SplinterLands Investing, Battling and Earning - 12 Beginner's Tips

in Splinterlands3 years ago

Our favorite collectable NFT game is getting a lot of new players, and I find myself thinking about the best pieces of advice for these new players, since I am generally someone who tries to help, though I cannot help everyone, I usually will take the time to help a new user with questions - and we have a number of new players stopping by our EARN guild asking, plus I see the questions all around on other posts as well.

I want to cover three separate (but related!) sections today - Investing, Battling, and Earning. These are three different components of the game, and each is important if you want to maximize your experience.

Part 1 - Investing

As most people are aware, we are on a rocketship to the moon right now with SplinterLands. Apart from waiting for vouchers and chaos legion packs, players can only buy single cards off the market. To some players that seems expensive, and indeed card prices have gone up. But there are some important tips here - as the recent updates will presumeably make it less profitable to stay in bronze leage, interested players will be shooting for 15k collection power as soon as possible to make it to Silver 3 League.

Tip #1 - Work up to 15k collection power

So your very first goal as a player will be to work up to 15k collection power to be able to escape Bronze League. Silver is not as scary as it sounds, there are many new players in Silver League, the rewards are much better, and you get an increased amount of DEC per win.

But make sure you are strategic in your collection power quest!

Tip #2 - Don't pay too much for Collection Power

You might be tempted to buy, or even think you have to buy, really expensive cards 'to compete' in silver league, but its just not true. Here is a comment that I detected, I am sure there are other players who feel this way at first as well -

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It made me laugh, because I use none of these super expensive cards and usually can make it all the way through Silver and into Gold 3 by the end of the season. We will talk more about this in the Battling section, but know that super legendaries are not your best bet for Collection Power, or even necessarily for win rate!

Peakmonsters.com allows you to compare prices for collection power, generally cheap commons and gold foil commons are the best - here is a recent example search we did for some new users in our discord (thanks @frugal-fun!)

Tip #3 - Understand the Reward Cards Cycle

The rewards card cycle is another thing that is important to understand, because while reward cards are 'in print', they are always cheap, and as soon as they go out of print, their prices go up. This is something like supply and demand, some players sell their rewards, which is their right, but this creates an interesting and predictable price dynamic. Some of my best investments in splinterlands have been scooping up reward cards before they go out of print.

You can use this tool to see the current print rates and how close the cards are to becoming out of print:

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Tip #4 - Buy (cheap) cards that will win you battles

This seems obvious, but its not always obvious which cards will win what battles in which league. The game is quite complex, and the differences between the leagues and the monster levels mean that the metagame changes from league to league.

As we are about to get into tips for Battling, I will just say here, study battles, and find cheap combos that can overcome in many situations.

Part 2 - Battling

So you want to be a Battler? Of course you do - and if you are reading this then you already probably know how to play - for the most part. So I will break into a few important tips for you as you consider investing in cards that will help you win battles, and battling them.

Tip #5 - Focus on 2-3 splinters to start.

It might be tempting to spread yourself out to all the splinters, and if you want to invest a lot of money it could be a good strategy to do so! But when you are just getting started, it is much better to have a better team in a few splinters than weaker teams in all of them. Focus your efforts on finding devastating combos for a few splinters in a few rule sets. With that in mind -

Tip #6 - Its all about the combos

So we are back to the guy who thought he needed to spend 10,000 dollars to play in Silver League. Check out my response to him -

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Contessa Lament and Undead Rex, one of my favorite death combos for low point matches. Undead Rex is also brutal on everybody enrages rulesets, get ready for 8 attack when its hurt!

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Its about 40 dollars to level him up to 5th level, where he gets trample, wow what a beast he is here. Don't even get me started on the crazy power of this card in blast or stampede rulesets. Of course your Contessa Lament will have to be leveled up as well, she is currently -4.7 dollars per BCX, and will need to be level 4 if you expect her to summon a level 5 common.

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Undead Rex dominates in low mana battles, so you might want to get a few small support pieces to help him out - here's a 12 dollar card leveled to level 4 to get nasty poison strike -

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Or a little over 4 dollars to give your enemies affliction so they can't heal - I'm looking at you Kron.

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If there is too much mana on the match, its hard to win with this set up, as usually a more defensive tank with shield or void or other ability will be able to soak up more damange. But this is a ~$200 dollar team that I get all my death quest wins with all the way into Gold League.

Tip # 7 - Don't neglect the power of Neutral (and Dragon) cards.

