Hello everyone! Pozdrav svima!

This week I'm going to show you one of my battles featuring Molten Ash Golem - great Fire splinter ranged attack card. It was introduced to the game with Chaos Legion release. It's one of the starter cards, so it can be played from the start.

THEME: MOLTEN ASH GOLEM
Edition: CHAOS LEGION
Rarity: RARE
Element: FIRE
Attack: RANGED
Abilities: Close Range (Weaken, Demoralize)

~~ LORE ~~

The Molten Ash Golem shifted through the rugged mountain slopes. Leaving a burning trail behind it, it was driven on by the desire deep within the mana that fueled it. To find its creator and to serve.

The golem crested a boulder-strewn ridge and saw a lone figure standing only a few yards away. A towering creature of charcoal with burning magma lines running through it. It hefted an enormous sword easily in one hand. The golem knew what it was. The source of its own sentience. The Forgotten One.

The dark figure turned to stare at the Molten Ash Golem. And then it spoke in an echoing, deep voice.

“Come. The Magus calls for us.”

The golem followed.

~~ STATS ~~

When you look at this cards' stats at level one, you probably think - ok what's the big deal about this card? It costs 6 mana and it has only 1 range attack with 1 speed and 9 health. And, ok, at max level it has 3 ranged attack, 2 speed and 10 health. There are plenty cards out there with better stats..
The low speed makes it very good in Reverse Speed ruleset, but that can't be all of it, right?

Exactly! That's not nearly all of it. What makes this card special is the Close Range ability that allows this monster to perform ranged attacks from the first position.

Because of its high health it makes it an excellent tank. I usually put it in second position, behind a melee tank so it takes over when the first tank dies, while doing damage all the time, not just sitting there, waiting for its turn.
Another great example that pops into my mind is a battle with Reverse Speed and Keep Your Distance rulesets. It plays a role of the first tank, plus it does damage.

How to counter Close Range ?

• You can't really counter the ability itself all you can do is try to have a monster with Snipe ability and it will target Molten Ash Golem if it's positioned just behind the tank.

At level 5 it acquires the Weaken ability that Reduces the Health of all enemy Monsters. It reduces the Health by 1 (but it cannot end in less then 1). I don't really have to explain how useful this is, don't I? Less health means enemies dies more quickly which equals easier victory.

How to counter Weaken ?

• One way to counter this ability is to use a summoner that increases Health of your team like Tarsa, Mother Khala, newly added Lux Vega and a couple of others.
• Another way to counter this ability is to put a monster in your team that has Strengthen ability which increases Health of all friendly monsters by 1.

At max level (8) this card gets Demoralize ability that Reduces the Melee attack of all enemy Monsters. It reduces melee attack by 1 (it cannot end in less then 1).
Another great defensive ability that makes this card essential in lot of team combinations.

How to counter Demoralize ?

• Counters this ability are similar to counters to Weaken ability
• One way to counter this ability is to use a summoner that increases Melee Attack of your team like Tarsa, Daria Dragonscale and a few legendary summoners.
• Another way to counter this ability is to put a monster in your team that has Inspire ability which increases Melee Attack of all friendly monsters by 1.

~~ BATTLE ~~

Today's battle is a great example of how Molten Ash Golem can be used for its low speed, high health and ranged attack, but unfortunately it didn't have a chance to tank much.

If you want you can see the whole battle, play by play - click 👉 HERE 👈

~~ RULESET ~~

Ruleset in this battle played to my hand nicely, leaving no chance to failure. Mana cap was the max there is, so I could pick whichever card I wanted.

I will try to explain each part of the ruleset, so you get the better understanding what was I thinking when I picked my line-up.

~~ STRATEGY REVIEW ~~

When I saw the mana cap, Reverse Speed ruleset and Fire splinter available I knew my line-up straight away. Fire splinter is full of heavy-hitting slow (low speed) cards so I had no problem picking my team. Only doubt was the summoner, should I go for Tarsa and her +1 melee and health (very useful when facing Noxius Fumes ruleset) - that would mean I would go full melee attack team. Or go for Yodin Zaku for that extra ranged attack, health and Blast and try to mix high melee attack and ranged for maximum damage output. I went for Yodin (like that was really a doubt).

My opponent had more conventional approach - Fire splinter line-up with Tarsa summoner with high health monsters.

~~ LINE-UP ~~

You can see the line-up from both teams in battle screenshot right after this section. I will go through my line-up and explain why was each card picked and put in that spot.

