[NFP] Religious Victory Elimination Thread

[Hans Castorp]

Amanitore/Nubia [10]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9] 12-3 Production bonus, but a minor one for a civ that starts in unproductive terrain. Adjacency bonus likely to go out the window. Floods + Great Bath can give oodles of faith, but it is a highly competitive wonder. Early bonus to culture, but at this stage, starting to look uncompetitive.
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [21]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [24]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [20]
John Curtin/Australia [13]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [2]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [11]
Peter/Russia [29]
Philip/Spain [4] (7-3)
Saladin/Arabia [27] [26+1} Guaranteed prophet allows for more variegated strategy for RV. Sundry other bonuses.
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [10]

 

[Josephias]

Amanitore/Nubia [10]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9]
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [21]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [24]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [20]
John Curtin/Australia [10] (13-3) Feeling we are keeping him alive because Australia has the S-Tier consideration. ¿But what do we have here that makes him special for RV, besides a meager +3 faith bonus for holy sites? (if breathtaking). ¿Guess what?, A shrine with 3 envoys to a single religios city state is already +4f. (Things you normally may not remember about, know it, I was thinking the game was bugged when in my last game I was getting +10f from each shrine, more than from temples, and far more than from mosques). So, other than this little extra faith, ¿what does Mr.Curtin offer for RV and makes him better than others in the list?
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [2]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [11]
Peter/Russia [29]
Philip/Spain [5] (4+1) Trying to stop the dogpile here, even if it may be a wasted upvote. Probably Philip can't reach top 10, mainly due to not having bonuses to get a GP and found its own religion, but it's not its time to go yet, considering other options in the list. It's main difficulty is indeed getting the chance to compete, and I'll concede that. But, after that, he is a late bloomer, and could not care less about that, because his benefits are indeed tailored to catch-up and surpass in the religión game. With RV, you either need a very early spread, or ways to downsize the pressure of different religions (you would find Proselityzers on one side, and debating -religious combat- and not preaching, are the main tools when fighting already established religions, as the charges' cost of just trying to convert by "peaceful" ways all necessary citizens is excessive, unless you are swimming in faith). Philip offers a strong "Word or Sword" approach to this "uphill" conversión as you can a) use conquistadors for opening a beachead of own-religion cities (that can be used to heal your apostles, if you select the ones with holy sites), have greater strenght in religious combat, and well-managed inquisitors can make for a shortage of proselitizers (plus, defending and spreading your religión from these beachead cities, if the opponent dares to send any religious unit to recover them for their religión). Of course ,this is a slower strategy and does not make him a Saladin or a Tamar, but it's pretty more than others still in the list can offer.
Saladin/Arabia [27]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [10]

 

[lotrmith]

Amanitore/Nubia [10]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9]
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [21] Given the revelations about Scythia and Aztec, are Mongolia's bonuses confirmed working?
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [24]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [20]
John Curtin/Australia [10]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [2]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [11]
Peter/Russia [29]
Philip/Spain [2] 5 - 3 I would ask the same question of Spain's +4 CS bonus, however +4 CS alone for apostles and the mediocre and relatively late faith generation from missions isn't enough to stay around. Spreading faith via military combat also requires so much more additional resources. You would be better off spending your hammers on settlers, holy sites, religious buildings, and even prayers.
Saladin/Arabia [27]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [11] 10 + 1 A start bias for tundra alone is enough to warrant a high position (along with others for desert and jungle bias).

Also LOL at the idea of having a unit survive an ancient era, pre-pantheon DOW on a city state long enough to enter the territory onto a faith-pillagable tile and perform the pillage. I've heard a lot of nonsense in my day but this takes the cake.

 

[JhGf_123]

Amanitore/Nubia [10]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9]
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [21]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [24]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17] (20-3) bit confused why he’s so high. His relics abilities come comparatively late for a RV: you need to have gained a religion (but he gets no bonuses to this), have reached the right civics for shrines & temples (but no bonuses to culture), have built those shrines & temples (but no bonuses to production), purchased your missionaries (but no great bonuses to faith generation yet), and *then* you can finally send them off to suicide. It’s all very slow to come into effect - fine for a culture victory, but not for religious because you’re just allowing the AI to reach their peak apostle spam. Plus, you can argue that a mechanic built around losing religious combat can’t be great for winning religion....
John Curtin/Australia [10]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [2]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [11]
Peter/Russia [29]
Philip/Spain [2]
Saladin/Arabia [27]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12] (11+1) showing solidarity in the current argument. I completely believe that a peaceful game is the easiest & fastest way to win RV (which is partly why I’ve downvoted Harald & Philip before), and Canada has a guaranteed peace game.

