Because a lot of people don’t know how to.
First go to your main menu, then click on the sword sign (number 2 from above) then click either on battle list or quick battle.

In battle the game is set up by a host, the host determine if he want to make rules (which are followed under trust) this part of multiplayer is not ranked and often makes for the most fun experiences.
Quick battle you will click on find game, this will automatically find a game for you to play, ones in the lobby you can set up your army but none of the players have any choice over what maps are used which means that you will often end up playing on one of CA’s horrible maps. Quick battle is ranked and will contribute to ranking on the leaderboard.
Leader board is the place where ranked battles results are being calculated, there is no point in trying to get into place 1 as it is held by cheaters, in fact getting to top 100 alone is for most peoples really either being a wannabe or cheating, it’s not to say that there aren’t legitimate players but most are cheaters.

In this chapter, I will go over cultures strength and weaknesses and their sub-ordinary factions. This will include a scale from 0-10 in categories, 10 meaning the best and 0 meaning the unit type isn’t present for this faction. (The sign (x*) refers to a factions rating if a DLC changes its set up in units)
ratings are based on:
- cost effectiveness
- amount of unit posibilities
- if factions has different tiers (low, mid, high)
- the factions relience on said units.

“Rome is mother of us all” as the soldiers scream, Rome really heavily on its melee infantrys capabilities to win most fights, but its cavalry is a not to be lightly taken on, they also have auxiliaries to try and make up for the areas which their own citizens can’t handle. They are an open relatively adaptable faction whit a few but severe lags in certain areas.
General unit choice: 8(9*)
Melee infantry: 9,5
Spear infantry: 4
Pikes: 0
Missile infantry: 6
Shock cavalry: 6
Melee cavalry: 7
Missile cav: 2
Dogs: 5
Chariots: 0
Elephant: 3

Carthage is perhaps the most unpredictable and one of the strongest factions in the game. They have everything from uselessly weak infantry to some of the sturdiest infantry backed up by hoplites, missiles and elephants, a powerful combination and an extremely adaptable one. Carthage is lacking in certain areas over for pretty much any faction but is also better in some areas to, so Carthage should be able to always work.
General units: 7
Melee infantry: 8
Spear infantry: 8
Pikes: 4
Missile infantry: 8
Shock cavalry: 4
Melee cavalry: 5(9*)
Missile cav: 5
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 6

“The Greeks could rule the world, alexander did” yes Rome 1. These are the factions of: Athens, Epirus, Macedon and Sparta. Common for these factions are that they have some of the strongest missiles of them all, pikes and hoplites, after that you can separate them whit Epirus-Macedon and Athens-Sparta where the former had better cavalry and the latter better spears.
• Athens
Athens is a fairly unadaptable faction despite the fact that they have quite a few units, this in turn is because most of their good units are on their spears and missiles, sure you have swords and shock cav but they are not your strength.
General units: 5
Melee infantry: 4
Spear infantry: 9
Pikes: 4
Missile infantry: 9
Shock cavalry: 4
Melee cavalry: 3
Missile cav: 3
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 0
• Epirus
Ever wondered what Pyrrhic victory means? Well go ask Pyrrhus of Epirus about that. Epirus is an interesting and adaptable faction, though mostly reliant on cavalry and pikes, Epirus has many other options other than that. TBH Epirus is my favor faction, it isn’t an OP faction nor is it bad, it’s fun and challenging.
General units: 5
Melee infantry: 4
Spear infantry: 5
Pikes: 7
Missile infantry: 9
Shock cavalry: 7
Melee cavalry: 7
Missile cav: 3
Dogs: 0 (10*)
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 5
• Macedon
In the legacy of alexander. Macedon is a faction closely related to Epirus, however they are different in a number of different ways, 1 of the most striking is not having access to dogs nor elephants, but instead having slightly more options in shock cavalry, missiles and melee infantry.
General units: 6
Melee infantry: 5
Spear infantry: 6
Pikes: 9
Missile infantry: 10
Shock cavalry: 8
Melee cavalry: 3 (6*)
Missile cavalry: 3
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 0
• Sparta
“THIS IS SPARTA!” oh that cheesy movie. In the legacy of Leonidas Sparta is still relying on its spear infantry for pretty much everything, they are also backed up by a few pikes and some descend missiles. Be prepared to be outgunned in everything but number, moral and armor.
General units: 7
Melee infantry: 0
Spear infantry: 10
Pikes: 8
Missile infantry: 8
Shock cavalry: 0
Melee cavalry: 3
Missile cav: 3
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 0
• Syracuse
Syracuse and athens are almost identicall in their roster options with some small changes.
they lack the mercenaries missle infantry strength of athens, and they rely more on melee cav
and infantry backed up with a good variety of spear units.
General units: 5
Melee infantry: 6
Spear infantry: 10
Pikes: 4
Missile infantry: 6
Shock cavalry: 4
Melee cavalry: 9
Missile cav: 3
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 0

