Find out the best Strategies to be used on Matches with the Ruleset "Armored Up"!
Monsters get +2 added to their armor stat.
In "Armored Up" Matches, all Monsters start the game with an extra +2 Armor to them. The bonus is given to ALL Monsters, even those that doesn't have Armor to begin with.
As you already know, Armor protects Monsters from Ranged and Melee attacks: instead of damaging directly the Health, these two types of attack will first hit the Armor.
This simply means that "Armored Up" is a HUGE Debuff to Melee and Ranged Monsters! These Monsters will have to hit +2 extra Armor in order to actually damage the enemy.
In the other hand, the Ruleset heavily favours Magic Monsters, as Magic Attacks ignores Armor and can directly hit the Health.
Enough with the small talk! Let's analyse some strategies!
OK, this one straight-up the most obvious strategy that one can use on "Armored Up" Matches: if Armor is strong against Melee and Ranged Monsters but is useless against Magic Monsters, so let's play lots of Magic Monsters!
But the unfortunate truth is that, while playing Magic Monsters is a valid plan of action, your opponent will surely do the same. Both players will end up spamming lots of Magic Monsters, and knowing this (usually) won't give you an edge to win games.
Nonetheless, we have to start with the basics. Playing several Hard-Hitting Magic Monsters like the Goblin Psychic, Mushroom Seer, Mycelic Slipspawn, Ifrit Rising, Djinn Oshannus (all with 2 Magic Damage) or Nerissa Tridawn and Djinn Inferni (both with 3 Magic Damage) is the way to victory.
You can spice this strategy up with Summoners that buff the Magic Damage of your own Monsters. The most popular currently is Obsidian, followed by Alric Stormbringer. Given the fact that the majority of your own firepower will be based on Magic, their +1 Magic Damage buff will strongly increase your attack capabilities.
We already know that both you and your opponent will both be relying on Magic Damage to win the game. So why not counter the Magic from your enemy?
The most straight-foward method to counter Magic is with the Void ability, that halves all incoming Magic Damage. We have several great tanks with Void, including Tusk the Wide (with a HUGE Health of 12 points), Bone Golem, Djinn Oshannus and Torhilo the Frozen. This ability will double the lifespan of your main tank, allowing you to stay alive longer on the game.
Void Armor is another interesting ability that you will want to use on this Ruleset: it makes Magic Attacks hit the Armor before the Health, just like Ranged and Melee Attacks. Venari Heatsmith and Chain Spinner are really common cards that have this ability, and are heavily buffed in "Armored Up" matches. There are several other Monsters that can also be played, including the Frost Lion, the Naga Brute and the Marrow's Ghost.
We also have the Magic Reflect ability: "When hit with Magic damage, does half the Magic damage back to the attacker". As you can imagine, everyone will be using Magic Damage and, thus, everyone will be receiving reflected damage. Failed Sumomner and Prismatic Energy are the two Monsters that already have this ability right at Level 1.
Lastly, we have the Silence ability, that debuffs the whole enemy team with -1 Magic Damage. Cards with Silence are just too strong on this ruleset as we expect the enmy to be playing 3-5 Magic Monsters. Both the Mushroom Seer and the Crystal Werewolf have this ability at Level 1 too.
This Summoner is just so overpowered on "Armored Up" that he deserves be highlighted!
Owster Rotwell is the 3-Mana Death Summoner that gives the Magic Reflect ability to all your own Monsters. He's almost a guaranteed ticket to win these Matches, as giving this ability to your whole team makes the match almost impossible for your opponent to win.
If he plays Ranged/Melee Monsters, he won't be able to kill your Monsters due the +2 Armor.
If he plays Magic Monsters, his own Monsters will kill themselves due all the reflected damage.
Your enemy has nowhere to run. He better just keep crying in the corner.
Now with Chaos Legion, we have los of 0-Mana Monsters: one for each Splinter, and the infamous Neutral Monster Furious Chicken.
All these Monsters have no cost, in terms of Mana, to be played; but, as expected, they are very weak in terms of Stats, including Low Health and Low Attack.
With the Armored Up Ruleset, these Monsters receive an immense buff to their own survivability: they should have only 1 Health and 0 Armor but, now, they have 1 Health and 2 Armor! An increase of 200% on their defensive capabilities!
What I want to say, in other words is: Splinterlands is a game in which the card balance is made around Mana Cost. A 2-Mana card is expected to (on average) be twice as strong as a 1-Mana card. But some rulesets, like Equalizer and Armored Up, breaks this balance,** heavily favouring Mana-Cheap Cards by increasing their raw stats** (Health in Equalizer, and Armor in Armored Up).
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