 

[Kwami]

Amanitore/Nubia [10]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9]
Gandhi/India [22] (21 + 1) Extra charges on missionaries (great), extra pressure from trade routes (eh), extra faith from Stepwells (good), extra faith from Satyagraha (good).
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [21]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [24]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [10]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [2]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [11]
Peter/Russia [29]
Philip/Spain [2]
Saladin/Arabia [27]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [9] (12 - 3) All this talk about Canada is silly. Canada just isn't very good at much of anything. Sure, they can build a bunch of national parks later in the game and take a culture victory, but otherwise, Canada is just kind of bad. And they're bad at religious victories, too.

Spawning in or near the tundra means that your early game production and food are bad. Lacking in early food and production means that you'll have a hard time getting settlers, builders, and holy sites.

And, no, you can't just skip building military units if you spawn in or near tundra. Barbarians love to spawn in tundra tiles and you'll need to defend against them. Besides, all the talk of early game war is overdone. It's pretty rare to have a war that actually matters in Civ VI unless you start it. Sure, you might get one of those turn 20 attacks that just ends the game, but if you avoid that, then you're usually good forever and can easily befriend the AI. So, whatever.

And who cares about Dance of the Aurora? Sure, you'll get a few extra faith for the holy sites that happen to be in tundra, but that's not really a big deal. You'll get, what, 2-6 faith per city for some of your cities? How many cities are you really going to build to get this bonus in a religious game? Probably not very many. There's no reason to. So, we're talking about maybe 20-60 faith if you settle *10* tundra cities, which you won't, because why would you? And 20-60 faith isn't nothing, but it's also not really game changing, either. Certainly not enough to make up for just how slow and bad Canada is for the first 150 turns.

 

[bbbt]

Amanitore/Nubia [10]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9]
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [21]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [25] 24+1 - Half priced holy sites mean you can start accruing great prophet points faster than anyone but Russia.
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [20]
John Curtin/Australia [10]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [2]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [11]
Peter/Russia [29]
Philip/Spain [2]
Saladin/Arabia [27]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [6] (9 - 3) I'm not really sold on Canada or Nubia - for peaceful or non peaceful RV, and I downvoted Nubia last time. They only seem marginally better than 'generic civ' for RV. Neither have direct - or even really indirect - bonuses to religious combat. They just have a start bias that works ONLY if you get the appropriate pantheon. Nubia has some advantages for the faster production of holy sites, Canada because of the lack of surprise wars, so less defensive units (though frankly, I don't need many more units to deal with the AI than I do with barbs).

Frankly, I wish these were 'anonymized', as it sort of looks like people are upvoting Canada, just because a particular poster downvoted them.

 

[Republic of San Montuoso]

Amanitore/Nubia [10]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9]
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [21]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [25]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [10]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [2]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [11]
Peter/Russia [29]
Philip/Spain [0] (2-3 ELIMINATED) I already downvoted him prior but for me, he's worse than Canada for a religious win. He has ZERO bonus and, unlike canada, must build units first to defend and has no faith, no culture, no production bonus towards HS. If he managed to found a religion, he might be OK. Buteven Matthias might build a HS before him, and Lautaro can produce massive culture to get to Political Philosophy and Mysticism to snatch a great prophet. He has absolutely NOTHING for him and the fact he's still considered a religious civ is because of his late bonuses. So, good bye Philip.
Saladin/Arabia [27]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [7] (6+1) I'm team Laurier because the arguments FOR are way better than the argument AGAINST. Yes, some are better, and there is no doubt that Indonesia, Russia, Mali and Japan will be firsts, but seriously, with all the arguments FOR which are very well developped, you would eliminate Canada before Hungary or Mapuches? All I hear from people against Canada are the same refrain about the bad start and the lack of bonuses, but what they fail to see is that the bonuses, once used correctly, outpowered the maluses. I mean, wiining a religious Victory with Gengis require a very specific strategy, but nobody's downvoting him. So eliminate first the purely non-religious civs and AFTER THAT we will eliminate him.

