Crusader Kings 3 – Best Religious Tenets

You are currently viewing Crusader Kings 3 – Best Religious Tenets

Religion and faith are extremely important in Crusader Kings 3 when it comes to most of your interactions with other rulers.

Faith will also give you a lot of buffs that can make you superior to all the other infidels.

Recommended Read: How to Become the Pope in Crusader Kings 3

However, you will usually have to edit and reform the religion to choose some of the best religious tenets to become overpowered.

So, to help you build the best faith in the game, here is a list of all the best religious tenets in Crusader Kings 3.


Table of contents


Best Religious Tenets in Crusader Kings 3

We have listed 6 of the best religious tenets in CK3 below, in order of usefulness.

6. Alexandrian Catechism

The Alexandrian Catechism is only available to Christian religions, and it is very good. It will give you +20% Monthly Learning Lifestyle Experience.

Though this might seem like it isn’t much of an advantage, the Learning Lifestyle trees will give a lot of passive bonuses that you will want.

The Learning Lifestyle trees are really overpowered and are some of the best routes a character can take in CK3, even if they don’t have a Learning education trait.

5. Esotericism

One of the most underrated traits in CK3 is the Wise Man trait. With this trait, you get access to the Mystical Communion decision.

This decision will get you 300 Learning Lifestyle experience in exchange for 100 Piety. This can be really good if you want to speedrun getting perks and traits from the Learning Lifestyle trees.

Normally, the Mystical Communion decision can have some really bad random results. However, if you have the Esotericism tenet, these results will be eliminated from the event.

The Wise Man, Mystic, and Miracle Worker will now also be virtuous traits, getting you some easy monthly Piety.

4. Astrology

The Astrology tenet in CK3 will give you access to the Divine the Stars decision, which is incredibly good.

Once every 10 years, you can use the Divine the Stars decision to get a buff to one Lifestyle experience, and you will also get some stat points in that respective category.

However, you will get a -2 debuff in an opposing stat. This isn’t so bad, and the bonus to Lifestyle experience will allow you to get to traits faster than ever.

Rulers that follow a religion with the Astrology tenet will also get a +25% buff to their naval speed, but naval speed in CK3 is relatively irrelevant.

3. Mendicant Preachers

The Mendicant Preachers tenet in CK3 has one bonus that sets it apart from most other tenets: +33% County Conversion speed.

That is a huge bonus that will help you shorten that almost 10-year wait for a county to convert.

You will also get a Holy Order Hire Cost modifier after you go on pilgrimages, and the Temperate trait becomes virtuous.

Though it isn’t the most stunning tenet, Mendicant Preachers will make your life, and the lives of your vassals, a lot easier. Converting provinces as fast as possible will make your playthrough much easier.

2. Armed Pilgrimages / Struggle and Submission

Christian and Abrahamic rulers can get the Armed Pilgrimage tenet, while Islamic religions get the Struggle and Submission tenet.

These two tenets are almost the same, as they allow their followers to use the Great Holy Wars mechanic (crusades and jihads) to conquer kingdom-level territories.

Armed Pilgrimage also gets these bonuses:

  • -20% Holy War Piety Cost
  • Completing a pilgrimage grants a Monthly Piety from Knights modifier

And Struggle and Submission will get you these bonuses:

  • +50% Piety and Devotion from Holy Wars
  • Completing a pilgrimage grants a Same faith opinion modifier

If you make your own religion, get one of these two tenets, and also put yourself as the head of faith, you can use the Great Holy War however you want it.

The beauty of this is that your vassals will also join in on your conquests, and you will be able to destroy your enemies with the help of the followers of your religion.

1. Warmonger

Warmonger is the equivalent of the Armed Pilgrimages and Struggle and Submission tenets for pagans and eastern religions.

This is the tenet that will allow reformed pagans and dharmic followers to organize Great Holy Wars.

You will also get a lot of amazing bonuses, such as:

  • Members of the clergy can serve as Commanders or Knights
  • Grants the Conquest Casus Belli
  • Grants the Invasion Casus Belli once per lifetime
  • No Offensive War Opinion Debuff
  • Knights that are neither Calm nor Craven can become Berserkers (Norse Only)

However, you will also get a debuff for getting this unique tenet. Vassals will start to get upset with you once 6 months have passed and you haven’t been at war.

This might not sound nice in general, but combined with the “no offensive war opinion” buff, you can always be at war, and the only thing that will suffer will be your treasury.

Luckily, if you know how to make gold properly in CK3, then this won’t be a problem for you.

One of the best things about this tenet is that you will keep your access to the Conquest casus belli, even if you become Feudal from Tribal.

The Invasion casus belli is also the best mechanic you can use to conquer the whole world in CK3. This casus belli will allow you once per lifetime to conquer the whole territories of an independent ruler.

Also, getting your clergy to serve as commanders and knights will give you an endless pool of knights to use in your wars.


That’s everything you need to know about the best religious tenets in Crusader Kings 3!

Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.

Adrian Oprea

Based in London, United Kingdom, Adrian Oprea is a Guides Writer. As a professional single-player RPG player, Adrian has often been stigmatized. He has decided to pour his frustration into writing guides!

Leave a Reply