Leaders

Civilization 4 has 52 leaders with both expansions (26 in the base game, 10 from Warlords, 16 from Beyond the Sword), each with two of the game's 11 leader traits and, in the base game, a favorite civic that shapes how the AI treats you.

Civilization 4 has 52 leaders with both expansions: 26 in the base game, 10 added by Warlords and 16 by Beyond the Sword, per the base manual, the Warlords manual and the Beyond the Sword manual. Each leader has two traits, bonuses that apply all game, and each leads one of the 34 Civilizations. As AI rivals, leaders also have personalities: the base manual says "some are warlike; others, peaceful. Some are backstabbing liars; others are (usually) honest", and many have a favorite civic they press on their neighbors.

A game window over the map shows a bearded Viking leader in a helmet and chain mail; the title reads Ragnar, Viking Empire, and lines of dialogue below offer a trade proposal. — The diplomacy screen on 2K's Warlords page: Ragnar of the Viking Empire, in a horned helmet and mail, greets the player and offers to discuss a trade proposal. Firaxis Games and 2K

Quick facts

Leaders	52 with both expansions (26 + 10 + 16)
Traits per leader	2, of 11 (8 in the base game, 3 more from Warlords)
Base game	26 leaders for 18 civilizations (manual, p. 15)
Warlords	10 leaders: 6 for new civilizations, 4 for old ones
Beyond the Sword	16 leaders: 10 for new civilizations, 6 for old ones
Attitudes	Friendly, pleased, cautious, annoyed, furious (manual, p. 99)
Favorite civics	In the base manual for the 26 base leaders only
Beyond the Sword traits	Listed in the in-game Civilopedia, not the manual

Leaders and traits

Leader traits changed twice. The base game shipped with eight traits; Warlords added three (Charismatic, Imperialistic, Protective) and "existing leaders have been reassigned traits to better balance these new traits" (Warlords manual, p. 15). Beyond the Sword changed the Expansive trait and says "a number of leaders' traits have been altered to accommodate these changes; check the Civilopedia to see which traits each leader now possesses" (Beyond the Sword manual, p. 11). The table therefore gives the two pairings the manuals print: the launch pairing (version 1.00, Oct 2005) and the Warlords-era pairing (2006). For a Beyond the Sword game, check a leader's traits in the game's Civilopedia or on the leader selection screen.

Civilization	Leader	Traits at launch	Traits in Warlords	Favorite civic
America	Roosevelt	Industrious, Organized	Industrious, Organized	Universal Suffrage
America	Washington	Financial, Organized	Charismatic, Expansive	Universal Suffrage
Arabia	Saladin	Philosophical, Spiritual	Protective, Spiritual	Theocracy
Aztecs	Montezuma	Aggressive, Spiritual	Aggressive, Spiritual	Police State
China	Mao Zedong	Philosophical, Organized	Expansive, Protective	State Property
China	Qin Shi Huang	Industrious, Financial	Industrious, Protective	Police State
Egypt	Hatshepsut	Spiritual, Creative	Creative, Spiritual	Hereditary Rule
England	Elizabeth	Philosophical, Financial	Financial, Philosophical	Free Religion
England	Victoria	Expansive, Financial	Financial, Imperialistic	Representation
France	Louis XIV	Industrious, Creative	Creative, Industrious	Hereditary Rule
France	Napoleon	Aggressive, Industrious	Charismatic, Organized	Representation
Germany	Bismarck	Expansive, Industrious	Expansive, Industrious	Representation
Germany	Frederick	Philosophical, Creative	Organized, Philosophical	Universal Suffrage
Greece	Alexander	Philosophical, Aggressive	Aggressive, Philosophical	Hereditary Rule
Inca	Huayna Capac	Aggressive, Financial	Financial, Industrious	Hereditary Rule
India	Asoka	Spiritual, Organized	Organized, Spiritual	Universal Suffrage
India	Gandhi	Spiritual, Industrious	Philosophical, Spiritual	Universal Suffrage
Japan	Tokugawa	Aggressive, Organized	Aggressive, Protective	Mercantilism
Mali	Mansa Musa	Spiritual, Financial	Financial, Spiritual	Free Market
Mongols	Genghis Khan	Aggressive, Expansive	Aggressive, Imperialistic	Police State
Mongols	Kublai Khan	Aggressive, Creative	Aggressive, Creative	Hereditary Rule
Persia	Cyrus	Expansive, Creative	Charismatic, Imperialistic	Representation
Rome	Julius Caesar	Expansive, Organized	Imperialistic, Organized	Representation
Russia	Catherine	Creative, Financial	Creative, Imperialistic	Hereditary Rule
Russia	Peter	Philosophical, Expansive	Expansive, Philosophical	Police State
Spain	Isabella	Spiritual, Expansive	Expansive, Spiritual	Police State

Sources: launch traits and favorite civics from the Civilization 4 manual, pp. 159-166; Warlords traits from the Warlords manual, pp. 17-32. The launch pairings match the table in GameSpot's Civilization IV walkthrough (Jan 18, 2006).

Twelve of the 26 base leaders kept the same pair in Warlords: Roosevelt, Montezuma, Hatshepsut, Elizabeth, Louis XIV, Bismarck, Alexander, Asoka, Mansa Musa, Kublai Khan, Peter and Isabella. The other 14 changed, some completely: Cyrus went from Expansive and Creative to Charismatic and Imperialistic, and Washington from Financial and Organized to Charismatic and Expansive.