 

[Drivingrevilo]

@JhGf_123 downvoted Jayavarman, he should be on 17

 

[Francel]

Amanitore/Nubia [10]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9]
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22] (21+1) - haven't upvoted them yet - winning in theological combat is a very cost effective way of spreading and maintaining a religion
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [25]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [7] (10-3) - strong civ but +3 holy sites isn't actually that amazing anymore
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [2]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [11]
Peter/Russia [29]
Saladin/Arabia [27]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [7]

 

[Jewelrunna]

Amanitore/Nubia [10]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9]
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [25]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [8] (7+1) - Faith generation is really important for a religious victory, and John Curtin is pretty much guaranteed every Holy Site to be +3, if not better. Stack this with the policy card that doubles your adjacency bonuses in Holy Sites, and Australia can really pump out religious units like it's no one's business. They're not a top tier Religious Victory Civ, but they're quite good at it, and I think they should stick around for a bit.
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [2]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [11]
Peter/Russia [29]
Saladin/Arabia [27]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [4] (7 - 3) - Canada on the other hand, I don't really get the appeal. While in theory Canada can build early Holy Sites because they can prioritize infrastructure over an army because they won't be declared on by AIs, in practice what I've found is that Canada has a particularly bad time with barbarians because of their propensity to start near the snowy wastes, which spawn lots of camps. So I find that I have to still build a decently sized army to deal with the barbs while playing as them, despite not having to worry about other Civs. And besides that, they get no other bonuses to religion; in fact, one of the Civs main strengths as a culture Civ is that they can use gold to get National Parks, not needing as much faith as a consequence. I don't see much reason for Canada stick around while some other Civs go first.
EDIT: Clarifying here what I mean by "they get no bonuses to religion". What I mean is not that they can't benefit from having one--obviously every Civ benefits from having a religion in some capacity. What I mean is they get no bonuses towards getting a religion, generating faith, or being better at spreading it around: the three traits that define a good religious victory Civ.

 

[Hogimus]

Amanitore/Nubia [10]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9]
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [25]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [8]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [0] ELIMINATED - Seems like we're getting rid of all the Civs that aren't explicitly geared toward religious victory.
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10] Wish I could downvote twice. Why are they still here? Did we forget about them?
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [11]
Peter/Russia [29]
Saladin/Arabia [28] (27+1) Guaranteed religion let's you focus on other districts or conquests before shifting to a religion, and that's very nice.
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [4] Really want to keep them in because I really think they are better than Nubia and Inca and maybe some others, but Canada's time is soon and I shouldn't keep throwing my vote at them. Just a final note if you haven't tried them, tundra start isn't bad because you have plenty of good tiles to work until you can get tundra mines and camps up which are as good as anywhere else, and guaranteed peace is crazy powerful for religious and cultural play. I am playing a game right now where I've converted my neighbours Germany, Mongolia, and Persia, who all had religions, and I haven't even been denounced by them. And while I agree with @Jewelrunna that barbs can be a problem, I disagree that they don't benefit from religion because with the new Work Ethic changes, DotA can be a huge boon, especially for the Civ with the best bonuses to tundra (bonus prod on mines and mills, bonus food on camps, half priced tiles, farms for housing).

 

[monikernemo]

Amanitore/Nubia [11] (10 + 1) Early UU means easy golden age in the classical era. In turn this gives you 4 GP per turn if you decide on getting exodus of the evangelist.
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9]
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [25]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [8]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10] Inca on paper should be phenomenal if you secure earth goddess.
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [11]
Peter/Russia [29]
Saladin/Arabia [28]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [1] (4 - 3) Again, Canada abilities provide little to no help getting early religion. Securing the necessary pantheons for faith generation is alot less reliable.

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

Amanitore/Nubia [11]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [9]
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [25]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [8]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [8] (11-3) Greece gets the wild card that can slot and early great prophet and the Acropolis for early culture. Of the two leaders, Gorgo is so much better early game, especially if you farm barb camps. Pericles can absolutely be a culture beast, but it takes a while before that ball starts rolling.
Peter/Russia [29]
Saladin/Arabia [28]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [2] (1+1) I've taken Canada to a religious victory before, and while they aren't the greatest, I think the general consensus here is being too hard on them. They should at least stick around for a couple more. The immunity to surprise wars is huge. That means you can go fully involved with creating a religion without the risk of being rushed by a neighbor. You often have to choose between building up a viable defense to deter neighbors or focus on religious infrastructure. Canada doesn't have that problem. A tundra start is not too bad either... They get +1 production from tundra mines and +1 food from camps. They work well with Dance of the Aurora or Earth Goddess.

