The Taunt That Wants To Die

^{Image from Splinterlands}

Reckless causes nearby allies to take damage when Songale attacks. This can be risky if placed in the middle of the lineup. To reduce this downside, it is better to place him in the 1st or 6th position. That way, only one ally takes the extra damage. Reckless can also be useful in some setups where you want to trigger certain effects like Painforge or Enrage that activate when taking damage.

^{Image from Splinterlands}

Taunt is one of the strongest abilities in the game. It forces all enemy attacks toward Songale, protecting the rest of your team. This works very well with Bloodline Tribute and Redemption because you actually want him to die as fast as possible to make these abilities work. If you use archons like Sheng Xiao that add death effects like Poison Burst, it becomes even stronger. Taunt makes Songale an effective Taunt unit where, unironically, you don't want to heal and protect.

^{Image from Splinterlands}

Enrage increases speed and melee damage when the monster takes damage. In Songale’s case, it does not increase magic damage because Enrage only boosts melee. So the main benefit here is the extra speed. More speed means higher chance to attack first and possibly dodge some melee and range damage. Even if the damage does not increase, the speed boost still has some value.

^{Image from Splinterlands}

Bloodline Tribute activates when Songale dies. It increases the damage of monsters that share his Bloodline and damage type. In this case, Drakoshan magic monsters gain more damage. This makes his death a power spike for your team. It is very strong if your lineup is built around that synergy.

^{Image from Splinterlands}

Redemption deals 1 damage to all enemy monsters when Songale dies. This damage goes directly to health and is increased by Amplify. In some battles, this small damage can finish off weak enemies. Combined with Taunt, you can make this happen faster to give immediate value right after he falls.

^{https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_d60f6c3ded8aa7b83d9ca181ca00db0f?ref=konaqua122 | Edited in Canva Pro.}

With Sheng Xiao's Poison Burst and Corrosive Ward, I added them to Songale and Night Reaper. I want Poison Burst to activate as early as possible so adding to Songale is good. Adding the abilities to Night Reaper instead of Grimbardun Fighter, though was a bad decision. I want to min-max the abilities so adding it to Grimbardun Smith means I loses one Corrosive Ward, which I shouldn't have cared because the opponents have magic damage instead of melee. Therefore, that wouldn't make any substantial effect either way. I should've added it to Grimbardun Smith to have Poison Burst activate earlier. I still won this battle due to my good lineup synergy but that's one part I could've improved.

Songale is a Dragon magic monster that is built to die with purpose. Taunt protects the team while he is alive. When he falls, Bloodline Tribute and Redemption give more value to the team upon death. Songale is a unique monster where if he is alive, you're good since the opponents cannot damage the team but if he dies, you're still good because a lot of things benefitting you would happen upon Songale's death.

• Animated Banners and Dividers are edited in Canva Pro.
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