Splinterlands: Beginners Guide to Gameplay

This post is specifically aimed at people who have recently started playing Splinterlands or are considering to get started with this NFT game. The game is actually quite intuitive and in a while you will be building advanced strategies based on your card preferences and experience gained by playing. For a beginner though it can be a bit overwhelming as there are many card parameters and gameplay factors that one needs to understand before playing effectively.

The Splinterlands website does have a section on gameplay but I feel it is not explained at a level that a complete noob who has just started playing will be able to grasp the nuances.

I do not want to scare the newcomers to this game as sooner or later you will get the hang of the game and experience is the best teacher. If you are able to understand the gameplay well during your initial days with the game it will surely give you a head-start.

1. Summoners Vs Monsters

There are 2 type of NFTs in the game ecosystem- Summoners and Monsters. To play the game you will have to basically create teams by configuring a set of cards as per the specific conditions set of each particular fight.

Summoner is the leader of your team and controls your entire team. Whatever boosts or special strengths it carries will be applied to every monster in your team.

I think Summoner is the most important card in your collection as it decides what max level of monsters you can use in your team. You can combine multiple NFTs of the same type to get a higher level card with enhanced stats.

If your Summoner is not sufficiently levelled up there is no sense in levelling up your monsters. The most important rule of gameplay is to level up your Summoners first and then your Monsters.

2. Understand the 6+1 Elements

The NFT cards are divided into 7 categories and you should aim to have a well distributed set across the different elements. It will be difficult in the beginning to have strong teams in all elements but you should slowly build your teams in a balanced way. This is really important once you advance to silver and gold levels of the battle as each fight will allow only a few elements to be used. If you have have collected strong cards in only one or two elements then it will strongly limit your fighting ability when theses elements are not allowed to be used.

You also need to keep in mind that Fire, Earth, Water, Life and Death are standard five elements. Dragon is a special element and if you select the summoner of this element you can select another element and combine dragon cards with it. Neutral is the 7th element which can be combined with any element you have selected to play. So if you select Dragon summoner and combine it with Fire element, then in this fight you will be able to use Dragon, Fire and Neutral cards in the fight.

You will also quickly realise that some elements are better suited for different fighting strategies. Fire monsters will generally have stronger Melee attack and Death and Dragon elements will have superior Magic attack in general.

You need to combine the special powers added by your summoner to the cards you select so you can maximise your attack. If your summoner adds to the Ranged attack then it will be to your advantage to put in as many ranged attack monsters as possible.

3. Analyse Battle History of Opponents 

Before you start assembling your team you should check what elements and what kind of card types your opponent has used in the recent fights. This will help you to customise your strategy to block out the strong points of your enemy.

If you notice that your enemy generally uses summoners and cards that enhance Melee attack then you can add card with “Demoralize” ability which will reduce Melee ability of the opponent. Similary if the opponent has used mainly magic attack cards then you can place cards with “Magic Reflect” and “Void” abilities to counter the main strength of the opponent.

There are several kind of abilities assigned to different cards so you will have to customise your team as per the best combination to counter your opponents.

4. Sequence your Cards on the Battlefield 

After you have analysed how your opponent structures his team you need to select the cards you want to use in the fight and also need to decide the sequence in which they will be placed.

This is critical as each card work best at a particular sequence. Melee is usually best suited for the first place as Tank. Unless there is a special ability included the Melee card will not be able to attack from the back position. Next you should place Magic attack cards as they can attack from any position front or back. You should avoid placing Magic cards in the first position as they generally have low health and no armour so they can’t handle heavy attack in the first position. The Ranged attack should be placed in the end as they can not attack from the first position.

These are the standard practices and you will have to customise after considering the special abilities your cards have.

5. Armor, Speed and Health

When assembling your team you need to consider what are is their rating in terms of Armor, Speed and Health. If your opponent uses a lot of ranged attack then you need to make sure your Tank in the first place has a lot of armor to withstand it. Magic attack can pass through the armor and reduce the health directly, so when you are against an opponent that use a lot of magic attack then keep cards that can counter magic attack and have higher health rating. Cards with higher Speed will attack before one with a lower speed.

Keep in mind that these are basic guidelines and you will have to tweak your gameplay according to the special conditions which will be in place for each fight.

If you have still not tried out the game and would like to start playing then feel free to use my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=sambtc

If you have any doubts related to the gameplay then let me know in the comments.

Cheers,

SamBTC