Splinterlands | Battle conditions | Earthquake

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In this series I'm discussing the various battle conditions that you can encounter in the game. Having good strategies and understanding the strategical concepts in the game is important, but in order to really get good you will have to be successful at adapting to all the conditions. In this post we will cover the Earthquake condition.

Basics

The basics of the earthquake condition are easy, all creatures receive 2 (regular) damage unless they have the flying ability.

It's important to not that this damage will first hit shields and the shield ability will also have effect on the amount of damage you receive. This is a big difference with the poison condition for example.

Abilities

Let's take a look at the most impactful abilities in this condition.

Flying
The flying ability is by far the most obvious one here. However, a lot of players will only care about this ability, which can be a big mistake.

For example, in high mana battles your frontline tank will often take a lot of damage in turn 1 and 2. You have to understand that if your frontline creature dies in turn 1, the flying ability will not have given any benefit relating to the earthquake condition. The shield ability is often better in situations like this.

Even when the flying ability allows you to dodge 1 attack, its value is also not always that impactful.

Shield
I mentioned this ability already because I feel like it is often forgotten that this diminishes the damage taken from earthquake by 50%. Not equally effective as flying, but if the tank ability absorbs more damage in total, it's usually the better pick.

Snare
Less important than "flying" and "shield", but it can still be a pretty important ability in earthquake fights. Snare makes a flying creature lose the flying ability when hit.

It's pretty situational, but it can be very good on certain occasions. For example, if you hit a flying frontline tank in a low mana fight, this can be the deciding factor.

Monsters

We have already talked a bit about the most important abilities, so obviously you want to focus on monster that have shield, flying and snare ability.

The monsters that don't have the flying ability will benefit a lot from having high health. Try not to have a lineup with lots of low health monsters.

Most of my setup will include high health tanks with shield or flying ability. The backline will often see more squishy flying ranged and mage creatures.

Another thing to consider is that if you don't have to deal damage to do damage, you will simply have to outlast the enemy. Assuming they don't have a full team of flying monsters ofcourse. Meaning that creatures without attack, can also benefit from the earthquake ability.

Summoners

There are a couple of summoners that also have a big impact on this specific battle condition. Summoners that give shields or health will have some benefit (especially in low mana fights, shields are nice).

Brighton bloom

Brighton bloom is a 4 mana dragon summoner that gives all monsters the flying ability. This is obviously a huge gamechanger for earthquake battles.

Vera selacia

Vera selacia is a 3 mana water summoner that gives all monsters the snare ability. While not as impactfull as brighton bloom, it's still a pretty big deal.

Conclusion

Flying is still very important, but it's not the only hing to consider when playing a battle with the earthquake condition.

You should consider, shields, health and abilities. Think about monsters with the qualities that are discussed in this post.

...or you could simply ignore everything and go with a summoner like brighton bloom.