This guide is the fourth in a series I am writing to give beginners an easy way to reach 1000+ MMR and beyond. You can use these tips to either reach Silver I very quickly, or to compete for top 20 bronze to earn seasonal DEC rewards.
I will explain all of the cards that you should get to be fully equipped for 95+% of rulesets using the death splinter. Every time you play death, if you have level 2 or 3 of all these cards, you'll be able to build an S tier meta build in Bronze.
The idea is simple: Rent level 3 copies of all the common cards, level 2 of the rares/epics, and level 1 for the legendary cards. These are the highest levels for Bronze.
Summoners
Zintar Mortalis
Remember: Rent a level two copy.
Zintar is my go-to summoner for death class. Reducing the opponent's melee attacks by one seems like the most consistently useful skill. The other option, Contessa L'ament, isn't as consistently useful since she only reduces ranged attacks and ranged attacks are less common.
Monsters
Ancient Lich
I really enjoy the combination of magic attack and "Leech Life" status. The magic never misses and the leech life means that my monster can gain health and snowball out of control.
Lich is similar to fire splinter's Zalran Efreet but more expensive. Costing 7 for only 3 starting health is a gamble -- if the opponent is able to use an opportunity monster to kill Lich early, you might not get value -- but it's often worth it in high mana rulesets, especially for bronze league since Death is lacking in offensive power in Bronze.
Bone Golem
Bone Golem is only for opponents who use mostly magic attacks. If you look at your opponent's recent battles and 3+ involved a magic-first strategy, you want to use Golem to block some of that magic damage.
I wouldn't use Bone Golem unless your opponent is big on magic -- Undead Rexx is better overall.
Boogeyman
Reducing the opponent's speed is so good. Combine that with two magic damage and decent health and you've got one hell of a monster in Boogeyman.
I'd recommend using this card in pretty much all rulesets around 30 mana. Maybe leave it out in favor of Cthulu for really high mana rulesets, like 40+.... or use both!
Cthulu
This card is insane. Three magic damage and twelve health is an amazing combination, making C'thulu death splinter's answer to the water splinter Kraken.
In Splinterlands, high stat tanks/bruisers are generally the strongest cards in the game. You just need to make sure you have enough mana to use them properly. I use C'thulu in almost every ruleset above 34 mana for Death splinter, it's just too strong to leave out.
Death Elemental
Death Elemental can be a sneaky card that uses magic damage plus the snipe effect to kill important support monsters on your opponent's bench. Combine this with Dwarven Wizard for two magic damage on snipe to really kill opposing healers and support monsters like Wood Nymph, Crustacean King, etc
Giant Scorpion
Decent stats for four mana. This card isn't amazing, but it might be the best option as your frontline tank for low and medium mana rulesets. You need something to tank a few hits until your magic and ranged attackers can start killing the opponent's monsters.
Haunted Spirit
You want this monster in the front of your team for almost every low and medium mana ruleset in bronze league. It is one of the most common openers for Death Splinter in bronze and for good reason -- the ability to self-heal combined with Zintar's -1 melee debuff on opposing monsters can be enough to perma-stall opposing builds.
Be wary, a smart opponent will destroy Haunted Spirit builds if they use Nature's Mylor Crowning summoner. Thorns are your enemy with this kind of monster.
Twisted Jester
Two damage snipe ranged monster with five health is very decent for only four mana in bronze league. You can combine the jester with the Death Elemental to send three snipe damage right at the opponent's most vulnerable bench monster.
This card is extra powerful in the ruleset that allows ranged monsters to attack in first position, since it'll have a chance to win in a 1v1 endgame scenario.
Undead Archer
Affliction (stop opposing monsters from healing themselves) combined with 6 total stats for two mana makes undead archer an incredible support monster for Death builds. This card can single-handedly shut down stall strategies featuring Nature's Flesh Golem, Death's Haunted Spirit, Water strategies with Crustacean King, and a bunch more.
Undead Priest
I'm a big fan of the "weaken" effect which reduces all opposing monsters' health by 1. Undead Priest offers that power at only two mana, and even has four health to survive a few hits from enemy monsters.
Almost every Death build should use at least one of Undead Archer or Undead Priest -- at two mana each, these cards are too good and too affordable to pass up.
Undead Rexx
Saving the best for last, Undead Rexx is the ultimate bruiser monster who can lead many of your midrange mana ruleset teams. Just put this guy in front, toss some ranged and magic attackers in the back, and obliterate opposing teams.
Rexx's big weakness is armor -- if he attacks into a monster with one armor, he'll just do one damage, no matter how much extra damage he is capable of. That's why you need support for Rexx, I wouldn't expect him to win matches on his own. Use your undead priest, your twisted jester, your boogeyman, and any other support cards that can help you usher the Rexx to victory.
Conclusion
Death splinter is a really fun class. If Fire Splinter is the traditional "mono red aggro" style that we've all known since the early days of Magic the Gathering, then Death Splinter is the weirder, more support/synergy based offensive class.
The only bad thing for Death is that it's missing a ton of its best options in Bronze league. I was saddened to realize many of my favorite Death cards don't have their key effects yet at low levels, thus making them not useful for Bronze.
I look forward to writing the Silver League guide for this class and talking about the joys of the level 5 Giant Scorpion + Spineback Turtle combo for midrange destruction... but that will have to wait.
I recommend that you learn how to play around with Death Splinter in the bronze league, but maybe don't focus on it until you climb to silver. Fire is probably an easier/stronger/cheaper option for now.
Previous Guides:
Fire Splinter Bronze League
Nature Splinter Bronze League
Water Splinter Bronze League
Thanks for sharing! - @mango-juice
I am pretty sure than it will help the newbies to play with different death cards. Keep playing splinterlands and post awesome posts like this.