This week's Splinterlands Share Your Battle Weekly Challenge is shining a spotlight on the Dragon Splinter. I have to admit that it isn't my favorite splinter. Mainly because I never really focused on it as there weren't any Dragon quests when I started playing the game.
Theme of the Week: Dragons
In the battle below, I show how the Diamond Dragon's Slow ability combined with a fast attacking team can make the difference in a battle against an opponent with equally strong cards.
The Rules and My Set-Up
Noxious Fumes
99 Mana Cap
Summoner: Delwyn Dragonscale (5 mana cost but his magic boost is so worth it)
Position 1: The Kraken - My favorite tank in the game and given its starting 14 health, it could take 7 rounds of poisoning before it dies.
Position 2: Captain's Ghost - Picked for its affliction ability. In the poison ruleset, if your opponent's monsters can't get healed, then it shortens the battle.
Position 3: Diamond Dragon - Apart from its high magic damage, it can also slow the opponent down to hopefully give a speed advantage.
Position 4: Phantom of the Abyss - 4 damage and can last 4 rounds being poisoned.
Position 5: Sea Monster - Placing it at the back and it won't come into play till the end. Self-healing the poison each round.
Position 6: Water Elemental - Fast attack but more importantly, can self-heal the poison damage taken each round.
Did my strategy work?
Very well and despite the Kraken dying faster than I had hoped, the rest of the cards outlasted my opponent who didn't have any self-healers. See the full battle here.
Round 1: Tanks on both sides, my Kraken and my opponent's Goblin mech are taken down by strong magic attacks.
Round 2: Poison and my enemy's strong magic attacks take out my Captain's Ghost and Diamond dragon. My opponent has more monsters but their health are low.
Round 3: At the start of the round, poison leaves my opponent's monsters very weak. My Sea Monster and Water Elemental are at practically full health.
Round 4: It is just a simple picking off of my opponent's last card.
Would I do anything differently?
I'd keep the strategy generally the same, with the self-healing cards at the back. Perhaps in stead of the Phantom of the Abyss, I might go with a Ruler of the Seas to try and do blast damage and take out some of my opponent's cards earlier.
Also, the Diamond Dragon's slow ability meant that I always got my shots off first, which is very useful in a ruleset like poison since you want to try and kill your opponent's cards at the start of the subsequent rounds before they have a chance to damage you.
My Thoughts on the Dragon Splinter
The Dragon Splinter is an interesting one. There are many powerful cards here and the fact that you can also access the traditional splinters can make for some interesting combinations.
It is a fairly balanced splinter against the other splinters and doesn't overpower them. It would be nice if the dragon quests were to give out a special or enhanced loot chest given how in mythology, dragons usually protected treasure.