I've heard a lot of people say that they struggle with the Noxious Fumes (poisoned) ruleset. I can understand the frustration with it, it can be really frustrating to lose 2 HP at the start of every round. When I first started playing, I struggled with Noxious Fumes. I always tried putting my highest HP cards in there to stay alive as long as possible, but it didn't always work. Then I got Kralus (a super duper lucky Dice pull!), and my eyes were opened to the benefits of Immunity! After discovering Immunity, I discovered Cleanse, and I was able to formulate a pretty solid strategy for these battles. Now, Noxious Fumes happens to be my favorite ruleset, and I would love to share some of my strategies. I hope that this will help you grow as a Splinterlands player!
Tip #1: Immunity is your friend!
Use a monster (or two or three!) that has immunity, and they won't get hit by the poison. Almo Cambio, Kralus (level 1), Dragon Spirit (level 3), Harklaw (level 2), Caladuum (level 3), Poseidon (level 3), and Epona (level 3) are all of the cards with the Immunity ability. Try to keep the immune monsters tucked in the middle of your lineup so that they don't get hit by sneak or snipe. As one of the Splinterbites says, "Sometimes outlasting your enemy is the easiest way to win!" I wish that I had a great example of a battle with an Immune monster, but I haven't fought one recently. As soon as I fight one and get a great example, I will come back and update this post. Probably tomorrow, because I'm addicted to Splinterlands and play far too much!
Tip #2: Cleanse is your friend!
Using a monster with the Cleanse ability is my second tip. Always go for Immune monsters first, but if you are unable to get an Immune monster, try using the Cleanse ability. This will make the monster in front immune to the poison. This ability only triggers during the Cleanse monster's turn, so if they are killed before their turn to fight, Cleanse is not effective. Scarred Llama Mage cleanses the first monster in the lineup automatically, which makes that summoner quite useful for poison. The monsters that have Cleanse are Zalran Efreet (level 2), Kelp Initiate (level 3), Mermaid Healer (level 6), Herbalist (level 3), Silvershield Bard (level 1), Truthspeaker (level 5), and Diamond Dragon (level 2).
Here is a link to a battle in a tournament where I did not have an Immune monster available to me, so I used Cleanse (Herbalist) instead. You can see that I protected Herbalist by putting him in the second from last position behind Pelacor Conjurer so that he did not get hit by sneak before Cleansing my Shieldbearer. This ruleset was actually Blast (my least favorite!) AND Noxious Fumes, so it made things a bit more difficult.
View my battle here!
**Tip #3: Get as much HP in there as you can! **
If you watch the battle link I posted in the previous section, you will see that I got as much health into that battle as possible. I used Djinn Renova and Baby Unicorn to bolster the health of all of my monsters. Even though the other team used Undead Priest to lower my monster's health by one, I still came out on top. Even though the Baby Unicorn can't attack from the second position, she is still incredibly useful because of the HP boost. The benefits of a healer cannot be overlooked as well. Even if the healer only lasts a round or two, they can heal the tank and keep the team going for as long as possible. If you have a self-healing monster like Sea Monster, that is great too!
Tip #4: Taunt!
Use the Taunt ability to distract the opposing team from your other monsters, and try to keep that tank alive for as long as possible with healing and shield repair if you are able. Shieldbearer is absolutely wonderful for this. In the battle I shared above, you can see that I used Venari Crystalsmith for healing and tucked her in the middle to protect her. She healed the Shieldbearer, who drew fire away from the other monsters. This kept the HP of the backline monsters from going down, so they survived the poison for longer. Noxious Fumes is all about surviving for as long as you can!
Tip #5: Don't neglect your attack!
Although immunity, cleanse and healing are most important in a Noxious Fumes ruleset, you should not neglect your offense. If you are able to get as much health as possible off of the opposing team, there is a greater chance that they will die from poison before you do. This is especially important if you are using an Immune monster that has no attack, like Dragon Spirit or Almo. I have unfortunately gotten into some battles where my Immune monster was all alone at the end, and was relentlessly attacked and killed before the poison could kill off the other team. As you can see in the photo below, even though I had THREE Immune monsters in my lineup, I simply did not have enough attack and I was slaughtered for it.
I hope that this post was helpful! If it was, please upvote and follow my blog. I hope to post more Splinterlands strategies in the near future!