How to read this tier list
Before the ranking, one warning that matters here as much as in the ancient game: Field of Glory II: Medieval is a game of matchups, and no troop type is simply "the best." The whole system is rock-paper-scissors — knights crush most things on the charge, longbows shoot the knights down, spears and pikes blunt the charge, light troops harass the bows, and so on. So this tier list does not claim some units always beat others. Instead, it ranks the major troop types by overall reliability and value as the core of a strong army: how dependably they win the fights you put them in, how central they are to a winning plan, and how forgiving they are to use. A troop type lower down is not weak; it is more specialised, and shines in the right role.
Read the tiers, then, as a guide to what to build around and what to use as support, not as a promise that an S-tier unit beats a B-tier one. In a good matchup with good handling, almost anything can win — and that is exactly what makes the game so deep.
Every troop type in Field of Glory II: Medieval has a counter. The skill is not fielding "the best" units but matching your troops to the enemy and the terrain — and forcing fights where your strengths meet their weaknesses. The charge beats the open line; the bow beats the charge; the spear blunts the charge; maneuver beats them all.
The troops tier list
This ranking weighs reliability, frontline value and how central each type is to a strong, balanced medieval army, assuming you protect its weaknesses and use combined arms.
S tier — knights, longbows and foot men-at-arms
These three define strong medieval armies. The knightly lancer is the flagship and the most feared unit on the field: devastating on the charge, holding a large impact advantage over lesser cavalry, and crushing most infantry caught in the open. Its dominance is exactly why the rest of the game is about answering it — and its counters are real, namely shooting, flank attacks and rough terrain, so it must be aimed rather than thrown away. The longbowman is that answer made flesh: massed longbows shoot down armoured knights and infantry alike, and uniquely among missile troops they fight respectably in melee, which is why the English longbow-and-men-at-arms combination dominated its era. Foot men-at-arms — often dismounted knights — round out the tier as elite heavy foot that anchor the line, absorb charges and pair perfectly with the bow. Build around these three, protect their weaknesses, and you have a formidable army.
A and B tiers — strong arms and key roles
The A tier holds powerful troops with clear weaknesses to manage. Mounted men-at-arms and non-knightly lancers are strong shock cavalry that charge hard and flank well, just beaten at impact by true knights and wasted against steady spears. Crossbowmen are hard-hitting missile troops whose bolts punch through armour, excellent for softening the enemy and shooting cavalry, though slower-firing than longbows and weak in melee. Spearmen and pikemen are the anti-cavalry backbone, steady troops that blunt the charges which ride down lesser foot — unglamorous but invaluable for holding a line against knights. The B tier covers the units that fill essential roles without anchoring the army: medium foot that own rough terrain, light horse and horse archers that harass and disrupt but cannot hold, and defensive or levy foot that bulk out a line behind better troops. None win battles alone, but a good army cannot do without them.
| Troop type | Strength | Weakness | Best role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knightly Lancers | Devastating charge | Shooting, flanks, rough ground | The decisive hammer |
| Longbowmen | Shoot down knights, melee too | Charged by fresh heavy foot | Counter cavalry, soften lines |
| Foot Men-at-Arms | Elite, resilient line | Disordered in rough terrain | Anchor the battle line |
| Crossbowmen | Armour-piercing bolts | Slow, weak in melee | Softening and anti-cavalry |
| Spearmen / Pikemen | Blunt cavalry charges | Outfought by elite foot | Hold the line vs knights |
C tier — situational support
The bottom tier is not for useless troops but for situational ones that support rather than anchor. Light foot and skirmishers — archers and javelinmen — screen your line, harass the enemy and fight in rough terrain, then evade; they are genuinely useful, but they melt against cavalry in the open or heavy foot in melee, so they enable your army rather than carry it. Mob and poor levies are cheap, low-quality bodies that can swamp a position or pad out a line, but they break easily and add little in a serious fight, so they are numbers over quality, used sparingly behind better troops. Both have their moments — a screen here, a body to hold ground there — but leaned on as a backbone they will let you down.
Building a balanced army
The lesson of the tiers is combined arms, and medieval combined arms above all means pairing the charge with the bow and the spear. Build your core from S- and A-tier troops suited to your army — a line of foot men-at-arms and spearmen, knights to charge, and longbows or crossbows to shoot — then fill the roles with B-tier medium foot and light horse. Cover each unit's weakness with another's strength: protect your archers with foot and cavalry, blunt enemy knights with spears and shooting, hold rough ground with medium foot, and aim your own knights at flanks and softened targets. Because every troop type has a counter, the winning army is not the one with the "best" units but the one that combines its charge, its shooting and its line, and matches them to the enemy and the ground. To put these troops to work, see our combat guide and tactics guide; if you are just starting out, the beginner guide covers the fundamentals.
When you pick an army, note what it lacks. A knight-heavy army needs an answer to massed bows and steady spears; a longbow army needs foot to protect the archers; a foot army needs a way to deal with being outflanked by cavalry. Covering your gaps matters more than maximising your strengths.
