Here’s a fresh take on that guide, written as if I’m sharing winning strategies with a friend.
How to Dominate with Every New Frontier Pass Leader in Civ VI
The New Frontier Pass shook up Civilization VI with a bunch of new leaders, and each one brings a totally different game plan to the table. They’ve opened up new ways to win and made us rethink old strategies. Let’s dive into how to master each one, from the Maya’s science game to Gran Colombia’s war machine. We’ll break down the best strategies, hidden tricks, and the key moves you need to make to win with these powerful leaders.
Lady Six Sky of the Maya: The Ultimate Science Powerhouse
Lady Six Sky is perfect for a science victory, focusing on a tight, well-defended cluster of super-productive cities. Her gameplay is all about smart planning and getting your district placement just right.
The Mayan Secrets: What Her Abilities Do
- Ix Mutal Ajaw (Leader Ability): This is all about playing “tall.” Any city you settle within six tiles of your capital gets a sweet +10% bonus to all its yields. On top of that, your units get +5 Combat Strength when they’re near the capital, making your heartland incredibly tough to crack.
- Mayab (Civilization Ability): Forget settling on rivers for housing. With the Maya, you get +1 housing for every farm. This lets you build cities in amazing spots others can’t, and you also get +1 Amenity for each luxury resource next to a City Center. It completely changes how you look at the map.
- Hul’che (Unique Unit): This Archer replacement is a beast in the early game. It’s stronger than a regular Archer and gets a +5 Combat Strength bonus when attacking wounded units. They’re perfect for fending off early rushes and clearing barbarians.
- Observatory (Unique District): This is the engine of your science victory. It replaces the Campus, is cheaper to build, and gets huge adjacency bonuses from plantations (+2 Science) and farms (+1 Science per two farms). This creates an amazing loop: more farms mean more people, which means more science.
Your Blueprint for a Science Victory
Early Game (Ancient to Classical): Your number one job is to get your core cities down around your capital. Scout like crazy to find spots with luxuries and lots of flat land for farms and Observatories. Your first build should be a scout, then a slinger to upgrade into your Hul’che. Rush the Political Philosophy civic for those crucial policy cards. Place your cities in a tight hex pattern around the capital to get the most out of Ix Mutal Ajaw. Use your Hul’che to stay safe.
Mid Game (Medieval to Renaissance): Now it’s time to hit the accelerator. Build Observatories everywhere and surround them with farms and plantations. Slot in the policy card that doubles Campus adjacency bonuses. You should beeline key techs like Education and Scientific Theory. Grabbing The Great Library and Oxford University is a huge priority. You don’t need a huge army, just a modern one to keep invaders away from your well-protected core.
Late Game (Industrial to Future): You should be way ahead in science by now. Start launching the Space Race projects. Your high-production cities will finish them incredibly fast. Watch out for enemy spies trying to wreck your spaceports—you’ll need your own spies on counter-duty. If someone else is getting close to winning, don’t be afraid to use your tech advantage to build a modern army and shut them down.
Simón Bolívar of Gran Colombia: The Unstoppable Military Machine
Simón Bolívar is built for one thing: fast and total domination. His abilities create an aggressive, high-speed playstyle that can steamroll opponents before they even know what hit them.
The Liberator’s Toolkit: What His Abilities Do
- Campaña Admirable (Leader Ability): Every time you enter a new era, you get a free Comandante General, a unique and powerful Great Person.
- Ejército Patriota (Civilization Ability): All your units get +1 movement. This sounds simple, but it’s game-changing, letting your armies fly across the map. Plus, promoting a unit doesn’t end its turn, so you can attack, promote, and keep fighting.
- Comandante General (Unique Great Person): These aren’t your normal Great Generals. They give a +5 Combat Strength aura to nearby units and have special abilities, like granting a free promotion or instantly creating a unit.
- Llanero (Unique Unit): This Industrial-era Cavalry replacement is terrifying. It’s cheaper, and it gets a stacking +4 Combat Strength bonus for every other Llanero next to it. In a group, they’re practically a death squad.
The Path to Domination
Early Game (Ancient to Classical): Your mission is to build a big, mobile army, fast. Research Animal Husbandry and Bronze Working right away. Churn out slingers and warriors using the Agoge policy card. Your extra movement is perfect for aggressive scouting to find your neighbors. Go to war early and use your speed to outmaneuver and crush them.
Mid Game (Medieval to Renaissance): This is your power spike. The free Comandante Generals you get from entering new eras will make your army incredibly strong. Use them to lead the charge. Your +1 movement is especially deadly with cavalry for raiding deep into enemy lands. The Oligarchy government is a great pick for another combat bonus.
