Never Put Warborn Shaman in the Back

^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

In Splinterlands, high mana monsters often decide how a battle flows from the very first round. I usually call these "carry" monsters. These monsters usually bring strong stats and abilities that provides teh biggest impact in the game. When a monster costs a lot of mana, players expect it to give value over many rounds since it usually also means higher stats and better abilities. Warborn Shaman fits this idea very well for me. Warborn Shaman is not a fast monster but it is built to stay alive and cause problems over time. In other words, it's a tank. However, that's not all it does. Warborn Shaman mixes magic damage, defense and healing in one body. This makes it hard to die and good in a lot of battles battles. When used correctly, Warborn Shaman feels like a wall that can also bite back.

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^{Image from Splinterlands.}

Warborn Shaman is best described as a durable damage tank monster. With a high mana cost of 10, it is clearly meant to carry games with its stats and abilities. Its 3 magic damage may not look high for the mana cost but magic damage always ignores armor and consistently hits which still makes it a strong monster. The 3 speed is low for a 10 mana cost monster meaning it usually moves later than other monsters. This can be fine for a defensive tank so not a lot of worries there. With 4 armor and 8 health, Warborn Shaman can take melee, range and magic damage better than other monsters. This monster excels at surviving while slowly wearing the opponents down. It can be a main tank so it can sit in 1st or 2nd position depending on the lineup but I usually put him behind the main tanks and serve as a backup. In higher levels, Warborn Shaman can unlock Impede, Ambush, Poison and Heal. Impede is not as useful in my opinion since it only reduce speed but magic damage makes it more consistent. The magic damage also allow it to apply the poison more consistently as well. Ambush is a one time ability where it attacks once before the start of the battle. This means Warborn Shaman has a chance of applying Poison and Impede from the very start. Heal gives it sustain, making it harder to kill. Overall, Warborn Shaman plays a slow control role that fits long and grindy battles.

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Void Armor allows Warborn Shaman’s armor to block magic damage instead of directly affecting health. This is very strong against magic heavy teams since you can use Repair to reduce the opponent's damage each round. Since Warborn Shaman already has 4 armor, this ability gives it extra protection early on. It helps preserve health so Heal can work longer. Void Armor makes this monster much harder to break with magic alone.


Impede reduces the speed of opponent's monsters which helps control the battle pace. Slower enemies attack later and dodge less often. While this doesn't help Warborn Shaman, it does help your other monsters with melee and range attacks. I would be honest though that I don't see a lot of value to this ability since I normally use monsters with magic damage when using Water Element, which Warborn Shaman is a part of.


Ambush allows Warborn Shaman to attack before the first round starts. This early hit can apply Poison and apply Impede as well. It creates early advantages and can catch opponents off guard. Ambush works well against monsters with low health although, without abilities like Opportunity, you won't see as much of this happening. This ability helps Warborn Shaman matter even before normal turns begin. Needless to say, this ability is more of a combo ability. Depending on the modifier or archon you use, this ability can be very impactful or just another attack.


Poison deals damage every round once applied which is very strong against high health monsters. Since Warborn Shaman attacks tanks most of the time, this is a good ability to add damage. It forces the enemy to either cleanse or race the damage. This ability makes Warborn Shaman dangerous even with low base damage.


Heal restores a portion of Warborn Shaman’s health each round, increasing its survivability for the battler. This can work very well with Void Armor with proper combos. Heal allows Warborn Shaman to survive abilities and modifiers that damage his health directly. In long battles, this ability can feel very frustrating for the enemy. While Heal cannot benefit Warborn Shaman at first due Void Armor ability, once combined with abilities like Resurrect, you can appreciate the unique synergy between those two abilities.

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Battle Sample

^{https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_5a66cbc85b797df09aacdbd989e6b131 | Edited in Canva Pro.}

I was thinking about doing a similar lineup with my opponent in this battle. Instead, I went with the ones with less mana in order to capitalize on the lower mana cap. With more monsters, it also means more tanks. This seemed to be proven crucial in this battle. My Warborn Shaman was tanking a lot which gave me huge advantage and with Warborn Shaman on the front and Torrent Sniper protecting the back, Shock Trooper was able to focus on dealing big damage on the enemy team.

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Warborn Shaman is a monster built for long and controlled fights. Warborn Shaman isn't for the fast wins but slowly pushes the battle in your favor with his tricks. Its stats and abilities make it hard to kill. Poison and magic damage ensure it is threatening to the opponents over time. While expensive, Warborn Shaman can be a strong asset for you especially on lower levels where monsters usually have lower health. For players who enjoy tricky options, Warborn Shaman is a good choice.

^{Image from Splinterlands.}

I was expecting some gold foils in here but I guess that wasn't in today. I already recorded it so I might as well add it in here as well. This pull though wasn't bad in my opinion since I use all of them and it would be good in leveling up my cards in the future. For this set, I think the rare rewards have the best options so I usually just buy that in the Glint Shop.

• 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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