Blast one of the most fun rulesets in Splinterlands. In this mini-series, I want to break down how I use blast to my advantage and how I defend against it.
Firstly let's have a look at the wording of the blast ruleset:
Does additional damage to Monsters adjacent to the target Monster.
Additional damage is equivalent to main damage divided by 2, rounded up.
So some other things to consider is that the blast damage behaves the same as the initial damage for example if it is magic damage the blast damage will also ignore armour. This is key to how to successfully use and defend blast.
All of the next parts are to do with Ranked play, I can all talk about the Bronze and Silver strategies at the moment as that is where I reside.
Offence:
I have toyed around with a few ideas and I feel some splinters excel more in this ruleset than others. Or they excel in different ways. I think I will break this down into individual splinters. That being said any opportunity to use double strike, you should take it.
Death:
One of my favourite Splinters for this lineup. With Death my offensive strategy is simple, Magic + Life Leech, honestly if you have an Ancient Lich that is hitting for three on the main attack and two on the blast damage and giving five life, you feel happy as the despair creeps into your opponent. I will often throw a snipe Monster in there as well to ruin the back lines day.
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Dragon, Earth, Water:
With these Splinters, I will stack as much Magic damage as I possibly can Earth and obsidian are the most aggressive in this setup but I feel like water is the more well rounded both offensively and defensively, which I will discuss later.
Fire:
Fire I usually go for causing chaos in the backlines with sneak attacks and opportunity attacks. This is usually my most aggressive lineup with almost no support...It also happens to be my least successful in this ruleset, but I find it a lot of fun.
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Life:
Sloane, Pelacor Arb and smash through that front line. Survivability is the name of the game for life, so we'll discuss that more later.
Defence:
I have found that most people go for magic spam down here in Bronze and Silver which is understandable it can be a bit difficult to deal with. However magic is fairly predictable, it will attack the frontline which means we can plan our counters accordingly.
Death:
Thadius giving us -1 magic is already a step in the right direction. Then it is Bone Golem upfront and a secondary tank to soak that blast damage, I usually throw in the Riftwing whose health will keep buffing when Monsters fall. Death doesn't have any support monsters to help with this ruleset.
Dragon:
Void Dragon stacked with another void monster is the best line of defence. So dragon stacked with earth could be a good call but I usually combine it with Water.
Earth:
With the Earth I either double stack void in silver (Horny Horse + Lion Wing lvl 5) or I will put the magic reflect in the second position with a level 2 Queen Mycelia with Amplify sending that blast damage back double.
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Fire:
Level Two Grund and Tusk, enough said
Life:
With Life, if I am expecting the other team to go heavy on Magic damage. I will Throw in the Legionnaire in the first position, Pelacor Conjurer in the second with magic reflect, a level two Adelade Brightwing, level two Dax with amplify. This is the most turtle-like formation with Pelacor Arbalest dealing out that crazy damage. This set up is particularly weak to opportunity so if you are expecting it, then maybe use the shieldbearer up front with some heals in behind with the Crystalsmith
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Water:
I have saved the best until last. Water's best defence is speed. Lvl 2 Oshannus up the front, Baakjira in second soaks up the blast and slows the other team, supply runner for some more speed. Now you have a tank that will not only take half on magic damage but will be dodging those blasts all day long.
Here is an example of a battle with this tactic.
I think that is all I have to say on the Blast Ruleset for now. I think there are some more considerations in the tournaments and if people are interested in that let me know and I will put another post together.
Thanks for your time and consideration and if you have any questions hit me up.
Peas x
