In the cutthroat world of strategy games, we all know how it goes. Tier lists might as well be law. Everyone flocks to the factions with those big, shiny, game-breaking bonuses, while other civs are left collecting dust in the “bottom tier.” They get written off as weak, too situational, or just plain outclassed.
But what if the meta is wrong? What if, just beneath that surface of supposed mediocrity, there’s a core of untapped, game-winning power waiting to be unleashed?
I’m diving deep into the shadows of the meta to put a spotlight on five civilizations that most people think are underpowered, but are secretly monsters in the right hands. I’ll break down the common myths that hold them back and give you the exact, actionable strategies to turn them into absolute powerhouses. So forget the S-tier picks everyone sees coming. Mastering these deceptive underdogs won’t just give you a masterclass in the game’s deepest mechanics—it’ll give you the ultimate weapon: the element of surprise. Get ready to unlearn everything you thought you knew about strength and weakness.
The Byzantines: The Swiss Army Knife That Cuts Deeper Than a Sword
In the grand theater of Age of Empires II, the Byzantines usually get a sigh. They’re seen as the classic “jack-of-all-trades, master of none.” They don’t have a single, flashy economic bonus like the Celts or Mayans, and their military strength isn’t as in-your-face as the Franks or Huns. This reputation as a “safe” but boring defensive civ makes so many players miss their incredible strategic depth and the cost-efficiency that can systematically pick apart the more popular powerhouses.
What Everyone Gets Wrong
The main knock against the Byzantines is that they don’t have a clear, aggressive path. Their bonuses—cheaper Camels, Skirmishers, and Spearmen, plus free Town Watch/Patrol—feel reactive and defensive. Their unique unit, the Cataphract, is a beast against infantry, but it’s pricey and needs a Castle, so most people write it off as a late-game luxury. Their tech tree is huge, but it’s missing key things like Bloodlines and Blast Furnace. This leads people to think they can’t field top-tier units in the late game, forcing them into a defensive, trash-spamming role that can’t seal the deal. They feel like a civ that can survive, but never truly dominate.
The Secret Power
Here’s the secret to Byzantine dominance: cost-efficiency. Their so-called weaknesses are the foundation of their greatest strength. That lack of a flashy eco bonus is completely balanced by the insane resource savings from their cheaper counter units. This isn’t just a small discount; it completely changes the math of unit trading.
Think about it: for every 100 Halberdiers your opponent makes, you can make 100 and still have enough resources left for 33 more. This 25% discount on the game’s most vital counter units (the entire Spearman, Skirmisher, and Camel lines) means you can field bigger armies, replace your losses faster, and pour those saved resources into tech or your economy.
On top of that, their extra building HP (+10% in Dark, up to +40% in Imperial Age) makes your defenses incredibly tough. A Byzantine push isn’t just an army; it’s you planting forward Castles and Town Centers that are a nightmare for your opponent to take down.
And the Cataphract? It’s not a luxury; it’s a game-ender. It is the ultimate counter to the infantry spam that defines top-tier civs like Goths or Malians. With the Logistica upgrade, Cataphracts deal trample damage, letting them wade into a sea of Halberdiers or Champions and just erase them. They might lack Bloodlines, but they are so naturally tanky and have such high bonus damage that they are the perfect tool for cracking the toughest defenses.
Your Game Plan for Dominance
To win with the Byzantines, you have to embrace a strategy of “flexible response and overwhelming counters.”
- The Resilient Feudal Age: Use your cheap counter units to control the fight. Your Skirmishers will trade amazingly well against archers, and your Spearmen are a cheap wall against scout rushes. Be aggressive! Use the resources you save to throw down a second or third range or barracks. Out-produce your opponent and apply constant pressure. The goal isn’t to win in Feudal, but to force trades that put you economically ahead going into Castle Age.
- The Impenetrable Castle Age: The second you hit Castle Age, get stone and drop a defensive Castle. This is your anchor. Now your options are wide open. Facing cavalry? Start pumping out your cheaper Camels. Facing archers? Your Elite Skirmishers, with a few Knights to snipe siege, will be a wrecking ball. The key is to mix in Monks. Byzantine Monks heal faster, making your army incredibly hard to kill. A push of Elite Skirms, a few Knights, and Monks healing from the back is a nightmare.
- The Inevitable Imperial Age: In Imperial, the Byzantines become a true death ball. Your main army should be a core of Halberdiers and Elite Skirmishers. This “trash” army is way stronger than it looks. Because they’re so cheap for you, you can produce them in insane numbers while also investing in heavy-hitters like Trebuchets and Bombard Cannons.
