It's the start of new season so it's time to try some new things in Splinterlands and I found another strong archon from the Life Element, Captain Frankie. This archon can all the help of all Rodentians and Tideborn Bloodline units and give them Inspire ability to overwhelm the enemies through sheer strength. Let's see in this battle how good it really is with the modifier, Weak Magic.
Weak Magic - Magic attacks hit Armor before reducing Health.
| Modifier | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Protect | All friendly Units gain +2 Armor | |
| - Protect is very strong in Weak Magic Modifier because it gives +2 armor to all of your team. Since magic must hit armor first, this +2 armor feels like extra second health for every unit. It is very helpful for low health units that would normally die fast to magic attacks. Using Protect can change the whole pace of the battle. In this Modifier, armor is not just extra. Armor is a real shield that buys time for your damage units to do their job. | ||
| Repair | Restores some armor to the friendly Unit whose armor has taken the most damage | |
| - Repair is also very effective in Weak Magic Modifier because broken armor can be restored again and again. When enemy magic attacks break your armor you can simply bring it back and make them work hard for every damage. This is very strong against units with high magic damage. Repair makes your frontline and even your backline survive longer than expected. If the enemy cannot burst your units in one round then Repair can slowly turn the fight to your side. | ||
| Bloodlust | Every time it defeats an opponent, it gets +1 to all stats | |
| - Bloodlust becomes more scary in Weak Magic Modifier because when it triggers it gives all stats including armor. That means the unit not only gains more attack and health but also more armor to block magic again. In this Modifier, extra armor is like extra life so Bloodlust scaling feels even better. Once it starts gaining armor and damage, it becomes very hard to take down since each one extra armor can absorb a whole attack regardless of the damage. | ||
| Resurrect | When a friendly Unit dies it is brought back to life with 1 Health. This ability can only trigger once per battle | |
| - Resurrect is amazing in Weak Magic Modifier because it revives a unit with 1 health and full armor. Since armor blocks magic, that revived unit can still tank more hits even with low health. It feels like the unit has a second life and can affect the battle in your favor better. This combo is very annoying for enemies who rely on magic damage. Resurrect makes sure your important unit can come back and still protect your team for a few more rounds. | ||
| Corrosive Ward | When hit with a Melee attack, a unit with this ability does 2 damage to the attacker's armor AND reduces the max armor of the attacker by 2 | |
| - Corrosive Ward is a strong counter inside Weak Magic Modifier especially against melee units. When melee units attack into Corrosive Ward their armor gets permanently removed and cannot be restored by Repair. If their armor is gone, you can now start dealing damage to the health to make it die. |
Early Game:
With the modifier, Weak Magic, I was contemplating whether I add one last Sneak unit or add more protection for the team. One problem I saw in these Rodentian - Tideborn lineup s they don't have a lot of health which honestly made choosing units problematic. The reward? Insane damage from every melee unit you have accompanied with Piercing and True Strike to two of your units. So, with that contemplation, I gave in to the modifier and rejected the last Sneak unit to add, Nimbledook Explorer, a unit without any attack but can give +2 armor to everyone. Since Armor can block magic attacks, this can be a good equalizer for me low health units against a magic heavy team.
Mid Game:
Since the Inspire ability can stack up from each other, that means Captain Frankie can provide up to +6 melee damage to all of your melee units provided that you use all 6 Rodentians and Tideborn Bloodline unit. In this build, I used 4 Rodentians and 1 Tideborn unit giving all units +5 melee attack. Then, I also gave Piercing and True Strike to Saltwraith Bulkhead and Kervik so their excess damage goes to the enemy health instead. This was proven effective killing units in 1-2 attacks. Be careful though since each Rodentian and Tideborn that dies, your damage also falls.
Late Game:
Unlike my enemy, I added protection with the help of the modifier to enhance some of the defense on my team. Now, they have 4 units with 4-5 health and no armor and I have 5 units where 3 of them have 5 to 7 damage. It's an easy math to see who would win at this point, right? By this round, 3 of the enemies would die unless some of these units miss. Otherwise, they'll just die. This is the reason why I decided to add that unit with Protect. Having high damage, sometimes, isn't enough and you need to balance them with some defense or else your lineup will be outrun by enemies that did so.
Full Battle can be found here: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_ac916302d7e98622eeba2594a864c61a
Weak Magic Modifier may look simple but it changes battle flow a lot. Armor becomes like second health and Protect, Repair, Bloodlust and Resurrect all become stronger choices. At the same time, Corrosive Ward can punish melee units that rely too much on armor. In this Modifier, you cannot just focus on damage and you must balance it with defense or your low health units will die too fast. Weak Magic modifier can be strong if you know how to make use of it making your units with strong damage and low health still strong like in the battle I had.
