In the grand tapestry of Civilization 6, where empires rise and fall with the clash of swords and the hum of scientific progress, a more subtle yet powerful force awaits your command: Faith. A Religious Victory isn’t for the passive; it’s a dynamic, often aggressive pursuit that demands foresight, strategic planning, and an iron will to impose your beliefs on the world. I’m here to light the path to your divine triumph, transforming you from a mere believer into a spiritual conqueror. We’ll dive into the mechanics of faith, dissect the best strategies for every era, and reveal the secrets to converting the globe to your one true religion. Get ready to build soaring cathedrals, dispatch legions of apostles, and wage theological warfare that will echo through the ages.
The Dawn of Faith: Early Game Foundations
Your journey to religious dominance starts in the first few turns of the ancient era. Every decision you make now lays the groundwork for your future spiritual empire.
Generating Your First Faith
Your immediate priority is to start generating Faith as early as you can. This precious resource is the currency of your religious ambitions.
- The God-King Policy: As soon as you research the Code of Laws civic, slot in the God-King policy card. The +1 Faith and +1 Gold it gives your capital might seem small, but it’s a critical head start in the race to found a Pantheon.
- Discovering Religious City-States: Send your warriors and scouts far and wide. Being the first to meet a religious city-state gives you a free envoy, which means +2 Faith per turn in your capital. That’s a huge boost in the early game.
- Natural Wonders: Many natural wonders provide Faith to adjacent tiles. Settling near one can give you an immediate and substantial Faith income. A city next to the Delicate Arch, for example, will start racking up Faith right away.
- Tribal Villages: Exploring the map can lead you to tribal villages (goody huts), which might grant you a lump sum of Faith, potentially letting you found a Pantheon almost immediately.
Choosing Your Pantheon: A Critical First Step
Once you hit 25 Faith, you can found a Pantheon. This is a pivotal choice that will shape your civilization’s entire game. Your decision should be heavily influenced by your starting location and long-term goals.
- Top-Tier Generalist Pantheons:
- Religious Settlements: With the Gathering Storm expansion, this is arguably the strongest Pantheon, giving you a free Settler. An extra city this early is an unmatched advantage, speeding up your growth in every way.
- Divine Spark: This Pantheon gives +1 Great Person point from Holy Sites, Campuses with Libraries, and Theater Squares with Amphitheaters. It’s a versatile choice that fuels your progress toward multiple victory types.
- Powerful Terrain-Based Pantheons:
- Desert Folklore: If you start in the desert, you have to pick this. It provides +1 Faith from the adjacency of desert tiles to your Holy Sites. A well-placed Holy Site surrounded by desert can generate a staggering amount of Faith.
- Dance of the Aurora: This is the tundra version of Desert Folklore, and it’s the go-to for civilizations like Russia that thrive in the snow.
- Lady of the Reeds and Marshes: If your empire is near floodplains or marshes, this Pantheon can give a big production boost to these otherwise tricky tiles.
- Example in Action: Let’s say you’re playing as Russia and start in a vast tundra. Choosing Dance of the Aurora is a no-brainer. Your Lavras (Russia’s unique Holy Site) will get massive adjacency bonuses, catapulting your Faith generation and securing you an early religion.
The Race for a Great Prophet: Securing Your Religion
A Pantheon is just the beginning. To found a full religion, you need a Great Prophet. There are a limited number of these, so you’re in a race against the other civs.
- Build Holy Sites: The main way to earn Great Prophet points is by building Holy Sites and the Shrine within them. Make it a priority to build a Holy Site in your capital or a high-production city as soon as you research the Astrology technology.
- Run Holy Site Prayers: Once your Holy Site is up, you can run the Holy Site Prayers city project. This turns a city’s production into Faith and Great Prophet points, helping you catch up if you’re falling behind in the race.
- Stonehenge: This ancient wonder gives you a Great Prophet instantly upon completion. It’s a powerful shortcut, but the AI contests it heavily, especially on higher difficulties. It’s a high-risk, high-reward play.
Forging Your Creed: Crafting the Perfect Religion
Once you have your Great Prophet, you can found your religion. This is where you customize your faith with powerful beliefs that will define your path to victory.
Founder Beliefs: Shaping Your Empire’s Destiny
Your Founder Belief benefits only you. Choose carefully, as it will be a cornerstone of your empire’s economy and influence.
- Tithe: Gives you +1 Gold for every 4 followers. In a wide empire with many converted cities, this can lead to a massive income, funding your armies, infrastructure, and religious units.
- Church Property: Grants +2 Gold for each city following your religion. This is a more reliable early-game gold source than Tithe, especially for smaller empires.
- Pilgrimage: Generates +2 Faith for every city following your religion in other civilizations. This is the best choice for an aggressive religious victory, as your successful conversions will directly fuel the creation of more apostles and missionaries.
