When building a strong lineup, one of the first things you need to consider is who your tank will be. The tank is the monster that is meant to absorb most of the damage while your backline monsters get to work. Because this monster is usually in the first position and therefore the most vulnerable, it needs to be strong/resilient.

For this weekly challenge, I'll be showcasing the Chaos Knight and how she can help you win more battles

The Chaos Knight is an excellent frontline tank that was introduced in the new Chaos Legion release. At the lowest level, she does decent damage but her armor and shield ability are the strengths. At max level for Bronze, you get another damage point. For max silver, you gain the Giant Killer ability. It gets slightly better in Gold, but at Diamond levels, you gain Inspire.

I highly recommend you pick up multiple copies of this card because it has utility in all leagues. It is very cheap with excellent abilities.

Today's Featured Battle

Battle Ruleset

• Aim True : Melee and Ranged attacks always hit their target.
• Equalizer : The initial Health of all Monsters is equal to that of the Monster on either team with the highest base Health.
• 26 Mana Cap
• Water, Life, and Dragon splinters only

Strategy Highlights

• Aim True
  • Blind, flying, and dodge have no effect so they will not be used when considering monsters
  • Less concerned about slow monsters since they won't miss. Speed is still important, however
• Equalizer
  • You want monsters with high attack and low health because they are generally lower in mana cost
  • General Sloan is a great choice for Summoner because he can buff all of the low mana ranged attackers
  • You want to concentrate your attacks and it's easiest to do so when targeting the first spot
• 26 Mana Cap
  • Medium and low level monsters will be necessary

The main ruleset that determined my lineup for this battle was Equalizer. Knowing that everyone gets the same health (barring any additional abilities that decrease/increase health), you want to direct all the attacks to one place which is usually the front. Snipe, opportunity, and sneak will spread your attacks out too much and leave you vulnerable to getting picked off.

Knowing that my opponents are likely to think this way as well, I wanted as strong, resilient tank so that my archers could do heavy damage. Chaos Knight is perfect for this and her relatively low health should be increased due to Equalizer.

The Lineup

1. Chaos Knight - the shield ability makes Chaos Knight an excellent choice for a tank especially when you get more health since it is susceptible to magic damage
2. Armorsmith - cannot attack from this position but will repair Chaos Knight's shield to help fend off melee and ranged attacks
3. Herbalist - cheap, 2 mana attacker that gains increased attack power due to General Sloan
4. Venari Crystalsmith - primarily used as a tank healer but with ranged attack that gets increased by General Sloan
5. Pelacor Arbalest - the main damage dealer with double-strike and increased attack from General Sloan
6. Xenith Archer - similar to the Herbalist, a cheap 2 mana card that gets increased attack. Placed in the back to protect the Arbalest from sneak attacks

Let's Battle!

• Opponent chose to split up their attacks with Opportunity and Sneak (not recommended)
• They chose a great tank with self healing and backed it up with a tank healer
• My concentrated damage took out their frontline easily, even with 2 healing.

Final Thoughts

Overall, my strategy with this battle was fairly strong. Even if my opponent concentrated their attacks to the front, I think my support monsters would've held it together long enough for me to get through the frontline. However, a strong magic lineup probably would've melted through my frontline so I'm fortunate my opponent didn't use Alric.

I think Chaos Knight is a great addition to the Life deck. The shield ability makes it a strong tank although it is susceptible to magic. I'm enjoying the use of this card and hope to get it leveled up to gain the Giant Killer ability which will make it even more deadly. At the moment, it is an extremely affordable card and I will definitely be accumulating multiple copies.

Thanks for reading!

Referral link : https://splinterlands.com?ref=atbui89