In Splinterlands, some monsters look simple but hide very deep mechanics once you understand them better. These monsters often look average because they are cute but become scary once the battle starts. Calamity is one of those monsters that can grow stronger the longer the match goes. It is not flashy at lower levels but under the right conditions, you can make it a very problematic battle for your opponents.
Calamity also fits many different playstyles which makes it very flexible and fun to use. With its low mana cost, it can be added to many lineups without forcing big sacrifices. Its abilities interact with each other and synergizes more when partnered with other archons and monsters. Because of this, Calamity feels like a real calamity. Its mana cost is way below its performance and the more you level it up, the scarier it becomes.
Image from Splinterlands.
Calamity is a magic damage dealer that leans toward multiple power spikes depending on the modifier or its level. With only 4 mana cost, it offers very strong stats and abilities compared to other monsters with similar mana. Its 3 magic damage is pretty solid for a 4 mana and since magic damage ignores armor, it's stronger allowing it to threaten even tanks. The 4 speed helps it act early enough in many battles, while its 10 health gives it very high survivability in any situation even without armor. I don't consider Calamity a front line tank due to lack of defensive abilities but it can survive fights and act as a backup tank if needed. In higher levels, Calamity excels at scaling over time with Life Leech. With proper combos, it is also capable of dealing burst damage especially with Last Stand ability. Life Leech allows Calamity to gain health as it attacks making it survive longer in fights. Electrified and Painforge combos can turn self damage into an advantage. Calamity works well when protected early and allowed to stack health. Overall, in high levels of play, it can act as a scaling damage dealer with strong late game potential.
Shapeshift is an underrated ability that gives Calamity a lot of flexibility. It allows Calamity to be used by other archons with Bloodline Dominion even if they are not Dragon element. This opens up more team options and combos. Shapeshift not only makes Calamity easier to fit into many different strategies, it also benefits with whatever attached ability is there with the archon's Bloodline Dominion. One good idea is Razi Clanktrap's Bloodline Dominion - Painforge. This allows your Calamity to have Painforge as well allowing you to do the Electrified - Painforge combo by just using Razi Clanktrap as your archon.
Electrified damages friendly monsters, including Calamity, each round by 1 which can feel dangerous. However, this ability can be good when used correctly. Self damage helps trigger effects like Painforge or Enrage abilities on your team. Electrified debilitation also works well with Life Leech since Calamity can heal itself from the Electrified damage. Just remember that the debilitation can kill your monsters so make sure you don't overdo it.
Life Leech allows Calamity to gain health every time it deals magic damage. The more damage it does, the more health it gains. This makes Calamity stronger the longer it stays alive. Life Leech works very well with Electrified because Calamity can recover health it loses. Over time, this ability turns Calamity into a hard to kill threat. Lastly, it synergizes with Calamity's damage type. New players rarely know that you need to hit the opponent's health for Life Leech to trigger. Magic damage bypass armor and directly hits health allowing you to get health with every attack without worrying about the opponent's armor.
Expose is a strong ability that removes selected opponent's defensive abilities per round. It is especially useful against Void, which normally halves magic damage. Expose also helps against Forcefield, which limits high damage attacks. By removing these abilities, Calamity keeps its damage relevant. This ability makes it very effective against teams that play defensively and tries to counter your moves.
Last Stand activates when Calamity is the last monster alive and increases its stats and current health by half. The current health part is very important because it includes all health gained from Life Leech. This can turn Calamity into a massive final threat. To maximize this ability, I always use monsters with Last Stand as the last monster in the 6th position. Your opponents can counter this with a Sneak strategy but betting on that is still better than placing this monster in the middle and then eventually you have monsters at the back alive while this monster now tanks in the front and prohibiting you to use Last Stand ability.
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Battle Sample
https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_a7496036643d1b7c8d3f92d92e0e036a?ref=konaqua122 | Edited in Canva Pro.
This is a perfect example of a battle where Calamity shines. With No Pain No Gain modifier, each damage inflicted by Electrified debilitation gives 1 extra damage to my team. This turns the problematic debilitation to an advantage. This synergy between Electrified from Calamity and Painforge from No Pain No Gain modifier also synergizes with Nidhoggr's Blast. Every 3 damage, the Blast damage grows by 1. So, if Calamity gets to 6 damage, Blast damage now becomes 3 instead of 2. This advantage also expands to Nidhoggr's other ability, Deathblow. This is why when Saltwater Mage hit at the end, instead of 2 magic damage, the magic damage was 6 because of the extra increase from Painforge after passing 1 round and then double that with Deathblow ability. This battle ended early but to be honest, if this battle dragged on, you will see how scary this combination is more.
Calamity is a low mana magic monster with very high stats and very well thought abilities. It is not meant to win battles fast but shines in drawn out fights. Its abilities work together to increase your monster's stats while removing opponent's defenses at the cost of 1 damage per round. Shapeshift gives it flexibility so you can choose it with virtually no consequences, while Life Leech and Last Stand abilities give it strong scaling. Calamity requires some planning and game knowledge to your effectively but it rewards players who knows how to use him properly. I believe that Calamity is one of the monsters that is easy to use but hard to master due to the myriad of combos you can use with his stats and abilities.
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