I'd like to share several tips for playing Splinterlands, some general, others which are very important in the context of the new ranked rewards system.
I'll list them first, then go into details for each of them.
- if your opponent knows the summoner you'll be playing, you start with a handicap
- rank up first and quickly, worry about focus missions later
- play your games every day, but don't drop to a lower league category
- if you're frustrated, stop playing
- if you lose several games in a row, stop playing
- if you are on a winning streak, keep playing
- don't deplete your ECR below 75%
- don't forget about bonuses, they add up
- when you play matters
- don't use cards you don't own or rent (i.e. starter cards)
If your opponent knows the summoner you'll be playing, you start with a handicap
This is a tip everyone is probably aware of, but many ignore it, including me sometimes. However I have alternative summoners for every splinter, so even if I play a number of games consecutively from the same splinter, it's relatively difficult for the opponent to guess what I'll be playing.
So, even if you want to play a lot for the focus mission, consider varying the summoner within the same splinter, at least.
But if this becomes a serious handicap and you start losing games because your opponents learn how to counteract your teams, it's time to play with a different splinter.
You don't win games, you don't earn rshares for either objective: season rewards or focus rewards. And you deplete your ECR at the same time.
Rank up first and quickly, worry about focus missions later
At the beginning of the season, we all start from a lower league. Usually 4 leagues behind, except in bronze.
That means you automatically drop a league category (by league category I mean bronze, silver, gold, diamond, and champion).
Since the rshares per win is higher in the higher league category, it should be your first priority to rank up as soon as possible. You'll earn more SP and FP in the higher leagues.
There is a note that makes sense here. If competition is too high for you to rank up immediately, then you should allow better players to move up first, while you play in the same league you started in (or maybe the one right below it) for the SP and FP for two-three days. Just make sure you don't drop to lower leagues and that you don't lower your ECR excessively. More about this in other tips.
Play your games every day but don't drop to a lower league category
The new ranked rewards system incentivizes us to play every day the number of games ECR allows us without depleting it too much.
The problem is with every game, two outcomes are possible: victory or defeat.
If you win, you receive more rshares toward your SP and possibly FP. If you lose, however, your rating drops.
When chasing wins, one needs to be careful about the rating lost as well, and especially not to drop to a lower league category.
If you're frustrated, stop playing!
Frustration is your enemy, more than your opponent. It clouds your judgment, makes you rush into battles, choose the wrong options and keep playing when you should stop.
Stop playing when you are frustrated! Talking from experience here...
If you lose several games in a row, stop playing!
Closely related to the tip above, because losing games in a row leads to frustration, if you lose a couple of games in a row, it's recommended to stop playing.
Stop, even if you can find reasonable justifications for losing.
You'll play again later with fresh ideas and potentially against different opponents.
If you are on a winning streak, keep playing!
On the flip side of the coin, if you are on a winning streak something works out very well for you. There's no reason to stop now. Keep playing until you lose and break the streak. Afterward, it depends on where you are with the ECR. But you could continue later anyway.
Don't deplete your ECR below 75%
ECR recovers 25% per 24 hours (or a bit above 1% per hour). If you deplete it more than 75%, you will start after 24h with less than 100%.
Ideally, you should never go as low as 75% anyway and play in more than one block per day, allowing ECR to recover some between sessions.
Don't forget about bonuses, they add up
Remember the bonuses part from the rshares formula? Just like ECR, they play an important role.
If anyone doesn't know, here's the list of bonuses:
- win streak bonus
- gold cards used
- alpha/promo cards used
- beta cards used
- guild bonus
When you play matters
There are differences between weekdays and weekends.
There are differences between the hour during the day when your play.
And there are differences between the day of the season when you play.
Learn to take advantage of these differences and avoid the bad timings as much as possible.
Don't use cards you don't own or rent (i.e. starter cards)
Even after the new ranked rewards entered the scene I've seen people who didn't know they shouldn't use starter cards anymore.
So, don't! Use your own cards, and complete your deck by buying other cards or renting them from the market.
The formula above tells you why. The more starter cards you use, the less rshares you earn. Using only starter cards means no rewards.
These are my Splinterlands gaming tips. I hope you find them useful.
Posted using Splintertalk