Civilization 6has over 20 different pantheons to choose from, so you can excused if you’re having a hard time deciding which pantheon is going to suit you best. The option appears very early on in the game, and unless you’ve got a very solid plan for what you’d like to accomplish, you’re making the decisions on very limited intel.
The bonus a pantheon provides lasts the entire game, so even though it’s a relatively minor bonus, that’s going to add up over however many turns your game ends up being. With so many pantheons available and so much of the game yet to unfold, some direction when it comes to what pantheons are strong can be helpful.
10River Goddess
Gain 1 Amenity To Cities With A Holy Site Adjacent To A River / 2 Amenities And Housing With Gathering Storm
Amenities are one of those things you don’t think are a big deal until they turn into a very big deal, indeed. Not prioritizing them can go fine for a while, but it can end up spiraling out of control pretty quickly and can severely hamper your efforts for a little bit while you deal with it.
This is not the best of the best pantheon, but it does provide you with some extra amenity buffer if you’rebuilding Holy Sitesnear rivers. It’s even better with Gathering Storm, doubling the amenity bonus and adding a housing bonus on top.
9Goddess Of Festivals
Gain 1 Extra Food From Many Luxury Resources / Gain 1 Culture From Plantations With Gathering Storm
Much like amenities, food is something that isn’t usually too big of a problem, but in the right (or wrong) situation, it can become an issue. Hungry citizens are unhappy citizens, and unhappy citizens are not particularly helpful citizens.
If you’ve got an abundance of luxury resources, this is going to provide you with an abundance of extra food alongside them. Luxury resources can be very nice for trading and amassing a small fortune without too much effort. With Gathering Storm, this pantheon can also provide you with a small culture buff.
8City Patron Goddess
Gain 25 Percent Production Towards Districts In Cities That Don’t Already Have One
While this is not a pantheon that’s going to make a significant difference in the later stages of the game, it can get you abit of a lead in the early going. Districts can take a bit to build, and those are oftentimes requirements toward building other things you’re looking to move onto.
While it only counts towards that first district, this can cut down how long these districts take to build by a few turns each. It’s going to affect every city that you establish, and it will be exponentially beneficial the more cities you have.
7Monument To The Gods
Gain 15 Percent Production Towards Ancient And Classical Wonders
For those looking to build early wonders, and those Civs that have unique early wonders that they can build, the Monument To The Gods is going to be big. It can be difficult to be able to prioritize getting those early wonders finished in lieu of doing other things, and this makes that decision 15 percent easier to make.
For Civs that aren’t looking for wonders, this is going to be an easy pass. Butwonders can provide some great bonusesthat other Civs aren’t going to have access to. So if it works into what you’re looking to do, you’ll want to consider it.
6God Of The Forge
Increases Production Towards Ancient And Classical Military Units By 25 Percent
For Civs more interested in early war than early wonders, the God Of The Forge is the god for you. There are a few Civs who have unique units for these eras and are built for domination victories, making this pantheon as close a thing to a must-have as there is.
It can be a bit more difficult to wipe out Civs once the game is really up and going, and they’ve had a chance to slowly accrue some defensive power. Getting them out of the way early and building up a lead is what makes this pantheon really shine.
5God Of The Sea
Gain 1 Extra Production From Fishing Boats
Some Civs really shine on the sea, and they’ll shine all the more with this pantheon. Many times, building on the coast gives you a chance to have a few fishing boats out there without any trouble, and they’re useful all on their own.
But with this pantheon, they become exponentially more so. That extra production is going to add up over time, allowing you to build quite a few more things than your competitors, especially if you’ve got an abundance of coastal cities.
4Lady Of The Reeds And Marshes
Gain 1 Production (2 With Gathering Storm) From Desert Floodplains, Marshes, and Oasis'
Another pantheon that can provide a pretty significant production boost, the Lady Of The Reeds And Marshes gives a bonus for being anywhere where there’s water; as long as it’s just a little bit of water, and not a lot of it.
Set up in the right location, and this can provide an utterly ridiculous production bonus, but it’s definitely a pantheon that you need to plan around. In the wrong location, this isn’t going to help you whatsoever.
3Fertility Rites
Increases City Growth Rate By 10 Percent / Receive Free Builder With Gathering Storm
While it’s a better pantheon with the Gathering Storm expansion, it’s still a very good one without it, increasing the rate at which your Civs population grows by ten percent. The more citizens you have, the more bonuses you accrue passively, like science, culture, and the ability to work all of the things you’ve built in your cities.
One thing to keep in mind here is that you’ll need to keep up your housing and food, or this bonus is going to run you up to your limit and halt and possibly stretch your food production to dangerous degrees.
2Divine Spark
Gain 1 Extra Great Person Point From Holy Sites, Campuses, And Theater Squares
Great People have their own unique mechanics and bonuses, and these are going to provide the Civ that earns that Great Person with a significant advantage in a particular department. This pantheon can help you earn a wide variety of great people and is useful for quite a few different endgame scenarios.
There’s really no downside to this pantheon, as it can be beneficial in almost every scenario. It’s going to be more and more helpful the more of these districts/buildings that you construct, so you can really go off the rails with it, in a good way.
1Religious Settlements
Increases Border Expansion Rate By 15 Percent / Receive Free Settler With Gathering Storm
This is a great pantheon with Gathering Storm or not, but it takes the top spot because of the bonus Gathering Storm provides. Even without it, that border expansion rate bonus is absolutely fantastic, allowing your Civ to carve out a bigger swath of territory around each city quicker. It’s going to help snag more of those resources faster and help gain territory first if you’re building cities near opposing ones.
The free Settler that Religious Settlements provides takes it from a great pantheon to the best in the game. The more cities you have, the more everything that you can produce. Early game, it can be tough to kick out Settlers with any degree of speed, so grabbing one for free is a god-send (literally).
