Last week, we went underwater as our challenge demanded. This week, we return to dry land where we would face more foes. Thankfully, we have the might Grund on our side!
GRUND
Grund is a Chaos Legion Monsters that gets a lot of hype. With those stats, I can understand why the hype exists. Grund costs a massive 10 mana but has just 3x damage which increases to 4x at level 3. This may look small but it definitely is not when you consider his Double Strike ability! That gives him 8x damage at level 4 in one go. Best part is that, if he misses the first hit, he gets another chance to cause 4x damage.
Trample is a great addition to this guy. After doing 8x damage on a high health monsters or two with average health, he gets to do another 4x damage on the next unfortunate monster in line. If the conditions are right in the Stampede ruleset, this guy can be an absolute terror.
If all these were not already enough, Grund still proves to be a terror with the addition of Cripple. Healers are going to have a problem with this.
In order not to make Grund too powerful, he was given a speed of 3x which he maintains up till max level. It's not so bad, though, because he has a high health. His health at level 1 is 10x but at level 2, it becomes 11x. Eventually, it becomes 13x!
The Combat Rules and My Strategy
| COMBAT RULES |  |
|---|---|
| MODIFICATIONS | AIM TRUE, UNPROTECTED |
| ACTIVE SPLINTERS | WATER, EARTH, DRAGON |
| SUMMONER |  |
|---|---|
| NAME | OBSIDIAN |
| SPLINTER | EARTH |
| EDITION | CHAOS LEGION |
| RARITY | RARE |
| LEVEL | 4 |
| MANA COST | 4 |
| BUFFS | +1 MAGIC DAMAGE |
Obsidian is the only Earth summoner that I have in my collection so I don't have a choice but to use her. Well, she is a summoner that delivers most of the time so I am not complaining. Let's see how much difference her +1 magic damage would have in this battle.
| MONSTER 1 |  |
|---|---|
| NAME | GRUND |
| SPLINTER | EARTH |
| EDITION | CHAOS LEGION |
| RARITY | EPIC |
| LEVEL | 3 |
| MANA COST | 10 |
| ATTACK | 4X MELEE ATTACK |
| SPEED | 3X |
| HEALTH | 11X |
| TOUGHNESS | 0 |
| ABILITIES | DOUBLE STRIKE |
Serving as the tank is the lizard man himself! Since there would be no armor in the game, Grund's high health should be helpful in defending the frontline. Also, the lack of armor makes it possible for Grund to do some serious damage with is massive double strike attacks.
| MONSTER 2 |  |
|---|---|
| NAME | REGAL PERYTON |
| SPLINTER | EARTH |
| EDITION | CHAOS LEGION |
| RARITY | RARE |
| LEVEL | 4 |
| MANA COST | 5 |
| ATTACK | 2X MAGIC ATTACK |
| SPEED | 6X |
| HEALTH | 6X |
| TOUGHNESS | 0 |
| ABILITIES | FLYING |
Next on the line is Regal Peryton! Normaly, I would have put this monster in the second position because of his high speed. He would have been able to stand a chance against ranged snipe attacks if there are any but Aim True ruleset nullifies this. Well, the high speed will let him attack quickly and do some fast damage.
| MONSTER 3 |  |
|---|---|
| NAME | MAGI OF CHAOS |
| SPLINTER | NEUTRAL |
| EDITION | CHAOS LEGION |
| RARITY | EPIC |
| LEVEL | 3 |
| MANA COST | 6 |
| ATTACK | 3X MAGIC ATTACK |
| SPEED | 2X |
| HEALTH | 6X |
| TOUGHNESS | 0 |
| ABILITIES | NONE AT LEVEL 1 |
Magi of Chaos is here just to add to the fire power. 3x magic damage is already huge but it gets better with Obsidian's buff!
| MONSTER 4 |  |
|---|---|
| NAME | GOBLIN PSYCHIC |
| SPLINTER | EARTH |
| EDITION | CHAOS LEGION |
| RARITY | COMMON |
| LEVEL | 5 |
| MANA COST | 6 |
| ATTACK | 2X MAGIC ATTACK |
| SPEED | 1X |
| HEALTH | 5X |
| TOUGHNESS | 0 |
| ABILITIES | TANK HEAL, AFFLICTION |
There are no shields in this battle right? That shouldn't be a problem because I have Goblin Psychic to keep the tank alive with his healing abilities. Best part about this guy is that he can stop the other team from healing their tank with his affliction ability. How fun is that?!
