Some leaders build tall, perfecting a handful of cities. Others see land as an opportunity and take as much of it as possible, as fast as possible.
Expansion is a race, and the leaders who win aren’t satisfied with just settling new cities—they secure land, resources, and influence before anyone else has a chance.
Some expand through sheer military force, pushing borders through conquest. Others outpace their rivals in settlement and infrastructure, making their growing empire impossible to ignore.
A few turn diplomacy and trade into expansion tools, absorbing new lands through alliances and cultural sway.
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Whatever the method, these leaders aren’t waiting around for the world to come to them—they take what they need, when they need it.
You’re here because you want to create an empire that never stops growing. So, to that end, these are the best expansionist leaders inCivilization 7—each with a distinct way of making sure the map ultimately bears their seal.
10Ashoka, World Renouncer
Growth Through Stability
Ashoka doesn’t rush expansion—he creates an empire so prosperous that it expands on its own. His happiness-driven bonuses turn surplus stability into population booms, adding +1 food per city for every 5 excess happiness.
Celebrations push this further, adding +10 food to every settlement, ensuring his cities never stop growing. His buildings stack +1 happinessadjacency from improvements, reinforcing long-term expansion without collapse.
His capital turns excess happiness into food, creating a core that fuels steady expansion outward.
While some leaders claim land through brute force, Ashoka ensures that when his cities grow, they grow for good. Expansion with Ashoka takes patience, but the empire he builds lasts longer than most.
9Pachacuti, Earth Shaker
The Mountain Builder
If you’ve played Civ 7, you’ll know that Pachacuti loves mountains—it’s an understandable obsession. One crucial detail, though, is that he turns them into empire-building engines.
His cities gain +1 food adjacency from mountains, making population growth rapid in the right terrain.
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Specialists working near mountains pay no happiness maintenance, allowing for high-efficiency city planning. Districts built near mountains receive additional food, allowing his cities to support massive populations while staying productive.
He’s unbeatable in mountain-rich regions, but if the land he conquers doesn’t cooperate, his start can be a drasticallyslow-burn strategy.If you want a leader who thrives in high-altitude empire-building, Pachacuti is a powerhouse—with the right map.
8Confucius, Keju
Expansion Through Population Growth
Confucius doesn’t need to claim land aggressively—he lets his cities do the work for him. His +25% growth rate in cities ensures he outpaces his rivals in raw population. Every specialist contributes +2 science, ensuring fast technological progression to keep up with expansion.
The more specialists a city has, the faster it grows, stacking additional growth per specialist up to 25%.His empire becomes a powerhouse of knowledge and urban sprawl, but he’s not grabbing land aggressively.
Sometimes, it’s more beneficial to play nice and expand your empire into empty territories. If that’s your playstyle, Confucius has the power-ups to make a real success of that.
I prefer a little more chaos, so he’s one of my least-usedCiv 7leaders. Can’t say the same for the next entry.
7Amina, Warrior Queen of Zazzau
Resource-Driven Expansion
Amina—to my benefit—expands through control over resources. She makes every city she founds self-sufficient quicker than other leaders. She gains +1 resource capacity per city, allowing her to trade more aggressively and sustain rapid settlement growth.
Her economy scales steadily, generating +1 gold per age for every assigned resource, ensuring long-term sustainability.
Her military presence strengthens expansion too—units gain +5 combat strength on plains and deserts, making land grabs easier to defend.
Her warriors are even more dangerous in open terrain, securing key locations before others can.
Amina’s expansion is stable and self-funding, but she doesn’t have the raw speed of the top leaders. She’s a difficult expansionist military power to beat.
6Isabella, Queen of Spain
Expansion Through Exploration
Isabella turns exploration into an empire-building strategy, making early scouts one of the smartest investments in her playstyle.
Every time she discovers a natural wonder, 300 gold drops into her treasury—doubled if the wonder lies in distant lands—giving her an early economic edge to buy settlers and build infrastructure faster than her rivals.
Settling near wonders supercharges her cities, doubling tile yields and ensuring each new settlement becomes an economic powerhouse. Her empire thrives on open seas as well, with cheaper naval units and reduced maintenance costs, making her one of the best leaders for island-hopping and cross-continental expansion.