- Unleash the Cataphract: This is the final move. You don’t need to mass them right away. Build up your core army of Halbs and Skirms first. Once your economy is solid and you have map control, start adding in Cataphracts. Use them like a scalpel. Send a group of 15-20 Elite Cataphracts to gut your opponent’s economy or, even better, to smash directly into their main infantry army. Watching their elite infantry melt in front of your golden cavalry is often enough to make them tap out.
The Byzantines aren’t weak; they’re a thinking player’s civ. They reward flexibility, smart resource management, and a deep understanding of counter-warfare. While others rely on one big punch, the Byzantines win by a thousand cuts, bleeding their opponents dry before landing the final, crushing blow.
Norway: The Maritime Masters of a Landlocked World
In the world of Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, sea-based civs often get the short end of the stick. On land-heavy maps like Pangaea, their unique abilities feel completely wasted. No one feels this more than Norway. Their entire toolkit screams “ocean,” making most players want to reroll the map the second they see Harald Hardrada’s face.
What Everyone Gets Wrong
Norway’s main abilities seem to lock them into one map-dependent strategy. Thunderbolt of the North lets naval melee units perform coastal raids, and their Viking Longship can heal in neutral waters. Their Knarr ability lets them enter ocean tiles early and makes naval units cheaper. All amazing bonuses… if you’re on an island map.
On a standard Pangaea map, these bonuses look useless. You might build one galley for a lake, but you’re not building a fleet. Their unique building, the Stave Church, gives extra faith from woods, which is nice, but it doesn’t feel like enough to make up for the fact that half your civ is turned off. People see Norway as a one-trick pony that’s completely crippled on the wrong map.
The Secret Power
The secret to Norway’s dominance on land is simple and absolutely brutal: a pillage-based economy. Everyone focuses on their naval raiding, but they forget that Harald’s leader ability applies to all units, not just ships. Thunderbolt of the North also grants a 50% production bonus towards all melee units. This is where the magic happens.
This bonus, combined with the right early-game policies, lets Norway pump out an ancient and classical era land army faster than almost anyone. You can flood the map with Warriors and Spearmen at a ridiculous pace.
But the real engine of their power is the other half of that ability: land-based raiding. Every time a Norwegian unit pillages an improvement, you get Science for mines, Culture for plantations, and Faith for quarries. Your army literally becomes a mobile research lab and cultural center. While other civs are slowly building campuses, you are stealing their progress. A good raid on a neighbor can net you hundreds of Science and Culture per turn, shooting you through the tech and civic trees at a speed that feels like cheating.
Your Game Plan for Dominance
To master land-based Norway, you have to be the ultimate early-game bully, fueling your empire with the spoils of war.
- The Initial Rush: Your first 50 turns are everything. Your build order should be almost entirely military. Start with a Slinger, then immediately start churning out Warriors. As soon as you get Craftsmanship, slot in the Agoge policy card for another +50% production. With your intrinsic bonus, you’re now making units at double speed. Your goal: an army of 6-8 Warriors before turn 50.
- Declare a Surprise War: Find your closest neighbor. Don’t bother with formalities. The second your army is ready, declare a surprise war. Your target isn’t their cities—not yet. It’s their land.
- The Pillage Economy: Sweep through their territory with one goal: pillage everything. Prioritize mines for science and plantations for culture. Use the Raid policy card to get even more from pillaging. You’ll be stunned how fast your tech and civics skyrocket. It’s common to be a full era ahead of everyone else just by feasting on their infrastructure. Use the Faith from pillaging to get a pantheon like God of the Forge to make your units even faster, fueling the war machine.
- The Stave Church Advantage: As you take or build cities, build Stave Churches next to as many woods as possible. This will give you a steady flow of Faith you can use to buy more units or enhance your cities. It’s a powerful secondary engine that perfectly complements your pillaging.
- Transitioning to Dominance: After crippling your first neighbor, you have a choice. You can use your massive tech lead to pivot to a science or culture victory from a position of insane strength, or you can just keep rampaging. Your Berserker unique unit is a monster on offense, moving faster in enemy lands and hitting harder, making them perfect for continuing your conquest.
Norway on Pangaea isn’t a weak naval civ; it’s the ultimate early-game bully. They teach a vital lesson: progress doesn’t have to be built; it can be taken. By turning their army into an engine of growth, Norway can create a snowball that is almost impossible to stop.
