Wonders have always been a major part of the Civlization series, andCivilization 6carries on the franchise’s proud tradition. These breathtaking structures from across history are expensive to build but provide lots of benefits to the empire that completes them.
Some Wonders are powerful enough to base an entire campaign strategy around, while others are just generally useful. Other Wonders… well, let’s just say they’re more wondrous in real life. We’ve ranked all 53 Wonders in Civ 6 so you’re able to choose the best ones to adorn your cities.
S-Tier
The Three Greatest Wonders
There’s a lot of competition to name the best Wonders in Civilization 6, but these three in particular provide exceptional value for any campaign seeking any victory type.
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Most empires will have at least one coastal city, and even if your strategy isn’t focused on naval power the Mausoleumprovides a ton of extra Science, Culture, and Faithover the course of the game.
The extra charges for Engineers can help youget late-game Wonders finished as soon as possible.Best of all,the AI rarely recognizes how valuable the Mausoleum is, so you won’t often have a lot of competition for it!
Oxford University
Science is important for every victory type, and Oxford super-charges your research.Build it in your best Science cityto maximize its bonus, and fill it with Great Works of Writing to provide extra Culture as well!
Pyramids
Builders are themost important unit in the game, and it’s safe to say that you’ll be recruiting a lot of them over the course of a campaign. A free Builder saves you a few turns of training (or the Gold cost of buying one outright), and the extra chargesreduces the total number of Builders you’ll have to trainthroughout the game.
The extra two Culture each turn is a nice bonus, especially when you consider that the Desert tile the Pyramids are built on probably wouldn’t be doing anything for you until the late game otherwise.
A-Tier
Essential To Victory
Your selection of Wonders will usually depend on your preferred victory condition. Once you’ve decided, the appropriate Wonders from this list are must-haves.
Big Ben
Gold is the key to victory no matter your end goal. Big Ben provides a huge boost to your economy, and the extra Policy slot makes it one of the most valuable Wonders in the game.
Save as much Gold as you can in the final turns before Big Ben is completed - the more you have, the more you’ll earn! You can also trade Luxuries and unneeded Strategic Resources for cash the turn before it finishes.
The late game incentivizes players to move away from fossil fuels andbuild renewable energy improvementsinstead. The Biosphere ensures that you’ll never miss your Coal and Oil Plants by making renewables extra-efficient.
The Biosphere is especially useful for a Culture Victory, as it can provide a large amount of Tourism thanks to its traits. It’s a late Wonder, but it could be just the push you need to win.
Broadway
The Great White Way is essential for Culture-based civilizations, helping to claim the last few Great Writers and Musicians as the campaign reaches the endgame and providing a place to showcase their works. Its local Culture boost is a huge boon as well - Broadway can besurprisingly helpful for military gameplay, as Culture helps unlock Corps, Armies, and powerful late-game Policies.
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is great for gettingextra Tourism out of Resorts, but it really shines for players trying tobuild large, populous cities.Neighborhoods and Preserves both provideextra Housing based on local Appeal, so with the Eiffel Tower in play you’re able to maximize this bonus and grow your cities faster.
Hagia Sophia
Training Missionaries and Apostles to go out and spread their faith is a key part of a Religious Victory. The player that builds Hagia Sophia is in a much better position to do so than their rivals.
Extra charges give your religious unitsmore chances to convert enemy cities, reducing the number of them that you’ll need to train over the course of the game. The extra Faith from the Wonder is a nice little bonus on top!
Hanging Gardens
Food is the most basic resource in the game, but it’s essential for building large cities capable of bringing your civilization to the victory screen. Getting the Hanging Gardens built early onprovides exceptional long-term benefits,especially as the game wears on and growth is slowed by Housing caps and greater food requirements.
If you need to build a Wonder to satisfy the Inspiration requirement for Drama and Poetry, the Hanging Gardens are always a good choice.
Hermitage
Themed Museums are a major part of the mid-game strategy when pursuing a Culture Victory, but it can take time to acquire a diverse enough collection of Great Works of Art. Invariably, you’ll end up with works that don’t fit any of your museums. That’s where the Hermitage comes in!
By storing your mismatched art in this Wonder, you may get an even healthier Tourism income and keep producing Great Artists. The Sculptures of Donatello make an especially good exhibit at this prestigious institution!
The Suzerain Bonuses of City-States are some of the most-overlooked benefits available in the game. Becoming the Suzerain of the correct City-States can make a good build even better. Kilwa Kisiwani transforms City-State overlordship from good practice to a full-on strategy in its own right.