The romans have learned much from the Celts but this is a 2 way street! The Celts are a barbaric people, home to modern day France, turkey and the British islands, the Celts have in common that they really heavily on their elite infantry, sword infantry and cavalry, which makes them all more or less monotone. All barbarian factions will have low rating on their gen because gens death is a HUGE blow to barbarians.
• Arverni
Arverni was 1 of the first Celtic factions, in the beginning you could almost call them OP, but now since formation attack and elephants got buffed Arverni is in the problem of being almost irrelevant.
General unit: 3(8*)
Melee infantry: 8
Spear infantry: 6
Pikes: 0
Missile infantry: 3
Shock cavalry: 0
Melee cavalry: 8
Missile cav: 0
Dogs: 5
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 0
• Boii
The Boii are a fierce people, having much in similar whit Arverni, the Boii has a few unique units and thouse their roster is a bit different.
General unit: 2
Melee infantry: 8,5
Spear infantry: 7
Pikes: 0
Missile infantry: 4
Shock cavalry: 0
Melee cavalry: 8
Missile cav: 0
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 0
• Galatia
Every time you use Galatia you have to keep in mind that your strengths really aren’t all that good. The only real advantage you have over other Celtic tribes are Galatian legionnaires and a missile cav, in pretty much everything else it is inferior.
General unit: 2
Melee infantry: 7
Spear infantry: 5
Pikes: 0
Missile infantry: 2
Shock cavalry: 0
Melee cavalry: 6
Missile cavalry: 4
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 0
• Iceni
The Iceni is quite different from the other barbarians, they have stealth units, chariots and better slingers they also have access to units like the veteran riders and choosen swords men which further gives them new options, the minus is that their swords really aren’t all that great, instead you have to use chariots and cavalry to win fights.
General unit: 3
Melee infantry: 8
Spear infantry: 6,5
Pikes: 0
Missile infantry: 4
Shock cavalry: 0
Melee cavalry: 8
Missile cav: 0
Dogs: 0 (5*)
Chariots: 7
Elephants: 0
• Nervii
Nervii is the most ambush like faction of them all, or so they proclaim. as nervii you will get some of the finest horsemen in the game but you also get downright laughably bad infantry (though I heard patch 12 is improving them somewhat in this) and really that is the essence of nervii, you have to confuse your opponent into putting forces where they aren’t needed, this however is VERY hard.
General unit: 3(7*)
Melee infantry: 8
Spear infantry: 4
Pikes: 0
Missile infantry: 3
Shock cavalry: 0
Melee cavalry: 8
Missile cavalry: 0
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 0