The Warlords leaders

Warlords added 10 leaders, with their traits in the Warlords manual (pp. 17-32). The manual gives them no favorite civic.

Civilization	Leader	Traits in Warlords
Carthage	Hannibal	Charismatic, Financial
Celts	Brennus	Charismatic, Spiritual
Korea	Wang Kon	Financial, Protective
Ottomans	Mehmed II	Expansive, Organized
Vikings	Ragnar	Aggressive, Financial
Zulu	Shaka	Aggressive, Expansive
England	Winston Churchill	Charismatic, Protective
Rome	Augustus Caesar	Creative, Organized
Egypt	Ramesses II	Industrious, Spiritual
Russia	Josef Stalin	Aggressive, Industrious

The Beyond the Sword leaders

Beyond the Sword added 16 leaders. Ten lead its new civilizations: Hammurabi (Babylon), Justinian I (Byzantium), Willem van Oranje (the Netherlands), Zara Yaqob (Ethiopia), Charlemagne (the Holy Roman Empire), Suryavarman II (the Khmer), Pacal II (the Maya), Sitting Bull (Native America), Joao II (Portugal) and Gilgamesh (Sumer). Six join existing civilizations: Abraham Lincoln (America), Boudica (the Celts), Charles de Gaulle (France), Darius I (Persia), Pericles (Greece) and Suleiman the Magnificent (the Ottomans), per the Beyond the Sword manual (pp. 28-30).

Sepia sheet of eight drawn portraits in two rows: men and a woman in crowns, turbans, a feathered headdress and a high collar, drawn in pencil on aged paper. — Pencil sketches of eight leaders' faces on 2K's Beyond the Sword page, among them a man in a feathered war bonnet and a bearded man in a bow tie. Firaxis Games and 2K

The Beyond the Sword manual does not print these leaders' traits, nor the new pairings it gave older leaders: it sends players to the in-game Civilopedia. This page therefore does not list them. Steam's Beyond the Sword page names Hammurabi, Abraham Lincoln and Sitting Bull among the "sixteen new leaders".

How AI leaders behave

Each AI leader plays to win in its own way. The base manual (p. 99) says every leader "has his or her own agenda", seeking victory "through force of arms, others through technological prowess, others through cultural domination", and that "the more warlike leaders will usually not trade anything of military value" while knowledge-focused ones chase advanced technologies.

A leader's attitude toward you is one of five: friendly, pleased, cautious, annoyed or furious. The friendlier a leader, the more willing it is to trade and the better its deals, and rolling over a leader's name shows the reasons behind its mood (base manual, pp. 99-100). GameSpot's walkthrough lists what moves it: open borders, peace, a shared religion, running the leader's favorite civic and trade help; war, a different religion, shared borders, dealing with its enemies and refused requests hurt. See Diplomacy for trades and treaties.

Favorite civics give each leader a political lean. Soren Johnson's afterword in the base manual (p. 182) calls them part of "the new leader personalities in Civ IV": "Gandhi may encourage you to adopt Universal Suffrage while Mao Zedong pressures you to adopt State Property", and leaders "develop their own allies and enemies, often demanding that you join them in a war or an embargo". The Civics page covers each civic.

The leaders are animated characters rather than still portraits. The credits in the base manual (p. 186) say Ed Lynch built the facial animation system and animated "over half the leaders in the game", "elevating the AI leaders from mere heads to actual personalities", and single out Ryan Murray's Tokugawa for "a particularly arresting gaze".

Which leader is best?

No official source ranks Civilization 4's leaders, so the choice comes down to which traits serve the game you plan. Philosophical gives "+100% Great People birth rate" and Financial "+1 commerce on spaces generating 2 or more commerce" (base manual, p. 159), both economic; Aggressive gives melee and gunpowder units a free Combat I promotion, and Imperialistic makes Great Generals emerge twice as fast and Settlers 50% faster (Beyond the Sword manual, p. 11), both military. Leader Traits gives every trait's exact effect by version.

Frequently asked questions

How many leaders are in Civ 4? Civilization 4 has 52 leaders with both expansions: 26 in the base game, 10 from Warlords and 16 from Beyond the Sword. Each has two leader traits.

Which Civ 4 civilizations have more than one leader? In the Civilization 4 base game, eight civilizations had two leaders: America, China, England, France, Germany, India, the Mongols and Russia. With both expansions, America, England, France and Russia have three each.

What are Gandhi's traits in Civ 4? In the Civilization 4 base game (version 1.00), Gandhi was Spiritual and Industrious; the Warlords manual makes him Philosophical and Spiritual. For Beyond the Sword, the game's Civilopedia lists his traits.

What is a favorite civic in Civilization 4? A favorite civic is a civic an AI leader likes: running it improves that leader's attitude toward you, and the leader may press you to adopt it. The Civilization 4 manual lists one for each of the 26 base game leaders, such as Universal Suffrage for Gandhi and State Property for Mao Zedong.

Where can I see the Beyond the Sword leaders' traits? The Beyond the Sword manual tells players to check the in-game Civilopedia, which lists each Civilization 4 leader's current traits. The leader selection screen also shows them.

Who is the best leader in Civ 4? No official source ranks Civilization 4's leaders; the pick depends on which two traits serve your plan. Philosophical and Financial are economic traits, Aggressive and Imperialistic military ones.