Neutral cards can be used with any summoner, and here we can find some great abilities that we can use no matter what Splinter is available or what our collection looks like (except of course No Neutral ruleset).

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For just over 30 dollars, we can get a level 5 Elven Defender, which has shield. Shield is so important in a lot of battles, they take half damage from both physical and ranged attacks. And if the attacker only has one power (like many ranged monsters after Contessa's -1 to ranged attacks), they will not even be able to hurt it!

Take a look at the Enchanted Defender -
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For 15 dollars we can get him thorns, and he makes up a great backline defender. And this is one of the best, most undervalued cards in the Equalizer ruleset, where he will have as much health as the top monster.

Take careful note of the possibilities of the neutral cards!

Tip # 8 - Use Rental APR to figure out if renting is worth it over buying

This bridges us into the Earning section, but the choice to rent or to buy is a hugely important one. I personally think the rental APR is exactly the right statistic to understand to make these decisions.

Let's take a look at a Bronze/Silver league heavyweight - Mylor Crowling. Mylor is a great summoner because he gives everyone thorns, and makes physical heavy teams, like Malric based setups, pay dearly for each attack they make.

Mylor seems expensive, but you can currently rent a level 1 Mylor for over 200% apr! Use PeakMonsters.com to check out these stats:

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If the APR to rent is so high, it seems to me you are better off buying it. Most of the card rental aprs have fallen to 10-30% apr, high apr's indicate that not only is the card useful in battle, it is probably cheaply priced. As the price of the card goes up, this APR will fall with the same rental fees.

Here is another extremely useful card with huge rental apr:

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A low point support card with repair from first level, this card can make or break your life splinter set up. I am currently renting some lvl 1 armorsmith cards out for a whopping 450%+ apr on the market price.

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Part 3 - Earning

This brings us to our final part - Earning. This is what we all want to do, and in the end, its what let's you know you are 'winning' or not. If you are gaining in collection size, power and value, you can say you have invested and spent your time well.

Tip #9 - Understand the different ways to earn in game

There are a ton of different ways to earn in this game, but let's review the main ones -

Daily Quest rewards

If you get a quest you don't like or don't have the cards to complete, you can get a new quest, but just once per day. Understand which quests you are able to complete, and which ones are the worst for your deck. Currently the Life Quest is the worst for me, so I will reset it, and although I don't like the snipe quest, I will often not reset in because if it comes up life, I'm screwed for the day.

Battle for DEC

DEC rewards for battling are higher early in the season than later. If you are going to sit down to play for awhile, this is the time to do it. You can play as much as you want, DEC drop rate is pretty much meaningless and you can learn about that here.

Combine this with rental rates being cheaper at the beginning than at the end, and it means that the most profitable time to rent is in the beginning of the season, pushing up quickly to a new league and battling there, giving up your rentals as the DEC lowers and rental prices rise as everyone shoots for season rewards.

Season Rewards

Another obvious one, the rewards are for the league you are in at the end, so if you are getting started this may not be the biggest area for you, focus more on other areas, like mentioned above.

SPS airdrop

Holding DEC in your account is currently giving an enormous APR on SPS airdrop. You can combine this will providing liquidity to official DEC pools, see my guide on that, and use beeswap.dcity.io for all your pooling and swapping needs.

Tip #10 - Learn to Post on Splintertalk.io

HIVE is a high-tech blockchain with some social features. The social aspect is not as well understood, there is no centralized force making sure you 'have a good time'.

Yesterday I found @christislord, a new user who has started to make posts. He noticed that some people were getting more rewards than him, he wondered what he was doing wrong - check out my advise to him:

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No one knows you exist on HIVE, until they do. You can post into the void - or use some simple strategies to get noticed. Using Splintertalk.io is one of the most important ways to do this.

Tip #11 - Use the right tags when posting

Another way to get noticed is to use the right tags. Tags work differently on HIVE than they do on other social medias. Here again is an advise I left on @christislord's blog:

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As mentioned here, one reason that tags can be so complicated is that there are no rules, just accumulated culture. Some tags are monitored, some are not.

If you are posting about splinterlands, always use the SPT tag, this should be automatic if you post from splintertalk.io.

#leofinance is another important tag, a finance community dedicated to crypto, trading and investment. If you are writing about the financial side of the game, not just gameplay, be sure to use leofinance tag. Be ready to get a downvote though for using it incorrectly - for example on a 'Check out my Battle' type post.

#palnet, #archon, #neoxian #proofofbrain are more general tags, these communities have and maintain their own rules and cultures, explore them and see if using them is right for you. @flauwy has recently started a gaming community, read that post to find out more and use the #oneup tag for all your gaming posts.

