Villagers carry +5 resources
Fewer trips to the drop-off point on every resource, and the effect compounds all game. It is strongest on farms, which is exactly where a civ with no cavalry spends its food.
Aztecs, no horses, no guns, no excuses
No Stable, no gunpowder, no Halberdier — and still one of the most feared early-game civilizations in the game. This guide covers the popular Arabia and Arena strategies, the third build worth knowing, Jaguar Warrior stats, every tech-tree gap you have to plan around, the Montezuma campaign, and how much of it matches the real Aztec Empire.
+5villager carry capacity
15%faster military production
100 HPfully upgraded Monks
Infantry& Monk civ
What you actually get
Civilization bonusesMexica
Four bonuses that all point the same way: start faster, produce faster, and fight before the opponent's cavalry arrives. Nothing here helps you in a long game — and that is the design.
Military units created 15% faster
Every military building, every age. Read the number carefully — this was cut to 10% and later restored to 15%, so guides quoting 11% are two patches out of date. It no longer applies to Monks.
Monks +5 HP per Monastery technology
With every monastery technology researched an Aztec Monk reaches 100 hit points — enough to survive a Siege Onager shot. No other civilization has Monks that can take a hit like that.
Start with +50 gold, and an Eagle Scout
The 50 gold replaced the old free Loom and funds the fastest Militia rush in the game. The Eagle Scout instead of a Scout Cavalry is slower but tougher, and it can garrison.
Unique unit
Jaguar Warrior → Elite
Anti-infantry specialist that grows as it kills: +1 attack for every enemy military unit it destroys, up to +4. It beats any other infantry unit one on one except Teutonic Knights and Samurai, which it draws with once Garland Wars is in.
Trains at the Castle · 60 food, 30 gold
Castle Age unique tech
Atlatl
Skirmishers gain +1 attack and +1 range. It stacks with the Imperial Skirmisher upgrade, which gives the Aztecs arguably the best Skirmishers in the game — the unit that carries them through a trash war they should otherwise lose.
Named for the spear-thrower — a real Aztec weapon
Imperial Age unique tech
Garland Wars
All infantry gain +4 attack. One of the largest single attack technologies in the game, and it applies to Champions, Eagle Warriors and Jaguar Warriors alike. Aztec Champions with Garland Wars hit harder than almost anything on two legs.
The reason to take an Aztec game to Imperial
Team bonus
Relics generate +33% gold
For you and every ally. In a long game where the Aztecs are running out of mining gold, relic income is what keeps Jaguar Warriors and Monks coming — and it makes them a strong ally for any gold-hungry civ.
Applies from the start of the game
The unique unit, in numbers
Jaguar Warriorocelotl
The only unit in the game that gets permanently stronger the more it kills. Devastating against infantry, mediocre against everything else — and it competes with your own Champions for the same food and gold.
Castle Age · trains at the Castle
Jaguar Warrior
10 attack · 60 food, 30 gold
+10 bonus damage against infantry.
Imperial Age · Elite upgrade
Elite Jaguar Warrior
12 attack · 60 food, 30 gold
+11 against infantry, and still growing per kill.
| Stat | Jaguar Warrior | Elite |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | 10 | 12 +2 |
| Bonus vs infantry | +10 | +11 +1 |
| Pierce armour | 1 | 1 |
| Speed | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Attack per kill | +1, max +4 | +1, max +4 |
| Cost | 60F 30G | 60F 30G |
| Garland Wars | — | +4 attack |
| Production speed | +15% (civ bonus) | +15% (civ bonus) |
The kill-stacking ability is the part most guides miss. Every enemy military unit a Jaguar Warrior destroys grants it a permanent +1 attack, up to +4 — and Monks, warships, Transport Ships and Kings all count. A veteran Jaguar Warrior that has survived a few fights is meaningfully stronger than the one you just trained, which rewards pulling damaged ones out rather than letting them die. Its speed of 1.0 also beats the Champion's 0.96, so it can chase down the infantry it counters. Be honest about the competition though: your own Champions and Siege Onagers are also strong against infantry and far more flexible, so Jaguar Warriors are worth massing mainly against civilizations that lean hard on infantry.
Strong against
Every other infantry unit in the game one on one, including Champions, Huskarls, Woad Raiders and Berserks. Even Teutonic Knights and Samurai become even fights once Garland Wars is researched.
