Civilization 5 Religion Guide
Pantheon Beliefs in G&K and BNW
| Converting & Religious Pressure | Pantheons | Founder Beliefs | Follower Beliefs | Enhancers | Reformation |
Every Religion starts with a Pantheon Belief - a simple God they worship that lends early Cities a bonus. When choosing these, I almost always first look to the Terrain around my City and the first couple of spots I plan to expand to later. If you have many spots for Camps, the +1 Food can be better than 10% faster growth rates. A couple of personal favorites are God of the Open Sky when many spots for Pastures are around and God of the Sea for Cities with many offshore Resources.
Some of these are far better than others - the +1 Happiness bonuses are rather insignificant in the long-term, while others for tile improvements will still be helpful late in the game by giving you bigger, better Cities.
Your Pantheon Belief will continue to affect the Civilization even when Religion has been advanced by Great Prophets. With a Piety Social Policy, you will get the Pantheon belief of the second most popular Religion.
| Belief Name | Game Description | Tips and Strategies |
| Ancestor Worship | +1 Culture from Shrines | It's not bad, but Culture from Plantations, Pastures, Gold/Silver and other bonuses clearly pass it in usefulness. |
| Dance of the Aurora | +1 Faith from Tundra tiles without Forest | A very situational pick here, but one to watch out for if you're on the northern/southern edge of the map and there are tundra tiles that are going to be worked because of other resources on them. Otherwise, they will not provide the Faith. |
| Desert Folklore | +1 Faith from Desert Tiles | All Desert Tiles, even Flood Plains, will provide the bonus, but its usefulness is going to be determined by how many of those the City is going to work - Desert Hills and Flood Plains are obvious, but regular Desert may not be worked effectively until you've built the Petra Wonder from researching Currency. |
| Faith Healers | +30HP healed per turn if adjacent to a Friendly City | Your Cities, Allied City-States, will let you heal much, much faster to the tune of 50hp per turn. This can be incredibly helpful in City defense. |
| Fertility Rites | +10% faster Growth rates | I only select this if there are no early Wonders I'm chasing nor any tile improvements that may provide better bonuses. |
| God of Craftsmen | +1 Production in Cities with 3+ Population | Compared to others, this is an awful Pantheon to choose. |
| God of the Open Sky | +1 Culture from Pastures | This can be an incredibly powerful Pantheon to choose, based on how many pastures you may place around your settlements. |
| God of the Sea | +1 Production from Fishing Boats | This can provide a great boost and give you incentive to get those fishing boats out early in a Coastal Capital. I'd choose it with 2 or more sea resources and knowing I'll be settling another City with similar opportunities. |
| God of War | Gain Faith if you win a battle within 4 tiles of your City | Early on, you'll get Faith killing Barbarians when they approach your City. Later, it may provide Faith if in war with another Civ. I might use it with Raging Barbarians to produce a load of faith over the Millenia. The amount of Faith returned is half the killed unit's Combat Strength. That said, you can see how any other more reliable Pantheon that gives faith each turn would be favored over God of War. |
| Goddess of Festivals | +1 Culture and +1 Faith for each Wine and Incense | This is an incredible Pantheon if you've got 2-3 of those Resources, and works even better for Religions that adopt the Monasteries Belief, as they also give +1 faith and culture per Incense and Wine. |
| Goddess of Love | +1 Happiness from Cities with 6+ Population | I have never picked this. I see means of generating Culture, which gives me means of generating Happiness from other sources. |
| Goddess of Protection | 30% increase in city Ranged Combat Strength | Skip this - if you want better perks for Combat, go with God of War for Faith from battles or Faith Healers, parking melee units to defend your Capital and letting them heal 50hp per turn. |
| Goddess of the Hunt | +1 Food from Camps | One of my favorites for Capital Growth and supporting early growth in the Capital. Remember, it's up to you if you'll keep a Forest. You can put Truffles, for example, on grasslands by chopping the forest. |
| Messenger of the Gods | +2 Science in Cities with a City Connection | City Connections can be hard to start really early in the game, and you can get the same +2 Science from 2 more Citizens in a City - go with Growth or Culture instead. |
| Monument to the Gods | +15% Production of Ancient/Classical Wonders | It's a great Pantheon in combination with the 15% you also get from Tradition. I would definitely get this if there were Marble nearby, since that would also give more Production toward those Wonders. It does help you get many good early Wonders like Hanging Gardens and The Colossus, but is a waste if you only go for one Wonder. |
