Hello Splinterlands player!

This article is a translation from an original article from @theyachtclub , done with their agreement, thanks to them. You can find the original article here in french https://theyachtclub.io/les-incontournables-strategiques-de-splinterlands/

Whether you're new, old, veteran, good or not, used to card games or not, here you will find a guide that aims to make you understand the basics of playing Splinterlands, but also more advanced thoughts on the strategic aspects of the game!

But first let's start with

the basics of the basics!

What is your goal in Splinterlands?

In Splinterlands, your objective is to select a team of up to 6 monsters + 1 summoner, within a given time and with variable rules, with the aim of beating your opponent, who will make his team composition at the same time than you ! The winner is the one who manages to eliminate all of his opponent's monsters first, while keeping at least 1 monster alive in his team!

Splinterlands is therefore a game in which the strategic phase is very short! You will have between 2 and 3 minutes to adapt your strategy to the rules that will be given to you, and compose the best possible team likely to win.

The preselection phase of your monster team:

Before even selecting the monsters that will make up your team, it is crucial to carefully analyze, despite the short time given to you, the following elements:

The rules of the battle: 

Combat-specific rules will be given to you at this time. It is crucial to take the rules into consideration right from this stage. 

The playable elements during this fight

You will then be able to know which element you and your opponent will be able to select, depending on your own card availability. You can also at this same step compare the elements that your opponent played previously, and those that will be available for your fight. If your opponent has played the Water and Fire element for the last 5 fights, and these are not available, it is possible (but not mandatory) that he is in difficulty, or that he will be less effective in his selection of monsters because he would be less used to playing his elements. 

Maximum mana

You will have the maximum mana limit available for each of you. This lets you start thinking straight away about what kind of lineup you and your opponent are going to be able to field for this battle! This value is a maximum, which means that you can also use less of it (which will be mandatory in a 99 mana battle, but also common when playing cards with an even or odd value). It is nevertheless recommended to use this mana as much as possible, since in general, the power of a card is often proportional to its cost in mana.

Combat rules

These rules will apply to you and your opponent equally. It is ESSENTIAL to take them into consideration. when you are between 0 and 1000 of rating (rating) you will probably have no specific constraint on these aspects there. Then you will have a rule, then a second. A maximum of 2 rules will apply to each eventual battle, and these rules change with each new battle. Taking these rules into consideration will be a determining factor in winning each battle, we will come back to them in more detail later. 

Your opponent:

You will have access to data related to your opponent's last 5 fights, including the elements that have been played, but also the composition of their teams. What to do with this information? You can establish a potential list of the elements that your opponent is able to play in fights of your level, and which he is therefore likely to play, as well as the monsters he is able to select. In a more speculative way, you can also detect regularly used teams, which can mean that your opponent will have a preference to play a fairly similar team if the rules lend themselves to it. So you can eventually build your own team in response to one that your opponent plays too often.

This is also the time to identify a key fact: Is your opponent a fan of monster compositions inflicting magic damage? 

If this is the case, it is relevant to consider in your own monster team composition, to include monsters that have either a lot of HP or that some have a particular resistance to magic thanks to their abilities (Void armor / Void).

That's all you'll have to take into consideration just at this stage, when you will only have between 2 and 3 minutes for your entire battle to compose your team and submit it! If it may seem tedious and quite busy, you will manage very easily, by dint of playing, to accomplish all this in 20-30 seconds! We can now move on to the next step, selecting your own monster team!

Make your monster team composition!

The main lines before going into detail:

• Consider the elements and the rule(s) to choose your element if you have a choice. Some may better lend themselves to certain rules
• Remember that you need monsters to tank, others to do the damage
• Be careful not to scatter your damage
• Try to balance your sources of damage, in order to be less vulnerable to a specific counter
• Keep the rules in mind when you do it, you will quickly tend to forget them after 30 seconds of browsing your available cards
• Consider the position of your monsters once your selection is made, an important part of the victories will be played there.

Now that we've listed all that, let's move on to more detailed explanations so that you can understand and improve!

The more technical aspects

First of all, all the capacities mentioned below can be found here, so that you can understand them as well as have the tips concerning them: https://theyachtclub.io/abilities-guide/ / https://theyachtclub.io/guide-splinterlands-la-precision-lesquive/

Choose your element, according to its possibilities and the rules.