Tip #12 - Participate in Splinterlands Contests

Each week the Splinterlands team hosts a 'Share your Battle contest', where they hand out fat upvotes for people talking about battle strategies around different cards. This week's involved Crystal Jaguar, but you can actually do any card, any week.

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They also host a weekly Art Contest and a Social Media Sharing Challenge - there are so many ways to get rewarded!

Bonus Tip - Comment on Other People's Posts

This is an underrated advise, not only can you get upvoted and receive rewards for comments, appearing under other people's posts is one of the best ways to let other players know you exist and are paying attention to what is being posted around HIVE. Frequently, leaving a good comment can get people to check out your blog, your wallet, your collection, and maybe even follow you!

Even if they don't follow you, next time they see you, you won't be 'new' any more!

All my tips

There it is, all my beginner tips for you to use or ignore as you see fit. I will likely be posting some more advanced content as time goes on, SplinterLands is just too exciting right now not to post about it!

Do you have any questions, comments or requests? Leave me a reply down below. Remember HIVE and all tribes here are not like other social medias, it uses different (stake based) mechanics, and is not built with 'user experience' or even 'user retention' in mind from the social side. It is however built with decentralized, immutable principles, which allow you to be the owner of everything you do here, from NFT's, tokens and written content. Good Luck!

Freedom and Friendship!

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Tip # 8 - Use Rental APR to figure out if renting is worth it over buying.

This is the best tip that I will take away from this super helpful post. I never thought to look at it this way and will start changing the way I look at rentals.

I also think the best advice for any new players is just to be a little patient. Lots of them expect to jump right in and earn like the veterans that have played this since the onset. I am fairly new having only played for around 5 months, but playing and watching battles is the best way to get better. And once you have played enough, you will realise that the cards that make up the $10k deck don't matter as much as there is almost always a counter for it, maybe except Llama-Kron combo.....

I rent most all my legendaries, including kron, and battle with commons, rares and epic cards!

Thank you for commenting your favorite tip, this is valuable to me! @ecosaint

That's a great post, congrats mate. Lots of good advices and research on this one. Keep them coming!

Most valuable post I read all week :)
Yeah, I know week just started, but it's the truth!
I went ahead and bought myself the Rex, thanks for the tip! Also thought I should buy

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As I read 15 bucks in the post, but either prices went up a lot or it was a miscalulation from the beginning as it will be 34 bucks now. I know prices went up a lot, seeing the account value grow every day.

I also read the 10k silver deck post, and thought about it when I discovered it cost me a lot less to get enough power for silver :)

Tip #10 - Learn to Post on Splintertalk.io
Tip #12 - Participate in Splinterlands Contests

Both are underrated advices and really can help you gain a lot, even more than the game itself if done properly, in addition to posting, I do come across a lot of posts (like this one) filled with valuable informations that broadens my knowledge about Splinterlands and Hive ecosystem in general.

PS: Notice me Senpai :3

This is a fantastic set of tips @ecoinstant

The basic idea that people have that the "best" cards are required to win is a misconception about the adaptability of this game.

My buddy @almightymelon has said multiple times that EVERY card in this game is great in the right circumstances. This is definitely a great play2earn game and not a pay2win game - just buying 'spensive cards won't always get you the wins!

That's a pretty extensive guide, bookmarked for future reading/reference as I gotta run in a bit. But quickly scanning the tips I think even someone playing for a while could learn a thing or two.

Thanks, good stuff!

Wish I could have such helping g tips in the beginning...I might be cruising through...

I know it! It took me a while to figure things out, but after several years you learn a few bits and bobs!

Wow! Very helpful! I learned a lot. Undead Rex just caught my attention yesterday when I noticed its high melee attack. I was thinking of using him in a rule set where melee cards can attack from any position. As for Elven Defender, I took him for granted, but your post about his shield ability at level 5 got my attention. Thinking of Elven Defender to include in my upgrading project. Also Enchanted Defender in equalizer rule set; that's a great insight. I never used this card even once though it's already my fourth season. It's now high time to test it. Also your advice about quest reset. I never know that such mechanics exist. I felt actually forced to spend too much on rentals whenever there is a quest that I find difficult to complete. I prefer either water or earth quest. And so I reset the fire quest just now, and I am glad to see it replaced with a water quest. That would be easy for me. Finally, about using the appropriate tags and the most profitable time to rent; they are really very helpful tips! I could not thank you enough. Blessings and grace and peace!

