diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/pre-initializers/dynamic-route-builders.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/pre-initializers/dynamic-route-builders.js.es6
index 879c2d37daa..26ac79cd02b 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/pre-initializers/dynamic-route-builders.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/pre-initializers/dynamic-route-builders.js.es6
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ export default {
     app.DiscoveryCategoryNoneRoute = buildCategoryRoute("default", {
       no_subcategories: true
     });
+    app.DiscoveryCategoryWithIDRoute = buildCategoryRoute("default");
 
     const site = Site.current();
     site.get("filters").forEach(filter => {
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/app-route-map.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/app-route-map.js.es6
index 36c3e3a6e55..dc8cdf92f63 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/app-route-map.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/app-route-map.js.es6
@@ -22,44 +22,55 @@ export default function() {
   this.route("topicBySlugOrId", { path: "/t/:slugOrId", resetNamespace: true });
 
   this.route("discovery", { path: "/", resetNamespace: true }, function() {
+    // legacy route
+    this.route("topParentCategory", { path: "/c/:slug/l/top" });
+
     // top
     this.route("top");
-    this.route("topParentCategory", { path: "/c/:slug/l/top" });
-    this.route("topCategoryNone", { path: "/c/:slug/none/l/top" });
-    this.route("topCategory", { path: "/c/:parentSlug/:slug/l/top" });
+    this.route("topCategoryNone", {
+      path: "/c/*categorySlugPathWithID/none/l/top"
+    });
+    this.route("topCategory", { path: "/c/*categorySlugPathWithID/l/top" });
 
     // top by periods
     Site.currentProp("periods").forEach(period => {
       const top = "top" + period.capitalize();
-      this.route(top, { path: "/top/" + period });
+
+      // legacy route
       this.route(top + "ParentCategory", { path: "/c/:slug/l/top/" + period });
+
+      this.route(top, { path: "/top/" + period });
       this.route(top + "CategoryNone", {
-        path: "/c/:slug/none/l/top/" + period
+        path: "/c/*categorySlugPathWithID/none/l/top/" + period
       });
       this.route(top + "Category", {
-        path: "/c/:parentSlug/:slug/l/top/" + period
+        path: "/c/*categorySlugPathWithID/l/top/" + period
       });
     });
 
     // filters
     Site.currentProp("filters").forEach(filter => {
-      this.route(filter, { path: "/" + filter });
+      // legacy route
       this.route(filter + "ParentCategory", { path: "/c/:slug/l/" + filter });
+
+      this.route(filter, { path: "/" + filter });
       this.route(filter + "CategoryNone", {
-        path: "/c/:slug/none/l/" + filter
+        path: "/c/*categorySlugPathWithID/none/l/" + filter
       });
       this.route(filter + "Category", {
-        path: "/c/:parentSlug/:slug/l/" + filter
+        path: "/c/*categorySlugPathWithID/l/" + filter
       });
     });
 
     this.route("categories");
 
-    // default filter for a category
+    // legacy routes
     this.route("parentCategory", { path: "/c/:slug" });
-    this.route("categoryNone", { path: "/c/:slug/none" });
-    this.route("category", { path: "/c/:parentSlug/:slug" });
     this.route("categoryWithID", { path: "/c/:parentSlug/:slug/:id" });
+
+    // default filter for a category
+    this.route("categoryNone", { path: "/c/*categorySlugPathWithID/none" });
+    this.route("category", { path: "/c/*categorySlugPathWithID" });
   });
 
   this.route("groups", { resetNamespace: true, path: "/g" }, function() {
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/build-category-route.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/build-category-route.js.es6
index d360c11eb05..c7cb74613c3 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/build-category-route.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/build-category-route.js.es6
@@ -16,11 +16,46 @@ export default (filterArg, params) => {
   return DiscourseRoute.extend({
     queryParams,
 
+    serialize(modelParams) {
+      if (!modelParams.categorySlugPathWithID) {
+        modelParams.categorySlugPathWithID = [
+          modelParams.parentSlug,
+          modelParams.slug,
+          modelParams.id
+        ]
+          .filter(x => x)
+          .join("/");
+      }
+
+      return modelParams;
+    },
+
     model(modelParams) {
-      const category = Category.findBySlug(
-        modelParams.slug,
-        modelParams.parentSlug
-      );
+      modelParams = this.serialize(modelParams);
+
+      const parts = modelParams.categorySlugPathWithID.split("/");
+      let category = null;
+
+      if (parts.length > 0 && parts[parts.length - 1].match(/^\d+$/)) {
+        const id = parseInt(parts.pop(), 10);
+
+        category = Category.findByID(id);
+      } else {
+        const [slug, parentSlug] = [...parts].reverse();
+
+        category = Category.findBySlug(slug, parentSlug);
+
+        if (
+          !category &&
+          parts.length > 0 &&
+          parts[parts.length - 1].match(/^\d+-/)
+        ) {
+          const id = parseInt(parts.pop(), 10);
+
+          category = Category.findByID(id);
+        }
+      }
+
       if (category) {
         return { category };
       }
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/discovery-category-with-id.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/discovery-category-with-id.js.es6
deleted file mode 100644
index e5ed07790ef..00000000000
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/discovery-category-with-id.js.es6
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-import Category from "discourse/models/category";
-
-export default Discourse.DiscoveryCategoryRoute.extend({
-  model(params) {
-    return { category: Category.findById(params.id) };
-  }
-});