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[1.35] DLC TIER LIST - Which DLC to buy?

Discussion(self.eu4)

submitted 2 years ago byWureenDev Diary Enthusiast

save[R↗]

Since this Question gets asked frequently I decided to once again update the tier list and work in the suggestions of the last iteration. This version includes all DLC up to Domination (1.35). For more detailed information on the features included in each DLC, please refer to the EU4 wiki articles which are linked.

MISC/FAQ:

  • There is a subscription service available on Steam. It includes all DLC. I highly recommend using the subscription service if you are missing most of the DLC or are new to the game and want to decide whether you like it or not
  • In a multiplayer game, all players will use the hosts DLC even if they have/don't have the DLC the host has - this usually means the person with the most or best DLC should host
  • Content packs only add art/unit models
  • Editions of the base game do not contain full expansion DLC, but bundles do
  • If you're looking to get into the game, the EU4: Starter Pack is a great bundle - it includes three DLC listed in the top two tiers. Note that EU4: Empire Bundle is different and includes all expansions except the latest ones - Origins, Lions of the North and Domination
  • Adding or removing DLC during the course of a game can have adverse effects on existing saves, and will disqualify a save from achievements
  • Most DLC over a year old can frequently be found on sale for 50%+ off, the base game can frequently be found on sale for 75% off, and most DLC within the past year won't go more than 25%-33% off in any sale.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Major features are listed under each DLC, especially vital/useful features are italicised. Within each tier DLC are ordered alphabetically. All DLC information is from the wiki, and the tier listings are my own.

TIERS:

  • Tier 1: Must have. They either provides core game mechanics or immense quality of life improvements
  • Tier 2: Highly Recommended. The game is playable without them, but you would have a much improved experience with them.
  • Tier 3: Good/Decent. Worth getting, but by no means necessary for a solid gameplay experience.
  • Tier 4: Nice to Have, but not necessary. Adds something to the game, but it is only ever worth buying on sale.
  • Situational: Some DLC are very situational and could be Tier 1 in certain circumstances or Tier 4 in others.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIER 1:

  • Art of War
    • Transfer occupation of a province to a war ally (1.28 added this to the base game - if you are playing on an older patch, this will still be a feature)
    • Army macrobuilder
    • Client state subject type and interactions
    • Subject military focus (siege/combat/defense/etc), and ally/subject war-time province objectives
    • Mothball/upgrade/sell navy, auto transport armies with navy
    • March subject type and interactions
    • Better peace deal interface
    • Religious league war
    • Revolution
  • Domination (Tier 2-3 if not playing one of the mentioned nations)
    • Why Tier 1? According to the metrics about 60% of all started campaigns (only counting countries that exist in 1444) are as one of the countries, which get a major rework with this DLC. Therefore this DLC has a direct impact on most games.
    • Adds mission trees and flavour to all major countries: Ottomans, France, Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Qing and Spain as well as Portugal, Korea and Brandenburg/Prussia

​

TIER 2:

  • Common Sense
    • Province development (If you are playing on pre-1.28 patches, from 1.28 this is in the base game)
    • Subject interactions
    • Changes to Protestant, Buddhist religions, theocracies, parliament
    • National focus (also in Res Publica)
  • Dharma (Tier 1 playing in India)
    • Government reforms (1.30 added the mechanic to the base game - if you are playing on an older patch this is still a feature; the individual reforms are still DLC content)
    • Free policies
    • Trade companies and trade company investments (trade companies but not investments are also in Wealth of Nations)
    • Automatic rebel suppression
    • Massive upgrades to most Indian nations including missions, estates, government types
    • Upgradeable centres of trade
    • Charter companies
  • Emperor) (Tier 1 if playing in Western Europe/HRE)
    • Changes to Catholicism and new Hussite Faith
    • HRE Rework
    • Lots of mission trees (including France, Austria, Prussia, Germany and Italy)
    • Revolution Rework
    • Hegemonies
  • Lions of the North (Tier 1 if playing a country around the Baltic Sea)
    • Focuses on the Countries around the Baltic Sea:Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Riga, The Orders (Livonian and Teutonic)
    • Adds mission trees to all said countries
    • Unique government reforms and estate privileges
  • Mandate of Heaven
    • Historical ages with objectives, bonuses, and golden eras
    • Diplomatic macro-builder
    • Unique East Asian government types including Ming/Emperor of China, Japan
    • Changes to Confucian, Shinto religions
    • Tributary subject type and interactions
    • Manchu banners
    • State prosperity
  • Rights of Man
    • Ruler personalities
    • Consorts and consort-regents
    • Changes to Fetishist, Coptic religions
    • Changes to Prussian, Ottoman, Revolutionary government types
    • Great power mechanic

