Every holding in Crusader Kings 3 can support a number of regular buildings. The number and variety of these buildings depends on a few factors, like innovations, cultures, and the local climate. Each de jure duchy capital also comes with a slot for a duchy building, which are unusually powerful and provide unique benefits.
However, a few rare holdings come with an even rarer building slot, in which you can build special buildings. Special buildings are completely unique. Many of them only have one building level that never upgrades (and never needs to upgrade) throughout an entire game of Crusader Kings 3. Read on to learn how to find these buildings, how to build them, and how to benefit from them.
Crusader Kings 3: Every DLC, Ranked
Some DLCs for Crusader Kings 3 have disappointed, while others add worthwhile content to the game. Which expansions are worth buying?
How to Find Special Buildings
The easiest way to find the many special buildings of Crusader Kings 3 is to check the Economy map mode. This mode doesn't have its own icon, so click the plus sign in the lower-right corner and then choose "Economy" from the drop-down menu. You can also switch to it directly by using the shortcut Ctrl-S, at least on Windows computers.
While the Economy view is active, and you're on the medium zoom level, you can see an icon appear for every special building slot in the game. These icons come in four colors, and each one represents something different:
Dark Blue | The building doesn't exist, and your character can't build it or benefit from it. |
|---|---|
Light Blue | The building doesn't exist, and your character can build it. |
Dark Yellow | The building exists, but your character can't benefit from it. |
Light Yellow | The building exists, and your character can benefit from it. |
Bear in mind that these colors only check for basic information like, "Does your ruler follow the right Faith to activate a Great Temple?" A special building may have other requirements, like a high Development Level or a specific Innovation. If you don't have them, the building will appear as light blue, but you won't be able to fund its construction. This is why all the universities in the image above are light blue. Also, even if a building is light yellow, you won't get its benefits unless you own the county that it's in.
The Economy map view also displays the relative gold income each county makes. High-income counties are yellow, medium-income counties are orange, and low-income counties are red. This value comes from the combined income of all the holding buildings in the county, the Development Level, and the county owner's Stewardship level, among other factors.
How to Benefit from Special Buildings
Whether your ruler is Tribal, Feudal, or Clan, you'll have to deal with vassals and indirect income from taxes and levies. Even counts get a baron-level vassal or two. This means you don't benefit directly from buildings in holdings you don't own yourself. This applies to normal buildings, and it also applies to special buildings.
In other words, special buildings have few benefits outside of the holdings your character owns directly. Fortunately, most special building slots are in county capitals, making it easy to enjoy these direct benefits (assuming you own the right counties and duchies). But even if you don't control every special building yourself, there are a few ways they can benefit your ruler:
- A Grand Temple, Mosque, or Cathedral of your Faith will make pilgrimages to the relevant holy site much more rewarding.
- Many special buildings increase the local Development Level at all times. A high Development provides more money and levies, and richer vassals provide more money to their lieges.
- Other special buildings provide a solid amount of income for their owner, a percentage of which trickles up to the owner's liege.
- If a University or Grand Temple of your ruler's Faith exists somewhere in your realm, you can choose to send a child to the university when assigning them a guardian. This adds a considerable price tag to the interaction, but it also raises the odds of getting a good education.
- Adult rulers can boost their education level up to six by visiting a University or Grand Temple of their Faith.
- Rulers can visit special buildings during trips. The first time they visit one, they gain Lifestyle XP. This includes inactive special buildings.
Every Special Building's Location and Benefits
The list of special buildings in Crusader Kings 3 is long, and no single ruler can benefit (even indirectly) from all of them. Many are only available to specific Religions or Faiths, and listing every possible holy site in the game would produce a pointlessly long list. However, there's some value in knowing what each building type can do, and where all the unique monuments and natural wonders are.
Grand Holy Buildings
Keep in mind that many Holy Sites are holy to multiple Religions. If that's the case, and the site's special building isn't unique, the grand holy building will usually use the more "mainstream" religion's design.
