Retaliate is one of those abilities which has the possibility to change the outcome of a battle. Whilst it can be luck whether the ability goes off right, it can be battle defining. With a 50% chance of activating, Retaliate gives your Splinter the chance to return some damage.

For the uninitiated, Retaliate also works when you have received a killing blow from an opponent. Whilst Retaliate is melee only, there are some considerations to make such as Thorns which can quickly reduce your health with a melee monster.

In this battle, I demonstrate the power of Retaliate using one of my favourite reward cards.

Ruleset:

Super Sneak tends to favour the melee attackers and therefore I'll be looking to have a strategy to counter the damage to the rear of my lineup. With 49 mana there is plenty to work with and it gives both myself and my opponent options to play with. With the available options, there is an decision to play Fire, Water or Death. For me, my Death deck is lacking right now so Fire or Water it is.

Opposing Line Up:

Kelya Frendul

I think this is the best possible summoner for this situation as it provides an increase in speed and armour to all allies. This was a card I immediately went out to rent after the battle as I felt that 6 mana on an alternative water summoner was a waste. It will be interested to see which summoners become the meta once Chaos Legion moves to the Wild format.

Diemonshark

The Trample ability will allow Diemonshark to attack once it executes an opponent. Whilst at higher levels it becomes more ruthless with Enrage, Diemonshark is an outstanding tank with good speed of 4 and outstanding armour and health. Well worth the 8 mana it costs.

Flying Squid

The Reach ability makes this a very strong card for 7 mana with 3 speed and attack as well as 8 health. A strong damage card and an decent tank in a pinch, what is not to love here.

Disintegrator

Demoralize is an ability which is always very useful but significantly more so in a battle involving Super Sneak as the priority would be on melee based damage. For 7 mana you get 1 speed but 6 health and 3 armour so as a back up tank it could work well for you. 2 attacking damage is useful but the Demoralize, reducing melee damage by 1 is where the value is.

Supply Runner

6 mana, 2 damage, 4 speed and 5 health make the Supply Runner an expensive card to summon. But at 5th level it gains Swiftness which increases the speed of all allies. For me, it becomes a great card at 5th anything before it is not the best use of mana, certainly with the newer reward card options available to the market now.

Kulu Swimhunter

Continuing the theme of Gold Foil commons, Kulu Swimhunter has 2 damage and 3 speed alongside 5 health. A solid 4 mana card for the water team. Good consistent damage is always something to be wary of and this card is no different.

Deep Lurker

A solid common card from the Chaos Legion set. 6 mana is costly but you get this monster of a card with 3 damage and speed alongside 7 health and the Opportunity ability which is a true killer. Opportunity will target my lowest health per round so this card poses a real threat, unless I can set up around this.

My Lineup:

Pembrook Nymph

As I do not have Kelya Frendul available, I only have the option of Pembrook Nymph on the water side of things. With the option to play a Gladius card and a plus 1 to health, I am not benefitting too greatly compared to a Kelya summoner. Especially given the 6 mana cost but overall, I am trying to maximise my SPS/ Glint earnings so the use of starter ghost cards is not something I want to consider.

Giant Alpine Skink

One of the newest additions to my lineups, with Shield all incoming physical damage is reduced and 4 damage make this a weapon. With 2 armour and 7 health this is a promising tank all around. 8 mana is quite costly but the stats here are strong for a common card - quite a fortunate draw on my part.

Kulu Swimhunter

A solid four mana card which has 6 health and 3 speed. For four mana this is a great card. I rented this at fourth level to ensure I used the maximum health benefit and for the cost it is very affordable. Overall a good card to play in general.

Drybone Raider

With Double Strike, Drybone Raider is a serious talent with a damaging intent. Melee damage combined with ranged gives this card the chance to operate as a backline attacker instead of a tank. Expensive at 1 mana but good health combined with great damage and okay armour make this a great choice.

Venari Marksrat

This is a fantastic card which offers the Martyr ability, which increases adjcent monster stats upon its death. There are no significant benefits to levelling this card and making it slower, with less health means it is a bigger opportunity target. With 1 attack and speed alonside 3 health, this card won't last long against opportunity attacks.

Coastal Sentry

The Coastal Sentry is a very strong card with Double Strike, making it lethal in a Sneak ruleset such as this. Assuming my opponent does not use Thorns, then this should go well due to the 4 attack and speed alongside 7 health this card offers. I often play a Martyr alongside a Double Strike as it can deal 8-10 damage in a single round under the right conditions.

Dumacke Orc

The star of the show at the back. Ready for any melee damage, holding Retaliate, Dumacke Orc has low health but high armour. For 6 health, this is quite expensive but 3 attack and 5 armour make this a strong attacker. With the Shield ability, melee and ranged damage will be reduced by 50%. Dumacke Orc is vulnerable to magic damage but I am not expecting any magical sneak as this is relatively rare to find.

Link to the above mentioned battle

Round 1:

During the first round, we see Dumacke Orc take a small beating but at the same time, they dish out Retaliate to both the Deeplurker and the Disintegrator, removing armour from them both along the way. With the Deeplurker out of the battle, their heaviest hitter is no longer a problem. This is in part due to Retaliate but also due to the damage of Drybone Raider and the Coastal Sentry targeting the backline due to the Super Sneak ruleset.

Round 2 & 3:

While Dumacke Orc is lost early into the battle, it launches another Retaliate removing the Flying Squid's armour ensuring most of the opposing armour is now removed. This helps to ensure victory for the lineup.

Final Rounds:

With the armour removed and Demoralize now taken out of the picture, the melee hits of Coastal Sentry, Drybone Raider and the Giant Alpine Skink prove too much for the remaining monsters on the opposing line up to handle.

Victory!

Staked SPS total at time of writing:
203.294

Moving forward my plan of action is to;

• Rent Kelya Frendul to give my lineup some alternative options
• Pickup basic Rebellion cards to supplement what I have already, given I play in Modern it is better for me to focus on the upcoming Modern cards.

I am happy to be back and posting again. I hope to continue with a regular schedule and rebuild my Hive and Splinterlands accounts again. Unfortunately I found myself in a position of needing additional funds but now I am much more settled and ready to go again.

Join Splinterlands:

https://splinterlands.com?ref=holdeck

---

How to invest without FIAT in a bear market? : https://peakd.com/hive-167922/@holdeck/how-i-am-investing-for-after-the-bear-market

Splinterlands Fire divider by freeztag
Splinterlands Icon Divider made by holdeck and available here
All card, icons, Splinter images and stats courtesy of Splinterlands
Ability and Ruleset blurbs taken from Splintercards
Splinter Element Icons taken from Splinterlands
I have reformatted them into PNG files which you are welcome to use here

(Please note that all prices were accurate at the time of writing, sourced from Peakmonsters.com).