^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

---

^{For best user-experience, view in Ecency. Some text styling does not work in Peakd.}

---

Predicting an opponents build is one of the knowledge you must learn in Splinterlands. There are three main damage types in the game, melee, range, and magic. The more you can predict the opponent's build, the more you can counter it increasing your chance to win.

How would you do that when you can't read someone mind, you ask? It's by the rules of combat. Certain rules of combat affects certain monster. Super Sneak, only affects melee monsters and that's why most of your opponent's monsters would probably be melee types if they want to abuse this rule of combat.

If you can predict their build and be prepared for it, you will be surprised as you climb from league to league in no time.

---

---

---

Dumacke Orc

---

Stats | Kelya Frendul

^{𝔓𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔬� 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔪𝔶 𝔖𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱.}

Kelya Frendul is a rare summoner. She increases the team's speed and armor which is strong as long as your opponent would not use a magic damage focused builds.

---

Abilities

---

+1 Speed. Increases the team's Speed by 1.

Speed determines the turn order and increases the evasion rate of your monsters. The higher the speed, the earlier they can act. The higher the speed, the more chances that the opponent would miss their melee and range attacks.

---

+1 Armor. Increases the team's Armor by 1.

Even though it's just 1 armor. Armor acts as a second health. So, unless your opponent has Pierce ability, even if your monster has 1 health and 1 armor, it would take 2 attacks or 2 rounds for your opponent's 5 damage melee monster to kill it.

---

𝔄𝔟𝔦𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔡𝔢𝔰𝔠𝔯𝔦𝔟𝔢𝔡 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔳𝔢 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔖𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔪𝔶 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱.

---

---

Stats | Dumacke Orc

^{𝔓𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔬� 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔪𝔶 𝔖𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱.}

Dumacke Orc has a very low health of 1 but decent armor of 6. This huge difference in health and armor can both be a good and a bad thing depending on how you use it.

---

Abilities

---

At level 1, Shield is unlocked. Shield halves all melee and range damage. Any damage that is 1 before the effect applies turns to 0 and is blocked.

In a rule of combat such as Up Close and Personal where everyone is melee or even not. Just in rules of combat such as Super Sneak, in which, you usually use melee monsters to abuse the rules of combat advantage, Shield is a strong ability. If you can predict it properly, your opponent's damage will be cut in half for the whole game.

---

At level 5, Retaliate is unlocked. Retaliate has a 50% chance for this monster to attack its attacker when hit by a melee attack.

The main difference between this and Thorns is that Thorns is much more consistent. However, the damage in Retaliate is based on the monster's attack. This means if you have Inspire ability or Enrage ability that increases melee damage, the damage of Retaliate also increases.

---

At level 8 Thorns is unlocked. Melee monsters that attack this monster takes 2 melee damage.

Like I mentioned, Thorns is a more consistent ability than Retaliate. As long as the attacker is melee, Thorns will always apply. This is a good ability to remove the opponent's armor as it is consistent and is extremely useful to counter opponent's Sneak focused teams.

---

𝔄𝔟𝔦𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔡𝔢𝔰𝔠𝔯𝔦𝔟𝔢𝔡 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔳𝔢 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔖𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔪𝔶 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱.

---

Battle Highlights

Click the link below to see the full battle:
https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_48455899b6353ee02bc0d226cf5c412f

---

---

Rules of Combat

^{𝔓𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔬� 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔪𝔶 𝔖𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱.}

48 Mana Cap. Total mana cost of all monsters must not exceed 48 mana.

---

Up Close and Personal Rules of Combat. You can only use monsters with melee attack during this battle. Shield and Demoralize are

---

Super Sneak Rules of Combat. All melee monsters gain the Sneak ability. Sneak allows the monster to attack from any position prioritizing the last monster on the opponent's team.

When there are two target modifiying abilities in a monster, only one is activated and the others are disable. The priority of which ability will be used depends on its hierarchy:

Therefore, if a monster has both Sneak and Opportunity abilities, like in this game, the Opportunity ability is disabled and the Sneak ability is used.

---

---

Abilities Used During This Battle

---

𝔄𝔟𝔦𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔲𝔰𝔢𝔡 𝔦𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔟𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔩𝔢 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔖𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔪𝔶 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱.

---

---

Monsters in

RED

are my opponent's. Those in BLUE are mine.

