Winning with Shock Trooper is Basic

^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

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

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Some battles are decided in very simple terms, by having better stats and smart positioning. When abilities are removed, only damage, health, and speed truly matter. That is where some of the monsters shine the most and where others fall.

This lineup I have today focuses on strong stat numbers. With the Back to Basics modifier in play, all abilities are removed and only your stats can back you up. This is also where Shock Trooper becomes the star of this setup, backed by solid magic damage for a very low mana cost. Always include this monster in your lineup when you have the chance to get those sweet easy wins.

^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Shock Trooper has very strong stats for his mana cost. For only 4 mana cost, Shock Trooper already brings 4 base magic damage at level 1, which is extremely strong. This makes him a strong carry when properly protected. However, if something is too good to be true, there must be a catch. We'll go over that in Shock Trooper's abilities.

Electrified Debilitation, despite being problematic, is I think his best ability. Normally, this ability hits your own team for 1 damage each round which sounds bad at first. However, this steady and predictable damage is very useful when combined with Painforge. It allows your team to slowly gain more damage every round which has more pros than cons.

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💊 Abilities 💊

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Electrified: [Debilitation] Deals 1 damage to all allied units at the beginning of each round.

Swiftness: [Stat Modifier] [Positive Status] As long as this monster is alive, all friendly monsters has their max speed increased by 1.

Magic Reflect: [Defense] [Damage] Any opponent's monsters with magic damage that attacks this monster will take magic damage back by half the amount.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Rank	Modifier	Description
	Back to Basics	During this battle, all monster's abilities are disabled: In Back to Basics modifier, all abilities are disabled. Debilitation being an ability means Shock Trooper keeps his high base damage and stats without hurting his own team. You are left with a clean, high-damage monster with no downside at all.
	Equalizer	The Max Health of all monsters on the board will be equal to the Max Health of the monster with the highest max health: Equalizer modifier increases Shock Trooper’s health to match the highest on the board. This improves his usual slightly decent health problem while keeping his strong damage untouched. Since Equalizer favors damage dealers since everyone has high damage, Shock Trooper fits perfectly in this modifier.
	No Pain No Gain	All units have Painforge (+1 power when damaged by Poisoned or Burning, or hit by an ally).: No Pain No Gain modifier gives all monsters Painforge which works perfectly with Electrified Debilitation. Each round of Electrified damage boosts your team’s attack for the cost of the debilitation's damage. This can be really strong but also dangerous depending on how you set it up but normally, this would net you a win.

^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

Rank	Abilities	Description
		Painforge: +1 power when damaged by Poisoned or Burning, or hit by an ally. Tips: Painforge ability is the best combo because it directly benefits from Electrified Debilitation which is supposed to be a negative ability. Every time your team takes damage from Electrified, their damage increases. This can create fascinating combos depending on your other monster's abilities.
		Amplify: [Damage Modifier] Increase the damage of ay Thorns, Magic Reflect and Return Fire abilities. Tips: Amplify ability works well because Shock Trooper has Magic Reflect. Amplify increases the returned damage by 1. When enemies hit him with magic damage, they take more reflected damage than usual. The extra 1 damage might look weak at first but it can definitely stack up over a few attacks.
		Swiftness: [Stat Modifier] [Positive Status] As long as this monster is alive, all friendly monsters has their max speed increased by 1. Tips: Swiftness stacks well when multiple monsters have it. More speed means attacking first and dodging more hits. This helps Shock Trooper and the rest of the team survive longer and deal damage early. This can be important because if your monsters attack consecutively, you might eliminate a few of them before they can even act reducing the overall damage of your opponents.

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^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

All abilities in this battle will be disabled because of Back to Basics modifier. In Back to Basics modifier, stats matter the most since no abilities are used. Make sure you have high stats monsters that can be your carries and fall back in this modifier.

Lineup

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^{Marlai Singariel}

My main water archon because she is strong. She gives +1 magic damage to all friendly monsters. This is good because 5 of my monster in this lineup has magic damage.

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^{Giant Alpine Skink}

Good tank with high 4 melee attack and 3 speed. Has Shield and good as a tank. Stat-wise, the health and armor are good as well for low level.

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^{Torrent Sniper}

Has high 8 health for a monster with magic damage. Also has 2 magic damage becoming 3 with the help of Marlai Singariel. The disabled ability is Snipe which could be good in all situations.

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^{Mystic Scaleweaver}

Mystic Scaleweaver may have high mana 9 mana cost for being a Foundation monster but it still has good stats. There's 2 magic damage (3 with the help of Marlai Singariel) and 7 health. She has Slow ability when there's no Back to Basics modifier.

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^{Abyssal Elemental}

Abyssal Elemental is a little bit low on health because of the Resurgence ability that is being hindered by Back to Basics modifier. Abyssal Elemental also has 2 magic damage (3 when boosted with Marlai Singariel). For this battle, I put him towards the middle due to the lower health than the others.

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^{Saltwater Mage}

Even without the Sneak because of Back to Basics modifier, the 2 magic damage (3 with Marlai Singariel) is still good enough to be in this lineup. Since Saltwater Mage is also a Foundation monster, the mana cost is also higher than others.

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^{Shock Trooper}

Shock Trooper is the best in Back to Basics modifier because it removes his Electrified Debilitation. Electrified deals 1 damage to your team per round and since this is an ability, Back to Basics modifier disables that part as well. This leaves you with high 4 magic damage without any consequence.

^{Edited in Canva Pro.}

This battle is very simple. Since every ability is removed, it's just a battle of the better stats. I focused on dealing the maximum damage possible while the opponent focused on keeping a strong front. The opponent's lineup could've worked but one big problem is that the two tanks have melee attacks. Without any abilities, the second tank cannot attack unless he gets to the 1st position. On the other hand, since my team has one melee in 1st position and all magic damage monsters, then all of my monsters can attack each round. Shock Trooper also helped a lot in mana manipulation. Since I only needed 4 mana to use Shock Trooper, I could add Abyssal Elemental that has 6 mana. These two monsters are equivalent to the opponent's Commander Slade which also has 10 mana. Those little things are the ones that did a big impact which got me the easy win for this battle.

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

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Shock Trooper becomes much stronger when his abilities are managed correctly or in this case, ignored. In Back to Basics modifier, his biggest weakness, being the damage from Electrified debiliation, is removed. This leaves only his powerful stats behind. This makes him one of the best low-mana monster and damage dealers in that modifier.

With the right modifiers and combos, Shock Trooper can be really reliable. Whether disabling his abilities or turning them into buffs, he adapts well to many situations. Water elements also have a lot of monsters that can have good synergy with him which is lucky for someone that is supposed to hurt the team when you take him in battle.

• 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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