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How to Beat Zhu Xi’s Legacy as English in AoE4 (Bronze Tier Matchup Guide)
This is part of my Climbing the Ladder series, where I break down how to win every matchup at every rank I’ve actually reached. Here’s the Bronze tier breakdown for English vs Zhu Xi’s Legacy.
Let me be real with you for a second.
Out of all the civilizations you’re going to run into in Bronze, Zhu Xi’s Legacy is probably the one that will confuse you the most the first time you face it.
It looks like Chinese. It kind of plays like Chinese. But then weird things start happening — units show up earlier than they should, your villagers are getting picked off by what looks like a swarm of tiny crossbow guys before you even feel settled into the game, and you’re sitting there thinking “what is even happening right now?”
That was me the first time I ran into this civ.
And if you’re a Bronze tier English player who just got dismantled by a Zhu Xi’s Legacy opponent and have no idea what went wrong, this guide is for you.
What Even Is Zhu Xi’s Legacy?
Before we get into strategy, let’s make sure you actually know what you’re dealing with — because understanding the civ is half the battle.
Zhu Xi’s Legacy is a variant of the Chinese civilization, available through The Sultans Ascend expansion. On the surface it looks familiar, but it plays differently enough that if you go in blind, you’re going to get caught off guard.
Here’s what makes them dangerous, especially at Bronze:
- They start with only 5 villagers instead of 6, but they also start with an Imperial Official — a unique unit that can supervise buildings and boost their production speed by a massive 150%. Translation: they’re making units and gathering resources faster than you probably realize.
- Palace Guards are available in Feudal Age, not Castle Age like most heavy infantry. That’s early pressure you might not expect.
- Zhuge Nu are their signature ranged infantry — light crossbow units that fire in a rapid burst. They’re weak individually, but in groups they will absolutely shred unprotected villagers.
- They build faster than almost anyone. Villagers construct defenses 50% faster and other buildings 100% faster. If they want a wall up, it goes up fast.
- They have a Tax system that generates bonus resources passively as villagers drop off resources. It’s not dramatic early on, but it means their economy is quietly snowballing even when you can’t see it.
The bottom line: Zhu Xi’s Legacy is a civilization that rewards players who go fast and hit early. At Bronze rank, that usually means one thing — a Zhuge Nu swarm is coming to your base earlier than feels fair.
What to Expect From a Bronze Zhu Xi’s Legacy Opponent
At Bronze rank, most Zhu Xi’s Legacy players aren’t executing some masterclass strategy. They’ve figured out one thing: Zhuge Nu come out fast, there are a lot of them, and lower ranked players don’t know how to deal with them.
So here’s what typically happens:
They age up to Feudal quickly — sometimes suspiciously quickly — and immediately start pumping out Zhuge Nu from one or two Archery Ranges with their Imperial Official supervising production. Before you know it, there’s a pack of these little crossbow units in your resource line picking off villagers while you scramble to figure out what’s happening.
Some Bronze Zhu Xi’s players will also throw Palace Guards into that early push. Palace Guards are fast, hit hard for Feudal Age units, and most Bronze English players aren’t used to seeing heavy infantry that early in the game.
The good news? Bronze players running this strategy are almost always all-in on the early aggression. If you survive it and their push fails, their economy is rarely in good enough shape to recover cleanly. That’s your window.
What Makes This Matchup Hard at Bronze
The honest answer is information overload and panic.
When you see a civ you don’t fully understand doing something you didn’t expect, it’s easy to freeze up, make bad decisions, or just start throwing units at the problem without a real plan. That’s what Zhu Xi’s Legacy counts on at Bronze. The civ isn’t necessarily broken at this level — the players using it are just betting you don’t know how to respond.
The second problem is that English’s natural instinct is to play defensively and economically, which is usually fine — except when you play so passively that you give the Zhu Xi’s player an entire Feudal Age to mass 30 Zhuge Nu unopposed. That’s when it starts to feel impossible.
Your Counter-Strategy as English
Here’s the good news: English is actually well-equipped to handle this matchup. You just need to know how.
Scout early and watch for multiple Archery Ranges. The moment you see two Archery Ranges going up near their Town Center with an Imperial Official parked next to them, you know what’s coming. That’s your warning shot. Start preparing immediately.
Get Palisade Walls around your villagers’ resource lines. I know, I know — walls feel boring. But Zhuge Nu are short range and slow. They cannot chase villagers through a palisade effectively, and they cannot tear walls down quickly. A few segments of cheap Palisade Wall around your key resource drops buys you time and often completely kills the rush’s momentum. At Bronze level, most Zhu Xi’s players will just bounce off a walled resource line and not have a backup plan.
