Civ 7 Leader Tier List (2026): All 31 Leaders Ranked

In Civilization VII, your leader is the one choice you live with for the entire game. Civilizations swap at every Age transition; leaders don't. That makes the leader pick the single most important decision at game setup — and it changes how a tier list has to work. Because any leader can pair with any civilization, we're not rating leader-plus-civ packages the way Civ 6 lists do. We're rating the ability itself, its Attribute affinities, and how much pairing freedom it leaves you across all three Ages.

Here are all 31 leaders — 20 from the base game, Alexander the Great (added free in the Test of Time update), and 10 DLC leaders — ranked S through D, with the 5 Personas covered in their own section. Every number cited comes from each leader's own official page at civilization.2k.com.

How We Ranked These

1. Ability strength — raw yield or combat power per Age.
2. Age-spanning value — leaders persist across Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern; abilities that scale per Age outvalue one-shot effects.
3. Pairing flexibility — an ability that works with any civilization pick at each Age transition is worth more than one that forces a specific civ or Legacy Path.
4. Attribute affinity — a leader's Attribute trees shape which Endeavors and Legacy options are naturally available.

Placements are editorial judgment; the ability descriptions underneath them are each leader's official numbers.

S-Tier — Pick First, Ask Questions Later

Hatshepsut. +1 Culture per Age for each unique Resource and +15% Production toward Buildings and Wonders in cities adjacent to Navigable Rivers — the premier wonder-rushing kit in the game, pointed directly at the Cultural Legacy Path from turn one. Cultural/Economic affinity fits everywhere.

Confucius. +25% Growth Rate in all Cities and +2 Science from Specialists. Growth is the engine everything else runs on, and specialists arrive early enough that the science compounds across all three Ages. The most beginner-proof S-tier pick.

Amina. +1 Resource Capacity in Cities, +1 Gold per Age per assigned Resource, and +5 Combat Strength in Plains and Desert — economy and defense in one package, with Economic/Militaristic affinity that leaves both conquest and trade open. One of the few kits with no dead component.

Charlemagne. Military and Science Buildings gain Happiness adjacency from Quarters, every Celebration grants 2 free Cavalry Units, and cavalry fight at +5 Combat Strength during Celebrations. Free units on a repeatable trigger is a tempo advantage no other leader matches.

Tecumseh. +1 Food and Production per Age in all Settlements per City-State you're suzerain of, plus +1 Combat Strength for all units per suzerainty. Hold three city-states and the whole empire is permanently buffed; the kit scales with the diplomacy game you'd play anyway.

A-Tier — Consistently Strong

Augustus. +2 Production in the Capital per Town, Culture Buildings purchasable in Towns, and +50% Gold toward buying Buildings in Towns — the best town-economy kit for a wide empire.

Alexander the Great. (Added free with the Test of Time update, May 2026.) King of the World: non-Capital cities with a Wonder get +10% Production and Culture (doubling to +20% if the city is on a different continent from the Capital), +2 Combat Strength for all Land Military Units, up to +6 Combat Strength for Unique Military Units scaling with your Wonder-city count, and +2 Dominion per Wonder city. Every Town converted to a City is renamed after him. A genuine conquest-and-Wonder hybrid — the wider your Wonder spread, the harder your army hits.

Benjamin Franklin. +1 Science per Age on Production Buildings, +50% Production toward building them, and Endeavor synergy including running two of the same type at once. A science engine built from the production game you were already playing.

Catherine the Great. +2 Culture per Age on displayed Great Works, extra Great Work slots on buildings, and Tundra cities converting 25% of Culture into Science. A clean cultural kit whose only cost is its Tundra bias.

Himiko, Queen of Wa. The unique Friend of Wei Endeavor grants an Alliance +25% Science, she supports Endeavors for free, and gains +4 Science per Age per Friendly or Helpful leader. The best cooperative-science pick — value scales with how well you manage relationships.

Ibn Battuta. Multiple Attribute Points after the first Civic of every Age, universal Sight, and the Trade Map Endeavor that reveals what rivals have explored. The most flexible leader in the game: extra attribute points mean you patch whatever your civilization pairing lacks.

Machiavelli. +3 Influence per Age, Gold whenever diplomatic actions are accepted or rejected, no relationship requirement for Formal Wars, and levying from city-states you don't even control. Diplomacy as an economy, with a war option always loaded.

Pachacuti. Buildings gain +1 Food adjacency from Mountains, mountain-adjacent Specialists cost no Happiness, and cities gain Production equal to 10% of their Food. Mountain starts become growth engines; the pairing freedom is narrower on flat maps.

Trung Trac. A free unique Commander with your first military unit of each Age, +20% Commander experience, and +10% Science in Tropical cities — doubled during Formal Wars you declare. Militaristic/Scientific affinity with a real war-timing incentive.

