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Before you do anything with a new save in Civilization VII, you have to select a leader to rule your empire. There are over two dozen leaders to select from, though, and all have their strengths and weaknesses. Every leader is given two distinct ruling characteristics: Diplomatic, Militaristic, Economic, Cultural, Expansionist, Scientific, or Wildcard. It’s up to you to select the right leader for the empire you want to build based on those characteristics.
Of course, leaders also come with specific benefits that align with those characteristics, and that’s where your decision can get a little confusing. Trying to sift through every leader’s pros and cons to settle on one can be slightly overwhelming. Fortunately, we have tested all 26 leaders in Civilization 7 and have come up with a list of the five best ones to select. You can see our choices below, but keep in mind they are not in any order. We also tried to choose five leaders with different characteristics to give you more options.