SHARE YOUR BATTLE Weekly Challenge! DIEMONSHARK
If I’m using the Water splinter in a battle, more often than not I’ll put Diemonshark in the tank position. Perhaps Baakjira if I’m expecting a magic-laden adversary, or maybe Cruel Sethropod in a very-low mana battle, but generally Diemonshark by default. I probably should level up Serpent of Eld for battles with the Odd Ones Out rule set, but for now that’s just another thing for my ever-growing List Of Things To Get Around To.
But for this battle in Silver league (48 mana, Melee Mayhem and Unprotected rule sets, all splinters except Life available), Diemonshark got the call.
The starting line up:
Yes, Kelya is a fine summoner, but because of the Unprotected rule set, I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of Kelya’s +1 armor. But with Dragon available and a relatively high mana allowance, Byzantine Kitty seemed to be a good choice. Tank Heal and True Strike are both handy, but the +2 speed was key. This battle was all about speed.
Since I was using a Dragon Summoner, I put Carnage Titan in the reach position. With Kelya, this position would normally fall to Flying Squid, except when it would be Tide Biter with the Explosive Weaponry or Little League rule sets in play. With the Melee Mayhem rule set, many players understandably opt for a team of mostly melee monsters but I went with fast magic monsters instead. Phantom of the Abyss has a wicked-fast base speed of 6; add Flying, Dodge, and Kitty’s +2 to that and it’s all but impervious to most melee and ranged attacks. Next up, Diamond Dragon. Decent speed in its own right, plus Flying, and the Slow ability to add to the speed discrepancy between myself and my opponent. Rounding out the mana allotment, Halfling Alchemist to maybe put a dent into the opposition’s attacks, and Torrent Fiend as a Snipe/Opportunity sacrifice.
My opponent went with the Fire splinter, summoned by Yodin Zaku. But here in Silver, it was a Level 1 Yodin rather than the far more formidable Level 2. Magnor led off as the tank, but without the Enrage ability it gets at Level 2. Followed by Fineas Rage in the reach position. The Scorch Fiend in third position seems like an anomaly to me, but maybe okay if deployed as an Opportunity sacrifice? The lineup was rounded out by three ranged attack monsters, useful with Yodin’s +1 ranged attack buff. But, critical to this battle, neither Countess Sinesh nor Supply Runner were leveled up to provide Speed buffs.
Round 1: Phantom of the Abyss, Diemonshark, Diamond Dragon, and Carnage Titan combined to kill my opponent’s tank right away. Halfling Alchemist reduced Fineas Rage’s damage-dealing effectiveness. Countess Sinesh then took out my Fiend and Halfling Alchemist using Yodin’s Blast buff. Three attacks on Diemonshark missed thanks to speed differentials.
Round 2: Carnage Titan took out the Scorch Fiend and wounded Supply Runner, and the Enraged Diemonshark then finished off Supply Runner and Trampled Countess Sinesh.
Rounds 3 and 4: My four remaining monsters took out Cornealus which, now in first position, had no way to attack.
Overall, Diemonshark was a beast in this battle, at one point or another damaging five out of six monsters and killing three of them, with its speed instrumental in repelling three attacks. What little damage was done to it was easily healed by Kitty.
Not financial advice, do your own research: I’d recommend Diemonshark to any Splinterlands player. Currently at 44¢ per BCX in regular foil, or $5.80 in gold foil, it’s a steal. I’m currently leveling up a GF version but IMHO as Splinterlands gains more and more players even the regular version seems to me to have the potential for excellent long-term gains.