B-Tier — Solid, More Setup-Dependent

Leader	Why B
Ada Lovelace	+2 Science per Age per Civic Mastery (resets each Age) and Culture at 50% of Science on Tech Masteries; rewards mastery-chasing play.
Ashoka, World Renouncer	+1 Food per 5 excess Happiness and +10% Food during Celebrations; steady growth tied to the Happiness game.
Friedrich, Oblique	Commanders start with +1 Command Radius and you gain an Infantry Unit per Technology Mastery or Science Building; quiet but reliable.
Genghis Khan	+3 Combat Strength for Cavalry (+5 in a Commander's radius) and a once-per-Age Convert Independents action; strong, but cavalry-dependent.
Gilgamesh	+2 War Support with exactly one Ally, Influence from kills, and free Endeavor support between Allies; needs a committed alliance.
Isabella	100 Gold per Age per Natural Wonder discovered (doubled in distant lands) and +50% tile yields from owned wonders; excellent when the map cooperates.
José Rizal	Bonus Culture, Gold, and Influence from Narrative Events, +50% Celebration duration and Happiness; pleasant, passive, never explosive.
Lafayette	The Reform Endeavor grants extra Social Policy slots for you and a supported leader; +1 Combat Strength per Tradition slotted. A policy-flex kit.
Lakshmibai	+50% Influence toward Incorporating City-States, gaining their units, and Influence equal to 100% of defeated units' Combat Strength; snowballs only through constant war.
Napoleon, Emperor	Sanctions generate +5 Culture and Gold per Age each and +1 Combat Strength for land units per active Sanction; a diplomacy-as-warfare kit that needs rivals to punish.
Harriet Tubman	+50% Influence toward Espionage, 5 War Support when wars are declared on you, and units ignoring Vegetation movement; a defensive-espionage shell.
Simón Bolívar	1 War Support on all wars and a free Constructible purchase on each first conquest; conquest economy that stalls in peaceful games.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (DLC — Brush and Blade Collection, June 2026)	Great Unifier: Land Units deal increased damage attacking enemy Units but also take increased damage defending — a genuinely double-edged, high-risk conquest kit. Units heal extra HP standing on a Culture Building or Wonder, and you get increased Production toward Culture Buildings (more in cities you didn't found). Rewards an aggressive player who follows up conquest with rapid cultural integration; punishes anyone who gets caught flat-footed on defense.
Yi Sun-sin (DLC — Brush and Blade Collection Part 2, July 2026)	Samdo Sugun Tongjesa: unlocks Fleet Commanders as early as the Antiquity Age, and builds an interconnected naval economy — Harbors unlock command infrastructure, Science Buildings improve Fleet Commanders, naval victories generate Science, and naval combat experience generates Gold. A genuinely novel naval-economy engine, but it needs real investment in Harbors, Science Buildings, and a Navy before it starts paying off — narrow on landlocked maps.

C-Tier — Narrow Niche

Leader	Why C
Xerxes, King of Kings	+3 Combat Strength attacking in neutral/enemy territory, +100 Culture and Gold per Age per first capture, +1 Settlement Limit per Age; a conquest kit with modest numbers.
Edward Teach	Naval units gain the Pirate ability — border-crossing, plundering, and attacking non-allies without war — plus capturing defeated ships; a maritime-harassment build that needs a water map.

D-Tier — Challenge Runs

Leader	Why D
Sayyida al Hurra	Free strongest Naval Unit per completed Espionage Action and ships on Districts yielding +2 Culture/+1 Influence per Age; a two-step combo (espionage into naval) that rarely aligns before the game is decided.

The 5 Personas

Personas are alternate versions of existing leaders with their own abilities, Agendas, and Attribute affinities — they count as separate leader choices at setup.

• Ashoka, World Conqueror — the militant mirror of World Renouncer: +1 Production per 5 excess Happiness, +10% Production in conquered Settlements, a Celebration on declaring Formal War, and +5 Combat Strength against Districts during Celebrations. The better Ashoka for a Militaristic Legacy push.
• Friedrich, Baroque — swaps science-triggered infantry for culture: a Great Work per first Settlement captured, +1 Culture per Age on displayed works, and Infantry from Civic Masteries and Culture Buildings. War that pays in Great Works.
• Himiko, High Shaman — Happiness/Diplomacy buildings get +2 Happiness per Age (doubled if both) and +50% build speed; +20% Culture but -10% Science, doubled during Celebrations. A cultural Celebration engine, narrower than Queen of Wa's alliance science.
• Napoleon, Revolutionary — +1 Movement for all land units, Culture equal to 100% of defeated units' Combat Strength, and a free packed Army Commander the first time each Age a war is declared on you. More kinetic than the Emperor persona.
• Xerxes, the Achaemenid — the trade build: +1 Trade Route Limit with all leaders, +10 Trade Range, +50 Culture and 100 Gold per Age on creating routes or roads, and +1 Culture/Gold per Age on unique buildings and improvements. The stronger Xerxes for Economic games.

Version Notes

Covers all content through July 2026: 20 base-game leaders, Alexander the Great (free addition, Test of Time update, May 19 2026), and 10 DLC leaders — Ada Lovelace, Edward Teach, Genghis Khan, Lakshmibai, Napoleon, Sayyida al Hurra, Simón Bolívar, Tecumseh, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Brush and Blade Collection Part 1, June 22 2026), and Yi Sun-sin (Brush and Blade Collection Part 2, July 28 2026) — plus the 5 Personas. That's 31 named leaders + 5 Personas = 36 total selectable options.

A note on staying current: Civilization VII is under active development with a rolling DLC schedule, so this list needs periodic re-checking against civilization.2k.com/civ-vii/game-guide/leaders/ — that's the live, authoritative leader index. A single cached summary line from a third-party wiki page is not a reliable way to confirm "how many leaders exist today," since that kind of aggregate statement can lag behind individual leader pages by a patch cycle or more.

---

Ability data verified against each leader's individual official page at civilization.2k.com/civ-vii/game-guide/leaders/. Tier placements are Epoch Almanac editorial judgment; every cited number is from the source data.

Related: All Civ 7 Civilizations · Mexico Civilization Guide · Ages and Crisis Explained