In Splinterlands, not every battle is decided by who brings the stronger cards. Many fights are close and the winner is chosen by small details. Each players uses one of the two general strategy, quality vs. quantity. You either bring in better units or bring in more to overwhelm the enemy. In some situations, you can do both but this is not one of those battles and the difference was decided because of the rule in that battle.
This article looks at Endless Gibbons not as a miracle card, but as a reminder that Splinterlands is still a game of better strategies. You can build the better stronger team in paper and still lose because the enemy has more units. Endless Gibbons perfectly fits the strategy of quantity. With only a single mana to spare, this can bring you wins if you can use him in appropriate times.

Lore

The Endless Apes are a confederation of ape troops united under the leadership of Lobb Lowland, the awakened gorilla. Among them are several troops of gibbons—arboreal primates with long arms that allow them to swing nimbly from tree to tree.

They are highly territorial and ward off intruders with a series of hoots, shrieks, and screeches accompanied by plenty of swinging about and shaking of branches. But if that doesn’t work, Lobb Lowland trained them to use their fists quite effectively, and they can pummel any would-be trespasser to death in short order.

https://splinterlands.com/card-detail/671/regular/13?tab=lore

Stats

Endless Gibbons is a low-cost unit that can be both treated as a tank or a damage dealer or simply as a filler. Endless Gibbons is not a main tank and but can still block a few attacks while still doing a small damage that fits into many teams without consuming a lot of mana. Endless Gibbons works very well with Inspire because that single extra melee attack turns Endless Gibbons into a more scary threat for such a cheap slot.

Abilities

Icon	Name	Description
	Reach	Melee attack Units with the Reach ability may attack from the second position on the team.
		is a match because Reach becomes much stronger when paired with Inspire because Inspire adds more melee attack to Endless Gibbons while Endless Gibbons is safely placed behind the tank. For a 1 mana unit, gaining extra attacks without needing to be in the front is very efficient. This makes Endless Gibbons feel like a free attacker that keeps contributing as long as your main tank lives.
		is a counter because Thorns is a direct counter to Reach because Endless Gibbons will take damage every time Endless Gibbons do melee attacks. With only 3 Health and no Armor, Endless Gibbons can die very quickly just from attacking. This turns Endless Gibbons into a liability in fights where enemy has Thorns.

Good Rules to Consider

Icon	Name	Reason
	Equalizer	The initial Health of all Units is equal to that of the Units on either team with the highest base Health.
		Equalizer rule is great for Endless Gibbons because it removes the weakness of low Health. Endless Gibbons suddenly becomes much harder to kill while still costing only 1 mana. This makes Endless Gibbons a natural tank for a very low mana.
	Up Close & Personal	Only Units with Melee attack may be used in battles.
		Up Close & Personal rule favors Endless Gibbons because only melee units are allowed. This doesn't stop Endless Gibbons and doesn't limit him as well making it a good pick in this rule. Every hit matters more here, and a cheap attacker like Endless Gibbons becomes very efficient.
	Aim True	All units gain True Strike (attacks will never miss).
		Aim True rule removes the chance to miss which is perfect for Endless Gibbons giving him a more consistent damage. Every attack from Endless Gibbons will land and do its job. This increases the overall damage your team can do by simply landing the hits in a consistent manner.

Bad Rules to Think Twice

Icon	Name	Reason
	Briar Patch	All units have Thorns (returns 2 damage to attacker when hit by a melee attack)
		Briar Patch rule is dangerous because Thorns damages Endless Gibbons every time Endless Gibbons attacks. The low Health makes the damage from thorns very lethal. Endless Gibbons may die after only a few hits.
	Thick Skinned	All units have Shield.
		Thick Skinned rule gives everyone more Shield which cuts the attacks of Endless Gibbons’ by half. Endless Gibbons already attacks for only a little and to half that further is bad. While this rule benefits Endless Gibbons as well when the enemies are melee, it also inhibits him to put pressure to the enemy team.
	Noxious Fumes	All Units start the battle Poisoned.
		Noxious Fumes rule is terrible for Endless Gibbons because poison damages Health by 2 every round. With only 3 Health at max level and 2 or less health most of his levels, Endless Gibbons will not survive long. This makes Endless Gibbons ineffective as a soft tank or adding damage to the enemy team.

Battle

Link to battle

In Equalizer rule, usually, the high damage is the priority. This is because everyone usually gets high health and you need high damage to offset this disadvantage. In this battle though, I chose to thicken my defense instead of picking better damage. I used that despite the low mana by using low mana units. Halfling Refugee and Endless Gibbons only have 1 mana but with Equalizer, can serve as durable tanks. Ujurak Elder may not be strong but the magic attack is still appreciated because of Marlai Singariel. The rest are my usual attackers, Captain Fellblade, Shock Trooper and Abyssal Elemental.

Images were taken from Splinterlands, made in Canva, drawn in Krita and animated in Photoshop.

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