Status effect in Splinterlands is one of the battle mechanics players mostly only learn in battles. People often misunderstand how statuses work and gets corrected only through experience of loss. One of the most intriguing and vastly misunderstood status effect is Burn. In this post we will study how Burn works and why it is considered as the ultimate status effect.

Burn status effect is brought about by the debilitation Incendiary. Incendiary applies Burning at the beginning of Round 2. What makes the Burning status especial is that it has 33% chance of spreading to adjacent units. Burning is the only status effect that does this. A Burned unit is contagious and can get its allies burned for the rest of the battle. Burned units get 2 damage every round just like Poison.

These are the interactions that you should note whenever a unit is burned or has an Incendiary ability:

Just like any negative status effect, Burning can be cleansed by Cleanse or Cleanse Rearguard. Notable monters with Cleanse are Scavo Chemist, River Nymph and Corsair Bosun. As of this writing, the only unit with Cleanse Rearguard is Sanctus Vicar

Monsters with Immunity ability are not immuned from Burning. Yes, you heard it right. This means all monsters can be burned. Even monsters with Shield and Reflection Shield can be burned.

When a burned monster resurrects it will be cleansed of its burn. But this doesn't stop it from being burned again if it is adjacent to a Burning ally.

Even if the burned unit is stunned, it can still spread the burn to its neighbor. This is contrary to the Heal mechanic where the Stunned Unit cannot use heal as it is considered to be an "attack" to itself.

I am shocked at first when Burning was first introduced in the game. It somehow goes beyond logic (like seriously, Immunity is useless?). But with proper understanding, this status effect can be managed and countered. How about you? Do you have a Burning experience? Tell me.