It’s standard practice for every civ in the Civilization series to bring their own twists to the overall formula. Whether it’s unique buildings, unique resources, unique bonuses, or indeed, unique units.Civilization 7is no exception. There are plenty of examples of each of the aforementioned elements, though unique units should be a major consideration whenever you’re mulling over whom to choose for your next big conquest.
These are early days for what promises to be a long-running live-service journey, but we’ve played Civilization 7 games at this point to get a real handle on every leader’s little twists, so we’re ranking unique units - from the most spectacular to the least useful.
This list is awork in progress. We’ll grow its content within the next couple of days as we spend more time withModern Ageunique units. For now, it coversall Antiquity Age and Exploration Ageunits, and we’re building their Modern counterparts over time.
S-Tier
Game-Changers
Although there are several other factors to consider when choosing a leader, these unique units should take at least a bit of priority as you weigh them all. These are the toughest of the tough, the stuff that can play a vital role in reshaping your chances of success, especially on higher difficulties.
Chu-Ko-Nu
Broadly speaking, Antiquity Age unique units are not quite as robust as later eras' offerings. This makes sense; you want to feel like you’re gaining in strength over time.
TheChu-Ko-Nuis one of several exceptions.Ranged units, as a rule, must be kept behind your melee and cavalry;rules, however, are made to be broken, andthe Chu-Ko-Nu has high enough defense to withstand blows.
That, in and of itself, is pretty good. But the real might stems from+5 combat strength when attacking adjacent units. Now, you never wanttoomany adjacent units, but even one can net you a sizable advantage when paired with the usual short-range attackers.
Purabhettarah
Another early-game winner, thePurabhettarahisespeciallyearly-game, with its greatest value comingright near the beginning. At this stage,you’ll lack siege units, which will make it more difficult to take enemy cities.
Hostile independent powers won’t give you any additional trouble, butcities can be a problem. The earlier you hack off a few of your foes' cities,the more powerful you’ll become over time, and the weaker they’ll become in turn.
Jaguar Slayer
If you haven’t noticed, we’re listing these by age, and theJaguar Slayer, aMayaunique scout, is frankly fantastic. In Civilization 7,scouts are civilian units, thus they cannot attack. It’s not that scouts were particularly strong in Civilization 6, but they could at least hold off a foe for a turn or so.
The Jaguar Slayer upends this idea, allowing you toinitiate combatwith it. That’s not a big deal, but it can help a tad. What makes these folks so mighty is theirJaguar Trap, whichenemy civs cannot see. An enemy unit can waltz right over one,taking 25 damage and ending movement.
This is an effective strategy if you need tohalt an enemy’s advance, whether that’s defensively, or when they’re en route to reinforce a desperate situation. The ability recharges after five turns, making Jaguar Slayers repeatedly invaluable assets.
Kalam Exploration Age
TheCholareplacement for the standard Exploration Age naval unit, theKalam, provideseffectively double the naval firepowerwith no real setbacks. If you’re still in the midst of traversal, you can still attack once, just like any other unit.
If you’ve reached your destination, or you’re defending a besieged settlement, you may ward off your foes with double efficiency. Placetwo Kalamsbeside a Naval Commander. You’ll have four shots per turn. Your opponents will need to have broughtfourCogs (or whatever else they have) to match this.
Ottru Exploration Age
…theCholuunique Naval Commander,Ottru, also rules. Your Kalams will benefit from increased visibility of your surroundings; when packed, they’llmove faster by proxy; and those hypothetical four Cogs we mentioned?They’re now at an even greater disadvantage.
Frankly, for Exploration Age naval warfare, you cannot get better than the one-two punch of what the Chola have to offer.
Keshig Exploration Age
In a vacuum,Mongolia’s Keshigwould be great, but not necessarily superb. What makes this shine is that it is, well,Mongolian. TheMongolian civilization is perfect for Exploration-era warmongerers.It’s tailored to make your battles winnable in almost any circumstance.The Keshig plays a vital role in that.
By serving as acavalry unitanda ranged unit, the Keshig canmove with even greater speed than an ordinary cavalry unitanddo it all with ranged attacks to boot. It is startling in a one-on-one;deploy ten of them when en route to an enemy capital, and that enemy has a real nightmare on their hands.
Immortal Antiquity Age
Persiacan deal some outstanding damage if you’re on the war path with theImmortal, which cankeep its HP topped off,or at least close to it,by gaining some every time it defeats an enemy unit.
If you have a sturdy army, you’ll be that much more dangerous. If you’re in danger of beingpicked off one by one, you’ll last longer, giving you a chance to get away. As theImmortal plays peerlessly to Xerxes' military strengths, itssynergyis superb, making it among the best and most threatening units in the Antiquity Age.
Legion
Rome’s Legiondoesn’t start off too impressively, but this fact is offset by their arrivala bit later into the Antiquity Age, when you’ll already haveseveral traditions slotted.
The later into this era, the stronger the Legion can become, and sincethey upgrade from Warriors, you should have a fair numberright from the moment they’re made available. +2 combat strength can quickly becometen or more, which, when you have several Legions moving into the fray, makes them a real threat.