Weak against
Heavy cavalry, archers, Hand Cannoneers and siege. Pair them with Eagle Warriors, which cover exactly those gaps — Eagles are strong against Monks, siege and foot archers.
Honest assessment
Strengths and weaknesseschicahualiztli
A civilization built entirely around the first twenty-five minutes. The bonuses are real, the gaps are enormous, and the whole skill of playing them is knowing which clock you are racing.
Strengths
- One of the best Dark and Feudal Ages in the game +50 gold at the start, villagers carrying +5, and military produced 15% faster. Aztec Militia arrive earlier and in greater numbers than almost anyone else's, and the economy behind them never stops paying.
- The best Monks in AoE2, and it is not close Every monastery technology is available, and each one adds +5 hit points. Fully upgraded, an Aztec Monk has 100 HP and survives a Siege Onager shot. This is how a civ with no cavalry answers Paladins and elephants.
- Infantry that hits harder than anyone's Garland Wars gives every infantry unit +4 attack, on top of a full Blacksmith line. Aztec Champions are among the most damaging units in the game, and the Jaguar Warrior beats any infantry it meets.
- The best Skirmishers in the game Atlatl grants +1 attack and +1 range, and it stacks with the Imperial Skirmisher upgrade. In a trash war this is the unit that keeps you alive.
- Genuinely strong siege Siege Ram, Siege Onager and Siege Engineers. The Siege Onager in particular covers the civilization's inability to break a defended position any other way.
- Eagle Warriors Fast, cheap, bonus damage against Monks and siege, and they benefit from every infantry upgrade. They are the closest thing the Aztecs have to cavalry, and they raid well.
Weaknesses
- No Stable at all Not a missing upgrade — the entire building. No Knights, no Scouts, no Camels, no Light Cavalry. Every other civilization gets a Castle Age power spike you simply do not have, and you have to be ahead before it lands.
- No gunpowder whatsoever No Hand Cannoneer, no Bombard Cannon, no Bombard Tower. Against a walled Imperial base your options are Siege Onagers, Trebuchets and hope.
- No Halberdier Your anti-cavalry infantry stops at Pikeman, against a game full of Paladins and elephants. Garland Wars softens it, but Monks are doing most of that work.
- Weak archers and thin defence No Thumb Ring, no Ring Archer Armor, no Cavalry Archer. No Masonry, no Architecture, no Bombard Tower, no Hoardings. Your buildings are made of paper by Imperial standards.
- Every unit is fragile Aztec units hit hard and die fast — low hit points across the board. You win by trading efficiently and by having more units on the field, never by tanking damage.
- The win rate tells the story Around 47.9% in ranked 1v1, roughly 50th of 54 civs, at a 1.5% pick rate. Years of nerfs to an early game that was once dominant have left a civ that must convert its opening or lose.
Two map-specific strategies, plus the unique unit play
AoE2 Aztecs build orderstlahtolli
On Arabia you use the +50 gold and faster production to hit before Knights exist. On Arena you wall, boom, and build the siege-and-Monk push that makes the Aztecs a genuine top-tier pick there. Both are below, along with the Eagle Warrior raiding build.
Militia out by ~7:30
Feudal at ~22 pop
Difficulty medium
Map Arabia and open maps
Villagers 1–6
Two houses, then all six to sheep. Scout with the Eagle Scout — slower than a Scout Cavalry but tougher, and it can garrison if it gets caught.
Villagers 7–10
To wood with a Lumber Camp.
Villager 11
Lure the first boar under the Town Center.
Villager 12
Build a house, then the Barracks. You start with +50 gold, so you can afford Militia earlier than any opponent expects.
Villagers 13–15
Mill on berries and onto berries. Queue 3 Militia — they come out 15% faster than anyone else's.
Villager 16
Lure the second boar. Send the Militia out now; the point is to deny map control and delay their Feudal, not to win outright.
Villagers 17–20
Food under the Town Center, then farms. Your villagers carry +5, which matters most on farms.
Villagers 21–22
To gold with a Mining Camp.
Feudal Age
Loom, then click up around 22 pop. Two Archery Ranges as you land.
In Feudal
Archers, then Fletching. This is where the civilization diverges from most: with no Stable, archers plus the Drush are your entire Feudal threat, so commit properly.
