After a few battles this week, I started noticing a pattern that felt a bit frustrating. No matter how I tried to adjust my lineup or work with the modifiers, my Life Element teams kept getting destroyed. Things only started to feel right again when I leaned back into Water Element once again and relied on strong magic damage.
Battle Breakdown (Lose)
Battle Link: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_697a87aaf445804c08e91649f81a793a?ref=ashenova
Early:
At the start, seeing that my enemy uses Lorkus as their archon, I already admitted defeat. This is one of the strongest archon in my opinion. Not only he can boost your unit's melee and magic damage by 1, he can also give up to units both Life Leech and Affliction. Both are strong abilities regardless on whom you put them on. The enemy put them on Cavewise Wayfinder and Vicious Giraffe, they main and second tank. Cavewise Wayfinder also have Reckless which deals damage to units beside him when attacking so he damage Vicious Giraffe on attacks but that triggers Vicious Giraffe's Painforge which increases his damage. Life Leech is based on damage Vicious Giraffe dealt so the higher the damage he has, the higher the Life Leech is getting more health each attack. Vicious Giraffe also have Reach so he can attack behind the main tank.
Mid:
In just two three attacks, my Janni Rebel, acting tank died. I already have a unit disadvantage and now it is just going to get worse.
Final:
Leolin Sifu might have a good health and armor on her but a 1v6 situation doesn't make her anything scary. Leolin Sifu does not have any way to heal herself like the Life Leech and can only attack once per round while the enemy has 6 units attacking each round making this a loss.
What Went Wrong:
I have a lack of magic damage for this battle so I have to tank the disadvantage on the Armored Up modifier. I have magic attacks but most of them are 1 magic damage so they would just be outdamaged even if the enemy went for full melee team.
Battle Breakdown (Lose)
Battle Link: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_4688421a85d81fc979bb15ad7a708d69?ref=ashenova
Early:
I honestly thought I had the advantage on this one. They have Bera Dallin as the main tank. It has high health and armor with Taunt so my attacks would get directed to her. They also have Meriput Magician with Tank Heal to restore the tank's health, Mana Warden for Shield Ward giving Bera Dallin Shield to half all the melee and range attacks and Meriput Mossmender for Repair to recover the loss armor. The advantage I have is Tis But Scratches modifier gives everyone Cripple that reduces the max health of the enemy hit. So even if Bera Dallin's Shield reduces the damage or armor blocks the damage, their health would still get culled down because of Cripple.
Mid:
I am now getting concerned since the damage on my team is far more than I can take down Bera Dallin.
Final:
I might've hoping a lot at the start and I thought the modifier is favoring me. The enemy had a good lineup and a very balanced one as well. The shield was a good idea and that is proven by Bera Dallin being alive even after the end of the battle.
What Went Wrong:
I think I was hard countered by the Shield. I was running a full melee unit so the Shield halving my attacks and the armor getting in the way as well.
Battle Breakdown (Lose)
Battle Link: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_a579a608ab230fd441fefc8c1f4466e5?ref=ashenova
Early:
This one, I really thought I had a chance to win. There's no too many difference except for enemy having Grove Doomblade. it has 5 melee damage but the 1 speedmeans it has high chance of missing. I also have armor so it would block that high Sneak attack.
Mid:
I finally broke the enemy tank but breaking their team is taking a lot of time than I expected. Grove Doomblade may only have 1 speed but unfortunately, I don't have speedy units as well making that 5 melee attack very problematic.
Final:
The consistent damage from the enemy Grove Doomblade got to me before my Leolin Sifu get to it. The double tank is a good choice and if the enemy doesn't have two tanks, I am certain that I would've won this battle.
What Went Wrong:
I think it's really just a difference in speed. Out of the three losses, I would say this is the closest I am to winning and I have less complaints in this one than the others. In this battle, the enemy really has just better team than me on this one.
Battle Breakdown (Win)
Battle Link: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_9a6793ecbcf8c4ee0d54d621e9d00e92?ref=ashenova
Early:
This is like a tale of two tanks. They have a strong frontline tank while I have a strong backline tank. Even at the start, it's a race of whoever gets the advantage. If the enemy gets my first two units first, they get access to my backline. But that won't matter if I get their Commander Slade first.
Mid:
Commander Slade gets taken out at the end of the first round. This is bad for them as they really don't have another unit that can deal with my magic damage. Even if Commander Slade is a good tank, the high health is not enough if I have high damage.
Final:
Even though they finally break through, I also break through their team and the Resurgence on Abyssal Elemental is the defining difference. This unit is so underrated. He's really strong with the Resurgence and combo with Marlai Singariel.
What Went Right:
The main advantage of a Water Element team is high magic damage. They don't miss and unless you have multiple layers of tanks, they would just get eliminated quickly. This is more effective since I can ignore the enemy armor completely. This is the biggest reason why I think I win in battles where Water Element is available.
Results & Reflection
What surprised me:
What surprised me the most is how consistent the losses were when I avoided Water Element. Even when I felt confident with my Life Element lineup and thought the modifiers were favoring me, the results said otherwise. I feel like there's a huge gap when not using a full magic damage lineup. It really felt like the game kept reminding me where my real strength were.
What I learned:
I learned that I should focus on magic damage on other elements as well. Water Element magic damage fits my playstyle better and covers a lot of weaknesses like armor and speed issues. I may need to check out Lorkus or other similar archon and strategies to make my lineup work better.
Closing Thoughts
These battles clearly showed the gap between my Life Element lineup and my Water Element battles. The losses were not even close while the win felt easy and clean. That difference alone says a lot about where my comfort zone really is and where I really need to improve.
I still want to improve with other Elements but forcing it only leads to frustration. For now, Water Element feels like home and it keeps giving me results. Maybe losing a few games is just the game telling you where you belong or maybe it's tell you that you need to improve to win more.
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