The Best World Wonders To Prioritize In Civilization VI

Everyone has a favorite strategy to claim victory in Civilization 6, so it’s easy to ignore World Wonders which could change the entire game. The AI (and human competitors, for that matter) prioritize their construction plans in ways that leave an opening for a smart player to seize the advantage. Regardless of victory conditions or starting point, any leader who wants to build a civilization for the ages can’t lose out during the early game.

Civilization 6 does offer multiple paths to victory, but some World Wonders fit into any strategy. Whether you plan to dominate humanity or lead it into the stars, these ten World Wonders can support your goals. If you want a jump start on the competition, focus resources on building these game-changers.

Updated November 6, 2024 by Matt Arnold: We’ve added Jebel Barkal and Machu Picchu to this list, two Wonders that offer ways to fix a start that could otherwise mean you’re in for a rough campaign.

15

Jebel Barkal

The Ultimate Iron Supplement

One of the biggest limiting factors to your early-game military can be whether you have ready access to Iron. Without it, you’ll be unable to recruit Swordsmen, Men-At-Arms, and a host of other key land units. If an aggressive neighbor has Iron and you don’t that can spell trouble.

Building a Wonder to address a resource shortage might seem extreme, but desperate times call for desperate measures. If you have a Desert Hill tile on which to build Jebel Barkal, it will provide you with just enough Iron to field a reasonably defensive early-game military. The extra Faith it offers to nearby cities will be a boon for the rest of the game, as well.

14

Etemenanki

Science From Swamps

Marshes and Flood Plains are a good source of Food, but with Etemenanki they’re also an important way of gaining Science. Etemenanki must be build on a Marsh or Flood Plain, but grants the following bonuses:

• Two Science per turn.
• Every Marsh in your empire generates +2 Science and +1 Production.
• Every Flood Plain in the same city as Etemenanki generates +1 Science and +1 Production.

If you find yourself in swampy terrain during the Ancient Era, rush Writing and get Etemenanki built as soon as possible. You’ll have to leave your Marshes untouched, but as long as you don’t build Districts over your Flood Plains, restricting them to Farms and other improvements, you’ll reap the benefits throughout the entire campaign.

13

The Oracle

Get Great People Faster

Early competition for this World Wonder can get fierce because it only requires nearby Hills to build. The first civilization to claim it will receive numerous boosts to gain the upper hand in the early game.

• One Culture
• One Faith
• -25 percent cost for Great People
• Two Great Person points.

Districts typically only give one Great Person point, but The Oracle coupled with the proper planning can increase that to six. Players focused on Domination may want to skip this World Wonder, but it’s not a bad option either way. Early resources may be needed to protect the homeland, but the early benefits can help any civilization finish with the top score. Pick the best government policies to have a Great Person factory after building The Oracle.

12

Petra

Turn A Desert Into A Paradise

It’s worth purchasing nearby land for this World Wonder. Building Petra is a must for desert-based civilizations to thrive. While others may assume that players can’t feed their people from their position, the Petra provides a wealth of food for arid climates, benefiting every desert tile within the player’s civilization. The benefits in question are as follows.

• Two Food
• Two Gold
• One Production

After creating an oasis in the desert, a player can create their own Mesopotamia by building the Pyramids, too. It’s impossible to avoid massive growth after using three builders to create farms, build mines, and stable horses.

11

Machu Picchu

When The Sun Hits That Ridge Just Right, These Hills Sing

Mountains are a blessing and a curse in Civ 6. On the one hand, they provide adjacency bonuses to Campuses and Holy Sites, and they can be used strategically with Encampments and Forts to prevent invasions. On the other hand… they don’t really do anything else. Machu Picchu fixes that problem by giving mountainous empires a lot more use for what would otherwise be impassible rocks on the map.

If you control Machu Picchu, then all your Commercial Hubs, Theater Squares, and Industrial Zones will get adjacency bonuses from Mountains as well as Campuses and Holy Sites. You’ll probably start running out of space to build with all those districts and mountains, but with some tunnels later in the game or Pachacuti’s Incan leadership, your mountain empire could be an unassailable utopia in the clouds.

10

Venetian Arsenal

Rule The Waves

Unlike several other entries for best World Wonder, the Venetian Arsenal is a boon to a more specific play style: one of naval supremacy. That said, the two additional Great Engineer points per turn can complement all sorts of approaches, so even if you aren’t looking to wreak havoc with a bunch of boats, consider going after this one (and simply shoring up your naval defenses somewhat as a treat).

• Two Great Engineer points per turn
• Receive a second naval unit for each naval unit trained in one of your cities

The best thing about the Venetian Arsenal? Constructing a Fleet or even Armada grants an additional Fleet or even Armada, so you can positively dominate the high seas upon unlocking those options.

9

The Great Bath

Faith From Floods

Nobody likes getting their carefully-planned Farms flooded out by a raging river, but that’s the risk you take for having a good city location. If a river’s floods are proving particularly troublesome, or if you just don’t want to deal with them, build the Great Bath.

• Three Housing
• One Amenity
• Improvements Flood Plains along the same river as the Great Bath (even in different cities) cannot be damaged by floods. However, their bonus yields from floods are halved.
• Each time a flood is prevented on a tile by the Great Bath, that tile produces +1 Faith for the rest of the game.

