Today, I am gonna talk about Tunt ability. Taunt ability means that all enemy monsters target the monster with this ability(if they are able to). So, taunt ability can be used to disrupt the enemy attack plans and divert the bulk of his/her attack to the taunt ability monster (usually having high health and shield to absorb the damage) and protecting your vulnerable monsters for as long as possible.
Some use case scenarios for Taunt ability
Monsters with Taunt ability usually have higher health and shield and hence cost large mana. So, Taunt ability monsters are best suited for higher mana battles.
General
Placing a taunt attack monster upfront can provide the rest of your team protection. Imagine having a low health opportunity attack monster in the back ranks. Taunt ability will buy your opportunity monster enough time to inflict substantial damage to the vulnerable enemy monsters. But always try to back your taunt ability monsters with a high health monster to counter the enemy blast ability monsters.
Target Practice
Target Practice battle rule gives all the enemy ranged and magic attack monsters to have snipe ability. Blast attack magic or ranged monsters can prove even more lethal in this battle mode. So, taunt ability monsters on front or back can easily counter all the snipe attacks and even curtail the damage caused by blast attacks.
Demonstration
In the battle below, I effectively used taunt ability to my benefit. This was a 99 mana battle with two battle rule: one, Target Practice and two, Lost Legendaries. Also the only fraction allowed was Life. 99 mana meant that it was going to be a battle with heavy ranged and magic attack monsters.
I used TYRUS PALADIUM summoner for this battle becuase only life fraction was allowed for this fraction and +1 shiled for all monsters is a great advantage if you are expecting heavy melee and ranged attack.
At the very front, I placed my GOBLIN MECH. GOBLIN MECH is a formidable monster to face but it is vulnerable against magic attack. So the plan was to use Taunt ability monster in the team to provide the GOBLIN MECH some protection.
On one down position, I placed.PRISMATIC ENERGY. A neutral monster with magic reflect and great health. It could come in handy when Taunt ability monster falls and the enemy snipe ability gets restored.
On third rank, I placed MAGI SPHINX to take benefit of it's magic attack considering the enemy would also be playing with shields on.
Next, I placed my SILVERSHIELD ASSASSIN. A true assassin indeed, as it packs a great combo of some of the most deadly abilities in all splinterlands; Poison, Double Attack and Sneak.
On the 2nd last position, I placed SILVERSHIELD KNIGHT. The main purpose was to have Inspire ability and give my GOBLIN MECH and SILVERSHIELD ASSASSIN real teeths.
On the very last, came the SHIELDBEARER. The plan was to utilize it's Taunt ability to disrupt the enemy's Snipe ability. I am planning to upgrade my SHIELDBEARER to level 5 where it gets Shield ability making it even more resilient to melee and ranged attacks.
Remarks
The Taunt ability indeed worked as planned. Fortunately, the enemy attack was predominantly ranged. While the SHIELDBEARER kept taunting the enemy ranged monsters, my SILVERSHIELD ASSASSIN quickly rounded up the enemy back row monsters. Also, GOBLIN MECH utilised its Piercing and Stun abilities and didn't even allowed the enemy's CLAY GOLEM to attack.
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