| One With Nature | +4 Faith from Natural Wonders | Super Situational. The Faith is incredible - imagine how useful this would be with The Great Barrier Reef, providing a total of +8 Faith from the 2 workable tiles. Only get it if you'll be settling a Natural Wonder for sure. If you have 2 natural wonders, you should look no further and pick this asap. |
| Oral Tradition | +1 Culture from Plantations | Great, depending on how many Plantations you'll be building. I don't bother with Plantations on Bananas, so I exclude those from my decision. |
| Religious Idols | +1 Culture and Faith for each Gold and Silver | Having just a few of these tiles availalble to you makes this Pantheon a must-have. |
| Religious Settlements | +15% faster Border Growth | A good all-around choice if you do not have any other options available, else the additional culture you're earning from Plantations etc. should effectively boost Border growth for you. |
| Sacred Path | +1 Culture from Jungle Tiles | A great pick. Jungles give +2 food so Cities can easily work them, and later those same Jungle tiles will give Science with Universities. You will be able to place Trading Posts in those tiles to make good, all-around tiles for your Cities. |
| Sacred Waters | +1 Happiness from Cities on Rivers | Like Goddess of Love, one that I just never pick. Goddess of Love would be better long-run, given all your Cities should be of size six eventually, while not all can be placed on Rivers, nor should you let this meager bonus dictate what constitutes a good City location. |
| Stone Circles | +2 Faith from Quarries | Plenty of Marble and Stone around? Great! Take this and don't look back. Also, Mausoleum of Halicarnassus for huge Gold income from those tiles. |
| Tear of the Gods | +2 Faith for each Gem or Pearl Resource | If you've got some amazing 3 Gem or Pearl start, grab this Pantheon and feel blessed not only in wealth, but also in spirit with plenty of Faith purchasing power and fast Great Prophets. You will not be able to use this Pantheon without Brave New World. |
| Converting & Religious Pressure | Pantheons | Founder Beliefs | Follower Beliefs | Enhancers | Reformation |
Share Tips and FAQs (15)
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Dakota says...
was playing as Isabella and had the urulu next to one of my cities and her double bonus from natural wonders applies to the plus for faith from one with nature as well.
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57th March 2014 12:21am
Lachlan says...
I'm not sure I agree with your opinion on 'god of craftsmen'. This is clearly a pantheon that becomes progressively weaker as a game goes on but if you get it very early it is a solid choice. Remember this is +1 production per city for the entire game so it is quite like the Republic policy and it makes a huge difference in taking crucial turns off every build order which accelerates your early civ.
It is certainly much better then 'monument to the gods' because +15% production is very close to 1 hammer in the early game but it has tight conditions that make its use very limited.
And remember if you take God of Craftsmen with aristocracy and marble that +1 becomes +1.3 so its better still.
It is certainly much better then 'monument to the gods' because +15% production is very close to 1 hammer in the early game but it has tight conditions that make its use very limited.
And remember if you take God of Craftsmen with aristocracy and marble that +1 becomes +1.3 so its better still.
Admin:
Thanks for your comment. This is the type of discussion I'd like to provoke here. I personally would still stay away from that Pantheon under most conditions, but do see what you are saying in that the 1 production can be helpful so early in the game. Most of the time, there is something to pick that is far better than either of these (faith generation, culture, or food from certain tile types for example).
I like Monument to the Gods when I am determined to get at least 2 ancient/classical era Wonders. I think most people playing on Prince would be able to capitalize on that, but on Emperor+ it is difficult to ensure. The bonuses from the 2 wonders I might not have been able to build without the pantheon are what encourage me to choose this, and by the time I'm ready for a Wonder the +15% is more significant than it'd appear - it is 15% off the turns to complete it, when it's a race to the finish. By that time, I've already got a mine or some farms on my plains to help boost production on Wonders. Getting the Wonder done faster frees up the build queue in my best City, so I can move on to another Settler or some other crucial project.
