![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/768x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/hatdogsensei/23xp1xoDPCtKsh7yDo7WjUESp9shW1dQjWiyh51EtGJPtD64FbK5KyUb7MvKCMd4jCwME.png)
This week, I'd like to share my thoughts and opinions on the Elven Defender, a fantastic melee card to use in battles. This card is a great frontline unit, making it an excellent choice for pairing with vulnerable units like ranged and magic damage monsters. Not only does it provide solid defense, but it also deals a decent amount of damage to enemies. The Elven Defender's ability to absorb hits while allowing your more fragile units to attack from a safer position makes it a valuable asset in any deck.
About Elven Defender
Elven Defender is a common neutral unit that deals melee damage to opponents and belongs to the Untamed Set. As of this writing, the lowest price for a regular foil card is currently $0.33, while the gold foil card is listed at $0.549 on the marketplace. The price for this card is quite affordable compared to other common units in the game, especially considering its overall statistics and versatility in battles due to its neutral status.
Being a neutral unit, the Elven Defender can be used in any team composition, making it a flexible choice for various strategies. Its ability to deal consistent melee damage and its decent health make it a reliable frontline unit. This card's affordability makes it accessible to new players looking to strengthen their decks without breaking the bank, while its effectiveness ensures it remains a valuable asset even for seasoned players. The Elven Defender's combination of cost-efficiency, flexibility, and combat prowess truly sets it apart in the current meta.
The figure above shows the complete statistics of Elven Defender from Level 1 up to its maximum level of 10. It requires at least 400 cards to upgrade this card to its maximum level, and this can be achieved by collecting the card from the marketplace or by obtaining it from opening Untamed Packs in the game. Based on the figure, I can say that upgrading this card to Level 5 would be beneficial, as it increases the card's armor and unlocks the Shield ability, which reduces the ranged and melee damage it receives from the enemy team. Upgrading this card to its maximum level unlocks its second ability, Knockout, which causes the card to deal double damage against enemies that are currently stunned.
Rulesets
Elven Defender is not only a good frontline unit but also capable of dealing a decent amount of melee damage to enemies when certain rulesets are present in the match that favor this unit. Since this card does not have any abilities at lower levels, it mostly relies on the rulesets in the game to unleash its firepower. I will share some rulesets in battles that should make Elven Defender an offensive threat for the team.
Equal Opportunity
This ruleset favors Elven Defender very well. This particular ruleset gives every monster on the battlefield the Opportunity ability, allowing them to target the monster on the opposing team with the lowest health. This makes it unlikely for Elven Defender to be targeted by the enemy team, considering that this unit has a significant amount of health and armor.
Melee Mayhem
This ruleset fits very well with Elven Defender. It allows all melee monsters in the match to attack each round regardless of their position on the battlefield. It also gives Elven Defender the ability to deal damage to opponents even if it is placed at the back of the team. This helps Elven Defender survive longer in the match because it will not take any damage unless it is targeted by an enemy monster with the Scattershot, Snipe, or Opportunity ability.
Up Close and Personal
This ruleset fits quite well with Elven Defender. This ruleset only allows melee damage monsters to be used in battles, meaning ranged and magic damage monsters are not allowed. The durability of the Elven Defender would be utilized very well in this ruleset, as its armor can absorb the initial damage it receives from the enemy, and it has great sustainability with its base amount of health.
Super Sneak
This ruleset is also great for Elven Defender. It gives all friendly monsters the Sneak ability, which causes all the monsters on the team, except the one in the first position, to target the opponent's monster that is currently placed in the last position. This ruleset is very similar to the Equal Opportunity ruleset, as both allow melee damage monsters to strike each round regardless of their position in the game.
Back to Basics
This ruleset fits quite well with Elven Defender. This ruleset removes all abilities from all the monsters on the battlefield. Since Elven Defender does not have any abilities at lower levels, this particular ruleset does not affect this unit. It simplifies the battle into a straightforward match where both teams target the monster in the first position of the opposing team. This ruleset can also be overcome by using a summoner that grants abilities to all units at the start of the match.
Summoners
Picking the appropriate summoner for battle is often a challenging task that demands meticulous planning. It involves not only selecting the right summoner but also ensuring synergy with other monsters that complement Elven Defender. Given Elven Defender's neutrality, it can be paired with any summoner available in the match, barring the presence of the Taking Sides ruleset.
In my battles, I frequently rely on Chaos Legion Cards, Gladius Cards, Reward Cards, and various starter cards. Each of these sets brings unique strategic advantages to the table, enhancing Elven Defender's role on the battlefield. Drawing from my experience in ranked battles across different scenarios, I can recommend specific summoners from these sets that have consistently proven effective:
Kelya Frendul
This is the ranked battle I want to share, where my Elven Defender, alongside other melee monsters, took down the enemy team. I used Kelya Frendul as my summoner in this match to enhance the speed of all my units, in addition to the armor buff which improved the durability of all my monsters. Elven Defender did a great job as the frontline for the team. You can watch the battle by clicking this link.
Tarsa
This summoner is the best choice to use when playing with Elven Defender. It is a fire summoner that grants a health and melee damage buff to the entire team at the start of the match. The health buff from this summoner enhances the durability and sustainability of Elven Defender in battle, while the damage buff provides this unit with more offensive firepower. When combined with the rulesets mentioned above, this offensive capability should be utilized very effectively in battle.
Helios Matriarch
This Dragon-element summoner is also beneficial when playing with Elven Defender. It grants +1 speed to all your monsters at the beginning of the match, and being a dragon summoner, it allows you to deploy dragon-element monsters in battle. The speed buff from this summoner enables Elven Defender and other monsters to act earlier each round, enhancing strategic flexibility. Additionally, the speed buff provided by this summoner enhances Elven Defender's offensive capability against opponents, similar to the speed buff provided by Kelya Frendul. While there is no additional armor buff, the ability to use dragon-element cards in battle compensates for this, especially considering the numerous effective dragon-element cards that synergize well with Elven Defender.
My Battle
This is the ranked battle I want to share where my Elven Defender alongside with other melee monsters to take down the enemy team. I used Kelya Frendul as my summoner in this match to enhance the speed of all my units in addition to that the armor buff which would improve the durability of all my monsters. The Elven Defender did a great job being a frontline for the team and you can watch the battle by clicking this link (https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_64e6eca6b891c43637294649a5cca956).
Thank you so much for reading my post, If you haven't tried playing Splinterlands, I'll suggest to start playing right now using my referral link below.
https://splinterlands.com?ref=hatdogsensei
Delegate Tokens and HP to Fallen Angels to earn weekly rewards!
Delegate | Join to the guild
Greetings
Your selection was super cool and powerful
Thank you for sharing
Happy season end
See in the arena one day
Are you looking for Tier 5 brawl guild? THE GUILD OF NEOXIAN looking for brawl players who have good win ratio on brawls. If you are interested then join our Discord & Let our Guild officer
xawi
know that you are interested for guild brawl participation and Also Don't Forgot to Checkout our BDVoter Daily Hive Showcase & Participate into our Daily giveaway to win various prize. Best of Luck 😉Thanks for sharing! - @alokkumar121
![](https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://media.giphy.com/media/W4QD5qT1u6OJV1ENXU/giphy.gif)