Look, I have been playing Splinterlands for a while now. And for the longest time, Equalizer was that modifier where I would just wing it. Throw some tanky cards in there and hope for the best. Big mistake. Then I actually sat down and studied what happens when everyone's health gets set to the same number. And now, it has become one of my favorite modifiers to play.
The Thing Nobody Tells You About Equalizer
Equalizer modifier states that "The initial Health of all Monsters is equal to that of the Monster on either team with the highest base Health." Therefore, everyone gets beefy in the battle. What does this translate to? You just handed your opponent's 1-health Furious Chicken the same health pool as your 10-mana legendary tank. And if you did not plan for that, you are about to get destroyed by a team of mediocre cards that suddenly are not trash anymore.
The real question in Equalizer is not how do I survive longer? It is how do I make sure I gain more from this ruleset than my opponent does? Because if their health pool is bigger than your health pool (total health gained vs. original health), you are cooked.
My Actual Strategy (The One That Actually Works)
I ran into this recently in a 34-mana battle. Ruleset was Equalizer + Aim True + Close Range. Only Red and Black splinters available. My opponent went mostly full melee with Eternan Brune archon. I went ranged-heavy with Octavia Shadowmeld archon.
Here is the lineup I used:
- Trapp Falloway
- Furious Chicken
- Meriput Slinger
- Grim Reaper
- Liza Fox
- Vampire
In a normal battle, the Furious Chicken is a low cost sacrificial lamb. In Equalizer? It became a 9-health monster for free. That is a +ve (positive expectation) play if I ever saw one. On paper, my opponents' monsters were solid choices, but completely ignored that I stacked range damage (15 range damage!!).
Summary of how the battle went:
- Round 1 opened and my entire team just deleted their Forgotten One. Their Kha'zi Conjurer managed to snipe my Trapp Falloway (RIP), but by then it did not matter.
- Round 2: I took out Radiated Brute and Fina Voxom. They got my Furious Chicken (who honestly overperformed just by existing).
- Round 3: I cleaned up. Vampire life-leeched the kill on Orella Abadon. Liza Fox single Kha'zi Conjurer. Grim Reaper finished Tenyii Striker.
The Lesson (That I Wish I'd Learned Earlier)
Equalizer rewards two things:
- Low-health monsters that suddenly are not low-health anymore.
- Abilities that scale with prolonged battles (Life Leech, Bloodlust, Affliction, Poison).
You do not need the highest-health monster. What you need is the most efficient health distribution. My Furious Chicken gained 9 health for 0 mana. Their Forgotten One gained 0 health for 9 mana. See the problem? My Vampire with Life Leech? Started at 9 health, ended the battle still alive because every kill healed it back up. That is the kind of synergy that wins Equalizer matches.
If I had more mana, I would throw in a Repair monster or a second Life Leech card. Equalizer battles tend to drag on, so healing becomes absurdly strong. Tank Heal is fine, but if you are running 2+ healers, you better make sure your tank is literally unkillable. Otherwise, you are just sacrificing attack power for nothing.
Final Thoughts
Here is the thing that is not in the guides: if everyone is spamming high-health tanks (Magnor, Kraken, Djinn Chwala), you counter by going low-mana, high-attack, and letting them give you the health boost. If everyone is going low-mana monsters, you bring one massive tank (12-15 health) and force them to deal with it. Either way, you are playing the opponent's expectations, not just the ruleset. So yes. I used to hate Equalizer. Now I get excited when I see it. Because I know most players are still thinking "big tank = good" and not asking themselves "wait, how much health did my opponent's team just gain for free?"
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