Burning Arrow Antiquity Age
Burning Arrowsare pretty cool.Mississippi’s ranged unit is perhaps the Antiquity Age’s very best; the boost tobombard strengthand+3 combat strength against siege unitsare both nice enough, butby applying burning status to tileswhen attacking,entire groups of enemies can be softenedor even killed if they’re already weak enough.
This can instantly turn the tide. By the time a handful of Burning Arrows have wreaked havoc upon several tiles, your infantry units can march in beside the afflicted areas to finish the job.
Mamluk Exploration Age
Don’t get discouraged by their lower base strength relative to other Exploration Agecavalry. TheAbbasids' Mamlukunit is adefensive powerhouse. Their combat bonuses can hitremarkableheights within the bounds ofhighly-developed cities.
They’re still fine, if not spectacular, for far-off deployment. Butif you use them for homeland defense, you can still do just fine invading your neighbors;take at least a partial preference toward infantry and ranged units insteadwhen doing so.
If you aren’t intending to fight much, but you happen to live near a particularly ruthless rival? Yep, the Mamluks will keep them at bay. Station ‘em aplenty.
Lelomano Exploration Age
Many of the best unique units in Civilization 7 achieve such honors due in large part to theirsynergy with their civilization’s overall goals.Hawai’iexcels at theculture game, so anything thatprovides culture on killsis going to rank highly, including theLelomano.
Bolstered by theirincreased strength against much of what you’ll be up against, the Lelomano is the quintessential example of the game providing a very good reason to get out there and fight. This isn’t going to dramatically alter your course, but it will undoubtedly assist you.
Xunleichong Exploration Age
We hesitate to place theMing’sXunleichongin S-tier, because its+4 combat strength on featureless tilesmodifier is unlikely to be a consistent source of usefulness.By the Exploration Age, much of the world will have been settledon Standard-sized maps and below (which are all that’s available at launch).
This means that, in practice,you won’t get a ton of utility out of this. That doesn’t mean the Xunleichong is by any means bad, becauseits ability to commit a ranged attackmeans that this unit isan infantry/ranged hybrid with twice the utility forproductioninstead.
You won’t need to make the distinction between building infantry units and ranged units at roughly similar pace. Justdeploy a ton of Xunleichongwhen needed.
Tankwa Ancient Age
On its own, theTankwa, anAksumuniquetrade ship, wouldn’t be particularly impressive. It’s the link to theDhow, a somewhat less beneficial unique naval unit, that makes the Tankwa more viable.
The Aksumthrive on early-game trade, so the+10 trade route rangeis a critical component to that success. As the Dhow cancreate naval trades,it effectivelysets up the Tankwa for seriously broadening your resource horizons.
Hoplite Antiquity Age
TheHoplite,Greece’s unique unit, has a short-and-sweet modifier:it gains a +2 boost to strength when positioned beside another Hoplite.
+2 might not sound like much - and indeed, it’s no paradigm shift - butso long as you’ve built a fair number of Hoplites, you will make a significant dent in the enemy’s forces,either offensively or defensively. This versatility offers any Hoplite army a bit of a boost.
Wabnathi Antiquity Age
Mississippi’sunique merchant, theWabnathi, can let you roll in the dough very early into the game. As soon as a rival civ’s settlement hasa sizable number of resources, you’ll be able to gain25 gold for each of them. Since gold rules the roost in Civilization 7,you’ll get plenty of cash to help fund towns and units.
Hazarapathis Antiquity Age
TheHazarapathisjoins the Immortal forPersia’stwo unique units. Starting off withone promotionisn’t much on paper, but when it’s theinitiativepromotion, you’ll befar less vulnerable upon unpacking, asyour unpacked units can immediately strike.
This is, under normal circumstances, the one downside to the unpacking procedure, as you’re wide open for a single turn. That’s whywe recommend grabbing initiative as quickly as possible, but by having it by default, you’re able to evenfocus on growing in commander poweras soon as you’ve notched a few wins.
Kahuna Exploration Age
Money talks in Civilization 7, so25 gold for every converted localemakes theHawaiian Kahunaa loud enough speaker. It never hurts to havemore reasons to work on spreading your religionduring the Exploration Age, which, at least as of launch,is the only point in the game when religion is a big deal.
In truth,there are plenty of other ways to gain rewards from converting, so we can’t say the Kahuna is doing anything revolutionary. But when combined with itsability to heal adjacent units(which is also possible through other means), what you have isa unit that can do these tasks while freeing you up to select other belief modifiersto achieveothertasks.
Pedanda Exploration Age
We don’t have much to add to theMajapahit Pedandainfo that we haven’t already said about the Kahuna.Getting gold and cultureforconverting a settlementis a two-pronged reason to do it. It frees you up to explore other belief perks. Good stuff.
Warak’aq Exploration Age
Ifrough terrainwasn’t soplentifulin Civ 7, theWarak’aq’s bonuses for theirIncacivilization wouldn’t seem so hot. The reality is that many tiles are classified as rough, so this is more than a mere home-turf helper.
