Which are the best Civ 5 civs and leaders? A classic 4X game by any measure, Civilization V allows you to guide your nation from inception to world domination in any way you see fit. Providing one of the broadest list of victory conditions in any strategy game, Civ 5 can be slightly challenging when trying out new things.
Civ 5 civilisations are slightly more niche than in the newer Civ 6, creating a clear focus that allows specific nations and specific Civ 5 leaders to achieve their chosen victory condition more easily. There are also more strategies not tied to specific win conditions as well.
In order to help our readers get better at the game and figure out the best way to achieve their goals and desired play styles, we built this guide to single out the best Civ 5 civs for a range of play styles. Below each entry, you’ll also find a summary of what they do best. Alongside this, we’ve also included their unique faction ability, and how it affects the game. That will hopefully make your game a better experience, and allow you to have much more fun with it.
These are the best civilizations in Civilization 5:
BEST CIV 5 Leaders – DOMINATION VICTORY
The classic victory type, Domination sees you conquering the world by strength of arms over your less fortunate civilizations. In Civ 5, you luckily don’t need to conquer an entire civilisation; you just need to control all of the original capitals to score the victory.
Summary: Active, Free Social Policies, Mounted Combat Bias Faction Ability: Solidarity: Receive a free Social Policy when you advance to the next era.
Summary: Active, Unit Promotion Focus, Unique Warfare Synergies Faction Ability: Iklwa: Melee units cost 50% less in maintenance costs. All units require 25% less experience to earn their next promotion.
Why make war when you can make friends? A diplomatic victory is achieved by winning the ‘World Leader’ vote in the United Nations. This means that you actually have to survive long enough for the UN to be formed, and then get everyone else to like you enough to vote for you – but this includes City State. Votes can be bribed as well, so economic prowess is also needed. Here are the best Civ 5 civs for achieving this type of victory.
Summary: Passive, City-State Relations, Strong Early Unique Units Faction Ability: Hellenic League: City State Influence degrades at half, and recovers at twice, the normal rate. Greece will not lose Influence with City States for having Greek units end their turn within City State borders, and the units will heal as if on friendly territory.
Summary: Passive, City-State Relations, Output Faction Ability: Father Governs Children – Food, Culture, and Faith bonuses from friendly City-States is increased by 50%. Units gifted from Militaristic City-States get +10 experience
Science victories are a staple of the Civ series, always leading to the space race that will expand civilisation to the stars… although not via Beyond Earth. Less said about that, the better. This game has a myriad of ways of accruing science progress, and the best Civ 5 leaders are:
Summary: Active, Capital Buildings & Wonders, Output Faction Ability: Scholars of the Jade Hall – +2 Science for all specialists and Great Person tile improvements. Receive a tech boost each time a scientific building/Wonder is built in the Korean capital.
Summary: Passive, Great Scientist Generation Faction Ability: Ingenuity – Receive free Great Scientist when you discover Writing. Earn Great Scientists 50% faster.
Cultural victories can be challenging, as you won’t win until the number of tourists visiting your country is equal to the number of domestic tourists from all other civilizations combined. In order to achieve that, you need loads of great people — especially artists — along with buildings, districts, and wonders that can house their works (sculpture, relics, and artifacts being the most valuable). Make sure to trade with other civs to spread your culture, pick culture-boosting policies, and always keep an eye on your opponents’ progress when you are pursuing a Culture victory.
Speciality: Golden Ages Summary: Passive, Jungle Bias, Culture Output, Happiness Dependent Faction Ability: Carnival – Tourism output is increased by 100% during Golden Ages. Earn Great Artists, Musicians, and Writers 50% faster during Golden Ages.
Summary: Passive, Wonder Building, Museums, Capital Focus Faction Ability: City of Light – Museum and World Wonder theme bonuses are doubled in their Capital.
Civilization was never a very capitalist franchise. In-game, money has a lot less uses than one would expect, what with it being the bloodflow of every major culture in a way or another since humans started gathering in groups. In Civ 5, gold likewise has less impact than production or culture. Money itself is not a victory condition, either, but all of them can benefit from a steady income of gold so big that dwarfs that of rivals’; a prosperous money civilisation like Veneza can completely dominate other civs in the mid-to-late game if properly set-up.
Summary: Active, Trade Route Management, Difficult Faction Ability: Gateway to Africa – Receives +3 Gold and +1 Culture for each Trade Route with a different civ or City-State. The Trade Route owners receive +2 Gold for each Trade Route sent to Morocco.
Summary: Passive Trading, Centralised, Unique Mechanics Faction Ability: Serenissima – Cannot gain settlers nor annex cities. Double the normal number of trade routes available. A Merchant of Venice appears after researching Optics. May purchase in puppeted cities.
Religion is not a bonafide victory condition in Civ 5; instead, it factors in as a means of spreading influence to reach a culture victory. Still, religion is quite darn powerful, and here are some ways to make that gameplay attractive.
Summary: Active, Early Boost, Pantheon Founding, Targeted Investment in Religion Faction Ability: Patriarchate of Constantinople – Choose one more Belief than normal when you found a Religion.
Summary: Passive, Trade Routes & Caravans, Enhanced Religion Spread Faction Ability: Ships of the Desert – Caravans gain 50% extended range. Your trade routes spread the home city’s religion twice as effectively. Oil resources are doubled.
The above game-styles aren’t the be-all and end-all – there are plenty of other niches to be found in the game. Whether you want to be a power-hose of production, or whether you want win every Golden Age, the following civ 5 leaders and civs are the best at what they do, and should be played accordingly.
Speciality: Naval Summary: Active, Naval Domination, Map Control (Sea) Faction Ability: Sun Never Sets – +2 Movement for all naval units. Receives 1 extra Spy.
Speciality: City-State Domination Summary: Active, City-State Removal, Ranged Attacks and Retreat, Constant Warfare Faction Ability: Mongol Terror – 30% Combat Strength increase when fighting City-State units or attacking a City-State itself. All mounted units have +1 movement.
Speciality: Movement Summary: Movement Bonus, Hilly Terrain, Tactical Superiority Faction Ability: Great Andean Road – Units ignore terrain costs when moving into any tile with Hills. No maintenance costs for improvements in Hills; half cost elsewhere.
Speciality: Building/Production Summary: Active, Capital Focus, Production Boost via Buildings Faction Ability: The Glory of Rome – +25% Production towards any buildings that already exist in the Capital.
Speciality: Expansion Summary: Defensive, Map Control, City Expansion Faction Ability: Great Expanse – Founded cities start with additional territory. Units receive a combat bonus when fighting within own territory.
Speciality: Wonders Summary: Wonders, Production Boost Faction Ability: Monument Builders – +20% Production towards Wonder construction.
Speciality: Resources Summary: Production Boost, Strategic Resources, Specialised Units Faction Ability: Siberian Riches – Strategic Resources provide +1 Production, and Horse, Iron and Uranium Resources provide double.
