Have You Tried Zyriel?
Edited in Canva Pro.
Edited in Canva Pro.
I've recently got addicted to Zyriel when I was trying to master General Sloan. In this article, we're going in a deeper dive on this monster, the possible combos, best monster combinations with her Weapons Training ability, her ability interactions and more.
This is a very informative article and I, myself, was surprised because I didn't know knowing Zyriel would let me learn about things I thought I already knew.
Edited in Canva Pro.
While she is strong because of her abilities and combination with other monsters, her alone is not. Her health is too low that she's always in danger of being eliminated by burst monsters such as Deeplurker at the start. On the end game, while she can get huge health because of Life Leech, this is useless if the monster in front of her dies.
Range monsters cannot attack while on first position and this is the same case with Zyriel. However, if you can find the best combinations, the Weapons Training ability makes up for it.
| Splinter: Life and Death | Rarity: Legendary | Mana Cost: 7 | Health: 4 | Armor: 0 | Speed: 3 | Damage: 3 Range |
Abilities
At level 1, Weapons Training and Life Leech are unlocked.
Weapons Training gives a damage type to passive monsters beside her. The damage type is equivalent to this monster's damage type while the damage is half of this monster's base damage, rounded up. This effect stacks for each different damage type.
Since Zyriel has 3 range damage, passive monsters or monsters that do not have any attacks gains 2 range damage as long as this monster is alive. You can put 2 monsters on each side giving you an overall extra 4 damage besides Zyriel.
Life Leech increases this monster's max health by half the damage inflicted to the opponent's health.
I am not sure if there's an update with this ability. According to Splinterlands support website, The Life Leech ability will increase the attackers health by 50% of the damage dealt, rounded up.
However, based on my testing, it's not the case and I will tell it in a more detailed manner in the next section.
At level 2, Divine Shield is unlocked. This ability blocks one instance of damage.
Regardless if the damage is 10 or 1, it would block that one instance of damage.
At level 3, Rust is unlocked. Decrease the opponent's armor by 2, with a minimum of 0.
Rust is a good ability to counter summoners and monsters that add armor to other monsters. Currently, there's no monsters ability or summoners that add 3 armor in an instant. The most added is from Protect ability which is 2, in which this ability directly counters.
Edited in Canva Pro.
- Life Leech must damage the health. Life Leech does not gain health when damaging armor.
- The Life Leech ability will increase the attackers health by 50% of the damage dealt, rounded up.
- Source: Splinterlands Support Website.
In this game, Zyriel life leeches for 1-2 every time she damaged her opponent's health even though she has 3 damage:
https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_b0a0aa66f5214116a71f18b3f06f195e
I tested it in another game.
https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_4b4ad5f0b083609b89f74869374d06f8
First attack, Zyriel gains 1 health. The second attack, she gains 2 health. Third attack, 1 health again. It seems like there's no rounding up but it stacks:
- 1st attack = 1 because 1.5 = 1 then carries over the 0.5 excess
- 2nd attack = 2 because 1.5 + 0.5.
- 3rd attack = 1 because 1.5 = 1 then carries over the 0.5 excess
Edited in Canva Pro.
| Splinter: Neutral | Rarity: Common | Mana Cost: 1 | Health: 1 | Armor: 0 | Speed: 2 |
Chaos Agent is the most used monsters in this list. Not only he can fit in any lineup, with or without Zyriel, but he's also a neutral monster so his availability is very superb.
Abilities
At level 2, Dodge is unlocked. Dodge ability increases the evasion rate by an additional 25%.
The effect is very straightforward. The effect, though, complements his Phase ability that is unlocked starting level 6.
At level 6, Phase is unlocked. Phase allows this monster to evade magic damage. The calculation for the evasion rate is equivalent to speed difference between the attacker and this card and abilities that this card have.
Magic damage cannot miss unless you have this ability.
At level 10, Backfire is unlocked. Backfire inflicts 2 damage to opponent that misses their attacks on this card.
Backfire complements both abilities. Dodge increases the evasion rate, Phase allows misses from magic damage which in turns may damage the opponent through Backfire.
| Splinter: Neutral | Rarity: Epic | Mana Cost: 4 | Health: 1 | Armor: 7 | Speed: 1 |
Place Clockwork Aide at the very last position. This allows you to abuse his armor to block Sneak monsters. The only monster that can counter this strategy is Water Splinter's Coral Wraith due to her Sneak and magic damage combination.
Abilities
At level 1, Swiftness is unlocked. Increase the team's speed by 1. Speed affects the turn order and hit/miss rate of the monsters. The higher the speed, the earlier they can attack. The more speed the monster has, the higher chance the opponent will miss their attacks.
This helps a lot because Zyriel only has 2 speed. This allows her to get a boost in speed allowing her to attack earlier increasing her health very early on. For Clockwork Aide, this also helps in missing the opponent's Sneak attack.