---

Round 2

^{𝔓𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔬� 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔪𝔶 𝔖𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱.}

1. Dumacke Orc's Sneak attack killed Shieldbearer .

---

Round 3

^{𝔓𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔬� 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔪𝔶 𝔖𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱.}

1. Deeplurker's Sneak attack killed
   Chaos Knight
   .

---

Round 4

^{𝔓𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔬� 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔪𝔶 𝔖𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱.}

1. Deeplurker's Sneak attack killed
   Disintegrator
   .
2. Arkemis the Bear's attack killed
   Elven Defender
   .
3. Disintegrator's Sneak attack killed
   Cave Slug
   .

---

Round 5

^{𝔓𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔬� 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔪𝔶 𝔖𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱.}

1. Dumacke Orc's Sneak attack killed
   Luminous Eagle
   .

---

---

---

ᒪIᑎEᑌᑭ

^{𝔓𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔬� 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔪𝔶 𝔖𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱.}

Kelya Frendul: Increases your monster's Speed and Armor by 1. Good against melee and range opponents.

1. Arkemis the Bear: Has Protect ability. If the opponent uses melee-focused build, the least that would be attack is the 1st position monster. Having a Protect monster on 1st or 2nd position allows it to live the longest giving you big advantages in Super Sneak rules of combat.
2. Disintegrator: Super Sneak only affects melee so this is to counter a melee-focused team using Demoralize that decreases the opponent's team's melee damage by 1.
3. Demented Shark: Contrary to Demoralize, Inspire increases my team's melee damage by 1 and is a must in any melee-focused builds.
4. Deeplurker: When a monster has both Sneak and Opportunity, Sneak takes precedent and the Opportunity is disabled.
5. Serpent of Eld: Has high speed and Dodge ability that decreases the opponent's hit cap by 25%. Used as a tank but instead of tanking damage, he evades.
6. Dumacke Orc: Has low health but huge armor and Shield ability. Really good to counter melee Sneak monsters.

---

---

ᗪIᗪ YOᑌᖇ ᔕTᖇᗩTEGY ᗯOᖇKEᗪ?

Yes. The combination of Dumacke Orc's Shield ability and Disintegrator's Demoralize is huge. All of my opponent's monsters went to 1 damage. When a monster with Shield ability is attacked by a monster with 1 damage, any damage he receives turns to 0 and is blocked. This meant that in this whole game, my opponent will never break my defense at the back and while Sneak is disabled when in first position, my opponent in 1st position with 1 melee damage will take a lot of turns before he kills my Arkemis the Bear with 3 armor and 10 health.

This game is unlosable for me as I have the proper strategy and was able to properly utilize the rules of combat.

---

---

ᗯᕼᗩT ᗯIᒪᒪ YOᑌ TᖇY ᗪIᖴᖴEᖇEᑎTᒪY ᑎE᙭T TIᗰE?

I just pulled a Quora Towershield just now and since she has a melee attack, she can be used in the "Up Close and Personal" rules of combat.

I actually pulled her some time after this battle so that's a shame but if I were to redo this lineup or have a Super Sneak battle in the future, I would add Quora Towershead.

Quora has both the strength and the sustain to work thoroughout this battle which is really good. Also, her magic damage will be hard to counter, not to mention, it would be unexpected giving me a bigger edge in this battle.

The two downsides are:

1. I would need to completely change the lineup since Quora towershead is an Earth monster.
2. I am unsure of the Sneak-magic damage interaction. In Super Sneak, if you use a magic damage or range damage monster, they would simply attack the 1st monster despite getting the Sneak ability. However, Sneak is not limited to melee monsters and Coral Wraith from the Water Splinter and Iza the Fanged from Earth Splinter are good examples. Quora Towershead, being a melee monster with magic damage, I am not sure what category she would fall if she would also use a magic damage sneak. That would be a test I want to see in the future.

---

---

𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆

Dumacke Orc in Super Sneak Rules of Combat

? 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕?

Yes. Actually, due to Dumacke Orc's low health, I only use him in a very few rules of combats and Super Sneak is one of them. His Shield ability is actually really strong and with only a cost of 6, you can use this card and focus more on other aspects of your build making him one of the most efficient monsters to use in Super Sneak rules of combat.

• This post is an entry for Splinterland's Battle Mage Secrets contest.
• Other sources that I do not own are cited under their respective photos. Photos and drawings without cited sources are mine and made for this post.
• Animated Banners and Dividers are edited in Canva Pro.
• Some of the fonts used are from instafonts.io

---

---

If you're interested in playing the game, support me by registering using my referral link here

---

GӨӨD ᄂЦᄃK ΛПD KΣΣP GЯIПDIПG!