Getting ranged units into striking distance without upticks on their movement can sometimes be a nag, so the Warak’aq benefits there, as well. It’s a solid unit that should be on your frontlines throughout the Exploration Age.
Cetbang Antiquity Age
TheMajapahitCetbangis hardly bad. Increased combat strength againstother naval unitscan be a big boon during the Exploration Age (albeit an arguably larger one during the Modern Age), andpillaging can be a somewhat useful strategy to double down on.
It’s just that, with nothing else to put an edge on that naval warfare other than the +5 combat strength, it’s not too difficult for opponents to overcome the deficit with a well-constructed fleet. So, yeah. It’s good! Just not great.
Dhow Ancient Age
TheAksum-builtDhowis the definition of “alright.” In our findings,naval battles are less likely to occur frequently during the Ancient Age. That’s not to say they won’t happen, but you’re unlikely to encounter vast enemy fleets.
The +4 coastal combat strength ought to be read asa permanent strength increase, seeing asyou can’t enter ocean tiles until the Exploration Age, but again, this is limited in its usefulness given the above. Thenaval trade routecreation is its saving grace, as trade routes can do well to shift the balance of power.
Medjay Ancient Age
Egypt’s other unique unit is aGreat Person, which all require a bit more testing before we can toss them into this tier-list arena, so theMedjayneeds to make up for lost ground. And we can say that despite our present shortcomings, asGreat Person units are harder to come by, and cost more over time.
The Medjay is… fine. The lack of maintenance cost won’t reshape your world or anything, butas a bulwark against enemy invasion, the+3 combat strength, which should be taken as +6 most of the timeas it’sdoubled in your own settlements, can prevent savvy enemies from early wins.
Now, this is good, no mistake. Butdefensive fortificationsconstructed by your infantry and commander units cando quite well on their own, so while the Medjay offers a tangible bonus to the home team advantage, we can’t say it’s a big one.
Yuthahathi Antiquity Age
TheKhmeruniquecavalry,the Yuthahathi has one merit. Itsbase higher combat strengthrequires no modifiers to make it snazzy, thoughslower movement hinders its speed, and that’s kind of a raw deal whencavalry units’ largest advantages stem from their swift movement.
The immunity to flood damage is deeply situational, and under normal circumstances,zone of control is less of an issue for cavalryanyway, as you’ll be trying to loop around the (ordinarily) slower unit types.
Legatus Antiquity Age
Rome’s Legatusdoubles as aslightly effective settler, which can free you up from building settlers. If you’regoing to war fairly frequently,you’ll get at least a couple of uses out of this perk.
We really don’t think it’s all that rad, since training settlers isn’t quite as production-prohibitive in Civilization 7. But hey, at least it’s a consistent bonus.
Chasqui Exploration Age
Had theIncaarrived in the Antiquity Age, theirChasquiscout would rank more highly on our list. The reality is that,by the Exploration Age, your scouts are going to be less importantas a rule.
It’s not that you won’t want to keep tabs on aggressive civilizations - you will - butcontrary to the name of the era itself, much of the most important land to explore will have alreadybeenexplored. Unless your immediate ambitions involve conquering distant civs (which is possible, but hardly a guaranteed scenario for players to be in), scouts are minimalized.
This might change should Civ 7 receiveOld World/New Worldstyle"Terra" mapswhich would hypothetically play more to the strengths of the Exploration Age’s key concepts. In which case, it will be a land rush to seek out as much as possible in ways that, at launch, evenTreasure Fleetresource-finding doesn’t quite accomplish.
Mandarin Exploration Age
Your mileage may vary, and we realize this is kind of a copout qualifier in a tier list guide on the internet, butas of right now, we haven’t found ourselves using the Create Road action much. This may change as we spend more time with the game.
As a result, while theMing’s Mandarin merchantunit can reap real rewards from100 gold every time a road is created, it’s seemingly a situational enough thing that we aren’t terribly impressed.
Valshya Antiquity Age
Between a C-tier unique unit and now a D-tier one, it might seem like theKhmerget a bad hand all-around, but while their unique units are unimpressive, they do have plenty of unrelated perks.
TheValshyawill reach their destinationsfaster as they can cross wet terrain without penalty, which can be a boon if you start near plenty of wet terrain - as you likely should, if you’re playing the Khmer. Butit’s deeply situational, as is the flood damage immunity.
Hui’che Antiquity Age
It’s the visibility boost forvegetated terrainthat makes theHui’chea little better than other ranged units, giving theMayasome aid near what is generally going to be a rather vegetated locale.
It’s not much, butit is certainly helpful to know when enemy units are approaching, especially whenCivilization 7’s rival civ AI can be so warmongering.
Nagarika Antiquity Age
Happinessisa major element to Civilization 7 success, but theNagarika, Maurya’s unique settler, isn’t going to do much for it in the final telling. You’llquickly gain Happiness through other venues, so the+2 immediate boost, while appreciated, wasn’t really worth a whole unique unit slot.