At level 4, Rust is unlocked. Decrease the opponent's armor by 2, with a minimum of 0.
Rust is a good counter strategy against teams with summoners or monsters that increases armor. This allows your Opportunity and Sneak monsters to do what they need to do more efficiently.
At level 6, Strengthen is unlocked. Increase the team's max health by 1.
Increasing max health not only increases the survivability of the team but also affects other monster's Heal and Tank Heal restorations. The higher the max health, the higher the effect of Heal and Tank Heal.
| Splinter: Neutral | Rarity: Common | Mana Cost: 1 | Health: 2 | Armor: 0 | Speed: 1 |
Creeping Ooze is only playable in Wild Format. You can only get Creeping Ooze as an Alpha or Beta packs which is only playable in Wild Format.
Abilities
At level 1, Slow is unlocked. Decrease the opponent's speed by 1, with a minimum of 1.
Just the same idea to Swiftness ability. This allows your team to act first and increase the chance of your attacks being a successful hit.
| Splinter: Neutral | Rarity: Rare | Mana Cost: 0 | Health: 1 | Armor: 0 | Speed: 1 |
Furious Chicken, when Weapons Training wasn't invented, is just a fodder. He's food for Scavenge ability and a blocker for one instance of damage. Now, Furious Chicken is a free bullet for Zyriel in Wild Format. Due to his 0 mana, you can add him alongside Zyriel for an extra 2 range damage.
Abilities
At level 5, Enrage is unlocked. Enrage increases this monster's speed and damage while it's damaged.
I think of this as a meme ability for this monster. If you have no Strengthen ability or summoners that increase the monster's health, I am not sure how you can activate Enrage at 1 health. So, without those, you can only activate this effect at max level when this card has 2 health and was inflicted by 1 damage. At max level, where monsters normally has increased damages, I am not sure in what universe you can make this happen.
| Splinter: Life | Rarity: Common | Gladius | Mana Cost: 2 | Health: 3 | Armor: 1 | Speed: 2 |
One of those I consider, "weird monsters" out there. Imagine this. Helmet Kharafax has an ability called Bloodlust that gives him extra stats whenever he deals the final blow to an opponent. However, the problem is, "How can he kill anything without any form of damage?"
This is where Weapons Training comes into play. I learned from Martyr that monsters with Weapons Training can increase their damage as well. This means that if Helmet Kharafax kills an opponent's monster through Zyriel's Weapons Training ability, his damage and all stats will also increase.
My question and I am unsure about this is, "Would the damage be left behind if Zyriel dies and Weapons Training gets removed?"
Abilities
At level 1, Bloodlust and Scavenger are unlocked.
Bloodlust increases this monster's max health, armor, speed and damage when he deals the final blow to an enemy.
Really strong ability especially with that extra armor for each kill. As mentioned, I think if you have the Weapons Training ability active, this would also allow you to increase this monster's damage. To further abuse this set up, you can try having two monsters with Weapons Training ability on each side of Helmet Kharafax.
For example, if you have Zyriel on one side and Aves Sturgis on the other, that would give this monster 2 range damage and 1 magic damage. If he kills an opponent, your 2 range damage will increase to 3 range damage while the 1 magic damage will increase to 2 magic damage. This gives you 2 extra damage total each turn.
Scavenger increases this monster's max health by 1 for each monster that dies.
In addition to Bloodlust's extra 1 max health, you get another one for a total of 2 max health when you kill a monster. Really strong combination and can get you through a lot of battles.
At level 4, Void is unlocked. Void halves all magic damage that this monster receives. If the magic damage is already 1 before the effect applies, the magic damage is negated and becomes 0.
With this ability, you can use him as a blocker for Snipe monsters. Snipe magic monsters like Magi Necrosi is very strong since their attacks passes through armor and always hits. The Snipe also bypasses your main tank making your back row very susceptible to damage. This allows you to block those attacks while getting health back through your previous two abilities.
At level 7, Magic Reflect is unlocked. Magic Reflect returns half the magic damage this monster got back to the attacker.
Basically, Thorns but for magic damage. Unfortunately, this doesn't half the magic damage furthermore. Also, I am quite sure that the damage that will be returned is after any damage reduction. Meaning since you have Void ability, If your opponent attacks with 4 magic damage, Void halves this to 2 and your opponent receives half, which is 1 damage instead of 2 (half of 4) magic damage when you receive 4 magic damage.
At level 10, Return Fire is unlocked. Return Fire returns half the range damage this monster got back to the attacker.
Basically, Magic Reflect but for range damage. Completely same idea with the above statement but change it to range damage.
| Splinter: Life | Rarity: Common | Mana Cost: 2 | Health: 4 | Armor: 0 | Speed: 3 |
Pelacor Conjurer is another good choice for Zyriel due to his high speed. With high speed, it allows him to attack first. Low mana cost also allows him to be put in the lineup with a little adjustment needed. He's one of my go to tanks for low mana fights.
