All leaders tier list in Civilization 7

There are more than two dozen leaders in Civilization 7, and not all of them are created equally. Ergo, a Civilization 7 leaders tier list is all but essential for parsing the differences.

Every leader is viable, sure. However, some have more to offer than others and open new opportunities for strategizing as a result. Getting more money and culture from trade routes gives you much more freedom to plan your empire compared to just getting some extra combat strength for befriending an independent power.

Below, we’ve compiled a tier list ranking all leaders available in Civilization 7 at launch, including Napoleon’s two versions that you can obtain for free by linking your 2K account to your platform account.

Civilization 7 leader tier list

Our Civilization 7 tier list considers not just what benefits are offered by a leader’s skills, but how flexible and widely applicable they are. For example, Amina gives your military units a combat buff when they fight on certain tiles. That’s handy – if you want to wage war in very specific circumstances. If you’re playing on a map with few qualifying tiles, though, then her skill does you little good.

Where applicable, we’ve also noted when a leader’s first memento makes them easier to recommend. Leaders unlock these at level two, so while you won’t get the benefits immediately, they’re often worth aiming for.

Without further ado, here’s the Civilization 7 tier list.

S-tier leaders in Civilization 7

The S-tier leaders in Civilization 7 have the best bonuses and offer more flexibility to let you play how you want, with fewer or no caveats compared to other leaders.

Augustus – Cultural Expansionist

Purchasing culture buildings frees your Production queues for other projects without suffering from penalties in civics research, and Augustus’ Production boost has multiple uses. Extra Production in the capital lets you turn your primary city into a hub of Culture, Science, Military output — whatever you need, without having to rely as heavily on tile improvements. Settling or conquering additional towns to increase that boost has the convenient add-on effect of increasing your gold reserves as well, since the default town specialization converts production to gold. Those towns will develop more quickly as well, thanks to the reduced cost of buying buildings there.

Ibn Battuta – Expansionist Wildcard

Ibn Battuta’s skills are simple. He gets wildcard points and can see further. That’s it, but that’s also all it needs to be. Having additional attribute points to spend as you see fit gives you an early start in whichever victory area you prefer. Attribute points normally accrue as you progress down a Legacy Path – which takes a while — and they’re tied to those specific paths. With wildcard points, you’re free to invest extra in the attribute type you want to focus on or use them to cover weak areas, and that’s quite the advantage to have. Knowing where other civilizations are and what they’ve already uncovered also makes planning your expansion during the age of exploration easier.

Ahsoka, World Renouncer – Diplomatic Expansionist

This version of Ahsoka is more flexible than his militaristic counterpart. More Food leads to more opportunities to improve your tiles, which stacks Happiness adjacency bonuses and makes it so celebrations occur more frequently. What you do with that growth is up to you. You’re free to prioritize improvements, expand urban districts with more specialists, or even just use that bonus Happiness to offset war weariness when you wage unjust conflicts.

Harriet Tubman – Diplomatic Militaristic

Harriet Tubman lets you play as a pest and then suffer no penalties when someone decides they’ve had enough. Espionage actions give you free Tech or Civics and worsen relationships with other leaders, as does settling near them, influencing city-states they’re interested in, and basically anything else that gives you an advantage over them. Civilization 7 classifies wars as just or unjust depending on your relationship with the other country. If they’re hostile or unfriendly and declare war, they suffer no war weariness and, as a result, no Happiness penalty in their cities. Not so with Tubman. Any war declared against her automatically starts with sizable support in her favor. She’s low-key one of the game’s best leaders for a Military Victory.

Xerxes, King of Kings – Economic Militaristic

Xerxes, King of Kings is only slightly more complicated than his Achaemenid version in the sense that you have to wage war and claim cities through settlements or conquest to make the most of him. His combat strength bonuses make that task easier, though, and having a higher settlement cap means you’re less likely to suffer Happiness penalties by acquiring too many settlements.

Xerxes, The Achaemenid – Cultural Economic

Xerxes, The Achaemenid makes it incredibly easy to stack Gold and Culture buffs just by establishing trade routes. All you need to do is keep up with spending influence to increase trade route limits, but seeing as most leaders – except the ones that really hate you – rarely reject this endeavor, it’s a straightforward task. He’s one of the easiest leaders to learn the game with, and the extra Gold gives you the flexibility to prioritize whatever you want, whether it’s military spending or quick construction.

A-tier leaders in Civilization 7

The A-tier leaders in Civilization 7 also have exceptional perks that make unique strategies possible, though they come with some restrictions, such as being limited by geography or pushing you toward playing in just one or two ways.