- Lay Ministry: Grants +1 Faith in cities with a Holy Site and +1 Culture in cities with a Theater Square for each city following your religion. A solid pick for a hybrid Culture/Religion game.
Follower Beliefs: Empowering Your Citizens
Follower Beliefs give bonuses to all cities where your religion is dominant. These should complement your overall strategy.
- Work Ethic: This is one of the most powerful Follower Beliefs. It gives your Holy Sites a production bonus equal to their Faith adjacency bonus. A well-placed Holy Site with a +6 Faith bonus will also provide +6 production, turning your religious centers into industrial powerhouses.
- Choral Music: Your Shrines and Temples provide Culture equal to their Faith output. This is an excellent choice for a Culture Victory synergy, letting your Holy Sites contribute heavily to your civic progress.
- Feed the World: Shrines and Temples provide +2 Food and +1 Housing. A fantastic belief for fueling population growth, especially if you’re settling in less fertile areas.
- Religious Community: International trade routes provide +1 Gold for every building in the origin city’s Holy Site. A solid economic bonus that works well with a trade-focused empire.
Worship Beliefs: The Heart of Your Holy Sites
Your Worship Belief lets you build a unique building in your Holy Sites using Faith.
- Pagoda: Provides +3 Faith and +1 Diplomatic Favor. A versatile choice that boosts your Faith generation and gives you a voice in the World Congress.
- Gurdwara: Grants +3 Faith, +2 Food, and +1 Housing. Excellent for city growth.
- Stupa: Provides +3 Faith and +1 Amenity. Happy cities are productive cities, making this a strong choice for keeping a large empire stable.
- Cathedral: Has a slot for a piece of Religious Art, making it a good choice if you’re aiming for a Culture Victory.
Enhancer Beliefs: Supercharging Your Spread
Your Enhancer Belief boosts your religion’s spread and defense.
- Crusade: Your military units get +10 combat strength when fighting in the territory of foreign cities that follow your religion. This is an incredibly powerful belief for a joint Religious/Domination victory, turning your faithful cities into beachheads for military conquest.
- Defender of the Faith: Your military units get +5 combat strength when fighting within the borders of your own cities that follow your religion. This is the ultimate defensive belief, making your empire a tough nut to crack.
- Holy Order: Missionaries and Apostles are 30% cheaper to purchase. A straightforward and effective belief for a dedicated Religious Victory, letting you field a larger spiritual army.
- Itinerant Preachers: Your religion spreads to cities 30% further away. This enhances your passive religious pressure, helping to soften up distant cities before your units even arrive.
The Great Conversion: Spreading Your Faith Across the Globe
With your religion founded and beliefs chosen, it’s time to spread your divine message to the world—by force, if needed.
The Tools of the Trade: Missionaries, Apostles, and Inquisitors
You have three main religious units to work with:
- Missionaries: These are your early-game workhorses. They’re cheap and have a limited number of “spreads” to convert cities. Use them to convert cities that haven’t adopted a religion yet and to get a foothold in foreign lands.
- Apostles: These are your elite religious forces. They cost more but have higher conversion strength, can start theological combat, and come with a special promotion.
- Inquisitors: You can only unlock these by having an Apostle use the “Launch Inquisition” action. Inquisitors are cheaper than Apostles and have a powerful “Remove Heresy” ability that wipes out other religions in your own cities. They are essential for home defense.
Theological Combat: Waging War for Souls
Theological combat is the core of a religious victory. Your Apostles and Inquisitors can fight enemy religious units in a battle of faith.
- Combat Strength: A unit’s theological combat strength determines how much damage it deals. You can boost this with promotions, government policies (like Theocracy), and by being near a friendly Holy Site.
- Flanking and Support Bonuses: Just like in military combat, positioning is key. An Apostle gets a combat bonus if it attacks an enemy that is next to another of your religious units.
- The Spoils of Victory: When you defeat an enemy religious unit, all nearby cities lose a lot of that religion’s influence and gain your religion’s influence. Winning these battles is often more effective at converting a region than just using spread charges.
- Healing: Your religious units can heal by being next to or inside one of your Holy Sites. Gurus, a support unit you can buy with Faith, can also heal adjacent religious units.
The Power of Promotions: Creating Elite Religious Units
When you buy an Apostle, it gets a random promotion. These can make them dramatically more effective.
- Must-Have Promotions:
- Proselytizer: Removes 75% of other religions’ pressure in a city with a single spread. This is amazing for flipping heavily contested cities.
- Translator: Triples your religious spread strength in foreign cities.
- Debater: Grants +20 theological combat strength, turning your Apostle into a warrior of the faith.
- The Yerevan Suzerainty: If the city-state of Yerevan is in your game, becoming its Suzerain should be your top priority. This lets you choose any promotion for your Apostles, giving you total control over your religious forces. A wave of Apostles with the Debater promotion can systematically crush any rival religion.
