The Shieldbearer's Ballad: Silvershield Bard Weekly Challenge
The silvershield brought it's forces that day,
Strong were their flanks,
A bard in the ranks,
To their enemies dismay,
A hammer and anvil banging away,
The shields they did shatter,
the swords they did batter,
Only time could tell,
How the champions fell,
Oh, many did fall
but not close to all,
And for them tolled the knell,
A bearer and his apprentice did die,
And so now with our glasses held high,
And for the souls left behind
We sing the shield bearer's ballad
First Impressions
Upon inspection the Silvershield bard doesn't offer much in the way of offense. However, it's unique negative debuff removal is rather useful against poison or affliction. Both common strategies to stop Life splinter from regenerating or healing its front line. On top of this it is also a good spacer for 1 mana considering the additional utility provided. To view my battle click here
Placement & Strategy
As a low health support card, it is most likely that your bard's home will be somewhere within the back 3 positions depending on what sort of enemy attack you are expecting. (Placing a unit to draw the attention of opportunity and/ or making sure snipe doesn't pick her off too early by having ranged units that take precedent). In my particular game I placed the bard ahead of armorsmith but behind my magic unit to keep armorsmith cushioned from targeted damage on both sides and keep the bard from being too close to the action also. The extra sustain that the armorsmith and the bard are guaranteeing include no additional poision or debuff etc. lead to my shieldbearer surviving quite a few more hits than the enemy.
While the bard didn't do anything in this round specifically, it is very common to see affliction counter regeneration and healing for Life Splinter. So I would say while being specialized, she also happens to be a well honed tool to allow for anticounter play that would otherwise be unavailable to life splinter.
and as seen in the image below, this strategy did lead to victory. Even though in this match silvershield bard mostly lived up to the shield aspect of her namesake as there was not affliction or another debuff to counter
Overall Takeaway & Conclusion
The bard is an excellent specialty card, and when used correctly can allow for a lot of interesting gameplay. The battlefield modifiers that seem to synergize the most with her are toxic fumes, and affliction etc. The knockout modifier is also valid as she can remove stun from your slow frontliner or remove the debuff that will keep your unit from getting rage a second time. Without battlefield modifiers the bard is a good counter to debuffs and a 1 cost spacer/cannon fodder in the worst case scenario.
Keep Summoning and See you in the Splinterlands
Nice analysis, it's hard to make her useful.
@tipu curate
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Thanks for sharing! - @ashikstd
You had a nice strategy there, it seemed.
Shieldbearer is a fantastic one for the first position.