Warning: long post.
Disclaimer: This is a speculation post. I'm not claiming any knowledge on what the abilities of the new Death summoner would be -- but speculation is fun, right? 😁
What We Do Know
The CL legendary Death summoner is named Astral Entity and looks like this:
(Credits to the SPL team/owner(s) for these awesome illustrations!)
According to the May 9, 2022 town hall, this summoner designed by Cryptoreaper is expected to be the penultimate airdrop, although of course it's possible that the anticipated order of release is changed.
Assumptions
For this speculation, I'm limiting myself to the following assumptions:
Astral Entity will have 3 abilities as well, similar to the legendary summoners from Untamed and Grandmaster Rathe from CL. Of these 3 abilities, 1 will be "basic" and 2 will be "special". Let's distinguish basic and special abilities later.
Astral Entity's special abilities will be unique to it, i.e., no other summoner (legendary or otherwise) will have these special abilities.
There are abilities that just cannot be equipped to any summoner, Astral Entity included. These abilities, and my rationale for singling them out, are also discussed later.
Assumption No. 1
Astral Entity will have 3 abilities as well, similar to the legendary summoners from Untamed and Grandmaster Rathe from CL. Of these 3 abilities, 1 will be "basic" and 2 will be "special".
I define "abilities" as those abilities that are indeed labeled as such (e.g., Affliction, Amplify, Backfire, etc.) and the usual stats buffer and debuffer (e.g., +1 HP, -1 magic attack, etc), or what I call "basic abilities". After all, let's note that apart from buffing ranged and magic attacks, all other buffs and debuffs of summoners are in some form given to specific monsters as abilities (although values are different sometimes):
| Stat | Buff or Debuff | Similar Ability |
|---|---|---|
| HP | Buff | Strengthen |
| Debuff | Weaken | |
| Speed | Buff | Swiftness |
| Debuff | Slow | |
| Melee attack | Buff | Inspire |
| Debuff | Demoralize | |
| Ranged attack | Buff | (no similar ability yet) |
| Debuff | Headwinds | |
| Magic attack | Buff | (no similar ability yet) |
| Debuff | Silence |
Conversely, all other abilities are considered "special" simply because they just do not add to or deduct from HP, speed, and attack stats directly as basic abilities do.
Now I'm writing the following because I'm not sure if the devs have categorically stated that the remaining 6 CL legendary summoners have 3 abilities. Please comment if they already have so I can delete this part:
Now there are currently 17 legendary summoners (Selenia Sky is counted only as 1). Three of these legendary summoners are promo cards (Prince Julian, with no ability except for its cuteness; Archmage Arius with three abilities; and Waka Spiritblade, with Poison). Chronologically, the other 14 legendary summoners that can be pulled from card packs are:
| Edition | Name | No. of Abilities |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha/Beta | Selenia Sky | 1 |
| Beta | Plado Emberstorm, Valnamor, Prince Rennyn, Crypt Mancer | 3 |
| The Peakrider | 2 | |
| Untamed | Yodin Zaku, Lir Deepswimmer, Scarred Llama Mage, Chanseus the Great, Mimosa Nightshade, Byzanine Kitty | 3 |
| Camilla Sungazer | 1 | |
| CL | Grandmaster Rathe | 3 |
| Quix the Devious | 2 |
So apart from Selenia Sky, The Peakrider, Camilla Sungazer, and Quix the Devious, all the other 10 summoners have 3 abilities.
While patterns are normally established only when there are at least 3 instances/cases to look at, I think it's safe to assume that both Untamed and CL follow the "pattern" of having 1 legendary Dragon summoner and 6 other legendary summoners from each splinter. Regardless, I therefore think it's highly likely that Astral Entity has 3 abilities as well.
In any case, the 10 legendary summoners with 3 abilities each are as follows:
| Summoner | Basic Ability | Special Ability |
|---|---|---|
| Plado Emberstorm | Strengthen, Swiftness, Weaken | (no special ability) |
| Valnamor | Magic Attack Buff, Swiftness, Strengthen | (no special ability) |
| Prince Rennyn | Ranged Attack Buff, Swiftness, Strengthen | (no special ability) |
| Crypt Mancer | Demoralize, Slow, Weaken | (no special ability) |
| Yodin Zaku | Ranged Attack Buff, Strengthen | Blast |
| Lir Deepswimmer | Protect | Return Fire, Blind |
| Scarred Llama Mage | Strengthen | Cleanse, Last Stand |
| Chanseus the Great | (no basic ability) | Repair, Triage, Resurrect |
| Mimosa Nightshade | Headwinds | Void, Affliction |
| Byzantine Kitty | Swiftness | True Strike, Tank Heal |
| Grandmaster Rathe | Protect | Void Armor, Amplify |
Eight legendary summoners (the exceptions being Yodin Zaku and Chanseus the Great) have 1 basic ability and 2 special abilities. Assuming that the Untamed template will hold true, i.e., 2 of the 6 legendary CL summoners will have "not 1" basic ability, and with the abilities of Grandmaster Rathe already revealed to be 1 basic ability + 2 special abilities, the odds of Astral Entity having 1 basic ability and 2 special abilities is currently 60%.
