Welcome back to our Weekly Battle Mage Secrets!
This week, we are featuring the Close Range ruleset.
Close Range:
- Monsters with ranged attacks are allowed to attack in the first position.
Close Range is one of the more versatile rulesets as it fixes the limitation of ranged damage dealers. Being able to attack in the first position is a great way to not only deal damage from the front but also add value with other synergistic effects like high speed for dodge.
| Synergies | |
|---|---|
| This is one of the best pairings for Close Range as we want to use as many ranged monsters as possible. Being able to ensure that they never miss helps us deal consistent damage without the RNG of missing or dodges. | |
| Fog of war neutralizes sneak, snipe and opportunity abilities so you are able to plan things out better from your lineup. This helps with having heavy hitters be in the backline. | |
| Potentially the most complementary ability for ranged dealers, this is a must have if you have it on your lineup. Monsters like AxeMaster and Pelacor Arbalest shine here the most. |
| Counters | |
|---|---|
| Headwinds is one of the best counters for this ruleset as it reduces ranged damage. Monsters like Ash Mirage and Scavo Chemist (both Fire Splinter) have these abilities so be on the lookout. Summoners like Quix the Devious also have -1 ranged damage. Remember, these stack so it'll be painful if you are nerfed to the ground in terms of damage. | |
| The other option is to out tank you and return the damage back to you. Return Fire doesn't nerf your damage but directs damage back to you after you deal it out. Lir Deepswimmer and Ilthain are the summoners who have this on their kits so make sure to take those into consideration. | |
| This is more of a synergistic effect in combination with Return Fire but it can be very deadly when paired together. Amplify Increases Magic Reflect, Return Fire, and Thorns damage to all enemy monsters by 1. That means all the ranged damage you deal gets reflected back to you with additional damage and you may not be able to survive long enough. |
This week's feature is from a regular match in Diamond League. Rulesets are as follows:
- Close Range
- Aimless
- Healed Out
Unfortunately we only have a small mana match so our options are quite limited. For cases like these, Naga Assassin is one of the top picks due to amazing buffs and small mana usage.
Round 1
This is in diamond league and unfortunately for my opponent, their Kelya is low level so I have the leg up in terms of max monsters and abilities. They didn't opt for any ranged monsters but opted for a double sneak lineup instead.
As I mentioned, a max level Naga Assassin does wonders for matches like these because there is a speed buff from here as well as a return fire. Dodging 1 or 2 attacks can be game changing and returns damage on top of it. In this round, 1 dodge is triggered and we return damage on the Uraeus.
Round 2
At the beginning of round 2, both Torrent Fiends have kicked the bucket. Chaos Agent also goes down and we trigger one more return damage on the Pelacor Bandit. Naga Assassin ultimately succumbs to the Uraeus damage together with poison but value has already been had. High speed doing a lot of work.
Round 3
Round 3 starts with the opponent having an edge in monsters left. Unfortunately, they have lower health and my Pelacor Bandit makes quick work of the enemy Uraeus. On top of that, with the enemy Pelacor Bandit only doing 2 damage, my side can tank in a couple more hits on the backline. Hardy Stonefish also doesn't stand a chance in the tank position.
Round 4
The level gap has become even more apparent in this last round. While round 3 gave them the numbers advantage, we made quick work of their monsters due to the low health and increased damage on our side. There's no way he gets the win here anymore due to me having more damage and tanking ability.
Results
GG! If the enemy had a similar level summoner, this would have been a lot closer and I think I would have been more on the backfoot due to Kelya having the extra armor for more tankability.
That's it for this one and see you next week!
Full battle here.
Images provided by Splinterlands in game and via Weekly Battle Mage Challenge post.
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