SUMMONER

YODIN ZAKU Fire splinter legendary summoner that increases friendly ranged attack and health by 1. It also gives Blast ability to all monsters in the team. I chose this summoner because I wanted to go for maximum damage output, with a little "spice" on top of that. Yodin Zaku is one of the strongest summoners, because of its Blast buff.

1st POSITION ("TANK")

GRUM FLAMEBLADE Amazing Fire splinter legendary card. Even at level 1 he's practically unbeatable, with 4 melee attack, pile of health and armor. On top of that he has Void Armor and Bloodlust, making him more deadlier with every kill and even harder to kill because of it. He gets Void ability at level 2 and Giant Killer at level 3, making it amazing tank versus magic attacks, and a specialist in killing high mana monsters. I used him as a tank because of his amazing defensive stats and low speed, needed for Reverse Speed ruleset.

2nd POSITION

MOLTEN ASH GOLEM Very good rare File splinter card. Because of its high health and Close Range ability I use it a lot. Usually, at 2nd or 3rd position, so it can eventually take tank position. I put it in second position because I wanted it to take over tank role if needed.

3rd POSITION

SCAVO CHEMIST Great support Fire splinter card. This little guy is a must-have in Noxius Fumes battles. His only role is to Cleanse the poison of the tank so he can live longer, tank longer, giving the rest of the team a fighting chance. He gets even better at higher levels with Slow ability at level 6 and even more at max level with Headwinds ability. I put it in third position to protect him from both sides, just to be sure he uses the Cleanse.

4th POSITION

FORGOTTEN ONE Another great Fire splinter epic card. I use it regularly in Noxius Fumes battles because of its Immunity ability. But it's even better at level 3 with Retaliate, and at level 5 with Piercing is an absolute beast. I put it in fourth position, to be protected from both sides since it was my only monster with Immunity so I wanted it to be the last one standing.

5th POSITION

RUNE CRAFTER One of the newly added common cards with Riftwatchers edition. I love this card because of the Fury ability that does double damage to targets with Taunt. At level 6 it gets Snare ability making it useful against those pesky Flying monsters. I put it in fifth position to make best use of his damage, hoping the opponent would go for Life splinter and Taunt monster.

6th POSITION

TINDERLOCK Great but expensive rare card also from Riftwatchers edition. He's got high ranged damage, and high health. But what's so special about him is the Close Range and Last Stand abilities. I put it in the last position, so he can use his Last Stand if left last one alive by some miracle.

~~ COURSE OF THE BATTLE ~~

This was not a long fight, but it wasn't very short either. Because we had practically infinite mana so all the monsters had lot of health - but when you have Blast enemies tend to drop like flies.

Round 1

First round was all about the tanks, taking most of the damage with the exception of their secondary tank taking Blast damage. My opponent managed to get a Sneak attack hit on my Tinderlock.

Round 2

In second round things started heating up, half of the opponents team died from Blast damage and Poison from the fumes and, importantly, my Grum got the killing blow triggering his Bloodlust.

Round 3

Going into round three my opponent was left with only 3 monsters with two of them barely clinging to their lives.
As you might guess it didn't go well for them.

Round 4

In round four my low health monsters died of the poison damage left me with three of my strongest guys versus his one.

Round 5

Round five showed us the real power of Retaliate and it was the round our Molten Ash Golem stood as a tank for a short moment.

Round 6

Last round - 1 vs 1 - my opponents left with only 1 health while my monster had full armor and health. The result is - game over.

~~ RESULT ~~

The battle result was never put into question. And a nice rating and RP/SPS gain from it.

~~ CONCLUSION ~~

Did your strategy work?

• Yes, my strategy worked out great. High health and Blast damage made a huge impact to the battle result.

What will you try differently next time?

• Probably switch out Rune Crafter for Lava Launcher and put it in last position (for his armor - to protect from Sneak attacks). Because no Taunt monster was used rendering Rune Crafter inferior choice to Lava Launcher.

Do you like MOLTEN ASH GOLEM? Why or why not?

• I like this card, I use it quite often. In some situations it's a must-have, like I already said, in Reverse Speed especially. It not that good in "normal" speed battles because it tends to miss a lot against high speed monsters.

Link to the battle itself can be found 👉 HERE 👈

If you still haven't tried Splinterlands try it out 👉 HERE 👈

Thank you for your time, and please vote if you like this post. 👍

Credits

Special thanks to:

@carrieallen for ultimate markdown tutorial.
@rqr4 for text dividers used in this post.
@splinterlands for images used in this post and for making this great game.