Let's put ourselves in a configuration where you have 3-4 summoners of a similar level, and you therefore have the choice of the element you will play. The first thing to do will be to make the right choice of elements. First by potentially taking into account what we said before, about those of your opponent, but also in relation to the rules. It is essential to take these into account in your choice of summoner. To be more specific, consider 2 things:

• The choice of the summoner itself, for what it brings as a bonus/malus: select a summoner giving armor when it is prohibited by the “unprotected” rule is often a “bad idea”. However, this is not always the case. This example applies to several elements/rules that should make you think twice before making your choice.
• Consider the strengths of the element according to the rule: Let's imagine the rule “weak magic ” which causes the magic to hit the armor first. So you should think that armor will have a very high value in this battle. You should therefore think of the Water/Earth elements, which have units that are very easy to access (Venari wavesmith and Queen Mycelia) and which have the “Protection” ability from level 1, giving +2 armor to all your monsters! This is just one example, and there would be many scenarios to cite to be exhaustive. This kind of judgment will come with time and knowledge of monsters. The strengths and weaknesses of each element will allow you to make decisive choices, giving you a comparative advantage against an opponent who would not take this into consideration!

Remember to choose monsters that take damage, others that inflict it!

We are pushing an open door a bit here, but it is important to always keep this element in mind. You will have to choose monsters that will be there to take it, it can be to die quickly or to hold on as long as possible. In both cases the goal is for these monsters to take as much damage as possible before those who are supposed to do it. 

It's quite difficult to give rules/tricks that would go everywhere, and it would reduce your learning of the game. Nevertheless, try s to make distinctions  Tank / damage:

• On low mana rules (-20/25), care must be taken that the tank monster(s) does not take all the mana, at the risk of not having any more to do damage. However, it is possible for a monster to be a big tank AND capable of inflicting damage. The other option, perhaps requiring a greater diversity of cards, is to use several very inexpensive monsters, which they serve as cannon fodder, while those which inflict the damage are put in position 4 to 6 (be careful to the ability that can attack your back lines!). Concerning the damage, it's the same dilemma, either 2-4 monsters dedicated to damage, but naturally more fragile and weak in their damage, or 1 or 2 very strong. No matter the level of play, this dilemma persists, and each fight will be an opportunity to make a choice. It is mainly the cards in your possession and the available elements that will make the choice here.
• On high mana (+25) rules, It will be necessary to privilege very resistant tanks, at least in first position, even sometimes in second. If the opponent is a fan of the “Sneak” ability, then consider putting a resistant monster in last position. It doesn't have to be a tank strictly speaking (a large, very resistant melee unit) at the risk of having a somewhat useless card behind, but a unit capable of attacking at a distance with a large number of points base health (The Molten Ash Golem on fire for example). The monsters present will all probably have more hit points, so it will be important to ensure you have high damage monsters, at least 1-2 monsters. The idea here is to avoid too many monsters with low initial damage (2 or 3) being set to 1 with abilities, causing a probable defeat.
• On a rule where all monsters have “snipe”, It will be PRIMORDIAL to have a tank in second or third position, which is not a melee attacking tank, in order to take the damage before the other units behind . It can be a monster with no attack (riftwing in death for example). It's quite difficult to have a rule on the offensive aspect. You can use the rule, but if the opponent manages to take it well, it could be a disadvantage. If the opponent uses it on the other hand, it's a safe bet that he leaves his back lines a little, choosing monsters with “sneak” could prove to be a paying bet!
• On a rule against magic, attempts to choose monsters with armor and/or “shields”, this can make a major difference. Focusing your damage will be important hereefb41emonsters should dealing damage must absolutely not target different enemy monsters, at the risk of hitting the first 2 turns of the armor, without actually weakening your opponent. You will probably face monsters with “shield”, in this case, prefer monsters with at least 4 attack ( melee or ranged) to do more than 1 damage to those monsters with “shield”.
• On a rule prohibiting melee, tries to pick units with a lot of base hit points. It is also important that the magic units are placed in front of the ranges, thus giving them the opportunity to do damage for as long as possible (the ranges cannot attack in first position, unless there is a specific rule or combat ability close). You will have the choice between physical damage from a distance, or magic. Going down a single path can be risky because your opponent can choose one of the two options and adapt his composition to counter it. Try here to vary the types of source of damage, doing 50/50, or at least 60/40. Moreover, considering the need for tanks, your 5-6 monsters do not necessarily have to do damage in this case!
• On a rule where all mobs have “explosion”, it can be interesting to have 2 big tanks in front, to hold! It is also important not to play too many fragile monsters as much as possible, in order to prevent them from disappearing by taking collateral damage, even light. Moreover, you must not put the monsters with “provocation” in position 2 to 5, only 1 or 6!!! The same for monsters with “camouflage”, in this case of fi gure, it will be necessary to put them in position 5 (and not 6). A large part of the previous recommendations will not be followed by players before a good level of play (and then you will no longer be there at that time a priori). So you have to use monsters with “precision” (they will most likely attack monsters in position 2 to 5, so do maximum area damage!). It can also be interesting to use those who have “sneaked in” because even if the opponent has reinforced his position 6, it is a safe bet that position 5 will be fragile! The explosion will then clean up! This same recommendation applies to monsters with “opportunistic”. This rule doing a lot of damage overall in the compositions of the two players, it is also relevant not to play monsters too slow, in order to deliver crucial blows before the other!
• On a rule where all melee mobs have “sneak”, It will be essential to have a resistant unit in 6th position, and preferably with “bramble” or “shield”. It may even be relevant to also have a unit of this style in 5th position in this case! We must also be wary of the bias of putting everything at the end. The opponent can simply decide to use magic or ranged attacks, which in this case will strike in the ordinary order! A unit with a lot of HP is still strongly recommended in first position. If you choose to use the rule to your advantage, beware of opposing monsters who will be there to take it. With this rule you can line up your most powerful melee monsters right in the middle of your team composition and still have them hit! Be careful, however, not to put all your damage like that at the risk of being strongly countered.
• On a rule where all monsters are poisoned, It is absolutely necessary to look at almost only the HP of your monsters! Indeed the notion of tank here will be mainly linked to the HP because the poison will only affect them. Moreover, monsters with “immunity” will be the most suitable against this rule, avoiding poison! Another method is to use a monster that has “cleanse” and remove the poison from the monster in first position. The default will be that this monster will be highly exposed to damage despite everything. It can also be very interesting to look for monsters with “scavenger” / “healing” / “Lifeleach” that will last longer. As for damage, it's usually hard to choose with this rule. The best is to succeed in taking monsters that can do damage while having the most HP, but it is often quite difficult because the distances often have little HP. Choosing magic units with high HP can be quite effective in this situation.

This is a list where many scenarios are missing, but it can give an idea of ​​what the right reflexes are. Again, it is important to consider each fight for what it is, and not just reproduce a pattern that would seem to win every time!

Be careful not to scatter your damage!

With all the advice you read before, it was always about damage, but now it will also be necessary to ensure that this damage is correctly targeted. In Splinterlands you can very quickly disperse your damage if you do not take into account the different abilities of your monsters. The major risk of this is that you don't fall off the opposing team's monsters fast enough, because you're hitting 3-4 different monsters.

Based on this observation, you have to decide what you are aiming for in each battle. If you are looking to destroy the enemy lines from behind, you will need a minimum of 2-3 monsters with “sneak”. If you want to go beyond the front line, you will have to use 2 monsters with “precision. These examples apply depending on the different abilities present in your team. The general rule is: when you want to choose a monster, remember that its ability can become a weakness for your victory (typically a team with a monster having “snipe”, another “sneaking”, and a third “opportunist”). The individual strength of each monster will be negated by your team's lack of coordinated damage.

That being said, we can also identify some common strategies:

• Against summoner Scared Llama, try to target enemy back lines.
• Better to focus on max 2 target types, rather than 3:
  • 2 “opportunistic” monsters are better than 1
  • 2 monsters with “snipe” are better than 1
  • 2 monsters with “sneak” are better than 1
  • If you don't have enough monsters, it's best to concentrate your damage on the first unit, which is still the simplest technique.

  Try to balance your sources of damage, in order to be less vulnerable to a specific counter.

  In addition to the previous advice, it will be just as essential, in many cases, to balance your sources of damage. By that, I mean having damage-dealing monsters on your team deal physical damage (melee or ranged) and a little magick. 

  What interest? Avoid being countered too strongly!

  Let's imagine that you really enjoy playing ranged monsters frequently: Your opponent sees your battle history, and he thinks he can easily counter you by having enough to take, but also by reducing the ranged damage by your monsters (Quix the devious + a unit with “headwinds”). That's the majority of your ranged units reduced to 1 damage...

  This is of course not feasible in every battle, and sometimes you will have limitations that make it just not possible. However, it is important to try to keep this in mind when making team compositions.

  If you've read the previous cobblestones, you must say to yourself “But if I make an entirely magical composition, I'm fine, right? It passes the armor and I'm pretty sure I'm right?”

  The reflection is good, and it's quite true that all-magical compositions, which have a boost from their summoner, are relatively reliable and strong. BUT like the others, if you only play that, the opponent will see it, and you can very quickly find yourself against 2 units reflecting magic damage, coupled with a reduction in the damage of your units as well as the “Void” ability. And then you will be disappointed… 

  In this kind of situation, rather favor a strong melee monster, a strong distance, and 3-4 magic monsters. You will then play on your strengths, but while being able to exist if the opponent has a composition entirely dedicated to countering your magic.

  The example here applies to any form of single-type damage composition after all, while keeping in mind that the damage must be judiciously targeted as explained just before. Moreover, it will sometimes prove to be very strong to use a single type, as long as it is not done all the time at the risk that the opponent realizes it.

  Choose the order of your monsters carefully!

  We come to the end, just before resolving the battle! You chose your monsters wisely, with all the constraints imposed and all the parameters to take into account to try to beat your opponent!

  But there is still the key step! Organize the order of your team.

  In Splinterlands, you therefore have a maximum of 6 monsters per battle on your team. Everyone's position is ESSENTIAL. Since you can't move them afterwards, she can almost rock every battle.

  First the obvious:

  • Melee without “opportunist” / “sneak” / “reach” will tend to go in position 1-3 (but there are many exceptions beware, this is very general advice)
  • Ranged monsters without “close combat” will go to position 4 to 6 very often (but again it can depend)
  • Magic monsters are much more difficult to determine, they have the advantage of being able to hit regardless of their position
  • Positions 1 and 6 are the most vulnerable. Position 4 is most of the time the least vulnerable.

    Then the less obvious aspects:

    • Take each rule into account, everything said above may be wrong (if a rule gives everyone opportunistic, for example)
    • Considering a melee monster with a shield in position 6 to counter attacks with “sneak” can be very interesting
    • Put magic monsters in the middle 2 to 5 allows your team some versatility
    • Avoiding putting monsters with a low HP number at the ends is often relevant (the longer they stay alive, the more they hit, the more they hit, the more you win)
    • Monsters with “cloaking” will tend to be played in position 6 (except against teams with “explosion” and the similar rule, in position 5)
    • Monsters with “scavenger” are stronger if they have time to activate the ability multiple times. Avoiding putting them at the ends allows them to live longer
    • Monsters with “reach” must be played in 2nd position
    • Monsters with hindering abilities (reduction of damage type) are more effective the longer they survive
    • Monsters with “reflective shield” should be played in position 2 or 5 to prevent “explosion” damage
    • Monsters with "Thorns" must be played in position 1 and 6 in priority, sometimes 2 and 5
    • When you want to “cleanse” a monster, consider that it is the one in position 1 which will be
    • When you want to play compositions with “healer” remember that it is the monster in position 1 that will be. When it is the “sort” ability, it will then be the monsters in position 2 to 6
    • Think about your monsters in position 2 to 6 when “snipe” is a common rule
    • Units with “opportunistic” must be played elsewhere than in position ion 1 otherwise the ability does not work. Same for “sneaking in”
    • Monsters with poison must survive longer in order to apply the poison (pay attention to their position for this, they must hit) and for it to have its effect
    • Placing taunting units in position 2 and 5 needs careful consideration! One or more enemy monsters with “explosion” would then be fatal to your team.
    • A monster giving “reinforce” must remain alive for the armor bonus to persist on the others. Therefore favor the less exposed positions.
    • An opponent who is used to playing magic will hit the monsters in their order in the majority of cases and except rule. Remember to put the HP bags in position 1 to 3
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