In Civilization 6, you can’t found a religion without first establishing a pantheon. These are bonuses that are typically focused on the terrain, and allow your civ to further stretch the potential benefits of the surrounding land. You’ll usually be able to found a pantheon very early in the game, typically within the first 25 or 30 turns. It’s not an easy choice, though; as of this writing, there are nearly two dozen pantheon’s in Civ 6, and it can be daunting to scroll through the entire list. This guide will make it a bit easier to narrow down your decision.

Choosing a Pantheon – Civ 6

For the most part, the pantheon you choose is going to be based on thee things: terrain, your leader’s strengths, and the type of victory you want to pursue. Since many of the available pantheons are so conditional, it can be tough to recommend one in particular without knowing specifics about your playthrough. Still, there are a few general purpose pantheons that are good in almost any situation:

City Patron Goddess – This gives your cities a +1 Production bonus if it doesn’t have any specialty districts. While it’s unlikely that you’ll have district-less cities in the mid-to-late game, all cities begin without a district, so they’ll benefit from City Patron Goddess at least for a while.
Fertility Rites – Your cities grow 10% faster and you’ll immediately receive a Builder in your capital city. The importance of growth cannot be overstated, especially in the early game. Nabbing a Builder can also lead to a hefty early game advantage depending on nearby resources.
God of the Forge – You gain 25% Production toward Ancient and Classical military units. While this is nice for those pursuing a military victory, it’s also great if you’re finding yourself constantly besieged by barbarians in the early game.
Religious Settlements – Your city borders will expand 15% faster and you’ll automatically receive a Settler unit in your capital. The benefits of this pantheon are enormous, and can go a long way in growing your empire in the early game. Settlers require a lot of Production, so getting one for free is a huge bonus.

While these four pantheons provide good universal benefits, you might want to choose something more specialized if you’ve already decided what kind of victory you’re aiming for. Here are the best choices when drawing out your path in the early game. We’ve only included choices for the Science, Culture, and Religious victories here. Everything else is more general purpose, and Domination and Diplomacy victories don’t necessarily benefit all that much from specific pantheons. Really, you’re safe choosing anything from the above list.

Science

Science victories rely on, surprise, accumulating lots of science and tearing through the tech tree. If you’ve decided that you’re taking this route, there’s really only one pantheons that you’ll want to consider:

Divine Spark – This gives +1 Great Person Points to all Holy Sites, Libraries, and Amphitheaters. Obviously, it’s the Libraries and Great Scientists you’ll concern yourself with in a science victory.

Culture

There are a couple of good pantheons to consider if you’re going after a tourism game. Most of them require ownership of specific resources:

Oral Tradition – Gives +1 Culture to tiles with the following tile improvements: Bananas, Citrus, Cotton, Dyes, Silk, Spices, and Sugar Plantations.
Goddess of Festivals – This pantheon ups the food production of Wine, Incense, Cocoa, Tobacco, Coffee, and Tea Plantations, but it also offers +1 Culture from all Plantations as of the Gathering Storm update.

Religion

Considering that pantheons are a prerequisite to founding a religion, there are a lot of good choices for this type of victory:

God of War – You’ll earn Faith for killing enemies within 8 tiles of a Holy Site of yours. You earn 50% of the defeated unit’s strength in Faith, to be specific.
Initiation Rites – Clearing out a barbarian outpost rewards you with 50 Faith, and the unit that cleared it will be healed for 100 HP.
Religious Idols – A +2 Faith bonus to mines on luxury and bonus resources. You’re bound to have a few of these in your empire, so you’ll benefit from them for the entire game.
Dance of the Aurora, Desert Folklore, & Earth Goddess – These pantheons give you bonus Faith depending on your surrounding terrain. They make good choices if some of the more desirable choices have already been snagged by other civs.

And that’s it for our Civ 6 pantheon guide! Hopefully it helped you out! Let us know in the comments section if it did!

Civ 6 Pantheons Guide - The Best Civilization 6 Pantheon

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