The Portuguese: Masters of the Late-Game Economic Tidal Wave
Back in Age of Empires II, there’s another civ that’s often misunderstood: the Portuguese. Their bonuses feel niche, and their best features don’t kick in until late, leaving many players feeling weak and directionless in the critical early game.
What Everyone Gets Wrong
The Portuguese just don’t seem to have an early-game edge. Their main bonuses—all units cost -20% gold and techs research 30% faster—are great on paper, but the gold discount doesn’t mean much in the early game when gold isn’t the main problem. Their unique unit, the Organ Gun, is a powerful but gimmicky siege weapon that dies easily to Onagers or cavalry. Their other unique unit, the Caravel, is for water maps, making it situational.
Their most unique feature, the Feitoria, is often seen as their biggest flaw. It’s an Imperial Age building that costs a ton (250 wood, 250 gold), eats up 20 population space, and just slowly trickles in resources. Most players see it as an inefficient “noob trap”—a huge investment for a slow return that comes too late to matter. That 20 population cost is especially painful, as it’s 20 army units you can’t have.
The Secret Power
Here’s the secret: you don’t play Portuguese to win in the first 30 minutes. You play them to win in the last 15. They are the ultimate late-game economic juggernaut, and their power comes from completely rewriting the rules of resource gathering.
That -20% gold discount is the foundation of their strength. In the late Imperial Age, when gold is the most precious resource, this bonus is absolutely back-breaking for your opponent. It means every powerful gold unit—Cavaliers, Arbalesters, Bombard Cannons—is way cheaper for you. You can field gold-heavy armies for far longer than anyone else.
And the Feitoria? It’s not a trap. It’s the key to an unkillable late-game economy. In those “trash war” scenarios where all the gold on the map is gone, most civs have to switch to units that don’t cost gold. But the Portuguese can build several Feitorias, creating a permanent, unraidable source of gold and other resources. A player with 4-5 Feitorias has an income equal to 20-25 villagers on gold, wood, and food—villagers that can’t be killed. This lets you keep pumping out fully-upgraded, gold-heavy units forever, long after your opponent’s gold has run out.
Your Game Plan for Dominance
Playing the Portuguese requires patience, a good defense, and a clear vision for the end game.
- Survive and Advance: The early game is your weak spot. You have to play defensively. Focus on a standard fast-Castle build. Use Archers and Spearmen to defend, but don’t take fights you don’t need to. Your goal isn’t to win early, but to get to the Imperial Age with a healthy economy. Use your faster-researching tech to get key upgrades just a little bit sooner than your opponent.
- The Castle Age Fortress: In Castle Age, wall up and secure your resources. Build defensive Castles. Your Organ Gun is actually great for defense. Park it behind your walls to shred anything that pushes you. Your army should be focused on cost-effective defense: Pikemen and Crossbowmen are your best friends. The gold you save on them can be poured into booming your economy with more Town Centers.
- The Imperial Age Transition: The moment you hit Imperial Age, the clock starts ticking in your favor. Your first move is to get Arbalester and Bracer upgrades and start massing a death ball of Arbalesters and Halberdiers. Because your Arbs cost less gold, you can field a much larger group of them than your opponent.
- The Feitoria Revolution: Once you’re militarily stable, it’s time for the Feitoria transition. Don’t build them all at once. Start with one or two in a safe, walled-off spot in your base. As the gold on the map starts to run low, slowly add more. You have to time this right—start investing heavily in Feitorias when you think the map’s gold will be gone in the next 10-15 minutes.
- The Unstoppable Late Game: With 4-5 Feitorias running, your economy is a perpetual motion machine. You have a steady, unstoppable flow of gold. Now you can unleash the full power of the Portuguese. Produce endless streams of Arbalesters, Bombard Cannons (which also get the discount!), and even Champions. Your opponent, stuck with trash units, will watch their armies evaporate against your unending tide of gold units.
The Portuguese teach a powerful lesson in long-term planning. They show that real power isn’t always about early aggression, but about building an engine of victory that your opponent simply can’t outlast.
The Koreans: Architects of the Unbreakable Defense
In the fast-paced, micro-intensive world of StarCraft II, aggression is often king. Races are judged by their ability to apply early pressure and control the game’s tempo. Terrans, with their versatile armies, often fit this aggressive mold. However, one playstyle, often tied to the Korean school of thought, flips this on its head, embracing a seemingly passive,