Introduction
Many of us have that one thing that we loved when we got started with an aspect of our lives. It could be our new school, a new neighborhood, or a new game. There are few things that make our journey into the “new” easy. And much like everyone else, my journey into Splinterlands was made easy by the Water Elemental.
In the initial days of playing the game and still trying to find my footing, I was disposed off easily game-after-game. I had only heard of the sneak-and-snipe ability or the opportunity ability. I did see battles where the opposition easily devoured my monsters at the back. This used to be the case always. But whenever I used the Water Splinter and the Water Elemental, the monsters at the back remained protected to some extent. Why?
The Water Elemental is a self-healing monster, so it can take attacks from the opponent’s monster and heal itself back. As such, the sneak-and-snipe monsters had to do keep on attacking the Elemental while my monsters in the front bludgeoned the opponent’s frontline. In other words, I ended up on the winning side almost every time I used the Elemental.
That was the reason that I loved the Water Elemental. While still figuring out strategies to win when I joined Splinterlands, the Elemental would almost always do me a favor by winning the game for me. Any reasons to not love it? Hardly any, right?
Let’s get to know more about the Elemental. But before that, shall we take a moment off to explain what Splinterlands is to newbies and those curious about Splinterlands?
We should. 😊
What Game is Splinterlands?
Well, it is one of the earliest blockchain-based collectible games. Though I started playing the game relatively late, I should have had gotten going early in hindsight. Anyway, no need to despair. There are so many opportunities no matter when you start.
*Splinterlands is a digital card game that allows you to collect, trade, battle, rent, and even earn on the cards. It is one of the most generous games that I have seen where cards, potions, Dark Energy Crystals (DEC. Cryptocurrency) are given out every day to thousands of players for just playing and winning daily quests. And there are tournaments or guilds that you can join.*
*Just to give you an idea of a few of the uber-expensive cards, take a look at this recent purchase of Prince Julian at USD 3500.*
Card Purchase Contract: Gold Foil Prince Julian
Did you go to the link and see for yourself? I hope you did. And I hope that gives an overview of the game. I just love the game, and those interested can go to Splinterlands’ site and join. If you want a link to join, I will leave one at the end of the article, which you can use.
Scroll down, quick. 😊
Water Elemental | Try Killing It | And Keep Trying
The Water Elemental, as the name suggests, belongs to the Water Splinter. For newbies in the Bronze and Silver league, even the base level Elemental is good enough to protect your monster armies from the back. With each healing, the Elemental gains back a health value of two, and mostly that is as good as powering it up completely.
Besides, the Elemental has an attack value of two which is pretty good to dent the opponent’s monsters. It also has a speed of four making it one of the first monsters to attack. All this costs about just five mana. This makes the Elemental one of the most used across battles. It can easily fit battles in the low, medium, and high mana ones. Not a bad ally!
Though a rare monster, a level one Elemental is available for $0.68. At the current market price, that is equivalent to 1000 DECs. That should be easy for anybody. Also, a level eight is available for $16. That is still a steal with super-enhanced stats. A good deal by any stretch of the imagination. But how does the Elemental fair in battle?
Let’s check it out.
Water Elemental in Battle
One thing about the Elemental is that it almost always will be placed at the back of the monster lineup. So, that takes out the need to think of its position. That is the best part of the Elemental. Here’s one battle where I had chosen the Elemental.
Before we get to the battle, let’s look at the rule in play. The rule was the reverse-speed or snail-rule as I like to call it, which meant that the slowest monster attacked first, followed by the other faster monsters. So, the Elemental was not going to benefit from the rule. Nonentheless, it was one of the monsters in the pack. The mana cap for the battle was 27. That was more than enough to include the Elemental in the grouping.
Let’s see how the battle panned out.
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The Face-Off
Here’s how the battle lineup looked like. I had chosen the Water Splinter while the opponent went for the Life Splinter. I had used the Kraken, which was a super-strong tank as much as a taunt monster. That means none of the opponent’s monsters were going to hit my monsters at the back in a hurry. The Dwarven Wizard and Coral Wraith were the other monsters that made the lineup. The Elemental, as usual, was at the end of the line.