In the wake of alexander his empire (due to his poor empire building skills) soon deter rated into civil war, after the dust had settle 3 major Hellenistic states in the east rose up to become the center of their part of the empire. The successor states has one thing in common, they are ALL really OP and have more or less any tool in the game.
• Bactria
Bactria is as of now the last Free-LC content released for Rome 2. Bactria due to it being Hellenic but existing in current day Iran is having a huge roster mixing the best of Hellenic unit’s whit the Best of the east.
General unit: 6
Melee infantry: 5
Spear infantry: 7
Pikes: 7
Missile infantry: 9
Shock cavalry: 8
Melee cavalry: 8
Missile cavalry: 8
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 9
• Egypt
Being outragely good a few patches ago, Egypt has now been forgotten a little bit but they still remain whit a certain level of OP to them, they still have a large roster of sword infantry, pikes, chariots and elephants. That said they have serious lags in cavalry and spear infantry which is why they are somewhat forgotten.
General unit: 7
Melee infantry: 8
Spear infantry: 3
Pikes: 9
Missile infantry: 7
Shock cavalry: 6
Melee cavalry: 4
Missile cavalry: 4
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 10
Elephants: 6
• Seleucids
Seleucids is a strong adaptable faction whit similar strengths to Bactria though whit their own change to it. They have a bit better swords and some better pikes, at the cost of missile cavalry and some melee cavalry strength.
General unit: 8
Melee infantry: 7
Spear infantry: 5
Pikes: 10
Missile infantry: 9
Shock cavalry: 8
Melee cavalry: 7
Missile cavalry: 4
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 10
Elephants: 10

From the forest of Germania the suebi are a proud independent people. In multiplayer they are the most Glass like cannon nation that is, they really heavily on their generals ability to improve their melee units, if timed right they can melt ANY army in the matters of seconds.
General unit: 3 (7*)
Melee infantry: 7 (8*)
Spear infantry: 5
Pikes: 0
Missile infantry: 4
Shock cavalry: 0
Melee cavalry: 7
Missile cavalry: 0
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephant: 0

Pontus is an interesting faction. They have more or less any tool in the game but that is their exact problem, they do NOT have any special strengths and represent the 1 faction where I might even recommend the Celts over them, they are just horrible and a long shot from being competitive.
General unit: 7
Melee infantry: 5
Spear infantry: 5
Pikes: 7
Missile infantry: 6
Shock cavalry: 5
Melee cavalry: 4
Missile cavalry: 5
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 10
Elephants: 0

“The dessert kills those who does not understand it” Parthia is perhaps the most adaptable faction considering they do not have pikes or good infantry for that matter. Parthia has a nice combination of VERY cost effective foots bows and strong cavalry overall.
General unit: 6
Melee infantry: 4
Spear infantry: 5
Pikes: 0
Missile infantry: 8
Shock cavalry: 9 (10*)
Melee cavalry: 6
Missile cavalry: 8
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephants: 5

More or less the same, the nomads really on hit and run tactics, they are heavily focused on cavalry and have no infantry: to support them. Because there is no point in giving them any other points I’ll only mention the cavalry in their roster.
• Massagatae
Massagatae is the most heavy shock cavalry they also have the heaviest missile cavalry in the game.
Shock cavalry: 10
Melee cavalry: 0
Missile cavalry: 10
• Roxolani
some nice mid-tier melee cavalry makes these guys rather interresting
Shock cavalry: 9
Melee cavalry: 7
Missile cavalry: 7
• Royal Scythia
a rather lame faction to be quite honest.
Shock cavalry: 7
Melee cavalry: 7
Missile cavalry: 9

the iberians factions are pretty similar, Lusitani has a better infantry then Arevachi but its the other way around in the cav aspect. they are in a big disadvantaged against most factions since they lack shock cav and good missile units, but they do have some good guerrilla units that can be used in a highly forested maps and to troll ur opponet a bit.
• Arevachi
General unit choice:3
Melee infantry: 7
Spear infantry: 3
Pikes: 0
Missile infantry: 5
Shock cavalry: 0
Melee cavalry: 8
Missile cav: 2
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephant: 0
• Lusitani
General unit choice:2
Melee infantry: 7,5
Spear infantry: 4
Pikes: 0
Missile infantry: 5
Shock cavalry: 0
Melee cavalry: 3
Missile cav: 2
Dogs: 0
Chariots: 0
Elephant: 0

under here will be information about unit groups and their uses.