Building Type | Requirements | Locations | County Benefits | Holder Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Grand Cathedral |
| Christian Holy Sites |
|
|
Grand Mosque |
| Islamic Holy Sites |
|
|
Great Fire Temple |
| Zoroastrian Holy Sites |
|
|
Grand Temple (Other Abrahamic) |
| Dualist/Milete/Jewish Holy Sites |
|
|
Grand Temple (Eastern) |
| Buddhist/Hindu/Jainist Holy Sites |
|
|
Grand Temple (Pagan) |
| Pagan Holy Sites |
|
|
Universities
You (and other rulers) can build universities in just about every location where a university existed in the real Middle Ages. A few already exist during the 867 or 1066 starting dates, but most are only potential locations. Some universities have unique rules, requirements, and benefits (see the unique building list below), but most of them use the following generic rules:
Requirements | Locations | County Benefits | Holder Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Mines
All the mines in Crusader Kings 3 use the same icon, but most have a few differences that set them apart from one another. For instance, the Forest of Dean Mining Settlement provides a bonus to stationed Men-at-Arms Toughness, while the Taghaza Mining Pits provide a Supply Limit bonus to the county's holder. Still, most mines follow the same general rules:
- The local ruler's culture must have the right Innovation, which can include Crop Rotation (Tribal), Banking (High Medieval), or nothing at all.
- Mines have four upgrade levels, but the holding's main building must be equal to or higher than the mine's upgrade level. This means you need a Motte to build a basic mine, a Keep to build the second level, and so on.
- Most mines provide extra tax income, siege weapon effectiveness, development growth, and improve the quality of weapon, armor, artisan, and metalsmith inspirations. Other benefits vary from mine to mine.
You can find mine special buildings in the following baronies:
- Abrudbanya
- Allaqi
- Badakhshan (pre-built)
- Caslav (pre-built in 1066)
- Cevennes (pre-built in 1066)
- Falene (pre-built in 1066)
- Figuira
- Gloucester (pre-built)
- Goslar (pre-built in 1066)
- Iglesias (pre-built in 1066)
- Ijil (pre-built)
- Innsbruck
- Medapata
- Mudigonda
- Nishapur (pre-built)
- Pansjhir (pre-built)
- Phocaea (pre-built in 1066)
- Polygyros (pre-built)
- Rudnik
- Sakarai (pre-built)
- Samantakuta (pre-built)
- Siguiri
- Srebrenica
- Taghaza (pre-built)
- Takkeda
- Torda (pre-built)
- Turoc
- Vemulavada (pre-built)
- Yaresna
- Zvecan
Unique Buildings and Landmarks
Some special buildings are completely unique. A few represent major holy sites, like the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, while others are remarkable landmarks or feats of engineering. The landmarks are static and always exist on the map, and many unique buildings are present for both starting dates, but others can only appear during the course of the game.
Some unique buildings have special upgrade levels, while others don't. A building on this list with multiple upgrades has slashes between each upgrade's requirements and benefits, or the upgrade level is listed in parentheses if a benefit is unique.
The requirements listed include both what you need to construct the special building (if it doesn't exist yet), and what you need to keep the building active. You don't need money or cultural innovations to benefit from a pre-built special building, but you must meet a building's Faith requirement for as long as you own it.
