How Good Are The New Abilities?

^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

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Escalation released a lot of interesting things. There are new monsters and that means new abilities are introduced and this one's very packed. Not only new abilities were introduced but also updates on the old abilities.

I am most interested in the abilities that were added in the new Escalation set. I would provide my honest opinion whether I think they are good or bad or neither.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Apex Strike

Targets the enemy unit with the most Power.

This is a tricky ability. I can think of a lot of good ways to use this and how this one increases the need for Taunt. Usually, to make it balance, the monsters with higher damage also have lower health. If you don't have Taunt, you will need a strong monster that also have high health.

Combo 1: Apex Strike + Execute

Execute ability adds another attack if the opponent had 1 health after the first attack. This allows them to do the killing blow which is good to reduce the opponent's overall damage immediately.

Combo 2: Apex Strike + Fury

Since the counter for this ability is a Taunt monster, adding fury on top would be huge. Fury does double damage to the monster with Taunt making this a counter-counter ability.

Combo 3: Apex Strike + Enfeeble

If this monster with Apex Strike has lower attack, Enfeeble would be good to curb the damage. Each time Enfeeble hits, it would reduce their damage. The downside is that this is only strong against melee monsters since that's what Enfeeble is affected.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Bloodline Pact

Allied units that share this unit’s bloodline gain +1 Power when any of them defeats an enemy and take 1 true damage when any of them is defeated.
If this monster is defeated, allied monsters that share its bloodline take 2 damage and lose all Power gained from this ability.

Personally, I don't like this ability. The 2 damage that you would take when this monster dies is a lot. There's also a 1 additional damage when the other monsters die. When you're using this ability, that means none of the similar Bloodline monsters can die or else it would affect everyone else.

Combo 1: Bloodline Pact + Opportunity

I feel like this ability functions similar to Bloodlust. So, an ability that prioritizes lower health monsters will be good for this monster. That secures more kills and increases the power for everyone.

Combo 2: Bloodline Pact + Taunt

You can either have this monster have the Taunt or another one. Taunt can protect this monster and other similar monsters from death.

Combo 3: Bloodline Pact + Life Leech

The higher the damage, the higher the Life Leech will do. At the same time, this helps the extra damage the monster will get when similar Bloodlines dies. I think Life Leech is the best ability partner this ability can have.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Bulwark

When in the first position, loses -2 Attack Power, gains +8 Health, and +8 Armor.

This is the ability I want to try the most. I can already see a lot of combos and strategy with this ability. Once this is released, this would surely be in my main lineup as much as possible.

Combo 1: Bulwark + Reach

If the monster with this ability is a melee monster, this would have Reach. This gives him full damage in 2nd position and when needed to be the tank, he can get the Bulwark ability, reducing damage for health and armor.

Combo 2: Bulwark + Flank

Similar concept for Reach. The Reach ability needs that this monster have that ability to work. Otherwise, you can use another monster with Flank.

Combo 3: Bulwark + Resurrect

I want to know the interaction between these two abilities. If the monster gets revived with 1 health, does Bulwark activate after that giving it an extra 8 health and 8 armor or is the Bulwark always active and the monster just gets the 1 health and max armor plus the 8 armor from Bulwark?

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Decoy

Draws attacks from enemy units with Snipe, Apex Strike, and Opportunity.
Does not affect enemy units in the first position.

At first, I thought this was a bad ability because we already have Taunt so why add this ability? I want to see if the Fury ability will be updated or not. If not, then Decoy can be a weaker Taunt but without the counter ability, Fury, that deals double damage to that monster.

Combo 1: Decoy + Shield

Since this works similarly to Taunt, then you can have the similar abilities that works well with Taunt. My advice though is if you can add Shield to the monster with Decoy, put it in the 6th position. Decoy doesn't redirect Sneak attacks so Shield works as a protection from Sneak while also redirecting some attacks.

Combo 2: Decoy + Tank Heal

If you're not going to use this monster last, you would be using him first because unlike Taunt, normal range and magic damage doesn't get redirected. As a tank, you would want Tank Heal for this.

Combo 3: Decoy + Resurgence

A second life from this monster is a big problem for your opponents. If you can add Resurgence, it would work really good.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Determined

After missing an attack, makes a second attack against the same target.

This ability is the weakest one in my opinion. We already have True Strike ability that makes any attack cannot miss. Determined is a weaker version of it. He does a second attack but it doesn't mean that the second attack will hit. It would also be possible that both attacks miss.

Combo 1: Determined + Backfire

If you really want to mess with your opponent's monster with Determined ability, have a monster with Backfire. They take a damage when they miss the first time and also take a second damage when missed on the second time.

Combo 2: Determined + Execute

To make this ability stronger, I believe Execute is the key. Since execute works per attack, this means each attack has a chance to execute.

Combo 3: Determined + Opportunity

Attacking the lowest health monster is always a strong strategy. With Determined, if he missed the first time, there's a second time you can try and hit it to probably kill that opponent's monster.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Flame Fed

When Burning, instead of losing Health, gains +1 Health at the beginning of each round.

