You want to start playing Splinterlands or are already playing Splinterlands, then this Beginner’s Guide is for you! This article is one of a series that I started a few weeks ago, so if you want to check the others out, skip trough to the end to see some recommendations! In this guide I will showcase the cards that I think would be important to buy as a beginner because these cards will help you bring your win rate up. Because I know that not everybody likes to spend a fortune on a game that he just started, I will try to keep a budget. The basic rule is to keep each Splinter under 10$, but I will also make some recommendations for the advanced level or if you decide to invest a little bit more. Furthermore, I will explain want makes every Splinter and the recommended cards special. And if this article will inspire you to start playing this amazing strategy card game, you can use the referral link to get started:
https://splinterlands.com?ref=ga38jem
General Info
Let’s start with some general info first. In my opinion it is very important to build as much Collection Power as possible so that you can climb the ranks faster. Furthermore, I would stay away from packs in the beginning. Each pack is costing you 4$ or around 3$ on the secondary market. At the current state, you are better off buying the cards that you want and would help you to climb the ranks. Of course there is a little bit of a gamble factor, but if you are on a budget, stick with the cards market. Not only that but I would also stay away from current rewards cards. In general, they are very common and more or less easy to achieve. The more you play the game the faster you realize that these cards will come sooner or later on their own. Of course there are some exceptions but we will talk about them later. Last but not least, I want to mention that I tried to limit the number of cards that I am recommending so that we don’t get an information overflow :D
Earth Splinter
With the General Info out of the way, let’s start with my favorite Element in this game: Earth. Before the Chaos Legion Expansion, this Splitner was known for very health heavy cards that were able to take hits and deal a lot of damage. With Chaos Legion and the new summoner, this changed a little bit because the summoner favors magic cards. With that being said, Magic cards are usually on the lower end of the health that is why it is still important to have a great tank in your team. This leads me to the first card: Grund. This card is an epic Melee attacker which has 10 health. These are perfect conditions to begin with. The beauty of this card comes with its ability which allows him to attack twice a turn. This means this card deals a total damage of 6 each turn and with a price of around 3.80$ it is totally within our 10$ budget.
Another card that will help you win your first battles with ease is Wood Nymph. This card is from a previous era of Splinterlands which is why you wont get her in the Chaos Legion packs any more. Because she is a magic attacker she is not very high on health, which is why she is considered a support unit. But in combination with the summoner Obsidian she will be able to deal 2 magic damage which is very nice for a 4 mana cost card. Like it was the case with Grund, the special ability makes this card very spicy!. With the tank heal ability we are able to heal our tank each turn which extends the life line of the tank and therefore protects our support units. In my opinion these two cards are a great combination and with a cost of around 3.70$ the Wood Nymph is also within our budget. Anything what is left can go towards other Splinters or you can also save it up towards the summoner.
Speaking of summoner, let’s get to the portion when you decide to evolve your deck and invest a little bit more into your cards. Usually, you can build a very strong deck with around 30 to 50$. The price is a little bit on the higher end because around 18 $ goes towards the leveling of the summoner. You should always be aware that your monsters are only as strong as your summoner allows them to be. This is the reason why you should always level your summoner first and then invest into leveling the monsters. Like I mentioned, it takes around 18$ to level Obsidian to level 2 as you need 5 copies of the card.
When this is done you can turn towards leveling monsters. My recommended first pick of leveling is my absolute favorite support card: Goblin Psychic. This card is very similar to the Wood Nymph but considerably cheaper because it is a Chaos Legion card and therefore still in packs. The basic idea of the card is exactly the same: With its heal ability we are able to keep our tank alive and with an amazing 2 Magic attack which gets increased to 3, due to the summoner, we will deal some serious damage. Leveling this card gives the card more health and therefore more resistant to attacks and because this card is very cheap it will only cost us around 3.50$ to level to level 3!
Fire Splinter
Next up we have the infamous Fire Splinter. I think this Element is a player’s favorite as it is so straight forward. Heavy and fast Melee damage. This was the case in previous eras of the game and it seems like it continues to stay that way. With this strategy we still need a great tank so that our fast Sneak attackers can be protected and will be able to erase our opponent’s back line. This is why the Forgotten One is a great choice. I admit that the mana cost of 9 is a little high but it is worth every single mana in my opinion. This card comes with 8 health and 4 armor. It brings 4 melee attack to the table and its ability makes it resistant against effects like poison. For the cost of just 3$ this card is definitely within our budget.
Second card is Pyromancer. This card comes from the Untamed Era and cost around 3.20$. With its Explosion ability it is able to deal damage to the adjoining cards which makes a big difference in the course of a battle. Because it is a Ranged attacker it should be protected by a heavy tank which we already mentioned in the Forgotten One.