 

[Drivingrevilo]

Amanitore/Nubia [11]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [6] (9-3) Doesn't have much to offer compared to the other low scorers remaining. Amanitore gets better production & greater early game defence; Curtin is the strongest all-rounder & has the highest holy site adjacency potential; Pachacuti gets mountain start & amazing synchronisation with ‘Earth Goddess’; and Pericles gets free wildcard, free envoys, and a huge culture snowball. The only real bonus Egypt gets is the Sphinx, and that’s not enough to keep her in by itself.
Gandhi/India [21]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [26] (25+1) The more I think about it, the more I believe Hojo is the only one who comes close to Peter (though even then, he falls short). At its simplest, Peter’s strength boils down to the fact that he can spam Holy Sites in every single city. Hojo is also able to do that if he chooses - and while Peter gets the power of ‘Dance of the Aurora’ for an immediate +6 or +7 adjacency, Hojo can match those numbers eventually through the power of ‘Meiji Restoration’.
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [8]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [8]
Peter/Russia [29]
Saladin/Arabia [28]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [2]

 

[fredrikslicer]

Amanitore/Nubia [11]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [6]
Gandhi/India [22] 21+1 Additional charges make missionaries and apostles much more economic
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [18]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [26]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [8]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [8]
Peter/Russia [29]
Saladin/Arabia [28]
Tamar/Georgia [22]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [0] 2-3 ELIMINATED beyond a safe start is not exactly religious focused

 

[Republic of San Montuoso]

While I'm sad that Canada is gone, perhaps we could focus on someone else.

Amanitore/Nubia [11]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [6]
Gandhi/India [22]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [19] (18+1) Early culture for killing barbarians making going through the Civic Tree quicker than anyone else, so can focus on HS rather than TS, and gain GP/faith through it for early religion. Not the best but a very good contender.
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [26]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [8]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [5] (8-3) Half cost TS is good but not way to gain additional culture besides that to go Mysticism/Theology. And no faith generation culture and no bonus towards HS. Time to go.
Peter/Russia [29]
Saladin/Arabia [28]
Tamar/Georgia [22]

 

[CrabHelmet]

I'd sort of stayed out of this discussion until now because honestly every Civ that's been eliminated at this point (except maybe Matthias and Simon, who went too early) is either so fractionally worse or fractionally better than a hypothetical 'generic' Civ with no bonuses at all that I just didn't care. You may as well lump everyone kicked out before this point into the same B tier. Unlike Domination, where every Civ has different UUs at least, or different rates of Science and Culture and Gold all of which feed into Domination, Religion is much less strongly linked into the other mechanics in the game. Early on you need good Culture to hit Theology and good Production to get a Prophet fast, after that it's really just Faith and combat bonuses to Religious Combat. Most Civs can take or leave Religious Victory either way.

However, now we're down to a core of Civs that almost all have more substantial relation to Religious Victory, so I'm popping back up. Surprised Wilfred lasted as long as he did, Tundra bias alone won't make a good Religious Civ when you have terrible production and are slow to get up Holy Sites, and his unique units don't lend themselves to correctly timed Golden Ages as easily.

Amanitore/Nubia [11]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [7] (6+1) Not that I think Cleopatra's the best on this list, but she's certainly not the worst. Bonuses to district completion should never be overlooked because of the difficulty in securing a Prophet at higher difficulty levels. Additionally, her unique units are in the right eras to get Exodus of the Evangelists very easily for early spread.
Gandhi/India [22]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [19]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4] I did think about downvoting Harald. Stave Church comes too late to be useful, Harald doesn't have any particular bonuses to early Production, and to get the large Faith and Culture boosts, you need to put Production towards units which slows down Holy Sites. Harald's real secret advantage is early access to transport overseas, but this really isn't enough to carry him any more. However...
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [26]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [5] (8-3) ...it is enough to keep Harald over Curtin. I can't work out why Curtin is here, aside from being good generally. The following things make a good Religious Civ: 1. Being able to get up Holy Sites fast so as to secure a Prophet (or having some other way of securing a Prophet); 2. Being able to generate lots of Faith; 3. Having enough Culture to rush the key Civics; 4. Having bonuses to theological combat or spread or religious movement. I don't think Curtin excels on any of these. Curtin has no bonuses to building Holy Sites, unless someone declares war on you extremely early in which case you have other priorities. He has no specific culture bonuses except a very slight one to correctly placed Theatre Squares, and you need to have your Religion up and running well before you've had the time to throw down a load of Theatre Squares. He does not have any bonuses to theological combat or spread or religous movement. In particular, he does not have the UU/UBs in the right era to reliably attain Exodus of the Evangelists when you need it, and reliability in hitting EotE is crucial in getting a Religious Victory rolling at good pace on Deity.

