Best Legacy Cards In Civ 7 & What They Do

Unique Legacy Cards are part of Civilization 7’s new meta-progression Legends system, and they provide individual leaders with unique options at the turn of every Age. These can be unlocked by leveling up each leader and completing specific milestones or challenges. Once unlocked, Legacy Cards are listed among the various Legacy Bonus options when you start a new Age. Legacy Card unlocks can be viewed from the Leader Progress page and are unlocked at level 4 for Exploration Age cards and level 8 for Modern Age cards. There is one bonus for each of the six card types: Diplomatic, Scientific, Cultural, Expansionist, Militaristic, and Economic.

Legacy Card bonuses give leaders a powerful buff to one resource but at the cost of another. These Legacy Cards can be used to lean more heavily into a particular leader’s strength or help a leader pivot toward a new focus. The specific type of Legacy Card a leader receives is based on their main attributes. For example, Amina unlocks Militaristic and Economic Legacy Cards because of her specific attributes. Legacy Cards incentivize repeated playthroughs with the same leader, giving them more strategic options as they advance in levels.

Diplomatic Legacy Cards That Increase Influence

Gain Influence At The Cost Of Combat Strength

Diplomatic Legacy Cards increase Influence by 15% in the designated Age but deal a penalty to Combat Strength for Naval units in Civ 7‘s Exploration Age and Air Units in the Modern Age. Depending on how things are going with your individual campaign, this might come in handy for increasing Influence if combat is not a major priority or if the -2 Combat Strength to units is not an issue or concern.

If Diplomacy has been a focus for you so far, maximize it even further with these cards to ensure sufficient Influence for any Espionage, Endeavors, Sanctions, etc., or give yourself a better chance at City-State conversion. The following leaders have access to Diplomatic Legacy Cards:

Military Legacy Cards That Increase Combat Strength

Gain Combat Strength At The Cost Of Influence

The Military Legacy Cards are the Diplomatic counterpart with inverse effects. This card gives +3 Combat Strength to Naval units in Exploration and Air units in Modern, but this comes at the cost of a -10% Influence penalty. If you want to buff up your naval and air forces for some intense combat during the later Ages, this is an ideal Legacy bonus option at the Age transition.

Consider the additive effects of all combat bonuses when developing a militaristic strategy, and determine if the loss of Influence is worth an extra +3 unit strength. The leaders with access to the Military Legacy Cards are:

Scientific Legacy Cards That Increase Science

Gain Science At The Cost Of Culture

The Scientific Legacy Cards provide a +15% boost to Science output at the cost of -10% Culture. If you’re pursuing the Scientific Legacy Paths in each Age and are not concerned about Culture yields, this will be a useful Legacy Bonus for either the Exploration or Modern Ages. This is especially useful when pursuing Space Race projects in the Modern Age and will help advance Scientific leaders further through the Tech tree at an even quicker rate.

Leaders such as Confucius should enable this Legacy bonus, largely because Culture is going to be a lower priority and can be compensated for elsewhere. Here’s a list of all leaders with access to Scientific Legacy Cards:

Cultural Legacy Cards That Increase Culture

Gain Culture At The Cost Of Science

Cultural Legacy Cards are the opposite of Scientific ones, providing a +15% Culture bonus at the cost of -10% Science. Certain leaders have access to both of these cards; technically, both can be selected to cancel each other out for smaller bonuses to both resources. Catherine the Great, for example, could effectively receive a +5% Culture and +5% Science bonus by utilizing these Legacy Cards.

Leaders on track for a Cultural Victory will want to incorporate this into their Legacy bonus choices for both Exploration and Modern. Here are all the leaders who can unlock the Cultural Legacy Cards:

Expansionist Legacy Cards That Increase Food

Gain Food At The Cost Of Gold

The Expansionist Legacy Cards increase Food yields by 15% at the cost of -10% Gold, making them ideal for leaders like Pachacuti, whose primary driver for success is Food output and Population growth. Taking this bonus will put a dent in your wallet, but if you’re compensating for that -10% penalty elsewhere, the boost to Food is substantial.

Increasing Food yields results in dramatically faster Population growth, spurring more Growth Events and expanding borders, as well as sending out Settlers to establish new Towns.

The leaders who have access to the Expansionist Legacy Cards are the following:

Economic Legacy Cards That Increase Gold

Gain Gold At The Cost Of Food

The final Legacy Cards are the Economic Cards, which increase Gold by 15% at the cost of a -10% Food penalty. Isabella is a good target for taking both the Expansionist and Economic Legacy Card bonuses to effectively receive a +5% boost to both Gold and Food, using the negative effects to cancel each other out to some extent. Alternatively, maximizing Gold yields can be extremely effective, and the decrease in Food might not be a concern for empires that can compensate for the penalty in various ways.

Since Gold is perhaps the most useful resource in the game, choosing these Legacy Cards at the Age transition is highly recommended, especially for an Economic Victory. Here’s a look at the Economic Leaders who can access these cards: