Sometimes a battle looks simple but one unit changes everything. A small combo between a unit and a modifier can turn the whole fight around. This match had one of those moments.
In Splinterlands Modifiers can sometimes affect how strong a unit becomes. Holy Protection Modifier gave my lineup a big advantage in defense. This battle shows why Abyssal Elemental and revive units work so well together with this modifier.

Battle Breakdown

Modifier in this Battle:

• Holy Protection - All units have Divine Shield (ignores all damage once, after which the Divine Shield is destroyed).

My Thoughts on Modifiers

• Holy Protection Modifier favors units that can revive other units or revive themselves. Divine Shield blocks the first hit regardless of the damage. This heavily reduces burst damage from any unit. When combined with Resurgence or revive abilities this Modifier becomes very powerful and can completely swing the battle.

Team Composition

Archon: Marlai Singariel

• Marlai Singariel is good here because majority of my units deal magic damage. The +1 magic damage boost makes every attack stronger and helps end the battle faster.

Units Chosen

Unit 1: Hafling Refugee

• This is a useful low 1 mana unit that works as an extra tank in front. Even if he dies early he still helps absorb hits and protect my important units.

Unit 2: Abyssal Elemental

• This is my favorite unit and the main focus of the lineup. Resurgence revives him with full health and armor then deals 1 damage to all units. The Resurgence ability also re-applies Divine Shield making him very annoying to kill both before and after revival.

Unit 3: Torent Sniper

• He has high health for a magic damage unit which helps him survive longer. Snipe lets him bypass the tank and attack the needed units early.

Unit 4: Saltwater Mage

• She has 2 magic damage which is decent despite the high mana. Sneak with Magic damage is the main reason she is in this team. It allows her to target the last unit first which helps remove support units faster.

Unit 5: Mar Toren Trader

• I had extra 3 mana so I felt this was a decent filler unit. Even without abilities at low level, the 2 range attack still adds a good amount of damage.

The Battle

Opening Rounds:
The early rounds of battle in Holy Protection is nothing crazy. The teams just exchange attacks trying to remove each other's Divine Shield but it's really nothing crazy so far.

Mid-game:
My Halfling Refugee did die first but I had an advantage over Divine Shields. Most of their units are damaged and no Divine Shield so my team is free to eliminate them. Saltwater Mage and Torrent Sniper bypass both enemy tanks so they can directly hit the important ones.

Final Rounds:
Resurgence is strong because it gives my Abyssal Elemental a second chance. It revives with full health and armor and an extra Divine Shield to waste one unit's attack again. Unfortunately, most of my Divine Shield would be removed by that Resurgence damage but still, I had the overwhelming advantage that it really doesn't matter at all at this moment.

👉 Watch the full battle replay here
https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_0f9e4c6f16513f7621b5a9a715894b4d?ref=ashenova

Results & Reflection

What strategy I was aiming for:
I wanted to abuse Abyssal Elemental together with Divine Shield from Holy Protection Modifier. When Abyssal Elemental dies, Resurgence brings him back to life and Divine Shield gets refreshed again. This makes him soak a lot of damage and waste many enemy attacks.

What surprised me:
I was surprised how effective this lineup was even against many melee units. Divine Shield plus armor reduced a lot of melee damage towards the end of the battle. This gave my other magic units enough time to slowly break the enemy lineup.

What I learned:
I learned that Holy Protection Modifier makes revive units much stronger than usual. Resurgence units gain extra value because Divine Shield resets again. This makes Abyssal Elemental one of the best units to use in this Modifier.

Closing Thoughts

This battle showed how strong Holy Protection Modifier can be when used correctly. Abyssal Elemental became very hard to remove because Divine Shield kept coming back and negating that enemy damage again. While the ignoring of one time damage looks weak, most units only attack once per round so if they attack someone with Divine Shield, they just wasted their one round of attack.

I really like Abyssal Elemental because of how flexible he is and his abilities. In this battle, I used him as one of the tanks and that was very successful with my win as the result.