| MONSTER 5 |  |
|---|---|
| NAME | SUPPLY RUNNER |
| SPLINTER | NEUTRAL |
| EDITION | CHAOS LEGION |
| RARITY | COMMON |
| LEVEL | 5 |
| MANA COST | 6 |
| ATTACK | 2X RANGED ATTACK |
| SPEED | 4X |
| HEALTH | 5X |
| TOUGHNESS | 0 |
| ABILITIES | SWIFTNESS |
Earth monsters are generally pretty slow. I really don't want my monsters be really slow in this battle so I have decided to use Supply Runner. This guy's swiftness should make a difference in this battle. Let's see how that works out.
| MONSTER 6 |  |
|---|---|
| NAME | HUNTER JARX |
| SPLINTER | EARTH |
| EDITION | CHAOS LEGION |
| RARITY | EPIC |
| LEVEL | 3 |
| MANA COST | 6 |
| ATTACK | 4X RANGED ATTACK |
| SPEED | 2X |
| HEALTH | 7X |
| TOUGHNESS | 0 |
| ABILITIES | SNIPE |
Normally I would not play Jarx because he misses a lot but the Aim True ruleset is going to help with that. His 4x ranged damage is something that I am excited to see in action.
The Battle Highlights
| My Splinter | Enemy's Splinter |
|---|---|
 | |
Strategy
I really want to take advantage of the unprotected ruleset. The quicker I hit the other side the faster I can get this battle over with. Affliction should also help with this a lot. The other side will have a tough time healing their tank.
Round 1:
- The summoners start the battle with their buffs. Both Obsidians add +1 damage to their magic monsters.
- Supply Runner brings out the supplies and makes his allies faster.
- Mycelic Slipspawn taunts my monsters and they are forced to attack it.
- Regal Peryton, Supply Runner, Magi of Chaos and Hunter Jarx bravely take out the taunter.
- The other Regal Peryton and Venari Spellsmith throw their weak attacks at Grund with the spellsmith dispelling Grund's added speed.
- Grund launches a double strike attack on the Mycelic Infantry reducing his health to 3x.
- Goblin Psychic heals Grund before destroying the Mycelic Infantry.
- The other Goblin Psychic and Goblin Tower throw their weapons at Grund. Blast hits Regal Peryton.
Round 2:
- The two Regal Peryton start with quick attacks. Mine hits the enemy's while the enemy's hits Grund.
- Supply Runner and Magi of Chaos finish up the other Rega Peryton.
- Hunter Jarx snipes at Venari Spellsmith and takes him out with his massive 4x damage.
- It's Grund's turn and he doesn't waste it. He destroys Goblin Psychic with a 4x attack before doing the same to the Goblin Tower.
- Goblin Psychic restores some of the hero's health. DEFEATED!
Victory!
Two Earth teams but only one came out on top. Sure the ruleset says we were unprotected but only one ream was truly unprotected. It is clear now which team that was.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE BATTLE
Did My Strategy Work?
My strategy was perfect! I was able to totally exploit the unprotected ruleset with Grund's double strike. He did massive amounts of damage without having to worry about armor. I give the enemy a thumbs up for using a Shield monster like Mycelic Infantry but it just was not enough to stop the entire fire power.
Using Goblin Psychic was also a great idea. He did not get to apply affliction but he was able to heal Grund giving the monster the chance to do his job.
Do I like Grund?
Well of course I like Grund. Who doesn't? Grund is undoubtedly one of the more popular Chaos Legion monsters. When I started playing the game last year, I knew I wanted to get a Grund and that's what I did. I have the monster at level 3 and he has been very effective. I hope to use this monster at level 4 one day so that I can try out double strike with trample!
And That's All For Today!
- All images used in this post are from the Splinterlands game.
- All GIFs used are screen recordings from the Spinterlands game edited on GIPHY.
- All dividers were made by me with Canva.
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