When I play games I like using characters where enemies hit themselves when they attack you. Footmen and Keeper of the Grove from Warcraft 3, Belerick from Mobile Legends, Rammus from League of Legends, Druid from World of Warcraft, Impale builds from Path of Exile, Monk from Final Fantasy Tactics and many more. This is why I got inspired when I saw the potential of this battle and Chaos Golem's Return Fire.
Splinterlands has many units that feel like that those units, especially when you build a plan around Return Fire or other counter-like abilities. Some just use this for additional damage but when you see the set up that the enemy would self destruct from this, it gets me hyped.

Battle Breakdown

Modifier in this Battle:

• Weak Magic - Magic damage hits armor before reducing health.

My Thoughts on Modifiers

• Weak Magic Modifier changes the whole vibe of the match because magic attacks no longer go straight to health which makes armor more important. Units that usually die fast because they have good armor but not so decent health now can stand on the field longer so it gives more value to tanks with higher armor. This means in this modifier, magic attack units loses their edge and now play on the same playing field with melee and range units.

Team Composition

Archon: Dolfar Darflak

• A flexible archon that can support both Death Element and Fire Element units which gives me more options when building a team. This flexibility helps a lot when I want to adjust my lineup based on what the current modifier and rules of the battle are.

Units Chosen

Unit 1: Ulundin Overseer

• Ulundin Overseer is one of my tanks that can be partnered with Chaos Golem. Normally, you cannot use melee units on the second position because they cannot attack unless they have abilities like Sneak or Opportunity. Ulundin Overseer's Flank ability fixes that giving Chaos Golem the Reach ability to attack while he is behind Ulundin Overseer. Ulundin Overseer also have a good amount of armor which is needed to take advantage of Weak Magic modifier.

Unit 2: Chaos Golem

• Chaos Golem has good attack, health and armor which makes him a strong unit to put as one of the tanks. His Return Fire is really useful here because he can hurt enemy range units when they attack him. His Return Fire is one of the main strategies I had for this battle but my lineup did way better than I anticipated so this won't be shown in this battle.

Unit 3: Chaos Evoker

• Chaos Evoker has 2 magic damage and Blast which is good to soften the enemy team even when they hide behind armor and Weak Magic modifier. Even with Weak Magic Modifier, the good magic damage and extra damage with Blast still helps as it hit more targets at once.

Unit 4: Grove Doomblade

• Grove Doomblade comes with a high 5 melee attack and Sneak which makes him dangerous if his attacks land. The problem though is that with only 1 speed, he tends to miss a lot which can sometimes ruin his big damage but when they hit at the right time, Grove Doomblade are one of those units that can definitely carry games.

Unit 5: Bren Palesworn

• Bren Palesworn works really well with Grove Doomblade since both of them use Sneak to remove the enemy backline fast. Bren Palesworn also have two separate attacks, a melee and a range, which makes him look like two units in one. The two of them hitting the same backline units can create opportunities to give you wins in the battle.

Unit 6: Conclave Artificer

• Conclave Artificer mostly serves as a filler when I need to use the remaining mana. He can also be a target for Weapons Training which sometimes gives him unexpected extra value in the fight. In this battle, since I have a low level Dolfar Darflak archon, it doesn't unlock the level 2 from Bren Palesworn so there's no Weapons Training in this battle.

The Battle

Opening Rounds:
I liked this battle because it's like a battle of fire and ice. This was actually a bad game but you can see the enemy Prophet Rosa use her +2 range to increase damage of Frostguard Warrior and Nimbledon Ranger. At first, this looked good because both of them have Snipe which means he would bypass my melee units and targets my range and magic units but I am sure this is the reason why they would lose.

Mid-game:
Towards the mid game, I was able to kill the two snipers with my two Sneak units. Even if they don't die from the Sneak, they would've died from Chaos Golem's Return Fire once I only have melee units. It would've been a better choice if they don't have Shock Trooper and put Shield at the back most unit. Weak Magic modifier makes unit's armor block magic attack which means the battle would drag on even if they have magic attacks. It would be better to force the front while defending the back line.

Final Rounds:
Towards the end game, my advantage was clear. It was a bit problematic that my units was missing though because of Commander Slade's high speed and Dodge but this wasn't anything that would change the outcome as as I still have 3 units with damage while the enemy has 3 health on its last unit. The addition of Range attack to the two Snipe Units were clearly bad as he could've killed those units being Sniped on my team even without those damage increase. If I were them, using this same build, I would probably add the Shield to either Commander Slade or Ulundin Overseer which would create more impact. I would still remove the Shock Trooper though because Weak Magic is bad for Electrified debilitation as it delays the damage.

👉 Watch the full battle replay here
https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_a5b33d19405b798c19e06f7158ee7c3a?ref=ashenova

Results & Reflection

What strategy I was aiming for:
Two strategies were in this play. First, is for my enemy to self destruct with Return Fire. Prophet Rosa increased the range attack of two units which means Return Fire also increases damage back to those range units. Second Strategy is to use Sneak units to eliminate the enemy damage dealers first and win from their behind.

What surprised me:
The Return Fire plan did not work since the enemy range units died too early before they could damage themselves. I expected them to survive longer and chip their own health down slowly which would've looked epic especially since their attacks were even boosted by Prophet Rosa but the high damage from my Sneak units removed them from the game before the main combo even began.

What I learned:
Even 1 speed units like Grove Doomblade can be very deadly if the attacks land at the right time. Sometimes you just need a few lucky hits to change everything but you still need to respect the risk of missing. Speed is still a big factor with the units but not the only thing that decides the outcome.

Closing Thoughts

I honestly don’t know if I should feel happy or a bit disappointed in this battle. I wanted to showcase Chaos Golem more and prove that Return Fire can win games by letting enemies hurt theirselves. But the enemy range units died too fast from my Sneak units so the whole plan didn’t really get the chance to shine.

Still, a win is a win and the team did better than what I expected. It's a good thing to have multiple strategies within one lineup to win but when your goal is to show off than to win, having too good of a team can still backfire in a funny unexpected way.