Castle Age
Crossbowmen and Eagle Warriors, plus a Monastery. Add a second Town Center. Castle only if you specifically want Jaguar Warriors against an infantry civ.
Why the Drush is stronger for Aztecs than anyone else: the +50 gold you start with is roughly the gold cost of the Militia themselves, and the 15% production bonus means all three arrive meaningfully sooner. You are effectively getting a free early aggression window. Use it to deny the opponent's boar, kill villagers on gold, and buy the time you need — because when Knights appear in Castle Age you have no answer of the same kind, and you need to already be ahead.
Castle Age by ~16:30
Monks at 100 HP
Difficulty medium
Map Arena, Black Forest, Hideout
Villagers 1–12
Standard Fast Castle — sheep, four to wood, both boars, Mill on berries. Wall the entrances early; on Arena that is the whole map.
Villagers 13–18
Berries and Town Center food, then farms. The +5 carry bonus is quietly doing a lot of work here.
Villagers 19–22
Wood and gold. You will need gold for Monks, Monastery technologies and siege — all three are gold-hungry.
Feudal Age
Loom, click up, then Market and Blacksmith while advancing to Castle.
Castle Age
Monastery first. Every technology you research adds +5 HP to every Monk, so Monastery technologies are both an upgrade and a survivability bonus. Take Redemption, Sanctity and Block Printing.
The push
Monks plus Siege Rams and Mangonels. Monks convert what you cannot kill, heal what survives, and take relics. Redemption lets you buy enemy buildings outright — on Arena that can mean converting a Castle.
Relics
Take every one you can reach. Your team bonus makes relics generate +33% gold, which is what funds the Imperial Age when your mines run dry.
Imperial
Garland Wars, Atlatl, Elite Skirmishers, Champions and Siege Onagers. This is the composition that wins Arena trash wars, because Aztec Champions and Skirmishers are both best in class.
Why Arena is the Aztec best map: the thing that ruins them on Arabia — no cavalry, so no Castle Age power spike — barely matters behind walls. Meanwhile everything they are best at compounds: 100 HP Monks that survive a Siege Onager shot, the strongest siege-and-Monk push in the game, relics worth 33% more, and a trash war they actually win thanks to Atlatl Skirmishers and Garland Wars Champions. Arena games run long, and long Arena games are where Aztec Imperial technologies finally pay off.
Castle by ~16:00
Eagles cost 20F 50G
Difficulty hard
Needs constant raiding
Villagers 1–12
Fast Castle opening. Keep the gold count healthy — Eagle Warriors are gold-heavy for a trash-adjacent unit.
Villagers 13–20
Berries, Town Center food, then gold and wood. Wall lightly; this build has almost no Feudal military.
Feudal Age
Loom, click up, Market and Blacksmith while advancing.
Castle Age
Two Barracks and continuous Eagle Warriors, produced 15% faster than the equivalent unit anywhere else.
How to use them
Raid, do not siege. Eagles are fast, they take bonus damage well against Monks and siege, and they shred villagers. Send them in twos and threes at different resource lines rather than one mass at the front gate.
What kills you
Knights and Camels in the open, archers if you stand still. Never fight the deathball — make them chase you across the map while your economy grows.
Imperial
Elite Eagle Warriors and Garland Wars, transitioning into Champions and Siege Onagers. Eagles stay useful all game as the unit that hunts enemy siege and Monks.
Eagles are the Aztec cavalry substitute, and the substitution is imperfect. They move fast and raid well, but they cost gold, they have low hit points, and they lose a straight fight to actual Knights. Treat them as a mobility tool rather than a battle line: their real job is making the opponent defend three places at once while your infantry and siege assemble somewhere else. They also benefit from every infantry upgrade, so Garland Wars applies to them too.
Playing the civ, age by age
AoE2 Aztecs strategiesyaotlatquitl
Every Aztec game is a race against the opponent's Castle Age. Get ahead before their cavalry exists, or find a map where cavalry does not decide things.
Age I–II
The window that decides the game
~7:30 – 16:00
This is your strongest phase relative to everyone else, and it is the phase you must convert. The +50 gold funds a Drush that arrives before most civilizations have military at all, and 15% faster production means your Militia and Archers accumulate quicker than theirs.
Scout with the Eagle Scout differently from a Scout Cavalry: it is slower, so plan a tighter route, but it survives contact and can garrison. On closed maps skip all of this and wall instead — the aggression is a means to an end, not an obligation.