Burning is a debilitation that is very dangerous that it spreads. Flame Fed is a good ability that makes that danger an advantage instead. If you can make a team with a lot of Flame Fed abilities, the Incendiary debilitation will be very interesting to see.

Combo 1: Flame Fed + Incendiary

This ability starts the burning and spreads the burning. Flame Fed is a very direct ability that requires Burning to happen so either you need to have a monster with Incendiary or playing on a Global Warming modifier to work.

Combo 2: Flame Fed + Life Leech

Not only you get more health from Life Leech but any damage afterwards, you get a minor heal from Flame Fed. This is assuming that your monster already have burning effect.

Combo 3: Flame Fed + Shield/Void

I can imagine that whoever has the Flame Fed ability will be a tank. So, as a tank, Shield or Void would be nice. This makes that monster last longer and as long as you're alive, Flame Fed will be there to heal you.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Reprisal

If an enemy unit deals more than 5 damage in a single round, it gains Taunt, and if camouflaged, is Revealed.

Reprisal can be good or bad depending on the monster. If your tank is the one dealing the 5 damage and the opponent has Reprisal, that would be very amazing as it now gives your main tank a free Taunt. On the other hand, if it's a damage dealer with low health, every opposing monster attacking it will also destroy the lineup.

Combo 1: Reprisal + Fury

Reprisal gives more chance for Fury to shine. Giving an enemy a Taunt just so your Fury monster do double damage to them is a strong scary combo. I don't see a lot of people doing this because the chance of it happening isn't high but it's scary if it happened.

Combo 2: Reprisal + Increased damage (Summoner's Tactics)

Summoner's Tactics can be used on both the opponent and your monsters. Underboss Fabino is an archon that can give +2 melee attack to another monster. You can give it to an enemy monster so you can force activate Reprisal on the opponent's monster if you have a monster with Reprisal.

Combo 3: Reprisal + Last Stand

One consistent thing I can see this is if the opponent has Last Stand. Last Stand doubles the stats of the monster including the damage. But at that point, it's the last monster so there's really no reason to add Taunt on it.

I think this ability looks cool but isn't that strong or at least complicated to consistently pull. We'll see when it release if this would be a good ability or not.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Shadow Focus

When in the last position, gains Camouflage, cannot attack, and all allied units gain +1 Power and Determined.

This is an interesting ability. Not only it gives the monsters extra damage but also a second chance to attack when they miss.

Combo 1: Shadow Focus + Last Stand

Since this monster will be Camouflaged and placed last, Last Stand is perfect. You would be boosting your team's damage while he waits for his turn and then when all monsters are dead and this monster is the last one alive, Last Stand kicks in boosting its own stats.

Combo 2: Shadow Focus + Empower

Empower is an ability that says, "While not revealed, this unit and adjacent units gain +1 Power." With this ability, you can give extra damage to your team. This means adjacent monsters get +2 attack while the rest gets +1.

Combo 3: Shadow Focus vs. Reveal + Sneak

To counter this ability, you need Reveal and Sneak. Reveal removes the Camouflage from Shadow Focus and Sneak damages them because this must be the last monster in the lineup.

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Sample Units

These are some of the new units that have the abilities that will be released in the Escalation set.

^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

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Kindred Will and Kindred Spirit Update

The ones below, I don't have any icons yet but these are abilities that will also be released in the Escalation set. They are adding more Kindred Will and Kindred Spirit variants.

Kindred Will gets effect when there's a monster with Kindred Spirit ability beside it and vice versa.

Kindred Will: Deflection Shroud
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred Spirit gain Deflection Shroud.

Kindred Will: Shatter
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred Spirit gain Shatter

Kindred Will: Triage
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred Spirit gain Triage.

Kindred Will: Rebirth
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred Spirit gain Rebirth

Kindred Will: Life Leech
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred Spirit gain Life Leech.

Kindred Will: Mimic
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred Spirit gain Mimic.

Kindred Spirit: Stun
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred Will gain Stun

Kindred Spirit: Poison
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred Will gain Poison.

Kindred Spirit: Blast
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred will gain Blast.

Kindred Spirit: Relentless Strike
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred Will gain Relentless Strike

Kindred Spirit: Strengthen
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred Will gain Strengthen.

Kindred Spirit: Execute
At the start of battle, adjacent units with Kindred Will gain Execute.

I don't have anything to say for these abilities yet because it is very limited. For Kindred Spirit ability to work, you need to have monster with Kindred Will ability beside it. So, what's "good" or "bad" about this is based more on what monster will be good and not the combos themselves. I may make an article about this separately in the future once it released officially.

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Overall, these changes are good. It would be nice to see the Kindred Will and Kindred Spirit interaction since it feels very limiting right now. The new abilities are good and interesting and those are just some of the combos I thought but I am sure to find a lot more in the future.

• This post is an entry for Splinterlands Social Media Contest.
• Animated Banners and Dividers are edited in Canva Pro.
• Other sources that I do not own are cited under their respective photos.
• Some of the fonts used are from instafonts.io

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