Best Army Compositions in Europa Universalis 4

Europa Universalis IV (EU4) is a strategy game that demands careful planning and tactical skills, and a crucial aspect of the game is your army’s composition.

The right army composition can be the deciding factor between victory and defeat. Here are some tips on how to create the best army compositions in EU4.

The Best Army Composition in EU4

One may say that there is no single best Army Composition formula. As is the case for many strategy games, context may significantly change what you are going to need. However, the EU4 community has come up with a table to help players who are getting familiarized with the game:

Military Tech Level	Combat Width	Infantry	Cavalry	Cannons	Total
0	15	17	4	0	21
2	20	22	4	0	26
5	22	24	4	0	28
6	24	26	4	0	30
9	25	27	4	0	31
11	27	29	4	0	33
14	29	31	4	0	35
16	30	32	4	30	66
18	32	32	6	32	70
20	34	34	6	34	74
22	36	36	6	36	78
23	36	34	8	36	78
24	38	36	8	38	82
26	40	38	8	40	86

Related: Europa Universalis IV: Leviathan is Now the Lowest Rated Product on Steam

In the early game, it’s all about maximizing your combat width. This means you should build your army to the combat width, with all infantry, minus two slots for cavalry. This can increase to four depending on your nation and even six if your economy is strong and you’re playing a cavalry-buffed nation.

Once artillery becomes available, you should add a minimum of four units, all backline. At this stage, depending on your nation, you might want to drop cavalry completely and go full combat width with infantry and artillery or keep some cavalry around if you have some buffs.

By the late game, your economy should start to significantly outpace combat width. At this point, you should run with about one and a half combat width in infantry to provide backups plus artillery. Some players suggest removing all cavalry in the late game.

- This article was updated on November 10th, 2023