amateurgamer88
Emperor
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2018
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Hi everyone! I'm amateurgamer88. As you can see in the title, I'm going through all the Celtic Pantheon and will be rating how good/terrible they are. Note that I won't have a bunch of games so the rating might not be accurate. However, the games are meant to give me an idea of whether the Pantheon is useful or not. I will be updating this post with my thoughts of the various Celtic Pantheons depending on games I've played. I won't necessarily go in order since what I pick depends heavily on what sort of map I get. This is also highly subjective so you should take as a grain of salt.
My goal is to go through all the Celtic Pantheons and possibly go have more than one game to try out a hunch. I won't be playing through an entire game since most of these are designed more for the early game. I will also give these pantheons a tier (S, A, B and C). Without further ado....
Bran, the Sleeping Guardian:
+50% increase to
Ranged Combat Strength, +25% 
Growth, and +8 
Culture when a 
Citizen is born, scaling with Era. +4 
Faith from Ceilidh Hall.
This Celtic Pantheon is trash. First, cities are weaker so the increased Ranged Combat Strength isn't as powerful as before. Secondly, growth has been nerfed so the extra growth isn't even noticeable early game and, while it can be powerful late game, this pantheon was never designed for the late game. Third, the 8 Culture seems nice but, when you look how often you get a new citizen and the overall scaling, you won't get much out of this at all. As for the Faith, it's not terrible but it cannot make up for the other weaknesses of this Celtic Pantheon. Overall, you shouldn't ever pick this as there are better options for sure.
Tier: C
Cernunnos, the Horned Stag:
+1 Food and 
Gold from Forests, +1 
Production and 
Science from Jungles. +1 from camps. +2 Culture from Ceilidh Hall.
This Celtic Pantheon is extremely powerful in the right settings since it can make your start very powerful. If your capital and future settling locations have a lot of Forests and/or Jungles, then this Celtic Pantheon is certainly one of your options. Forests give 2 Food and 1 Production early on so you will be getting a 3 Food, 1 Production and 1 Gold for an unimproved tile. Naturally, you can get more yields when you have Sugar, Silk or other Forest luxuries to further boost those tiles. What makes this more powerful if when there are Deer tiles that provide an extra food and can be improved with a camp. A Deer tile would be 4 Food, 1 Production, 1 Gold and 1 Culture. That's quite a stellar tile to work with and you only need a Worker and one technology to achieve it. A couple of these tiles and your city will be thriving.
Meanwhile, you have Jungle tiles that provide you with more production and science. You must remember that a Council provides only +1 Science and 5 when you get a new population. Jungle tiles will make teching up much easier early game due to how much you can get if you are surrounded by Jungle tiles. Then, you have incredible production potential with all those extra hammers. A new city with 3 population surrounded by Jungle can have 6 Production from those 3 citizens and that's not something to scoff at. It's possible to get a camp luxury on Jungle tiles but it's rare and I think the Truffle can achieve this. I don't recall ever seeing Deer on Jungles. Overall, this Celtic Pantheon requires the right terrain but, under the right conditions, you should be leading the way and hopefully never have to look back.
Tier: A
Dagda, the All-Father:
+1 Culture, Gold, Production and Science for every 3 Followers of your Pantheon in owned cities. +2 
Happiness from Ceilidh Hall.
This Celtic Pantheon was a breath of fresh air compared to Bran and Lugh. First, it gives some really good yields that are useful throughout the game. Secondly, it works well for both tall and wide empires. I personally think this is stronger for wider empires since your secondary cities are solid while your capital can rival a Tradition capital. In addition, the extra Happiness from Ceilidh Hall really helps wider empires as it allows those cities to grow more to further benefit the capital. However, it should be noted that, if played properly, a Tradition capital can be a monster if growth has been the main focus, especially when you start getting positive modifiers to make the capital even more powerful. There's nothing I don't like about this Pantheon and it's very easy to use. It's also relevant throughout the game instead of being only early, mid or late game useful.
Tier: S
Epona, the Great Mare:
Receive +10 Science, Culture, and Food when your Borders expand, scaling with Era. +4 Food from Ceilidh Hall.
