This week the Battle Challenge Ruleset is Ferocity. In this Ruleset, all monsters have the Fury ability. When monsters with the Fury ability attack, they deal double damage to a monster with the Taunt ability. Not the most exciting Ruleset, but the game is always trying to bring counters to the meta and making use of Taunt monsters has become a popular and powerful strategy. Fury is a somewhat new monster ability and thus Ferocity is a somewhat new Ruleset.
The battle I chose to showcase is a 50 mana battle with the Ferocity and Opportunity Rulesets. The available splinters were Fire, Earth, and Dragon.
Here is a link to the battle:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_cb56449dffe4a571bdd32371c922803b&ref=ninjamike
For this match, I chose the Dragon splinter. My main strategy in the battle was to use the Lily Shieldpaw Summoner which provides the Camouflage ability to my team. My monsters cannot be attacked unless they are in first position. So despite the Opportunity Ruleset, all attacks will be directed at my first position monster.
For my tank, I chose a monster with Thorns and plenty of shielding. I have a tank healer in the backfield to heal it. I have to hope that my opponent will be attacking with a lot of Melee attackers. In case my opponent makes it past my tank, I also have a monster with Thorns right behind my tank in second position.
Start of Battle / Round 1
My opponent went with the Fire splinter and an all Melee team which fits right into my strategy.
My team consists firstly of two Melee tanks. After that is a range monster, a double striking Melee monster, and Magic attack healer. In last position, I have a Magic attack monster with high health and the Taunt ability. The idea was that it could take some pressure off my tank. Hopefully it can withstand the double damage for a round and get healed by the backline healing that Lily Shieldpaw provides after each round.
Round 2
During the first round, my Taunt monster was pretty quickly destroyed and I lost all the shields on my tank in first position. I managed to destroy my opponent’s lowest health monster which was in last position.
Round 3
In the second round, I defeated one of my opponent’s backline monsters. My opponent has been purely attacking my tank because of the Camouflage provided by my Summoner. Both of our tanks stand at 1 health starting out the third round.
Round 4
During the fourth round, my tank was defeated but I knocked off two more of my opponents’ monsters including their tank. Things are looking good for me.
My primary strategy for this match worked out. My opponent went with all Melee attack monsters and so with each hit to the Thorns of my tank they lost a little health. This in combination with having powerful enough offensive attacks from my monsters was enough for victory.
For me, the Ferocity Ruleset is not one of the more interesting or exciting Rulesets. The main thing it provides is that you know going into the match that you probably will not be dominated by a Taunt monster. You will most likely defeat them quickly because you will be dealing double damage. Of course, if neither side chooses a Taunt monster then the match is just like any other match.