The opponent’s lineup also had a taunt monster in the front. The Shield Bearer wouldn’t be a great saving grace in light of my tank and other monsters. The only apparent mistake was the Creeping Ooze in the opponent’s lineup. For those who know, the Ooze will slow up each monster's speed in my lineup. That meant that it actually helped us in the reverse-speed rule. Maybe, the opponent is still learning the trick of the trade. 😊
The other apparent mistake was that there weren’t too many attacking monsters in his/her lineup - just the Luminous Eagle and the Evangelist. I surmised that I would win without much effort with my choice of monsters.
Was I overconfident? Let’s find out.
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The Battle Begins
Well, I wasn’t too wrong in my assessment, now was I? The Shieldbearer couldn’t stand the barrage of attacks for too long and perished.
That opened up the rear part of the opponent’s monster for attack from my Coral Wraith and Dwarven Wizard. The Wraith went for the Ooze and took it out. So, our initial benefit of the Ooze was gone.
But nothing to worry about as the Kraken was still standing, and the opponent’s lineup looked fragile. The only thing working for the opponent was the Luminous Eagle’s propensity to miss attacks from my monsters, including the Elemental's attacks.
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The Battle Races to Conclusion
I’ve got to admit that I was surprised a bit that the Eagle and the Evangelist took out my Kraken. And the Eagle still had a good amount of health left. So, much for underestimating the opponent.
The Eagle was holding on well, and only the Dwarven was doing any real damage. It was consistently missing the Elemental’s attacks while the Wraith seemed focused on the Evangelist. The distributed attack which my monsters were undertaking got me a bit worried.
Thankfully though, the fall of the Eagle bought the Evangelist to the front. Being a ranged attacker, the Evangelist could do nothing but watch. And guess which monster finished the proceedings? The Elemental, of course. The Water Elemental provided the final blow on the opponent, and that brought the battle to a close. 😊
Our champ did it at last!
Do I Use the Water Elemental Often?
As I mentioned before, I use the Elemental a lot. Only in the recent battles have I gone slow on the use of the Water Elemental. You see, since I have the Alric Stormbringer that enhances all the magic monsters in my lineup, I tend to use more magic monsters. That is the only reason not to use the Elemental. Otherwise, the Elemental is still an awesome addition to the pack.
The good thing about the Water Elemental is that it never loses its use on any level. As we level up the monster, it becomes more and more potent and makes itself useful. We will look at the leveling up part in a moment. Besides, the self-healing ability leads it to be a no-brainer choice. 😊
Where Else Does the Elemental Fit In?
The Water Elemental is one monster that can be called evergreen in our lineup. For players in the Bronze and Silver league can for sure use the monster every time that they use the Water Splinter; at least, I used to do that. The only thing that any rule can do is enhance the monster’s use in a battle.
Consider the Health Equalizer rule - wouldn’t a higher health Water Elemental be lethal? You bet. So, the same awesome monster becomes super-awesome. Or even the opportunity rule would make the Elemental attack other monsters in the lineup. That is neat too. So, as I said, the rules only enhance the potency of the Elemental. It will always remain a great addition to the team.
How Does the Water Elemental Level Up?
While the Elemental never failed to impress in battle, it also never fails to impress on leveling up. Take a look at the stats.
The Elemental is one of the monsters which levels up quite impressively. I have seen different types of leveling up for monsters. Some are great monsters at the base level but are unimpressive as they level up, then some monsters become great as they level up, and then some monsters are great at the base level and become awesome as they level up. The Water Elemental clearly belongs to the last group.
Just look at the stats as the monster levels up. The ranged attack value becomes four, the speed increase to five, and the health goes up to seven. Not only that, but the Elemental also gets the Dodge ability at level five. What would you call that other than impressive? I know there are higher-powered ranged attackers, but the Elemental can hold its own even among them. So, you see what I mean?
The Water Elemental is one of the best water monsters at all levels!
Water Elemental | Super Water Monster
That brings us to the conclusion of this article and why, in my opinion, the Elemental is such a great monster. The best strategy is to use the monster at the last place when the sneak-and-snipe or the opportunity rule is in play. It can stand the opponent’s attack and re-heal too.
That’s my thoughts about the Water Elemental. I hope you all enjoyed reading.
😊
Want to Join Splinterlands?
You can click below and follow the link. All the best!
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Image Courtesy: Splinterlands
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