This Celtic Pantheon is mostly an early game pantheon. The scaling isn't that amazing and borders do expand slower later on. However, those yields can be huge as both Science and Culture are very valuable yields early on and 10 of each isn't a small amount to scoff at. The ideal case is you going Tradition and take advantage of Sovereignty to expand your borders faster. Faster border growth means that you can keep up in both technologies and policies to potentially get some Wonders you might otherwise don't have a chance of getting. Of course, this can be very powerful if you can stay on just your capital longer than usual due to less competition for settling land and grab some Wonders to get more further ahead. The extra Food can be alright in helping your cities grow as you usually have your infrastructure in place by the time the Ceilidh Hall is available. Overall, the pantheon is quite strong early game and drops off late game. It also seems best for Tradition that can really take advantage of the early benefits before it no longer becomes relevant.
Tier: A
Lugh, the Skilled One:
+3 Culture, Science, and Gold in Cities with a Specialist. +3 Production from Ceilidh Hall.
This Celtic Pantheon is average. You can get some nice yields for your capital if you are going tall since you will be working specialists but there are better choices for tall playstyles. If you are going wide, this forces you to either go for Trade for Markets or Iron Working for Forges to get access to specialists. While the yields are decent, they weaken in time since you are delayed in getting them. In addition, there's another problem with these buildings. Cities usually are either stronger in food or production early game when these yields are relevant. Therefore, you either have the production to build the Markets/Forges but lack food to work the specialists or have the food to support specialists but take too long in building the infrastructure. Overall, I wouldn't recommend it but at least this is better than Bran.
Tier: B
Mannanan, Son of the Sea:
+3 Food, +3 Production, and +4 Gold in coastal Cities. +2 Great Admiral Points from Ceilidh Hall.
The Celtic Pantheon is extremely solid if your scouting with a Pathfinder reveals a lot of good coastal city locations or you play on a water heavy map. Since your only requirements is to settle coastal cities, that isn't too difficult to achieve making this one of the easier pantheons to get the full benefits as soon as you get that city. The Food allows you to work hills for the Production which is further boosted by the Production from the pantheon itself. This can be an amazing amount of Production making it possible to build infrastructure extremely quickly. If you go Progress, then your infrastructure will be even faster and that's what helps you snowball faster than all of your competition. Then, you have the extra Gold that lets you fill in what you need whether if it's a unit or investing in your buildings. This Celtic Pantheon seems viable for all three ancient era policy trees so I don't think any of them benefit specifically for it.
Tier: S
Morrigan, Harbinger of Strife
Earn Gold, Culture, and 
Golden Age Points if you kill a unit. +2 Great General Points from Ceilidh Hall.
This Celtic Pantheon is most ideal for warmonger playstyles so Authority if your policy tree of choice. While it can sort of work for Tradition and Progress, those two policy trees don't work too well with this pantheon. Authority lets you gain Culture and Science from kills so, with this pantheon, you can get Gold, Culture, Science and GA points. GA points is generally on the weak side but it's nice to get one or two extra GA so there's nothing to complain about there. Meanwhile, the Culture and Science doesn't seem like much but, since you are warring, prolonged wars actually work in your favor as you still get important yields from kills. If I understand correctly, you actually get double the normal amount of Culture so it might be more significant than I first believe. Then, the Gold is a nice way to improve your infrastructure while you slowly grind through the enemy. On higher difficulties, the numerous enemies potentially become more beneficial as you get more yields before you take cities to take advantage of other beliefs that might be geared towards war. Overall, this is a solid pantheon that require you to constantly war to gain the benefits.
Tier: A
Nuada, the Silver-Handed King
+1 Culture for every 10 Gold per turn, +1 Golden Age Points for every 5 Science per turn, and +2 Gold from 
City Connections. +5 Gold from Ceilidh Hall. Capped at half followers.
