Documenting my Splinterlands Knowledge - Share My Strategy: Drybone + Iziar

Hello there.

This week's Community Engagement Challenge is about sharing our favorite strategies. I really like these over the Battle Mage Secrets Challenge, since just sharing the battles can be repetitive. While I do get some strategies from some posts, I do think it has been going on for a while. I can see it coming back after all the promo cards are out since those could shift the meta and I can update my strategies.

Now this topic is interesting. It asks players to share their favorite strategies. There are pros and cons to it. Sharing powerful strategies can be beneficial to a lot of players, and can help them think of different ways to win. But a lot of strong players might not want to do so since these teams can be ones that they painstakingly did trial and error to get. I am not a strong player [I play in Silver], but I did make a lot of effort to come up with my teams. Tweaking them here and there, and learning from my opponents [I still try to watch all of my battles]. The reason for this is because I have a limited set of cards, and I need to make the most out of them.

If you've been following my posts, you would know that I like to share what I know to newer/beginner/weaker players, and this wouldn't be any different. I have a lot of teams for each element, with my top tier being the Gladiator teams. The reason for this is because the Gladiator cards are really strong, and because the Conscript summoners are my highest leveled summoners. There are times where I would use them even in Silenced Summoners just for the level. So the combination of strong Gladiator cards, and being able to play leveled cards make them my go to summoners. Although, I do prefer Possibilus and Thaddius if I have to use Water and Death.

For this post though, I will be sharing my go-to Life team, the combo of Drybone Barbarian and Iziar. This is the team I go for during high mana battles. My Summoner is Franz Ruffmane, my front monster is Drybone Barbarian, and Iziar will be in the back. Franz Ruffmane providing armor to these two monsters that don't have it is a big reason why I sometimes prefer it even if Helios is available.

Those two monsters are essential in this strategy. Drybone Barbarian just has insane stats and abilities. Having both Enrage and Retaliate makes it very powerful against other melee monster. It frequently kills Quora and other high HP monsters it comes across because of the high damage. Its 3 base speed is good, and it ramps up after it enrages. Its high HP makes it difficult to burst, and works well with heals.

I like to use Taunt monsters in my lineups since they can split the opponent's attacks. Splitting the damage can make my taunt monster and front monster survive longer. Iziar, with its Void ability is an even tankier taunt monster compared to others. In high mana battles, there is a high possibility that there will be magic monsters, so Iziar can counter those too. Its 2 damage is nice to have, while the 3 speed can help it dodge slower attacks. Its 12 HP even at level 1 means it gets healed by up to 4 by Triage which is awesome.

The next card I consider is the Gladiator card. Since I use the Conscript summoner, this is something I can do. If you will adopt this strategy, then this is the point where you choose a damage dealer. It can be Corsair Bosun, or Prismologist. But for me, I usually choose between Marisol or Katie.

Both have their pros and cons. Katie, with its magic damage, can ignore a lot of armor [unless facing Rathe or during weak magic]. The Snipe also lets it target the backline, so it can be good against support teams. Having magic damage makes its attacks more accurate, and it is still good even in reverse speed rulesets. Marisol on the other hand has high overall stats. It works well with Drybone when I am going for front to back. I usually prefer Katie because of its versatility, but I will go for Marisol when the rulesets make magic weaker [counterspell or weak magic].

Now that I have the tanks and damage dealers, I will finally choose the support and filler cards. In lower mana battles, I will opt for Spirit Hoarder and Crystalsmith to heal both my front and backline monsters. Since the damage is split between my front and taunt monster, the heals can help them survive longer. If there is no healing, or during weak magic, I can use Scavo Hireling which takes advantage of Franz's armor. If there are damaging rulesets like Earthquake or Noxious Fumes, I will use the Marksrat. The Marksrat's Snare, especially against Life that has a lot of Flying monsters, have won me a good number of games.

When the battles have high mana, I use Djinn Renova or War Pegasus as my support monsters that also deal damage. Renova's Strengthen can make my team tankier, while War Pegasus' Shatter work well with Drybone and can make quick work of monsters that rely on armor. In 99 mana battles, I would even use Prismologist or Bosun. I will also use them if I see that the opponent likes to use support teams. Prismologist's Blast damage, and Bosun's Reach and high damage can really help against them.

Of course, when the mana is in the middle, I will mix and match with a lot of these monsters. The priority in the lower mana is Venari Crystalsmith, since apart from healing Drybone, it can also heal a lot of HP on the Gladiator cards once they've gotten a lot of bloodlust stacks. If I use Katie, I will choose between Bosun and Pegasus depending on the rulesets and my opponent's tendecies. If they like to use taunt monsters, then Bosun is better since Drybone can't take advantage of the shatter.

The beauty in the lineup is the flexibility. Drybone and Iziar can buy a lot of time so there is a lot of leeway in the other monsters. In some rulesets like Heavy Hitters, I could use Runeslinger. If there is no magic available, Gobson Bomber can provide the additional damage.

I will have to say that while I think this strategy is good, I have only tested it to win against Gold level cards. It can win against max level cards if the Gladiator monster gets a lot of stack, but the level difference is sometimes too much to overcome. I also think that if you have legendary cards or stronger monsters, you can tweak it to be stronger. What I like about this team is that it is relatively easy to get. Spirit Hoarder is just nice to have, and only Iziar will be difficult/pricey for new players.

That is it for my favorite Life team strategy. I hope you find success with it like I have. Do you have any suggestions to help make it better? Don't hesitate to let me know what you think, and if you have suggestions for improvement.

And as always, these are Not Financial Advice, and Do Your Own Research.

If you want to start playing Splinterlands, you can use my link:
Splinterlands Referral Link