Happy New Year, battle mages and other wizards and witches!
This is the last battle of the year 2023 and my entry for the last Splinterlands Battle Mage Secrest challenge of this year. The ruleset we have featured in this week's edition is none other than the Aimless ruleset.
Aimless simply means every monster will receive the Scattershot ability at the beginning of the battle. So expect a lot of shooting around and some surprises!
To make things even more interesting we were also blessed with the Equalizer ruleset.
A mixture of randomness and strategic thinking - a pretty exciting combo of rules if you ask me.
My Squad
I started putting up my team by choosing ALRIC STORMBRINGER as a summoner to boost my magic attacks.
I think magic is a good approach to the Aimless ruleset as there's no better feeling than landing a random attack somewhere in the middle of enemy ranks and taking out a weakling with a single shot.
However, in this particular battle that is not possible as the health of each unit is determined by the one with the most health.
I have a strong suspicion that the one might be my unit, this unit.
DJINN OSHANNUS is a tank monster with a nice 11 health points, speed and a strong magic attack.
I have upgraded my Oshannus to level 2 so in addition to his Void ability, he now also has the Phase - both great abilities against magic attacks.
If my opponent should have some other ideas, I would obviously need to armour up and for that task, I have just the right unit in my mind.
VENARI WAVESMITH isn't very menacing offensively but her Protect ability comes in handy when I have weaker units in the back-line as she provides armour to each monster on my team.
Perhaps in this high-health battle, this ability will give me that needed extra edge to tip the scales in my favour.
MOXIAN REBEL seems to be present in almost all of my Splinterlands articles these days and no wonder as this Neutral unit has quickly become one of my all-time favourite monsters.
Moxian Rebel's base health is only one point so she would be a bit hazardous choice under normal circumstances but for Equalizer battles she's just the perfect fit.
With her Weapons Training ability we are gonna raise hell in this battle.
Normally this peaceful sea creature is only focused on tank healing, taking care of our beloved Djinn Oshannus but since she now had some weapons training, a +2 magic attack will do some pretty nice damage as well.
The next unit is RIVER HELLONDALE which has a little armour and a good magic attack of 2 points.
On this level, River has only one ability but it has proven to be a real game-changer in some of the most even battles. Resurrect will bring back the one monster who happens to die first.
Perhaps the thing about this ability is that the one who brought back will reappear with full armour. This should add an interesting twist to an Aimless battle - unless the one to go first should be River Hellondale himself!
The last line of defence and an important support unit on my team is SWAMP SPITTER.
For a supportive unit, Swamp Spitter's attacks pack a punch as the "fifth turtle" has a strong 3-point ranged attack. This might be somewhat lethal in an Aimless fight if it happens to land in the right place.
Besides that, Swamp Spitter is taking care of everyone else's armour by repairing the one that has taken the most damage.
Entering The Arena
Hear that beautiful sound of drums? The battle is about to start and we get the first glimpse of the opponent team.
Led by the Helios Matriarch of the Dragon Splinter, our enemy has put up a mixed team of melee, ranged, and magic units - there's even one Gladiator among their ranks.
The Opponent Squad
Diemoshark - a formidable tank unit with speed, health and deadly melee attack.
Flying Squid - another strong melee monster.
Deeplurker - Opportunity ability will make it even more scarier.
River Hellondale - yes they have him too although, their unit is on the second level and is therefore also inspiring their melee units.
Alfredo - not necessarily a threat but still want to see his bloodlust ability activate.
Venari Marksrat - martyr unit. I bet they wish he would be the first one to die...
The Battle
As always with these battle reports of mine, you can watch the whole battle HERE or/and continue reading my full analysis below.
ROUND 1
The first round was a sort of "getting to know your enemy" round but if I had to say something about it, I'd say our team performed a little better even though both tanks took some serious damage.
ROUND 2
Now things suddenly got interesting! Oshannus died first but was resurrected, almost died again but was fortunately healed and protected with armour.
ROUND 3
Well, before dying for real, Djinn Oshannus managed to kill their Diemonshark which was unfortunately brought back to life by their River Hellondale.
Venari Wavesmith, who was now in the first spot, took out the shark for good and the Squid found itself in the tank position now but not for long...things were starting to look good as a third monster on their side was now testing their strength on this windy position.
ROUND 4
The Wavesmith on the other hand was doing well in this unfamiliar spot and it was their tank, the Deeplurker, who had to step down at the end of the fourth.
ROUNDS 5 - 7
Alfredo was the next one in their team to say goodbye for good. River Hellondale soon followed him to the afterlife leaving a poor Markrats to stand against almost my entire team. The game was about to be over. However, we didn't even spare the rat as the Swamp Spitter landed the final blow.
Conclusion
So, what can I say? My strategy worked perfectly as the tank monster was the only one whom I had to let go.
It would have been interesting to see whether my tactics would have been as good as this if was an Aimless battle without the Equalizer ruleset. Half of my team were monsters with low health and would have been easy prey to their strong melee units.
Now they were able to operate freely with a hefty amount of health and cast their boosted magic spells and in fact, I think this was the actual turning point of this battle. Or perhaps it was a combination of this and the use of a healer and a repair monster.
Nevertheless, I am quite happy with how I countered a stronger opponent and still managed to come out as a clear winner. The Wild League is tougher and tougher these days and I would probably lose 7 out of 10 against opponents this strong.
Thank you for reading and see you on the battlefield! 😊
Also Playing:
Overline
Terracore
Rising Star
Disclaimers:
Thumbnail background image made with Canva
Other pictures are screenshots from Splinterlands
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
