Endless Ape is a unit that looks simple but is built for long battles. At first glance, it feels like a useless tank with average damage at low levels and nothing fancy going on. But once the fight start and units begin to fall, Endless Ape slowly turns into a serious problem. With high health and Scavenger, this unit grows stronger the longer the battle last. Each death increases his health making heals stronger and stronger on him. Many players underestimate it because they don't see its potential. That mistake often cost them the late game. This unit fits well in battles where trades happen often and both sides lose units every round. Endless Ape does not care if allies fall, it benefit from it. Each death makes it harder to die and more annoying to deal with especially when combo with a Tank Heal unit. It is not a lone warrior and it is not meant to be one. Instead it aims to be a team player absorbing damage for the team while dealing his own to the enemy.
Stats
| Rarity: Common | Mana: 8 | 4 melee damage |
|---|---|---|
| Armor: 2 | Health: 12 | Speed: 3 |
- Endless Ape is a frontline tank and bruiser that focus on endurance. Even so, Endless Ape still have a good amount of attack so he don't need to just tank for the team. With 4 melee attack, 12 health,, 2 armor, 3 speed, Scavenger and Deflect, it has good stats and abilities to scale very well into later rounds. It is not a pure tank because it lack defensive abilities like Shield or Heal but it act like one over time as its health keep growing because of Scavenger. Deflect allows it to attack without fear of indirect damage like from Thorns or Blast. This is very important for a melee unit that want to be a huge wall for the team. This unit excel in long battles where units on both sides are expected to die. It work best when placed in teams that trade bodies and do not rely on protecting every ally. Endless Ape also pair well with damage focused units that can kill enemies early so Scavenger can start stacking health. Lastly, I would suggest to pair him always with a healer.
Abilities
Scavenger increase Endless Ape’s max health every time any unit die. This is the core of its strength. This counts for both your enemy units and your own units. This ability also work per death. So, when the unit has Reborn or Resurrect, then you can get 1 health when they die, they get revived and get another one when they die again. It work very well in rules where units can die fast like Noxious Fumes rule or those that can revive units like Born Again rule. The more chaotic the fight is, the better Scavenger become.
Deflect prevent Endless Ape from taking reflected damage like from Thorns. This is very important for melee units that are built to survive many rounds. Without Deflect, reflected damage slowly kill tanks like this. With it, Endless Ape can keep attacking safely even when enemies have Thorns. This ability does not stop extra attacks like Retaliate but it removes one major risk from long fights.
Battle
In this battle, I used my secret weapon, Endless Ape. I originally wanted to try a build of super units. I found some with huge health but since the mana is low for a full team of better units, I instead want to abuse the combo of Scavenger and Born Again rule. The more units I have, the more units can fall and get reborn. Each time this happens, my Scavenger gets larger giving me a scary Endless Ape for the later game. It was unfortunate that the enemy got stuck in dealing with Ironwing Juggernaut and Satha Toledo's heals. Either way, I won the battle with Endless Ape at 20 health and this isn't even his full potential.
Images were taken from Splinterlands, made in Canva, drawn in Krita and animated in Photoshop.
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