Introduction

Lets have a look at the close range ability. For me it one of the abilities that is not that important in my oppinion.
Most of the time my selection is not done based on this ability sometime

Ability

Monsters with ranged attacks are allowed to attack in the first position.

Official ability information from splinterlands: List abilities

Synergies / strategy

Abilities benefits

Last stand - an very nice ability that not many monsters have. When it is combined with an close ranged monster your archer can still be in the back and when it get to the front it triggers last stand, still ably to attack. Especially when combined in the where monsters lose their sneak monster ability.

Abilities to be aware of

Return Fire - If your opponent uses a monster or summoner with return fire, beware the returned damage from landed attacks!
Backfire - If your opponent uses a monster or summoner with backfire, beware the returned damage from missed attacks!

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Ruleset benefits
Going the Distance - only ranged monster are allowed therefor you need to use those closed ranged monster

Rulest to be aware of
Fire & Regret - Ranged attack monsters take damage from any successful attacks. This ruleset is not ideal for ranged monsters.

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Select / favorite

These are my close ranged monsters that i own:

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Summoner that grants all monsters close range. very helpful when Going the Distance is in. Unfortunately i only got a level 2 of it and i will be crushed in diamond when playing it 😬.

This week it was harder to determine than i first toughed. When I started this post i directly toughed of Tinderlock. Then as writing this post and paying more attention to how often do i play Tinderlock, it turned out almost never.
This has two reason
1: as mentioned in the intro i do not specific select monsters based on closed range.
2: i have not leveled him up for diamond and therefore often there are more suitable options for 10 mana that is the main down side of Tinderlock imo.

Just because I have seen some nice battles with the last stand in past it kept in my mind.
Then i saw i played the Molten Ash Golem more often with succes and therefor i shifted my #1 towards that one.
I like the weaken and demoralize of this monster the close range is an extra bonus.

Strategy

Lets have a look how the Molten Ash Golem does in a battle

No melee monsters may be used so prepare yourself for magic or range attack this ik a good opportunity to try and use an closed range monster. Take into account the magic possibility, need to counter or prepare for that.

Rulesets

Keep Your Distance:
No melee monster may be selected.

Silenced Summoners:
Summoners do not buff or debuff the monsters in this battle

Heavy Hitters:
All monster the Known-out ability. Does double damage when attacking an enemy that is stunned.

The Lineup

Summoner

Card	Reason
	Summoner in this match does not matter is chose Quix for the option to play a high speed monster with phase.

Monsters Lineup

#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6

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Void Dragon (lvl 3)
Crucial monster in this battle. High speed and flying in combination with phase should help get some misses from ranged and magic.

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Scavo Chemist (lvl 10)
Key in this battle is speed so slow the opponent is one thing. Second a meat shield buffer for my damage dealers in the back. Also the -1 range attack is a bonus because there is also a high possibility that my opponent will play ranged.

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Molten Ash Golem (lvl 8)
Star of this week with close range, so when it gets in the front it still can attack. With the 3 damage a decent damage dealer

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Naga Assassin (lvl 8)
Speed is key in this battle, this gives another boost to all monster +1 speed.

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Supply Runner (lvl 5)
+1 Speed again

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Countess Sinash (lvl 4)
And another speed you getting the point i think 😁. Last week i upgraded this monster to max now it also got blast great upgrade

The Battle

Reference

Link to the battle:
Link to battle

Rounds

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Start :

Also a nice setup of my opponent. Already like my Countess Sinash with the opportunity that will take down the healer :).
Only the doctor blight with the poison is always hard to beat.

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Round 1:

Not many misses this round. Almost the healer is gone thx to Countess Sinash

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Round 2:

Two misses lucky the one of Doctor Blight.

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Round 3:

Not that lucky this round. My Void Dragon already death. This way the Molten Ash Golem wil get in the front.

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Round 4:

Doctor Blight as landed his poison 😌. Now also my Molten Ash Golem will die quicker. He still can hit wit 3 damage and that should be enough to take the win in this match.

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Round 5:

This is a win Molten Ash Golem is doing his work in the front.

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Round 6:

The battle is over but the scavenger of Doctor Blight has granted him a total of 10 health

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Round 7:

Win

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Conclusion

Nice usecase of the close range benefitting in a battle. Still I think in my setup close range is not an ability to build a team around. In some rule sets or specific battle this can definitely help win you a battle or two.

Previous ability strategy posts

Below you will find references to the other ability strategies / analysis posts.

Ability	post
Affliction	Ability post: Affliction
Amplify	Ability post: Amplify
Backfire	Ability post: Backfire
Blast	Ability post: Blast
Blind	Ability post: Blind
Bloodlust	Ability post: Bloodlust
Camouflage	Ability post: Camouflage
Close Range	This post

That's all for this week hope you enjoyed reading this ability strategy/analysis. See you all on the battlefield.

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