Kilwa is best forhighly specialized empires, but the exact specialization doesn’t matter. Remember that City-States provide resources based on the specific buildings you have in your empire; Libraries and Universities for Scientific City-States, for example, or Markets and Banks for Trade City-States.
Build and fully upgrade a Diplomatic Quarter to get the most out of Kilwa Kisiwani.
Mahabodhi Temple
Apostles get expensive fast, since their Faith costincreases each time you recruit one.Getting two for free lets youproselytize aggressivelyorfully upgrade your Beliefsin one fell swoop.
If you’re playing with Diplomatic Victory enabled, Mahabodhi Temple alsohelps keep you on pacein case you need to switch between pursuing a Religious and Diplomatic win.
Oracle
The Oracle is a great Wonder to build early for the Drama and Poetry boost, especially if you’re planning to buildlarge, District-heavy cities.Being able to compete with other players for Great People is key to every victory type, after all!
If you’re playing with Gathering Storm, you shouldalways angle toward a Diplomatic Victoryas a secondary win condition, even if your main goal lies elsewhere. The Statue of Liberty is critical for speeding up your progress toward a win,potentially saving you a minimum of sixty turnson Standard Speed.
If you’re playing without Gathering Storm, the two free Settlers are certainly welcome, but theirusefulness will be limitedby the amount and quality of land available by the time Lady Liberty raises her torch.
Terracotta Army
Whether it’s because you were conquering early neighbors or defending against aggressors, the Terracotta Army lets youcapitalize on having a large armyat the end of the early game. Even a single Promotion greatly enhances a unit’s effectiveness, so getting a bunch all at once will make your troops the envy of the ancient world.
attempt to have eight or more land units by the time the Terracotta Army is built - that way, you’ll get the Inspiration for Mercenaries, which you’ll want to research soon.
B-Tier
Excellent, But Situational
This group of Wonders can provide incredible value, but require very specific geography or a niche empire build in order to do so. If you have an opportunity to get a lot out of these Wonders, you should take it - in those cases, they can prove even better than the A-Tier.
A blanket bonus to Science and Production is massive, but there’s a lot that goes into building Amundsen-Scott Research Station. Unless you’re playing as Russia or Canada, settling near the poles willtake a long time to provide a return on investment.If you do find yourself in a position to make use of this Antarctic Wonder, however, it’s hard to find a better use for your Great Engineer charges.
Casa de Contrataciòn
Three extra Governor promotions are enough on their own to make this Wonder worth building. If you havelots of cities in faraway lands- or were lucky enough to spawn at the border of two continents - Casa de Contratación sets you up for an exception second half of the game.
Chichen Itza
Rainforest tiles can be tough to work with, but if you find the jungle encroaching on a city then Chichen Itza could be the solution. It’s best if there are opportunities forBanana and Cocoa Plantationswithin the city’s borders, but bonus Culture, bolstered by Campuses and Theater Squares at the edge of the Rainforest, can turn your city into a tropical paradise.
Give Reyna the Financier theForestry Managementpromotion and assign her to Chichen Itza’s city - the Rainforests will add two Gold to their per-turn yields as well!
Colosseum
A high Amenities count canearn some impressive bonuses, especially in the late game when percentages really matter. Building the Colosseum is a great way tokeep a small, focused empireon track.
Lady Six Sky and Tokugawa both benefit from having small empires with short distances between cities. The Colosseum is perfect for them!
Cristo Redentor
It’s not uncommon for a religious civilization to switch into a Culture Victory if their faith hasn’t exactly caught on by the late game. With Cristo Redentor, you canstill leverage your Relics and Holy Citiestoward your new goal. Be sure to use the Appeal lens to check for goodSeaside Resort locationsas well!
Etemenanki
There’s no middle ground with Etemenanki - it’s either useless or the best possible Wonder, depending entirely on the prevalence of Marshes and Floodplains in your part of the world. If you find yourself with even a moderate quantity of either,rush Writing and build Etemenankibefore anybody else can do so.
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge can be tough to zone and tougher to fully exploit - you need alarge, populous citywith coastline and/or Mountains for Resorts and enough room for a National Park, plus a place to actually build the bridge! If you can pull it off, though, your city will easily be the highest producer of Tourism in the world.
If you may somehow build both the Golden Gate Bridge and the Biosphere in the same city, Wind and Solar Farms anywhere you can’t place a Resort will grant even more Tourism.