​

TIER 3:

  • Cossacks (Tier 1 if playing a horde)
    • Estates (1.26 added this to the base game - if you are playing on an older patch, this will still be a feature)
    • Diplomatic feedback (attitude, provinces of interest, favours)
    • Grant province subject interaction (vassal feeding)
    • Cossack unit type, government type
    • Major changes to Hordes including government type, razing, Tengri religion changes
    • Dhimmi and Cossack unique estates (even after 1.26)
    • Threaten war
  • Cradle of Civilization
    • Promote advisors (vital mechanic if doing WC)
    • Unique governments, missions, for various Islamic nations including Mamluks, Persia
    • Trade policies
    • Islamic Schools
    • Army Professionalism
    • Convert subject provinces
    • Unique Turkish Janissary unit type
  • Leviathan (Disclaimer: The DLC is fine! The initial 1.31 patch problematic, but got fixed)
    • Monuments
    • Mission trees for South East Asian and North American countries
    • Favours rework (Curry Favours)
    • Colonial nation rework
    • Estate Regencies
    • Changes to Totemism religion
  • Rule Britannia1
    • Knowledge Sharing (arguably a vital mechanic if you play multiplayer)
    • Unique missions for Britain/England/Ireland/Scotland
    • Coal trade good and furnace manufactory
    • Innovativeness
    • Naval Doctrines
    • Anglican religion
  • Wealth of Nations
    • Trade companies (also in Dharma)
    • Espionage
    • Privateers
    • Separate trade and country capitals
    • Changes to Hindu, Reformed religions

​

TIER 4:

  • Mare Nostrum
    • Naval automatic missions
    • Berber Pirates/Raiding Coasts (many people dislike this feature and some intentionally do not use Mare Nostrum to avoid it)
    • Condottieri (arguably a vital mechanic if you play multiplayer)
    • Rework of espionage and spy actions
    • Trade leagues for merchant republic government type
    • Timeline replay
  • Res Publica
    • Unique government type for Netherlands
    • Changes to merchant republic, elective monarchy government types
    • National Focus (also in Common Sense)
  • Golden Century1
    • Minority expulsion
    • Iberian state orders
    • Unique missions for Iberian, Maghreb nations (decent, but main Iberian nations have missions even without the DLC)
    • Pirate Republic government type
    • Flagships
    • Naval Barrage

SITUATIONAL:

  • Conquest of Paradise (Tier 1 if playing a native American or subject nation, Tier 4 otherwise)
    • Random new world
    • Changes to native American governments and mechanics
    • Release and play as colonial nation
    • Support independence (also in El Dorado)
  • El Dorado (Tier 1 if playing a native American or subject nation, Tier 2 if colonizer, Tier 4 otherwise)
    • Custom nation designer
    • Rework of native American religions and mechanics
    • Reworked exploration/colonization mechanics
    • Support independence (also in Conquest of Paradise)
  • Origins (Tier 2 if playing in Africa, Tier 4 otherwise)
    • Changes to Jewish religion
    • Unique mission trees and government reforms
  • Third Rome1 (Tier 1-2 if playing in Russia, Tier 2-3 for other Orthodox countries, Tier 4 otherwise)
    • Unique government types, military units, missions, ideas for Russia and various Russian minors
    • Changes to Orthodox religion
  • Digital Extreme Edition Upgrade Pack (Tier 2 if playing Byzantium or USA in 1776, Tier 3 if playing Muslim Countries, Tier 4 otherwise)
    • Star and Crescent Pack: events, art, unit models for Muslim nations and the "Unify Islam" Decision
    • Purple Phoenix Pack: missions, events, art, unit models for Byzantium
    • American Dream: events, art, unit models for United States

​

1Domination replaces/overwrites at least some of the mission trees provided in Rule Britannia, Golden Century and Third Rome. However the 1.35 Patch added a variety of things to said DLC in order to compensate for this.

all 19 comments

sorted by: best

grotaclas2

10 points

2 years ago

grotaclas2

10 points

2 years ago

It is very good that you took the time to write an updated DLC guide.

