SHARE YOUR BATTLE Weekly Challenge! RADIATED BRUTE

The Radiated Brute is a Monster which is a part of the Chaos Legion Fire Splinter line-up. It is a Reach Monster (it can attack from the 2nd (off-tank) spot, which in a combination with Tarsa, or Yodin (if you are lucky enough to be able to afford to buy/rent one), could be quite useful. Reach Monsters such as the one we have here are also particularly effective and useful in rulesets which force you to rely heavily on melee Monsters or just restrict you from using anything else but melee.

Now before getting into the stats discussion of the Monster, let's have a sneak peak into its lore:

The spreading blight on the continent of Praetoria twisted both the land and its people.

Plants and animals were the first to become corrupted. Fungus sprouted from vegetation and gave them sentience. Animals grew extra limbs, heads, and grew to extraordinary sizes.

Then the people fell ill. Some thought it was from the plague brought about by Doctor Blight. Others thought perhaps it was from the poisonous gases that seeped from the fissures near the volcano.

Whatever it was, those who survived the sickness were changed. They mutated, grew stronger, and were filled with an uncontrollable rage. Some were unable to control that rage and went on murderous rampages. Others fought to maintain their sanity long enough to protect their family, friends, and neighbors from themselves. They fled into the Jade Thicket, where they became as feral as the wild animals of the continent.

The people of Praetoria referred to them as Radiated Brutes.

It seems that the Radiated Brute is a zombie mutant or a mutant zombie, no matter what exactly it is, it is definitely a creature you would not enjoy crossing paths with while venturing out in the wilderness of Praetoria. So keep your fingers crossed the land plots you bought are far away from the Jade Thicket. 😀

Okay, now that we have a vague idea of what the Radiated Brute is, let us have a look at its stats and abilities at the key different levels.

It starts off with its signature ability - Reach at level one. It is basically what determines the use of the Monster, and you could say that it actually limits the options when it comes to its placement in the line-up. Of course you are totally free to place it wherever you want but it is obvious that it is meant to be played in the second spot. Its 2 attack (3 when paired with Tarsa) at level 1 is pretty decent, and its 5 life points enable it to take a couple of hits in Bronze/Silver leagues, so it can serve as an off-tank for sure. However, it is really slow with its 1 speed, so expect a lot of misses but this also means it will shine in the Reverse Speed ruleset.
At level 6 it gains the Enrage ability which is decent but requires for the Monster to be hit (and survive the hit) in order to take advantage of the increased attack and speed granted by Enrage. Some rulesets could make this happen more easily than others, it also depends on the enemy's composition. For instance if they have a splash monster and the splash affects the off-tank, that could work in your favor.
Nothing else of great importance happens for the rest of the levels. At level 10 the Radiated Brute ends up with 4 attack, 4 speed, and 6 health, which are decent stats but not really incredibly impressive.

Now that we have gotten acquainted with the stats of the Monster and its abilities, let us have a look at the battle I have chosen to showcase.

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Let us begin with the line-up:

Given the mana allocation I decided to opt for Tarsa as my Summoner. She is at level 2 as I have not yet gotten around to leveling her up a bit more. She is still very useful with her +1 attack / +1 health, however, I am often at a disadvantage when opting for her in Silver league as my opponents often roll with level 4 Summoners. It is totally possible to overcome the odds if you choose your line-up carefully though.

Living Lava is my go-to tank when it comes to the Fire Splinter. It is a total rock star as far as I'm concerned and its resilience thanks to its Shield ability is remarkable. It also packs a great punch with its 3 attack (4 with Tarsa present), so it can actually demolish the enemy's line-up on its own under the right conditions. Its one attack could sometimes be its downfall but wait until you see what happens if the Reverse Speed ruleset is in play.😁 Even though we do not have Reverse Speed in the current battle it is still too good to ignore as I have already mentioned.

Not much of a surprise here. As I have already mentioned in the stats section, if you really want to use the Radiated Brute, there is no better place for it than the 2nd spot in the line-up. It is its destiny and I have no intention to change that (at least in this battle 😝)

I put the Lava Launcher in the third spot since it is a pretty decent off-tank which is actually a ranged unit (so it does not benefit from Tarsa's +1 melee attack) but has also the ability to attack from melee distance thanks to Close Range. When you add to that the fact that it also has 6 armor and 6 health, its purpose is more than obvious. 😎

Right after the Lava Launcher I have placed the Serpentine Spy. I want it in the 4th spot because I expect it to do a lot of work poking at the enemy's backline, while being at least moderately protected sitting in the middle of my line-up.

The fifth position is for another card I put a lot of faith in, namely the Tenyii Striker. I really like this card and more or less include it in my line-up every time I choose to play the Fire Splinter. It has a lot of disruptive potential with its Sneak ability, and also has a decent amount of health, so it can take a hit or two.

I have placed the Fire Elemental in the last spot since I expect it to land a shot or two and be dealt with by the enemy's Sneak Monsters (if they have any). I added it to the line-up as a filler Monster so I did not feel the need to take extra care to protect it as it will not influence the outcome of the match significantly by being present or not. If it takes at least 2 hits before it dies (as there is also armor due to the ruleset), it will be good enough.

And now for a quick round by round analysis:

As we can see my opponent has chosen to use his Level 2 Wizard of Eastwood, which is actually a very good pick for the rulesets affecting this particular battle. They do have a Sneak Monster, and the fact that they have removed the additional armor granted by the ruleset means that off the bat, my Fire Elemental will die on Turn 2. They also have a Taunt Monster on the board, so my Sneak and Opportunity Monsters will have to focus it until it dies, giving more opportunities for the other enemy Monsters to do their thing.

After 1 round, my Fire Elemental is one Sneak hit away from dying, and so is the enemy's Taunt Minion. On the other hand my Living Lava is also in a bad situation, while the enemy's Unicorn is at full health thanks to the good work of their 2 healers.

At the start of round 3 the situation seems a bit dire for me as I have lost my Fire Elementa, and Living Lava (I guess my opponent is a firefighter IRL 😝), while they have lost their Taunt minion. The main protagonist of this story - the Radiated Brute is trying to hold the front line, but it is obvious it will not be for too long.

The beginning of Round 4 is not very optimistic for my team either. However, we have managed to eliminate one of the enemy's healers, so there is still hope. Besides the beefy body of the Lava Launcher is still towering over the battlefield.

Round 5 begins with the revelation that the enemy has lost their Snipe Monster, while my Lava Launcher is still capable to take a hit from the unicorn and a blast from the Goblin Psychic.

Looks like I have managed to get the Goblin Psychic down before it managed to get the blast off and also heal the Unicorn, so the outcome of the battle is still unclear but it is looking a bit more optimistic for me.

Round 7 seems to be the round where the outcome will be revealed. I have 2 Monsters with 3 attack alive left while the enemy's unicorn is at 3 health, but is also the fastest Monster on the board. So will my Monsters land a killing blow or will they miss.. Let us see..

Victory at literlly 1 healh point of the last man standing. The Tenyii Striker managed to finish the unicorn off with a last precise blow with his katana. The samurai will live to tell the tale of this heroic battle. 😎

Even though it did not live to see the end of the battle, the Radiated Brute did what it was put on the board to do. It inflicted pain on the enemy's tank as long as it could, while also taking a few blows in return, which had an indirect influence on the outcome of the whole battle, as every hit or miss, for that matter, is really important and has an impact in the development of the events in the rounds to follow.

GhostlyBG, over and out
Referral

You can check out some other stuff from my recent Splinterlands blogging venture: