Age of Empires IV How to Capture Sacred Sites

In Ages of Empires IV you can capture Sacred Sites. If you capture and hold all of them, you can win the match without having to destroy the enemy’s base.

This guide explains how to capture Scared Sites in Age of Empires 4:

1. First you must reach Age III by building Landmarks that advance the age. You do this by clicking on a villager (worker), then select the 5th icon in the 1st row on the bottom left window. Each landmark advances to the next age (I > II > III > IV), so keep doing this until you reach Age III.
2. At Age III you unlock the Religious building (Monastery / Mosque etc. depending on your civilization). Click on any villager (worker) and it will be the top icon of the Age III buildings. Create this building. Click on the building to create religious units such as Monks.
3. Bring your religious unit to a Sacred Site and he will capture it. These are the only units in the game that can capture Sacred Sites.

To “neutralize” a Sacred Site from an enemy you don’t necessarily need a monk. For this, it’s enough to have any enemy unit stand in the Sacred Site. But to actually capture it and make it yours, you will need the Monk. Always keep a few Monks safely in your base so you can send them out to capture Sacred Sites.

Bonus Tips for capturing & defending Sacred Sites:

• Building a Town Center (Age II building) near it is a good idea. This allows you to quickly make Villagers nearby, which you can then use to craft defensive structures.
• You can try to fence in the Sacred Site behind many Keeps and Outposts. Be sure to fully upgrade the Keeps too. Keep a few military units around, if the enemy attacks with siege weapons you’ll want to focus your melee units on the Siege Weapons first to burn them down. Those are the most dangerous to your defensive structures. The Keeps and Outposts will shred any enemy infantry and cavalry, they don’t have much of a chance against 4 Keeps + several Outposts. The only way they could break through is with Siege Weaponry or if you have absolutely no military units nearby. Once a site is well-defended, it frees up your army to focus on other sites.
• Focus on capturing and holding 2 sites as early as possible, and don’t lose them. If the enemy captures one, immediately retake it. Once the enemy has more Sacred Sites than you, it puts you at a big disadvantage. If the enemy keeps holding the site, they might make lots of defensive structures which makes it harder to retake it. Being quick to make military units early on, and to reach Age III quickly, is vital to gain the upper hand.
• Focus a large portion of your workforce on mining stone. It’s the primary resource for building Keeps and upgrading them. Outposts can be made relatively cheaply with Wood. On their own they won’t hold off an entire army, but together with 4-5 Keeps it would be very costly for the enemy to break through.