Every Splinterlands match is different because of the modifiers and this one is no exception. The modifiers for this battle are Keep Your Distance and Armored Up. With these modifiers, the whole flow of the fight changes because not only your options gets limited but everyone also gets armor.
Big battles like this feel exciting because you can use both strong tanks and units together. It feels more like a full war compared to low mana matches. Check out how I took everything to my advantage and help win the game.
Battle Breakdown
Modifier in this Battle:
- Keep Your Distance - You cannot summon units with melee attacks.
- Armored Up - All units gain +2 armor.
My Thoughts on Modifiers
- Going into this fight, I knew that Keep Your Distance Modifier would not allow melee units so my strategy had to adjust. I had to rely on magic and ranged damage while making sure to use the extra armor from Armored Up Modifier in the best way. Since range unit's attacks can be blocked by armor, I focused on using units with magic attack instead. The setup made this battle fun because both sides had to think carefully about how to deal damage without melee.
Team Composition
Archon: Chuul Jujinchi
Chuul Jujinchi is a low mana archon that can use units from both Light Element and Earth Element. This is very useful because it opens up more options when mana is low or in modifiers that limits your choices like Keep Your Distance. Unfortunately, in this battle, Light element is not allowed so I am stuck with Earth units alone.
Units Chosen
1. Grimbardun Smith - Void Tank
- Grimbardun Smith has no attack but has Void and Immunity on lower levels which makes him tough against magic attacking units. I added Virid Venomancer's Shield to him so he can have both Void and Shield in one unit making him very strong against all attacks.
2. Virid Venomancer - Shield Ward Source
- Virid Venomancer has Shield Ward that gives Shield to the unit in front of him at the start of battle. He also has 2 magic damage which adds to my total damage while helping defend my tank.
3. Arcane Skinwalker - Backup Tank and Damage
- Arcane Skinwalker is a Neutral Element unit with good stats that can be used almost anywhere. It has decent health and armor plus 2 magic damage that gives him the spot as my damage and backup tank.
4. Conclave Tracker - Repair Unit
- Conclave Tracker has Repair and Opportunity abilities that makes him both useful in offense and defense. The important one is Repair since it can keep the tank alive longer when armor gets damaged.
5. Mad Kaboomist - Filler and Damage
- Mad Kaboomist has Snipe and 2 magic attack which makes him a good extra damage dealer from the back. I don’t have other good units left so I added him to fill up my lineup and still bring useful damage.
6. Time Bandit - Filler and Damage
- Time Bandit has good health that can block potential Sneak attacks from the enemy. He is also just an extra unit since I don’t have more Earth Element units and Life Element is unavailable in this battle.
The Battle
Opening Rounds:
I'm not sure if the enemy was forced to do this lineup but while he has a good idea, it didn't really mesh very well. First, their Death Ranger has Void Armor which makes him take the magic attack to its armor first before the health which is good with Armored Up modifier but bad with Arachne Weaver's Corrupted Healing. Since the armor gets hit first, Arachne Weaver cannot heal him since Arachne Weaver only heals health, not armor. This gave me an early advantage. Grimbardun Smith was good in tanking attacks and while some of the attacks passed through, some of the attacks gets completely negated like Little Sister's while others hit its armor which is then gets repaired by Conclave Tracker.
Mid-game:
It is not Round 4 and not only the enemy tank went down but also half of their team. My Grimbardun Smith will also go down after this attack and maybe along with Virid Venomancer due to its low health. Their next problem is my Arcane Skinwalker but since I already got access to their backline and they have no tanks to stop me, it'll take a few rounds before I take them all down.
Final Rounds:
One round after, we're on the last round. Surprisingly, Virid Venomancer is still alive and healthy while the enemy is on its last unit. Chaos Battle Mage is a range unit. Without Close Range ability, range units cannot attack while in the first position. This means he is a sitting duck and will die without doing anything.
👉 Watch the full battle replay here
https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_84a52dfc5ed1d882b2ddf78479ec1efc?ref=ashenova
Results & Reflection
What strategy I was aiming for:
With Virid Venomancer's Shield Ward, I added Shield to Grimbardun Smith to make a combo of Shield and Void that halves all damage. This means Grimbardun Smith can block both melee, ranged and magic damage very well. The rest of the team will be focusing on damage from magic and ranged units to slowly break the enemy down.
What surprised me:
The thing that surprised me the most in this battle is not the battle itself but something very stupid. It's the enemy's Death Ranger, it was the first time I've seen that unit's face close up and it's very unnerving and creepy. The big smile that doesn’t even look like a smile haunts me and I can’t unsee it. 
What I learned:
In this battle, I learned how strong a unit can be when you combine Shield and Void ability together. Since every attack gets halved, it makes Grimbardun Smith look like he has more health than he really does. This combo is made true by Virid Venomancer’s support which gives Shield from the start.
Closing Thoughts
This battle shows how planning your lineup carefully can pay off when the right units are picked. My combo of Void and Shield made Grimbardun Smith a wall that was very hard to break. Even if my other units were not perfect choices, they still worked well together because of the protection he gave and this was made possible by Virid Venomancer. You can do this with other units and archon but Virid Venomancer is the most efficient unit to do this combo with.
In the end, I won because of both good unit synergy and the enemy’s strange choices. Sometimes battles are decided not only by what you do right but also by what the other player does wrong.
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