While leaders in Sid Meier's Civilization 7 can win any victory type given the proper strategy, some are more catered to a Military or Domination Victory than others. The Military Victory requires following the Military Legacy Paths in each Age and conquering Settlements to earn points in each path. At the same time, the Domination Victory is completed by capturing all Settlements in the game belonging to other players (City-States not included).

Military tactics and siege warfare are critical for both a Military and Domination Victory and utilizing Commanders to ensure units are buffed as much as possible in the process. Leaders with a strong military focus include Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Tecumseh due to their Militaristic attributes, synergy with specific Militaristic civilizations, etc. Here's a look at the ten best leaders (so far) for a Military or Domination Victory in Civilization 7.

10 Amina: Warrior-Queen of Zazzau

Amina's Units Thrive In Plains & Desert

Amina has Economic Militaristic Attributes and will help increase Gold yields to allow you to purchase units and develop a powerful Army. Her Economic abilities include +1 Resource Capacity in all cities and +1 Gold per Age for every Resource assigned in a city. These can add a massive amount of Gold to the treasury in later games and will help balance unit costs when building your forces.

More significantly, Amina's ability gives her units +5 Combat Strength in both Plains and Desert, making her especially effective in these terrain types. Civilizations that work well for Amina throughout the Ages are Persia in Antiquity, Songhai in Exploration (Amina's Geographic choice), and Mughal in the Modern Age, as each of these Civs have both Economic and Militaristic features that complement Amina's very well.

9 Ashoka, World Conqueror: Devaraja

Ashoka Uses Celebrations To Fuel Domination

Ashoka, a World Conqueror, uses Happiness as a driver for Military tactics, utilizing surplus Happiness to increase Production. His Devaraja ability features the following: +1 Production for every five excess Happiness in Cities, +10% Production in Settlements not founded by you, declaring a Formal War automatically starts a Celebration, and all units receive +10 Combat Strength during a Celebration.

Time your war and assault on a specific Settlement based on Celebrations in order to fully take advantage of Ashoka's ability.

Maurya is an excellent choice for Ashoka in the Antiquity Age due to its various Happiness features and will feed into the Happiness surplus bonus really well. Chola is a great civilization choice for the Exploration Age and will also increase Happiness surplus, but will require a shift toward naval combat, so keep that in mind. Finally, the Modern Age's French Empire is a strange but excellent fit for Ashoka when pursuing a Military Victory.

8 Charlemagne: Father Of Europe

Charlemagne's Can Amass A Huge Cavalry Each Age

Charlemagne is a top contender for a Military or Domination Victory due to his incredible capacity for acquiring Cavalry units. Similar to Ashoka, Charlemagne's abilities rely heavily on Celebrations, but in an arguably more impactful way. Each time Charlemagne enters a Celebration, he is granted two of the strongest available Cavalry units in the capital. Further, Celebrations grants his Cavalry units a +5 Combat Strength bonus.

Mongolia's Non-Sufficit Orbis points do not benefit from the Religious or Distant Lands bonuses that other civilizations do.

Charlemagne synergizes incredibly well with Mongolia in the Exploration Age for this exact reason and will be an unstoppable combination during that period. Mongolia acquires non-sufficient Orbis points on the homeland and also receives a Cavalry unit when conquering a Settlement. By the end of the Exploration Age, you'll likely have more Cavalry units than you know what to do with.

7 Friedrich: Berlin Academy Or Hohenfriedberger Marsch

Gain Infantry Units For Constructing Buildings

Both of Friedrich's personas (Baroque and Oblique) are excellent for a Domination or Military victory in Civ 7 as they both award units for constructing specific building types. The Baroque personality awards a Great Work for capturing a Settlement for the first time and grants an Infantry unit when you build a Culture building.

The Oblique persona may be slightly more effective as it automatically gives Army Commanders the Merit Commendation, which increases their Command Radius by +1. Similar to the Baroque persona, the Oblique persona also awards a free Infantry unit, but for constructing Science buildings instead of cultural ones. Rome or Persia are good Antiquity Age Civs for the Baroque persona, while Norman is an excellent choice for either persona in the Exploration Age. The French Empire and Prussia are also ideal choices for both personas in the Modern Age.

6 Harriet Tubman: Combahee Raid

Tubman Excels With Espionage

Harriet Tubman has an excellent Espionage ability that decreases the cost of Espionage actions by 100%. More significantly, she automatically gains 5 War on all wars declared against her, meaning you might want to try to goad opponents into starting wars with you by carrying out as many Sanctions and Espionage actions as possible without fear of consequence.