• Archers:
Archers are a useful tool to any commander, they are good at quickly hammering the enemy position and punishing them for opening up a flank, archers dominates when it comes to skirmish fights, they are usually set up to 3 different groups:
Heavy archers (Parthian foot archer, Cretan archers), they have 150 range and a punishing 32 damage, they are by no doubt the best foot missiles in the game
Light archers (eastern archer, light archers, Syrian archer, Persian elite archers, etc.), whit a 150 range they can fire quite a long distance, their lower damage compared to the Heavy archer is though a course for concern, which is why I call them light, they can still do a considerable amount of damage to most units.
Low range archer (archers, Celtic bowmen, Gallic hunters, longbow hunters, Nubian bowmen, etc.), these units range from useful to a waste of money, some of the units mentioned here are more than capable to kill a lot of enemy units, but a lot of them are terrible overpriced, expect between 70 and 120 kills whit these guys.
• Slingers:
Slingers have more ammo and armor piercing than archers; this makes them a little better at killing high armored targets, however this comes at the cost of lower alpha damage and you will need more time to pay them off. However, whit all that said don’t be fooled by their damage and AP they are not as good as you would think. Again, the slingers can be put into 3 different groups.
Super slingers (Rhodian slinger, Balearic slingers), these units are having 5 AP and 20 normal damage, this makes them highly powerful units, they can get +200 kills if used right.
Mid-tier slingers (Briton slingers, eastern slingers), serving as a mid-tier skirmish unit, they have a fair damage and a descend AP and will hurt most units if allowed to shot on them, they are rather cost effective.
Peasant slingers (Celtic slingers, slingers, Egyptian slingers, etc.), these slingers are hard to get cost effective whit, and tbh unless you know your opponent is going to noob box then I don’t think it gives a whole lot of sense to bring them.
• Javelins:
Whit 1 goal in mind “get close and kill as many in the shortest amount of time as possible” all javelins have 80 range a fairly high AP and a good reload at the cost of magazine damage and range, after that you can categorize them into 4 different groups.
Peltasts (agrarian axemen, peltast, Thracian peltasts, light peltasts, etc.), whit high armor and good shields these guys are as hard to kill as hoplites whit missiles and usually also have some of the highest damage and magazine size. their cost range between 400 and 500 making them rather expensive considering the fact that they rarely get to more than 100 kills.
Skirmishers (Celtic skirmishers, etc.), this is a rather small group and tbh I probably could just of call them javelins but they are depicted as “skirmishers” so why not address them as such. Skirmishers have 35 damage making them mid-tier in damage, they also have rather descend shields on 35 armor so that means they are kind of in between javelin men and peltasts and I guess that is what they kind of are, so yeah you get a weird hybrid of a unit to use.
Javelin men (eastern javelin men, velites, Egyptian javelin men, etc.), this group consist of rather cheap and cost effective missiles, sure you don’t get the armor of the peltasts but you get the same damage, the units here are usually between 250 and 400 so they are also quite a lot cheaper. take these if your confident in your micro and want to use high cost-effective units.
Crap levies (levies, javelin men, etc.), really these units are as my title suggest garbage, whit only 22 damage you’re more likely to do better whit the pillar of your melee units than you are whit these guys, at best they can be used as back charge unit or a meat shield.