Her strength depends on the map she’s given—plenty of wonders make her unstoppable, while a barren world slows her momentum.
5Tecumseh, Nicaakiyakoolaakwe
Expansion Through City-States
Tecumseh expands byweaving city-statesinto his empire, turning them into sources of food, production, and military strength. Every suzerainship adds +1 food and production per age, keeping his cities growing without the usual economic strain.
Rather than relying on settlers or conquests, he pulls smaller nations into his sphere of influence, letting his borders grow through diplomacy.
His armies gain from this strategy as well—each suzerainship boosts all units with +1 combat strength, creating a military that thrives without constant recruitment.
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His influence snowballs as more city-states fall under his control, though the availability of independent settlements determines his momentum. A leader who thrives on indirect expansion, Tecumseh turns minor nations into the backbone of a powerful empire.
4Trung Trac, Hai Ba Trung
Expansion Through Military Power
This shouldn’t be a surprise given her poses on the leader selection screen, but, Trung Trac is quite the military power. She pushes borders with sheer force and never lets up.
She starts with a level 3 army commander, setting her up for early military dominance while rivals are still scrambling to build defenses.
Commanders gain experience 20% faster, making her armies deadlier with every battle, ensuring momentum never slows. Her empire stays ahead in military tech, with +10% science in tropical cities, which doubles during war, keeping her forces both modern and relentless.
Every commander level feeds back into research, making conquest a direct path to innovation.Territory expands as quickly as her armies move, and once she starts marching, stopping her isn’t an option. Settlers follow in the wake of war, securing land before anyone else has a chance.
3Augustus, Imperium Maius
Expansion Through Infrastructure
Augustus builds an empire the wayreal-life Rome and her emperorsdid—through infrastructure, organization, and a vision that outlasts his rivals. Every new town strengthens the heart of his empire, adding +2 production to the capital per settlement, ensuring expansion and development move in lockstep.
His cities purchase culture buildings outright, accelerating their growth, while a +50% gold bonus on building purchases turns his settlements into thriving hubs faster than most leaders can react. Expansion never slows under his rule.
With each passing age, he raises his settlement cap, ensuring there’s always room to grow.Towns take time to mature into full cities, but the economy he builds turns patience into power. Augustus doesn’t claim land recklessly—he builds a civilization meant to last.
2Ibn Battuta, The Marvels of Traveling
Expansion Through Adaptability
Ibn Battuta moves with the world, adjusting to every challenge and seizing every opportunity. His empire thrives on flexibility, gaining +2 wildcard attribute points after the first civic per age, allowing him to shift strategies as the game evolves.
He never falls behind because he never locks himself into one path—his adaptability is his greatest strength.Scouts under his leadership see farther than most, with +1 sight on all units, making early exploration smoother and expansion more calculated.
His unique endeavor lets him trade maps, ensuring he always knows where the best land is before rivals even think to look. Every attribute point spent grants additional yields, meaning his empire never stops building momentum.
While some leaders stick to rigid strategies, Ibn Battuta writes his own map, changing course when needed and always staying one step ahead. His empire doesn’t just spread across the world—it learns from it.
1Xerxes, King of Kings, Crusher of Rebellions
The Unstoppable Expansionist
I don’t think ‘expand’ is quite the right word for Xerxes in his King of Kings guise—’consumes’ is a more apt description for how voraciously he spreads his territories. He doesn’t hit a ceiling as long as the ages advance, gaining +1 settlement limit per age; there’s always more land to claim.
He fights best where others feel vulnerable, gaining +3 combat strength when attacking in neutral or enemy territory, making forward momentum his greatest weapon. Conquest feeds his economy, with +10% gold in all settlements, doubled in captured cities, turning war into a self-sustaining machine.
His commanders don’t gain experience in the way that other commanders do—every level-up funnels gold into his empire; victory always pays off.Some leaders expand fast, others expand efficiently, but Xerxes expands without stopping.
No leader grows an empire bigger, faster, or stronger. This is themost dominant leaderin Civ 7—nothing else comes close. If he’s in your game but you’re not playing him, you’ll get numerous notifications that he’s taken another settlement—it’ll become a meme before long.
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