Card Highlights #11: Living Lava

From the depths of hell defending your team, Living Lava not only protects the group but also is the main source of damage. Lava can harden which negates a few damage and also can burn your opponent to crisp as Living Lava paves way to victory.

Lore

Not all lava is alive; most of the time, it responds to gravity as expected. But the stuff that comes from the very core of the Molten Mountains... There's just something special about it.

Rental Cost

If you're not going to play higher levels, you can play this card for free. It is free to play for level 1 and is actually really good right now having great compatibility with summoner Tarsa. Tarsa both improves this cards health and damage which is actually the best perks of this card in the first place.

Buy/Sell Cost

Living Lava may be a bit expensive to purchase with $4.72 as the base price. However, he's pretty useful in every situation and is a really good investment for the future. Currently, you can use Living Lava for free but that may not be true a few months from now especially with the game evolving. If you have five bucks there, it's a pretty good investment to have Living Lava in your arsenal.

Card Stats

Living Lava is one of the best tanks in the game. He has decent health, armor, Shield ability with a bonus of high damage. His abilities gained from level ups are also not to be sneezed at. Some players even consider Living Lava as THE BEST TANK IN SPLINTERLANDS.

Card Effect

Shield || Reduced damage from Melee and Ranged attacks, Redemption and Thorns by 1.
Shield is the best tank ability. It reduces damage to 2 of 3 damage types. It also reduces damage from Thorns, Redemption and Earthquake damage.

Rust || Reduces the Armor of all enemy Monsters by 2.
Rust is a good addition. It may not be game breaking to have this ability but is certainly a good one. It directly counters Protect Ability so that you can inflict more damage to the opponent.

Thorns || When hit with a Melee attack, does 2 damage back to the attacker.
Thorns is a really good ability for a tank. Since your tank takes most of the damage, having thorns in your main tank also means he can deal with most of the damage. Also, most of the great tanks are melee, including Lava Golem.

When to use

Always use Living Lava when playing fire splinters. Period. He's probably the best card in fire splinters rivaling the legendaries of the pack.

When not to use

There's no reason not to use Living Lava as your main tank when using fire elementals and I mean that whole heartedly. He is the best tank for fire splinter with having the best stats with the exception of speed. Either way, as a tank, he has great stats and is always a good pick in any situation.

Battle

Battle Replay

This is the positioning I used for this battle:

During this game, I did a double tank formation with back hitters. Parasitic Growth, Serpentine Spy, Tenyii Striker all dealts with the back line, while Living Lava and Radiated Brute both deals damage at the front while being a great tank to suppor the team. I also made an all melee team to complement Tarsa's +1 melee damage.

Round 1

Since my opponent has Pyre summoner which increases the opponent's speed, this allows him to strike first and eliminate my Serpentine Spy. On the other hand, almost same damage was inflicted to the opponent.

Round 2

By end of Round 2, Spark Pixie's speed is starting to hurt, even with very low health, he dodges most of the back lash from Parasitic Growth and Tenyii Striker. The good thing is my opponent's living lava dies from battle allowing me to have an advantage in the front.

Round 3

By end of Round 3, my Living Lava perishes alongside my opponent's Magma Troll breaking the back line.

Round 4

By round 3, my Radiated Brute also dies allowing my Tenyii Striker to take the front. The good about this lineup is that since my team is composed of all melee, all of them are able to take the front line unlike my opponent's.

Round 5

Game ended by round 5 with the death of Spark Pixies.

Disclaimer

• Battle photos are taken from Splinterlands in-game website. To view the full game, click on this link.

• I do not own any of the animated pictures. Visit Giphy to get more information.
  Happy Holidays. Good luck. Have fun.