Winning by a religious victory is probably one of the most underrated and underused ways to win in Civilization 6, but it can also be one of the most satisfying. Knowing that you have basically dictated the specific way most if not all of the world worships is great, in a very strange and somewhat unethical way.
Related: Civilization 6: Tips On How To Get A Cultural Victory
That being said, it can be hard to figure out the best way to attain a religious victory in Civ 6. Therefore, this guide will highlight a few tips that will go a long way in securing this path to success.
Updated on August 13, 2021 by Payton Lott: The path to a Faith victory in Civ 6 is a long one. Players will have to spread their religion to other civs and take over the playing field. To achieve a Faith victory, gamers will need the majority of the cities in play to adopt their religion. It may seem like a daunting task, but with these updated tips, civs should have no trouble taking over the world with religion. The main keys to success will be getting off to a quick start and flipping cities strategically as the game goes on. With a number of tools at their disposal, players can get creative with their holy workers.
15 Pick the Right Civ
Just like with most ways to victory in Civilization 6, the way to optimize your victory starts before the game even does. Choosing the right civilization that provides bonuses that help in either the production and spread of your religion.
There are a few civilizations that can really help optimize your chances of gaining a Civ 6 religious victory, a few of those are India, which gains Faith bonuses from meeting new civs, Scythia, which can generate a lot of Faith really early, and Spain.
14 Become A Theocracy
One of the most important parts of your religious crusade to win a game of Civilization 6 is the point when you unlock the theocracy government type. Theocracy is a second-tier government type and is unlocked after you research the Reformed Church civic.
This government gives players two cards in Military, two in Economic, one in Diplomatic, and one in Wildcard; however, the real benefit is the ability to buy land combat units with Faith and +5 strength in religious combat.
13 Start A Religion
A pretty obvious one, but it is important to cover every conceivable base possible. Starting a religion is the first step to winning a religious victory in any Civilization game. There are a few things that a player needs to have to make a religion though.
The player must have enough Faith to produce multiple great prophets to help get their religion going. They need to make sure to do this fast, as there are only enough spaces in each game to make seven religions. If the match has more than seven, Civilization 6 might run out of space.
12 Choose The Right Pantheon Beliefs
The Pantheon beliefs that a player chooses for their religion are largely affected by the situation. That said, there are certainly a few that will always benefit a player that is aiming to win by a religious victory.
Initiation Rites will help boost the power of the player's religion early on if they are keen on taking out as many barbarians as they possibly can.
Fertility Rites is another one that can really help in the early game, providing civilizations with a bonus to each city's growth.
11 Stonehenge Is A Must For A Religious Victory
There are a ton of wonders in Civilization 6 that can provide bonuses to any type of victory that a player is going for, and a religious victory is no exception. While this guide will explore a few more options that players should consider building, a wonder that is basically essential for a religious victory is Stonehenge.
Related: Civ 6: Tips On How To Obtain A Science Victory
Building Stonehenge isn't going to guarantee victory, but it will put the player a long way ahead of the competition, giving them a free great prophet really early on with +2 Faith to boot.
10 The Best Policy For A Religious Victory
On top of one religious wonder that the player pretty much needs to build, there is also one policy that should be prioritized by anyone who wants a religious victory. Of course, this is the God-King policy.
This is an early game policy and while its bonus, that being +1 in Faith production in a civilization's capital city might not sound like the biggest boost, it will play a crucial role in the production of Faith in the early game.
9 Get Rid Of Spain (If They Are In-Game)
Spain was previously mentioned as a good civilization to pick if someone is going the religious victory route, and there is a very good reason for that. If a player is going against Spain in terms of a religious war, then the latter is most likely going to come out on top.
Spain is extremely aggressive in spreading its religion and completely removing them from the game early on might just be the way to stop them.
8 Get Rid Of Other Religion Founders
On the note of removing people that oppose the player and their path to Faith-based conquest, if there are other religious civilizations, it might be easier to just take them out of the game entirely. This is generally a better strategy than trying to convert them and the other civilizations, to which they are going to fight back, sometimes with conventional warfare anyways.
Related: Civ 6: Tips On How To Get A Diplomacy Victory
If completely destroying other empires is too much work, the player can also focus on just capturing Holy Cities and cities that produce a lot of Faith from other nations.
7 Have A Lot of Strong Religious Units
The thing that makes Spain such an effective but also annoying civilization to deal with from a religious aspect is that they are constantly putting what seems like all of their resources into building a constant stream of new religious units, especially missionaries, to send at every player in the game.
This strategy, while annoying to be on the receiving end of, is something that a player is going to need to consider so they can spread their religion as fast and as far as possible.
6 Build Religious Wonders
As previously mentioned, Stonehenge is one of the best wonders that a player can build to the point that it is almost considered essential. Aside from Stonehenge, there are a few other wonders that are important for a religious victory. These include the Hagia Sophia, Angkor Wat, and the Oracle, just to name a few.
5 Increasing Pressure
Every religion has a hidden stat called "pressure points" which determine the number of followers in each city. It actually makes sense to spread religion in cities that are already flipped because of the impact of the points.
Holy cities and cities with a holy site get a pressure bonus of +1 and +4 respectively. Meanwhile, spread religion changes provide a whopping +220 pressure points. It is obvious which method is the most impactful. The increase is so overpowered that no one will be able to flip the religion of a city with that many points.
4 Sending Missionaries
Players will want to focus on what civs have religions and where they are on the board. Those civilizations that have a religion, but will not pose too much of a threat, can be flipped by missionaries.
Take a look at how advanced the civ is and where the other religious civs are sending their missionaries/apostles. Flipping weaker civs early will give people a huge advantage when seeking an ultimate religious victory in Civ 6.
3 Scouting And Supporting With Apostles
Apostles are great scouts because they can enter cities without open borders. At the same time, they can spread the word of the religion and begin to plant seeds across the civilizations. Send over a guru with larger groups to make sure that they can heal up fast if attacked.
RELATED: The Best Mods For Civilization 6
People will want to begin sending these religious units early in the game to begin taking over nearby civs. Also, use the apostles to get intel on the most powerful or advanced civs later in the game.
2 Focus On Flipping Holy Sites First
The target of missionaries and apostles should be a civilization's holy sites. If they are converted, the user will not be able to purchase religious units to counter the infiltration.
The infiltrated civ can still purchase religious workers at other sites, but it will take away at least one source of reinforcements. Cut off all of the supply lines and the civ will have no option but to convert to a different religion.
1 Get A Faith Victory With A Majority
The way to actually secure a Faith victory is to have a majority of the cities in each empire adopt the religion of the civilization. This can seem like an impossible undertaking, but things will accelerate quickly by using the tips in this guide. It does not matter what kind of city, as long as the majority adopts the religion of the player's civilization.
Players will have to be strategic about how they begin to flip other religions. Go all-in on weak civs with little resistance and pick up small cities if the opposing civ is fortified.