Warrior Monk (Civ6)

Warrior Monk
Warrior Monk unit of the Medieval Era
Introduced in Civilization VI
Unlocked by	Temple
Cost
Faith	200
Faith	200
Maint.	2
Maint.	2
Stats
Movement	3
Movement	3
Melee	35
Melee	35
Sight	2
Sight	2
Notes
Fast-moving medieval land combat unit with a unique promotion tree.

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The Warrior Monk is a Medieval Era unit introduced to Civilization VI in the Fall 2017 Update. It can only be purchased with Faith in a city that has a majority religion and a Holy Site with a Temple (or one of its replacements).

• Attributes:
  • Must have the Warrior Monks Follower Belief to purchase.
  • Follows a unique promotion table.

Strategy

The Warrior Monk is a military unit with its own special set of promotions: Cobra Strike, Dancing Crane, Disciples, Exploding Palms, Shadow Strike, Sweeping Wind, and Twilight Veil. A fully promoted Warrior Monk will have 60 Combat Strength and 4 Movement Movement, be able to attack twice per turn with double flanking bonuses, be invisible to non-adjacent enemy units, and spread its civilization's religion to nearby cities each time it defeats an enemy unit. Moreover, it's rather cheap to purchase with Faith, making it easy to field an army of Warrior Monks in short order. They're particularly useful to leaders of civs that have a combination of religious and military bonuses, such as Chandragupta, Philip II, and Tamar.

Although they are melee attackers, Warrior Monks are not considered melee units. As military units, however, they can be combined to form Corps and Armies once the appropriate civics have been discovered.

Warrior Monks can work quite well in particular with the God of War, or alternatively the Goddess of the Harvest, pantheon. (Shaka has been noted to be especially potent with the Goddess of the Harvest/Warrior Monk combination, though he is of course also good with God of War!) You may also want to acquire the Pagoda worship belief for your religion if you plan on making heavy use of Warrior Monks - since you'll be building a Holy Site in every city, the extra Housing Housing will help your cities support a Population large enough to build other important districts.

One example of a military policy card whose effects can boost the effectiveness of Warrior Monks (and vice versa) is Raid. When used with Warrior Monks who have the Twilight Veil and the Dancing Crane promotions (they will have picked up Disciples and/or Exploding Palms along the way), the result will be highly mobile and cost effective (if not downright terrifying) raiding units who the enemy will have a hard time tracking, much less stopping. Remember though, they are by no means invulnerable!

If you are in a situation where you are short of units available for garrison duty and have to use some of your Warrior Monks for the role (best used if possible in rear areas or recently captured enemy cities that don't face an immediate external threat), then you may want to slot the Limitanei military policy for increased Loyalty.

In Gathering Storm, any Warrior Monks purchased in a city to which Moksha has been assigned after earning the Patron Saint title will receive a bonus promotion.

Civilopedia entry

The myths of wall-running, magic-palmed warrior monks endure because of how outlandish they are. Unfortunately, we simply have to live with the actual feats of history's priests with astounding fighting skills.

Consider the Shaolin Monastery in China, founded by the Indian Buddhist monk Batuo in 495 CE. While the history of martial training at Shaolin is tangled with legends and pop culture, it's said that Batuo and his first Chinese disciples, potentially soldiers before joining the monastery, already came equipped with martial arts skills, passing them down to their students.

By 581, monks at Shaolin would have their own fighting style, even siding with would-be second Tang Emperor Li Shimin during the dynastic wars of the period.

By contrast, Japan's Buddhist sohei would engage in the less glamourous inter-temple turf wars, picking up arms and using their fighting skills in order to gain political, not spiritual, dominance.

Gallery

Warrior Monk in game

Related achievements

Try To Snatch the Pebble From My Hand Have a Warrior Monk with 4 Promotions A famous quote from the 1972 TV series Kung Fu.