Firaxis GamesCivilization 7 is finally here, and it’s full of new features and infrastructure for players to get to grips with. As always, Wonders are a big part of that and the Exploration Age comes with 13 to pursue.
Wonders have been an integral part of the Civilization experience since the series’ earliest days. These epic constructions provide significant bonuses to your playthrough, far outperforming standard buildings with the caveat that they take much longer to build.
As you advance through the Ages, your civilization will change, and priorities may shift, but you’ll always need some Wonders on the way to victory. Not all were created equal, though, and it’s important to prioritize the right ones because you won’t be able to build them all.
Fortunately, we’ve prepared a handy tier list breaking down exactly which Wonders you should build and in your next game of Civilization 7.
Exploration Age Wonder tier list
| TIER | WONDER NAME |
|---|---|
| S | House of Wisdom |
| A | El Escorial, Hale o Keawe, Notre Dame, Serpent Mound, Shwedagon Zedi Daw |
| B | Borobudur, Brihadeeswarar Temple, Erdene Zuu, Forbidden City, Machu Pikchu, White Tower |
Our tiers explained
- S: The best Wonders in the game overall
- A: Very good for most playthroughs
- B: More situational, though not without merit in the right setting
It’s important to remember when reading this tier list that much of the success of building Wonders depends on which path you’ve chosen to take. There’s no point building a highly military-focused Wonder if you have little interest in waging war for example.
Equally, other Yields like Happiness are nice to have, but it isn’t too difficult to keep your citizens relatively happy with your leadership. This can make them more situational when you need a major boost in times of overall crises.
You’ll see that Wonders often lean towards Culture as a baseline, with the very best adding boosts to further Yields, without placing too many requirements on the player.
S-Tier Exploration Age Wonders in Civilization 7
House of Wisdom
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +3 Science
- Gain 3 Relics
- Has 3 Relic slots
- +2 Science from Great Works
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: Society II or Al-Jabr II (Abbasid Unique Civic)
- Placement: Adjacent to a District
The only Exploration Age Wonder to appear in the S-Tier is the House of Wisdom, and it’s an absolute powerhouse if you’re going down the Science route for the additional Yield it offers.
Related
While that would be enough for the A-Tier, the House of Wisdom also comes with three Relics and Relic slots which is why we’ve placed in in our S-tier. This is a significant part of the Cultural Legacy Path in the Exploration Age and a huge bonus if that’s the direction you’ve chosen to play, reducing some of the RNG involved in finding Relics.
A-Tier Exploration Age Wonders in Civilization 7
El Escorial
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +3 Happiness
- Has 3 Relic slots
- +1 Settlement Limit
- +4 Happiness on Cities within 7 tiles of this Wonder
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: Colonialism II
- Placement: On Rough Terrain
Sticking with the Cultural Legacy Path, for the time being, El Escorial is a powerful choice that doesn’t quite do enough to hit the top tier. The additional Relic slots are great but you don’t get the additional Relics that the House of Wisdom provides.
Happiness should be one of those areas that you pay close attention to because a dissatisfied populace can easily cause you to lose a game before long. El Escorial assuages a lot of those worries and is one of the strongest Happiness generators throughout.
Hale o Keawe
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +2 Culture
- Constructing a Building on Coast Terrain grants Culture equal to 50% of its cost
- Has 3 Relic Slots
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: Inspiration
- Placement: Adjacent to Coast, but not adjacent to Tundra
At the risk of oversaturating you with talk about Culture, Hale o Keawe is another solid pick if that’s your main path. It gives a pretty unremarkable +2 Culture directly, but you’ll generate additional Culture using the Coast Terrain Building buff.
As with El Escorial, it also comes with three Relic Slots, making your pursuit of the Cultural Legacy Path in the Exploration Age that little bit easier.
Notre Dame
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +4 Happiness
- When in a Celebration all Specialists provide +3 Culture
- Start a Celebration immediately after constructing this Wonder
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: Social Class II
- Placement: Adjacent to a River and a District
Civilization 7 does make most paths to victory viable, and a lot of that comes from additional mechanics. One of the most potent is Celebrations, with several Wonders dedicated to generating Yields during times of Celebration.
Notre Dame is one of those, adding +3 Culture during those periods. Though you will need to play around Specialists to trigger this bonus, it’s a relatively easy thing to achieve and comes with quite a high ceiling if you play it right.
Serpent Mound
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +4 Influence
- +3 Science and +2 Production to all Unique Improvements in this Settlement
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: N/A
- Placement: On a Grassland tile
The next Wonder to appear in the A-Tier at the time of writing is the Serpent Mound. Let me first caveat this by saying that, it only becomes excellent if you can take advantage of what it offers by building Unique Improvements.
