I don’t know if it’s just me, but sometimes I spend more time picking a team than thinking what to eat. I’ll just stare at my fridge for five minutes, close it. In Splinterlands though, it takes me around 1 hour when renting units deciding on the plan for that season. It’s funny because while that is time consuming, it's satisfying when the plan rolls into action and worked as intended.
There's no two same battle in Splinterlands. Some battles make you think twice, others make you overthink, and then there’s that one with the ruleset that always makes you pause because you weren't ready for it. It's not because it’s too hard but because you didn't rent a certain card that you need in that specific ruleset. What is the connection of all this rant to Super Sneak ruleset? Well, let's find out.
All melee units have Sneak (targets the enemy unit in the last position).
Super Sneak is one of those rulesets that look simple but can easily mess up your whole lineup. It gives all melee monsters the Sneak ability, meaning they’ll all target the last position. It sounds straightforward, right? You just protect your back, right? But in practice, it’s never that easy.
The biggest headache is that you don’t know what your opponent will do. They might fully commit to the melee Sneak strategy and attack from behind or they might go magic and ignore the rule completely. If you prepare too much for Super Sneak, your frontline gets burned down by magic users. If you focus on the front and forget the rear, your fragile units get wiped out in seconds from the melee units with Sneak abilities. So, what would you do?
It’s one of those rulesets where balance is everything. You can’t go all offense and you can’t go all defense. You need to protect both sides while still keeping enough firepower to fight back. That constant “guess what the enemy will do” feeling is why I call Super Sneak easy but super tricky. It doesn’t take much to understand but it always finds a way to surprise you.
My main approach for Super Sneak is to play safe and balance everything. If possible, I always put a Shield or Void unit in the frontline so they can handle any types of attack that's coming. The first tank needs to survive long enough to hold your line, because once the front breaks, your whole formation usually falls apart. If I can, I also use a unit that can Heal or has Repair support behind it. Keeping the front alive longer means my backline can keep doing damage safely.
At the backmost position, I place another tank, preferable someone with Shield, Retaliate, or just plain high armor and health. This unit’s only job is not to survive but to delay until you've broken to their team. You’d be surprised how many games where player misplayed byt adding that last unit tank and then I go full magic and then they just have a unit that cannot attack or do anything at the very far back. It's useless until I destroy their whole team.
Then comes the fun part: deciding what kind of strategy I want. Since only melee units benefit from the ruleset, I usually use Super Sneak as more of a bait ruleset. I don't use melee units because the enemies would be expecting it. So, I use that to my advantage and play differently and go full magic. Yes, I don't get to use the ruleset but hey, it works magically.
https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_9eae38c26abdd9024430fa5fc5fadd92?ref=slimeyph
In this battle, I did not play the Super Sneak ruleset because of Armored Up. Using Melee units in this situation is bad because of the extra armor from Armored Up. So, even if Super Sneak is a strong ruleset, you still need to accomodate for the other ones before deciding if you would commit on it.
I didn't play around Super Sneak but I also didn't ignore it either. Like what you see, I still placed a tank at the very back. Abyssal Elemental is a good tank due to his armor and magic attack. So, even though he is being played as a tank, he can still do damage from the back.
If you’re new to Splinterlands or just in Super Sneak, the number one rule is never leave your backline unprotected. This is the mistake almost everyone makes the first few times. You might think your strong tank in front is enough, but when three or four melee enemies all hit your last position, your backline will vanish before you even realize it.
The second mistake is going full melee just because the ruleset favors them. Yes, all your melee units get Sneak, but that also means your team becomes predictable. Players who bring Magic or Range attackers will shred through you since you can’t hit them strong enough. If you want to commit in this ruleset though, do not mix and full commit. If you're going to make a Sneak strategy, do a full melee Sneak. Focusing on one unit at a time is a good strategy and it can make you win if the enemy isn't prepared for it.
Lastly, don’t panic-pick. I see a lot of players rush their lineup in their games. They think high damage is the only thing viable. It’s not. Sometimes, slowing down and setting up a balance tank on both ends wins you the fight more than anything. To me, Super Sneak is more about the mind games and smart positioning. If you can keep your balance and surprise your enemies, victory usually comes naturally after.
Hi, y'all. Slimey here, your jolly and gullible little blue slime. I got reincarnated to this world to better my art and join community challenges to get more practice and improve my skill.
Know more about me by checking out my introduction post
See funny vtuber clips and animations by checking out my youtube channel.
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Images are taken from Splinterlands, Drawn in Krita, Animated in Photoshop and Edited in Canva.
