Draw Strength From Their Withering Life Force

One of the darkest magics. Draining the life from your foe and watch their soul transfer, strengthening you in the process. Only a few monsters are capable of this and rightly so. This is a highly underrated skill and one not too many possess for good reasons.

"Monster's health increases each time it damages an enemy Monster's health in proportion to the damage dealt" - Splintercards

In the right rules set, Life Leech can be overpowered. One such ruleset is Blast where damage carries over to the adjacent monsters. When using Magic damage in particular, it ignores a targets armour and cuts straight through their health. By using a Life Leech ability you are attacking up to three different monsters at the same time and drawing health from them- assuming you damage them. Just need to ensure they are well protected as they often start with very low health but can amass some ridiculous stats under the right circumstances.

Life Leech is obviously well worth a look based on the potential outlined above. So how many Life options do you have? What will it cost? I break it down for you below based on today's prices taken from Peakmonsters

Merdhampir L1

Level for Life Leech	BCX cost	Estimated Cost for Life Leech
Level 1	$0.014	$ 0.014

I actually think this is a decent card for a common reward. Cripple at 4th level is a nice ability and worth levelling for. But in all honesty, a Common reward card needs to be max levelled as soon as possible if this is something you can afford. Doing so will also gain you snare and 3 damage, Snare, Cripple and Life Leech is a pretty tasty combo. Won't cost you much to max it out. What are you waiting for? Prices did rise a teeny bit recently on this card, I am expecting further increases when the print stops fairly soon.

Venari Bonesmith L1

Level for Life Leech	BCX cost	Estimated Cost for Life Leech
Level 1	$0.02	$ 0.02

The Bonesmith is quite a good card. With its slowish speed, it has one health more than the Life Sapper at a cost of one additional mana. Life Leech is a quite a good ability in the right situations but what is better than Life Leech? Using Poison and Life Leech at the same time from Level 4. You do gain Dispel at max level which is a nice bonus but that poison is what I am really looking for here. Super cheap and only 115 BCX required to max level this card. I am finishing mine off tomorrow.

Life Sapper L1

Level for Life Leech	BCX cost	Estimated Cost for Life Leech
Level 1	$0.135	$ 0.135

Life Sapper is an awesome card and at three mana it comes in cheaper than the Bonesmith. With regard to $ value though, the Life Sapper is much more expensive sitting around $0.14 per BCX. Max level will set you back a pretty penny at around $15 but you do gain Redemption which is a superb ability in the right hands. A solid and well liked card for good reason. A bit slow at first but once it gets through the levels, it does speed up. Worth levelling up to the league you play in for sure.

Stitch Leech L6

Level for Life Leech	BCX cost	Estimated Cost for Life Leech
Level 6	$0.07	$ 7.40

An excellent card that uses Sneak to attack the backline, drawing health from them and strengthening itself in the process. Not the fastest card but it does good damage and all at a low mana cost of three. At sixth level it gains Life Leech and is definitely usable. At max levels it does gain more damage which is good and for 3 mana, overall a decent card. I'd level it up to my leagues for sure especially as it is just a common card. Prices will likely increase in my opinion once Chaos Legion is no longer being sold.

Vampire L1

Level for Life Leech	BCX cost	Estimated Cost for Life Leech
Level 1	$0.184	$ 0.184

This is a very interesting card at the higher levels. This starts out with very low health for a five mana card but it's speed jumps almost instantly. 2 damage from the outset is excellent and Flying later on is very useful especially with that speed. I would get this card if I played Wild.

I will note though, a Guildmate of mine has been having trouble with this card recently as the Life Leech ability seemed to be bugged on it. Not sure if this has been fixed since. I'd check if it has been fixed and level up to my league certainly (If I was in Wild).

Zalran Efreet L1

Level for Life Leech	BCX cost	Estimated Cost for Life Leech
Level 1	$ 7.45	$ 7.45

Life Leech and Cleanse are two nice abilities at Second Level but after that, I am not sure that Headwinds and Strengthen are worth the cost. As I regularly play Modern I am not too familar with this card. Based on its stats and abilities I am not sure I would select it too often outside of Blast and Poisoned rulesets. Otherwise I would say this card is situational but I'd love to hear your feedback on this!

Ancient Lich L1

Level for Life Leech	BCX cost	Estimated Cost for Life Leech
Level 1	$ 8.405	$ 8.405

I love this card in Blast battles which is where I first began to notice Life Leech's power. With Life Leech working in Blast rulesets, this card is very powerful indeed. Worth the buy before it gets too much more expensive. I have this on my buy list.

Spirit Druid Grog L2

Level for Life Leech	BCX cost	Estimated Cost for Life Leech
Level 2	$ 9.404	$ 28.187

As far as Life Leech cards go, this is a good card. The ability to Ressurrect is always useful and of course at second level this becomes much better. By the time you get to the 3rd level Slow is excellent. Headwinds is okay, but overall a good card but might get a bit expensive at later levels considering its low health. Not on my list as its a bit expensive for me. Worth it for Gold and Diamond though?

Bila The Radiant L1

Level for Life Leech	BCX cost	Estimated Cost for Life Leech
Level 1	$ 11.5	$ 11.5

This is a card I rarely happen across. Perhaps due to the 8 mana cost? Looking at the card though there is some good health here along with good magic damage. The Life Leech is the standout ability but Stun is always nice alongside Divine Shield. Divine Shield will certainly allow Bila to absorb more health keeping it alive for longer. This is a card I have seen rarely but Blast is a ruleset that the second level version of this card would excel at, in my opinion. I'd pick it up at second level if I had the funds.

Runemancer Kye L1

Level for Life Leech	BCX cost	Estimated Cost for Life Leech
Level 1	$ 18.42	$ 18.42

Runemancer Kye is a Riftwatchers card that has entered the market more recently than the others on this list. A high mana cost means this card is situational. But considering the mana cost and the potential opportunities to use this card, it makes it difficult to have a competitive deck without one. A strong contender in a Water deck. It is on my list for the future as a must buy.

Black Dragon L1

Level for Life Leech	BCX cost	Estimated Cost for Life Leech
Level 1	$ 20.24	$ 20.24

The most expensive card on this list per BCX currently. With Slow at second level, this is a very interesting card. To maximise the damage output to three, you can take it to max level but that would be quite pricey. For me the sweestpot is in second level but certainly to expensive for me in Modern, given this is a Wild card. A good card to have and for around $20 a good Life Leech card to have.

Which Life Leech monsters do you own?

Is there possibility of a Life Leech summoner in the future?

Join Splinterlands:

https://splinterlands.com?ref=holdeck

---

Join Splex

...and rent out your cards for some juicy DEC rental fees. Save yourself the hassle of listing and relisting and let the Rental Golem take over for you:
https://splex.gg/?ref=3s5haoqkjteadpf8

How to invest without FIAT in a bear market? : https://peakd.com/hive-167922/@holdeck/how-i-am-investing-for-after-the-bear-market

Setting and redefining goals in a bear market: https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@holdeck/setting-and-redefining-goals-in-a-bear-market

Splinterlands Earth divider by freeztag
Splinterlands Icon Divider made by holdeck and available here

All card, icons, Splinter images and stats courtesy of Splinterlands

Ability and Ruleset blurbs taken from Splintercards

Splinter Element Icons taken from Splinterlands
I have reformatted them into PNG files which you are welcome to use here