The Most Underrated Rat in Splinterlands

^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

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^{The tips and possible advises in this article are designed for Bronze League, in which I am in right now.}

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Broken Earth Thug is a low-cost monster that creates big problems for the enemy. With low mana cost and effective abilities tied to his good stats, he fits easily into many lineups. His role is simple but very effective in my opinion.

Broken Earth Thug is usually added as a filler but I think he needs some love especially due to the low level access you need to get to 2 damage. I think he's one of the dark horse monsters that a lot of players usually misses.

^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Broken Earth Thug has very good stats for a low mana cost of 3. With 3 melee damage and 4 speed at max level, he can hit hard and often. He can also attack first most of the time because 4 speed is way up there. His 2 armor and 5 health are amazing for a 3 mana cost monster and they are enough for a monster that is meant to deal damage. Even on low level, this monster is good as it can deal 2 damage already at level 2.

Opportunity is the best ability for Broken Earth Thug because it lets him attack the weakest enemy. Multiple Opportunity monster is a viable strategy and this works very well especially with high speed. Opportunity helps you target important units right away bypassing their tanks.

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💊 Abilities 💊

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Opportunity: [Target Modifier] The attack priority of this monster's attack is changed to "The opponent's monster that has the lowest health"

Cripple: [Negative Status] Monsters attacked by this card have their max health reduced by 1.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Rank	Modifier	Description
	Noxious Fumes	All monsters on the board are given the poisoned status at the start of the battle. Poisoned monsters take 2 damage at the start of every round.: Poison slowly damages enemy health making Opportunity targets easier to kill. While Poison also affects Broken Earth Thug, it's still a favorable modifier as he can act as a finisher for monsters that didn't die on Poison. It speeds up fights in his favor.
	Up Close & Personal	During this battle, only monsters with melee damage type are allowed: This modifier allows only melee monsters which makes Broken Earth Thug a strong pick. His low mana cost and solid melee damage fit very well in this modifier especially if mana cap is a problem. Opportunity becomes even more valuable since most enemies will be standing still waiting for their turn on the board while Broken Earth Thug will be attacking from the back.
	Unprotected	All armor and effects that involve armor are disabled during this battle: With all armor removed, Broken Earth Thug can deal full melee damage right away. This makes it much easier for him to kill low-health targets without armor blocking his melee damage. Combined with Opportunity, enemies die faster before they can act.

^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Rank	Abilities	Description
		Weaken: [Stat Modifier] [Negative Status] As long as this monster is alive, all opponent monsters has their max health reduced by 1, with a minimum of 1. Monsters with 1 max health before the effect applies are unaffected. Tips: Weaken lowers enemy health and works very well with Opportunity. It helps Broken Earth Thug kill monsters a lot faster. This combo can kill a lot of enemies if they aren't prepared.
		Swiftness: [Stat Modifier] [Positive Status] As long as this monster is alive, all friendly monsters has their max speed increased by 1. Tips: More speed means Broken Earth Thug attacks earlier. Acting first is important when targeting low-health monsters. This also reduces the chance that Broken Earth Thug misses his attacks.
		Inspire: [Stat Modifier] [Positive Status] As long as this monster is alive, all friendly monsters has their melee damage increased by 1. Tips: Inspire boosts his melee damage making his hits more deadly. Higher damage means he needs to do less attacks to finish any low health monster as well. This turns him into a more serious threat in addition to his low mana cost.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

This battle has Lost Legendaries modifier. I am not allowed to use legendary monsters. So, instead of strong monsters that can carry me the game, I just used a solid strategy instead.

Lineup

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^Thalgrimore

Thalgrimore weakens the opponent's team by reducing their health making them easier to kill. This directly helps monsters with Opportunity like Broken Earth Thug do their job faster. He is a good overall archon in my opinion despite the simple ability.

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^{Nim Guard Captain}

Nim Guard Captain is strong against magic teams because of Void. He helps absorb damage and halve them while the rest of the team focuses on damage. His role is simple but important.

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^{Ironwing Juggernaught}

Ironwing Juggernaught acts as a backup tank when the front line falls. You can interchange his position with the main tank as well to make your tank last longer. He's really just a filler and the 3 armor is appealing for me so I added him in the lineup.

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^{Broken Earth Thug}

Broken Earth Thug is a low-cost damage dealer that targets weak enemies. His Opportunity allows him to kill low health opponents early and Cripple can also be a good addition if the opponent want to focus on healing.

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^{Sorrow Harvester}

Sorrow Harvester reduces enemy health with Weaken ability stacking well with Thalgrimore's ability. This makes Opportunity strategies more deadly. Together, they can reduce the opponent's max health by 2 at the start of the battle which is very good when your opponents doesn't have max leveled monsters.

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^{Arachne Weaver}

Arachne Weaver provides healing for the entire team through Corrupted Healing. While it costs some max health every heal, it keeps everyone alive longer. This works well in against teams that don't have a lot of tricks on their builds.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

In this battle, not only the enemy has low health at the start but their 3 health monsters were reduced to 1 health which very good for me. That makes every monster, except the tank, in line for the killing blow every attack. You can also see the Arachne Weaver healing three monsters at the time which makes this a cool monster to have. On the other hand, Broken Earth Thug attacking the Kha'zi Fire Mage when the enemy tank has higher health is also one of the good reasons why you should have this monster when you can.

^{> > Click here to view the full battle < <}

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Broken Earth Thug shines as a cheap and efficient damage dealer. His Opportunity and Cripple abilities make him perfect for picking off weak enemies. He does not need to survive long to be useful as long as he can just eliminate the key monsters on the opposing side.

Broken Earth Thug can be put in a lot of team. He can either be a filler or a main part of the team. Either way, this is one of the monsters that I really want to highlight as I think players just skip him without thinking how good this monster really is.

• 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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