Benjamin Franklin – Diplomatic Scientific

Most major cities need several Production buildings, and having extra Science on each, combined with faster construction times for Production buildings, is a free and easy way to boost your research capabilities. Unlocking new technologies is as helpful for Science Victories as it is for Military Victories, so playing Franklin doesn’t leave you stuck with one playstyle. The “diplomacy” part of his designation only shows up with his first memento, unlocked at level two, which gives you 50 Influence for researching masteries in the Tech and Civic tree. Just bear in mind that you won’t benefit much from his endeavors perk until then.

Hatshepsut – Cultural Economic

It might take half an age to get Hatshepsut set up, but once you’ve established trade routes and a good construction network, she’s well-positioned for a cultural sweep. Imported resources give your cities bonuses anyway, and having +1 Culture for each is good incentive to keep establishing trade routes and stacking more bonuses quickly. Hatshepsut’s first memento adds +1 Gold for imported resources as well and helps make trade less expensive. Her second perk relies on specific geography, but Civilization 7 tends to start leaders with these geographic requirements in zones that favor them.

Isabella – Expansionist Economic

Playing as Isabella means exploring as much of the map as you can, as fast as you can to claim space around natural wonders. It’s a matter of luck in most cases, depending on where the map spawns them, so having much of her kit center on finding them is a bit odd. The yields on natural wonders are exceptionally high already, though, and Isabella doubles them. Any city you build there will turn into a hub of whatever yield the wonder offers – science, culture, happiness, sometimes a combination of the three. Building naval units is essential in the age of exploration, and Isabella’s other two perks make it likely you’ll reach the Distant Lands before anyone else.

Machiavelli – Diplomatic Economic

Machiavelli has a lot going for him, but comes with one serious drawback: All his perks center on using Influence, and he has no special way to generate additional influence. Playing him effectively requires careful resource management, but once you strike a balance between using and hoarding influence, you can end up with remarkable advantages independent of production and trade routes. Just make sure you don’t disperse independent powers, since you’ll need them for any wars you end up in.

Pachacuti – Economic Expansionist

Pachacuti is an interesting case. His advantages seem modest at first, but since he, like other leaders with special geographic requirements, starts in a mountainous area, your first string of towns and cities are guaranteed to have high growth rates thanks to the extra food. Prioritizing these for growth and specialists in urban districts means you end up with high science and culture yields early, without suffering any happiness penalties for it. It does require some creative expansion so these districts are near mountain tiles, though.

Lafayette – Cultural Diplomatic

Lafayette is an unusual case who defies the labels Firaxis gave him. He’s a bit of everything, with bonuses to military strength; incentives to expand rapidly, especially in the Exploration Age; and an opportunity to stack more policy bonuses than any other leader, albeit at the expense of giving rivals an advantage as well. His first memento also increases happiness by two for each social policy. He’s well-rounded, even if he doesn’t necessarily excel at any particular thing.

B-tier leaders in Civilization 7

The B-tier leaders in Civilization 7 excel in one area, but not much else. They’re still perfectly playable and likely to win, though the bonuses they offer are, generally, less impressive.

Amina – Economic Militaristic

Amina works more effectively as an economic leader than a military one. Cities that aren’t your capital have limited resource capacity, especially right after they grow from a town into a city, and having that extra slot makes dealing with shortfalls in production or happiness much easier. You’re not necessarily making more money with her second perk, though. Each trade route you establish sends money to another civ’s leader, so having extra Gold for each resource assigned to cities just balances that outflow. Yes, +5 combat is a fantastic perk – if you’re lucky enough to have enemy civilizations positioned on plain and desert tiles. If not, you’re a bit out of luck.

Ahsoka, World Conqueror – Diplomatic Militaristic

This version of Ahsoka lives up to his name, though perhaps not to his “diplomatic” tag. Playing as the world conqueror means either building quickly toward a society that supports regular military output or planning ahead to the Modern Age and waging war then. Ahsoka can get his production boost by taking settlements from opponents, of course, but the easier way is to make treaties with independent powers during antiquity and exploration, so you avoid happiness penalties. By the time the Modern Age dawns, you should have an economy and production output capable of creating enough military units to sustain Ahsoka’s formal wars. He’s a fun leader to play as, but perhaps more restrictive than most.

Catherine the Great – Cultural Scientific

Catherine’s perks are highly specialized, so taking advantage of them limits how you can play. You’ll need to prioritize production as Catherine, so you can hopefully build more wonders faster during the Antiquity Age, and then choose religion augmentations that provide extra culture during the Exploration Age. That lets you research new civics and their masteries faster, which is one of the main ways you get relics during that age. Her tundra bonus is less restrictive than it sounds, though. The game tends to always start Catherine on tundra tiles, so that Science bonus will apply to your first few cities at the very least.