Great Bath
Floodplains can be a blessing and a curse. If your starting position includes a river that floods often,don’t wait until you’re able to construct a Dam- build the Great Bath right away. Not only will this save you a lot of frustration and Builder charges byprotecting your improvements, but it will also provide extra Faith over the course of the game.
Huey Teocalli
If you happen to find a large freshwater Lake,try to build Huey Teocalliin the middle. This Wonder should haveat least three adjacent Lake tilesto be worth the build. Once it’s done, any other Lakes will provide much more value to their cities, and you’ll have extra Amenities to go around!
Machu Picchu
Mountainous regions are great for defense, to say nothing of the adjacency bonuses they provide for Holy Sites and Campuses. However, they can be restrictive when it comes to getting good yields from your cities. Machu Picchu helps fix this problem byletting Mountain tiles enhance more District types.
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal can be a game-changer for a Domination Victory. Creating a new sea route where one didn’t exist before has the potential tosave dozens of turnsmoving your navies and embarked units around the map.
The extra Canals can be used to boost adjacent Industrial Zones!
Petra
Deserts are among the hardest terrain types to manage in the game. Unless you take Desert Folklore as your Pantheon, or can wait until the late game when you can build Solar Farms, there’s not a lot that you can do with a big patch of sand.
Petra takes a while to build, since its home city isn’t likely to be very productive at first, but once it’s done it cantransform a barren desert into the jewel of your empire.
Ruhr Valley
An industrial city that doesn’t need to worry about Appeal has a lot of uses, fromcranking out troops for the war efforttofinishing Space Race projects. If you identify a site for such a city along a river - usually with lots of hills and mineral resources - remember toleave room for the Ruhr Valleywhile planning your Dams, Aqueducts, and Industrial Zones.
Statue Of Zeus
The Statue of Zeus gives you a full-sized army when it’s finished,more than enough to take a city or twoin most cases. Its passive effect, though, is often overlooked; cheaper Anti-Cavalry units gives you agreat way to competeif you don’t have access to Iron. Defeat quality with quantity!
It’s best to have the Conscription Policy - and later, Levee en Masse - if you’re going to build the Statue of Zeus. Those extra units will get expensive!
St. Basil’s Cathedral
The iconic onion-shaped domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral are best in cold Tundra regions, but like Petra this Wonder canturn a mediocre city into a thriving metropolis.Alternately, Russia and Canada can both use it to make their civilization bonuses even better!
Build St. Basil’s Cathedral in a Holy City-either your own or one you’ve conquered - to get the most out of its Tourism modifier.
Temple of Artemis
The Temple of Artemis is useful for stimulating early population growth in a city, but you should only consider it if you havelots of resources nearby.It pays to count how many Amenities you’ll get from Camps, Pastures, and Plantationsbefore committing a tile to the Temple of Artemis; this is one Wonder that sinks or swims by its location.
The University of Sankore has some pretty stringent zoning requirements - it can only be placedin a Desertnext to a Campus with a University - so you may not even get a chance to build it. If you do, though, it’s a great way to boost your Science. verify that the home city haslots of Districtsto encourage trade from abroad.
If the World Congress is enabled, try pushing through votes that will incentivize other players to send their Traders your way.
Venetian Arsenal
Naval power in Civilization 6 is vastly underrated. Ruling the seas lets you pursue a Domination Victory or simply undermine your rivals with blockades and pillaging. If the sea is part of your strategy - and it should be - the Venetian Arsenal lets youoverwhelm your foes with numbersor simplycreate Fleets and Armadas with ease.
C-Tier
Could Be Useful
These Wonders aren’t going to be a top priority, but if your economy is in great shape and you can afford to build superfluous Wonders, they can help you build an even stronger position. Alternately, if you get beaten to an important Wonder, one of these could help you stay in contention.
Angkor Wat
Population is important, but an extra citizen in each city isn’t the kind of benefit you’d expect from a Wonder. If yousettled or conquered aggressively early in the game, and can get plenty of value from Angkor Wat, it can be worthwhile, but otherwise your Production is better spent elsewhere.
Apadana
The Apadana can help bolster a strategy focused on City-State relations, especially if you canbuild Kilwa Kisiwani in the same city. Multiple Wonders can be a tall order though, so it can be hard to justify the expense of making the Apadana worthwhile.
Bolshoi Theater
The Bolshoi Theater can help bolster a Culture Victory, but ismore of a support Wonderto more important ones like Broadway.
Colossus
It’sactually cheaper to build a Commercial Hub, Market, and Traderfor the amount of Production you’d commit to the Colossus. If you have a coastal city that’s ahead of the curve, building the big bronze boy can net you some Tourism and some extra progress toward a Great Admiral, butit’s best to see the Colossus as a bonusrather than a major part of your economic strategy.