Longbowmen are your best friend in this matchup. Zhuge Nu are light ranged units. Longbows have more range, more damage per shot, and fire from a safe distance. Get your Archery Range up in Feudal and start producing Longbows. You don’t need a massive army — even a handful of Longbowmen positioned behind your palisades will absolutely punish a Zhuge Nu push. The key word there is positioned. Don’t send them charging out into the open; let the Zhuge Nu walk toward you and pick them off from range.
Men-at-Arms as frontline protection. If Palace Guards show up with the Zhuge Nu (which they will against better Bronze players), you want some Men-at-Arms in front of your Longbows to soak up damage. English Men-at-Arms are solid in Feudal Age. A small mix of MAA up front and Longbows in the back is a combo that handles both parts of the Zhu Xi’s Feudal push cleanly.
Fortify your Town Center. English TC arrows hit hard. Garrison your villagers the moment you see the push incoming, get the defensive arrow upgrade, and make your opponent pay for walking into TC range. A lot of Bronze pushes die right there.
Don’t stop producing villagers. This one’s easy to forget when panic sets in. Your economy is how you win this game long term. Trust your defenses, keep the villager queue running, and come out of the Feudal Age skirmish with a stronger economy than your opponent — which you absolutely can do if the Zhu Xi’s push fails.
If You’re Losing by Minute 10
If the Zhuge Nu are already in your base and things are getting messy:
Pull your villagers toward your TC and garrison the ones in danger. Don’t try to run them across the map — that’s how you lose them. Get them to safety and let the TC arrows do work.
Rally whatever Longbows you have and force the engagement near your TC, where you’ve got arrow support. Even five or six Longbows will evaporate Zhuge Nu at close range if they’re all firing together.
Do not panic-produce units at the expense of villagers. I’ve made this mistake more times than I want to admit. One bad Feudal Age push is recoverable. A dead economy isn’t.
And honestly? If you’ve walled, you have a TC, and you have any Longbows at all, a Bronze Zhu Xi’s push in Feudal Age is very beatable. They’re counting on you not doing those three things. Do them.
Key Things to Prioritize
- Scout immediately — watch for multiple Archery Ranges and the Imperial Official hovering near military production
- Palisade Walls around exposed resources — Zhuge Nu hate walls, they literally cannot deal with them efficiently
- Longbowmen as your primary military investment — they counter Zhuge Nu directly and cleanly
- A handful of Men-at-Arms to deal with Palace Guard pressure
- Keep villager production running no matter what
- TC garrison and defensive arrow upgrade — let your TC do the heavy lifting while your army forms up
Rocco’s Quick Summary
Here’s the thing about Zhu Xi’s Legacy at Bronze — it only feels overwhelming if you’re not ready for it. The civ is doing something genuinely clever with fast Feudal production and early Zhuge Nu pressure, and it works because most Bronze players have never seen it before and don’t know how to respond.
But once you know it’s coming? English has every tool you need to shut it down. Wall your resources, get Longbows out, garrison your TC when the push hits, and keep your economy humming. The Zhu Xi’s player almost certainly went all-in on that Feudal push. Survive it, come out of it with a stronger economy, and the game starts turning in your favor.
This is matchup two in the Climbing the Ladder series. Next up I’ll keep working through English’s Bronze matchups, so if this helped, stick around.
And if you’ve faced a Zhu Xi’s Legacy player in Bronze and have no idea how you survived (or didn’t), drop it in the comments. Let’s talk it through.
⚙️ What I Play On
If you’re grinding ranked and your setup is working against you, here’s the gear I personally use. No fluff — just what’s actually on my desk.
- 🖱️ Mouse: TUF M4 Gaming Mouse — ASUS did a great job with this one. Precise, comfortable, and it’s held up well through a lot of AoE4 sessions.
- ⌨️ Keyboard: RK-M75 Mechanical Keyboard — My first mechanical keyboard. It took some getting used to but I wouldn’t go back now.
- 🖱️ Mouse Mat: Gaming Mouse Mat — Turns your whole desk into a gaming surface. Once you go full desk mat you won’t go back.
- 🎧 Headset: Redragon Headset — Switched to this for my PC setup and the quality surprised me for the price.
Next up: How to Beat Chinese as English in AoE4 (Bronze Tier Matchup Guide)
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