Himiko (Civ6)

Himiko is a Hero in Civilization VI. She is exclusive to the Heroes & Legends game mode, introduced in the Babylon Pack.
* Attributes:
** Has 8 Charges.
** Counts as a civilian unit.
* Abilities:
**Inspiring: +5 Combat Strength to all units within 2 tiles.
**Swift: Ignores all terrain penalties.
** Himiko's Charm: Target any adjacent city-state. Himiko immediately places 1 free in the city-state. If you are already the Suzerain there, Himiko also earns . Costs 1 Charge and all .
** Himiko's Rule: If you are its Suzerain, levy the troops of the city-state with no cost. Costs 1 Charge and all .
== Strategy ==
The yield of Himiko's Charm starts at 50 and increases by 25 per era.
Himiko is undeniably one of the most powerful Heroes, as her generalist abilities can lend themselves to both establishing relationships with city-states and wiping out the neighboring empires. As long as you start next to at least one city-state, you will have no problem becoming its Suzerain. After Himiko moves next to the city-state's City Center, it only takes a few turns for her to generate a few free in the city-state by using Himiko's Charm, possibly granting you Era Score for being its first Suzerain ever as well. If you activate her one more time after becoming the Suzerain, she will grant you 25 in the Ancient Era, which will result in an instant Pantheon. This has a hidden bonus that more s invested into city-states mean you will discover more and more Heroes without having to invest in exploration. Afterward, Himiko's Rule allows her to levy the troops of her tributary city-states at no cost. This ability is devastating in the Ancient and Classical Era, especially on higher difficulty levels when city-states start with more units than players, and there is no worry about their units being obsolete. This free instant army will then receive 5 Combat Strength from being within two tiles of Himiko, allowing them to clear through any neighbor with little to no resistance. The fact that Himiko can summon up a relatively large army in such a short amount of time, and all units come with such high Combat Strength, makes her the top tier first Hero pick no matter what civilization you are playing as. It is also worth noting that Himiko's Lifespan is 10 turns longer than a normal Hero, and her powerful aura will let her be relevant in battle until her very last turn, even after all of her Charges are expended. Furthermore, with Swift and 4 , she can quickly traverse the battlefield to give many units the Combat Strength buffs within the same turn. A unit will receive the 5 Combat Strength buff as long as it is within two tiles of Himiko when the attack is conducted, regardless of where she was at the start of its turn.
Being the only civilian Hero in the game, Himiko has a couple of mechanical quirks. She is able to cross international borders freely without pre-established Suzerainty or Open Borders, which makes her decent for exploration. More importantly, she cannot be captured and is virtually unkillable (except by nuclear weapons in the Atomic Era), which makes her the only Hero who's guaranteed to live until her Lifespan runs out.
Himiko's strengths make her a Hero that every civilization will want if they happen to discover her, but she does have some outstanding synergy with certain leaders. The most obvious one that comes to everyone's mind is Matthias Corvinus. Hungary under Matthias is already one of the strongest domination civilizations in the game; with Himiko by his side, there is nothing that can hold back the army of mercenaries with 10 bonus Combat Strength and 2 , who can be levied for free and upgraded at a cheap cost from the very beginning of the game. Other notable mentions are leaders that can double the generated, like Tamar or Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Rider), or leaders that simply love city-state diplomacy, like Pericles.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== See also ==
* Himiko in other games
Category:Units (New Frontier Pass)
Category:Heroes & Legends (Civ6)