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Card Highlights #25: Chain Golem

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Behold, the mighty Sunder! Forged from steel and infused with life to serve and protect!
by Odahviing, proudly introducing his creation - Skyrim
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For this week, I found myself using this unit a lot whenever I cannot use my other tanks. This gave me an idea to review it and convince you to use it as well to earn some wins. A neutral tank that can be good in most of the situations, improved to be one of the best.

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Lore

The screech of metal on metal was deafening as the golem's gears first started turning. Archmage Arius cackled in delight. He's alive! He's alive!!! Arius encoded one message before turning the golem loose upon the world: “My brother must die... find him and slay him. Only then will I release your soul back into the void.”
The golem stood, grabbed a morningstar from the wall, and lumbered loudly into the night with the blood curse and his metal prison heavy on his mind.

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^{For full lore of this card, visit this website:
https://next.splinterlands.com/card-detail/209/regular/2?tab=lore}

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Buy and Rental Costs

I think investing in Chain Golem is a good idea. While it costs quite a bit, $119 for a level 4, you can use him as your main tank in almost every game. Being a Neutral monster, this gives you a flexibility of having a good tank at every game.

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If you cannot afford buying, go with rentals. He's cheaper than other legendaries sitting at 11.12 DEC per day for a max copy which is really good so you won't need to fight with a subpar tank leading your team.

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Card Stats

Surprisingly, Chain Golem is over-kitted. For only 8 mana, you get high health and damage, decent armor and good speed. In fact, his speed is the only problem but it's not as bad since it's 2.

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Card Effects

Shield

Reduced damage from Melee and Ranged attacks

Shield is good since it affects two attacks, range and melee. If enemies would focus on him, this ability would be a really good asset to reduce the damage he gets.

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Void	Reduced damage from Magic attacks

A good defensive ability that completes the set. With Void, Chain Golem halves all the damage he gets.

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Piercing

If Melee or Ranged attack damage is in excess of the target's Armor, the remainder will damage the target's Health

Due to high damage of Chain Golem, Piercing is really good especially when fighting against Kelya Frendul.

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Stun	When a Unit with Stun hits a target, it has a chance to stun the target causing it to skip its next turn

Recently, I found Stun very helpful. Although it's only a 50-50 chance, when it hits, not only the enemies cannot attack but other abilities also don't activate like Heal and Recharge.

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Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths
There's a lot of strengths I can see from Chain Golem but I think the most we needed to focus on is how good his abilities are. The combination of Shield and Void abilities are unfathomably strong and I think he would be the best tank only if he has Taunt as well.

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Weaknesses
The lack of speed is the weakness. While it's not as bad, it's still problematic when against opponent with high speeds. Chain Golem misses and their opponents hit. This is how usually it goes.

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When To Use

Heavy Hitters

All Units have the Knock Out ability.

To use Heavy Hitters, an enemy needs to be stunned first. Chain Golem has Stun which can be used to inflict double damage to the stunned unit.

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Earthquake

Non-flying Units take 2 Melee damage at the end of each round.

Chain Golem's Shield halves the Eartthquake damage. That means even though he gets damage each turn, it's not so bad and you can still use him in this rule set.

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Reverse Speed

Units with the lowest Speed attack first and have the highest chance of evading attacks.

This rule set changes Chain Golem's weakness to strength.

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When Not To Use

Noxious Fumes

All Units start the battle Poisoned.

Shield and Void does not reduce damage from Poison unlike the damage from Earthquake. Since Chain Golem only has 8 health, this rule set can kill him in a matter of 4 rounds.

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Unprotected

Units do not have any armor and do not get armor from Abilities or Summoner Buffs.

Piercing loses effect because all enemies have no armor. This also affects Chain Golem given that he has 4 armor gone but with Shield active, it's basically 8 armor since every damage is halved.

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Taking Sides

Neutral Units may not be used in battles.

It's very direct. When Neutral units are not allowed, then it's a problem when you rely with Chain Golem.

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Battle Sample

^{https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_4e5787f54cddba7c6ad7260cae83006c&ref=kpgamingch}

Due to the combination of Goblin Psychic's Silence and Camila Sungazer's -1 melee attack, my enemies had their attacks blocked by Chain Golem making him not to take any damage until the end of the game. This gave me a relaxing win as I overpower my enemies with ease. 

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Final Thoughts

I know Chain Golem was strong but not considered how strong he really is. The combination of Shield and Void is actually really good and since I was exposed to new summoners and monster due to my recent project (this would be a surprise at some point), then this build can only be stronger.

I like how cheap it is to rent Chain Golem and a lot doesn't seem to mind him. I don't understand why but maybe I can use this missed opportunity for my advantage for my future games.

The rule sets aren't as bad as well and while others may give him a bad time, it's not as bad that I cannot use it altogether. This Chain Golem is probably one of the best units I discovered in this game.

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If you have suggested combos or questions, feel free to comment it down below.

If you are planning to play and is inspired by my post, please consider using my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=kpgamingch

I do not own any of the photos in this post. All credits goes to:

• Splinterlands
• Peakmonsters
• Canva
• Giphy