Religion as a whole has seen some dramatic changes in Sid Meier's Civilization 7, but Pantheons still work in a similar fashion to Civilization 6's sytem. Once Mysticism has been researched, players will be able to create a pantheon, choosing from a variety of beliefs to assist their civilization.
Like Civ 6, pantheons have a wide host of benefits, with a belief that's helpful for virtually any strategy a player can concoct. Among other tips and tricks for the Antiquity Age, having a general understanding of the 16 potential pantheon beliefs will undoubtedly help in setting up a Civ 7 game for success. Besides some notably lackluster options, there's a situation for each belief to enjoy the limelight in Civilization 7.
16 City Patron Goddess
The Best Source Of Influence In Antiquity
City Patron Goddess is one of the more unique belief options within Civ 7, giving the altar a bonus of +3 Influence. With this belief, the altar becomes the best source of influence in the entirety of the Antiquity Age. Besides being used for diplomacy with other civilizations, influence is also used for espionage and becoming a city state suzerain.
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Consider pairing this belief with a leader like Machievelli or Lafayette to get their unique diplomatic-focused bonuses rolling. Beyond playing as diplomacy-centric leaders, this belief may also be useful if a civilization spawns close to many independent peoples, helping to both keep cities safe and acquire powerful suzerain bonuses.
15 Earth Goddess
Almost Never The Correct Choice
Earth Goddess is perhaps the worst belief in Civ 7. It provides the altar with a +1 happiness adjacency bonus to mountains and wonders. The altar has a base yield of +1 happiness for a two-gold upkeep, with altars only really being built to activate pantheon beliefs instead of its awful base stats.
In this case, however, the belief is only granting extra happiness through an extremely strict adjacency bonus. Any other happiness building will, in almost every situation, outperform Earth Goddess, making this belief a genuine waste and almost never the correct choice. Unless there's an absurd number of mountains nearby, and sometimes even then, skip Earth Goddess.
14 Fertility Rites
For Players Wanting A Hands Off Bonus
Fertility Rites, while a decent hands-off option, does have some specific wording that makes it less useful than may initially appear. The belief grants cities with an altar a 10% growth rate bonus. The key here is cities; Fertility Rites does not include towns.
Cities and towns are distinct. However, any bonus pertaining to player settlements includes both.
While growth rate is certainly nice to have, this belief can get easily overshadowed by the pure food yields of other options. There's some fun to be had in choosing Fertility Rites and building the Hanging Gardens for some massively populated cities, but there are ultimately better options.
13 Goddess Of Festivals
For Culture Enthusiasts Only
Goddess of Festivals grants +1 culture to quarters in settlements with an altar. Quarters are any urban district that has both building slots filled. This belief certainly has some use for a pure culture game plan, but once again, is outshined by other beliefs.
Quarters are created whenever an urban district is completed. Additionally, some civs offer, besides unique units, unique quarters for specific building combos.
The issue of Goddess of Festivals is the expense required to get meaningful benefit from it. Getting quarters in settlements, along with the requisite altar, is an exceedingly costly endeavor. An alternative, God of the Sun, presents a cheaper bonus to culture, albeit with a smaller pure yield potential.
12 God Of Healing
Not For Your Enemy
Another rather unique belief, God of Healing grants units +5 healing on rural tiles. Don't be fooled by its more innocent name. For leaders with a domination or military focus, God of Healing can be extremely useful in conquering enemies.
Healing units is slow in Civ 7 and can only be increased with God of Healing and a commander promotion four tiers deep in the logistics tree. +5 healing is nothing to scoff at, making a properly positioned army extremely threatening. There's a reason this benefit otherwise requires a level four commander: it's powerful.
11 Goddess Of The Harvest
The First Of A Powerful Series Of Beliefs
Goddess of the Harvest is the first of a suite of pantheon beliefs that contribute very similar benefits. These warehouse beliefs, also including God of the Forest, God of the Sea, and Stone Circles, all increase specific tile improvement yields in settlements with an altar.
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This version grants +1 food to farms, pastures, and plantations if an altar has been built. Goddess of the Harvest is one of the strongest beliefs in Civ 7, as its yield bonuses can quickly get out of hand with its cheap initial investment and usefulness in both towns and cities. Goddess of the Harvest is what makes Fertility Rites feel lackluster, with the other warehouse beliefs having a similar effect to their alternatives.
10 God Of The Forest
For Maximum Profits
God of the Forest is in the same category as Goddess of the Harvest, providing +1 gold to camps and woodcutters in settlements containing an altar. Once again, this belief can be very powerful if chosen with a civilization's terrain in mind. If there are many potential woodcutters and camps, God of the Forest is a solid choice.
While gold is not quite as strong as some of the yields granted by the other warehouse beliefs, it's almost always a generally useful choice. With the introduction of town conversion costs and the more traditional purpose of purchasing units, gold has quite a lot of applications in Civ 7.
9 God of The Forge
A Simple Bonus In A Complicated Game
God of the Forge grants a 10% production bonus towards constructing buildings in cities. Once again, the primary issue with God of the Forge is its restrictions. The production bonus applies only to buildings, and only to ones constructed in cities with an altar. While this is on the better side of its production percentage family due to buildings being a common resource sink, it is still comparatively held back.
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However, this belief isn't bad by any means; every single leader and civilization would benefit from having it. Additionally, there is something to be said about beliefs that can be chosen and forgotten. God of the Forge does not require any interaction or change of strategy on the player's part, it's a simple bonus with an immediate benefit.
8 God Of The Sea
The Best Of The Best For Coastal Starts
God of the Sea, the third warehouse belief, grants +1 food production to fishing boats in settlements. While sea-faring is limited in the Antiquity Age, having a few coastal cities will cause this belief to flourish.
Production is always useful, with God of the Sea potentially creating extremely well-balanced towns and cities. This belief should be a huge priority for a civilization expanding to feature several coastal cities, as it can vastly improve a city's performance. Keep in mind this belief will likely be contested, particularly on more water-based map types, such as fractal.
7 God Of The Sun
When You Want Plenty Of Options
God of the Sun is one of the best beliefs in Civ 7, granting a +1 bonus to every yield on the altar. While this pantheon won't drastically improve individual cities, its bonus to both science and culture makes it a well-balanced belief that works well for almost any civilization, and it's even better for expansionist ones.
Pushing up against the city cap is always wise. You can also increase it by researching specific technologies, such as Irrigation.
The cheap requirement of simply needing an altar within a settlement means that this bonus can easily hit +5 culture and science for a civ, and it can potentially push into higher amounts with a particularly expansionist Antiquity Age. A solid amount of every single yield can quickly stack up value for a civ throughout the age.