The Gate of All Nations Wonder in the Antiquity Age grants an additional +2 War on all wars, making it an essential Wonder for Harriet Tubman, increasing her possible War to start at 7 automatically, assuming a war is declared against you. Further buffs to War are available as the Ages progress, and you'll want to take advantage of the negative impact this has on your enemies while waging war. Tubman's units also ignore movement penalties from vegetation.

5 Machiavelli: Il Principe

Machiavelli Declares Formal Wars On Allies

While not explicitly described as a Militaristic leader, Machiavelli is among the best candidates for engaging in warfare due to his Il Principe ability. This gives him a diplomatic edge, providing +3 Influence per Age, granting additional Gold for accepted/rejected Endeavors, and letting him purchase troops from City-States he isn't Suzerain of. Most substantially, his ability allows him to ignore relationship requirements for declaring a Formal War.

This Machiavellian tactic can be used to bait-and-switch opponents and catch them completely unaware, though they might be expecting it if they know what the leader is capable of. Machiavelli will have plenty of Influence to purchase units from City-States, or plenty of Gold to buy his own and take allies by surprise, suffering none of the War Weariness from declaring Surprise Wars.

4 Napoleon: La Grande Armee Or Empereur des Francais

Gains Increased Movement For Land Units

Napoleon's Revolutionary Persona is a great choice for a Military or Domination win as ALL of his land units automatically gain +1 Movement. This might seem like a small thing, but it is incredibly useful when it comes to combat unit tactics and positioning. In many situations, an additional movement might mean avoiding the loss of a unit or repositioning for a Flanking bonus. This persona also awards Culture when defeating a unit equal to 50% of the unit's Combat Strength.

Napoleon's Emperor persona is an equally good choice but requires a more diplomatic approach. This persona ability gives Napoleon a unique Sanction called the Continental System that reduces a target's trade route capacity and causes a major negative relationship loss. However, this is ideal for him as he gains +8 Gold for each Unfriendly or Hostile Relationship and can reject Endeavors for free.

3 Tecumseh: Nicaakiyakoolaakwe

Increases Combat Strength With City-States

Tecumseh is an excellent Diplomatic Militaristic leader who could easily secure a Military or Domination Victory by utilizing City-States. His Nicaakiyakoolaakwe ability provides +1 Combat Strength for all Units for each . Further, Tecumseh also receives +1 Food and Production in all Settlements for every City-State you are Suzerain of as well.

Tecumseh has a natural affinity with Mississippians in the Antiquity Age and Shawnee in Exploration due to their Food-based bonuses, while any militaristic Civ in the Modern Age can effectively get Tecumseh over the line for a Military Victory. Make use of Mississippian Burning Arrow units, especially during the early stages of your campaign. America and Mexico are ideal choices, but require unique strategies in the Modern Age when using Tecumseh, so plan accordingly.

2 Trung Trac: Hai Ba Trung

Start With A Powerful Army Commander

Trung Trac's Hai Ba Trung ability allows her first Army Commander to start with three automatic promotions of your choosing. This will give you a serious leg up in the early Antiquity Age stages, and assuming this same Commander is utilized throughout the entirety of the campaign, Trung Trac's first Commander can end up extremely powerful. This will be made further possible by the +20% experience bonus she receives for Commanders. These two features alone can result in at least one incredibly overpowered Commander unit.

Trung Trac has Scientific & Militaristic attributes and can use them to dive deep into each Age's Tech tree, staying up to date on the most recent weaponry. She receives +10% Science in Tropical Cities, which is doubled when in a Formal War.

1 Xerxes, King of Kings: Crusher Of Rebellions

Xerxes Is Built For Domination

Of all the leaders in Civ 7, Xerxes' King of Kings persona is easily the most qualified for a Domination or Military Victory. His Crusher of Rebellions ability provides a handful of benefits, including +3 Combat Strength for units attacking in Neutral or Enemy territory, 100 Culture AND Gold per Age when you capture a Settlement for the first time, +10% Gold in all Settlements and +20% if they're Settlements not founded by you, and +1 Settlement Limit per Age. Xerxes thrives when conquering Settlements and will have an increased Settlement limit and multiple boosts for each new Settlement captured.

Personas are not available in the base game and require purchasing Persona Packs or DLC, or in the case of Napoleon, connecting your 2K .

Civilizations that Xerxes fits well with include Persia, Maurya, Abbasid, and Mughal. Combined, these abilities and civilizations give Xerxes a serious advantage toward a Military or Domination victory in Civilization 7.