Welcome Splinterfam to another edition of my weekly #Splinterlands #CommunityChallenge. In this article, I'll look at one of Praetoria's newest Modern #HiddenGems, the legendary dragon unit that I featured in my 2nd Combo Chronicles -- Zarin The Scorch.
This new addition to the modern metagame was the third legendary airdrop through the conflict system for Conclave Arcana. It's only been available in battle for less than 60 days, so for some accounts, it's still a bit hidden from mainstream battle strategies. Hopefully, today's closer look puts Zarin on the map for more aspiring summoners in Praetoria.
Zarin has the same 3 magic attack, 3 speed, and slow ability at all levels, but it gains health and support abilities as it levels up. At Level 2, it gains a 6th health and the defensive phase ward ability. At Level 3, it gains another health to its max of 7, plus two more important abilities, cleanse rearguard and camouflage. Finally, at Level 4, it gains the offensive blast ability to inflict more damage.
The two most important abilities that make this legendary dragon such a gem are phase ward and cleanse rearguard. Both of these abilities can define how the battle is played out when lineups are built with these abilities in mind.
Phase ward lets Zarin give phase to the unit placed in front of it, allowing that unit to dodge magic attacks. It is especially useful when the phase ward ability isn't available via Jicarella in the water element. Zarin is often used to give speedy units, like Redwyrm Dragon, phase so that it can dodge any attack coming its way.
Cleanse rearguard allows Zarin to cancel out pesky debilitations and debuffs on your allied backline units. This is especially helpful against random poison attacks and the burning debility. It makes a very clean combo with Zyrx, another powerful new legendary dragon that starts the battle with incindiary, by cleansing the debility once a round.
Slow is always a welcomed support ability that only makes Zarin's full package stronger. Speed has always been the name of the game since being able to attack first is a huge advantage. Having slow tacked on to the kit just helps the evasion strategy of a tank with phase that much more powerful since Zarin slows the opponent by one.
Finally, don't overlook the value of camouflage. In a metagame heavily influenced by the potential of powerful dual-attacking snipe units like Kelan Gaines, Zarin getting camouflage gives it more staying power. Without camouflage, Zarin would typically be right in the line of fire for snipers since it often gives phase ward right behind the tank. But with camouflage, Zarin can attack with impunity without worrying about any snipe attackers taking it out. Huge!
Let's take a look at two common applications that allow Splinterlands summoners to leverage Zarin's abilities to influence the outcome of battle.
Modern Ranked Replay vs. 
Here you can see Zarin use the phase ward ability to devastating effect, making Redwyrm Dragon nearly unhittable, even for the speedy Kelan Gaines. With the helpful blind from Silverleaf Warlock and the busted corrupted healing from the deadly spider, Zarin helped Redwyrm seal the deal with phase.
What you might not notice is Zarin's cleanse rearguard to help mitigate the halving and affliction from Baron Fyatt. Being able to cleanse a backline unit is more than just another throwaway support ability; it is a huge defensive weapon! With Fyatt's scattered halving flying around and the constant threat of poison from Cryptic and affliction from Lorkus, it helps to defend against the onslaught of the opponent. With abilities like triage and corrupted healing, it is important to preserve those backline units with cleanse to counter those powerful archon tactics.
But quite often now, I'm not just looking to Zarin to heal against my opponent... instead, I need Zarin to cleanse away those burning triggers!
Modern Ranked Replay vs. 
Dragon Breath is the new Dragon's Feast battle modifier, giving all units hit by range or magic attack a chance to get the burning debilitation. One can expect there to be a lot of extra damage inflicted on the units through the course of the battle.
You can see my opponent, the talented leaderboard threat TheBadWaitch, opted for big durable units, including two with triage in the backline. It was not close to enough to keep up with my onslaught. Not only did I have the corrupted healing from Arachne Weaver, but every round, Zarin was there to cleanse one of my backline units -- even if it was only the silence from Nalara because every bit counts. Keep in mind, the cleanse rearguard is great at nullifying those pesky debuffs like slow and silence, not just damage dealing debilities.
All this talk about his support abilities, don't forget Zarin has a potent 3 magic blast damage typically from a midline position with camouflage. Besides helping with phase ward and cleanse rearguard for specific situations, it has the slow and sturdy magic attack built in. It all adds up to one fantastic package, and I think after this piece, people might not be sleeping on this hidden gem much longer. I hope you enjoyed this look at one of my favorite new legendaries in Modern. Until next time...
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