God of Craftsmen is a more reliable bonus to be sure, and on upper difficulties Monument to the Gods is a gamble of sorts. You are not guaranteed to get any Wonder, especially with more Civs in the game, and the end result may be an entirely wasted Pantheon. I have managed to get 2-3 Wonders on Emperor with that Pantheon, so find it is worth the risk.
I like Monument to the Gods when I am determined to get at least 2 ancient/classical era Wonders. I think most people playing on Prince would be able to capitalize on that, but on Emperor+ it is difficult to ensure. The bonuses from the 2 wonders I might not have been able to build without the pantheon are what encourage me to choose this, and by the time I'm ready for a Wonder the +15% is more significant than it'd appear - it is 15% off the turns to complete it, when it's a race to the finish. By that time, I've already got a mine or some farms on my plains to help boost production on Wonders. Getting the Wonder done faster frees up the build queue in my best City, so I can move on to another Settler or some other crucial project.
God of Craftsmen is a more reliable bonus to be sure, and on upper difficulties Monument to the Gods is a gamble of sorts. You are not guaranteed to get any Wonder, especially with more Civs in the game, and the end result may be an entirely wasted Pantheon. I have managed to get 2-3 Wonders on Emperor with that Pantheon, so find it is worth the risk.
22nd December 2013 4:03am
Arthur says...
Morroco with a start in the middle of a massive desert that easily fit the capital and two floodplain helper cities, petra and plenty of Kasbah's. Desert Folklore and I didn't even know what to do with all the faith income anymore. I usually prevent the automatic spanning of great prophets before the industrial age by buying faith buildings and staying the limit, because I think early prophets are not that useful. With desert folklore I bought cathedrals and mosques for all 8 of my cities and the trait still spawned four prophets. Situational, but incredibly potent for Morroco and likely the Arabs.
28th August 2014 7:04pm
Brock says...
I'm wondering if anyone is having this issue...I'm playing as Poland and I spawned with 2 incense and a wine so naturally I adopted Goddess of Festivals for my pantheon...but even with the shrine I'm only getting 2 faith per turn and only one from terrain even though I have three resources in my borders?
30th March 2014 5:09am
Carl says...
For that Pantheon to work, the tiles must be worked by a City that is following that Pantheon. If you settle an expansion, it may/may not be following it, depending when the Settler came out. Odds are, they are not tiles prioritized by the Cities' governor and you would have to lock the tiles under citizen management for it to work.
30th March 2014 2:11pm
Aliased says...
You're missing Sun God: + food from banana, Citrus, and Wheat resource and God King: Palace provides +1 Culture, +1 Faith, +1 Gold, +1 Production, and +1 Science.
Admin:
Thanks. These were added in the Fall Patch, and I still have some editing to do.
21st December 2013 12:24pm
Aliased says...
I've been wondering about this for a few days now; I myself had not played in quite some time. When I hear mention from you or on the Civ5 subbreddit of a "fall patch" was that something separate from the BNW expansion?
Admin:
It was a big, expected patch from the developers that would fix a multitude of problems. It mainly changed the Warmongering penalties, which were a bit of a problem before. Everyone hated you for warring, but it's more exponential now. You have to do serious damage to a Civ to get a big penalty (like taking a City from a Civ with only 3 is less damaging to your reputation than taking one from a Civ with ten). It also changed a couple Civs and added some new Pantheon beliefs, while making adjustments and improvements to systems throughout the game.
22nd December 2013 11:54am
Guido says...
I think you might be underestimating the "Goddess of Love" belief. In the beginning this actually helps you to grow because you get your 6th citizen without it adding to unhappiness. Hence, buildings that create happiness can be build later, which means that more important buildings will not have to be postponed and you have to pay for maintainance much later.
Later in the game, ones you have build all improvements that create happiness you enjoy additional happiness. This not only adds up to eventually lead to a Golden Age, in combination with the "Fine Arts" social policy half of it adds up to culture. Eg. 10 large cities give you 10 happiness plus 5 culture.
