Arrival of the Rats

With the release of the most recent reward cards we, the players, were given two new interesting races of beings on the Splinterlands; the Venari and the Pelacor. Both groups have cards in each Splinter faction, with the exception of a Fire Pelacor. I would like to explore that more, but that's for another time. It looks like a little under 10% of the reward cards have been printed and we have had some time to form opinions of the cards.

Please take everything with a grain of salt, I only have my limited perspective and knowledge of the game. These are just my thoughts and opinions; I would love to hear your’s.

March of the Rats (Lore)

The Venari are a race of rat-like humanoid creatures that lived in the Strite, a deep underground portion of the Splinterlands where the laws of physics do not always apply and fantastic wonders possible, for many millennia. Through use of the minerals and mana from the Strite the Venari were able to become talented artisans by process of smithing.

Over time a fued developed between the Venari people and the Dream Warden, a powerful ruler of the Underworld. The feud resulted in a 30 year long war, the end result being the Venari having to flee the Strite with little possession other than their valuable technology that allowed them to harness magical energy.

The Venari were able to be integrated into the different Splinters as each sect found where it was most useful and rewarded for its ability. As the Venari spread throughout the land and diversified, a common threat remained; the Chaos Legion. The Venari vowed to do everything in their power to not lose their home, for a second time.

If you wish to read the lore yourself it is divided among the five cards and can be viewed on the Splinterlands website, and they should be read in order of: Crystalsmith, Seedsmith, Wavesmith, Bonesmith, and finally Heatsmith.

Venari Crystalsmith

The Venari Crystalsmith is your standard support healer that is the embodiment of the white Splinter. The Crystalsmith is very similar to the Divine Healer, and is likely meant to be its replacement in the upcoming modern format. The Crystalsmith starts with mediocre stats that improve substantially as the card is leveled and can even reach 3 attack, which isn’t too shabby for a healer. The secondary ability of this card is unlocked at level six, which is dispel. This potentially will be a vital skill for higher level play as the with each League you increase you begin to see more abilities and buffs.

The Crystalsmith can be used in conjunction with the Divine Healer for double front line heals, and on top of the potential self-healing from cards like Kralus or Hydra. All together that is up to 10 health healed per round, sometimes more. That’s a lot of heals!

Venari Seedsmith

The Venari Seedsmith is a ranged based attacker with the Scavenger ability to start, and eventually he is able to inflict poison at level six. His starting stats are to be expected of a card with scavenger, very low starting health. Other than health his stats are middling, yet effective. If you are able to protect the Seedsmith long enough to get some health accumulated, he is really able to shine.

At the time of writing this the Seedsmith is the cheapest of the rare Venari, but that makes him no less useful and I believe his ability to poison is what will make him quite usable in the modern format. He may even work well on Noxious Fumes match, if the cards fall into the right places. Thanks to his scavenger ability.

Venari Wavesmith

The Venari Wavesmith sees the most play of all Venari, for a good reason. The fortify ability is exceptionally strong and is an amazing answer to a previous weakness the water Splinter faced. Following the same pattern as the previous two Venari, the Wavesmith starting stats are nothing to admire but aren’t the worst. The second ability that is unlocked is dispel, this ability may be useful to your composition but likely won’t be the reason for choosing Wavesmith.

I believe when Chaos Legion is released the Wavesmith will see a little less success than currently due to the changing starter spellbook cards and the potential for a direct counter to be added. It seems very possible a card with the rust ability has the potential to be added to one Splinter or another, possibly even a Summoner.

Venari Bonesmith

The Venari Bonesmith is the second magic based Venari and starts with the life leech ability. The Bonesmith’s second ability once leveled up is poison, these two together make for a powerful combo. Unlike those before him, his stats do not improve as much likely due to his magic attack and the potential to gain maxium health. If you manage to get him to max level he unlocks a third ability, dispel. Not the best, but no one can complain about a free ability.

The Bonesmith is an excellent addition to a composition as it only takes one or two attacks before his health is on par with other monsters, and if left unchecked will exceed them. His magic nature allows him to attack from the frontline if it comes to it and soak some additional damage if he isn’t quickly killed. Since his magic attacks can’t miss, he is more likely to apply poison then his relative, the Seedsmith, when in similar circumstances.

Venari Heatsmith

The Venari Heatsmith is a bit of an outlier from his relatives. The Heatsmith is the only common rarity among the Venari and at no point gets any form of attack. He instead is a defensive tank that starts with void armour and eventually gains an ability that is currently unique to only him. The ability I am referring to is “Amplify”, it increases damage of magic reflect, return fire, and thorns by 1. Once the Heatsmith reaches his max level he gains the thorns ability himself, which exponentially increases his utility.

Currently, there aren’t alot of cards that work well with the Heatsmith since the fire Splinter is a bit lacking in the abilities that amplify affects. I think it is very likely we will see two or more cards that work well with the Heatsmith once Chaos Legion releases. It should also be kept in mind that you may use the Heatsmith along side dragon Splinters if you so choose, this offers a few more avenues for play.

From a technical standpoint, the Heatsmith should work exceptionally well with a leveled up Cornelius as he gets all three abilities that are amplified.

Wrapping Up

I think as with all cards, each of the Venari has a time and place that it is best used but currently some are notably better than others. I believe these opportunities for use will only increase as new cards are introduced and the meta changes. Since less than 10% have been printed, you still have plenty of time to grab them or wait and see if reward chests are generous. As it stands the Wavesmith is the most prolific, but will it be able to survive the shifting tides the Chaos Legion brings? Only time will tell.

Which of the Venari do you believe is the best? Do you believe more Venari will be added with Chaos Legion?

@jim-crypto @doomz
@ultm8x @failingforwards @psyberx