Documenting My Splinterlands Knowledge - Battle Rulesets and Strategies

Hello there.

In my last post, I wrote about Peakmonsters, and what to do with your 3000 credits to fund your rentals. If you've been continuously playing, then you should have some experience about the game, and some of the optimal teams when there are no rulesets. In this post I'll discuss the different rulesets, and give some tips on them. I'll try to focus my tips on Common/Rare/Reward cards, and having Bronze/Silver battles in mind, for newer players.

Aim True

All attacks always hit. There have been new abilities like Phase that make magic skills miss, but when this is one of the rulesets, all attacks always hit. Slow defensive monsters get a big boost since they usually miss against faster opponents. Fire gets a boost in high mana battles since they have high attack and HP, but low speed. Bone Golem becomes more viable in Earth and Death matchups. Sand Worm is almost a sure add in high mana battles.

Armored Up

All monsters get a +2 armore buff at the beginning of the game. In this ruleset, Magic is the usual choice of many, and you can take advantage of that. You can use the Wizard of Eastwood to remove the armor and use Sneak/Snipe/Opportunity to kill their backline. Or you can also use monsters with the Rust ability to remove the armor.

Back to Basics

All monsters lose all abilities, but still benefit from Summoner effects. In this ruleset most players use Magic, and then Ranged, with 1-3 Tank Melee in front. In battles where Earth and Death are available, Thaddius Brood is usually the better option over Obsidian. If Earth is not available, Contessa L'Ament is a good option to counter ranged. If this ruleset comes with the Lost Magic ruleset, Brighton Bloom is also a viable summoner since it gives your monsters a chance to evade both melee and ranged attacks.

Broken Arrows

Monsters with ranged attack cannot be used, this includes monsters with 2 types of attacks. This helps narrow down the fight. If Earth is available, always make sure your team has a Void/Void Armor to deal with Magic. If Earth is not available, it might be good to prepare for Melee by having Demoralize in your lineup.

Close Range

Ranged Monsters can attack in the first position. Expect to see mostly Ranged or Magic teams when this is the ruleset. If Earth is not available, using Flying/Dodge can be an option, or you can counter them by using Naga Windmaster who has Headwinds to lessen their damage.

Earthquake

All non-flying monsters take 2 physical damage at the end of every turn. Since the damage is physical, Shield is very useful since they only take 1 damage per tick. Brighton Bloom is solid since it gives all your monsters Flying. Monsters with Protect also give your team an additional 1 turn of damage with 2 armor. For Earth, Obsidian with Mycelic Infantry and Regal Peryton are good options. For Life, Chaos Knight, Luminous Eagle, and Celestial Harpy are good options. Another option that people don't usually consider is Vera Salacia who gives Snare to monsters. Snare removes the flying from monsters and is not common in low level monsters, but Vera Salacia with Flying monsters like Pelacor Bandit who also has Sneak can give you additional damage.

Equalizer

All monsters start with the same health, based on the highest BASE health in either team. There are a lot of options here like going for a high HP Tank with 2 Healers. Another popular option is using Blast/Sneak/Snipe/Scattershot with Opportunity to focus the backline. When together with the Poison ruleset, some go with Strengthen monsters like Djinn Renova to increase the team's overall health, or Weaken to lower the enemy's overall health. Monsters with low HP and high attack also become popular; like the Serpentine Spy, Exploding Rats, Pelacor Arbalest, Ever Hungry Skull, and Dhampir Infiltrator to name a few. Shield and Scavenger also increase in value since they buy more time for your team.

Equal Opportunity

All units gain the Opportunity ability. Do note that Scattershot, Sneak, and Snipe override Opportunity, while Reach becomes Opportunity. Taunt with Heal and Repair is very useful since you can redirect most of the damage to a single unit. Units with Blast are especially efficient since not only do they target the unit with the lowest health, they also deal damage to the ones next to it. Units that have 2 attacks types, Double Strike, or Trample ability are also very effective since if their first attack kills a monster, then they will attack the next monster with the lowest health. So it is best to Position your team with these in mind.

Even Stevens

Only even mana monsters may be used. This does not apply to summoners. For starter cards, Fire is in a disadvantage here since a lot of their strong cards are odd. Life and Earth are pretty strong since they have their healers available. Water is also an option since they can counter magic with Bortus, and the Deeplurker is a strong card available in this ruleset.

Explosive Weaponry

All monsters gain the Blast ability. There are a lot of strategies available for this ruleset. Taunt in the first position with a Void/Shield in the second position and a Healer is common. Double Void/Shield in the first two positions if you know what the enemy will use can negate a lot of damage. Magic Reflect/Return Fire are also good in the second position/next to taunt. Sneak/Snipe/Opportunity are strong options but can be affected by Taunt. Scattershot on the other hand can avoid Taunt. Monsters with 2 attack types/Double Strike apply Blast per attack. Reflection Shield is a strong counter to this, but is not yet widely available. When Magic is not available, using Brighton Bloom is also an option to make their attacks miss.

Fog of War

All monsters lose the sneak and snipe ability. With this ruleset, a lot of players use ranged and magic because they are relatively safer behind tanks. Opportunity and Scattershot are still strong options but can be redirected with a Taunt, or blocked with Protect. It is ideal to stick to a specific strategy of going Front to Back, or using a lot of Opportunity. Mixing strategies tends to spread your damage too much and can cause you the game.

Since there are a lot of Rulesets, I'll stop here for now. I'll split the discussion to 3 parts to keep the post shorter. As always, these are Not Financial Advice, and Do Your Own Research.