After debuting for the first time three weeks ago, the Battle Mage Secrets Weekly Challenge has decided to go all the way Back to Basics. Yup, that's right, this week's ruleset showcase revolves around the Back to Basics ruleset.
Let us see what this ruleset does before we get into the nitty-gritty of the line-up and the battle itself.
The Back to Basics ruleset is pretty straight-forward - Monsters lose all abilities. I don't think it can get any simpler than this, can it? Of course, the additional rulesets (if any) could also influence the way you take advantage of or counter this particular ruleset.
Alright, we've got a good idea of what the Back to Basics ruleset practically does, so let's see now how it can be effectively utilized
There are two options to approach this ruleset as far as I'm concerned:
- Option 1: The Way of the Aggressor. If you are feeling like being on the offensive, you can take advantage of the following Summoners to aid you in your cause - Possibilus the Wise, Obsidian, Kelya Frendul and Conqueror Jacek. We need to note here that additional ruleset might make some of this choices not viable at all. Another thing that needs to be added is that Back to Basics affects only the Monsters and not the Summoners, this is why your choice of a Summoner actually matters.
- Option 2: The Way of the Defender. If you are feeling itching counter your opponent rather than taking them head on, the the following Summoners could do wonders for you - Immortalis, Grandmaster Rathe, Thaddius Brood and Astral Entity. The disclaimer is the same - some of them might not work at all depending on the situation.
Now that we have a decent understanding of the featured Ruleset and its potential advantages and disadvantages, let us have a look at the battle I have chosen to showcase.
The rulesets for this battle are Counterspell (All Monsters have the Magic Reflect ability), Broken Arrows (A
Broken Arrows (Ranged attack Monsters may not be used in battles.), Back to Basics (Monsters lose all abilities). The mana budget is 38 which is about average so it is far from allowing the player to choose whatever they want so efficient planning has to go into line-up. The available Splinters are: Fire, Water, and Life. Since we have Counterspell so the opponent would be somewhat reluctant to use Magic Monsters in having in mind that it is also Back to Basics, and Earth is not available - so no Immortalis, I am keen on using Possibilus the Wise this time around, so I am going with the Water Splinter.
Even though the Monsters are basically stat sticks right now due to the ruleset, I will still go over their skills so you know what they do in general.
First in the line-up I have one of my favorite tanks - the Diemonshark. Maxed out at level 8 it has Trample
(when a Monster with Trample hits and kills its target, it will perform another attack on the next Monster on the enemy Team), Enrage
(has increased Melee attack and Speed when damaged) and Retaliate (when hit with a Melee attack, Monsters with Retaliate have a chance of attacking their attacker). This time it is here solely due to the fact that it has a decent life total and 6 armor, as well as 4 attack, of course.
The 2nd place in the line-up goes to the Arkemis the Bear. Again it is here just to attack from the second position thanks to Possibilus, but let's still go over its abilities. All 4 of his abilities are actually very good in cases of taking heavy damage and also mitigating enemy attacks - Protect (All friendly Monsters gain +2 Armor), Halving (Each time this Monster hits a target, the target's attack is cut in half (rounded down)), Forcefield (This Monster takes only 1 damage from attacks with power 5+) and last but not least in terms of damage output - Enrage (Has increased Melee attack and Speed when damaged).
The 3rd spot is reserved for the Pelacor Bandit. I've put it here since it has a decent amount of speed so it can dodge a hit or two if it gets to the tanking spot. Generally it's a Flying (has an increased chance of evading Melee or Ranged attacks from Monsters who do not have the Flying ability) Monster with a high amount of speed. It is also a Sneak (Targets the last Monster on the enemy Team instead of the first Monster) Monster so it can often be a pain in the enemy backline.
Next in the line-up is a Monster which is usually seen in the second position due to its nice kit of abilities suited for an off-tank - Reach (melee attack Monsters with the Reach ability may attack from the second position on the team), Reflection Shield (this Monster doesn't take damage from Blast, Magic Reflect, Thorns, or Return Fire) and True Strike (this Monster's attacks cannot miss), namely the Tide Biter. I have it here cause the amount of available mana is getting lower and lower so I need to resort to cheaper Monsters.
The 5th spot is reserved for the Cruel Sethropod. It's a beefy 3-mana cost Monster with no special abilities even at max level. It also has a pretty good amount of armor as well as the respectable amount of 3 Melee attack, so generally it can stand its ground whenever it comes to that.
Last in the line-up is one of my favorite Sneak Monsters - Uraeus. Of course, right now it is just an observer of the battle until it turn eventually comes. Generally when the ruleset is more favorable it also has access to Poison (Attacks have a chance to apply poison, which does automatic damage to the target at the beginning of each round after the poison is applied) in its arsenal.
It is time for a quick round by round analysis:
The Summoner I am going with for the battle (as I have already mentioned) is Possibilus the Wise. It is one of the recently dropped Chaos Legion Legendary Summoner and I actually love using it when the Rulesets could be beneficial for its use. I this case I think they are as it counters very well Back to Basics when both teams are expected to consist of mostly Melee attackers. This is so due to the set of abilities Possibilius provides to all Monsters on its team - Reach and Trample. This means that Trample can trigger for the Monsters in first and 2nd spot and they both can always attack. Possiblius also provides +2 HP to the whole team and that is nothing to scoff at. So I will definitely be on the offence this time as described in my two approaches to this ruleset. On the other hand my enemy has gone the defensive route, using Grandmaster Rathe. Their line-ups is 5 out 6 Melee monsters and just one Magic attacker so I think I have an advantage, as their Monsters can only attack one at a time. This is a battle on the Champion 3 level. Let's see how it goes.
After 1 round both main Tanks are alive but their is about to die. Remember that each time I kill an enemy Monster, the Monster that kills it will also trigger a second attack via Trample and that is actually huge as I have already explained.
Round 3 - The enemy line-up is definitely shrinking faster than mine. My Diemonshark is still alive while their 2nd Monster is on the verge of dying.
Round 4 begins and even though my Diemonshark has fallen, the enemy Monster has lost all its armor while my Arkemis is still unscathed.
Round 5 is here and my advantage this battle is obvious.
Round 6 - Arkemis is still alive but I am about to kill yet another of the enemy Monsters.
Round 7 - All that is left for me now is to sweep the rest of the enemy Monsters off the battlefield and send them home, licking their wounds.
My victory seemed very easy, but let's see what Splintertools.io has to say about that. I actually had an 100% chance to win so yeah, Possibilus definitely outplays the competition in these circumstances.
Well this was definitely a fun battle, and a fun way to showcase the Back to Basics ruleset. See you next week with another exciting post related to the brand new Battle Mage Secrets Weekly Challenge!
