In the spirit of the new weekly Battle Mage Secrets challenges, I would like to take a look at a Splinterlands battle with a particular focus on a ruleset. Today's rule is for anyone who likes things that go BOOM. Explosive Weaponry makes the battle all the more explosive by giving every monster the Blast ability. Blast allows attackers to hit adjacent monsters for half damage, in addition to dealing normal damage to the primary target. This can make for fast battles that can snowball quickly.
Explosive Weaponry is somewhat equal as it gives every monster Blast. However, that ability benefits some monsters more than others. Monsters who already have Blast don't gain any added value in these battles. On the other hand, monsters which are able to hit the middle of a lineup potentially gain the ability to deal Blast damage on both sides, hitting a total of 3 targets. Finally, abilities such as Reflection Shield, Void, and Shield gain a bit of additional utility in these battles, as they are more likely to be able to negate some additional incoming attacks.
If you wanted to jump right to the action, the Battle Link is right here. Want to hear some more about the lineup? Read on further!
This is the ruleset we'll be working with today. We have Aim True, which means that every attack will hit. Of course, we have Explosive Weaponry, which grants every monster the Blast ability. And finally, we have Unprotected, which removes all armor from this battle. This happens to be an ultra-low mana battle, with just 13 available to use. And we have 3 splinters to choose between - Fire, Life, or Dragon.
Given the low mana nature of the battle and the Explosive Weaponry ruleset, I wanted to go with a melee team for this fight. Tarsa is perfect for a low mana melee battle because her dual health and melee buffs are exactly what you want for your hand to hand monsters. In addition, she is relatively cheap at just 4 mana, which allows us to focus the bulk of our mana budget on our monster lineup.
In low mana battles you want cost efficiency, and it is hard to top Antoid Platoon for cost efficiency! For just 4 mana you get a relatively bulky melee monster with Shield. Antoid Platoon does lose out a bit in this ruleset due to Unprotected, but 4 mana with Shiled still gives us plenty of bulk. Magic attackers can give Antoid Platoon problems, but with the mana cap and available splinters in this battle I don't expect to see much, if any, magic damage.
Venerator Kinjo in incredibly useful in Explosive Weaponry battles. His Reflection Shield ability prevents him from taking any Blast damage, which is perfect for serving as a buffer between your primary tank and the rest of your lineup. He also has Camouflage, which means that he won't get taken out by something sneaky like an attacker with Opportunity.
I closed out my team with what I hoped would be my main damage dealer on my team. Serpentine Spy has a great speed stat and attack, as well as the Opportunity ability which could potentially allow it to hit the middle of the enemy team for maximum damage. Buffer monsters (without Reflection Shield) are of limited use in Explosive Weaponry, but Scorch Fiend doesn't cost anything at all to bring into battle so I threw it in at the back as a bit of a barrier to protect Serpentine Spy.
With the lineup set, it's off into battle! When I see the selected teams I am concerned - my opponent has picked out a powerful low mana summoner in Lorna Shine, who gives every monster on the opposing team a shield. They have also brought an Opportunity attacker which could be problematic for my lineup if they can take out my Serpentine Spy. However, I DO have strong monsters on my side of the battlefield, thanks to Tarsa's stat buffs.
In the first round of battle it becomes clear that I am fighting a losing battle at the front - my Antoid Platoon is outclassed and is not going to outlast the opposing front tank. The bright side is that it is looking as though my Serpentine Spy should be able to win the backline battle thanks to its higher speed and attack power. This is going to be a close one!
As predicted, my team loses the battle at the front and wins it at the back. By the beginning of round 4, my Antoid Platoon is off the field, along with the enemy Celestial Harpy and Soul Fiend. Luckily, the opposing Chaos Knight has taken heavy damage and is poised to get knocked out by my Serpentine Spy.
As the start of round 5 the battle was nearing its end. Speed ended up being crucial here, as my MVP Serpentine Spy with its attack order advantage was lined up perfectly to finish off the enemy Venerator Kinjo and close out the win. And again, if you wanted to see the whole battle for yourself, you can see it right here.
In low mana battles, small things can mean the difference between victory and defeat. In this battle, that small thing was my Serpentine Spy, whose Opportunity ability and high speed worked out perfectly in the Explosive Weaponry ruleset. My strategy for this battle worked out perfectly, as my front line tanks were able to stall for (just barely!) long enough for my Serpentine Spy to mow through the enemy lineup.
Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end. Interested in seeing some more of my writing in the future? Be sure to give me a follow! In the meantime, if you'd like to see some of my recent posts:
Building on a Budget - Battling with Rise of the Commons! - A Splinterlands battle analysis, featuring Rise of the Commons!
Splinterlands Economics: Causation - A look at causation, and how we can apply it to Splinterlands!
Splinterlands Economics: Ceteris Paribus - An introduction to the concept of Ceteris Paribus, and how we can apply it to Splinterlands!
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All images used in this article are open source and obtained from Pixabay or Unsplash. Thumbnails borrowed with permission from the Splinterlands team or made in Canva.