Later in the game, ones you have build all improvements that create happiness you enjoy additional happiness. This not only adds up to eventually lead to a Golden Age, in combination with the "Fine Arts" social policy half of it adds up to culture. Eg. 10 large cities give you 10 happiness plus 5 culture.
Admin:
You're right. I am going to edit that, because I'm using it more often myself. It definitely helps if you go wide, because often it is difficult to find diverse luxuries within the same area and you need so many in order to have a happy empire. That one extra population can mean everything when it comes to finishing a wonder before the AI or simply developing your city.
Ultimately, this is why I wanted these pages separated, so that readers could provide input just like this and help others with their gameplay.
Ultimately, this is why I wanted these pages separated, so that readers could provide input just like this and help others with their gameplay.
12th December 2013 10:05am
Warren says...
I think messenger of the gods is good if you have reason to go very wide very early; the science will offset the increase in tech cost from cities, at least early on when tech costs are low.
Going wide early is key in multiplayer games, and keeping cities close together in MP is usually a good idea, so connections come quicker and MotG is really good in MP.
In higher difficulty SP though, I think only Carthage, Iroquois and Inca can really make it work due to their city connections coming easier. MotG works especially well for the Iroquois in my experience.
Admin:
I don't play multiplayer, but understand how it'd be beneficial without the other players getting the hefty AI bonuses - a couple Science isn't much compared to what they get on Emperor+, but iI can see how it can give you an early tech lead against other players. After all, you're the only one getting that belief. Thanks for sharing its strength... I've never chosen it.
That belief definitely would work well with Iroquois, given you'd just need to place roads every couple tiles, and sometimes have a straight connection (especially if you're really cramming cities together). I'm playing Inca now, and love how their Workers get to move onto a hill and get right to building. It's very handy for road construction, as you say. I'm finding it's also helpful for escaping from Barbarians early on and fast responses from your Units even out in unclaimed territory.
That belief definitely would work well with Iroquois, given you'd just need to place roads every couple tiles, and sometimes have a straight connection (especially if you're really cramming cities together). I'm playing Inca now, and love how their Workers get to move onto a hill and get right to building. It's very handy for road construction, as you say. I'm finding it's also helpful for escaping from Barbarians early on and fast responses from your Units even out in unclaimed territory.
30th April 2014 8:08am
Bill W says...
There is also one for +1 food from each banana, citrus and wheat. Can't remember the name though. One thing about pantheon beliefs - if you want to keep the bonuses you need to found a religion, otherwise you lose them when your city gets converted. So the beliefs above that do not grant faith are harder to keep for more than half the game on immortal and above.
20th June 2014 10:14am
Jake says...
This is only my second time playing through the game (dominated my first game on king though thanks to your guides Carl) but I think sacred path is really powerful because jungle tiles can be so much more prevalent than resource tiles in certain parts of the map.
Admin:
Yep, depends where you spawn and how much of that Jungle you intend to keep :)
14th July 2014 3:31pm
Lachlan says...
Just another thought on choosing Pantheons.
It largely comes down to 1 question. Are you intending on founding an early religion? If yes, then you should pick a Faith pantheon. You also need faith to enhance, get missionaries and religious buildings like pagodas.
If your not going for a religion I't obviously better to avoid a faith pantheon. These conditions may help you choose whether to go for a religion.
1) Are you playing Immortal or Diety? (you can expect to be aggressively converted by foreign Great Prophets)
2) Are you near a religious Civ like Ethiopia or Celts? (As point 1 it is easier to let them convert you and get the benefits).
3) Do you have access to resources that generate a decent amount of faith?
4) Are you near a warmonger? Again with Diety if you get an early pantheon it is probably wiser to pick a production or food pantheon as this will help you accelerate your civ, whereas pursuing a religion can take a lot of time for probably marginal or no benefit.
It largely comes down to 1 question. Are you intending on founding an early religion? If yes, then you should pick a Faith pantheon. You also need faith to enhance, get missionaries and religious buildings like pagodas.
If your not going for a religion I't obviously better to avoid a faith pantheon. These conditions may help you choose whether to go for a religion.
1) Are you playing Immortal or Diety? (you can expect to be aggressively converted by foreign Great Prophets)
2) Are you near a religious Civ like Ethiopia or Celts? (As point 1 it is easier to let them convert you and get the benefits).
