Summary
- Each civilization in Civilization 6 has multiple leaders with unique abilities that complement their civilization's playstyle.
- Governors are important in Civilization 6 as they specialize cities and benefit the civilization. Seondeok's unique ability boosts Science and Culture gain.
- Julius Caesar's unique ability allows him to rapidly acquire wealth through conquest, making him a strong warmongering leader for the Roman civilization.
Due to the numerous numbers of civilizations in Civilization 6, many of the civilizations have multiple leaders that can be chosen with their own sets of unique abilities. For example, the American civilization will have a warmonger tendency while playing with Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Rider persona), but they will play passively with a focus on production while playing with Abraham Lincoln as the leader.
Civilization 6: 9 Best Pantheons To Rush In The Early Game, Ranked
In Civilization 6, the following pantheons are great options for players looking to maximize their early-game potential.
Therefore, each leader's unique abilities are tailored suitably to complement their civilization. Some leaders are also exclusive to their civilization since they might only have one leader available, but the unique ability can be a huge synergy towards the civilization to be considered as a leader with the best unique ability.
7 Seondeok
Governors Become More Powerful Than Ever
- Civilization: Korean
- Unique Ability: Established Governor on a city receives +3% Culture and +3% Science for each promotion that the Governor has.
Governors are one of the most important aspects in Civilization 6, as they allow a city to have a specialization and use the city's advantage to massively benefit the civilization. For example, a governor can be assigned to a city-state to wrest control of suzerainty, while there is also another governor that is useful to boost both Science and Culture gain.
Civilization 6: How to Use Governors
Governors are an essential tool in Civilization 6 Rise and Fall, allowing players to both strengthen and specialize their cities.
With Seondeok's unique ability, these governors become an integral part of the civilization as they are capable of boosting Science and Culture gain, in conjunction with their own modifiers. Cities will be able to provide a huge yield of both Science and Culture, making it easier for the Korean civilization to gain a victory.
6 Eleanor Of Aquitaine
A Terrifying Way Of Conquering Peacefully
- Civilization: English & French
- Unique Ability: Great Works in cities causes foreign cities within 9 tiles to lose 1 Loyalty per turn. The foreign city that rebels against its civilization due to the loss of Loyalty, and is currently receiving the most Loyalty pressure from Eleanor, instantly joins her empire.
If conquests by civilizations could usually be held off by several measures, such as World Congress Resolutions, Embargoes, and Joint War, Eleanor could circumvent all of those measures by simply 'conquering' other cities with peaceful means. Her unique ability grants a city with a huge number of Great Works to passively conquer other civilizations' cities due to pressure gain.
In multiplayer games, other players will quickly notice the attempt, and try to either reinforce the city with various means of increasing loyalty or simply declare war against Eleanor. However, AI players lack the mechanic to notice such attempts and usually will simply let the city go into Eleanor's clutch.
5 Julius Caesar
Fund A Warmongering Campaign With Continuous Conquest
- Civilization: Roman
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Unique Ability:
- Conquering a city for the first time and conquering Barbarian Outposts grants 300 Gold.
- The amount is increased to 500 Gold after researching Metal Casting, and 700 Gold after researching Steel.
- Units gain 5 Combat Strength and receive full experience while fighting Barbarians.
A player who is interested in the arts of warmongering and conquest in Civilization 6 would be interested in trying out Julius Caesar as the leader of the Roman civilization. His unique ability makes him able to acquire wealth rapidly through the conquest of both other civilizations' cities and Barbarian Outposts, funding the campaign rather easily.
Moreover, his unique Legions will be able to acquire experience rapidly thanks to the fact that they can gain rapid promotions by hunting Barbarians all over the world. Fully promoted Legions can take down a heavily fortified city with ease, making him a formidable warmongering leader.
4 Hojo Tokimune
Strong Coastal Presence Coupled With Districts Rush
- Civilization: Japanese
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Unique Ability:
- Land units and naval units fighting on coastal and shallow water tiles receive +5 Combat Strength.
- Encampment, Holy Site, and Theater Square can be built at half the time.
- Districts, improvements, and units are immune to Hurricanes.
- Civilizations at war with Japan receives double damage from Hurricane inside the Japanese territory.
At first glance, Hojo Tokimune's unique ability can be perceived to be quite basic and too reliant on random situations such as having Hurricanes as a defensive measure or fighting near the coastline. However, a crucial strong point lies within the fact that Tokimune could build Encampments, Holy Sites, and Theater Squares at half the time, making him able to acquire cultural victory easily.
Moreover, this also complements the Japanese civilization's ability to grant bonus adjacency for districts, making him able to build a huge cluster of districts that grant bonus yields to each other.
3 Yongle
Rapidly Grow Humongous Cities And Benefits From Them
- Civilization: Chinese
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Unique Ability:
- Gain the special city project Lijia, which convert production into Food, Faith, or Gold.
- Cities with 10 Populations or more gain +2 Gold, +1 Science, and +1 Culture for every Population inside the city.
The Chinese civilization in Civilization 6 is more commonly known to be a wonder-rushing civilization due to their bonuses towards Eureka and Inspirations after constructing a world wonder. However, Yongle breaks this stereotype by having his cities focus on his special project Lijia instead, which can rapidly grow a newly constructed city into a metropolis with 10+ population in no time.
Moreover, his cities hugely benefit from this rapid population growth, as crossing the 10+ population threshold will allow a city to gain a massive bonus in Gold, Science, and Culture yield. In total, a city with 10 population will generate +20 gold, +10 science, and +1 culture per turn, without including the yields of the tiles that they are working on.
2 Peter
Never Fall Behind From Leading Rivals
- Civilization: Russian
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Unique Ability:
- Trade Routes grant Russia +1 Science for every 3 technologies that the target civilization is ahead of, and +1 Culture for every three civics.
Aside from their ability to settle in Tundra tiles and make it beneficial even with its low yield gain, Russian civilization is also quite formidable to face since their leader, Peter, can create a catch-up mechanic with its unique ability. Sending a trade route to a more advanced civilization than Russia would allow them to gain Science and Culture rapidly.
This complements Russia's main playstyle to rapidly expand through the map without prioritizing both Science and Culture. Combined with their heavily favored pantheon, Dance of the Aurora, Russia will be able to claim a victory quickly if left unchecked.
1 Hammurabi
Build Up Districts And Amass Envoys Easily
- Civilization: Babylonian
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Unique Ability:
- Building a specialty district grants the district a building with the lowest Production cost.
- Building a district for the first time grants a free Envoy.
Babylonia is notorious for its ability to gain technologies by acquiring Eureka, at the cost of having conventional technology acquirement heavily slowed down. Hammurabi's unique ability to acquire the first buildings built after constructing them works well with it, as he will be able to use the excess production to gain Eurekas that might require certain military units to be built.
Civilization 6: Best Civilizations For A Science Victory
Science can push everything forward, but it's easier to achieve for some nations!
Moreover, building a district for the first time will grant him an Envoy, which can be used to become a suzerain of a city-state that can advance his specific way of victory, such as the Science Victory.
Sid Meier's Civilization 6
- Released
- October 21, 2016
