The newest entry in the immensely popular Total War series is here, and it's bringing with it a variety of new leaders hailing from Ancient Egypt, the Caanites of the Levant, and the Hittite Empire. In classic Total War fashion, each leader has their own special buildings and personal quirks that can help them expand their territory, but with 8 of them to pick from, it can help to know what each of them does, and most importantly, how reliable and effective they are in practice.

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Leaders will also have their unique troops which are designed to lean into a certain playstyle and army build, so they're definitely all worth trying out, but some have already been proving to be much stronger than others, both in short-term conflicts and in the longer campaigns. With that being said, here are all the Leaders currently in Total War: Pharaoh and how they rank in terms of overall effectiveness.

8 Bay (The Schemer)

Bay excels at influencing others to support him in battle and across campaigns, but while he's a master speaker, it takes a long time to make use of his abilities and buildings. Additionally, because diplomatic requests won't always go in the player's favor, it also ends up making him a little risky to play. Luckily, he can still keep his citizens happy with his Singing Competition and Chief Scribe's Headquarters, and the Regional Flair will increase production rates to make sure he has a stable economy and infrastructure.

Many of his units also start with the Ambush trait which makes them very difficult to spot, but for this to be worth anything, players will need to have a good knowledge of what weapons and units will counter their enemies to launch a devastating surprise attack. Bay can undoubtedly be a good leader when in the right hands, but he's far from easy to use and comes with a lot of risks that just aren't always worth taking.

7 Kurunta (The Usurper)

Kurunta's entire playstyle revolves around exploiting the weaknesses of his enemies which makes him the best Leader in the game when it comes to plots and plans of sabotage. Kurunta's plots will automatically be one level higher than usual which is a great way to make up for his lack of heavy-hitting units. Instead, players should build his Recruitment Office as soon as possible as it will provide an upgrade to the rank of Kaskian, Native, and Phrygian members of his army.

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The main issue for Kurunta is simply his starting position since while he is very close to Cyprus, and is heavily encouraged to take it, the island will constantly be attacked by Sea People which can be very hard to manage. There's also the simple fact that traveling between Cyprus and the mainland can take a lot of time and resources, so while he can excel later on in the game after setting his army up, he can struggle in the early game.

6 Irsu (The Ravager)

Irsu is the embodiment of chaos and is a man who only seeks to crush empires beneath his feet rather than building one for himself. Because of this, he has a serious lack of empathy or care for his citizens, so anyone choosing him can expect to have low happiness and diplomacy within his state. Because he doesn't have much political influence and is always on the back foot, Irsu needs to move fast and plunder as quickly as possible to ensure he can stay in the game.

Luckily, his Forced Labor Camps can grant him a large workforce in little to no time, and the War Camps expand his recruitment slots to help him build a massive army. He can be a real threat when used correctly, but the issue is that if he stops his constant invasions and doesn't plunder enough, he can quickly find himself with little to no resources to keep going. Still, his fast recruitment and heavy units do make him a formidable force, so long as players can manage to keep their citizens satisfied before anything disastrous happens.

5 Tausret (The Strategist)

Tausret may not boast the biggest or most threatening units, but this doesn't matter too much since she will actually start with an improved diplomatic relationship with Seti which can automatically grant her a formidable force of units, so long as she can persuade him that is. Militaristic might isn't where Tausret shines though. She's much more centered around building and using her plentiful buffs and construction options, all of which will drastically improve her production.

In a similar vein to Irsu, this won't do much good for her citizens' happiness, but this can make her an incredible defensive Leader who can establish an impenetrable fortress that her enemies can only dream of destroying. It also means that buildings like Tausret's Armory and Tausret's Goldsmith can bolster her army, but it will take a little while before this can work its magic. There is also the unfortunate truth that any miscalculations and missteps will deal a much bigger blow to Tausret than other Leaders, but she's undoubtedly still a reliable commander who comes into her own later in the game.

4 Suppiluliuma (The Defender)

Suppliuliuma is very much the all-rounder of the group compared to the other Leaders featured in the game, having a nice balance between medium and heavy units which makes him very versatile and capable of building an army exactly to his liking. He's essentially forced to play defensively though as his Hittite Kingdom starts surrounded by enemies, but luckily, he can quite easily withstand sieges thanks to his Garrison Quarters and Royal Garrison Palace.

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His Army Supply Center does grant him the opportunity to expand since it will improve melee defense, making his units a lot more tanky, and will also keep their morale high in the process. Added to this, Suppiluliuma can also make use of his Faction Commands which will allow him to increase the replenishment rate of armies. He might not be the most exciting Leader to play, but Suppiluliuma is still pretty easy while offering just enough freedom to make him a ton of fun to experiment with.

3 Amenmesse (The Gilded)

Anyone who is struggling with acquiring enough gold to fuel their armies and constructions should try out Amenmesse, a man who's capable of becoming filthy rich in barely any time thanks to his abilities. Not only does he earn more gold from mines than his rivals, but he also starts in a fairly safe area which gives him plenty of time to progress, and every one of his unique buildings is also dedicated to making money, though they will all decrease his overall influence.

On the other hand, his Gold Markets can convert gold into legitimacy and other resources which can cover one of his biggest issues and make him incredibly powerful after amassing a decent sum. This also makes it virtually impossible to run into resource shortages since he can easily trade with others to acquire anything he might need. If that wasn't enough, he also has some of the best archers in the entire game, especially the Ta-Seti Longbowmen who can wipe out entire groups before they can even get within attacking distance. The only real downside to Amenmesse is how incredibly expensive a lot of his units are, but it's well worth investing in since some of them are truly devastating.

2 Seti (The Brute)

Rather than taking a lot of time to amass his units, Seti automatically starts with a large army, which is a good thing since he is surrounded by all five different resource settlement types. This means he will be able to wipe out any lingering enemy camps that might have been eyeing up these areas for themselves so that he can jumpstart his economy. As "The Brute" nickname might have already given away, Seti is a very hardened and militaristic Leader who doesn't care much about politics, and would rather swing a sword at his opponents as opposed to reasoning with them.

The Mustering Office will grant him more recruitment slots while also decreasing the cost of enlisting certain troops within a province. However, he can drive down this cost even further by building the Recruitment Administration Center which allows him to create a gigantic army to make up for any soldiers that will inevitably be lost along the way. His best unique building is by far Seti's Royal Palace which will drastically raise his influence, while also boosting morale for his troops, so while he's not much of a people-pleaser, he primarily relies on throwing as many cheap and weak units at his enemies as possible to secure victory.

1 Ramesses (The Paragon)

Because Ramesses is designed to be the ideal Leader for newer players, it does make him very easy to use, but also grants him some extremely powerful buffs right from the get-go. For example, he is allowed two court actions per turn as opposed to one which might seem small, but it goes a long way in driving enemies away or even sabotaging them. He also comes with some amazing unique buildings including Necropolis of The Honored Dead which drastically improves happiness and influence, while his Wine Market increases production across the board and resource growth.

He does also still have a Military Academy which will bolster his army's ranks and lower the recruitment cost by a pretty large amount, so Ramesses truly covers all bases. There isn't much bad to say about him, only the fact that he doesn't truly excel in one specific area, but considering how powerful he is in both the courts and on the field, it means he can trump his competition with ease when used correctly.

Total War: Pharaoh

Platform(s)

PC

Released

October 11, 2023

Developer(s)

Creative Assembly

Genre(s)

Turn-Based Strategy , Tactical , Grand Strategy