Shu — Counters & Civilization Overview

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

Go to Unit Counter Hub →
Shu emblem

The Shu are an Archer and Siege civilization in Age of Empires 2. Their unique units are the White Feather Guard, War Chariot, Liu Bei. Below: what counters the units they bring, where their tech tree runs out, and the full civilization overview. Jump to the Shu tech tree.

How to counter the Shu

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.

White Feather Guard Castle Age · Castle

Shu unique Infantry that temporarily slows down the unit it attacks.

Countered by

War Chariot Castle Age · Siege Workshop

Shu unique Siege Cavalry with rapid-fire attack, but cannot attack at close range.

Countered by

  • Knight hard Cavalry closes inside the minimum range
  • Eagle Warrior hard Fast, high pierce armor, bonus vs. siege
  • Huskarl UU hard High pierce armor; closes and negates the ranged damage
  • Genoese Crossbowman UU hard Heavy bonus vs. cavalry
  • Samurai UU soft Attack bonus vs. unique units (+12)

Heavy Hei Guang Cavalry Imperial Age · Stable

Powerful all-purpose Heavy Cavalry.

Countered by

Traction Trebuchet Imperial Age · Siege Workshop

Powerful anti-building Siege Weapon with long range, but cannot attack enemies at close r…

Countered by

Lou Chuan Imperial Age · Dock

Powerful Siege Warship that fires arrows at units and uses a long range trebuchet weapon…

Countered by

Hero units — powerful, but not a counter

The Shu can also field a hero you will not see anywhere in the matchups above. A hero is capped at one and cannot be massed, so it never becomes a unit you counter head-on — treat it as a force multiplier for the army around it.

  • Liu Bei — heals all nearby units. Limit one, cannot be converted.

What the Shu 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 Shu cannot answer

Every civilization is missing something. What matters in a match is which of those gaps you can actually attack. Below are the Shu 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.
  • Hussar — No Hussar — their Light Cavalry never reaches the last tier, so it stays a weaker raider and a weaker answer to your Monks.
  • 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.
  • Parthian Tactics — No Parthian Tactics — their Cavalry Archers keep base armour and no bonus damage against your Spearman line, so Pikemen still trade into them.

Gunpowder

  • Hand Cannoneer — No Hand Cannoneer — the Shu 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.

Blacksmith and unit upgrades

  • Iron Casting — Their melee attack upgrades stop at Forging — no Iron Casting, so their infantry and cavalry hit softer in every melee trade.
  • 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

  • Siege Onager — Their Onagers never become Siege Onagers — no single shot that clears a whole group of your units, and no felling of your walls from range.
  • Scorpion — No Scorpion — they have no cheap pass-through shot against your massed units, so tight formations stay safe from that angle.
  • Trebuchet — No Trebuchet — they cannot break a walled position from safe range, so stone walls and a Castle hold against everything they can bring up to 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.
  • Sanctity — No Sanctity — their Monks keep base hit points, so a single volley from your archers takes them off the field.
  • 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.

Navy

  • Fast Fire Ship — Their Fire Ship line stops before the Fast Fire Ship — slower and weaker in exactly the close-range fights fire ships are built for.
  • Siphons — No Siphons — their Fire Ships never gain the explosive charge attack, so they close on your fleet with nothing but their standard attack.
  • Incendiaries — No Incendiaries — their Fire Ships simply sink instead of detonating, so killing one costs your fleet nothing extra.
  • Cannon Galleon — No Cannon Galleon — they cannot shell your shore buildings from the water, so a coastal base is safe from their navy.

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

Shu: Civilization and Team Bonuses

Civilization Bonuses

  • Lumberjacks generate food in addition to wood
  • Archery Unit technologies at the Archery Range and Blacksmith cost -25%
  • Siege Weapons and Siege Warships move +10/15% faster in Castle/Imperial Age

Team Bonus

Foot Archers +2 line of sight

Unique Units

White Feather Guard
White Feather Guard · InfantryShu unique Infantry that temporarily slows down the unit it attacks. Strong vs. Cavalry. Weak vs. Ranged Soldiers.
War Chariot
War Chariot · Siege WeaponShu unique Siege Cavalry with rapid-fire attack, but cannot attack at close range. Has long reload time. Can switch to a barrage mode that covers more area but is less accurate. Strong vs. Ranged Soldiers. Weak vs. Cavalry and Siege Weapons.
Liu Bei
Liu Bei · HeroShu unique Infantry Hero that heals all nearby units. Extremely powerful. Has a limit of one, cannot be converted.

Unique Technologies

Coiled Serpent ArraySpearman-line and White Feather Guards gain additional HP when near each other
Bolt MagazineArcher-line, War Chariots and Lou Chuans fire additional projectiles

Shu Tech Tree

The full Shu 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 Shu 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. 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 I
  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. Hei Guang Cavalry C
  2. Heavy Hei Guang Cavalry 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. Scorpion C
  2. Heavy Scorpion I
  1. Siege Tower C
  1. War Chariot C
  1. Bombard Cannon I
  1. Traction Trebuchet I

Castle

  1. White Feather Guard C
  2. Elite White Feather Guard I
  1. Petard C
  1. Trebuchet I
  1. Liu Bei I
  1. Coiled Serpent Array C
  1. Bolt Magazine 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. Lou Chuan 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. 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

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

Jump to another civilization

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you counter the Shu?

The Shu field White Feather Guard, War Chariot, Heavy Hei Guang Cavalry, Traction Trebuchet and Lou Chuan. Crossbowman, Scorpion and Mangonel counter most of what they build. Their tech tree also leaves out Knight, Hussar and Bloodlines.

What is the Shu 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 Hussar — their Light Cavalry never reaches the last tier, so it stays a weaker raider and a weaker answer to your Monks. No Bloodlines — every mounted unit they field is 20 hit points short, so your Spearman line kills them a little faster in every fight.

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

White Feather Guard: Shu unique Infantry that temporarily slows down the unit it attacks. War Chariot: Shu unique Siege Cavalry with rapid-fire attack, but cannot attack at close range. Heavy Hei Guang Cavalry: Powerful all-purpose Heavy Cavalry. Traction Trebuchet: Powerful anti-building Siege Weapon with long range, but cannot attack enemies at close r… Lou Chuan: Powerful Siege Warship that fires arrows at units and uses a long range trebuchet weapon…

Not sure what counters this unit?

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

Find your counter →