3) Do you have access to resources that generate a decent amount of faith?
4) Are you near a warmonger? Again with Diety if you get an early pantheon it is probably wiser to pick a production or food pantheon as this will help you accelerate your civ, whereas pursuing a religion can take a lot of time for probably marginal or no benefit.
Admin:
Thanks for sharing. I noticed how hard it is to get a religion on those difficulties in particular and think your tip to go for a short-term benefit when choosing a pantheon is wise. You can certainly benefit from growth/production for a while then encourage another Civ's religion in your lands based on what beliefs you like... someone close by who is putting out a lot of pressure is the natural choice. Looking up those benefits and utilizing them is the best you can do at that point. Hopefully they picked some good beliefs :)
16th January 2014 6:33am
Norman says...
Really stupid question here, so please bear with me. I read that Desert Forklore is the bomb, but without flood plains, how can your desert cities grow to work multiple desert tiles?My situation with Poland is I start next to desert, with 2 desert hills and a desert pasture. Lots of desert stone and marble nearby (5+1) that can be covered by 2 cities, but no good source of food for them.I have 2 wine adjacent to my capital and 3 more that I can get from a second city. No incense, but Festivals is tempting. Finally, not too far away is a ridiculous amount of banana and citrus (8+8), so Oral Tradition, Sacred Path or Sun God look attractive. If I go bananas :-), which of the last three is most desirable?Thanks!
9th August 2016 4:10pm
ShinigamiKenji says...
Answering your original question: There are 2 ways, but neither of them is optimal compared to flood plains:- Send food trade routes: less gold income and you need a Granary in your starting city
- Petra: 1 Food / 1 Production is the same as Plains.You can initially grow your city sing trade routes, then trying to build Petra.Now, the question you should have asked before that one: Does a city need to be in the middle of the desert for Desert Folklore to be useful?The answer is no. It might be better to settle your cities in the borders of the desert, where there might be some hills or resources, and work just, say, 3 tiles per city. Eventually it will catch up.You are also denying other rival from getting the (possibly) most powerful faith pantheon in the game. Imagine Morocco or Arabia with it.In your game, I might go either with Desert Folklore or Festivals (if I plan on getting Monasteries). I find that usually either a Pantheon lets me found a religion, has great synergy with some unique features, or is useless, since if you don't found a religion your Pantheon won't survive.I don't usually improve Bananas, since I almost always prefer the science from jungle than the extra food. I would go Sacred Path since I don't like to spend my pantheon on food, which is quite easy to get from other sources.
- Petra: 1 Food / 1 Production is the same as Plains.You can initially grow your city sing trade routes, then trying to build Petra.Now, the question you should have asked before that one: Does a city need to be in the middle of the desert for Desert Folklore to be useful?The answer is no. It might be better to settle your cities in the borders of the desert, where there might be some hills or resources, and work just, say, 3 tiles per city. Eventually it will catch up.You are also denying other rival from getting the (possibly) most powerful faith pantheon in the game. Imagine Morocco or Arabia with it.In your game, I might go either with Desert Folklore or Festivals (if I plan on getting Monasteries). I find that usually either a Pantheon lets me found a religion, has great synergy with some unique features, or is useless, since if you don't found a religion your Pantheon won't survive.I don't usually improve Bananas, since I almost always prefer the science from jungle than the extra food. I would go Sacred Path since I don't like to spend my pantheon on food, which is quite easy to get from other sources.
27th August 2016 3:07am
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-God-king. It gives you 1 production, gold , faith, science and culture per palace, what simply means: in your capital. It's rather a bad belief, especially for wide empires, but in case of Venice or one-city-challange it might be a good choice if there are no tiles that would provide you faith/culture with a different pantheon you might choose.
-Earth Mother. It gives you 1 faith per copper, salt and iron. Good belief if you start near plenty of those.
-Sun god. 1 food per citrus, bananas and wheat. It's much like any other resource/tile/improvement related pantheon. And unlike "oral tradition" it doesn't require plantation on bananas, making jungle tiles with them even better. Wheat and the other two are a rare sight near one another though.