Hi fellow mages!
Here we are in another weekly battle challenge and this time we are featuring Dhampir Stalker. As you already know(if you are reading my articles) Death Splinter is my favorite splinter and I like almost all cards in that splinter. I liked Death because it was very cheap to build a Gold and after that Diamond deck. I do play in Modern format so that includes Chaos Legion, Reward, and some of Riftwatcher cards. Dhampir Stalker is one of those cards that I already maxed out.
Half-vampire, the Dhampir are faster and stronger than normal humans. Most have taken to a mercenary lifestyle, never quite welcome with vampires or humans. The Stalker is adept at tracking their prey, then dispatching the target with a silent and perfectly-placed arrow from the shadows.
From his perch atop the dock master's building, Vilak observed the commotion below. There on the docks, crooked and bleeding among the fishing boats and merchant ships, was the corpse of a male. Tanned skin. Brown beard. Dirty clothes. Lifeless eyes staring up at the night sky.
Surrounding the victim were four of the city guards, each stumbling about, peering behind crates and waving their arms. Clueless idiots, all of them.
Vilak did not move, but simply breathed deeply. The scent of salt, kelp, wood, ale, piss, and...ah. There it was. Blood.
Although only half vampire, his ability to track even the faintest hint of blood was as dependable as that of a full Nocturni. His crimson eyes slowly moved their gaze to the southern district where the blood scent led.
His target had taken a black-fletched arrow to the gut. Vilak had taken care to avoid major arteries. It was critical that the target survived long enough to answer a few questions. Unfortunately for the lone dock worker who rushed to help, the target was not eager to be the subject of scrutiny. The flash of steel and a quick slash across the neck sent the dock worker sprawling backwards, clutching his throat.
The target had then stumbled away from the docks and into the city.
Vilak shouldered his bow. Pulling his hood low, he smiled grimly and slid down the side of the roof.
It was time to hunt.
About Dhampir Stalker?
Well, it is not a bad card, but it is not a great card either. You can definitely create your Death Splinter deck without this card but it is very cheap and that is the reason why I didn't skip him. At the time of writing this, you can buy 1 BCX for 0.096 USD. It means that you need under 12 USD for a max-level copy. That is insane, and that is why I took that opportunity and did just that, maxed him out.
His abilities are nothing special. True Strike is nice. You don't have to worry if he will hit the target or not, but on the max level he has 4 speed and that is enough speed to hit most monsters. If your opponent outspeed you by a lot, then you have bigger problems in your team than Dhampir Stalker.
Deathblow is something that I don't even count as an ability on this guy as he does not have Close Range so you can't really use this ability in 1 vs 1. If your opponent is already down to 1 monster and you have 2 or more on the field, the chances are that you don't even need Deathblow and you would win anyways. So it is nothing special, though sometimes it looked like Deathblow helped me. Let me know what do you think about that ability.
I really like Dhampir Stalker because of his big damage. I actually prefer 4 damage and not 5 so I don't get blocked by Forcefield but well, it can't be perfect. But yes, the Death team does not have a big damage dealer so Dhampir Stalker could be used as a substitution for that.
As always I will not go through everything that happened in the game. Instead, I will go through my decisions and line of thought when I was picking my team for this fight. If you want, you can check out the game on the following link:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_935e65a23b039a1d79673450b705375d&ref=vjekich
Cursed Windeku - one of the best cards in the Chaos Legion expansion if you ask me. It is really good from level 3 when he gets more attack which combined with Thorns ability deals quite a lot of damage. Heal ability is a sweet spot for this guy as he dominates in the Gold league. It is really hard to kill this guy due to the big health pool. On the max level, he has even Slow which is amazing in combination with other cards like Lira The Dark and Supply Runner. Another combo that could be good is Cursed Windeku + Oshuur for that double heal. Could be quite nice for those mid-mana matches. I use him in almost every mid-mana match as a tank and that was the case in this match as well.
Queen of Crows - a card that came to us in the new Riftwatchers expansion and it is one of those cards that I really like. I often use it in mid or high-mana matches even though I have only a level 5 card at my disposal. Close Range, Headwinds, and Slow are amazing abilities that it provides, or better say those are debuffs that are affecting the enemy team. On the higher levels, it even has Return Fire ability which makes it perfect for the second or third sport in your team where it can attract all those snipe attacks. That is how I used it in this team as well, even though I don't have a card with Return Fire ability. She is a viable tank due to her big health pool. The only downside is low damage and big mana cost, but the damage is not why we use this card - debuffs are!
Djinn Muirat - it feels like a very underrated card. With all the amazing abilities this guy is an absolute beast. Void Armor, Giant Killer, and Magic Reflect are abilities that I like a lot. When paired with a repair Djinn Muirat can handle quite a beating and he can still do quite a lot of damage as well. For 4.7 USD per BCX, he is a STEAL. I would not be surprised if we see 50-100 USD per BCX in two years. Don't take this as financial advice :)
Raa - another new card that feels very interesting. At times it feels really good, and at times it feels bad. I mostly use it when I predict that my opponent will play some high mana monsters to take advantage of Double Strike and Giant Killer abilities. This card is weird to me because of Scattershot but I know that intention was to avoid Taunt and go for those support monsters. I would prefer some other ability instead of Scattershot so I could use that Double Strike and Giant Killer abilities on those huge Taunt monsters. Rust is always nice to have on your team but it feels weird on such a huge monster.
Supply Runner - this is the card that I probably use the most. Solid damage, great speed, Swiftness, and Strengthen abilities are everything you need from a good support card. On top of that Supply Runner is a neutral splinter card so the price of 0.104 USD per BCX is just too low if you ask me. This guy is just amazing and I use him from the Silver league really really often. A must-have for any deck!
Dhampir Stalker - and on the last spot, star of the week, Dhampir Stalker. I already said everything you need to know about this guy. I placed him in the last spot as has decent health and if he dies fast I won't lose valuable buff/debuff. You must protect your support monsters! Dhampir Stalker can survive 2 or maybe 3 attacks so he is not that bad at that spot. Let me know if you are using him in a different way.
Since the whole market is down, now is the perfect time to invest in the cards, and Dhampir Stalker is no exception to that. For only 11 USD you can get 115 BCX of this card which is quite amazing. I took advantage of that situation on the market and created a decent Gold team that can fight even in a low Diamond league. Dhampir Stalker is a part of that team and I am not regretting the money that I invested in him.
As I already said at the start, Dhampir Stalker is a good card. He is not bad, but he is not great either. For a small amount of money, you often get average cards and Dhampir Stalker is just that, an average card. But, that kind of card is needed so you can create maxed-out decks that are cheap and viable. I don't know about you but I can't buy all the legendary cards so I must use cards like this to get the most out of this game. Use cheap cards wisely!
It is the perfect time to buy some cards and rebuild your deck. Packs are not selling as fast as expected so prices are stable. I expect them to go down even more once we sell more packs. But there is always a possibility of new players joining and buying tons of cards, so be careful. If you are not playing #splinterlands yet, now is the perfect opportunity to join while you can get all those amazing cards at special prices. Come and join Splinterlands Discord and find out more.
Official Splinterlands Discord: https://discord.gg/A6yNcVqbU6
If you are new here, #splinterlands is the amazing #NFT trading card game with the #play2earn model. That means you can have a lot of fun AND you can earn money (DEC - Dark Energy Crystals) at the same time. If you don't have an account yet consider registering with my link. If you sign up with my referral link, please DM me and I will send you 100 DEC that will help you start with the game(of course if I see you on my referral list).
https://splinterlands.com?ref=vjekich
Have fun and see you on the battlefield.