The above discussion is of course subject to change once we get more information on the other legendary summoners. However, for now, it's safe to say that Astral Entity will have 1 basic ability and 2 special abilities.
Assumption No. 2
Astral Entity's special abilities will be unique to it, i.e., no other summoner (legendary or otherwise) will have these special abilities.
From the preceding table, we can easily see that the special abilities of summoners starting Yodin Zaku do not at all repeat. The basic ones do (both Yodin Zaku and Scarred Llama Mage buff HP, although with different amounts; both Lir Deepswimmer and Grandmaster Rathe buff armor, but also with different amounts), but not the special abilities.
We can also extend the same to non-legendary summoners with special abilities, who are all from Dice edition:
| Summoner | Special Ability Unique to the Summoner |
|---|---|
| Lorna Shine | Divine Shield |
| Brighton Bloom | Flying |
| Owster Rotwell | Magic Reflect |
| Qid Yuff | Piercing |
| Vera Salacia | Snare |
| Mylor Crowling | Thorns |
Assumption No. 3
There are abilities that just cannot be equipped to any summoner, Astral Entity included.
Mainly because OP. Imagine all your enemy monsters have Bloodlust, Camouflage, Double Strike, Halving, Heal, Immunity, or Life Leech. Of course I can be entirely wrong here -- look at Yodin Zaku with Blast, but I think that's why the devs develop Reflection Shield anyway... which may be coming with a legendary summoner near you.
Opportunity, Scattershot, Snipe, Sneak, and Taunt are also quite... weird, I guess, to see on a summoner because they essentially redirect all friendly monsters' firepower. Imagine a Sneak team with a summoner that gives Opportunity. Or snipers with Scattershot? Or if all monsters have Taunt, which one will actually be attacked by the enemy? Everything's going to be wonky.
Reach is also quite weird simply because it affects only the melee monster in the second position. Quite underwhelming for a legendary summoner. If Reach allows melee monsters to attack from any position, then that will be a cool ability.
So What?
Premised on these 3 assumptions, the only special abilities that remain for Death as of now would be:
- Backfire
- Close Range
- Cripple
- Deathblow
- Dispel
- Dodge
- Enrage
- Forcefield
- Giant Killer
- Knock Out
- Oppress
- Phase
- Redemption
- Reflection Shield
- Retaliate
- Scavenger
- Shatter
- Shield
- Stun
- Trample
Of these 20, I think the special abilities that Astral Entity would be likely equipped with are any 2 of: Dispel, Phase, Scavenger, and Shield for the following reasons:
- Dispel. Death's style is to debuff enemies. What is the ultimate form of debuffing if not Dispel?
- Phase. There is precedent in Death heavily countering magic teams, what with Mimosa Nightshade's Void, Oster Rotwell's Magic Reflect, and Thaddius Brood's -1 magic attack. If Astral Entity gets Phase, then all modern Death summoners would, in one way or another, counter magic.
- Scavenger. Basing on the second illustration alone, Scavenger seems like an ability that would go hand in hand with Astral Entity and the ghosts that constitute its entourage. It also goes along well with Death as a principle. This would also be a form of "sustain gameplay" that just wouldn't mesh with Life (although Earth could also be conceptually consistent with scavenging).
- Shield is the melee/ranged equivalent of Void. Mimosa Nightshade has Void, and it's not unthinkable for another Death summoner (a legendary one at that) to have an equivalent ability.
As for Astral Entity's basic ability, I'm thinking that it's one of the following:
- -1 armor. So far, Death summoners debuff all base stats except for armor. In fact, only The Wizard of Eastwood currently debuffs armor. Also, with the long struggle between Life and Death, and with Grandmaster Rathe's Void Armor, Astral Entity's armor debuff would be thematically consistent.
- -1 magic. There are two Death summoners debuffing melee attacks (Zintar Mortalis and Crypt Mancer, both from Beta edition) and two Death summoners debuffing ranged attacks (Contessa L'Ament and Mimosa Nightshade, both from Untamed). Thaddius Brood is CL's magic debuffer, and if the "pattern" holds true, Astral Entity may join him.
Last Words
So I think Astral Entity will have:
-1 armor or magic and any 2 of Dispel, Phase, Scavenger, or Shield
Again, this is pure speculation only. I may be 100% right or 100% wrong, or anywhere in between. We'll see when it drops. 😁