Drush with +50 goldArchersDeny boarsWall on Arena
Age III
Surviving the Knight spike
~16:00 – 26:00
The hardest part of playing Aztecs. Your opponent gets Knights; you do not. Monks are the answer — each Monastery technology adds +5 HP, so researching them makes your Monks both better at converting and hard to kill. A converted Knight is worth two of yours.
Alongside them: Crossbowmen, Eagle Warriors for raiding, Pikemen to hold, and Mangonels. Build a Castle for Jaguar Warriors only if the opponent is committed to infantry — otherwise your Champions do the same job for less.
Monks + RedemptionCrossbowEagle WarriorPikemanMangonelRelics
Age IV
Garland Wars and the trash war
26:00 +
Garland Wars is the single biggest technology you own: +4 attack on every infantry unit. Take Atlatl too — it stacks with Imperial Skirmisher and gives you the best Skirmishers in the game. Those two technologies are why an Aztec late game is genuinely dangerous despite the tech tree.
Core composition is Champions, Elite Skirmishers and Siege Onagers, with Monks behind. Accept what you cannot do: with no Bombard Cannon and no Halberdier, you break defended positions with Siege Onagers and Trebuchets, and you answer Paladins with Monks rather than pikes.
Garland WarsAtlatlChampionElite SkirmisherSiege OnagerRelic gold
Any age
Playing against them
Scouting notes
Survive the opening and you are winning. Wall early against the Drush, keep villagers off exposed gold, and do not lose your boars. Their whole plan is to be ahead before your Castle Age arrives.
Then use what they lack. Knights and Camels beat everything they field on the ground. Hand Cannoneers shred low-hit-point Aztec infantry. Watch for Monks — the Aztecs have Heresy available themselves, so your conversions can be answered, and their 100 HP Monks will not die to a stray Mangonel shot.
Wall the DrushKnights + CamelsHand CannoneerTake the game longContest relics
What you can and cannot build
Aztecs tech treetlamachiliztli
Strikethrough entries are what the Aztecs do not get. The Stable is not a gap in this tree — the building does not exist for them at all.
Stable No building
- Knight line
- Scout line
- Camel Rider
- Battle Elephant
- Bloodlines
- Husbandry
The Aztecs cannot build a Stable. Eagle Warriors from the Barracks are the substitute — fast and cheap, but not a cavalry replacement in a straight fight.
Barracks 1 gap
- Champion
- Elite Eagle Warrior
- Pikeman
- Squires
- Arson
- Supplies
- Halberdier
Everything but Halberdier, plus Garland Wars adding +4 attack to all of it. The missing Halberdier is why Monks carry your anti-cavalry plan.
Monastery Best in game
- Redemption
- Heresy
- Sanctity
- Faith
- Block Printing
- Illumination
- Theocracy
- Devotion
Every single technology, each adding +5 Monk hit points. Fully researched, Aztec Monks reach 100 HP and survive a Siege Onager shot.
Archery Range 3 gaps
- Arbalester
- Elite Skirmisher
- Thumb Ring
- Cavalry Archer
- Hand Cannoneer
- Parthian Tactics
Below average on paper, but Atlatl gives the Aztecs arguably the best Skirmishers in the game. Arbalesters are usable; everything else here is missing.
Siege Workshop 2 gaps
- Siege Ram
- Siege Onager
- Scorpion
- Siege Engineers
- Bombard Cannon
- Heavy Scorpion
Siege Onager plus Siege Engineers is a genuinely strong package and the main way Aztecs break a position. No Bombard Cannon is the notable hole.
Blacksmith 1 gap
- Blast Furnace
- Plate Mail Armor
- Padded Archer Armor
- Leather Archer Armor
- Bracer
- Ring Archer Armor
Infantry upgrades are complete, which is what matters. All cavalry armour is irrelevant since there is no cavalry.
Defence Poor
- Guard Tower
- Keep
- Fortified Wall
- Masonry
- Architecture
- Bombard Tower
- Hoardings
No Masonry or Architecture means Aztec buildings are noticeably weaker than everyone else's. Do not plan on turtling.
Economy & Dock Strong economy
- Villagers carry +5
- Wheelbarrow
- Hand Cart
- Crop Rotation
- Fast Fire Ship
- Catapult Galleon
One of the best economies in the game. The navy was reworked and is now above average, so water maps are no longer the automatic loss they once were.
