In this battle episode, I gained my first experience of having Bloodlust triggered fully on the whole run. Bloodlust is one of of the most complex abilities because it needs precise timing to deal killing blow just to trigger the abilities. This ability will be much easier to be used if at least there are 2 cards deployed which possessed it. Brawl setting provide more chances and freedom since every Gladiator cards possessed this ability; although currently in normal battle, Gladiator become available by using the new Summoner from Riftwatchers rewards cards.
The benefit of Bloodlust tend to add up exponentially. Basically triggering Bloodlust provides +1 to all parameter. The +1 armor and +1 health in most occasion provides a great way to delay opponent killing blow. Bloodlust start to become omnipotent once it triggered at least 3 times. By this point a +3 speed not only provides great evasion but also earlier act order. And you could imagine, once Bloodlust activated beyond 4 times, it almost impossible for the card to be stopped.
Here we have a 25 mana cap battle with Up Close & Personal Only ruleset. The available Splinter is Earth, Life, and Dragon. Here is the battle link
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_7cff1974947e81fc11a312c68568ebee&ref=kid.miniatures
For my formation, I used:
| Position | Card Name | Level | Mana | Health | Armor | Speed | Damage Type | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summoner | Helios Matriarch | 1 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1st Row | Disintegrator | 1 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 | Melee | 2 |
| 2nd Row | Marisol Contuma | 1 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 5 | Melee | 4 |
| 3rd Row | Uraeus | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Melee | 1 |
| 4th Row | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 5th Row | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 6th Row | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
My opponent formation:
| Position | Card Name | Level | Mana | Health | Armor | Speed | Damage Type | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summoner | Grandmaster Rathe | 1 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1st Row | Chaos Knight | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | Melee | 3 |
| 2nd Row | Uraeus | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Melee | 2 |
| 3rd Row | Stitch Leech | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | 2 | Melee | 2 |
| 4th Row | Dumacke Exile | 3 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 | Melee | 3 |
| 5th Row | Gargoya Scrapper | 3 | 1 | 2 | - | 2 | Melee | 1 |
| 6th Row | Soul Fiend | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | 2 | Melee | 1 |
At first, I'm not sure how to approach on this battle. I don't have prominent melee cards on Earth or Life Splinter. My first though if only I have Djinn Chwala this might be an easy choice. Since Obsidian and General Sloan buff seemed useless, I quickly ended up with Helios Matriarch, mainly because speed buff will be more useful, including access to Gladiators. Since I only have 1 selectable Gladiators, my first choice was to take maximize the mana on the Gladiators cards, and thus I choose Marisol Contuma. This is a bit risky choice, because I have less mana to be spread evenly on the whole formation. My next cards was a hard choice. I picked Disintegrator for its Demoralize. But to maximize the damage output, I have to risk Disintegrator on the front row. Uraeus in the last row to split the attack on the back-row.
In the opposite side, my opponent choice on Grandmaster Rathe seemed questionable. Not Void Shield useless because magic are unusable, but also there are no counter abilities used, which waste the Amplify effect. But the formation are spread more evenly and the total damage output are far greater than my formation. But lucky Demoralize could soften the damage output.
Round 1 opened with Marisol charging and chipping Chaos Knight armor. But the attack is responded by a wave of Sneak attack which put an end to Uraeus.
Round 2 run with Marisol breaking down Chaos Knight armor. Chaos Knight start to wear down Disintegrator, left it with 3 health remaining. Meanwhile facing the wave of Sneak attack, Marisol managed to swiftly evade Uraeus and Stitch Leech attack.
Marisol put a full power attack against Chaos Knight, but the Shield ability really block down the attack, and Chaos Knight survived with only 1 health remaining. Disintegrator failed to score the kill on Chaos Knight. Marisol shows its agility by evading Stitch Leech and Uraeus attack for the 2nd times.
When the 4th round started, there's no way for Chaos Knight to escape its fate. Marisol scored the first kill for its team, and claimed the Bloodlust benefit. But the tide quickly turn for the worst, as Uraeus step up to the first row and deliver the killing blow to Disintegrator. The formation are unbounded from the Demoralize debuff. The battle become more dangerous.
At the start of Round 5, the outlooks are not good as Marisol pitted 1 against 5. Meanwhile 4 out of 5 opponent cards have been decorated with armor traits. Marisol managed to destroy Uraeus armor, but unfortunately Uraeus and Stitch Leech both deal 2 damage against Marisol.
Marisol with its 7 speed, strike a fatal blow into Uraeus, and then claiming the 2nd Bloodlust benefit. Gaining 1 armor and 1 health helped Marisol to survive another round. Dumacke Exile and Stitch Leech managed to land a blow into Marisol.
Marisol started Round 7 with only 2 health. But fortune fall into her, as Dumacke Exile and Stitch Leech missed their attack. And entering Round 8, Marisol easily rout Stitch Leech.
The momentum start to turn good. With 1 extra armor and 1 extra health, Marisol managed to sustain Dumacke Exile attack. And by the end of Round 10, Marisol successfully rout Dumacke Exile.
Starting Round 11, Marisol had gained an unsurmountable 8 melee damage and 10 speed. And there's no way for Goblin Scrapper to be able to land a hit anymore. And its only a matter of time for Soul Fiend to meet its fate.
CONCLUSION
Bloodlust was truly a deadly ability which could caused a sharp turn on the tide of the battle. We could clearly see, once Marisol deal its 3rd kill, the Bloodlust benefit started to add up. And eventhough Dumacke Exile have superior armor and health, there's no chances for it to overtake Marisol damage and speed.