Immortal (Civ6)

Immortal
Melee unit of the Classical Era
Introduced in Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack
Unique to	Persian
Unique to	Persian
Replaces	Swordsman
Replaces	Swordsman
Unlocked by	Iron Working
Obsoleted by	Replaceable Parts
Resources
Resource	Iron
Resource	Iron
Cost
Production	100
Production	100
Gold	400
Gold	400
Maint.	2
Maint.	2
Stats
Movement	2
Movement	2
Melee	35
Melee	35
Ranged	25
Ranged	25
Range	2
Range	2
Sight	2
Sight	2
Upgrade path
Upgrades from
Warrior
Warrior
Upgrades to
Man-At-Arms
Man-At-Arms
Notes
Persian unique melee unit that replaces the Swordsman. Melee class unit with a ranged attack, Range 2. Strong defense strength.

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The Immortal is a unique melee unit of the Persian civilization in Civilization VI. It replaces the Swordsman.

In the Gathering Storm expansion, the Immortal requires 10 Iron to train.

• Common abilities:
  • +5 Combat Strength vs. anti-cavalry units. Also applies when making ranged attacks.
  • -17 Ranged Strength against District defenses and naval units.
• Special abilities:
  • Has a ranged attack (25 Ranged Strength, 2 Range). Can still make melee attacks.
• Special traits:
  • Higher Production cost (100 vs. 90).

Strategy

With the introduction of the Man-At-Arms, the power level and significance of Swordsman replacements got hampered, since now their opportunity windows become very narrow. The Immortal is not an exception, but its power spike got hit the least. Thanks to its unique attribute, the Immortal functions as both a Swordsman and an Archer, allowing it to perform things other unique Swordsmen cannot.

In the early game, sieging cities is mainly the job for Archers, since they can shoot cities without fear of retaliation, but Archers come with a major downside similar to other ranged units: they are very vulnerable up close, especially against Swordsmen and Horsemen, and they become practically a liability once enemy cities get their Walls up. For this reason, early armies that rely heavily on Archers need to be quite big, since they need a frontline to protect the Archers, and because they need to act quickly before Walls are finished, this frontline most likely comprises of Warriors only. This typical Archer rush can be feast-or-famine, since it depends a lot on how inept the response from the enemies is. The moment an enemy Horseman or Swordsman shows up, their cities will be almost twice as tanky, or if Walls get finished in time, a lot of your Production will go down the drain. And this is what makes the Immortal so powerful, since it is a foolproof unit that fixes all of these issues.

The Immortal is an anomaly: in spite of being a melee unit and following the appropriate promotion table, it is essentially an Archer with 20 extra Combat Strength and the ability to capture cities. Being able to pelt enemies with arrows from a distance while having the resilience to defend itself against attacks allows the Immortal to quickly and safely gain XP and levels, and groups of them can chip away at cities until they're ripe for the taking. Having a ranged attack also gives the Immortal an unparalleled ability to focus fire and finish units within a turn, if the enemy tries to throw resistance back your way. Also, since they are melee units, they exert zone of control and can put cities under siege, something an army heavy on ranged units cannot perform easily. They can also use their melee attacks to capture cities, and they benefit from Battering Rams to counteract Walls.

The Immortals are exceptionally good at killing anti-cavalry units, since the Combat Strength bonus against anti-cavalry units works on their ranged attacks. Also, their ranged attacks also benefit from Oligarchy's Combat Strength bonus, making this government a priority for Persia in early conquest.

The bottleneck of using Immortals is the accumulation of Iron. In the early game, hunt down 3 Barbarians to trigger the Eureka for Bronze Working, and make sure your empire has at least 2 sources of Iron. Since the Immortal is a one-size-fits-all unit, there is almost no need for any other types of units in your army, besides a Battering Ram, so being able accumulate Iron and Gold quickly should be your priority within the first 2 eras. You can train Warriors en masse to upgrade at the beginning (each upgrade costs 130 Gold), and then train Immortals the traditional way with Agoge after.

Later on, when the Persians have researched Apprenticeship and stockpiled some Iron, they can upgrade their Immortals to Men-At-Arms and have a powerful force of melee units at their disposal.

Note that, by default, the Immortal attacks in melee. This matters because the right-click attack shortcut will trigger a melee attack instead of a ranged shot (as it does for ranged units). If you want your Immortal to shoot the target instead of approaching and attacking it in melee, you should explicitly give a ranged strike command, and not right-click!

Bugs

Immortals are incorrectly affected by modifiers that affect ranged units, such as the Coursers Promotion.

Civilopedia entry

The elite heavy infantry of the ancient Persian Empire has a fearsome reputation, but much that is known of them comes from the writings of Herodotus, whose accounts were widely read but not necessarily accurate. For example, the very name by which they are known—the Immortals—was of Greek origin, not Persian.

According to Herodotus, they were said to maintain a force of exactly 10,000 soldiers who, upon injury or death, were immediately replaced so they would never be anything less than full strength. As elite troops they were afforded special luxuries, such as their own food kept separately from the rest of the army. Their clothes were vibrant, covering coats made of armored metal scales, and they carried a variety of armaments such as short spears, swords, and powerful bows. Whatever their actual disposition, they were respected (and feared) by their contemporaries.

Gallery

Immortal in game

Historic Moment for building the Immortal

See also

• Immortal in other games