Along with Yodin Zaku, Scarred Llama Mage is one of the most annoying summoners that we have to face in Splinterlands. The boost coming from Last Stand paired with its cleansing power is enough to clutch a match. In this post, I would like to share with you strategies on how we can counter a Llama Mage lineup in Bronze or Silver league.
Feel free to skip to the bottom part if you want to go directly on the strategies!
What makes Llama Mage a formidable enemy?
Survivability is what makes Llama a difficult opponent. If Yodin has multiple damage output from the blast, Llama has the ability to stay longer in the match due to the Last Stand. With the increased stats from the Last Stand ability, which is usually partnered with a heal, the remaining monster (let's call it the Chosen One) in Llama's team can wipe out and outlast an entire enemy team. The increased miss chance from higher speed, and the cleanse ability also supports the overall survival package for the Chosen One.
Scarred Llama Mage abilities
- Additional 2 health to all monsters of the team
- Last Stand - Gains increased stats if it's the only Monster on the team alive, multiplier 1.5x rounded up (applied to all monsters at the start of battle)
- Cleanse - Removes all negative effects on the Monster in the first position on the friendly team
Common monster combination with Scarred Llama Mage
Llama Mage is usually teamed up with monsters that have heal, and enough damage to outlast an entire enemy team once the Last Stand ability is activated. A monster with heal works perfectly with Llama Mage because the +2 health buff at the start, and the Last Stand ability further amplifies the amount of health recovered each round, making it harder for the enemy team to kill the last monster.
Heal: Restores 1/3 of the max health each round, rounded up
Here are the usual monsters used in combination with Llama for the Last Stand ability:
- Flesh Golem (3)
- The heal ability of Flesh Golem at level 3 makes it a formidable partner for Llama.
- Kron the Undying
- High health (10 base health), high magic damage (3 magic damage), and heal at level 1 makes Kron the favorite partner for Llama at Bronze/Silver.
- Hydra
- Less common combo compared to Kron and Flesh Golem; usually a good alternative if a Level 3 Flesh Golem is not available from the deck (and Hydra is available for some reason)
When should you expect to face a Llama Mage combo?
- 17 mana cost rounds
- This is the perfect setup for a Llama (7 mana) + Kron (10 mana) combo. This activates the Last Stand right away!
- 13 mana cost rounds
- Flesh Golem (6) + Llama Mage (7) combination
- Anytime that the situation is favorable to play Llama Mage (check next section for further details)
Always check your enemy's match history. A lot of players just love spamming Llama + Kron everytime that it can be played. So if you see that your opponent is doing this, prepare well to counter our beloved Llama.
When is a Llama combo not/rarely played based on rulesets?
Not Played:
- Earth Splinters not activated: (although it's obvious, sometimes you'll be too fixated on countering that you miss this one)
- Little league: Only Monsters & Summoners that cost 4 mana or less may be used in battles
Rarely played:
- Back to Basics: Monsters lose all abilities
- Healed out: All healing abilities are removed from Monsters and Summoners
- Lost Legendaries: Legendary monsters may not be used in battles
- Odd Ones Out: Only Monsters with odd Mana costs may be used in battles.
- Can't play both Kron and Flesh Golem
- Silenced summoners: Summoners do not give any stat buffs or debuffs or grant/use any abilities
Abilities to counter a Llama Mage combo
List of abilities that are useful in countering a Llama Mage combo.
Affliction makes the Chosen One more killable, removing the main strength (i.e. heal) of a Llama Mage combo means that the fight is already halfway done.
You just have to get lucky that affliction is applied before it is too late for your team!
Preferred monsters for Last Stand are usually put at the last position. Sneak ability gives you an advantage of killing it before Last Stand is activated
Stun also prevents a monster from self-healing
Aside from these, tank-related abilities such as void, heal, tank heal, shield, and taunt are also helpful which will be explained below.
Two strategies to counter a Llama Mage combo
1. Destroy the backline, stall the frontline
This is my favorite strategy in playing against Llama Mage. Whenever an enemy chooses a monster for the Last Stand ability (let's call it the Chosen One), the Chosen One is usually placed at the last or second to the last position. What you would like to do is to kill the chosen one before the Last Stand ability is activated.
A recommended lineup is to have one or two tanks to protect your frontline, and focus all the remaining damage to destroying your enemy's backline. Sand Worm is my favorite monster for this strategy because of the 5 melee damage, and you can play it with any Splinter.
Here is an example of this strategy in action:
Note: Make sure that you check monster positions in their previous matches. Some players prefer to put their Last Stand monsters on the second to the last position in case someone tries to counter them with Sneak. Make sure to adjust your strategy accordingly.
2. Facing it head-on
Aside from relying on the sneak ability, you can also try to face the Chosen One head-on. When doing this, I recommend that you have the following: heal for your tank, enough damage to outpace the Chosen One's heal, and stun (optional but recommended).
Importance of each factor:
- Heal for your tank
- Helps you compete and survive longer than the Chosen One
- Enough damage
- Make sure that you have enough damage to outpace the Chosen One's heal; you would not like to end up in a healing loop, and just lose due to fatigue
- Stun
- This is optional if you have enough damage to outpace the enemy's heal. However, this gives you a good bonus because stun prevents a monster from self-healing.
Facing it head-on in action:
In case anyone is interested, I have added two additional battles using the Sneak strategy vs. Llama Mage.
Sneaky recorded battles vs. Llama:
Winning with a Life lineup vs. Kron Llama, shared by another player
Winning with Mimosa Nightshade vs. Golem Llama
That's it for this strategy guide. I hope this post will somehow help anyone in strategizing versus a Llama Mage in the future. Enjoy in all your battles!
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