In Splinterlands there are a few abilities that allows monsters to be passive aggressive toward their opponents. What I mean by this are abilities that get activated if they are attacked in a specific way. The most aggressive of these abilities is retaliate, which when monster is attack they automatically attack back toward opponent who attacked them. Then there is magic reflect and thorns. Today we will be looking at the ability thorns.
Currently in game there are 29 cards that can have the ability thorns. 1 summoner and 28 monsters to be exact. Everyone who is playing the game often will know in Earth splinter summoner Mylor Crowling as the one who has thorn ability.
A known staple for use in bronze to silver leagues the summoner is very useful with providing thorn to all its monsters used in battle. This summoner basically can make any and all Earth monsters have thorn when they are used in battle.
Ability Thorn
Based in game definition of the ability:
When hit with a Melee attack, does damage back to the attacker
There is a limit on the damage attack back on the opponent capped at two. Therefore if it was a high health monster performing the attack they are only taking minor damage from thorn. However if and when thorn is active it does not take a turn to attack therefore monsters with it in have multiple attacks per a turn, depending on how many times they themselves gets attacked.
The ability works really well with monsters that get attack often and often with Melee. The most likelihood of this happening is if the monsters are at the front of the formation. As we look through the different rarity of cards we shall see how many I noted that are good tankers, first position monsters, tend to have thorn.
Commons with Thorn
A quick look at the commons that have thorn I know I use many of these in the front of my formations. For instance high mana matches with water I have Sea Monster leading. While low mana matches with water I have Spineback Turtle. Both monsters I have leveled up to obtain thorn ability.
Newer cards in Biceratops, Crystal Jaguar and Giant Scorpion also have thorn once leveled up. I like how Giant Scorpion has a double whammy as when it attacks it also inflects poison on its opponents.
The likely easiest to obtain card to have thorn currently would be the Demented Shark since its a rewards card. However it needs to reach level 6 in order to have this ability so it maybe easy to own the monster but to have enough to reach level 6 maybe another story.
Rares with Thorn
With less than half the cards as commons that have thorn in the rares the thorn ability definitely is not common to have. Mylor basically having the ability to spread to any Earth monster when in use definitely sounds enticing.
A lot of the rares are under the fire splinter and works very well when its fire against fire. This is because fire tends to focus more towards Melee and Speed. This leads to me seeing a lot of fire teams leading off with Living Lava. Having Lava with thorn makes it that much harder to attack and kill when they are at the front of formation.
Epics with Thorn
Even less epics than rares have thorn ability. The newest epic in the game, Lobstradamus has it but has to be level 5 to obtain it. That means it is nearly max level in order to have thorn. Epics are maxed at level 6. One that I do use often and have at level 4 is Manticore. The dragon is very useful in low mana matches and perfectly fits into second position of formation due to its reach ability.
Legends with Thorn
Some of the most expensive cards in the game have thorn at higher levels. Where Caladuum is the newest card to have it while Lord Arianthus and Chromatic Dragon the oldest. Most of these monsters work well at the front of formation as they work best as tankers. Having the thorn by their sides makes it that much more difficult to get through.
Conclusions
The benefits of having thorn is that it can attack back on opponent without spending more turns. In contrast if attacks that are not melee is hit towards a monsters with thorn the ability is nullified. The monster can not retaliate unless its a melee attack.
To end this I recommend players at bronze and silver leagues to be aware to use more range and or magic monsters if they see their opponent having a high percentage of setting up an Earth formation. This is on the premise of nullifying Mylor in case they are used in opponent's lineup.
Until next time thanks for reading!!!
If you are interested to learn more about Splinterlands please go through some of my other posts. Order is from newest to oldest posts:
All You Want To Know About Reward Chests
Helpful Links for New and Veteran Players
Splinterlands Good Cards To Own
Splinterlands Rentals from a Lender Perspective
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