Where the Aztecs appear
The Montezuma campaignMotecuhzoma
Six scenarios covering the rise of the Aztec Empire and its collision with the Spanish. One quirk worth knowing before you start: despite the title, the narrator and effective protagonist is Cuauhtemoc, Montezuma's successor and the last Aztec emperor. Neither man appears on the map.
Scenario 1
Reign of Blood
Rise of Tenochtitlan
The opening scenario, establishing the Aztec position in the Valley of Mexico and introducing Cuauhtemoc as a young warrior. He is promoted to Jaguar Warrior on the strength of what he does here.
Tip: A gentle introduction to fighting without cavalry. Get used to Eagle Warriors as your mobility now, because that never changes across the whole campaign.
Scenario 2
The Triple Alliance
Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan
You start with four Eagle Warriors and must deliver summons of war to the Tlacopan and Texcoco Town Centers, then defeat the Tlaxcala to the north. Your allies contribute different armies: Tlacopan train infantry and Eagles, Texcoco train archers and Mangonels.
Tip: There is a hidden temple walled off in the middle of the map. Send ten Jaguar Warriors to it and they are rewarded — worth the detour. Tlacopan build no Castles, so Jaguar Warriors dismantle them easily.
Scenario 3
Quetzalcoatl
The Spanish arrive
The turn. Messengers bring word of floating mountains, of weapons that fire stone and rain fire, and of huge antlerless deer carrying men clad in iron — and Montezuma wonders whether this is the return of Quetzalcoatl.
Tip: The enemy now has cavalry, gunpowder and steel and you have none of the three. Monks and Eagle Warriors are your answer to both Knights and Hand Cannoneers.
Scenario 4
La Noche Triste
1520 · The Spanish retreat from Tenochtitlan
You begin with a single Jaguar Warrior with unusually good stats, voiced by Cuauhtemoc's actor — implied to be Cuauhtemoc himself, though the game never labels him as such and he is not required to survive.
Tip: Keep that Jaguar Warrior alive anyway. He is stronger than a normal one, and the kill-stacking ability means he only gets better the longer he lives.
Scenario 5
The Boiling Lake
The siege of Tenochtitlan
The most distinctive map in the campaign, fought around and across the lake city. This is the only scenario in the game where you can field the Xolotl Warrior — a heavy cavalry unit with Knight statistics, available to American civilizations only through converting an enemy Stable.
Tip: Research Redemption and convert a Spanish Stable. It is the one chance you will ever get to play the Aztecs with real cavalry.
Scenario 6 & elsewhere
Broken Spears, and beyond
The finale, and the fall. The Aztecs also appear briefly in the Dos Pilas scenario, and as AI players elsewhere. Their wonder is the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan.
Tip: The campaign is notable for deviating from the historical record more than almost any other in the game, attributing key episodes of the Spanish conquest to the Aztecs themselves. Play it as drama rather than as history — see the section below.
Design versus record
The game versus real historynelli
The bonuses are unusually well researched and the missing units are historically correct. The siege weapons are a deliberate anachronism the designers admitted to, and the units speak the wrong language entirely.
In the game
No Stable, no gunpowder
The Aztecs cannot build a Stable at all, and have no Hand Cannoneer, Bombard Cannon or Bombard Tower.
In history
Exactly right, and decisive
There were no horses in the Americas before the Spanish brought them, and no gunpowder. The absence is not a balance decision dressed as history — it is the single technological gap that shaped the conquest. Aztec metalworking was accomplished but had no iron.
Verdict: the most historically honest civilization design in the game.
In the game
Garland Wars gives infantry +4 attack
The Imperial unique technology, and one of the largest attack bonuses available to any civilization.
In history
Real, and the opposite of a damage bonus
The "flower wars" were arranged contests fought between the Aztecs and their neighbours specifically to capture victims for sacrifice rather than kill them — fought with unstudded clubs designed to stun and maim. The game turns a ritual of restraint into +4 attack.
Verdict: a real institution, inverted into its opposite for gameplay.
In the game
The Jaguar Warrior wields an obsidian-studded club
The unique unit, an anti-infantry specialist that grows stronger with each kill.