Abilities
At level 1, Flying is unlocked. Flying ability increases the evasion rate of monster against melee and range damage. It also negates and Earthquake damage from Earthquake rule of combat.
Place in front of Zyriel in order to block some Snipe range damage and made it miss.
At level 4, Magic Reflect is unlocked. Magic Reflect inflicts half the magic damage that this monster received back to the attacker. This effect does not reduce the received magic damage from the opponent.
Some Snipe monsters may also use magic damage such as Magi Necrosi. This is a good blocker for those monsters in order to push back a damage of your own back to the attacker.
At level 7, Divine Shield is unlocked. Block one instance of damage.
I am unsure if Magic Reflect works if blocked by Divine Shield. However, this effect still blocks one instance of damage meaning you technically stunned your opponent's damage for a turn.
At level 10, Phase is unlocked. Allows evasion of magic damage.
This ability confuses me when they added it to Pelacor Conjurer. While it's a good ability because this monster has high speed and Flying ability, it doesn't mesh with Magic Reflect or Divine Shield. If your opponent misses their magic damage, Magic Reflect will also not return any damage.
| Splinter: Death | Rarity: Common | Mana Cost: 4 | Health: 5 | Armor: 0 | Speed: 3 |
Abilities
At level 1, Flying and Scavenger is unlocked.
Flying is increases the evasion rate of monster against melee and range damage. It also negates and Earthquake damage from Earthquake rule of combat.
Flying complements teh Backfire ability that can be unlocked starting at level 5. This increases the chance of your opponents missing their melee and range attacks which can trigger the backfire ability. With Zyriel, you can place this on front of her in order to block the incoming range Snipe attacks. This may allow you to have the opponents miss while inflicting your own damage.
Scavenger increases this monster's max health by 1 for each monster that dies.
Scavenger is one of my most favorite abilities. That is because you can trigger it very easily either by sacrificing your own monsters or eliminating the opponent's. At max capacity, Scavenger can net you an extra 10 max health per battle if we consider that this card and another card on the opponent became the last monsters on the board. And having a 18 health monster with 4 mana at max level is unsurprisingly very strong.
At level 5, Backfire is unlocked. Backfire inflicts 2 damage to opponent that misses their attacks on this card.
With Flying ability and high speed, this will certainly dish a lot of damage. I've had games before where this effect is a life saver eliminating opponent's support monsters such as Venari Crystalsmith. Any damage that your monsters can inflict to the opponent is always welcomed.
At level 8, Headwinds is unlocked. Headwinds reduces opponent's range damage by 1 with a 1 minimum of 1.
Headwinds on Riftwing is good. Even with high speed and Flying, evading monster's attacks are only by chance. Even a 1 speed monster can deal damage with a 10 speed monster. I've seen that happened to me firsthand. With that, reducing the opponent's attacks are always a good idea. At least, if opponent's range attacks hits Riftwing, it would hurt less and a 1 damage, sometimes, can get you the difference between winning and losing.
| Splinter: Neutral | Rarity: Common | Mana Cost: 3 | Health: 1 | Armor: 0 | Speed: 2 |
A good neutral monster, amazing in fact, once you reached level 6. When combined with Zyriel, not only he becomes a good support but a good damage as well. The Camouflage effect also ensures you that you have that extra damage until Zyriel dies until she gets to grave.
Abilities
At level 1, Repair is unlocked. Restores the ally's armor by 2. This prioritizes the ally with the most damaged armor.
Very good support ability in general. Unlike Tank Heal, this can also work on the back row if your back row monsters have damaged armor. This only works one monster at a time though.
At level 6, Camouflage is unlocked. Your opponents cannot target this monster for attacks unless this monster is in first position.
One of the best abilities out there for support monsters. If you place this behind Zyriel, your opponent's Sneak monsters will bypass this hitting Zyriel. That may be good since Zyriel can then restores her health with Life Leech making a stand still between those interaction.
Camouflage, though, only protects this card from being targetted and not the damage itself. This monster can still be damaged with abilities such as Blast, Return Fire, Poison from Noxious Fumes and attacks done by Scattershot since Scattershot does a random target and not target anyone specifically.
At level 10, Slow is unlocked. Reduces opponent's speed by 1 with a minimum of 1.
This allows you to act first, dish damage first and possibily eliminating some of the opponent's monsters before they can act. It also increases your chance of hitting the opponent with range attacks such as the one from Weapons Training since Speed is also a factor for monster evasion for melee and range attacks.
| Splinter: Life and Death | Rarity: Epic | Mana Cost: 1 | Health: 4 | Armor: 0 | Speed: 1 |
You can use this as substitute for Chaos Agent if you need to. Shadowy Presence has higher health allowing you to increase the chance of surviving an attack more.