Confucius – Expansionist Scientific

Confucius’ skills appear straightforward and even a bit limited at a glance, but focusing so heavily on city growth and specialists creates an unusual set of challenges that makes a match more interesting. Specialists cost Happiness, and choosing a specialist instead of growth outside urban quarters means you’re giving up food or possibly production bonuses in favor of science and a bit of extra culture. Balancing city growth, deciding which towns to develop, and carefully choosing policies that offset specialist costs are much more important in this style of play. It’s not necessarily better than playing as another leader, but it’s unique.

Himiko, High Shaman – Cultural Diplomatic

This iteration of Himiko has little to offer outside of making celebrations happen more frequently. The goal is to make the most of your celebrations to boost Culture – or whatever else you might need, such as Gold – but you have to play cautiously or get lucky with espionage. The Science penalty means most other civilizations will likely have more advanced military tech than you.

Charlemagne – Militaristic Scientific

Charlemagne is an excellent choice if you want to wage war, since few units outrank cavalry in Civilization 7 aside from advanced ranged units. His first perk comes with the unspoken imperative of prioritizing food resources in cities, so you can expand them and develop urban quarters more quickly. He’s not a bad leader, per se — just a bit plain.

José Rizal – Cultural Diplomatic

Rizal’s usefulness depends entirely on how many narrative events pop up during your game. It helps that he comes with extra events, but the number will fluctuate depending on which civilizations you choose and how you play. If nothing else, the frequency of celebrations means you get regular bursts of extra yields, including culture.

Napoleon, Emperor – Economic Diplomatic

Emperor Napoleon is like a more aggressive version of Harriet Tubman, but with slightly worse benefits. His biggest asset is the sanction that reduces trade routes, which can play havoc with another civilization’s economy and their culture output. Making them hate you is good, though, since you get some extra Gold for it and even more once you slot his first memento.

Trung Trac – Militaristic Scientific

Trung Trac needs conflict to function effectively, but unlike some leaders, she gets better advantages, especially with her first memento. That item gives her +1 Science for every commander level, which is a handy little boost once you get your first commander and even after, since they level up more quickly. Trung Trac’s home cities will produce more science more often as well, though her playstyle limits you to cycles of war and recovery.

C-tier leaders in Civilization 7

The C-tier leaders in Civilization 7 are much more limited than your other choices, either in the playstyle they lend themselves to or with in how (not so) useful their bonuses are.

Friedrich, Baroque – Militaristic Cultural

For a cultural-focused leader, Friedrich’s Baroque edition has few advantages in that specific area. Building culture with him requires sizable investment in military, and even then, you’re not getting much in return for all that conflict. Capturing settlements is easier with siege and ranged units, so while the free infantry unit from a culture building is nice, it’s not helping on the conquest front. His first memento smooths over some of these issues by adding +1 culture for every military building, but he’s still one of the weakest choices.

Friedrich, Oblique – Militaristic Scientific

Oblique Friedrich is slightly better than his Baroque counterpart thanks to giving army commanders an extra tile of influence. He has nothing to help invest in military production, though, and even his memento only gives you +1 science for military buildings.

Himiko, Queen of Wa – Diplomatic Scientific

Himiko’s Queen of Wa version requires a specific, challenging playstyle that relies heavily on the endeavor system. Before you get any of her perks, you have to improve relations with other civs to the point where they’re at least friendly, though preferably allied as well. It’s a unique way to use influence and diplomacy, but things often fall apart in the modern age. You have to pick a side when rival leaders declare war on each other, so regardless of who you choose, you’re losing some of those science perks over a scenario that’s out of your control.

Napoleon, Revolutionary – Militaristic Cultural

Revolutionary Napoleon has less going for him than his imperial version. He’s entirely focused on combat and needs consistent victories to get yield bonuses. You’re left with nothing special if there’s no war happening, and if you maintain continuous conflict, you have to plan carefully to avoid war favor turning against you and causing happiness penalties. Revolutionary Napoleon presents unique challenges, but he’s just not a very strong choice.

Tecumseh – Militaristic Diplomatic

Tecumseh is only helpful if you prioritize bringing city-states into your diplomatic orbit, and even then, his bonus yields aren’t that impressive.

For more Civilization 7 guides, here’s a rundown of all Legacy Paths and victories, including walkthroughs on how to get the Culture Victory, Economic Victory, Military Victory, or Science Victory. We also have a list of the best leaders to start with.