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Card Highlights #34: Baakjira

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The whale is a creature of immense power and grace, a reminder of the vastness and mystery of the ocean.
by Professor Arliss Loveless from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
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Baakjira is one of those units that a lot of players do not use despite his high potential. This potential increased by a large margin very recently with the introduction of Weapons Training ability that gives attacks to monsters that do not have them. Because of this, Baakjira became a main stay on my water build and always rent him whenever I can.

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Lore

Few had borne witness to the mighty Baakjira before the Chaos Legion arrived. Some believe that the void gates disturbed the polarity of the land and oceans, skewing the gravitational fields; others say it was simply another native of the Splinterlands come to defend their home.
One thing is for certain however, when Baakjira breached the surface of the sea and his enormous body crashed back into the water, every man, beast and invader stopped what they were doing, in complete awe of such a wondrous sight.

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^{For full lore of this card, visit this website:
https://next.splinterlands.com/card-detail/443/regular/7/?tab=lore}

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Buy and Rental Costs

Costing roughly $15 for a max level, this awesome whale sits on top of my list as one of the best especially if you are playing in Modern format.

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His rental price at max level is also high at 16.48 DEC per day. While some might thing it's low, it would really stack up especially if you rent him everyday. To compromise, you can rent a cheaper version, a level 3 for 2.56 DEC per day. While the lower level has less health, which is very important still, he still gets the Heal ability which is a major contributor of why I find him strong as a tank.

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Card Stats

High health, Void ability, Heal ability and low mana requirement. These are the four factors which is why I deem Baakjira strong. If you add this with the Weapons Training from your other units, Baakjira's 6 mana will be very questionable as to why this amazing unit only costs this much mana.

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Card Effects

Void	Reduced damage from Magic attacks

Reduces magic damage by half. This is really strong since it double downs on Baakjira being a good counter against mages.

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Slow	Reduces the Speed of all enemy Units

I don't really think much of this but Slow is a good support overall. It doesn't do much because Baakjira isn't a speed tank but it's still good either way.

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Strengthen

All friendly Units have increased Health

A monster which is reliant in heals requires as much health as possible. The higher the health of this unit, the higher the heals he gets.

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Heal	Restores a portion of the Unit's health each round

This makes him a monster. As mentioned, his high health makes this works really great.

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Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths
Baakjira's high Health with Heal and Void for only 6 mana is a beast. It makes him a very good tank regardless of whether he has attack or not. Weapons Training from a unit beside him though increases the potential of this unit exponentially.

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Weaknesses
This isn't really a weakness since he can still work as a tank but it doesn't change the fact that without Weapons Training, this unit has no damage. This makes him very vulnerable especially when your enemy has Oppress which doubles damage against units with no attacks. Remember that Oppress still applies even if this unit gains an attack through Weapons Training.

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When To Use

Keep Your Distance

Units with Melee attack may not be used in battles.

Baakjira has no attack so can be used along with range or magic Weapons Training or stand alone simply as a tank.

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Noxious Fumes

All Units start the battle Poisoned.

Baakjira's high health and heal can outheal the poison damage by its own. At 16 health, he heals 5 per round while poison only deals 2 per round making him a good choice in this rule set.

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Unprotected

Units do not have any armor and do not get armor from Abilities or Summoner Buffs.

Baakjira has high health but not armor so this rule set does not really affect him.

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When Not To Use

Equalizer

The initial Health of all Units is equal to that of the Units on either team with the highest base Health.

Having high health is sometimes a disadvantage because in this rule set, all your opponents will gain the same health as this one.

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Healed Out

All healing abilities are removed from Units and Summoners.

Healing is a main part of Baakjira's kit and strategy. Removing this part doesn't make him useless but it still makes him very vulnerable.

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Tis But Scratches

All Units have the Cripple ability.

A tank's enemy is Cripple. This reduces the monster's health reducing the amount of heal he gets everytime he takes a hit.

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Battle Sample

^{https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_0d29ca89f71144f9c8d9cbf2877457b0}

With the help of Possibilus the Wise, Baakijra with melee Weapons Training can still attack from behind  my tank While this position is not ideal since he is always better as a tank, it's still a good way of inflicting the most damage possible.

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Final Thoughts

I'd like to share with you a strategy tip - Baakjira's high Health with Heal and Void for only 6 mana makes him an amazing tank even without attacks, but when paired with Weapons Training from a unit beside him, his potential increases significantly. Don't forget to consider these kinds of synergies when building your deck!

Lastly, let me leave you with this thought. Don't be afraid to experiment with units like Baakjira who have high potential but are often overlooked. Play around with the new abilities like the new Weapons Training ability and see for yourself his real potential.

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If you have suggested combos or questions, feel free to comment it down below.

If you are planning to play and is inspired by my post, please consider using my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=kpgamingch

I do not own any of the photos in this post. All credits goes to:

• Splinterlands
• Peakmonsters
• Canva
• Giphy