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Card Highlights #58: Pelacor Mercenary

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There is no honor among mercenaries.
by Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski.
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Earth Element has a lot of interesting units. Even though this element is considered a magic-focused element, there are still non-magic units that I consider really good to try at a very low price whether you buy them or rent. Pelacor Mercenary is one of those units and I will show you some new tricks on how to take advantage of this unit.

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Lore

Many centuries ago, the Pelacor followed the prophet, Edalus, on what has become known as the 'Exile.' They followed him into the Mountains of Fire surrounding Mount Praetorous. For generations they lived alone in these mountains, hidden away. They were taught to worship the sun and moon gods, Solaki and Lunaki, deities dreamt into existence from the bones of Edalus' dead parents and his zealous mind. The scriptures read that the two Gods were carried into the heavens upon pieces of consecrated land, torn from the World to raise them high, so that their worshipers would always look up to them and forever be beneath their great heavenly power.
On the darkest night of each year, Edalus would invoke rituals that would change the bodies of his people. Drawing upon the dormant power beneath the mountains, he caused angelic wings to sprout from their backs. This change was permanent and, in fact, most Pelacor offspring inherited the appendages from their parents.

^{For full lore of this card, visit this website:
https://splinterlands.com/card-detail/334/regular/3/?tab=lore}

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Buy and Rental Costs

At $3.84 at max level, Pelacor Mercenary is very affordable for what he can offer. If you have the budget or if you love using Earth Element, I suggest getting a copy of Pelacor Mercenary, especially if you're planning to continue fighting in Wild Ranked Format.

Pelacor Mercenary's price is at the lowest. 0.10 DEC per day is the lowest you can see and is allowed in the market. There's no reason for you not to pick up this unit when you're using Earth element for your ranked battles.

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Card Stats

Pelacor Mercenary has really high stats. From damage to speed to health, there's none of him that you wouldn't want in a unit. While he lacks a bit in the armor department, he still has high stats overall especially for someone that only needs 7 mana.

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Card Effects

^Flying

Has an increased chance of evading Melee or Ranged attacks from Units who do not have the Flying ability

Flying is a good ability overall. It gives you a chance to evade some melee and range attacks. It can also be used to negate damage from Earthquake Rule Set.

^Heal

Restores a portion of the Unit's health each round

This ability is a good one for tanks and for battles that has low mana. With high health and heal, you can outheal the damage of the enemies that can win you games.

^Retaliate

When hit with a Melee attack, Units with Retaliate have a chance of attacking their attacker

While Retaliate can only be activated per chance, it's still a strong ability since the damage is based on your unit's attack. This means if you use Inspire or any abilities that increases Pelacor Mercenary's attack, that damage will be what Retaliate's damage is when it is used on enemies.

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Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths
Pelacor Mercenary's strenght is in his high Speed accompanied by Flying and Heal. Most attacks to him misses and those that doesn't gets healed throughout the game. The high health also benefits him giving him a high amount of heal per round.

Weaknesses
Pelacor Mercenary is weak against magic attacks. These attacks doesn't miss and makes his Sped and Flying not so useful. This is worse for Pelacor Mercenary since he is an Earth Element unit where most magic attackers thrive.

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When To Use

^{Noxious Fumes}

All Units start the battle Poisoned.

Noxious Fumes deal 2 poison damage each round. Since Pelacor Mercenary has 11 health, it heals for 3 damage per round. This counters the effect of Poison making him not take any damage per round.

^Earthquake

Non-flying Units take 2 Melee damage at the end of each round.

Earthquake rule set has a very special ruling that any units with Flying cannot be damaged. Without this ability, your units will take 2 damage per round.

^{Up Close & Personal}

Only Units with Melee attack may be used in battles.

Retaliate only works when the unit is attacked by other melee units. Up Close & Personal Rule set increases the chance of this ability working.

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When Not To Use

^{Reverse Speed}

Units with the lowest Speed attack first and have the highest chance of evading attacks.

Reverse Speed flips the advantages of Speed. The more speed the unit has, the more it would miss and attack later. This is bad for Pelacor Mercenary who not only has high speed but also has melee attack that can miss.

^{Healed Out}

All healing abilities are removed from Units and Summoners.

Pelacor Mercenary is a unit that is reliant on his Heal to survive. With Healed Out rule set, this advantage is removed making this unit bad.

^{Briar Patch}

All units have Thorns (returns 2 damage to attacker when hit by a melee attack)

Briar Patch rule set is bad in this rule set because Pelacor Mercenary is a melee unit. Every attack and retaliate he does will be met with Thorns damage which makes him almost unplayable.

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Battle Sample

^{https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_9d7eafc6bfdb3b2862c5ea6fdfb7163e}

At the start, I have the advantage at this battle. Two of my units, Pelacor Mercenary and Xenith Monk was carefully selected because of the Heal. Carnage Titan was added to try and break the enemy's lineup from the front. Chaos Dragon was added because there's no more units with Heal that I can use and he's the strongest among my other picks. The plan was for Chaos Dragon to damage the back row while Xenith Monk and Pelacor Mercenary delay the match with Heal. As Chaos Dragon unleash his power, the Poison will then take the enemies dealing the final blow.

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Final Thoughts

It's such a shame that Pelacor Mercenary will be gone in a few months from Modern Ranked Format. The next set is still unannounced but it's sure that the Chaos Legion will be taken out when the rotation starts.

This is both good and bad for the game. It's bad because players loses access to a lot of good simple and cheap cards to rent but also good as the level of the playing field will rise up once everyone uses Summoner Tactics in their games.

I made this post since I am using this unit a lot and so that I have a memory of Pelacor Mercenary when he is taken out in the back in the future.

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If you have suggested combos or questions, feel free to comment it down below.

If you are planning to play and is inspired by my post, please consider using my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=kpgamingch

I do not own any of the photos in this post. All credits goes to:

Splinterlands
Peakmonsters
Canva
Giphy