While the Common Death Monster Undead Rexx has high Attack (and decent Health), it is prone to missing its target because of its relatively low Speed of 2. 🤔 Moreover, if the Battle Ruleset allows Melee Monsters to attack from any position, expect the opponent to use a Common Neutral Monster Disintegrator or equivalent that will reduce your Melee Monsters' Attack (or reduce the Speed of your Monsters). 🤓

!LOLZ !CTP

Another three weeks of modules are here. This time, I am the student. 😅

Here are the two questions I asked our Professor:

  1. You mentioned in your book that Social Darwinism or Spencerism as part of the Enlightenment project suffered a decline after the two World Wars. I am curious about the influence of positivism or the empirical approach to science in the formation of Cultural Anthropology. In Kraft's ideas of the environment, he mentioned the "supernatural" contribution. I wonder if Kraft's ideas are not completely free but reliant on the positivist approach, how can we account for the supernatural element since in the first place his premise is based on naturalists' assumptions? And how can cultural anthropologists do fieldwork or ethnography that will include even the supernatural environment?
  1. The idea of decentralization is popular these days. When I stumbled upon the concept of ethnocentrism and at the same time, thinking of our situation here in the Philippines, in which in my mind, our ethnicity can be described as anything else but ethnocentrism, what concept would you propose to describe the plurality in our ethnicity? Is it valid to describe our situation in something like ethno-decentrism? Just my wild thoughts. Thanks!

!PIZZA

!CTP

Your reply to my comment about a #Splinterlands Battle is about you as a student asking your professor questions about culture. 🤯 Looks like distraction has beaten you there! 😆😅

!PIZZA

!CTP

Or it could be a return from distraction to focus. 😅

!PIZZA

!CTP

You can say that you got focused on your studies, but then you also got distracted from playing #Splinterlands. 🤣

!PIZZA

!CTP

That is more accurate.

!LOLZ

CTP

I am so happy they were helpful to you!

Great post with lots of good advice.

Its interesting to see other people's perspective on car usage and good cards to have.

Based on the response here, I might do some more card by card type content - thanks for your feedback - I always appreciate seeing a comment from you!

I don't know why but I feel Contessa Lament is on the weaker side and it was one of the reasons why I hate using death splinters much. At least the untamed cards that come along with it were horrible. Relying on a bone golem was kind of pathetic compared to the other choices in the other splinters. I found the Rex without trample to be fairly weak too.

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its true, and no good shield monsters in death, its tricky but in some rulesets can really dominate! I find high mana hard for death. Then again, against alric stormbringer the bone golem holds its own!

Nice post. Posting on SPT is probably the best way to get a kickstart on SPL. Grinding bronze with your startercards will take a while and most post get you more in a day than you get in a week of bronze.

So play to learn about the game and start posting until you can rent/buy your way into silver. That's where the earning really starts.

Its true, posting is a gateway to silver, but it has its own tricks and traps!

Very helpful for all beginners. Great work.

Amazing post, I especially agree with the comments and competitions participation. Nobody reads posts its seems anymore until you are found by some curators who get upset if you donot write enough... then it's all challenge accepted and off to the races! the more content we put out on SL the more viral we help it become!

Very helpful tips for somebody starting out in hive/splinterlands. Thanks for the insights!

Very useful information. I started playing about two months ago just before the big influx of players. I am trying to get up to Silver sooner than later because of the rule changes. This information will help me get there faster. Thanks for sharing.

Good luck, and I am happy you found these tips helpful! It seems you were ahead of the curve - very prescient!

This was brillinat on so many levels!

Thanks for the tip about Enchanted Defender, especially to use him with those level up health rule sets. great stuff!

Yes! He is also can be more powerful in 'weak magic'!

Thanks for leaving a comment.

Ok your post made me realize what I've been doing wrong with tagging. Thanks! Hopefully I start growing soon as I'm actually new to the whole hive community and don't fully understand all the rules.

I am so happy to hear that! I can seem hard to get started, but its worth it to learn - we are owners here!

Also made the same mistake, not until peakd commented on my post.

Excellent overview. May it hail 1UPs for you! :)

great tips as always! I learned about the Rental APR tool from this. I've always manually computed this lol

Yowser!

What a great post full of great tips.

I'm with you on the Skelatal archer - fantastic card, Promo I believe, as is the armoursmith.

Two cards to buy one of at least for starters, as is anything that bufffs straight away!

I hope Chaos has more cards that start with buffs like these dudes!

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Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
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Realy thorough breakdown!

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