This Celtic Pantheon was quite promising until I learned that the yields are capped at half your followers. +1 Culture for every 10 Gold isn't that impressive of a scalar to begin with and yet there's a cap. With the changes to growth, this is actually pretty significant since only tall empires can really make use of it well. While it's true that city connections and Ceilidh Hall provide a combined 7 Gold, you still need either good yields, monopoly and/or infrastructure to get more culture. While Gold is useful, Culture is much more valuable over time and you aren't going to get much of it from this pantheon. Even the GAP isn't an amazing yield and you are not getting Ceilidh Hall until Medieval Era. Early, you just get the +2 Gold and maybe +1 Culture from each city and that's nothing to write home about. Overall, this is pretty awful.
Tier: C
Ogma, the Learned
+1 Science for every 3 Citizens in a city. +3 Science, Culture, and Great Scientist Points in 
Capital. +5 Science from Ceilidh Hall.
This Celtic Pantheon is pretty solid for a tall playstyle. Being tall, you will have a fairly large population, especially your capital, so you have a decent scalar to get more Science. In addition to this, your capital also gains a pretty big steroid of science and culture fairly early in the game. These two are very important yields early game and can open up a number of different options that would otherwise be difficult to achieve due to limited science and culture early game. Then, you have the Great Scientist points that provides you with one of the strongest great people early to help further speed up your research. If this wasn't enough, the +5 Science only further help your teching when Library and University without specialists worked give +5 Science. On wide, this might take longer to utilize but the scalar and the yields for the UB might eventually help you pass all competition in techs. Overall, this is a great pantheon to snowball early on giving you a chance to keep the momentum going.
Tier: S
Rhiannon, Goddess of Sovereignty
+2 Culture in every City. +1 Gold and Production from every improved resource. +5 Golden Age Points from Ceilidh Hall.
This Celtic Pantheon is quite solid regardless of what ancient policy tree you go for. Early game, your Culture is largely acquired from Monuments, improved resources and the palace. Therefore, an extra 2 Culture from simply settling your cities is incredibly powerful and can either get you ahead in policies or keep up with all of your neighbors. The Gold and Production from improved resource might not seem like much but it doesn't differentiate what resource they might be and that means certain cities can be very productive early on. The GAP doesn't seem that great but it's still decent in the grand scheme of things and doesn't make this pantheon weak at all. Overall, this is a great pantheon to snowball early on and is more versatile in some situations (like building Settlers in your capital without worrying about falling behind in policies due to less Culture from less population).
Tier: S
My goal is to go through all the Celtic Pantheons and possibly go have more than one game to try out a hunch. I won't be playing through an entire game since most of these are designed more for the early game. I will also give these pantheons a tier (S, A, B and C). Without further ado....
Bran, the Sleeping Guardian:
+50% increase to
Ranged Combat Strength, +25% Growth, and +8 Culture when a Citizen is born, scaling with Era. +4 Faith from Ceilidh Hall.This Celtic Pantheon is trash. First, cities are weaker so the increased Ranged Combat Strength isn't as powerful as before. Secondly, growth has been nerfed so the extra growth isn't even noticeable early game and, while it can be powerful late game, this pantheon was never designed for the late game. Third, the 8
Culture seems nice but, when you look how often you get a new citizen and the overall scaling, you won't get much out of this at all. As for the Faith, it's not terrible but it cannot make up for the other weaknesses of this Celtic Pantheon. Overall, you shouldn't ever pick this as there are better options for sure.Tier: C
Cernunnos, the Horned Stag:
+1
Food and Gold from Forests, +1 Production and Science from Jungles. +1 from camps. +2 Culture from Ceilidh Hall.This Celtic Pantheon is extremely powerful in the right settings since it can make your start very powerful. If your capital and future settling locations have a lot of Forests and/or Jungles, then this Celtic Pantheon is certainly one of your options. Forests give 2
