Summary
Players have a plethora of leaders to choose from inCivilization 5. Each of them corresponds to a specific faction or civilization, representing that faction throughout the revisionist history. In that way, the game captures a wide range of nations around the world. The downside is that with so many choices, it can be tough to know which civilization to pick.
Some leaders (and their civilizations) have aspects that elevate them over others. Usually, high levels of Science and Happiness win out. These qualities mean that their civilizations can expand more quickly and thoroughly than their peers. Expansion is the name of the game inCiv 5, so it’s not long before these leaders rule the world.
Updated on June 11th, 2024, by Jeff Drake:Winning a campaign in Civilization 5 can be done in many different ways. Players can always build a large army and send it across the map, destroying everything in their path. Another popular winning strategy is to push a civ’s cultural output to the maximum. This will place more territory under the umbrella of their empire. A great leader in Civilization 5 makes at least one of these avenues to victory much easier. The best leaders, like many of the leaders listed here, open multiple paths toward victory, and as such, more great leaders in Civ 5 have been added to this list in its latest update.
15Shaka - Zulu
Inexpensive Early Military Expansion
Shakamakes theZuluempire one of the game’s best for military expansion. This is because of his Iklwa ability, which halves the cost of unit maintenance and lets units earn promotions faster. This allows for a much larger standing army, and ensures they will be better than the enemy after a few victories.
To go along with being able to afford a larger army, Shaka allows the Zulu to produce the Impi warriors. These can be researched early in a campaign, and they get a free first strike attack against melee units. It’s easy to overrun the map with an Impi surge.
14Pedro II - Brazil
Carnivals And Cultural Victories
Players that enjoy racking up Golden Ages inCiv 5definitely need to givePedro II of Brazila try. When any of his unique units, the Pracinha (replaces Infantry), wins a battle, it contributes to the Golden Age meter. Golden Ages give a boost to Production, culture, and gold while active.
During a Brazilian Golden Age, Pedro’s Carnival ability doubles thebenefits from Tourism, as well as produces Great Writers, Musicians, and Artists faster. Pedro isn’t the type of leader that demands a large conventional army. With him, culture is the primary weapon of Brazil.
13Askia - Songhai
Above Average Cultural Broder Expansion
One of the main reasonsAskiamade this list is due to the unique building that he allows theSonghaito build: the Mud Pyramid Mosque. This replaces the standard Temple, but has no maintenance cost and provides culture in addition to faith. This gives an early boost to cultural expansion, which define the physical border of the empire.
Askia’s unique ability, or River Warlord, makes Songhai units much better at defending against attacks when embarked. His units also receive triple the normal amount of gold when pillaging barbarian camps and cities. Mandekalu Cavalry are Askia’s unique unit, and replace the Knight. These are cheaper than Knights, and don’t suffer the Knight’s attack penalty against cities.
12Pacal - Maya
Start Strong With The Pyramids And Atlatlist
The Pyramids granted to theMayabyPacal’sleadership provide a huge early game bonus; this unique building replaces the Shrine. It costs the same as the standard Shrine, but gives twice the amount of Faith in addition to two science. This small boost to science will help the playeradvance their military technology faster.
The Atlatlist can be produced from the start of the game, making it the only ranged unit available from turn one. The advantage this gives can be exploited for an easy early victory. This unit is also great for dealing with barbarian units while exploring the map.
11Wu Zetian - China
Repeating Crossbows And Paper Makers
With most civilizations, producing science is a costly endeavor. It takes time to research buildings like the Library. After researching them, the player then needs to build libraries in their cities; this comes with a maintenancecost to the empire. Wu Zetian’s unique building, Paper Maker, not only provides the science boost of a Library, but it also generates gold rather than being an expenditure.
Wu Zetian’s Chu-Ko-Nu unit replaces the Crossbowman, and functions much like that unit, except the Chu-Ko-Nu can fire twice per turn. This rapid attack allows a group of Chu-Ko-Nu to quickly reduce a city’s defenders' combat effectiveness. The Chu-Ko-Nu’s ranged strength isn’t as good as the standard Crossbowman, but being able to fire twice more than makes up for this loss.