Late Game (Industrial to Future): When the Llaneros arrive, it’s time for the final push. A large group of Llaneros with a Comandante General is one of the scariest things in the game. Their stacking bonus makes them unstoppable. Take out the remaining capitals and secure your domination victory.
Menelik II of Ethiopia: The Master of Faith and Hills
Menelik II has a super flexible playstyle that blends faith, culture, and science. He’s all about smart city placement on hills and generating a mountain of Faith.
The Gifts of the Hills: What His Abilities Do
- Council of Ministers (Leader Ability): Settle a city on a hill, and it gets +15% to both its science and culture output. This tells you exactly where you need to settle.
- Aksumite Legacy (Civilization Ability): Your cities get +1 Faith for every improved resource. This gets your faith game going right from the start. You can also buy Archaeology Museums and Archaeologists with Faith, which is a huge boost for a culture victory.
- Oromo Cavalry (Unique Unit): This Courser replacement is a fantastic scout and raider. It’s stronger, has better sight, and isn’t slowed down by hills.
- Rock-Hewn Church (Unique Improvement): You can build this on hills or volcanic soil. It gives you Faith, plus more Faith for every adjacent hill. It’s the cornerstone of your faith engine.
The Strategy for a Golden Age
Early Game (Ancient to Classical): Scout for hilly areas with lots of resources and start settling. Your first few cities need to be on hills to kickstart your science and culture. Build Holy Sites early to get a religion. The Earth Goddess pantheon is a perfect choice for even more Faith. Use your Oromo Cavalry to explore and defend.
Mid Game (Medieval to Renaissance): This is where you take off. Your Faith generation will be massive. Found a religion with beliefs that give you science or culture. Jesuit Education is amazing, letting you buy campus and theater square buildings with Faith. Start building Rock-Hewn Churches everywhere. Your science and culture will start to explode thanks to all your hill cities.
Late Game (Industrial to Future): You’ll have a few ways to win. A Faith victory is a real option since you can easily convert everyone. A Culture victory is also a great path, as you can spam Archaeologists and fill your museums with artifacts bought with Faith. Even a Science victory is possible with the passive bonus from your hill cities. Your flexibility is your biggest weapon, so adapt to what your opponents are doing.
Hammurabi of Babylon: The Eureka Master
Hammurabi breaks the game’s tech rules. His playstyle is a puzzle, all about planning ahead to trigger Eurekas and leapfrog through the tech tree.
The Code of Technology: What His Abilities Do
- Ninu Ilu Sirum (Leader Ability): When you trigger a Eureka for a tech, you instantly unlock it. The catch? Your science-per-turn is cut in half. This means you live and die by those Eureka moments.
- Enuma Anu Enlil (Civilization Ability): This is the same as his leader ability, making it clear that Eurekas are everything. You also get +1 production from buildings in your main plaza, which helps a little.
- Sabum Kibittum (Unique Unit): This Man-At-Arms replacement is a powerful melee unit that you can get incredibly early by having 3 spearmen. It’s great at killing cavalry.
- Palgum (Unique Building): This Water Mill replacement gives extra housing, production, and food. You can get it just by researching Irrigation.
The Art of the Eureka Chain
Early Game (Ancient to Classical): This is a mad dash to trigger as many Eurekas as you can. You have to plan every move. For example, kill a unit with a slinger to get Archery. Build three archers to get the Eureka for Machinery, which unlocks Crossbowmen. This snowballing gives you a massive early-game military advantage. Focus on the Eurekas that give you powerful units to conquer your neighbors.
Mid Game (Medieval to Renaissance): Keep the Eureka train rolling. You’ll be fielding units an entire era ahead of everyone else. Use this to go on a rampage. Your Sabum Kibittum will dominate the battlefield. Pay close attention to the Eurekas that need specific districts or buildings and plan your cities accordingly.
Late Game (Industrial to Future): Your tech lead will start to even out as Eurekas get harder to trigger. Now you need to build Campuses and Libraries to generate raw science. By this point, you should have a huge empire from your earlier conquests, putting you in a great spot for a Domination or Science victory.
Kublai Khan of China and Mongolia: The Great Trader
Kublai Khan can lead either China or Mongolia, and both versions make him a master of trade and economics.
The Power of the Trading Post: His Leader Ability
- Gerege (Leader Ability): You get an extra economic policy slot in any government, which is always useful. More importantly, you get a free Eureka and Inspiration whenever you set up a trading post in another civ’s city for the first time. This pushes you to build a massive trade network.
Kublai Khan of China: The Economic Culturalist
Leading China, Kublai Khan’s ability gets a boost from China’s own bonuses to Eurekas and Inspirations. This version of him is perfect for a Culture or Science victory, paid for by a booming economy.