The baseline +4 Influence is solid, but the really exciting stuff comes with the additional Science and Production for every Unique Improvement. If you playing as a civilization that can deliver those easily, this is a great Wonder to go for.
Shwedagon Zedi Daw
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +4 Science
- +2 Science on all Rural tiles in this Settlement that have at least 1 Happiness
- +1 Wildcard Attribute Point
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: Education
- Placement: Adjacent to a Lake
Shwedagon Zedi Daw is about going all in on Scientific pursuits, and it’s a potent tool to have in your quest for new technologies. The base +4 Science is significant, and you can add to this by building the Wonder in a Settlement with additional Rural tiles.
It also comes with a Wildcard Attribute Point, which allows you to unlock a perk for your Leader from any of the available categories.
B-Tier Exploration Age Wonders in Civilization 7
Borobudur
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +3 Happiness
- +2 Food and Happiness on Quarters
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: Beauracracy
- Placement: Adjacent to Coast
Kicking off the B-Tier is a Wonder that, if you go for it at all, you’ll want to grab early on in the Exploration Age. Borobudur provides additional Happiness from the outset, and extra food, and Happiness in Quarters.
These are Yields that you’ll want to build up quickly after the Age transition before your enemies have a chance to do too much to affect your game. Quarters are an OP feature as well, but Borobudur doesn’t feel impactful enough to appear higher on this list.
Brihadeeswarar Temple
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +3 Influence
- All Buildings gain +1 Happiness Adjacency for Navigable Rivers
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: Diplomatic Service
- Placement: Adjacent to a Navigable River or on a Minor River
Influence is an impressive new Yield in Civilization 7 that plays a crucial role in deciding how your diplomatic efforts with other nations plays out. Weirdly enough, Brihadeeswarar only offers +3 Influence, paling in comparison to the +6 offered by Weiyang Palace in the Antiquity Age.
Sure, this Wonder does have the added bonus of a little extra Happiness for your citizens, but this feels tacked on to make the package feel more compelling than it actually is.
Erdene Zuu
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +4 Culture
- Creating a Cavalry Unit grants Culture equal to 25% of its cost
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: Imperialism II
- Placement: On Flat Desert, Plains, or Tundra
Back to Culture again and Erdene Zuu enters the fray with an impactful +4 Culture to get you further down the Legacy Path. Outside of that, all of its efficacy is dependent on your inclination for building Cavalry units.
If you’re planning to build quite a few, then there is an argument for prioritizing Erdene Zuu, but outside of that specific condition, there are much better Culture options.
Forbidden City
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +2 Culture
- +2 Culture and Gold on all Fortification Buildings in this Settlement
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: Authority II
- Placement: Adjacent to a District
In what has become an ongoing theme for this tier list, the Forbidden City is another Culture generator, with the addition of a potential gold bonus along with it. With so much of its potential dictated by Fortification Buildings, this won’t be an outstanding Wonder for many playthroughs.
That said, if you’ve built a settlement that’s Fortified all the way through, this is a solid source of Culture and Gold moving forward.
Machu Pikchu
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +4 Gold
- +2 Resource Capacity in this Settlement
- +4 Culture and Gold on all Buildings adjacent to this Wonder
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: Urban Planning
- Placement: On a Tropical Mountain
Machu Pikchu is designed in a very similar way to the Forbidden City. In this case, the baseline Yield is Gold rather than Culture, so much of your preference between the two will depend on what you need more at the time.
In a slight advantage for Machu Pikchu, the extra Resource Capacity is nice to have, though the adjacency bonus is a little weaker. All in all, it offers the same level of boost as the Forbidden City, only in a slightly different way.
White Tower
Dexerto/Firaxis Games- Effect:
- +4 Happiness
- +4 Happiness in this Settlement for every Tradition slotted in the Government
- Ageless
- Technology/Civic needed: Sovereignty II
- Placement: Adjacent to a City Hall
London’s famous White Tower (more recognizable as the keep in the Tower of London) is all about generating Happiness for your settlement. It grants +4 as a baseline, with plenty of potential for more if you’re diligent about slotting Traditions.
If Happiness is something you desperately need, then few do it better than the White Tower, but its lack of accommodation for other yields does make it feel limited in Civilization 7.
That’s our full Wonders of the Exploration Age tier list for Civ 7. For more, make sure to check out our complete tier list for the Wonders of the Antiquity Age, as well as a breakdown of the best Leaders available in the game.