The Khevsur is a unique melee unit of the Georgian civilization in Civilization VI: Rise and Fall. It replaces the Man-At-Arms and is unlocked with Military Tactics.
In the Gathering Storm expansion, the Khevsur requires 10 Iron to train.
- Common abilities:
- Special abilites:
- No Movement penalty in Hills.
- +7 Combat Strength when fighting in Hills.
- Special traits:
Strategy[]
The Combat Strength bonus when attacking in Hills counteracts the terrain's defense bonus, effectively giving the Khevsur +4 Combat Strength against opponents defending on Hills. When Georgia is under attack, a Khevsur defending on a Hills tile can have the same Combat Strength as a Musketman. Whether for offense or defense, the Khevsur is commonly used in combination with the Oligarchy government, or the Oligarchic Legacy Wildcard policy.
In Gathering Storm, this unit receives two indirect buffs. First, with Knights costing 60 Production more (standing at 220 Production per Knight), these units become much more useful, since their Combat Strength is situationally on par with that of Knights, and they are a much more economical choice. Second, Military Tactics is no longer a leaf technology, meaning you actually need to research it in order to move on to other technologies. In Vanilla and Rise and Fall, this is not the case, as very often, civilizations can skip this technology completely, especially when they have no intention to go on a conquest, and can always unlock better units somewhere else for defensive purposes. As a result, the Khevsur often gets left in the dust, since unless 4 extra Era Score can mean a difference in terms of Ages, Science is generally worth being invested elsewhere. This major change brought by Gathering Storm revitalizes these units, as now they become much more incorporated into the grand strategy of their respective civilization. The April 2021 Update gives it a further buff by introducing the Man-At-Arms, a new standard unit that the Khevsur now replaces. This means if your treasury is doing well, you can prepare for the arrival of your unique unit by training Swordsmen and upgrade them. However, considering the Khevsur is most likely a defensive unit, and it is quite difficult to have a game with Georgia where your Gold income is abundant enough to pull this off, this is rarely the way to go. If you want to go to war using this unit, build the Grand Master's Chapel, purchase Khevsurs with Faith and they will pay themselves in Faith thanks to Tamar's Faith-on-kills ability
Unlike Civilization V, the site of the battle in Civilization VI is actually the tile of the defender, not the attacker. Therefore, similar to other bonuses that grant extra Combat Strength when "fighting on" certain terrain, the Khevsur will receive extra Combat Strength when it attacks a unit standing on Hills, regardless of where the Khevsur stands. Also, the Khevsur will receive extra Combat Strength on defense if it gets attacked while standing on Hills.
Civilopedia entry[]
The warriors from Georgia’s Khevsureti territory maintained their traditions for countless generations. (Until the early 20th Century, they continued to fight with weapons and armor more suited to medieval times.) These fierce Georgians dressed in chainmail and carried swords, axes, and small, black bucklers adorned with crosses for nighttime raids—due to the shield’s color, the warriors were practically invisible in the moonlight. Though tradition was their watchword, they did adapt with the times, incorporating firearms as their importance on the battlefield became unmistakable.
Trivia[]
- The Khevsur was originally called the Khevsureti, but since this name refers to a region rather than an ethnic group, it was changed (as shown in the Emergencies Deep Dive video with Sarah Darney and Anton Strenger).