This week's Battle Mage Challenge is about the Close Range rule.
Splinterlands tells us the following about the Close Range rule:
Units with ranged attacks are allowed to attack in the first position.
See close range ability.
Close Rage removes the primary weakness of ranged units; that they are usually not able to attack if they end up in the front of the team. This rule therefore make them much less risky to play, and since ranged units are usually balanced with the inability to attack from the front in mind, they are now very powerful units. This also makes melee units less necessary than usual.
Favoring ranged units also make countering ranged units slightly more important than usual. We can achieve this with Shield, Return Fire and Headwinds.
Incompatible Rules
Close Range is incompatible with Up Close & Personal, Broken Arrows and Wands Out.
Desirable Abilities
Shield, Return Fire, Headwinds
Shield is great here because it protects against both melee and ranged attacks, and those are more likely to come in this rule. Return Fire will provide some counter damage in case the opponent goes for ranged units. We can also reduce the incoming damage with Headwinds.
Advantaged Summoners
Quite self-explanatory which summoners have an advantage here. Either those that provide a direct buff to ranged monsters, or those that provide strong counters against them. There is also a smaller advantage to those that give ranged debuffs, like Quix and Contessa.
Disadvantaged Summoners
Two earth summoners are clearly worse than usual in this rule. Fernheart loses his advantage because the rule provides the same ability he does, and Mylor's Thorns are not effective against ranged units.
Desirable Monsters
My Battle : Close range battle
| Battle configuration | |
|---|---|
| League | Wild Diamond league. |
| Mana | 16 |
| Rules | Stampede, Weak Magic, Close Range |
| Splinters | Water, Dragon, Earth, Life |
My Lineup
Opponent's Lineup
Battle progress and Result
We have very similar teams so initially the rounds are a big part of mirror attacks too. I am fortunate enough that my Uraens triggers Poison on the Xenith Archer, so even though it gets its armor restored by Repair, it will still die next turn. My Sethropod hits the Chaos Agent, while Igor misses.
Next turn, my Sneak attackers finish off the Torrent Fiend, while my Igor dies and Pelacor Bandit loses its armor from Uraeus' attack. This time, Chaos Agent's armor is restored, so my Sethropod still has some work to do.
In round 3, I have some bad luck. My Uraeus misses his attack on the Pelacor Bandit, while my Bandit is hit and dies. Again Chaos Agent gets his armor back up before losing it to the Sethropod.
In round 4, my Uraeus loses his armor by the Pelacor Bandit's attack, but strikes back but does not land Poison. However, when he is struck by the enemy Uraeus, he is poisoned himself, and this does not look good for me.
My last hope now is that the Chaos Agent can dodge and Backfire on a lot of hits. That is a very unlikely result, and in the end that does not happen. Even if Cruel Sethropod is tanky, it cannot stand up to both Uraeus and Pelacor Bandit when aided by the Merdaali Guardian.
So this match did not go in my favor. The support provided by Merdaali Guardian was more useful than a sturdy frontline, and with some bad RNG too, the result ended differently than I would have preferred.
Alternative lineups
Selenia Sky
Wizard of Eastwood
Kelya Frendul
I hope you found this post interesting. If you did, you might also enjoy my other content.
Battle mage challenges
Battle Mage Challenge: Broken Arrows
Battle Mage Challenge: Briar Patch
Battle Mage Challenge: Born Again
Battle Mage Challenge: Back to Basics
Battle Mage Challenge: Armored Up
Battle Mage Challenge: Aimless
Battle Mage Challenge: Aim True
Battle Mage Challenge: Rise of the Commons
Battle Mage Challenge: Weak Magic
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Best of luck in Splinterlands!
Kalkulus