• Formation attack infantry:
Formation attack infantry is all sword infantry that has formation attack, this helps a unit to stay alive for longer and is most present on “civilized” units.
Legionnaires (hastatii, legionary cohorts, praetorian guards, etc.), rome has the best of the formation attack sword units, they are very flexible and balanced between hard and soft stats making them capable to dominate any fight and come out on top.
Heavy swords (royal peltasts, socii extraordinary, etc.), these units are called “heavy swords” because their hard-stats are high (referring to armor, shield and weapons) comparative to other units. Due to this, they can actually be seen as units where it would almost make sense to spend points on rank upgrades, because it will boost the soft stats thus allowing the hard stats to shine more.
Standard infantry (Libyan infantry, thorax swords men, etc.), these units are kind of Romanized units, they in general they are less cost effective than the legions but by other means they work the same way.
• Undisciplined infantry:
Common for these units are that they are melee infantry whit no formation attack.
Heavy Sword infantry (oath sworn, sword followers, chosen sword band, etc.), whit high charge and impressive alpha damage these guys are great for killing 1 unit at a time using their charge to stomp any unit in the game. Due to their low AP and attack, they will however have a hard time dealing whit high armored/high defense units in longer engagements.
Axe infantry (hill men, karian axe men, etc.), as of now we only have access to the low tier axes in the game, as for their used they are great outflanking tools and with their massive 14 AP and 28 alpha damage they can very quickly deal lots of death to the enemy. At all cost STAY AWAY FROM THE FRONTLINE, unless you got the Suebi general, in that case you can destroy everything.
Light support infantry (Celtic warriors, fierce swords, naked swords, etc.), this group contains both the very worst sword infantry in the game and shock infantry, the reason for that is that their use is about the same, quickly going in to the front of the enemy pinning them down while other infantry circles them.
• Spear infantry
Spear infantry is infantry whit bonuses vs large (elephants and cavalry), though it should be mentioned that infantry is somewhat broken at the moment when it comes to fighting cavalry as they got trouble connecting to the cavalry. They usually have a rather large defense to.
Hoplites (hoplites, shield bears, late Libyan hoplites, etc.), when I mention the word “hoplite” then I am strictly referring to units which have hoplite wall or phalanx ability, whit other words Persian hoplites etc. are not counted amongst these. Hoplites usually have an insane amount of armor esp. in shield value, making them like tanks vs missiles.
Heavy spearmen (thureos spears, veteran spears, Bactrian royal guard, etc.), these spear units are somewhat useful in most engagements and used right they can get 100s of kills they are usually however no match to hoplites in a straight fight due to their lower AP and shield values. They have to be seen as a more flexible unit that can both take out missiles, cav and lower tier spears or used for outflanking.
Support spears (eastern spearmen, Persian Hoplites, levy freemen, etc.) these units should be used solely as a support unit, preferably as a cav support. On their own they’ll get squashed by any mid-tier shock cavalry and above but in a support role they can rack up 100+ kills. Use them as a “second line” unit or as a way to push back missiles.

Cavalry is perhaps the most useful unit in the game or any total war game for that matter, they can ruin bad units in a second and quickly get around the field of battle to give support where it is needed.
• Shock cavalry
You like to see men go flying? Well I do. Shock cavalry is perfect for sending low tier units on they flying trip to hell, if properly microed you can kill ANY unit in the game.
Cataphracts (any unit whit the name “cataphract” in it), the heaviest of shock cavalry they can smash through any unit in the game, literally ANY unit including a braced hoplite phalanx or reforming elite pike infantry. All of them cost 1000 plus.
Lancers (companion cavalry, royal cavalry, Ptolemaic cavalry, etc.), heavy shock cavalry, able to give a substantial push to the enemy units and fine as outflankers.
Line shock cavalry (thessalian, socii equites extraordinarii, etc.), a little less powerful than the Lancers but still very potent, mostly used as units of the line they intercept enemy cavalry and kills missiles.
• Melee cavalry
A little less “shocking” than shock cavalry, melee cavalry will perform well in most fights as long as they aren’t just being allowed to get charged.
Heavy sword cavalry (campanian cavalry, aspis companion cavalry), extremely heavy sword mounted, even high tier spear units have trouble dealing whit these guys, they are strong and have over 60 attack, they are hard for any unit to kill and excellent units vs sword infantry.
Heavy Spear cavalry (Carthaginian cavalry, Scythia royal cavalry, etc.), whit both boosts towards infantry and cavalry these units can handle most enemies if used right and can be seen as a sort of “cavalry of the line” adaptable and strong (should avoid taking a shock cav charge head on though)
Light cavalry (Celtic light horse, Iberian cavalry, etc.), less capable of fighting than the other units and more likely to die to missiles, their main use is keeping routing units from coming back and killing isolated missiles.
• Missile cavalry
Useful as a soften up force, they are more likely than foot missiles to get their ammo fired off before they die, if for no other reason than they are able to outrun pretty much all melee units.
Javelin cavalry (Numidian cavalry, horse skirmishers, tarantine cavalry, etc.), these cavalry units may not be capable to kill most enemy units but they will sure as hell annoy their commander. I would advise against most of them because they simply are too fragile, however, there are exceptions to this, tarantine cavalry and noble Numidian cavalry for example Are VERY potent in melee and can use their javelins vs more substantial enemies such as elephants.
Heavy horse archers (saka cataphract archers, armored horse archers, noble horse archers, etc.), whit armor and bows these units are capable to get close to enemy formation and then unload their deadly ammunition upon the enemy. They take a considerable amount of fire to kill and can stand for a long duration crippling key components of the enemy army.
Light horse archers (Parthian horse archers, steppe horse archers, etc.), capable to kill enemies as good as their more heavily armored brethren, light horse archers have less armor so their tactics change a little, they are NOT to be used to grind out whit other skirmish units and will do horrible if a commander tries to use them for that. They are more late game and should first see their appearance when most of the enemy missiles have gone and they can take their time on those infantry or heavy cavalry instead.

