Hello awesome splinterlands community and welcome to my entry for this week's SHARE YOUR BATTLE CHALLENGE!
The theme monster for the week is GARGOYA SCRAPPER, a monster that belongs to the Life Splinter which was coincidentally my focus element for the day. I was excited to complete this challenge because I had rented all the life deck cards to use for the Silver League. For this focus monster, I rented it at Level 4 where it is given a special ability that makes it much more effective in battles. Follow me as I talk about the GARGOYA SCRAPPER and how I used it in a battle.
A common monster of the life splinter, the Gargoya Scrapper is a tough and determined creature. According to the lore, these monsters are known as scrappers because they are on a quest to rebuild their home from the destruction caused by the Chaos Legion. These stone monsters, now spread around the lands, have been making more of themselves to replace the ones they lost. With their numbers rapidly growing, the Gargoya have been gearing up to stand against their greatest enemy - The Chaos Legion.
Check out the stats of this monster's card;
Except for the combined power, the Gargoya Scraper has the same stats in levels 1 and 2. At level 3, it gains the Void ability which makes it a really effective card considering the 1 Mana cost. This monster gains an extra attack at level 7 and an extra health at level 10. At level 5, it gains an extra speed which it loses at levels 7 but regains at level 9.
The Combat Rules and My Strategy
| COMBAT RULES | |
|---|---|
| MODIFICATIONS | STAMPEDE, EARTHQUAKE |
| ACTIVE SPLINTERS | WATER, EARTH, LIFE, DRAGON |
| SUMMONER | |
|---|---|
| NAME | LORNA SHINE |
| SPLINTER | LIFE |
| EDITION | DICE |
| RARITY | RARE |
| LEVEL | 3 |
| MANA COST | 3 |
| BUFFS | DIVINE SHIELD |
With the Stampede ruleset, I anticipate that the opponent would use a monster with the trample ability. So to counter any follow up attacks that should happen, I decided to use Lorna Shine because of her Divine Shield Buff. If by any chance the enemy uses the trample ability on my monster as the first hit, it would be ignored and so the stampede would not happen. Lorna Shine has quickly become one of my favorite Life summoners.
| MONSTER 1 | |
|---|---|
| NAME | GARGOYA SCRAPPER |
| SPLINTER | LIFE |
| EDITION | CHAOS LEGION |
| RARITY | COMMON |
| LEVEL | 4 |
| MANA COST | 1 |
| ATTACK | 1X MELEE ATTACK |
| SPEED | 2X |
| HEALTH | 2X |
| TOUGHNESS | 0 |
| ABILITIES | VOID |
With a health of 2, this monster is not much of a tank but I decided to place it in front to act as a distraction to the enemy. With the Divine Shield buff and the void ability, this monster should be able to take some hits from the enemy's monsters allowing other friendly monsters to throw hits from a distance.
| MONSTER 2 | |
|---|---|
| NAME | KRALUS |
| SPLINTER | LIFE |
| EDITION | DICE |
| RARITY | LEGENDARY |
| LEVEL | 2 |
| MANA COST | 12 |
| ATTACK | 1X MAGIC ATTACK, 2X MELEE ATTACK |
| SPEED | 3X |
| HEALTH | 12X |
| TOUGHNESS | 5 |
| ABILITIES | IMMUNITY, FLYING, HEAL |
Kralus is a monster I would normally place in the first position but with her x1 magic attack, she is pretty useful in any position. I rented this monster at level 2 where she gets the Heal ability. With the Heal, Immunity and Flying abilities, health at 12 and toughness at 5, this monster can really be a tough one to get pass. Once Gargoya Scrapper is taken out, Kralus will be able to do more damage with her x2 melee attack and still hold out on the frontline. Also, with her Flying ability, she will not be affected by earthquakes.
| MONSTER 3 | |
|---|---|
| NAME | CELESTIAL HARPY |
| SPLINTER | LIFE |
| EDITION | CHAOS LEGION |
| RARITY | RARE |
| LEVEL | 4 |
| MANA COST | 2 |
| ATTACK | 2X MELEE ATTACK |
| SPEED | 3X |
| HEALTH | 3X |
| TOUGHNESS | 0 |
| ABILITIES | OPPORTUNITY, FLYING |
Still because of the earthquake ruleset, I decided to put Celestial Harpy in my lineup. I really like this monster at level 4 because of her increased health, speed and attack. With the opportunity ability, this monster can take out monsters in any position on the enemy's lineup. Also, with her Flying ability, there is a chance that the enemy might miss her with any sneak attacks but she won't miss enemy's that have the Flying ability.
