The Nomadic People of Talus Bluff - Hill Giant

almost 2 years ago

Hill Giant.jpg

Hello Splinterlands Community!

Starting on this post, the contents will be for the modern format. Cards that are not available in the modern format will not be included in the information on this post. Even the battle is for wild format, I will share my line-up which is applicable in modern format.

For this week's challenge, this monster has a good utility and contribution in the earth element. The nomadic poeple that live in the Talus Bluff. They are called the Hill Giants.

Hill Giants live in the Talus Bluffs on the outskirts of the volcano known as the Mountain of Ash. They are nomadic people that travel from hilltop to hilltop following herds of deer and cattle. Though they are intimidating, Hill Giants are typically more far more inquisitive of other cultures and seek to learn from them rather than attack. However, if they need to defend themselves, they attack by ripping boulders from the ground and are able to hurl them up to a mile. The people of Praetoria are glad to have them on their side against the Chaos Legion.

🌳 The Stats

The Stats.png

Hill Giant is a good monster card to the earth element. The main attribute of this monster is the high health and the low mana cost.
Starting at the base level, this card health is already at 6. Leveling up this to ★5 will increase it's health to 8. At ★6 which will unlock the stun ability is only available starting from Gold League.
Maximizing the level to ★10 will have a 3 melee attack and a maximum of 9 health.
This monster is best for low mana matchup as this monster only consume 3 mana.
Overall this monster do have a good utility and can provide a good defense.

Combo Cards

In terms of Summoners, Mylor Crowling is the best summoner that is compatible with Hill Giant.

Card	Benefit
Mylor Crowling	Mylor Crowling main features is to protect it's allies with thorn in order to provide extra damage when hit by a melee attack. Hill Giant because of it's high health will mainly contribute on this buff as long as it is not hit by a range or magic.

The monsters below are those monsters that are usable in the Modern format which have a good combination with Hill Giant based on the usage and position. The lineup is still depends on the ruleset of each match.

Card	Benefit
Queen Mycelia	Queen Mycelia's armor and amplify at ★2 greatly benefits Hill Giant because of extra armor and when using Mylor as the summoner. The thorn damage is amplified. Another thing is that Queen Mycelia and Hill Giant mana cost is allowed in the little league ruleset.
Oaken Behemoth	Oaken Behemoth with the reach ability is a great in the second position. The knockdown ability which is available at ★2 is a great combination with the stun ability of Hill Giant which is position in the frontline. A stunned enemy from Hill Giant attack followed by an attack from Oaken Behemoth is a massive damage, dealing 6 melee and a 4 magic damage.
River Hellondale	Goblin Psychic with the heal ability can further help Hill Giant to survive further. This combination is a good in order for Hill Giant to take attack and portion of that damage will be heal by Goblin Psychic.

Favorable Ruleset

Favorable ruleset to pair with this Hill Giant:

Ruleset	Benefits
Odd Ones Out	Hill Giant at a cost of 3 mana is a suitable tank in the earth element. With this ruleset, Mycelic Infantry, Unicorn Mustang and Grund which are normally the Earth element's tank will not be available. Hill Giant is a great choice for a low mana match. For high mana, Pelacor Mercenary and Nectar Queen are better.
Little League	Probably the best tank in the Earth element for this ruleset because of it's high health.
Fog of War	With the fog of war ruleset, the attack will be directly towards Hill Giant except for the opportunity attack. In this ruleset, the magic unit will have no trouble in defending themselves as the Hill Giant will do protect them.
Heavy Hitters	Starting from the Gold League,a ★6 Hill Giant can stun enemies making this ruleset a very dangerouse to those enemies affected with stun as all incoming attack will have a double damage.
Reverse Speed	In terms of speed, Hill Giant is a slow monster which gives him an advantage on this ruleset.

Sample Lineup (Little League)

Mana Cost: 23

🌳 The Battle

Rules of Combat

Modifications: Reverse Speed
Mana Cap: 23
Playable Splinters: Fire, Water, Earth and Life

Line Up

Position	Card	Mana Cost	Strategic Planning
Summoner	Obsidian	4	Obsidian provides a +1 boost to magic damage to monsters. In below line-up a boost of magic damage to Goblin Psychic, Queen Mycelia and Djinn Biljka.
Front Row	Hill Giant	3	Hill Giant provides a great tank with a health of 8. It can provide a melee damage of 2. Hill Giant will absorb all attack, and supported by Mycelia and Goblin Psychic.
Back Row 1	Fungus Fiend	0	Fungus Fiend is a cannon fodder to temporarily absorb damage once Hill Giant is defeated.
Back Row 2	Venari Scout	3	Venari Scout can deal an opportunity attack and with a 5 health, it will support defending the frontline if the 2 monster above are defeated.
Back Row 3	Goblin Psychic	6	Goblin Psychic with the boost of Obsidian could deal a 3 magic damage. It will support Hill Giant by healing to maintain the frontline defense.
Back Row 4	Djinn Biljka	3	The position of Djinn Biljka is actually not correct as this should be place on the last because of the camouflage ability, it is invulnerable in sneak, snipe or opportunity attack. It can provide additional 3 magic damage.
Back Row 5	Queen Mycelia	4	Queen Mycelia provides additional protection to all of it's allies especially to Hill Giant as it is the frontliner of the group. This position should be swap with Djinn Biljka.

Round 1

This is a battle between Earth and Water.

Obsidian's magic boost the damage of Goblin Psychic, Djinn Biljka and Queen Mycelia. Queen Mycelia will provide an armor protection.

Kelya Frendul specialized in speed and armor however the ruleset is against high speed. The team compose of Torrent Fiend as a cannon fodder, Djinn Oshannus as the main force which have void and phase ability which is against magic. The other line-up which are Pirate Archer, Ice Pixie, Crustacean King and Medusa are all low damaging unit but with great abilities such as blast, heal and stun.

Since the ruleset is reverse speed, most of Earth unit will attack first. It will easily defeat Torrent Fiend and will try to break Djinn Oshannus. Venari Scout will attack Ice Pixie because of the opportunity ability.

On the other hand, the Water unit will focus their attack on Hill Giant.

Round 2

At the start of Round 2, the Torrent Fiend is defeated and Ice Pixie's armor has been broken. Hill Giant is heavily wounded from different attack.

Goblin Psychic will continue to heal Hill Giant and kill Oshannus together with Mycelia, Biljka and Hill Giant . Venari Scout will focus on killing Ice Pixie.

Round 3

Venari Scout successfully defeaeted Ice Pixie. The stun from Medusa got Hill Giant resulting it to unable to attack.

The battle continues as the Goblin Psychic heals Hill Giant in order to survive the incoming attack. The combination attack from Goblin Psychic, Biljka, Mycelia and Venari Scout defeated Oshannus.

Round 4

A direct magic attack from the 3 magic user will easily kill Pirate Archer and Crustacean King.

Round 5

Goblin Psychic magic attack defeated Medusa.

Flawless Victory!

Because of the healing power of Goblin Psychic, Hill Giant survive the battle.

Battle Link

The Outcome

The Outcome.png

With the same line-up and the reverse speed is not in play. The result could have been different. Use the monsters based on the ruleset.

Extra Battle

Using Mylor as a summoner in the bronze league.

Battle Link

🌳 Final Thoughts

Hill Giant is a good card which does have a great contribution to the Earth element. The main use of this card is defense and is very good especially to low mana matchup. Even though the monster is a giant, it is very powerful and applicable in the little league. See the irony there, a giant in the little league.

Thank you for reading! See you in the next post.