Lately, I have been taking more notice of something that any serious Splinterlands player should; Buffs and Debuffs.
Using the cards I mention below I'm sure has increased my win rate. It seems so obvious when you look at what they do, so much so that they can be easily overlooked.
I don’t mean individual effects, but global ones that affect the whole playing board on one side or the other. These are insanely powerful and should not be ignored.
Buffs are always superior to Debuffs. Why? Because you as the player have control over when to use creatures that can utilise them.
Buffs
Inspire - Gives all friendly Monsters +1 Melee attack.
Protect - All friendly Monsters gain +2 Armor.
Strengthen - All friendly Monsters have increased Health.
Swiftness - All friendly Monsters have increased Speed.
Debuffs are the secondary type of blanket effects and can in some rare cases not benefit the player at all.
That doesn’t mean you should disregard them, they are powerful but their effectiveness is not under your control.
Debuffs
Blind - All enemy Melee & Ranged attacks have an increased chance of missing their target.
Demorolise - Reduces the Melee attack of all enemy Monsters.
Headwinds - Reduces the Ranged attack of all enemy Monsters.
Silence - Reduces the Magic Attack of all enemy Monsters.
Slow - Reduces the Speed of all enemy Monsters.
Weaken - Reduces the Health of all enemy Monsters.
Below is a list of the ‘best effects’ effects a player can use. Use these monsters and you will have an advantage on your opponent if you can keep them alive long enough.
Splinterlands is about statistics, so make use of them and win more!
The Best Effects with Examples
Protect - All friendly Monsters gain +2 Armor.
Protect works on your monsters so is considered a 'buff'.
Regardless of what armour your monsters have, you will get +2 on all your monsters. If you are playing a full field of 6 monsters, that's a combined 12 extra armour. For one buff, that is incredible.
Crustacean King – It's little wonder that 'King' is increasing in price.
This Beta regular common is now 24c each, and I have just managed to upgrade my regular one to Level 8.
He's almost doubled in price since just before Steemfest 4. At level 6 (second-tier abilities) he gains Protect.
As well as being a tank healer, he’s a ranged monster and doesn’t draw retribution from Lord Arianthus when attacking.
Other cards that have Protect: Defender of Truth (Level 3), Spirit of the Forest (Level 3).
Strengthen - All friendly Monsters have increased Health.
Strengthen works on your monsters so is considered a ‘buff’.
Regardless of what health your monsters have, you will get +1 on all your monsters. If you are playing a full field of 6 monsters, that’s a combined 6 extra health. More health means they survive longer.
Sea Genie - He’s a reward card and cheap to buy. Not so cheap to use considering his abilities, or is he?
At Level 6 he gets the second-tier ability of Strengthen.
Don’t be tempted to use Genie at the end of your monster line.
He needs to be protected to keep the team alive with that extra health each.
Other cards that have Strengthen: Corrupted Pegasus (Level 2), Wood Nymph (Level 6), Mermaid Healer (Level 4), Lord of Fire (Level 1), Black Dragon (Level 3).
Swiftness - All friendly Monsters have increased Speed.
Swiftness works on your monsters so is considered a ‘buff’.
There may be a chance that a monster is already at ‘7’ and if so it won’t benefit from Swiftness. If you are playing a full field of 6 monsters, that’s a combined 6 extra speed.
If you can hit first then the other monster may die first!
Brownie - Brownie is a reward card and not too expensive for an Epic.
Don’t treat him as a melee attack card, he’s there to speed your team up and not much else.
At ‘1’ mana he should always be in your Earth line-up somewhere.
He gains Swiftness at level 1. If you are playing in the lower leagues then try him. Brownie is 32c per unit as I write this. Good value for what you get.
Other cards that have Swiftness: Flame Imp (Level 5), Ruler of the Seas (Level 2), Silvershield Bard (Level 5)
Slow and Weaken don't make it to 'The Best Effects' as some monsters could already be at a Speed of '1', likewise, some monsters could be at a health of '1'. There's no reducing '1' to anything less than '1'.
THREE monsters that I need to mention that use ‘double debuffs’ and ALWAYS should be used in your line-ups are:
Some of the cards are CHEAP and for what they do, shouldn't be overlooked.
Try and keep these monsters alive, somewhere in the mid-ranks. They could possibly take your opponent down by a combined 12 stats. Don’t take my word for it, go and experiment!
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If you found this article so invigorating that you are now a positively googly-eyed, drooling lunatic with dripping saliva or even if you liked it just a bit, then please upvote, comment, resteem, engage me or all of these things.
Sweeeeeet line up chops!! Yeah i love the debuffs more than the buffs until now but damn this is also a good incentive to level to 5 or 6
Level 5 unlocks all those lovely tier 2 abilities. You need to get into the Gold league to use them though.
Inspire plus sneak works well for me. Crush the flank then destroy the center for the win.
Inspire would be best in Fire decks but if you notice, none of the cards have it as an ability. I do use Enchanted Pixie in Fire to bolster the monsters.
That's yet another card that's going up, 71c now, I got mine around 43c several weeks back. I just wonder how much these beta's are going to increase?
More players = higher card cost. People building champion decks in the future will need to pay a high price for the last cards. Maybe early buyers will be able to sell a small part of their holdings to pay for current cost.
Possibly, it all depends what Untamed brings us. Early buyers maybe be able to cash in as you say. I have a load of beta's doing nothing that I bought just before they were OOP.
A lot, let's hope.
BTW the fire beetle queen has inspire ability at max level, add the pixie = +3 boost to melee
Yes, he does. I still have to get mine to the level where he heals. He is not a bad card at all.
What an awesome Splinterlands post! This is getting an upvote from Steem Monsters!
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Thanks! What is it going to take to get Splinterlands into the masses. Do you remember Angry Birds a few years ago? This could be the next one.., but with whistles.
Hi there! They are planning on a bigger marketing plan once the app comes out. I believe you are right! It could be as big as Angry Birds!
I get some of those abilities, but most of my cards would need ranking up a bit to get them. You educate me of what is possible. Cheers
I just started playing, lots to learn so every bit of info helps. Thanks @slobberchops
Ah.. there is and there isn't. It's not too complicated for the masses to join, and that's where I see the potential.
Buy enough cards and you can win simply by having higher level and better cards than you opponents.
Doing the daily quests can be addictive. If you ever played any MMO's you will know about these, you feel like you need to do them or are missing out.
I try and point out the subtleties, you can beat decks better than your own, if you play better and the other guys doesn't place his cards correctly.
I am starting to realize this part.... "I try and point out the subtleties, you can beat decks better than your own, if you play better and the other guys doesn't place his cards correctly." Thanks for the info. @slobberchops
T-Rex with brownie, enchanted pixie, & javelin thrower ftw
One of my favorite hands to play in Unprotected rules. Speed with a chance to trample the first two cards before your opponent makes a move. T-Rex gotta eat!
Haven't come across that combo, thanks! I don't tend to play Rexxie at all. I have the cards but have not leveled them up.
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Nice post. I have been staring to use my ooze a bit more than I used to. I always underestimate the ability to make my monsters hit faster. In the Earth or Fire Splinter pairing the ooze with the speed cards can mean you have the enemy defeated before they even get an attack in.
I shouldn't be giving out these hints and tips. I'm going to lose more now... <-grumble->
hey man nice work with this post! reading this has definitely made me want to come back and play SM! hehe looking forward to more of this series man!
Didn't know you'd stopped playing! I'll send you a response by DM later.., it's not hard to line up the pics and words. Better just to send some of the code then you can see how it works.
Thanks man!