10Sejong - Korea
Outpace The Enemy In Science And Keep Their Units At Bay With Advanced Artillery
TheKoreancivilization is arguably the bestin the game. They are able to achieve a runaway scientific victory with ease. Their tech boosts from wonders built in the capital just adds to the science bonuses. It is easy to get to the point where your best unit is Helicopter Gunships, while neighboring civs are just discovering gunpowder.
The two unique units of the Korean civilization also give them an advantage while the player is waiting for the science bonuses to start accumulating. The Hwach’a replaces the Trebuchet, and has almost double the ranged strength of the Trebuchet. It also doesn’t suffer from a limited visibility range like the Trebuchet.
The other unit is the Turtle Ship. This fearsome early naval unit replaces the Caravel. The Turtle Ship can’t withdraw from combat, nor does it gain the extra visibility of the Caravel unit. What it gets, is a huge increase in combat strength to 36 versus the Caravel’s 20.
9Attila - Hunnic
Dominate The Ancient Era
Attila, leader of theHuns, has several advantages over the other civs, but their advantages need to be exploited early in the game. The Huns get two unique units that give them an advantage in the ancient era. Their Horse Archer replaces the Chariot Archer. This unit has mor attack power than the Chariot Archer, and most importantly, they don’t require the Huns to have access to horses. This gives the Huns a tremendous advantage, especially if the player was lucky enough to start near a large swathe of hills, plains, and grasslands.
The other unique unit is the Battering Ram, which replaces the Spearman unit. The Battering Ram give the players an advantage in besieging nearby enemy cities early in the game - before they have a chance to begin truly flourishing. The Huns also have the benefit of gaining more production from pasture tiles than many civs.
8Pachacuti - Inca
Take Advantage Of The Hills
TheInca, in general, are a solid choice for players. They don’t suffer the maintenance penalties for roads and railroads that are built in hilly terrain. This allows the Inca to get more gold out of most trade routes, which equals more gold, which equals a stronger military. Incan units also don’t suffer the movement penalties other civs suffer when moving across hills.
Pachacutiallows workers to build Terrace Farms on hilly terrain. This provides more food, without the need for a source of fresh water. The bonus from this terrain improvement increases if adjacent to a mountain, and when Civil Service, and Fertilizer, are researched. The bonus from these terrace farms will allow for much larger cities later in the game.
The Inca also get the Slinger unit. This early-game unit can retreat from one melee attack per turn, and allows the player to siege cities very early in the game.
7Darius I - Persian
Long Live The Golden Ages, Literally
Every civilization strives for a Golden Age. As a result of high levels of Happiness, this period sees a nation’s Production, Gold, and Culture skyrocket. Naturally,players are sad when it ends.
Persialives for such times.Darius Ilengthens his empire’s Golden Ages by 50%. What’s more, is that his units have increased strength and movement during these periods. These boosts let players maximize their gains and get a leg up on rivals. Such gains obviously hinge on players actually activating a Golden Age, but that condition isn’t overly difficult, especially in the early game.
That’s largely thanks to the Immortals. These are elite spearmen with advanced healing capabilities. They can easily contend with the disparate tribes and primitive nations, giving players ample opportunity to build Happiness. They can then initiate a Golden Age to crush their rivals once and for all.
6Haile Selassie - Ethiopia
Dominate The Religion Aspect Of The Game
Ruling overEthiopia,Haile Selassieseems to fixate on defense. The faction gets a 20% combat bonus when fighting civilizations with more cities. Because of that, fighting continuous underdog battles is a viable strategy, but those who do run the risk of being overwhelmed. Luckily, the faction has another perk that helps more in the long run.
Instead of a monument, the Ethiopians have a stele. This comes with a shrine, automatically generating Faith and bypassing the need to research Pottery. This attachment lets them arrive first at a Pantheon and become the religious forefront of the world. Not only is this a convenient way to accumulate otherwise-abstract Faith points, but players can use these points as an alternate form of currency to construct buildings (mainly religious).
That religion also helps them expand without ever resorting to violence. Spreading the holy word to other countries can make them friendly to one’s culture and cause. The fact that the Ethiopians accomplish this earlier lessens the risk of conflicting with other religions.Few things are more subtly powerful than belief, and Ethiopia wields that belief like a weapon.