In and of himself, he has no real bonuses to Faith aside from a very slight one for careful Holy Site placement. The sole reason Curtin is good at RV is if you can snatch Earth Goddesses, which combined with his ability means he then gets some really nice bonuses to Faith output. The trouble is... you can't hang an entire Civ on the chance you manage to snag the right Pantheon, particularly when Curtin has no particular means to guarantee getting that Pantheon or achieve it faster, and when in both Deity and MP it's a really popular Pantheon that goes very quickly. It's time for Curtin to go, he is to my mind clear the worst here, at least Harald can get EotE better and can spread more widely and has both of those two things without access to a bit of early-game luck.
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10] I see you Pachacuti. Pachacuti has basically absolutely nothing for RV except correctly timed UUs/UBs and a bias to Mountains, except the bias to Mountains will still sometimes only give you 2 or 3 and not well placed. I do think he's a bit more reliable than Curtin, but it's not hugely, and Pachacuti being 6 points ahead of Harald and 5 points ahead of Pericles (who is actually fairly decent at RV and gets more relevant bonuses than just a start bias) is bizarre.
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [5] I struggled with Pericles because there's two things going on here. Pericles is actually quite good at Religious Victory. Not top tier, but the extra policy wildcard means you can guarantee a useful Pantheon for generating Faith good games, and you can control the relevant Religious City-States very easily (albeit this makes you a bit dependent on Yerevan etc. being in the game), and he has good early culture, and his UUs are correctly placed for EotE. You really can't underestimate Religious City-States for Faith Generation, though - +2 to every Shrine for a level 3 with a single Religious City-State is a lot for a very small investment, and it's reliable and requires no fiddling with adjacencies. Pericles played correctly definitely generates as much Faith from using his extra envoys as any of the bonus adjacency civs.

The problem is not that Pericles is bad at Religious Victory, but that he's much better at Culture victory, and you can't focus on both of these at once, there's too much to build, so you're not making best use of Pericles. It really depends how we're seeing this game. I am imagining it as: "Who would you rather play in a game of Civ VI where only Religious Victory is turned on?", and so Pericles is a good choice there. Others seem to be interpreting it as "Which Civ is most likely to win a Religious Victory in a normal game of Civ VI?", in which case Pericles is quite low because he'll normally be doing Cultural Victories for which he is the pre-eminent Civ.

Either way, however, there's no way there should be a 14-point gap between Gorgo and Pericles here, they're not dissimilar enough in respect of Religious Victories. I think I will upvote him next time, he's definitely better at Religious Victories than Curtin or Pachacuti.
Peter/Russia [29]
Saladin/Arabia [28]
Tamar/Georgia [22]

In general, I'm pretty skeptical about all the Civs that are now really just relying on a) good adjacencies and b) managing to pick up a very specific Pantheon. It couldn't carry Wilfred, it's not going to carry Curtin or Pachacuti either. I'm actually surprised Matthias went before these guys, when he can control Religious City-States better which is a great source of Faith and other bonuses, and has Pearl of the Danube for faster Holy Sites.

I'm also really confused the poster above me upvoted Gorgo but downvoted Pericles... they're almost identical for the purposes of RV except Gorgo's culture is marginally more front-loaded which is a bit better but not much...