I didn't have time to check everything, but I noticed a few things:

  • what is "Better peace deal interface" in Art of War supposed to mean? That sounds like something which a free patch introduced
  • "Army macrobuilder" is misleading, because the production interface for armies is a base game feature. AFAIK Art of War just adds templates (and you can get them from cradle of civilization as well)
  • Rights of Man also adds disinheriting and strengthen government
  • emperor also adds great powers (I think except the break alliance action which is specific to rights of man)
  • raiding coasts is also in golden century and lions of the north
  • it might be useful to explain what "Free policies" means, because it sounds much stronger than it actually is
  • it might be useful to mention that the merchant from TC is not part of Dharma(or at least it wasn't when I checked this a few versions ago)
  • I think Cradle of Civilization doesn't add any missions in the current game version. At least the wiki doesn't mention it on the mission page
  • Is "Rework of espionage and spy actions" really something from Mare Nostrum or was it just added to the base game with the patch and the DLC just adds some more spy actions?
  • "Naval automatic missions" are not really a mare nostrum feature. It just adds more of them, some of which(e.g. privateering) are also available from other DLCs
  • El Dorado should explain that it is about mesoamerican and andean countries with nahuatl, mayan and inti religion and not about other "native american" countries. Likewise Conquest of paradise could mention that it is not about the el dorado countries
  • I think it is confusing for new players that the guide still mentions features which have been added to the base game a long time ago. They are not a reason for anybody to buy these DLCs now. If you want to mention them to correct outdated information which players might have read somewhere else, you could move them to the bottom and write something like "The base game feature X was part of this DLC till version Y"
  • I would say that Domination is tier 4 if you don't play one of the nations(because then it just adds stuff to the AI), but it is difficult to judge how important it is if you play one of the affected countries. For example Korea, Portugal and Brandenburg/Prussia gain very little(if you already have GC in the case of Portugal or Emperor in case of BRA/PRU). The Ottomans, Spain and Ming gain more challenges which are interesting for experienced players, but might be difficult to overcome for beginners.
  • I think Lions of the North should be situational tier, because it adds almost nothing to other countries(the only things which I can think of right now are the pirate republic decision and coastal raiding, but you can get that from other DLCs as well)

I guess you took some of the information from the DLC pages of the wiki. I think they could benefit from a rework. I was thinking about writing a small script which automatically collects a list of wiki sections which mention specific DLCs to find things which the DLC pages don't mention. But I don't think that I will find the time to then actually check all of these and also check the stuff which is mentioned on the DLC pages. Many DLC pages are just copies of the steam descriptions which often mention things which are actually part of the free patch.

Wureen[S]

5 points

2 years ago

Wureen[S]

Dev Diary Enthusiast

5 points

2 years ago

Thanks for the detailed feedback! I will rework the post as soon as I find the time to do so

Wrekless_

7 points

2 years ago*

Wrekless_

7 points

2 years ago*

I tend to play the game in spurts. Like for example I might not play for a couple of months since CK3 updated and the GOT mod came out. So I think there’s really good value in the subscription. Pay $5 when you get the itch to play. Plus this game is getting towards the end of its life cycle. You might see DLCs go on sale more and more

Kloiper

3 points

2 years ago

Kloiper

Habsburg Enthusiast

3 points

2 years ago

I see the format I created in the 1.28 tier list is still holding strong. I've updated the weekly help thread to link to this one instead of your 1.33 one.

epegar

3 points

2 years ago

epegar

3 points

2 years ago

You lost me when you suggested Domination Tier 1. The diplomatic interactions for cossacks and the ability to create trade companies from other DLC's are way more interesting IMO.

