Hello Splinterfans!
Welcome to Part 4 of my Beginners Guide to Splinterlands. If you missed Part 1,Part 2, or Part 3 you can click the links. In Part 4 we will focus on choosing your second Splinter and suggested line up.
As a beginner, I would recommend to play first in the modern league as it will be easier than the wild league because it is mostly bot free and there are less cards available. This means it is easier and more fun to play against other actual players and it would then be more satisfying to play.
Summoner - Kelya Frendul
By now you should be playing and having lots of fun with your earth splinter and Mylor Crowling. He is mostly focused with a melee attack and therefore you should be developing good ideas of what monsters will give the optimal attack score and whether you attack the tank or last monster.
Next up you will be wanting to expand your range of summoner choices so that you can play more rounds than just with Mylor Crowling. The choices imo for your second summoner are limited to 3 top contenders. Those are either Obsidian, Quix the Devious or Kelya Frendul.
Obsidian is a cheap magic attack summoner who would compliment your current deck nicely, so it may be worth to buy him anyway and he is quite cheap. Next would be Quix the Devious who is a dragon splinter summoner who has some great debuffs and would be a great addition to any deck. He is more pricey than the other options at around 8 times more than Obsidian or Kelya.
This would basically mean Kelya Frendul would be my top second choice for a summoner and second splinter ahead of Quix the Devious. This is because he is cheap at around 1400 DEC only and is a flexible and powerful summoner that will be very versatile and fun to play.
Although not as high ranked as Mylor Crowling, he is still respectably ranked at 13th in the modern league. Many of the summoners above are very expensive or have very niche buffs that would not be as useful a summoner at the start as Kelya Frendul who is a great all-rounder.
Looking at PeakMonsters shows you can buy him at level 1 for just 1418 DEC ($1,22). This is a great price and I think it is worth to buy him but you can also rent him very cheaply too at a cost of currently only 0.1 DEC per day So basically, he is so cheap to rent that it would take years to cover the cost of owning him. Will rentals always be this cheap though?
Therefore, unless you are sure you want to own your cards, you can also just rent and play for literally nothing.
Monsters
You will need to get some essential starter cards that play many game rulesets well with Kelya Frendul. I will list a few of the key monsters that I would recommend to buy or rent to begin with. Usually, if it is an expensive card, you can just rent it to begin with. If a card costs just a few cents, then I think just buying it makes sense, rather than go through the hassle of renting it all the time, but this would not maximise your return, but may make playing more enjoyable.
Kelya gives a shield and speed buff, this makes the water deck a fast deck which is good. It also offers some extra protection to your monsters to help keep them alive longer. This you should keep in mind when selecting your lineup and considering the game rules and buffs.
One of the most played monsters will be the powerful but low cost Pelacor Bandit. He has a lightning 3 speed and just 1 attack in the bronze league, but his wings and snipe ability will prove lethal to your opponents.
Rental cost ~ 0.1 DEC
Buy Cost ~ 13 DEC
A second goto card you will want to have in your lineup is Deeplurker who will compliment Pelacor Bandit in many cases. A strong melee attack with the lethal opportunity ability that will come in very handy in your attacking lineup.
Rental cost ~ 0.1 DEC
Buy Cost ~ 159 DEC
Next up you will want actually a neuteral monster who can play in any splinter. Uraeus however is particularly good to play with not just Mylor, but also with Kelya Frendul in the water splinter. He works well with Pelacor Bandit in Little League rulesets and also some other battles with Pelacor and Deeplurker together.
He doesn't have his poison ability yet, but still with his sneak attack compliments Pelacor Bandit very well. You should already have him if you bought him to use with Mylor Crowling.
Rental cost ~ 0,1 DEC
Buy cost ~ 123 DEC
Next up, you will want to have the powerful Diemonshark as your tank in many battles. He has a fast speed and has a decent health and huge shield! Not only that, he takes reduced damage from melee attack that will come in very handy.
Rental cost ~ 0,1 DEC
Buy cost ~ 265 DEC
Another tank you will want to consider is the mighty Baakjira who is one of my favorite tanks. He is quite pricey but has some amazing abilities and stats. Reduced magic damage, reduce enemy team speed and a mighty 11 health score at level 1, makes this legendary monster a force to be reconned with.
Rental cost ~ 0,5 DEC
Buy cost ~ 7622 DEC
Next up we have an essential tank who can repel most magic attacks with his void ability. He is also very fast and a decent health score to boot. His price has also plummetted which makes him great value to buy or rent.
Rental cost ~ 0,3 DEC
Buy cost ~ 938 DEC
Next up we have a monster that slots in nicely to the second position and will work in many lineups. His health isnt so high, but he is very fast. He is very cheap too.
Rental cost ~ 0,14 DEC
Buy cost ~ 131 DEC
You will need a tank healer and I would recommend to have Merdaali Guardian in your lineup. At only 291 DEC, this is a cheap buy.
Rental cost ~ 0,1 DEC
Buy cost ~ 291 DEC
Final Thoughts
These are just a small selection of the most used monsters that I would recommend that you should have in your water deck to begin with. I would recommend of course to buy many more. At level 1, cards are very cheap to buy or rent and you can test out new monsters to see if they fit in with any of your strategies.
Of course, as you play it is also nicer to have a wider selection of monsters to choose from. You will need to have at least a selection of 10-15 monsters to allow you to play most rulesets comfortably.
What do you think of these cards? Are there any you would replace them with? Have I missed an essential starter card for the water deck?
Let me know in the comments.
Credits:
The title image was created in Canva with images from Pexels/ Pixabay and Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay
Screenshots, logos and characters are taken from Splinterlands.
SignUp to Splinterlands:
Let's connect: mypathtofire