Most Talisman mods help you press an advantage. Three of the Tier 3 mods do the opposite: they wait until the match has turned against you, and then they pay out. This spotlight takes three real Talismans in circulation today, one for each of those mods, and reads every line on their plates.
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Two things to know first
Second Wind is the comeback rule every match has. If a battle round ends with you holding no Monsters anywhere while your opponent still has some, battles pause for 3 placement rounds. You place every round of the pause, and the Monsters you place arrive with protective buffs that grow with each wipe: Divine Shield and Thorns, then Shield and Void, then Magic Reflect, then Return Fire, then Heal. Your opponent's board holds at 3 Monsters until battles resume. Second Wind only happens during the 25 placement rounds, never in the death battle. The Second Wind rework post has the full story.
A Talisman rules your Friendly Lane. Its Rules Mod binds both halves of that Lane, your Monsters and your opponent's alike. The extra mods favour only you.
Up to Eleven, Hearty Arrival, Second Wind Ascendant
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Rules Mod: Up to Eleven | All units have Amplify: Retaliate and the Punishment abilities (Corrosive Ward, Magic Reflect, Return Fire and Thorns) deal 1 more damage. |
| Tier 2: Hearty Arrival | Monsters you place in your Friendly Lane arrive with +1 health. |
| Tier 3: Second Wind Ascendant | Monsters you place during a Second Wind receive the next ladder rung's buffs. |
Second Wind Ascendant puts you one wipe ahead. Your first Second Wind arrives with the second rung: Divine Shield, Thorns, Shield and Void, where everyone else gets Divine Shield and Thorns. Your second Second Wind adds Magic Reflect, your third adds Return Fire, and from your fourth you have the whole ladder, Heal included. It tops out at the fifth rung like everyone else. The buffs land on everything you place during the pause, in every Lane, not just your Friendly Lane.
This plate is built around one number. Three of the four Punishment abilities are on the Second Wind ladder: Thorns, Magic Reflect and Return Fire. Up to Eleven makes each of them hit back 1 harder. So a Monster you rebuild your Friendly Lane with after a wipe returns 3 damage to every melee attacker instead of 2, and from your second wipe on, magic attackers pay more too. Hearty Arrival adds a point of health, so each of those Monsters lasts one hit longer and punishes one more attacker.
What it asks of the Lane. Up to Eleven also amplifies your opponent's punishers in that Lane, so be careful about melee there against a Thorns Deck. After a wipe, put your rebuild into your Friendly Lane first. That is where the Amplify and the extra health stack on top of the ladder.
Aim True, Siege Rations, Rally
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Rules Mod: Aim True | All units gain True Strike: attacks never miss. |
| Tier 2: Siege Rations | While your half of your Friendly Lane is outnumbered, it gains +3 Mana each round instead of +2. |
| Tier 3: Rally | After your army is wiped, your next 3 placements in your Friendly Lane arrive with +1 armor and +1 health. |
Rally is a second ladder that only you get. It switches on when you are wiped, the same moment as Second Wind, and gives your next 3 Friendly Lane placements +1 armor and +1 health on top of whatever the ladder grants. The charges are not tied to the pause. Placements in your other two Lanes do not use them, and they wait until you place in your Friendly Lane, however long that takes. Each new wipe refills them to 3.
Siege Rations pays for the rebuild. After a wipe your half of the Friendly Lane is empty. If any enemy Monster still stands there, you are outnumbered, and the Lane gains 3 Mana a round instead of 2 until your side catches up. That is one extra Mana every round you spend climbing back, exactly when Rally has charges to spend.
What it asks of the Lane. Aim True takes the misses out of that Lane on both sides. Every attack lands, so what decides a fight is how much armor and health a Monster brings, and that is exactly what Rally adds. Keep a few cheap Monsters in hand for that Lane. After a wipe, three cheap placements spend all three Rally charges sooner than one big one.
Briar Patch, Warded Arrival, Fated Reckoning
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Rules Mod: Briar Patch | All units have Thorns: a melee attack takes 2 damage back. |
| Tier 2: Warded Arrival | Monsters you place in your Friendly Lane arrive with +1 armor. |
| Tier 3: Fated Reckoning | While your Luck is below your enemy's, your Monsters that fall in your Friendly Lane deal 1 damage to their killer. |
Fated Reckoning is a comeback mod of a different kind. It does not wait for a wipe. It reads Luck, the score on the board that counts the randomness that broke your way. While your Luck is below your enemy's, every Monster of yours that falls in your Friendly Lane deals 1 damage to the Monster that killed it. The damage strips armor first, then health, so it can finish off a wounded killer. The comparison is taken at the start of every round, and a tie switches it off. A Monster that falls with no attacker behind it, to poison or Earthquake for example, triggers nothing.
It fills the gap Briar Patch leaves. Thorns only answers melee attacks. Every melee hit on your Friendly Lane already costs the attacker 2, but ranged and magic attackers walk away clean. Fated Reckoning charges the killing blow whatever kind of attack it was, so while the dice are against you, nothing kills in that Lane for free.
What it asks of the Lane. Briar Patch gives your opponent's Monsters Thorns too, so your own melee pays the same price in that Lane. Ranged and magic Monsters suit it better on your side. Warded Arrival gives each placement a point of armor, so they survive longer, and each fall still charges the killer.
Finding one, and getting one
None of these three was listed on the Talisman Market on the day this was written. All three sit in players' collections. Every player's Gallery is public by username, so you can browse what is out there, and the Market is where any of them would show up if a holder lists one.
To get your own:
- Win it. Every ticketed win in Ranked, a stakes room or the Sealed and Draft queues rolls for a prize, and sometimes the prize is a Talisman. A foil-heavy Deck lifts the odds that it lands at Tier 2 or 3. Each Black Foil or Black Arcane card adds 2%, and each Gold Foil or Gold Arcane card adds 1%, counted over all 53 cards.
- Earn it daily. Your first ticketed win of the day pays a bonus Talisman, and meeting the Daily Challenge pays another.
- Offer for it. At the Altar, offer 3 to 5 Talismans and receive one in return.
- Buy it. Listings on the Market start at 20 DEC. A listed Talisman is out of play until it sells or its owner takes it down.
Then equip it in the Deck Builder and build the Friendly Lane its plate asks for. The Talismans guide covers how to read any plate, the first spotlight covers three more Tier 3s, and the full Splinterlanes rules cover Second Wind, Luck and the Lanes in detail.
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Own a Talisman with a Tier 3 mod you would like to see in a future spotlight, or something here that does not match what you see in game? Comment below. This blog is where we answer.