For the advanced investors, I recommend again to invest in the summoner and level her to at least level 2. This summoner in particular is complementing the Fire Element very well as it increases the Melee Damage as well as increase the health by one. This makes your cards more robust and deadly. For the cost of around 15$ you can upgrade her to level 2. With this being said, the perfect card that describes the fire splinter the best is Tenyii Striker. This card has everything you want: Speed, Health, Attack and the best of all: the Sneak Ability. You can level this card to level 2 for around 3.25$ and just demolish your opponents from the back.
Water Splinter
The third Element is the Water Splinter. In previous extensions this set of cards was very Magic heavy. This seems to change a little as the current Chaos Legion summoner gives all your monsters additional speed and armor. In my opinion this should not discourage you from playing magic monsters in this Splinter. In my opinion the best possible card you can have is Djinn Oshannus. This legendary reward card is a exception of the previous rule. I think it is very beneficial to have this card early on as you will use this card very often. It comes with a tremendous 5 speed, 10 health and 2 magic attack. Furthermore, it brings the Void ability to the table which makes himself resistant against Magic attacks. For the cost of just 4$ this card is a steal and totally within our 10$ budget.
To complement the Djinn we have River Hellondale. Like the Djinn this is a Magic attacker but with a little less health. The cool thing about this card is that it has the resurrect ability which makes you bring back the first monster that died in the battle with one health. If you combine it with some tank heal card this could make sure that your tank lives a happy second life! With the cost of 8$ this could bring us a little over budget but surely worth it.
At the advanced level we invest once more into the summoner. Kelya Frendul is the most expensive of the Chaos Legion Summoners with around 4$ a piece. This would make a level 2 around 20$. This is why it is recommended to focus on one element at a time at make sure you build up one element before moving to the next. To complement this card, the best choice is Deeplurker. It is probably the ugliest beast in whole Splitnerlands but real beauty lays in the inside. This card’s inside is the opportunity ability. With an amazing three attack this card tears apart all of the supporting units of your enemy and because it gets a speed boost by the Water summoner it will do it rather quickly. With around 3.5$ to level 3 this card is an absolute must have.
Life Splinter
The penultimate Element is Life. This Splinter is probably the most hated in the community but I seem to like it very well. With the Chaos Legion release this element definitely shifted towards the Ranged attackers. This is why the first monster I would pick is the Prismologist. With the three ranged attack which gets bumped up to four by the Summoner this card will be able to deal 8 damage in the best cases due to its Explosion ability. With the cost of around 1.6$ this card seems to be very overlooked in my opinion.
Furthermore, we have Adelade Brightwing. This card is a very good support card that is especially powerful when used with a tank like Shield Bearer that has a lot of armor. Due to its Repair ability the tank can survive longer and we are able to attack with our Ranged attacker longer. For a total of 8$ this card is definitely not cheap but for sure in our price range.
Moving to the advanced level we would invest in leveling our summoner. Because Life is a very unpopular Element, the summoner is the cheapest one and for about 12$ we can bring him to level 2. To complement this summoner’s buffs Pelacor Arbalest is the perfect choice. If you level him up you will be able to have more health on this card which will certainly protect him more. Furthermore, his ability lets him attack twice in one turn which would make it 6 damage in total (the summoner buffs this card). Because this Element is on the cheaper side, I would also make sure to level up the Time Mage. This card is especially powerful because it slows down your enemy. This makes you attack most of the time first which is a big advantage as Range attacker. For a total cost of 6$, both of these cards can be good additions to your deck.
Death Splinter
Where there is Life there must be Death. The last Splitner is a very tricky one. In the precious extensions Death was definitely an element that focused on reducing the health of your opponent. I would say that is still the case as the summoner reduced your opponent’s health by one as well as bringing his magic attack down. To capitulate from this we should use a monster that targets directly health and would ignore the opponent’s tank and go straight for the support units. Well, this card exists and is called Magi Necrosi. With its 4 speed, 2 magic attack and Sniper ability it fulfills the above said requirements perfectly and for the cost of just 2.5$ is a real bargain.
To ensure that Magi is not interrupted in his doings we should have a good tank in front of him. There are several options but if you want the strongest one I would take the Haunted Spirit. Unfortunately, it is above our price range of 10$ but this is the only real card that I would spend money on if I am a beginner. With its heal ability this card will restore 2 health each turn which is a real pain for the enemy. But if the price tag is too high in the beginning, it is not the end of the world as death has another very solid tank.
This tank is the Cursed Windeku. For around 4$ we can bring him to level 2 and make sure we destroy our opponents with its Throns ability. Furthermore, this monster posses 9 health which ensures that we have enough time to focus on our main strategy. Additionally, we should focus on the summoner which would cost around 14$ to level to second level. If you select the Death Element as your primary choice this should definitely be the first cards you get.
Beginner’s Guide Series:
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@ga38jem/splinterlands-beginner-s-guide-battle-strategies
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Published by ga38jem on
LeoFinance
On 15th March 2022