The Battle
| My Splinter | Enemy's Splinter |
|---|---|
Round 1:
- As anticipated, the enemy placed a fast monster with the Trample Ability in the first position.
- Lorna Shine gives all my monsters the Divine Shield ability while the enemy uses Kelya Frendul to add an extra speed and toughness to his monsters.
- The enemy's Diemonshark hits my Gargoya Scrapper but thanks to the Divine Shield, the damage is ignored and so the Trample ability is not activated.
- The enemy's Ice Pixie hurls magic balls at Gargoya Scrapper but there is no damage thanks to the Void ability.
- Kralus shoots at the enemy's Diemonshark, x1 damage, 6 health remaining.
- The enemy's Kulu Swimhunter throws its weapons at Gargoya Scraper, x2 damage, 0 health remaining.
- All the way from the back, my Celestial Harpy hits the enemy's Ice Pixie whose Flying ability is useless in this case, x2 damage, 0 toughness remaining.
Round 2:
- The earthquake happens and does x2 damage to the enemy's non-flying monsters. 5 toughness remaining for the Diemonshark and 0 toughness remaining for the Kulu Swimhunter.
- The Diemonshark lands a blow on Kralus but thanks to the Divine Shield, the damage is ignored.
- The enemy's Ice Pixie shoots at Kralus, x1 damage, 11 health remaining.
- Kralus heals back to 12 health and shoots magic balls at the Diemonshark before landing a manual blow, x3 damage, 3 toughness remaining, 5 health remaining.
- Kulu Swimhunter throws axes at Kralus, x2 damage, 3 toughness remaining.
- Celestial Harpy viciously attacks the enemy's Flying Pixie, x2 damage, 0 health remaining.
Round 3:
- Again, the earthquake affects the enemy's monsters. 1 toughness remaining for the Diemonshark and 2 health remaining for the Kulu Swimhunter.
- Diemonshark tries to hit Kralus but misses.
- Kralus retaliates at Diemonshark with a magic ball and x2 melee attack, 0 toughness remaining, 4 health remaining.
- Kulu Swimhunter attacks Kralus, x2 damage, 1 toughness remaining.
- My Celestial Harpy comes from behind again to finish off the enemy's Kulu Hunter, x2 damage, 0 health remaining.
Final Round:
- Another earthquake wave damages the enemy's Diemonshark, x2 damage, 2 health remaining.
- In one last desperate attempt, the Diemonshark strikes Kralus, x2 damage, 0 toughness remaining.
- Fed up with the games, Kralus decides to put the Diemonshark out of its misery, x3 damage, 0 health remaining, DEFEATED!
Victory!
With all her monsters defeated, Keyla Frendul disappears into the deep waters. Thanks to their courage, teamwork and the sacrifice of Gargoya Scrapper, my monsters and their summoner will live to fight another day.
Here is the link to the Battle for you to see the action👇
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE BATTLE
Did My Strategy Work?
Yes it did. Placing Gargoya Scrapper on the frontline to take the first round of damage from the enemy was really helpful. With the Divine shield buff from Lorna Shine, it was not affected by the Diemonshark's attack and so the Trample ability was never activated. Also, using flying monsters like Kralus and Celestial Harpy reduced the total hit chance of the enemy but increased mine. The flying monsters were also important as they did not take any damage from the earthquakes.
Using Kralus in this match was a great choice. Her toughness and heal ability made her impossible to defeat for the enemy. Her magic and melee attacks were also really helpful because the magic affected the health of the Diemonshark while the melee dealt damage to its toughness hastening the effects of the earthquakes.
The Celestial Harpy was very helpful in taking out all the enemy's backlines and thanks to her Flying ability, she did not miss.
Do I like the Gargoya Scrapper?
Having the void ability at level 4 with a giveaway mana cost of 1, I would say yes, I like this monster. I was able to use it effectively in the silver league as a distraction in the front.
When I may really like this monster is when it gets to level 5 and gets that extra speed which could help it do some damage before it is taken out. I may even appreciate it more at level 10 with all its stats increased still at that 1 mana cost.
And That's All For Today!
- All images used in this post are from the Splinterlands game.
- All GIFs used are screen recordings from the Spinterlands game edited on GIPHY.
- All dividers were made by me with Canva.
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