In history
Accurate down to the weapon and the promotion system
The macuahuitl was a wooden club set with obsidian blades, and jaguar warriors were a genuine elite rank earned through captures taken in battle. A unit that gets stronger the more enemies it defeats is a surprisingly faithful model of how Aztec military rank actually worked.
Verdict: the mechanic and the history line up better than the designers are usually given credit for.
In the game
Aztecs field Mangonels, Onagers and Rams
A full Siege Workshop including Siege Ram, Siege Onager and Siege Engineers.
In history
An anachronism the designers acknowledged
Mesoamerican warfare had no torsion artillery and no wheeled siege engines — there were no suitable draft animals, and the wheel was known but not used for transport. The developers have said the siege weapons were left in because of limited time and resources rather than any historical argument.
Verdict: knowingly wrong, and openly admitted.
In the game
Aztec units speak an indigenous language
Villagers and soldiers respond in a Mesoamerican tongue.
In history
The wrong family entirely
The Aztecs spoke Classical Nahuatl, an Uto-Aztecan language. The in-game voice lines are Mayan — and not even the same Mayan the Maya civilization speaks. Lumberjacks say a word meaning "wood worker", builders one meaning "bricklayer", drawn from Yucatec, Mam and Kaqchikel.
Verdict: the details are real words, taken from entirely the wrong language family.
In the game
Monks are the best in the game
Every monastery technology available, +5 hit points each, reaching 100 HP fully upgraded.
In history
Fair in spirit, odd in form
Aztec religion was central to the state and its priesthood was powerful and militarised in a way European monasticism was not. Modelling that as conversion-focused Monks is a stretch of the game's own template, but "religion as a weapon of empire" is a defensible reading.
Verdict: the right idea forced through a European-shaped unit.
Quick answers
Aztecs FAQtlahtlaniliztli
What is the best Aztecs strategy on Arabia?
A Drush into Archers. The +50 gold you start with covers the Militia almost exactly, and the 15% faster military production means all three arrive before most opponents have any military at all. Use that window to deny boars and kill villagers on gold, then transition into Archers and Crossbowmen. You have to be ahead before Castle Age, because when the opponent gets Knights you have no equivalent.
What is the best Aztecs strategy on Arena?
Fast Castle into a Monk and siege push. Behind walls the lack of cavalry barely matters, while everything the Aztecs are best at compounds: Monks reaching 100 hit points, the strongest siege-and-Monk push in the game, relics worth 33% more gold, and a trash war you actually win thanks to Atlatl Skirmishers and Garland Wars Champions. Aztecs are widely considered a top-tier Arena civilization for exactly this reason.
Why do the Aztecs have no cavalry in AoE2?
There were no horses in the Americas before the Spanish brought them, so the Aztecs cannot build a Stable at all — it is not a missing upgrade but a missing building. Eagle Warriors, trained at the Barracks, are the substitute: fast and cheap, effective against Monks, siege and foot archers, but not a match for Knights in a straight fight. The one exception is the Montezuma campaign, where converting an enemy Stable unlocks the Xolotl Warrior.
Are Aztec Monks the best in Age of Empires II?
Yes. They have access to every monastery technology, and each one researched adds +5 hit points. Fully upgraded an Aztec Monk has 100 hit points, which is enough to survive a Siege Onager shot — no other civilization comes close. Since the Aztecs have no cavalry and no Halberdier, Monks are also their main answer to Paladins and elephants.
Are Jaguar Warriors worth building?
Against infantry civilizations, absolutely — they beat any other infantry unit one on one, and each kill grants a permanent +1 attack up to +4. Against everything else they are hard to justify, because your own Champions and Siege Onagers are also strong against infantry while being far more flexible, and cost the same resources. Scout first, then decide whether the Castle is worth it.
Which Aztec unique technology matters more?
Garland Wars, by a distance — +4 attack on every infantry unit, including Champions, Eagle Warriors and Jaguar Warriors, is one of the largest attack technologies in the game. Atlatl is the more specialised pick, giving Skirmishers +1 attack and +1 range, and it stacks with the Imperial Skirmisher upgrade. In a long game you want both.
How do you beat the Aztecs?
Survive the opening and take the game long. Wall early against the Drush, protect your boars, and keep villagers off exposed gold. Once you reach Castle Age, Knights and Camels beat everything they can field, and Hand Cannoneers punish their low-hit-point infantry. Be careful with Monks — the Aztecs have Heresy themselves, and their 100 HP Monks are hard to kill.