Gilgamesh in Civilization 6 is the leader of Sumeria. Sumeria (otherwise Sumer) is widely considered the oldest known civilization in history. Gilgamesh is a Civilization 6 leader based on Mesopotamian mythology rather than historical fact. Debate lingers on whether this mythical king was a living person, but Gilgamesh is certainly a real leader in Civilization 6. He’s also the leader of one of the best civilizations in Civ 6. Playing with Gilgamesh offers players a potent unique unit, valuable tile improvement, and other handy bonuses for securing victory in Civ 6.
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Gilgamesh’s Bonuses: Adventures of Enkidu and Epic Quests
Adventures of Enkidu is Gilgamesh’s Civilization 6 leader bonus that’s useful for declaring and fighting wars. This leader bonus enables you to declare war on any other civilization fighting an ally without incurring a warmonger penalty. Allied units within five tiles of your own also share combat experience and pillaged tile rewards when fighting a common enemy.
So, forging alliances can be more beneficial than usual when playing with Gilgamesh in Civilization 6. The Adventures of Enkidu bonus is mostly useful for players pursuing the Domination Victory. Establishing one of two alliances could give you a chance to declare war on some civilizations without incurring the usual diplomatic penalties. Wartime alliances are also more valuable when allied units share their combat EXP gained and pillaged tile rewards with your army.
The Gilgamesh leader
Epic Quests is a Gilgamesh bonus that gives you tribal village rewards for capturing barbarian outposts. These rewards can give you more faith or gold, new units, tech boosts, or even technologies when routing barbarian bases. Thus, it pays even more than usual to crush barbarian camps when playing with Gilgamesh in Civilization 6.
A barbarian outpost
Gilgamesh’s Agenda: Ally of Enkidu
Gilgamesh’s Ally of Enkidu agenda makes him an easy leader to befriend when you’re not playing with him. However, Gilgamesh hates any civilization that denounces Sumeria or any of its allies. So, Gilgamesh will more likely go to war if you denounce him than other civilization leaders.
Gilgamesh’s Unique Unit: War-Cart
Gilgamesh’s War Cart is one of the best unique units in the game that’s immediately available from the beginning. With a melee attack of 30 and zero penalties against anti-cavalry units, the War-Cart can crush Ancient Era units and put up a good fight against those from the Classical Era. This unique unit also has a good movement range and is effectively free with no maintenance cost.
A War-Cart unit
Gilgamesh’s Unique Infrastructure: Ziggurat
Gilgamesh’s Ziggurat is a unique Sumerian infrastructure improvement that provides +2 science yield for any city title it’s built on. This tile improvement also provides a +1-culture yield bonus with Natural History unlocked. You can further increase their culture yields by +1 building Ziggurats on tiles beside rivers. Ziggurats are available from the outset with no technology requirement, and builders can build them on any flat terrain.
The Ziggurat tile improvement
How to Win With Gilgamesh in Civilization 6
As Sumeria is the oldest of civilizations, Gilgamesh is one of the strongest early game leaders to play with. Make sure you build some of his War-Carts to explore the map and smash barbarian outputs to capitalize on his Epic Quests bonus during the early game. If you discover another civilization in the Ancient Era, his War Carts will also be invaluable for winning an early war.
Gilgamesh is one of the best civilizations for obtaining a Science Victory thanks to his Ziggurats. Improving many of your cities’ less fertile tiles, such as desert, snow, and tundra, with Ziggurats can considerably increase science output during the early game at least. For example, 30 Ziggurats will boost your civilization’s science output by +60. So, try to make the most of Gilgamesh’s unique tile improvement to get ahead on the tech tree and unlock all required space race technologies before other civilizations.
The science tech tree
You’ll also unlock more advanced military units before other civilizations by getting ahead on the technology tree when playing with Gilgamesh in Civilization 6. Thus, a scientific advantage gained with Ziggurats can strengthen your military throughout the game. This makes Gilgamesh a good choice for pursuing a Domination Victory. Build up your more advanced military and then use it to crush civilizations some way behind you on the tech tree. Utilizing aircraft and nuclear weapons before any other civilization is crucial to securing a Domination Victory.
A nuclear blast
Of course, Gilgamesh’s War-Carts also come in handy for pursuing a Domination Victory in the early game. Make the most of them to take another civilization’s capital city before they become obsolete. Then upgrade your numerous War-Carts to more advanced units to fight wars beyond the early game.
So, selecting to play with Gilgamesh in Civilization 6 is a good choice for winning through scientific advances and military might. He’s also pretty good for obtaining a Score Victory by playing through to 2050 because of Sumeria’s scientific advantages. However, there are better civilizations to play with for securing religious and cultural victory conditions.
