Hello, battle mages!
In this week's Battle Mage Secrets challenge we have the Silenced Summoners ruleset, meaning there won't be any help from the summoners - no buffs, no abilities, no nothing.
Besides that, my example battle also happened to have another restrictive ruleset - Fog of War. This one will prevent the use of Sneak, Opportunity
It's pretty clear to me that with these restrictions I have to focus on choosing a good front-line and monsters that are able to provide protection to those who stand in front.
Let's take a look at my line-up.
Since this is a Silenced Summoners -battle, ALRIC STORMBRINGER doesn't help my troops like he used to. Yet, costing only 3 mana points, he is still an excellent choice for a summoner - that is one more mana to be used to build my team.
TORRENT FIEND is somewhat of an unorthodox choice for a tank spot but because the Fog of War ruleset is in play, it would be wasted in the last spot for example.
Now this fiend can be happily sacrificed to take a powerful(hopefully!) enemy attack that would have otherwise been meant for my real tank unit.
The more common positioning of Torren Fiend would've been in the last place to protect healers and other fragile units.
Also, thanks to this little guy, I could very well gain an advantage if I ended up in an Oshannus vs. Oshannus showdown.
Speaking of which, even without Alric's magic buff, DJINN OSHANNUS remains the most important piece of the puzzle. Just like so many times before.
However, today his stats and abilities will be highlighted because the Fog of War ruleset is preventing the use of most abilities that can have an effect on ranks behind Oshannus.
abilities will offer good protection against magic attacks and while Oshannus does not have armour, having those 11 hitpoints will certainly help him to take a punch or two.
Did I say Djinn Oshannus was my most important unit? Well, I didn't mean it. RIVERBOAT CAPTAIN is an excellent choice for a Fog of War -battle because of his ability.
With this ruleset, Blast is one of those few abilities that will make us able to apply pressure on the enemy lines behind their tanks.
Thanks to Silenced Summoners, Captain's damage won't be so powerful this time but at least he will do some if our opponent isn't prepared for this with a monster possessing a reflection shield
ICE PIXIE is a fragile water magic unit that should be relatively safe in this battle.
If my suspicions turn out to be correct and we are facing another Djinn Oshannus, her magic attack is no help to us when the Void is protecting their tank.
But if we manage to get past that, Ice Pixie could be a good little help in reducing opponent health while ignoring their armour.
Now that Alric has been silenced, the SPIRIT HOARDER won't pose a major threat to the enemy but he has other traits that'll justify his place in our squad.
ability will heal the back-line unit that has taken the most damage. This is very helpful also in Fog of War -battles as I suspect my opponents might use abilities such as
Another healer unit, CRUSTACEAN KING will focus on healing Djinn Oshannus which is crucial in this battle as most of the pressure will be pointed toward him.
Since abilities such as Opportunity won't be in play with this one, the Crustacean King should be quite safe here in the back. This was also one of the reasons I chose to place Torrent Fiend in the front.
A level 3 Crustacean King will be able to do some minor ranged damage as well.
Entering The Arena
I guess my opponent didn't have the luxury of choosing a 3-mana summoner as they went with Kelya Fendul, a 4-mana summoner who would provide armour and speed under normal circumstances.
As I suspected, there will be another Oshannus on this battlefield. Also, they chose Nerissa Tridawn, a very powerful magic monster who has plenty of health. She is also a good backup tank if Oshannus should fall.
Choosing Merdaali Guardian makes a lot of sense as she will be hard to reach and will be healing their strong front line.
The Battle
I think I have a pretty good strategy and the right monsters but talk is cheap so it's time to find out how it all unfolded. If you want to watch the whole battle, just click , or/and continue reading my battle report below.
The first round really set the tone for the whole battle. Everyone was attacking the enemy tanks making little or no damage while the healers kept healing them back to health. The round ended up in my Oshannus having a bit more health than the opponent's one.
The second round followed the same script with the exception of my Riverboat Captain getting through with his Blats ability's ricochets. These shrapnels were hitting the opponent Nerissa Tridawn, slowly beginning to reduce her health. The important notion here is that my opponent didn't have a
Let's jump to the ninth round as it was the one in which Nerissa finally fell. Seven rounds. This was how long it took for the Riverboat Captain's blast shrapnel to finally destroy her. Also, it became an important turning point for the whole battle as their Merdaali Guardian now had to move into the danger zone.
The same healing battle continued to round 12 but things were now about to change as their healer was now gone.
A long battle finally came to an end in the 15th round as brought down their Djinn Oshannus who was left out with no support. What a struggle! But a win is a win.
With two restrictive rulesets like this, it is very important to put some thought into the process of choosing the right monsters - one small mistake can cost you everything and there are no second chances...except in future battles of course.
As for the Silenced Summoners ruleset, I see it as an opportunity to test how my team works together without any "outside" help. If it does an amazing job I can count on the fact that with the summoner's help, they can probably take on much more powerful opponents as well. If it doesn't, I can replace the weak links or rely on the summoner in the future.
All in all, it's good to have a change of perspective once in a while, especially if you are like me who has a solid favourite team that is chosen over and over again.
Thank you for reading!
Let's Connect -
Also Playing:
- Wombat Dungeon Master
- Terracore
- Rising Star
- Army of Crypto
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