The extra Faith can be a huge boon, since it lets you start and spread a Religion and can help develop Rock Bands and Naturalists in the later Eras. Extra Housing and Amenities also give the Great Bath’s city more room to grow – get farming!

8

The Pyramids

More Efficient Builders

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest World Wonder and one of the best Wonders for a fledgling empire in Civ 6. It’s impossible to build cities that everyone will envy without, you know, Builders. The volunteer Builder provided by the Pyramids is a welcome freebie. The Pyramids also provide other bonuses which remain in effect for the remainder of the game:

• Two Culture
• Extra actions for all Builders
• Free Builder

This combination of Wonder bonuses offers a crucial winning edge, even on the most intense difficulty levels. The sooner a civilization can take advantage of nearby resources, the better for its survival. Got a terrible starting position that lacks resources? Rush to build this Wonder to give infrastructure an early boost. Pick the best and avoid the worst promotions for governors to find the final path to victory.

7

Temple Of Artemis

Amenities From Animals

Any player can take early advantage of the Temple of Artemis with a camp within the city limits. Building this World Wonder gives a young civilization the upper hand on several accounts:

• Four Food
• Three Housing
• Amenities from Plantations, Pastures, and Camps.

It’s best to build three to four cities before attempting to construct this one. Whether the goal is to provide growth in close quarters or claim the largest city, it’s worth dedicating turns to building the Temple of Artemis.

6

The Colossus

Free Traders

The city of Rhodes built The Colossus to celebrate defending the city against a Macedonian siege. In short, it’s an ancient World Wonder that doubles as a way to taunt enemies with a giant statue of a naked man. For Civ 6, building the Colossus means bragging rights. Here’s what you’ll gain to lord over the competition:

• Three Gold
• One Great Admiral point per turn
• One Trade Route capacity
• One free Trader unit

Early economic advantages prop up any strategy to reach a Victory Condition. Having an extra Trade Route early in the game with a free unit to take advantage of it establishes a financially sound civilization.

5

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City World Wonder gives players an early gift that keeps giving through the endgame and beyond:

• One Wildcard Policy slot
• Five Culture

It’s a huge benefit to have the flexibility of an extra Wildcard Policy on the path to any victory of choice, and while the benefits will diminish over time as you gain access to a larger available ‘hand’ of Policy cards to assign, one more of them is never unwelcome. The increased Culture for the rest of the game shouldn’t go unnoticed either.

After unlocking Printing, be sure to build the Forbidden City right away. It needs flat land next to the City Center. Players may consider this for what they have dedicated to being a “cultural center” or to mend a weak link in the Culture Victory chain.

4

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

Convenient Coastlines

The AI in Civilization 6 often undervalues completing this World Wonder, and it has surprising benefits for any civilization. After building this next to a Harbor, the following perks affect every coastal tile within the city borders:

• One Science
• One Faith
• One Culture
• Additionally, a civilization can use a Great Engineer one additional time

It’s not the boons to Science, Faith, and Culture that are the real treat here, until and unless you can secure a ton of coastal tiles and/or synergy bonuses with other constructions. It’s the Great Engineer’s additional boost – this will set you up for easier World Wonder development for the rest of the game.

3

The Colosseum

Amenities For Everyone

Players can do more than please their people with deadly games in the Colosseum, like Emperor Vespasian or his son Titus. While that’s an obvious benefit, the Colosseum’s other properties will distract plenty of your people from the fact that their ruler is conquering cities with ease abroad.

• Two Culture
• Three Amenities

These benefits affect a six-tile radius, meaning leaders forced to wage war in close quarters run a lesser risk of losing loyalty with the locals. Alternatively, other civs would struggle without the bountiful Culture and Amenities.

After building the Colosseum and taunting friends online, take advantage of the bonuses. A happy population is a more productive one that can crank out units for war or build more World Wonders to make everyone jealous.

2

Angkor Wat

Population Boom

Angkor Wat is a beautiful World Wonder – and a versatile one. As you’ve likely noticed by now, many of the World Wonders that have made this list offer that self-same versatility!

• Two Faith
• One Population
• One Housing in existing cities

Whether you’re racing toward a Religious Victory or otherwise, this is one of the best World Wonders to get you where you’re going. For fans who played hundreds or thousands of hours of Civilization 4, Angkor Wat essentially serves the same function as that game’s Hanging Gardens. Ironically, going out of your way to build the Hanging Gardens in Civ 6 is far less recommended this time around.

The more cities you have at the time of completion, the more benefit you’ll get from Angkor Wat!

1

Kilwa Kisiwani

Super City-States

The AI seldom prioritizes this World Wonder, which is all the sweeter news for us. Prioritizing the Kilwa Kisiwani is especially beneficial to coastal cities as they reap the following benefits:

• Three Envoys (an effect that supports any victory condition)
• 15 percent boost to yields from City States you are the Suzerain of
• While the Suzerain of two or more, that’s another 15 percent boost to every city.

Found out that a rival is close to launching a rocket to colonize planets? Become the Suzerain of a City State that specializes in Science to quickly catch up using the Kilwa Kisiwani. This World Wonder is easy to overlook because it doesn’t seem necessary for a particular victory, but players want its benefits on their side instead of the competition.