Passive Pressure: The Silent Conversion
Your religion also spreads passively to nearby cities.
- Proximity: Cities exert religious pressure on other cities close to them. The more followers and the higher the population, the more pressure they exert.
- Trade Routes: A trade route sends religious pressure from its origin city to its destination. Sending trade routes from your religious heartland to foreign cities is a great way to prime them for conversion.
Champions of the Faith: The Best Civilizations for a Religious Victory
Any civilization can win a Religious Victory, but some are just built for it.
Tier S: The Unstoppable Theocrats
- Russia (Peter): Russia is a religious juggernaut. Their Lavra district is cheaper than a Holy Site and generates extra Great Person points. Their “Mother Russia” ability gives them extra land when they found cities and +1 Faith from tundra tiles. Combine that with the Dance of the Aurora Pantheon, and Russia can generate more Faith than anyone.
- Byzantium (Basil II): Byzantium is a unique mix of religious and military power. Their “Taxis” ability gives their units +3 combat strength for each Holy City converted to their religion. They also spread their religion to nearby cities when they defeat an enemy unit. This creates a powerful snowball effect where military conquest directly fuels your religious spread.
Tier A: The Powerful Proselytizers
- Spain (Philip II): Spain has a big advantage against civilizations that haven’t founded a religion. Their Missionaries have an extra spread, and their Inquisitors can remove heresy one extra time. Their unique Conquistador unit also gets a combat bonus when next to a religious unit, blending faith and force perfectly.
- Ethiopia (Menelik II): Ethiopia is great at generating Faith from hills. Their “Aksumite Legacy” ability provides Faith from improved resources, and their unique Rock-Hewn Church improvement can be built on hills for even more Faith.
- Japan (Hojo Tokimune): Japan’s “Meiji Restoration” ability gives their districts bonus adjacency for being next to each other. This lets them build incredibly powerful Holy Site complexes, especially when clustered with other districts.
Dark Horse Candidates: Unexpected Faith Powerhouses
- Indonesia (Gitarja): Indonesia can buy naval units with Faith, and their coastal cities generate extra Faith. This makes them a dominant religious force on archipelago maps.
- Mali (Mansa Musa): While known for their incredible wealth, Mali can also generate a lot of Faith from their desert cities. Their Suguba district gives discounts on all Gold and Faith purchases in that city, letting them field a large and cheap religious army.
Defending the True Faith: Countering Enemy Religions
Your path to victory won’t be easy. You have to be ready to defend your faith from heretics.
The Inquisition: Purging Heresy from Your Lands
If a rival religion starts creeping into your empire, it’s time to launch an Inquisition. Use an Apostle to select this option, which lets you buy Inquisitors. Station these defenders in your cities to quickly and efficiently remove any foreign religious presence.
Theological Fortifications: Using Defender of the Faith
As I mentioned, the Defender of the Faith belief is your best friend when you’re on the defensive. The +5 combat strength bonus for your units in your religious cities can turn the tide of any invasion, whether it’s military or theological.
When Faith Fails: The Condemn Heretic Option
If you’re at war with a civilization, your military units can use the “Condemn Heretic” action on enemy religious units on the same tile. This instantly destroys the religious unit and weakens their religious pressure in the area. A well-timed declaration of war can be a brutally effective way to stop a religious crusade against you.
Faith Beyond Victory: Synergies with Other Strategies
Even if you aren’t going for a Religious Victory, a strong Faith output can be a huge help for other victory types.
Faith and Culture: A Divine Partnership
- Naturalists and Rock Bands: In the late game, Naturalists (who create National Parks) and Rock Bands can only be bought with Faith. Both are essential for a Culture Victory.
- Relics and Tourism: Certain wonders and abilities can generate Relics, which produce a lot of Faith and Tourism. The Mont St. Michel wonder gives all your Apostles the Martyr promotion, which creates a Relic if they are defeated in theological combat.
Faith and Domination: The Righteous Conquest
- The Grand Master’s Chapel: This Tier 2 government plaza building lets you buy land units with Faith. With a high Faith income, you can raise a massive army in a very short time.
- Crusade: As we covered, this belief turns your religious expansion into a military advantage.
Faith and Science/Economy: A Supporting Role
- Jesuit Education: This Follower Belief lets you buy Campus and Theater Square buildings with Faith, saving you precious production.
- Monumentality Golden Age Dedication: During a Golden Age, you can pick this dedication, which lets you buy civilian units like Settlers and Builders with Faith at a discount. This is a powerful way to expand your empire quickly.
A Religious Victory in Civilization 6 is a tough but incredibly rewarding challenge. It requires a proactive approach, a sharp strategic mind, and the willingness to fight a different kind of war. By mastering the principles in this guide, you’ll be ready to lead your civilization to divine glory and ensure that your faith is the one that stands the test of time. Go forth and spread your word; the world is waiting to be converted.