Greetings once again, battle mages!
My Splinterlands week has passed with getting used to the new rewards system. As you might know, the chests are history and we're now earning this new currency called Glint. This can be used to purchase items like Merits and Card Draws in the Glint shop.
In my opinion, it's pretty cool we get to choose what kind of rewards we are after but at the same time, I miss the randomness of opening chests and the SPS rewards. Well, I'm sure I'll get used to it and find a good strategy on how to use my Glint.
Now, this week's Battle Mage Secrets challenge features the Fire & Regret ruleset, a nasty rule that'll make using Ranged units a bit of hazardous option as the enemy monsters will retaliate when hit.
Well, we obviously don't have to use Ranged monsters and can choose some good Melee and/or Magic units. That is if we didn't have the Going the Distance ruleset in play, which have.
This is one of those extremely tricky combos but there are certain ways to go around the restrictive rule of having to use only Ranged troops but more of that later, now let's meet my team!
My Team
Here in the picture below you can see my squad for this evening's battle. One thing I forgot to mention was that we also have a rule that takes away all the summoner buffs so for that reason, I chose a summoner that costs the least - ALRIC STORMBRINGER(3 mana points)
To join Alric on the battlefield, I chose GARGOYA DEVIL as a tank unit simply because it can operate from that position thanks to the close range ability.
Behind Gargoya, in a relatively safe place, is a VENARI MARKSRAT. This little creature can help his teammates with his martyr ability, giving out some extra stats in case of a sudden death.
We could think of Marksrat as a sort of insurance plan if our tank should fall. In this case, it would be very likely that Marksrat would perish too but not without boosting all the stats for the next monster in line:
DRYBONE RAIDER is total killing machine smashing enemy armor with Shatter ability and hitting twice in a round with double strike.
The best part of her is she has both Melee and Ranged attacks. This means she can attack while still being positioned in the middle but also, when she has been played in the front. That is why I'm counting so much on her, a key unit of my team.
After the Raider stands MERDHAMPIR. This is a card I rarely use but I felt it could fit well in this battle cos of the Life Leech ability it has. While all ranged units take damage when attacking, Merdhampir can compensate for that a bit by leeching others' life force.
Then we have the SWAMP SPITTER, an extremely important monster for battles like these.
During the battle, Swamp Spitter will use his Repair ability to fix the most damaged armor a friendly unit. This is crucial since everyone is now taking damage when attacking.
Last but not least, I chose the COASTAL NYMPH to add some randomness to fight with her Scattershot.
The Battle
If we take a look at the opponent's team once again, we can see that they put up a quite similar line-up.
They too have the Drybone Rayder, Venari Marksrat, and Swamp Spitter. Actually, the only different units seem to be Wave Brood and Supply Runner. Will that be enough? Let's have a look!
As always, you can watch the whole battle HERE or/and continue reading my battle report below.
ROUND 1
The battle was fierce right from the start and my Gargoya Devil performed surprisingly well dodging attacks and getting its armor fixed. However, Drybone Raider was eventually enough for poor Gargoya but on the positive side, we managed to take down to gigantic Wave Brood.
ROUND 2
As planned, the Marksrat had to use his Martyr ability and now my Drybone Raider was in front - up against an equally strong Drybone Raider.
ROUND 3
The battle of the two Raiders ended up in my victory as I got to attack first and my Raider utilized her Double Stike ability. Unfortunately, she quickly fell before her armor would have been restored.
ROUND 4
Moving on to the last round we had a slight advantage as we had 3 units against their two. After we got rid of their Supply Runner, their Swamp Spitter was now in front, unable to attack from this position but instead, he was still repairing his armor and throwing those retaliation attacks. Still, that wasn't enough and the battle was over.
Conclusion
Indeed, Fire & Regret and Going the Distance are a tricky, nasty combination of rules. If it wasn't for the latter, I would obviously avoid using Ranged units but since it was forced, I had to come up with something cunning.
A monster like Drybone Raider with also a Melee attack can be a real asset in this kind of circumstance. Once in the first spot, she will start using her Melee attack and no longer suffer from the Ranged retaliation strikes. Also, the importance of armor is emphasized since the use of magic is forbidden. Therefore a Repair unit such as Swamp Spitter is a must.
My strategy worked well but to be honest, I think I was a bit lucky as my Drybone Raider got to attack first. It could have easily gone the other way too...
Thank you for reading!
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