Pikes are to unique for me to put them into other groups, the basic idea of an pikes is “to keep the enemy at a safe distance”, this is the main reason for taking pikes because most units from the front simply can’t harm them. Whit that said they are EXTREMLY weak to missiles and out flanking maneuvers and should be protect against these things at all cost.
Remember though that most people aren’t as dumb as the AI and will rarely willingly charge the front of your pikemen. I would personally view them as a zone control unit.

This is basically elephants and chariots, they are hard to kill but whit good planning and a good understanding of your units it isn’t impossible to kill them, ill cover counter tactics latter on.

in this section we will be talking about general trees and their different applications.
the "vannila" general types:

The commander:
the commander gives his followers higher moral and deffence and is the easiest of generals to get into, he is by farr the most common general you meet and can be seen as the "classical general" in retrospect to the other total war games.
- rally: raises the spirit of his men and strengthens their resolve, can be used to return routing units to the battlefield and make units already in fight stay for a bit longer. it can however only be used twice per battle.
- raise the banner: improves the melee defence of units slightly (we are talking less that 10%) it is a fairly useful ability and can even be used after ones general is dead, the ability also increase the general units area of influence (meaning how farr the moral bonus from the gen aura is).

The Strategist:
the strategist is for the general that keeps his head cool and his timing right, the strategist improves individual groups on the battlefield and aims to win 1 battle at a time.
- battle rythm: a powerful ability, steadily increases the stats of a unit in both speed, attack, deffence and weapon damage. this is then followed by a few seconds of lower attack and melee deffence, an exelent ability for short viewed engagements.
- second wind: lowers fatigue of units, excelent if you run around a lot, is most useful on horse archers.

The warrior:
warrior generals are great at punching holes in enemy formations, most useful vs the commander general he tries to quickly shock a group of enemies away in the hopes of creating a mass route.
- war cry: decreases the moral of an enemy unit for a short time, in conjunction whit a good charge you can quickly route an enemy unit, great for starting a mass route.
- intimidate: if you can use this on his general units then you've basically just ensured that his general cant intervene in routing of his men, the ability puts a cool down on all enemy abilities.

Pictures.
Updated rosters etc.
special general types added.
Builds, strategy and tactics section.

I hope this has helped some of you getting a better grasp on Multiplayer
If you have any comments, whether it be ideas, questions or constructive criticism leave them down below.
And remember: skill is decided on the battlefield, it is not something that you can argue yourself to and doing so only leads to delusions of grandeur. See you on the battlefield rookies.