Winning a cultural victory in Civ VI is something special. To do this, not only have you protected your Civ’s culture, but you’ve shared it with the world. Everyone, as they say, is buying your blue jeans and listening to your pop music! But from the beginning of the game, how do you plan for this triumph, and which are the best leaders for cultural victory in Civ VI?
The best leaders to set win conditions for cultural victory in Civ VI all induce massive amounts of culture through their leader bonuses and civ bonuses. Let’s take a look.
Russia – Peter the Great (Simple and Strategic)
Peter of Russia is a genius when it comes to attracting great people to his empire. This is done through the use of the Lavra, a district unique to Russia in Civ VI. You build this instead of a holy site, and while it does produce great prophet points, you can also:
- Add a shrine to get +1 great writer points per turn
- Add a temple to get +1 great artist points per turn
- Add a worship building to get +1 to great musician points in per turn.
You also get a variety of massive faith-based bonuses in the Lavra. Because the Lavra produces great writers, artists, and musicians, you need to focus early on building other places to house them. Build up your Lavra early, particularly with the temple and shrine. And yes, you can build Theater Squares in the same cities as Lavras, sine they’re replacing holy sites! That’s an incredible amount of culture and great person generation per city.
You can always go for religion as a backup victory type, especially as you rely on the Lavras.
Greece – Pericles (Best for Beginners)
In addition to being worthy of “best headgear in game,” Pericles represents Greece well, building a very strong early game cultural victory potential. In early game, you can get a head start compared to just about any other civ thanks to the Acropolis.
Only able to be constructed on hills, the Acropolis unique district replaces the Theater Square for the Greeks. The Acropolis is so awesome it’s almost broken, awarding:
- +1 envoy upon completion
- + 1 Great Writer, Great Artist, and Great Musician point each turn
- + 2 culture for specialists
- + 1 standard bonus for each adjacent district and another bonus if that district is a city center
- + 2 culture for every adjacent wonder
- Great work and artifact slots in buildings
- Lower production cost
To make the most of this, build in hilly areas adjacent to your city center. As a backup, consider a Diplomatic victory, as Pericles functions well as a Suzerain of many city states. (The Acropolis complements this function.)
If you’re starting as a new player to Civ VI and want to win a cultural victory, I recommend learning with Pericles. Greece is so good with culture out of the gate, that you have some room to learn with this civ. You’ll get a strong start in early game with Pericles.
France – Catherine de Medici (Culture with Flourish)
Once you get used to the game, Catherine is the most solid cultural victory winner in Civ VI to date. France continues to be consistent through the eras when it comes to a cultural victory, so you don’t have to rely on early success to propel you through the ages. To win as Catherine:
Focus on building wonders – France gets double tourism from those!
- Take advantage of the 20 percent production bonus awarded to building wonders as France in the Medieval, Renaissance, and Industrial eras
- Get mad amounts of luxuries
Lastly, France has a unique building, the Chateau. You have to build these next to a luxury resource or a bonus resource, but if you have those tiles available, the effects are mighty. Chateaus provide:
- + 1 gold
- + 2 culture
- + 1 appeal
- Tourism equaling cultural output (once you get Flight)
- + 2 Culture with Magnificence Catherine, available to all improved luxury resources
- +1 culture for every adjacent wonder (becomes +2 with Flight)
While I prefer Catherine for her complementary spycraft, you can also win a cultural victory as Eleanor. With Catherine, though, you can always easily steal some tech to bolster weak science while you’re charging towards wonder completion and culture buildings.
You will want to tech rush flight, as your culture bonuses increase with Chateaus once you discover it.
Bonus Cultural Victory Leader Recommendation – Kristina of Sweden
A bonus recommendation for Civ VI cultural victory has to be Kristina of Sweden, whose love of the arts permeates not only her cultural bonuses, but every aspect of her character. If you’re a cultural victory fan, definitely give her a shot!
Kristina’s leader bonus provides automatic theming to all great works in your wonders and buildings, which allows her to become a tourism powerhouse. Combine this with Sweden’s unique open-air museum building and build in diverse terrain for a formidable culture game.
While many leaders provide strong cultural victory potentials, these are the consistently easiest to play and best leaders for cultural victory in Civ VI.
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