Name(s) | Location | Requirements | County Benefits | Holder Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Ananda Temple | Pagan |
|
|
|
Brihadeeswarar Temple | Cholamandalam |
|
|
|
Buddhas of Bamian | Bamian | Owner follows any Eastern Faith |
|
|
Canterbury Basilica/ Temple/ Cathedral | Kent |
|
|
|
Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela | Santiago |
|
|
|
Cologne Cathedral | Cologne |
|
|
|
Dome of the Rock/ The Third Temple | Jerusalem |
|
|
|
The Friday Mosque | Isfahan | Owner is Muslim or Zoroastrian |
|
|
Great Mosque of Cordoba | Cordoba | Owner is Muslim or Christian |
|
|
Great Mosque of Djenne | Jenne |
|
|
|
Great Mosque of Mecca | Mecca | Owner is Muslim |
|
|
Great Mosque of Samarra | Samarra | Owner is Muslim |
|
|
Hagia Sophia Cathedral/ Hagia Sophia Mosque | Byzantion |
|
|
|
Imam Ali Mosque | Kufa | Owner considers Kufa a Holy Site |
|
|
Lund Cathedral | Skane |
|
|
|
Mahabodhi Temple | Gaya | Owner considers Gaya a Holy Site |
|
|
Minaret of Jam | Ghur |
|
|
|
Notre-Dame | Isle de France |
|
|
|
The Prophetic Mosque | Medina | Owner considers Medina a Holy Site |
|
|
Sanctuary of Imam Reza | Tus | Owner is Muslim |
|
|
Shwedagon Pagoda | Dagon | Owner follows any Eastern Faith |
|
|
Temple City (Khajuraho) | Chanderi |
|
|
|
Temple of Uppsala/Uppsala Cathedral | Uppland |
|
|
|
Al-Azhar University | Cairo | 1,000 gold |
|
|
Alcazar of Segovia | Cuellar |
|
|
|
Aljaferia | Zaragoza |
|
|
|
Ark of Bukhara | Bukhara | None |
|
|
Citadel of Aleppo/ Reconstructed Citadel of Aleppo | Aleppo |
|
|
|
City Walls of Toledo | Toledo | None |
| None |
The Colosseum | Roma | None | -10% Building Construction Time | -5% Army Maintenance |
Danevirke | Slesvig (two baronies) | None |
| None |
Doge's Palace | Venezia | Owner is a Republic |
| None |
Dome of Soltanieh | Zanjan |
|
|
|
Falak-ol-Aflak | Saimara | None |
| -50% Attrition in Desert Mountains |
Farum Brigantium | Coruna | None | +1 Tax income |
|
Golden Gate of Kyiv | Kyiv |
|
|
|
Great Wall of Gorgan | Gurgan (two baronies) | None |
| None |
Hadrian's Wall | Cumberland, Northumberland (two baronies each) | None | -10% Building Construction cost | None |
Heddal Stave Church | Vestfold |
|
|
|
Hotin Fort/ Hotin Fortress | Hotin | 400/800 gold |
|
|
House of Wisdom | Baghdad | None |
|
|
Iron Pillar of Delhi | Delhi | None |
|
|
Lake Maharloo | Shiraz | None |
|
|
Mount Damavand | Baduspan | None |
|
|
Nalanda University | Magadha | None |
|
|
Offa's Dyke | Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire (one or two baronies each) | None |
| None |
Palace of Aachen | Aachen | None |
|
|
Petra | Negev | None |
| None |
Giza | None | +0.20 Development Growth |
| |
Rainbow Mountains | Tabriz | None |
| +1 Diplomacy |
Rock of Gibraltar | Algeciras | None |
|
|
Roman Walls of Lugo | Astorga | None |
|
|
Ruins of the Palace of Ctesiphon/ Great Palace of Ctesiphon | Baghdad (An-Nahrawan barony) |
|
|
|
Shah-i-Zinda/ Shah-i-Zinda Necropolis | Samarkand |
|
|
|
Stonehenge | Wiltshire | None | None |
|
Middlesex |
|
| +30% Dread gain | |
Tomb of Batsheba | Istakhr | None |
|
|
The University of Sankore | Tirakka | 1,000 gold |
|
|
The University of Siena | Siena | 1,000 gold |
|
|
Visby Ringmur | Gutland |
|
| None |
Walls of Benin | Benin |
|
| None |
Walls of Genoa | Genoa | None |
| None |
Crusader Kings 3 generally doesn't want rulers to own more than two duchies, so most players won't get to own a lot of special buildings all at once. Still, by identifying all the best special buildings in your home kingdom, you can ensure the best duchies fall into your hands, and thus make ruling a growing empire that much easier.
Crusader Kings 3
- Platform(s)
- PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PC
- Released
- September 1, 2020
- Developer(s)
- Paradox Interactive
- Genre(s)
- RPG , Grand Strategy
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