EDIT: @TCBB - responding here so as not to make a new post. My trouble with Pachacuti is that a) his start bias isn't perfect, and as mentioned about 25-30% of the time I get maybe two-three mountains rather than a range, and if that happens he has literally *nothing* for an RV, and b) even if you do get a lot of mountains, he still needs Earth Goddess as your Pantheon and if you miss it that's that. It just isn't reliable. I wouldn't put him above Pericles or Gorgo for the following reasons:

1. Pericles and Gorgo get better culture to hit Theology faster.
2. Pericles and Gorgo can control Religious City-States much easier and I think people are completely under-playing how valuable Religious City-States are. That's +2 Faith in every Shrine across your whole Empire without even having to work any tiles. Okay, you might not find one... but that's Pachacuti's problem too with Mountains, and comparatively, it is more likely that Pericles and Gorgo will be able to control a Religious City-State with all the extra envoys than Pachacuti will be able to lock down Earth Goddess, a hugely desirable Pantheon.
3. The best way for Pachacuti to get Earth Goddess is to go with the +1 Faith/+1 Gold policy... but then you have slower Production than everyone else and are more likely to miss a Prophet.

I think when you roll Pachacuti just right, and the luck goes your way in the opening 25 turns, his peak potential for Religious Victory is a lot higher than Pericles or Gorgo. I'll grant you that. But Pericles and Gorgo both have a good consistency here that should not be underrated. They're much less dependent on getting the right starting layout and the right Pantheon.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

Amanitore/Nubia [11]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [7]
Gandhi/India [22]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [19]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [4]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [26]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [2] (5-3) ... Fair enough that he's here but he's probably only slightly better than Canada in RV so time to go.
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [5]
Peter/Russia [30] 29+1 The best for this victory type by far
Saladin/Arabia [28]
Tamar/Georgia [22]

 

[TCBB]

Really nice write-up @CrabHelmet, this is exactly the kind of thing I join these threads to read – people giving reasoned arguments about Civs which make me reflect on game mechanics in ways I hadn’t before. The one thing I disagree on is Pachacuti. Not only does he (usually) get large mountain ranges for holy sites, but if you pick Earth Goddess then you earn earn a metric tonne of free faith - both from the tiles next to mountains and from the mountain tiles themselves which, of course, the Inca can work. It’s just a really neat synchronisation. Having said that, I do think Pachacuti’s time is drawing near: we’re coming to the end of the ‘Civs who get secondary / situational bonuses to religion’ and onto those who get direct, consistent, and powerful bonuses to religion.

Still, I’d personally put Inca ahead of Egypt, Norway, Nubia, Australia, Pericles - and probably Montezuma too, who is slightly going under the radar here. Is the ability to rush holy sites with builders really enough to keep him in much longer....?

Amanitore/Nubia [11]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [7]
Gandhi/India [23] (22+1) Don’t really know who to upvote, so I’ll send another Gandhi’s way. Giving +2 charges to his missionaries was such a simple yet effective buff. It turned him from one of the worst Civs in the game to a religious powerhouse, allowing you to rush your neighbour’s religion as if you had apostles but an entire era earlier.
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [19]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [1] (4-3) I agree that Curtin’s time has come, but I’d still eliminate Norway first. He’s got the same problems as Philip (no bonuses to holy sites, no bonuses to prophets, no bonuses to religious units, and a one-trick design that revolves around warfare), but with the slight advantage of earlier ocean travel.
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [26]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17] like @JhGf_123 said, I’m also of the opinion that Jayavarman is not actually spectacular at religious victory. All his bonuses come into effect late compared to the real powerhouses here. I always see him as using religion to support tourism than an actual RV leader.
John Curtin/Australia [2]
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14] See comments at top.
Pachacuti/Inca [10] Also see top.
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [5]
Peter/Russia [30]
Saladin/Arabia [28]
Tamar/Georgia [22]

 

[Leucarum]

Amanitore/Nubia [11]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [7]
Gandhi/India [23]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
Gitarja/Indonesia [20]
Gorgo/Greece [19]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [1]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [26]
Jadwiga/Poland [21]
Jayavarman/Khmer [17]
John Curtin/Australia [0] (2-3) Eliminated - Curtin has a lot of better options available to him than a religious victory.
Kupe/Maori [19]
Mansa Musa/Mali [24]
Montezuma/Aztecs [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [10]
Pedro/Brazil [21]
Pericles/Greece [5]
Peter/Russia [31] (30+1) I'm surprised this isn't closer to the lead GC had in domination... Almost every tool in Peter's kit is geared towards a religious win and synergizes well together.
Saladin/Arabia [28]
Tamar/Georgia [22]