Blood and Sunder Modifier gives all units Corrosive Ward which deals 2 damage to the armor of any melee attacker. The armor damage is permanent for that battle which makes every melee hit costly. This Modifier changes how players think about armor and melee damage because every attack slowly weakens your own unit's armor and it's permanent unlike normal damage. In this match, I decided to ignore the fear of losing armor and focus on strong damage stacking instead.
Modifiers
Blood and Sunder - All units have Corrosive Ward.
- Amplify increases the Corrosive Ward damage by 1 which makes melee attackers lose 3 armor instead of 2. Amplify does not stack so even if you have many units with Amplify, it will only increase the damage by 1. Still, that extra armor loss every hit makes a big difference in long battles. In Blood and Sunder Modifier, Amplify makes melee attackers suffer more and forces the enemy to rethink their lineups.
5 Combos You Can Do with Blood and Sunder Modifier
| Modifier | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 | Amplify | Increases Magic Reflect, Return Fire, and Thorns damage to all enemy units by 1 |
| - Amplify increases the Corrosive Ward damage by 1 which makes melee attackers lose 3 armor instead of 2. Amplify does not stack so even if you have many units with Amplify, it will only increase the damage by 1. Still, that extra armor loss every hit makes a big difference in long battles. In Blood and Sunder Modifier, Amplify makes melee attackers suffer more and forces the enemy to rethink their lineups. | ||
 | Void | Reduced damage from Magic attacks |
| - Void becomes very important in Blood and Sunder Modifier because many players switch to magic damage to avoid Corrosive Ward. Since magic damage does not trigger Corrosive Ward, it becomes a safe option for many lineups. Void reduces magic damage and protects your frontline unit from getting melted in a few rounds. Having Void makes your team more balanced and ready for magic heavy strategies. | ||
 | Deflect | This Unit is immune to all indirect, or reflected damage. That means that it will not take damage from Blast, Thorns, Return Fire, or Magic Reflect |
| - Deflect is very strong in Blood and Sunder Modifier because units with Deflect are not affected by Corrosive Ward. This allows melee units with Deflect to attack without worrying about losing armor. It gives you a way to keep your melee unit's armor while avoiding the downside of the Modifier. Units with this ability can become key damage dealers in this type of battle. You can easily get this ability by using Bella Ratajowlski from Life element. | ||
 | Double Strike | Unit attacks twice each round. |
| - Double Strike is risky in Blood and Sunder Modifier especially for melee units. Since Corrosive Ward triggers every attack, a melee unit with Double Strike will lose armor twice in one round. This makes them lose armor very fast and can cause them to take health damage early. Players should be careful when using Double Strike melee units in this Modifier. | ||
 | Repair | Restores some armor to the friendly Unit whose armor has taken the most damage |
| - Repair can be tricky in Blood and Sunder Modifier if you rely heavily on melee damage. Units will still Repair the armor of a unit even if that armor has been permanently reduced by Corrosive Ward. This means units with Repair will constantly waste their rounds repairing the same unit that never gets any armor making the Repair attempts useless. Repair is still useful in other modifiers but players must understand how Corrosive Ward interacts with permanent armor damage. |
Battle Breakdown
Early Game:
Usually, to get around the Corrosive Ward from Blood and Sunder modifier, players use units with magic damage. If you have a strong strategy and synergy, you don't really need to do this. In this battle, I overcame Blood and Sunder and even the enemy Shield with just sheer brute force. To counter the modifier, I used units without concerning with armor. It doesn't matter if they have armor or not as long as they have melee attacks since my team will be stacking a lot of Inspire because of Captain Frankie's ability.
Mid Game:
The death of their Saltwraith Bulkhead is huge because that decreases their damage by a lot. The other one that needs to be removed is Godsnot Sorceress. If my units were able to kill that one, then this would be an easy game for later.
Late Game:
I am so happy that this build naturally have a lot of Sneak and Opportunity plays. I usually find myself in front of big and bulky tanks and having a lot of units that can prioritize the back line can make these types of battles easier. My damage advantage was not that high because of the Shield that are in a lot of their units and most of my units don't have magic damage to counter that. Still, the lost of their back line allowed me to win the game thanks to my strategy. This was a close lost in my opinion but a win is still a win.
Full Battle can be found here: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_063c2fdc8b87083c03e62a71b89291af
Closing Thoughts
Blood and Sunder Modifier is scary at first because melee attacks slowly destroy your own armor but that's only true if your units have armor in the first place. In this battle, I ignored the usual magic spam strategy and relied on strong melee damage stacking my Inspire ability to remove key enemy units like Saltwraith Bulkhead and Godsnot Sorceress. My Sneak and Opportunity units helped remove the back line which made the frontline easier to handle. Even if my armor kept dropping and the enemy had Shield, the high constant damage from my team was enough to secure the win and show that brute force can still work in Blood and Sunder Modifier.