Estádio do Maracanã
If you have asprawling empire with cities numbering in the double digits, this enormous stadium is an easy choice. Even if you aren’t going for a Culture Victory, the extra Culture from your cities can helpprevent an opponent from getting one.
The Estádio is much weaker in smaller empires, so itsusefulness varies on a game-by-game basis.
Forbidden City
The AI loves to build the Forbidden City, so building it is just as much aboutdenying someone else the WIldcard slotas it is about getting it yourself. The real trick is having a City Center with undeveloped land nearby but enough Production to build a mid-game Wonder.
Great Library
The Great Library isn’t great in the base game, but once you’re playing with Rise And Fall or Gathering Storm, it becomes excellent forkeeping up with high-difficulty AI players.Assuming you may beat them to building it, the Great Library speeds up your researchevery time an opponent gets a Great Scientist. On Deity difficulty, that will happen a lot.
If a player builds the Great Library before you, take it from them through conquest!
Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe relies on having lots of Bonus Resources, so it can be very hit or miss. It also encourages you toconcentrate your trade in one place, which isn’t always ideal since Traders can be used to get extra Production toward an expensive project.
If a city can benefit from the Temple of Artemis, consider whether Great ZImbabwe might be a good fit there when the Renaissance rolls around.
Meenakshi Temple
Gurus can be useful aspart of a Religion strategy that revolves around Theological Combat, but the extra Faith you’ll have to spend recruiting them means you’ll need some seriously productive Holy Sites. That means that Meenakshi Templeis part of an all-instrategy that’s too risky for most campaigns.
Mont St. Michel
In the mid-to-late game, your Apostles will likely switch from converting cities directly toengaging rival faiths in Theological Combat.By ensuring that they all have Martyr, you canget Relics even when you lose a debate.
The extra Faith from Relics is always useful, but Mont St. Michel is even better when paired withCristo Redentorso that you may get the full benefit of Tourism from holy pilgrims!
Országház
Országház canhelp push toward a Diplomatic Victory, especially alongside Kilwa Kisiwani or the Apadana, but if another civilization starts poaching your vassals it quickly becomes little more than a Theater Square with no Great Work slots.
Potala Palace
Diplomatic Policy slots are usually pretty hard to come by, and getting an extra one canenhance your City-State vassals, Trade Routes, orcities on foreign continents.
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House can be a great Wonder, but it oftencomes too late in the gameto really shine. By the time it’s finished, many of the world’s Great Musicians will already have been recruited, especially on higher difficulties.
Torre de Belém
Torre de Belèm is best as part of a mid-game colonization push.Wait until it has one turn left, then found as many cities on new continents as you may. When the Wonder finishes, they’ll all get a free building. Outside of that strategy, this Wonder is better left alone.
D-Tier
Not Worth The Effort
As impressive as these Wonders are (or were) in the real world, their grandeur just doesn’t translate into a worthwhile bonus in Civ 6. Your Production is better spent elsewhere.
Alhambra
The extra Policy Slot from Alhambra is nice, but chances are if you’re going for a military conquest your chosen government type will give you all you need. The additional benefits don’t really bring an extra value to the table for this Wonder.
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a huge gamble, and usually not one worth taking. Assuming that another player doesn’t beat you to it, potentially stealing the last Great Prophet out from under you,without a Holy Site you won’t have the Faith generation that you needto make an effort at spreading your new Religion. You’re much better offbuilding a Holy Site and a Shrine- ideally in two cities - if you’re going to commit to the Great Prophet race.
Great Lighthouse
The Great Lighthouse has been in Civ 6 since the beginning, and it shows. Its lackluster abilities mean that it’s best used toprovide adjacency bonuses to a coastal Theater Square, and even then there are better uses for your precious Production.
Jebel Barkal
Jebel Barkal is designed to provide players with a way of getting Iron - a very important resource early on - if none spawns naturally in their section of the map. However, its extremely stringet placement restrictions and the cost of building a Wonder just for some Iron mean that you shouldjustbuild a Barracksandrecruit Spearmen or Pikemen instead.
Kotoku-In
The Faith bonus from Kotoku-In can be helpful if its home city has a strong Holy Site, but Warrior Monks don’t provide enough power to justify building a Wonder for them.
Taj Mahal
You’ll have a lot more to do in the mid-game besidesspending nearly a thousand Productionfor a little extra Era Score now and then.
