Fire Lancer I
  1. Arson F
  1. Gambesons C
  1. Squires C

Archery Range

  1. Archer F
  2. Crossbowman C
  3. Arbalester I
  1. Skirmisher F
  2. Elite Skirmisher C
  1. Cavalry Archer C
  2. Heavy Cavalry Archer C
  1. Hand Cannoneer I
  1. Thumb Ring C
  1. Parthian Tactics I

Stable

  1. Scout Cavalry F
  2. Light Cavalry C
  3. Hussar I
  1. Knight C
  2. Cavalier I
  3. Paladin I
  1. Camel Rider C
  2. Heavy Camel Rider I
  1. Steppe Lancer C
  2. Elite Steppe Lancer I
  1. Bloodlines F
  1. Husbandry C

Siege Workshop

  1. Battering Ram C
  2. Capped Ram I
  3. Siege Ram I
  1. Mangonel C
  2. Onager I
  3. Siege Onager I
  1. Rocket Cart C
  1. Scorpion C
  2. Heavy Scorpion I
  1. Siege Tower C
  1. Heavy Rocket Cart I
  1. Bombard Cannon I
  1. Mounted Trebuchet I

Castle

  1. Liao Dao C
  2. Elite Liao Dao I
  1. Petard C
  1. Trebuchet I
  1. Lamellar Armor C
  1. Ordo Cavalry I
  1. Hoardings I
  1. Conscription I
  1. Sappers I
  1. Spies/Treason I

Dock

  1. Fishing Ship D
  1. Transport Ship D
  1. Fire Galley F
  2. Fire Ship C
  3. Fast Fire Ship I
  1. Galley F
  2. War Galley C
  3. Galleon I
  1. Hulk F
  2. War Hulk C
  3. Carrack I
  1. Demolition Raft F
  2. Demolition Ship C
  3. Heavy Demo Ship I
  1. Trade Cog F
  1. Cannon Galleon I
  2. Elite Cannon Galleon I
  1. Fishing Lines F
  1. Medium Warships C
  2. Heavy Warships I
  1. Gillnets C

Monastery

  1. Monk C
  1. Devotion C
  2. Faith I
  1. Redemption C
  1. Atonement C
  1. Herbal Medicine C
  1. Heresy C
  1. Sanctity C
  1. Fervor C
  1. Illumination I
  1. Block Printing I
  1. Theocracy I

Blacksmith

  1. Padded Archer Armor F
  2. Leather Archer Armor C
  3. Ring Archer Armor I
  1. Fletching F
  2. Bodkin Arrow C
  3. Bracer I
  1. Forging F
  2. Iron Casting C
  3. Blast Furnace I
  1. Scale Barding Armor F
  2. Chain Barding Armor C
  3. Plate Barding Armor I
  1. Scale Mail Armor F
  2. Chain Mail Armor C
  3. Plate Mail Armor I

University

  1. Masonry C
  2. Architecture I
  1. Fortified Wall C
  1. Ballistics C
  1. Guard Tower C
  2. Keep I
  1. Heated Shot C
  1. Murder Holes C
  1. Careening C
  2. Dry Dock I
  1. Clinker Construction C
  2. Carvel Hull I
  1. Siphons C
  2. Incendiaries I
  1. Treadmill Crane C
  1. Chemistry I
  2. Bombard Tower I
  1. Siege Engineers I
  1. Arrowslits I
  1. Shipwright I

Market

  1. Trade Cart F
  1. Caravan C
  1. Coinage C
  2. Banking I
  1. Guilds I

Mill

  1. Domestication F
  2. Pastoralism C
  3. Transhumance I
  1. Horse Collar F
  2. Heavy Plow C
  3. Crop Rotation I

Lumber Camp

  1. Double-Bit Axe F
  2. Bow Saw C
  3. Two-Man Saw I

Mining Camp

  1. Gold Mining F
  2. Gold Shaft Mining C
  1. Stone Mining F
  2. Stone Shaft Mining C

Town Center

  1. Villager D
  1. Feudal Age D
  2. Castle Age F
  3. Imperial Age C
  1. Loom D
  1. Town Watch F
  2. Town Patrol C
  1. Wheelbarrow F
  2. Hand Cart C

Pasture

  1. Pasture D

D Dark F Feudal C Castle I Imperial · struck through = not available for the Khitans

Jump to another civilization

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you counter the Khitans?

The Khitans field Liao Dao, Mounted Trebuchet, Fire Lancer, Heavy Camel Rider, Steppe Lancer and Rocket Cart. Crossbowman, Light Cavalry and Knight counter most of what they build. Their tech tree also leaves out Knight, Bloodlines and Hand Cannoneer.

What is the Khitans tech tree missing in AoE2?

No Knight — their Stable never produces a heavy cavalry line, so the Castle Age arrives without the usual mounted threat and your Spearman line can stay small. No Bloodlines — every mounted unit they field is 20 hit points short, so your Spearman line kills them a little faster in every fight. No Hand Cannoneer — the Khitans never get gunpowder infantry, so massed melee infantry keeps working against them deep into the Imperial Age.

Which units do the Khitans have that other civilizations do not?

Liao Dao: Khitan unique Infantry with powerful attack that wounds enemies, dealing damage over time. Mounted Trebuchet: Khitan unique Siege Cavalry with long range, but cannot attack at close range. Fire Lancer: Gunpowder Shock Infantry that fires a short ranged firearm before engaging in melee comba… Heavy Camel Rider: Fast moving anti-cavalry Cavalry. Steppe Lancer: Fast moving Cavalry with increased attack range. Rocket Cart: Siege Gunpowder Unit with ranged blast attack, but cannot attack at close range.

Not sure what counters this unit?

Playing against the Khitans? Look up any of their units in the interactive app to see exactly what counters them — with bonus-damage values.

Find your counter →