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Claims and Casus Belli (Guide) - Crusader Kings II Wiki

Claims and Casus Belli (Guide)

From Crusader Kings II Wiki
If you don't have a casus belli against an independent realm, you cannot go to war against it. If you do have one you can go to war, but what happens
upon winning, losing, or stalemating the war depends upon the casus belli you are pushing. In any single war you can only push a single casus belli, so you
should make sure to push whichever casus belli benefits you the most. With the exception of the Tribal Invasion CB, all CBs incur a 10-year truce. Do
note that truces only apply to a specific character, and only the attacker is restricted. So if the attacker or defender dies, the truce is moot, and the
defender can attack back at any time.

Contents
1 The Basics
2 Claim CBs
3 De Jure CBs
4 Change Law CBs
5 Independence CB
6 Depose Liege CB
7 Overthrow Ruler CB
8 Dispute Succession CB
9 Invasion CB
10 Tribal Invasion CB
11 Crusade CB
12 Religious War CB
13 Religious Assistance CB
14 Excommunicated Ruler CB
15 Gaining CBs
16 Using Your CBs
17 Summary

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The Basics
If you don't have a casus belli against an independent realm, you cannot go to war against it. If you do have one you can go to war, but what happens
upon winning, losing, or stalemating the war depends upon the casus belli you are pushing. In any single war you can only push a single casus belli, so you
should make sure to push whichever casus belli benefits you the most. With the exception of the Tribal Invasion CB, all CBs incur a 10-year truce.

Claim CBs
Most casus belli, if one discounts rebellion CBs, are based around claims. If you or one of your vassals have a claim upon a title in a realm, you can push
this claim through war. If you have multiple personal claims upon a single realm you can push all of them at once, but you can only push a single claim for
any other character per war.
If you have a claim upon a title you have a certain 'right' to this title. Upon winning a claim war you, or the person you were pushing the claim for, will gain
this title, and if you were pushing it for someone their opinion of you will increase by 100, and you'll gain 100 prestige. If it ends in a stalemate you'll lose
100 prestige, and if it ends in loss, the claim will be lost in addition to 200 prestige. When pushing a vassal's claim and losing you'll have to pay
concessions.

De Jure CBs
If you or a vassal hold a duchy, where part of this duchy is owned by another independent realm, you can push a de jure claim upon one of the counties
held by the other realm. Even if the other realm holds more than one county you can only push a single de jure CB at once.
Unlike regular claims, de jure claims cannot be lost unless you lose control of the duchy. Losing a war merely means a loss of 200 prestige, while you'll
still keep the de jure CB. If you win you'll gain the county as a vassal, or if you were pushing the de jure claim for someone else they'll gain the county as
a vassal, have their opinion of you increased by 100, and you'll gain 100 prestige. When pushing a vassal's claim and losing you'll have to pay
concessions.

Change Law CBs

There are several CBs based around changing realm laws, both crown and succession law. In total there are five, changing to Gavelkind, Elective,
Seniority, or Primogeniture, and lowering crown authority.
The first four can be used on your liege as long as they don't have the succession type in question. The lower crown authority CB can be used on your
liege if he's a king or emperor. You cannot use these CBs more than one step up the chain, so if for example you're a vassal of the King of Bohemia you
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cannot try to lower crown authority in the Holy Roman Empire.

If you win the war, the law in question will be instituted. If you stalemate or lose you'll lose 100/200 prestige.

Independence CB
As long as you're someone's vassal, you can try to achieve independence through war. If you win you'll be independent and if the liege you're rebelling
from is a king or emperor, crown authority will be lowered one step. If you stalemate you'll lose 100 prestige, and if you lose you'll be imprisoned and
lose 200 prestige. Like with changing law, you cannot use this CB more than one step up the chain.

Depose Liege CB
As long as no one else is trying to depose your liege, and your liege is not attempting to depose someone else or declaring independence, you can
attempt to depose your liege. Upon victory crown authority will be lowered by one step (if the deposed liege is a king or emperor), and your liege will
depose to the eligible heir you like the most. If you stalemate you'll lose 100 prestige, and if you lose you'll be imprisoned and lose 200 prestige. Like
with changing law, you cannot use this CB more than one step up the chain.

Overthrow Ruler CB
As long as you're someone's vassal, you can try to overthrow him and take the title for yourself. Upon victory you'll gain the title and some prestige, and
if the ruler you overthrew was a king or emperor, crown authority will go down one step. In addition, if your liege held any other titles, he'll be forced to
abdicate them to his heir. If you stalemate you'll lose 100 prestige, and if you lose you'll lose 200 prestige and be imprisoned. Like with changing law, you
cannot use this CB more than one step up the chain.

Dispute Succession CB
If you're a pretender to your liege's throne, or someone in your realm is a pretender to any throne, you can dispute the succession. Upon victory you (or
the person you disputed the succession for) will gain the throne, and if it was a kingdom or empire crown authority will be reduced by one. White peace
is impossible. If you lose, you'll be imprisoned, lose 200 prestige, and lose the claim.