Food and 1 Production early on so you will be getting a 3 Food, 1 Production and 1 Gold for an unimproved tile. Naturally, you can get more yields when you have Sugar, Silk or other Forest luxuries to further boost those tiles. What makes this more powerful if when there are Deer tiles that provide an extra food and can be improved with a camp. A Deer tile would be 4 Food, 1 Production, 1 Gold and 1 Culture. That's quite a stellar tile to work with and you only need a Worker and one technology to achieve it. A couple of these tiles and your city will be thriving.Meanwhile, you have Jungle tiles that provide you with more production and science. You must remember that a Council provides only +1
Science and 5 when you get a new population. Jungle tiles will make teching up much easier early game due to how much you can get if you are surrounded by Jungle tiles. Then, you have incredible production potential with all those extra hammers. A new city with 3 population surrounded by Jungle can have 6 Production from those 3 citizens and that's not something to scoff at. It's possible to get a camp luxury on Jungle tiles but it's rare and I think the Truffle can achieve this. I don't recall ever seeing Deer on Jungles. Overall, this Celtic Pantheon requires the right terrain but, under the right conditions, you should be leading the way and hopefully never have to look back.Tier: A
Dagda, the All-Father:
+1
Culture, Gold, Production and Science for every 3 Followers of your Pantheon in owned cities. +2 Happiness from Ceilidh Hall.This Celtic Pantheon was a breath of fresh air compared to Bran and Lugh. First, it gives some really good yields that are useful throughout the game. Secondly, it works well for both tall and wide empires. I personally think this is stronger for wider empires since your secondary cities are solid while your capital can rival a Tradition capital. In addition, the extra
Happiness from Ceilidh Hall really helps wider empires as it allows those cities to grow more to further benefit the capital. However, it should be noted that, if played properly, a Tradition capital can be a monster if growth has been the main focus, especially when you start getting positive modifiers to make the capital even more powerful. There's nothing I don't like about this Pantheon and it's very easy to use. It's also relevant throughout the game instead of being only early, mid or late game useful.Tier: S
Epona, the Great Mare:
Receive +10
Science, Culture, and Food when your Borders expand, scaling with Era. +4 Food from Ceilidh Hall.This Celtic Pantheon is mostly an early game pantheon. The scaling isn't that amazing and borders do expand slower later on. However, those yields can be huge as both
Science and Culture are very valuable yields early on and 10 of each isn't a small amount to scoff at. The ideal case is you going Tradition and take advantage of Sovereignty to expand your borders faster. Faster border growth means that you can keep up in both technologies and policies to potentially get some Wonders you might otherwise don't have a chance of getting. Of course, this can be very powerful if you can stay on just your capital longer than usual due to less competition for settling land and grab some Wonders to get more further ahead. The extra Food can be alright in helping your cities grow as you usually have your infrastructure in place by the time the Ceilidh Hall is available. Overall, the pantheon is quite strong early game and drops off late game. It also seems best for Tradition that can really take advantage of the early benefits before it no longer becomes relevant.Tier: A
Lugh, the Skilled One:
+3
Culture, Science, and Gold in Cities with a Specialist. +3 Production from Ceilidh Hall.This Celtic Pantheon is average. You can get some nice yields for your capital if you are going tall since you will be working specialists but there are better choices for tall playstyles. If you are going wide, this forces you to either go for Trade for Markets or Iron Working for Forges to get access to specialists. While the yields are decent, they weaken in time since you are delayed in getting them. In addition, there's another problem with these buildings. Cities usually are either stronger in food or production early game when these yields are relevant. Therefore, you either have the production to build the Markets/Forges but lack food to work the specialists or have the food to support specialists but take too long in building the infrastructure. Overall, I wouldn't recommend it but at least this is better than Bran.