Strategy: Build a huge trade network right away. Focus on Commercial Hubs and Harbors. Use policy cards that make your trade routes even richer. Use all that gold to build wonders, buy great works, and grow your empire. Culture is usually your clearest path to victory.
Kublai Khan of Mongolia: The Conquering Trader
Leading Mongolia, Kublai Khan gets a trading post automatically whenever he conquers a city. This works perfectly with his Gerege ability, letting you expand your trade network by force.
Strategy: This version of Kublai Khan is much more aggressive. Build a strong cavalry army and start conquering your neighbors. Every city you take gives you a free Eureka and Inspiration. Your goal is a Domination victory, fueled by the science and culture you get from conquest.
João III of Portugal: The Master of the Seas and Gold
João III is a naval and economic powerhouse. His entire game revolves around sea trade, exploration, and getting incredibly rich.
The Navigator’s Tools: What His Abilities Do
- Porta do Cerco (Leader Ability): All your units get +1 sight, which is amazing for exploration. You also get a free trade route every time you meet a new civ, and you have open borders with all city-states.
- Casa da Índia (Civilization Ability): Your trade routes can only go to coastal cities, but they get a massive +50% to all their yields. This is a restriction with a huge reward.
- Nau (Unique Unit): This Caravel replacement is a great naval unit. It starts with a free promotion, is cheaper to maintain, and can build Feitorias.
- Feitoria (Unique Improvement): A Nau can build this unique improvement in a foreign coastal city-state. It gives you +4 gold and +1 production for every trade route you’re sending to that city.
- Navigation School (Unique Building): This University replacement boosts production for naval units and gives you extra science for coastal tiles.
How to Rule the Waves and Win
Early Game (Ancient to Classical): Get to the sea and start exploring immediately. Research Sailing and Celestial Navigation first. Build a navy of galleys and upgrade them to Naus as soon as you can. Your +1 sight will let you map the world and find everyone quickly, which means more trade routes.
Mid Game (Medieval to Renaissance): Time to get rich. Send trade routes to every coastal city you can find. That +50% bonus will make your income skyrocket. Use your Naus to build Feitorias in city-states to make even more money. Use your massive treasury to buy buildings, units, and great people.
Late Game (Industrial to Future): You’ll be one of the richest civs in the game. You can use that money to win in almost any way. A Science victory is easy when you can just buy all the university buildings and fund research. A Diplomatic victory is also on the table since you can buy the loyalty of every city-state. You can even afford a giant, modern navy for a Domination victory.
Lady Triệu of Vietnam: The Unbeatable Defender
Lady Triệu is a defensive master, turning her own territory into a nightmare for any invader. Her game is about using the terrain to your advantage to fight off attacks while you build a powerful cultural empire.
The Dragon’s Spirit: What Her Abilities Do
- Drive Out the Aggressors (Leader Ability): Your units get +5 Combat Strength in your own territory. If they’re on a Woods, Rainforest, or Marsh tile, that bonus doubles to +10. This makes your lands a fortress.
- Nine Dragon River Delta (Civilization Ability): You can only build specialty districts on Woods, Rainforest, or Marsh tiles. But those districts get bonus yields: +1 Culture for Woods, +1 Science for Rainforest, and +1 Production for Marsh. This forces you to use the terrain and rewards you for it.
- Voi Chiến (Unique Unit): This Knight replacement is a ranged cavalry unit. It’s strong and can move after attacking, making it perfect for hit-and-run attacks on invaders.
- Thành (Unique District): This Encampment replacement doesn’t just provide defense; it gives bonus production and triggers a culture bomb when you build it. Once you research Flight, it also generates Tourism based on its culture output.
How to Build an Unconquerable Kingdom
Early Game (Ancient to Classical): Settle in areas with lots of Woods, Rainforest, and Marsh. These tiles are everything to you. Expand your borders and build a strong defensive line. The Thành is a great first district for its production and culture bomb.
Mid Game (Medieval to Renaissance): This is when your defensive bonuses become insane. Invading armies will break against your walls. Your Voi Chiến are perfect for picking off enemy units from safety. Start focusing on your culture and tourism output. Plan ahead for when your Thànhs start generating tourism after you research Flight.
Late Game (Industrial to Future): You’ll be in a fantastic position for a Culture victory. Your unique districts will be pumping out huge amounts of tourism. Your military will be so strong on defense that no one will want to attack you. If you need to, you can also use your strong production to make a run for a Science victory.
The New Frontier Pass leaders really did change the game, forcing players to try new and creative ways to win. From Lady Six Sky’s careful planning to Simón Bolívar’s all-out assault, each leader is a unique puzzle. Once you get the hang of their abilities and strategies, you can unlock their true potential and dominate your games. The new frontier is out there—go conquer it