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The fifth wave of the Civilization 6 Leader Pass is here at last, and players can now try this new leader of the Byzantine empire. Empress Theodora has many tricks up her sleeve, and she particularly excels at yielding Faith and taking down other religious civilizations.

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This guide is focused on Theodora of the Great Builders wave of the Leader Pass for Civilization 6. Players will be able to learn all the crucial information about this leader and exactly how to best play her to reach victory.

Theodora's Features and Abilities

theodora civ 6 capital

Although each Civ has its own abilities, units, District, or improvement, each leader - even if they belong to the same civilization - has a unique ability that makes them stand out in their own way. When playing Theodora, here are the unique abilities that the player will have access to:

Name

How it works

Leader Ability

Metanoia

  • Holy Sites provide Culture equal to their adjacency bonus
  • Farms provide Faith adjacency to Hippodromes and Holy Sites

Civilization Ability

Taxis

  • +3 Combat Strength granted to units for each Holy City converted to Byzantium's religion (including this civilization's own Holy City)
  • +3 Religious Strength granted to religious units for each Holy City converted to Byzantium's religion
  • When an enemy civilization or enemy city-state's unit is defeated, Byzantium's religion is spread farther to nearby cities
  • +1 Great Prophet point from cities with a Holy Site district

Unique Unit

Dromon

  • Unique Byzantine Classic Era ranged naval unit
  • Unlocked after researching Shipbuilding
  • Replaces the Quadrireme
  • 3 Movement, 2 Sight
  • 25 Ranged strength, 2 Range
  • 20 Melee strength

Unique District

Hippodrome

  • Unlocked after researching Games and Recreation
  • Replaces the Entertainment Complex district
  • Costs less Production and provides +3 Amenities instead of +1
  • When first built, the Hippodrome grants a free Heavy Calvary unit with no future maintenance cost; the same goes whenever a building is constructed in this district
  • Cannot be built in a city with a Water Park

How To Play As Theodora

holy site adjacency bonuses

Theodora does not benefit in particular from any map setup, so there are no advanced settings that require looking into when starting a new Civilization 6 playthrough unless the player desires to do so.

What truly sets Theodora apart from her Byzantine counterpart, Basil II, is her unique leader ability, Metanoia. This civilization has always been inclined to invest in religion and combat to leave its mark during a match and strive for victory. It is crucial that the player manages to successfully create a religion before they're all gone.

To take advantage of the Metanoia leader ability, gamers should aim to get as many adjacency bonuses by building as many Farms as possible close to Holy Sites and Hippodromes. On top of the Holy Site adjacency bonus that Farms will provide, this ability makes it so this District will generate just as much Culture without barely any effort.

The Scripture economic policy card is a great choice for Theodora because it increases Holy Site adjacency bonuses by 100 percent - this will double both the Culture and Faith output.

Once the player has set up their Faith generating empire, they must start converting as many nearby cities as possible while building a strong empire that can fight other leaders with opposing religions.

This is how gamers can successfully obtain a Religious Victory with Theodora. The game is extremely versatile, and gamers can alternatively choose to try to get a Cultural Victory by focusing on Culture adjacency bonuses.

Civilization 6 is available on mobile, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.