Invasion CB
If you have a claim upon a throne or you're smaller than the realm in question (that is, you have fewer holdings in your realm), and the Pope condones
your invasion (costing you 500 piety), you can use the invasion CB. Upon victory you'll get the throne in question, 400 prestige, and every occupied
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holding. As such, you should occupy every holding before enforcing demands, as then you can install your own nobles. If you stalemate you'll lose 100
prestige. If you lose you'll lose 200 prestige, and have to pay concessions, and you'll lose your claim upon the throne.

Tribal Invasion CB
You'll never get to use this CB unless you mod the game. It essentially just lets tribes like the Golden Horde and the Timurids attack anyone they
neighbor, and take their lands. It works the same as the invasion CB for the most part. Any outcome incurs a mere 1-year truce.

Crusade CB
If the Pope has called a crusade, you can declare war upon the target. Upon victory you will gain all holdings (as long as they're occupied by you, or
unoccupied) in the targeted duchy and 100 piety. If you stalemate you'll lose 50 piety and 100 prestige, and if you lose you'll lose 150 piety and 200
prestige.

Religious War CB
If you're in a different religious group than your target, your target is heretic, or you are heretic, you can declare a religious war. Upon victory you'll gain
50 prestige and all holdings (as long as they're occupied by you, or unoccupied) in the targeted duchy. If you stalemate you'll lose 50 piety and 100
prestige, and if you lose you'll lose 150 piety, 200 prestige, and be forced to pay concessions.

Religious Assistance CB
If another realm in your religion is being targeted by a Religious War CB, you can declare war upon the aggressor. The point of this is merely to prevent
your own religion from shrinking. Winning the war will give you 50 piety and prestige, stalemating will lose you 50 piety and 100 prestige, and losing will
lose you 150 piety, 200 prestige, and you'll be forced to pay concessions.

Excommunicated Ruler CB
If someone has the same head of religion as you, and has been excommunicated, you can declare war upon them. Victory will give you 10 to 70 piety
and 50 to 400 prestige depending on the excommunicated ruler's rank, and the target will be re-communicated and forced to abdicate. A white peace
will lose you 50 piety and 100 prestige. Losing will lose you 100 piety, 200 prestige, and you'll be forced to pay concessions.

Gaining CBs
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While some of these CBs you'll have merely due to your position, like the independence CB and the law change CBs, many of these can be gained on
purpose.
First, the easiest type of CB to gain are claims. There are four primary ways to gain claims:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Forge the claim. This doesn't work for anything above the ducal level (skill of 15 needed to forge a ducal claim)
Marry someone who has an inheritable claim. Your children will have the claim and you can then push it
Marry someone in your dynasty to someone who has an inheritable claim. Their children will have the claim, and you'll be able to push it
Invite someone with a claim to your court. You'll then be able to push it

Second, de jure claims are also relatively easy to gain. If you can create a duchy that overlaps another realm's territory, this will gain you a de jure claim,
and the same applies if you usurp it. In addition, after pushing a claim for a duchy, you'll often have de jure claims.
Third, dispute succession CBs can, like general claims, be gained by inviting someone with that CB to your realm.
Fourth, excommunication CBs are easy to get as long as the pope likes you, but these won't help you grow your realm. They're good for gaining some
prestige, though.
Fifth, you can get religious war CBs on essentially the entire world if you convert to a Christian heresy. The easiest way to get heresy to appear so that
you can convert is appointing an antipope, as this lowers the moral authority of the church. The lower the moral authority of the church, the more likely
heresy is to spread. Then upon the first chance you get, you should change to whatever heresy arises. You'll now have CBs upon everyone except other
realms following the same heresy. So while the drawbacks of heresy are severe (-30 opinion with all non-heretics, and increased rebel risk), the
advantages when it comes to expansion are huge.

Using Your CBs

Pushing your own claims and similar is rather straight forward. When pushing someone else's claim however you have to be careful, or they'll end up as
an independent realm. They'll only be your vassal if they are already your vassal, they're in your dynasty, or the claim you pushed was for an area that is
de jure part of your realm. If the title they took is at the same level as yours or above they'll be independent even if any of the above conditions apply,
unless you have a liege above you where the conditions still apply.
The easiest way to ensure that they'll be part of your realm after pushing their claim is granting them a county in your realm first. The only way they can
become independent then as a result of the claim pushed, is if the title they gain is at the same tier as yours, or higher.

Summary
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Casus belli and claims are easy to gain as long as you know what you're doing. Following these tips you should be able to expand easily.
All wars except tribal invasions incur 10 years of truce
Marry claimants with inheritable claims to gain more claims
Marry your dynasty members to characters with inheritable claims
Invite males with inheritable claims and grant them a county
Invite pretenders and grant them a county
Make the pope love you and you can farm prestige off of excommunication
Go heretic and you'll have CBs on everyone
Create or usurp duchies that overlap the territory of other realms
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