Oya is a Hero in Civilization VI. She is exclusive to the Heroes & Legends game mode, introduced in the Babylon Pack.
- Attributes:
- Has 6
Charges. - Counts as a melee unit.
- Cannot earn experience or Promotions.
- Has 6
- Abilities:
Strategy[]
Like all Hero units, Oya's 
Strength increases with the progression of the eras, as shown in the table below.
| Era | Combat Strength
|
|---|---|
| Classical | 42 |
| Medieval | 54 |
| Renaissance | 66 |
| Industrial | 78 |
| Modern | 90 |
| Atomic | 98 |
| Information | 108 |
| Future | 118 |
Among the 12 Heroes, Oya is on the weaker end of the power spectrum. Her abilities are decent, but generally limited in terms of versatility and reliability. Similar to most other Heroes, Oya has a passive effect that boosts her mobility on the battlefield, Swift. Swift is undoubtedly an upgraded version of Rugged and Agile, but with only 3 
Movement to work with, this passive effect is clearly meant to support her other ability, Oya's Storm, instead of making her a reliable scouting unit.
Oya's only active ability is Oya's Storm, which heals all adjacent owned units and damage all adjacent enemies by 40 HP. Oya can activate this ability at maximum 6 times per 
Lifespan. Despite being really powerful on paper, the real efficacy of this ability is questionable, because it is ever so rarely that it can be used to its highest potential. Oya is a military unit, which makes it harder for her to weave in the middle of many other military units to heal and damage multiple units at once. Although her passive does alleviate the problem a little bit, it does not negate completely. Not to mention, among all non-ranged Heroes, Oya is the one with the lowest Combat Strength, so in order for her to damage multiple enemies at once, she will have to be exposed to the frontline that risks being killed or taking heavy damage within the next turn (and remember, Oya does not heal herself). Therefore, you most likely use Oya's ability to heal units other than to damage enemies. The best way to do this is to heal ranged and siege units at the back, since they always get heavily focused by the enemies. However, there are a lot of Heroes that are designed specifically for domination, and they can directly help with winning the war. Oya's contributions to war are indirect, as she can provide great support to the backline, and sometimes deal damage to the enemy's frontline but she has to do that with great deliberation, or she will die before using all of her 
Charges. Overall, there are always better choice than Oya if conquest is what you have in mind, as her ability is great theoretically, but a lot less reliable in practice. Similar to Beowulf, Oya can be useful when trying to kill units inside defensible 
Districts; however, Beowulf can do that in just 1 turn when Oya will take at least 3.
Oya truly shines if you are pursuing a Religious Victory, surprisingly enough. She basically functions as a much more useful version of the Guru, without any of its limitations. As a military unit, she can easily run into the middle of a group of religious units without getting blocked and activate her ability, simultaneously healing your own religious units and damaging the opponents. This is very effective, since your religious units, unless they come with 
Promotions that boost their 
Religious Strength, are almost always at a disadvantage when trying to spread Religion in enemy territory, especially when they have a Religion of their own. Oya's ability will always be the key to turn the tide of every theological combat, since each Charge effectively results in 80 HP difference between your religious units and theirs, and Oya cannot be harmed by these religious units when she is doing her job. Religious units killed by Oya's ability will not spread a wave of negative religious pressures like when they die in theological combat, but the path to conversion will be totally cleared. With this being said, the recommended civilizations for Oya are the ones with religious tendencies and trying to aim for a Religious Victory, especially on a map with many other civilizations with heavy a religious focus.
Civilopedia entry[]
When storms lash the Caribbean and West African coasts, when tornadoes tear through a village, when the hurricanes come, followers of Yoruba and New World African religions believe that this is Oya’s power. The Yoruba people of West Africa have a rich religious tradition, with four hundred and one separate divinities. When Yoruba were enslaved and brought to colonies in the Caribbean, their traditions fused with Christianity to make new religions such as Haitian Vodun. In Africa, Oya is an orisha, a goddess that once was a person (or was a spirit, and then made flesh). Her name means literally "she tore," and as such she is the goddess of change, winds, and storms, and the ruler of the Niger river. In Haiti, Oya is transformed into the Irish loa (the Haitian version of orisha) Maman Brigette – who is, for Catholics, Saint Brigid of Kildare.
Oya is the sister-wife to Shango, the god of thunder, and was the only one of his wives to stick with the loud-mouthed god. When they set off to war, they do so together, with Oya bringing the wind first, and Shango following afterwards with lightning.
The two fight each other at times, too. Once, Oya had two buffalo horns on her head, and in the middle of a fight, she charged at Shango with them, meaning to gore him. Shango didn’t fight back; instead, he presented her favorite food: akara (bean cakes). Oya was so delighted that she surrendered her horns to him. Now, if Shango finds himself in trouble, all he has to do to summon Oya is to clack the horns together, and she comes with all the fury of the wind.
Oya is still actively worshipped in Africa and the Caribbean. When a follower enters a trance and becomes possessed, she is notoriously loud and foul-mouthed, but, like the wind, promises to shake up whatever seems firmly rooted.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Oya in-game (Civ6).jpg (796 KB)")
| Civilization VI Heroes1 [edit] |
|---|
| Anansi • Arthur • Beowulf • Hercules • Himiko • Hippolyta • Hunahpu & Xbalanque • Maui • Mulan • Oya • Sinbad • Sun Wukong |
| 1 Requires DLC |