Abilities
At level 3, Strengthen is unlocked. Increase the team's max health by 1.
I think I already discussed this a lot. Good for when you have Heal and Tank Heal focus and just increased survivability overall.
At level 6, Inspire is unlocked. Increase the team's melee damage by 1.
Not really helpful with the Zyriel combo but still good since most of the tanks are melee monsters.
| Splinter: Life and Death | Rarity: Rare | Mana Cost: 3 | Health: 1 | Armor: 0 | Speed: 2 |
Truthspeaker is one of my Zyriel combos for Light Splinters. With Truthspeaker and Scavo Hireling, Scavo Hireling can Repair the monster's armor given by Truthspeaker allowing you to always have a target for that Scavo Hireling's Repair ability.
Abilities
At level 1, Protect is unlocked. Increases the team's max armor by 2.
Good ability to protect your back row especially if your back row has low health. Zyriel only have 4 health and this Protect ability may save her for that big burst of damage such as Deeplurker's Opportunity attack.
At level 5, Cleanse is unlocked. Cleanse removes any negative status from the ally monster. These statuses are stuff such as poison, stun, demoralize, etc.
For a more general idea, statuses are those that can be found above the monster's picture during battle. If you hover on the monster, you can also see these status in gray fill such as this:
At level 8, Tank Heal is unlocked. Restores a third of the health of the monster on the first position every round.
Tank Heal is based on max health. The higher the max health, the higher the effect will be. Partner her with monsters that increase max health for better effect if you will be using a Tank Heal oriented build.
| Splinter: Life | Rarity: Common | Mana Cost: 7 | Health: 9 | Armor: 0 | Speed: 5 |
While Warrior of Peace is added here as a recommendation, I'd like to point out that the best partner with him is Chain Golem due to his Void and Shield combination. His skills reduces the opponent's melee, range and magic damage while Chain Golem halves all of these damages.
Due to his amazing health, you can position him in front of Zyriel for when the tank falls or place him on the back of Zyriel positioning at the very last to serve as blocker for Sneaks.
Abilities
At level 1, Demoralize is unlocked. Demoralize reduces opponent's melee damage by 1 with a 1 minimum of 1.
Very good ability to counter Sneak oriented builds. Usually used to counter Tarsa.
At level 6, Headwinds is unlocked. Headwinds reduces opponent's range damage by 1 with a 1 minimum of 1.
Very good ability to counter range Snipe oriented builds. Usually used to counter General Sloan.
At level 10, Silence is unlocked. Silence reduces opponent's magic damage by 1 with a 1 minimum of 1.
Very good ability to counter magic damage oriented builds. Usually used to counter Obsidian.
| Splinter: Death | Rarity: Epic | Mana Cost: 6 | Health: 9 | Armor: 0 | Speed: 4 |
One of my favorite cards ever since I got him. Unfortunately, Will-o-Wisp is a soulbound card so getting him can be a pain. However, the mana cost to health ratio is really good. In addition to that, he also have Weaken ability that directly complements with Summoner, Thaddius Brood.
Abilities
At level 1, Flying and Weaken are unlocked.
Flying ability is a good ability as it increases the evasion rate of monster against melee and range damage. It also negates and Earthquake damage from Earthquake rule of combat.
Place Will-o-Wisp at the last position to abuse his Flying ability against melee Sneak monsters.
Weaken ability reduces opponent's max health by 1 with a 1 minimum of 1.
This has the same effect as Thaddius Brood. Reducing max health is always good as it makes opponent gets a turn closer to their graves.
At level 4, Silence is unlocked. Silence reduces opponent's magic damage by 1 with a 1 minimum of 1.
This has good combination with Void ability in order to negate the damage.
At level 6, Blind is unlocked. Opponent's monsters has 15% increased chance of missing their attacks.
There was a huge change with Blind. Now, it acts like Demoralize or other effects that affects the whole opponent's team. As long as this monster is alive, opponents has higher chance of missing attacks unless they have magic damage.
The idea of having a dual element monster is pretty neat. It opens up the idea and gives you more combinations. One thing I am wishing for is to use this idea as a rule of combat. Imagine this, a full melee monster build with Tarsa as summoner but with Deeplurker, and Demented Shark from water splinter. Another is having Life Splinter with Kelya Frendul as the summoner for a more faster build.
The idea of having two elements for a monster is very strong but not overwhelmingly strong since the monster itself is not a monster on her own. I really like the balance on Zyriel and I think she's an example of what is a perfectly balanced monster in Splinterlands.
- This post is an entry for Splinterlands Social Media 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
ℋ𝒶𝓋ℯ 𝒶 𝑔ℴℴ𝒹 𝒹𝒶𝓎!
Thanks for sharing! - @alokkumar121
