Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op launches on October 29, 2026, letting you tackle Crucible missions with one other player. You can invite a friend or join Standard Quick Match, but the way you find a teammate changes which missions you can enter. That’s particularly important if you own different expansions.
You only need Raiders of the North or Dynasties of the East to unlock the co-op mode. For an invited mission, though, both players must own the DLC containing it. Quick Match has an exception, so you might be placed into a mission you can’t select yourself. Here’s how to get a game running without buying the wrong expansion.
How to play Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op with friends
After installing Update 17.0, open The Crucible, select Standard, Conqueror or Custom, and bring a second player into your lobby. Choose a mission both players own, set your difficulty and begin when you’re ready. The developer’s preview shows a lobby for two players. The precise invite button may differ between the PC and console menus.
For Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op, mission ownership matters more than who hosts. A Raiders of the North mission requires both players to own Raiders. A Dynasties of the East mission requires both to own Dynasties. If your friend has only the other expansion, you can’t unlock a mission just by sending them an invite.
Do both players need DLC for Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op?
Yes, if you’re inviting a friend to a mission you’ve chosen. That rule applies in Standard, Conqueror and Custom. Both players must own the DLC for the selected mission. It doesn’t matter if the host has purchased both expansions; the invited player still needs the appropriate one.
Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op itself is unlocked by owning either expansion. Both also grant access to the core Boons, Boon Ascension and Talent Tracks. You’re only restricted when choosing missions from the DLC you don’t own. The table below shows how the rules change between an invited game and the automatic queue.
| Session | Ownership rule |
|---|---|
| Solo | Own either Dynasties of the East or Raiders of the North |
| Invited co-op lobby | Both players need the DLC containing the selected mission |
| Standard Quick Match | Own either DLC to queue; you may occasionally join a mission from the other DLC |
| Conqueror or Custom co-op | Invite a friend to your lobby; no automatic queue for these modes |
How does Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op quick matchmaking work?
For a random teammate, choose Standard Mode and enter Co-op Quick Match. You’ll pick a difficulty and be matched only with people looking for that same difficulty. You can also down-vote up to three missions to make them less likely to come up, although those votes don’t guarantee that a mission will be excluded.
Here’s the exception: Standard Quick Match can place you into a mission from the DLC you don’t own. You must own at least one Crucible expansion to enter the queue, and the system makes missions from the other expansion less likely. It doesn’t ban them outright, because that would make matchmaking take longer. This temporary access through the queue doesn’t unlock a mission for solo play or invited lobbies.
For example, if you only own Dynasties of the East, you can’t invite a friend and manually select Sea Raiders from Raiders of the North. However, Standard Quick Match may put you into Sea Raiders automatically. That’s a matchmaking result, not proof that your account now owns Raiders.
Does Conqueror or Custom have matchmaking?
Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op uses automatic matchmaking only in Standard Mode. You can play Conqueror or Custom alone, but a two-player session requires the other player to join your lobby before starting. Both players still need the DLC associated with the mission you’ve chosen.
Conqueror rotates missions and mutators weekly, with a fixed allowance of 5,000 Perk Points and a leaderboard based on score rather than simply the fastest completion. Custom lets you choose your Mutators and use unlocked progression. You can play either solo, but if you want co-op, you’ll need to invite someone instead of searching a queue.
Which Crucible missions support two players?
Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op works with all four new Raiders of the North missions: Sea Raiders, Scottish Isthmus, Lost Desert and Thunder & Trumpets. The four original Dynasties of the East missions also gain co-op support in Update 17.0. Every mission remains playable solo.
The four Raiders missions feature Viking longship attacks, defence of Scottish villages, Templar desert fortresses and elephant cavalry in a jungle setting. Our Raiders of the North guide explains the missions and the two new civilizations. Each expansion has its own four missions, so plan around what you and your friend can both select.
Does Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op share solo progression and scores?
Yes, progression carries across. Perk Points, Boon upgrades and civilization Talent Track progression earned in solo play remain available in co-op, and progress earned together is available when you return to solo. Your best scores and times are recorded separately for solo and co-op, so one won’t overwrite the other’s records.
In Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op, you can trade resources with your teammate from Age I without first constructing a Market. Mongol Stone trading restrictions still apply. The developer also says difficulty is scaled for two players: if you normally play on Hard, choosing Hard with a teammate is meant to provide a comparable challenge.
Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op not working?
If Age of Empires IV Crucible Co-op isn’t appearing, check these in order: Update 17.0 must be installed, you must own at least one Crucible DLC, and for an invited game both players must own the DLC for the chosen mission. If you’re looking for a matchmaking button in Conqueror or Custom, there isn’t one. Use Standard Quick Match or invite a teammate into those modes.
You don’t need to restart all of your progress to play co-op. However, the same update makes older-build saved matches and replays incompatible with the new game version. Finish an important saved match before installing the patch, and see our Update 17.0 guide if you need to know what happens to older files.
Related Guides
Official developer source: The Crucible Reforged in Age of Empires IV.