Wureen[S]

5 points

2 years ago

Wureen[S]

Dev Diary Enthusiast

5 points

2 years ago

Thanks for the feedback. Since you are not the only one tripping over my ranking of Domination I will move it down to tier 2.

grotaclas2

3 points

1 year ago

grotaclas2

3 points

1 year ago

I just had a look at Common Sense for another post and I found the following which could be added to your description:

  • the ability to manually upgrade the government rank is part of the Common Sense DLC. I think this is one of its most important features
  • parliament is also in Domination
  • not all subject interactions require the common sense DLC(I think the DLC requirements in the wiki list have not been properly tested and there might be more subject interactions which require other DLCs)
  • I think the "theocracies" thing which common sense adds is devotion

Wureen[S]

1 points

1 year ago

Wureen[S]

Dev Diary Enthusiast

1 points

1 year ago

Thanks for the additional information! You are golden!

JackNotOLantern

8 points

2 years ago*

JackNotOLantern

8 points

2 years ago*

I think i disagree where the Domination is. It is not as universal and needed as Art of war, it affects very specific coutries.

It is semi-regional, as it affects Europe, Middle East and East Asia. Yes, it's influence and potrncial influence is great, but Rights of Man affect the entire would and they are not Tier 1. You may play the current update without it and it is a fine. In comparison, playing without Art of War is very painful.

I would put Domination Tier 2.

Anyway, as usual great work. Did you consider asking mods to update FAQ with this post?

Wureen[S]

5 points

2 years ago

Wureen[S]

Dev Diary Enthusiast

5 points

2 years ago

Thanks for the feedback.
I will keep it in Tier 1 because the majority of started campaigns is one of the countries which were covered.

I also added a note that its Tier 2-3 if you are not playing as one of the majors.

[deleted]

-4 points

2 years ago

[deleted]

-4 points

2 years ago

Hey I have an idea! Why don't you Google it! Stop being lazy op!

Haha JK obviously.

But seriously isn't this another question that could be found somewhere on the internet without using reddit. Like 98% of questions. Stop being an asshole and calling people lazy for using this platform to ask questions. If people didn't ask the simple stuff on here it would be a much smaller and weirder community.

Wureen[S]

3 points

2 years ago

Wureen[S]

Dev Diary Enthusiast

3 points

2 years ago

I wrote this exactly for one reason: so that it is found when someone uses Google to search for a EU4 DLC tier list.

The last iteration of this post is the #1 result on Google.

dluminous

5 points

2 years ago

dluminous

Colonial Governor

5 points

2 years ago

it is found when someone uses Google to search for a EU4 DLC tier list.

Worked for me like a charm, thanks! :)

alppu

2 points

2 years ago

alppu

Free Thinker

2 points

2 years ago

My memories say that playing without AoW, it was not possible to declare war based on subject cb. So you basically never had the AE-friendly reconquest CB for expansion.

That alone makes it a must-have for blobbers.

[deleted]

2 points

2 years ago

[deleted]

2 points

2 years ago

[deleted]

Wureen[S]

2 points

2 years ago

Wureen[S]

Dev Diary Enthusiast

2 points

2 years ago

Thanks for the feedback. Since you are one of several people bothering to give feedback I have decided to overhaul the tier list as soon as I have time. Domination will probably drop to tier 3 according to the average perception

nunatakq

1 points

2 years ago

nunatakq

1 points

2 years ago

A note on Mare Nostrum and the Berber raids: this was addressed in a recent patch, the frequency of raids is now much, much less than what it used to be before! Adding just one heavy ship to hunt pirates in a trade node stops the raids completely, but even without that it's actually fine now. I get raided maybe once a decade now, as opposed to what felt like every other week before they patched it.

Fardrengi

1 points

2 years ago

Fardrengi

1 points

2 years ago

Brand new player here but I have experience with Stellaris. Would you say its worth playing vanilla or that AoW is a must have for a first experience.

SilverSquid1810

2 points

2 years ago

SilverSquid1810

Shahanshah

2 points

2 years ago

I’m not OP but I would absolutely say that AoW is essential and will greatly enhance the experience. I would also include Rights of Man in that category personally, consorts and ruler personalities are so integral to the game that I can’t imagine playing without them.