Tier: B
Mannanan, Son of the Sea:
+3
Food, +3 Production, and +4 Gold in coastal Cities. +2 Great Admiral Points from Ceilidh Hall.The Celtic Pantheon is extremely solid if your scouting with a Pathfinder reveals a lot of good coastal city locations or you play on a water heavy map. Since your only requirements is to settle coastal cities, that isn't too difficult to achieve making this one of the easier pantheons to get the full benefits as soon as you get that city. The
Food allows you to work hills for the Production which is further boosted by the Production from the pantheon itself. This can be an amazing amount of Production making it possible to build infrastructure extremely quickly. If you go Progress, then your infrastructure will be even faster and that's what helps you snowball faster than all of your competition. Then, you have the extra Gold that lets you fill in what you need whether if it's a unit or investing in your buildings. This Celtic Pantheon seems viable for all three ancient era policy trees so I don't think any of them benefit specifically for it.Tier: S
Morrigan, Harbinger of Strife
Earn
Gold, Culture, and Golden Age Points if you kill a unit. +2 Great General Points from Ceilidh Hall.This Celtic Pantheon is most ideal for warmonger playstyles so Authority if your policy tree of choice. While it can sort of work for Tradition and Progress, those two policy trees don't work too well with this pantheon. Authority lets you gain
Culture and Science from kills so, with this pantheon, you can get Gold, Culture, Science and GA points. GA points is generally on the weak side but it's nice to get one or two extra GA so there's nothing to complain about there. Meanwhile, the Culture and Science doesn't seem like much but, since you are warring, prolonged wars actually work in your favor as you still get important yields from kills. If I understand correctly, you actually get double the normal amount of Culture so it might be more significant than I first believe. Then, the Gold is a nice way to improve your infrastructure while you slowly grind through the enemy. On higher difficulties, the numerous enemies potentially become more beneficial as you get more yields before you take cities to take advantage of other beliefs that might be geared towards war. Overall, this is a solid pantheon that require you to constantly war to gain the benefits.Tier: A
Nuada, the Silver-Handed King
+1
Culture for every 10 Gold per turn, +1 Golden Age Points for every 5 Science per turn, and +2 Gold from City Connections. +5 Gold from Ceilidh Hall. Capped at half followers.This Celtic Pantheon was quite promising until I learned that the yields are capped at half your followers. +1
Culture for every 10 Gold isn't that impressive of a scalar to begin with and yet there's a cap. With the changes to growth, this is actually pretty significant since only tall empires can really make use of it well. While it's true that city connections and Ceilidh Hall provide a combined 7 Gold, you still need either good yields, monopoly and/or infrastructure to get more culture. While Gold is useful, Culture is much more valuable over time and you aren't going to get much of it from this pantheon. Even the GAP isn't an amazing yield and you are not getting Ceilidh Hall until Medieval Era. Early, you just get the +2 Gold and maybe +1 Culture from each city and that's nothing to write home about. Overall, this is pretty awful.Tier: C
Ogma, the Learned
+1
Science for every 3 Citizens in a city. +3 Science, Culture, and Great Scientist Points in Capital. +5 Science from Ceilidh Hall.This Celtic Pantheon is pretty solid for a tall playstyle. Being tall, you will have a fairly large population, especially your capital, so you have a decent scalar to get more
Science. In addition to this, your capital also gains a pretty big steroid of science and culture fairly early in the game. These two are very important yields early game and can open up a number of different options that would otherwise be difficult to achieve due to limited science and culture early game. Then, you have the Great Scientist points that provides you with one of the strongest great people early to help further speed up your research. If this wasn't enough, the +5 Science only further help your teching when Library and University without specialists worked give +5 Science. On wide, this might take longer to utilize but the scalar and the yields for the UB might eventually help you pass all competition in techs. Overall, this is a great pantheon to snowball early on giving you a chance to keep the momentum going.Tier: S
Rhiannon, Goddess of Sovereignty
+2
Culture in every City. +1 Gold and Production from every improved resource. +5 Golden Age Points from Ceilidh Hall.This Celtic Pantheon is quite solid regardless of what ancient policy tree you go for. Early game, your
Culture is largely acquired from Monuments, improved resources and the palace. Therefore, an extra 2 Culture from simply settling your cities is incredibly powerful and can either get you ahead in policies or keep up with all of your neighbors. The Gold and Production from improved resource might not seem like much but it doesn't differentiate what resource they might be and that means certain cities can be very productive early on. The GAP doesn't seem that great but it's still decent in the grand scheme of things and doesn't make this pantheon weak at all. Overall, this is a great pantheon to snowball early on and is more versatile in some situations (like building Settlers in your capital without worrying about falling behind in policies due to less Culture from less population). Tier: S
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