Battle storm arrives.
Xenith Archer’s arrows rain.
Foes are washed away.
This week's “Share Your Battle” feature is the Xenith Archer! And this handy 2-mana-cost arrow slinger has uses beyond inspiring haikus. As a neutral combatant, the Xenith Archer can be used on any Splinterlands team regardless of the team’s summoner’s splinter. Its level-1 stats of two health, one speed and one ranged-attack-power are all low, but well in line with its minuscule summoning cost. In low-mana matches or when a team has only two mana left and one slot to fill the Xenith Archer can be the perfect fit.
Looking at the Xenith Archer’s level progression chart we find that its role will never be more than that of a low-mana cost, low-powered, ranged attacker. Through all levels, the Xenith Archer gains neither abilities nor protective armor. And its growth in other attributes is modest at best.
At level two the Archer gains one health which brings it to three. But further growth is stunted until level five and this card's level is capped eight. Ultimately the Xenith Archer’s health maxes out at an anemic five. The story remains the same for both speed and attack power which slowly gain three and one points respectively maxing out at four and a mere two.
Clearly the Xenith Archer will never be a powerhouse, but when mana is tight this neutral combatant may still have what it takes to make the team–a low mana cost.
While playing Splinterlans recently I came upon a match with a 27 mana cap, and while building my team I used 25 of the mana filling all but one of the available card slots. Knowing the Xenith Archer was the SYB feature, I considered it to occupy the final position and decided it would be an acceptable candidate to fill out my team.
Beyond the manna cap, the match rules called for a “Stampede,” where combatants using the Trample ability can have it fire multiple times. With only the starter-deck Diemonshark present in most bronze league decks, this rule rarely has much consequence in my matches.
Rounding out the rules, only the fire, water and light splinters were active leaving earth, death and dragons unuseable.
My opponent had a solid row of fire matches showing for their previous five fights. All featuring mostly sneaks and opportunists, and none showing anything out of the ordinary for the fire teams I usually face at my level of play.
Generally speaking, water teams do well against fire because, aided by water summoner Kelya Frendul’s +1 speed and armor bonus, the slower moving, heavy hitting fire-fighters have their powerful strikes negated by one point of armor if they don’t miss entirely. Stir the armor repair ability into the team’s soup and fire just can’t get cooking.
So my strategy for the match boils down to using Kelya Frendul, who gives speed and armor, The Serpent of Eld which is fast and hard to hit and The Scavo Hireling who repairs armor. Together I hope the team can maintain a fast, 3-attack-power tank that can't be brought down.
As noted previously, Kelya Frendul is one of the primary reasons fire teams struggle beating water teams. The +1 speed and +1 armor buffs that Kayla grants leave many powerful fire strikes either stripping armor or missing altogether. So, naturally, I used Frendul as my summoner.
Slotting in second is the Ice Pixie. After applying summoner buffs, this fast flier has 4 speed in addition to the miss-inducing flight ability–once again, a difficult target for fire’s opportunistic Serpentine Spy. And thanks to the armor buff, hitting the stealthy Pixie just once isn’t even enough to bring it down. This allows the ice faerie to hold up very well as an “opportunity guard,” keeping low-health seekers busy swatting at flies.
Next in line is the combatant that the Ice Pixie is tasked to guard, the armor repairing Scavo Hireling. This card is a key part of my fire fighting strategy. With it on my team, I hope that any powerful attacks that do land against me cause no more harm than stripping forever-reappearing armor.
In fourth position I place the Merdaali Guardian. I often debate using this card on my anti-fire teams as it often is never called upon to heal my Elder tank! That my team can essentially waste 3 mana and still defeat fire only goes to show how difficult it is for bronze level fire teams to stay afloat against water. But I still do include the healer to guard against crafty players who slip a little magic into their fire teams. I think it is also worth noting that often the Hireling/Guardian pair are placed with the Merdaali in front of the Scavo because together they can form a perpetual healing loop. But against fire, I believe the armor repair is more important and I use the healer as a last line of defense against fire’s sneaks. Facing only the Serpent of Eld and the Scavo Hireling, fire is in a losing battle so my positioning is intended to protect the Hireling for as long as possible.
In the next to last position, I have used the Deeplurker. The task set for this bulky, hard-hitting opportunist is to weaken fire’s backfield to a level where they can’t ever reach my diligent armor repairman. If my Deeplurker deals with my opponent’s low-health opportunists, then my hard-to-hit tank will be able to roll, having its armor repaired even when it is hit.
Rounding out the team is the Xenith Archer. I don’t envision that the Archer will ever do any damage against a potentially shielded enemy tank. Its real job is to absorb two shots from enemy sneaks, giving my Deeplurker more time to tenderize my opponent’s backfield.
Fire led by Tarsa. Right as planned. Unless there is a major surprise, this bodes very well.
Here is the field with all summoners' bonuses applied.
My prospects are excellent. My opportunist will destroy both of my opponent’s in the time it will take them, at worst, to down my Pixie. But getting that kill will take a lot of luck. Fire first needs my Scavo to act before the Spy in round one, so he could not repair the Pixies armor. Then the fire-fighter would need to actually hit my Pixie. Then the Spy would need to act before my Deeplurker in round two, failing that my opportunist drags him into the depths. Still further, the Spy would then need to act before the Scavo if the Living Lava misses in round one. Otherwise, the Pixies armor is healed before it can be brought down. Finally, the Spy would need to actually land the second blow. Wheeew. My Pixie is very likely to survive the whole match, and my Hireling faces no danger from opportunist attack.
From there, fire’s predicament becomes clear. Fire sees my faster remaining attackers drown the Bruiser, leaving just one sneak who will only get one shot at my Merdaali Guardian, at worst stripping its armor before only the Striker remains. Even imagining that the Serpentine Spy downs my Ice Pixie in round two, this should buy fire just enough time to down the Hireling if they never miss against my Lurker and healers. Even it this worst-case, fire-literally-gets-every-break circumstance, my Serpent will stand with at least 2 armor and 5 points of health, against the two, armorless, opposing sneaks. A faceoff I am still favored to win.
Fire's chances are slim to none, perhaps with slim having already left the building.
But I have been wrong about much more important things, so maybe there is a chance fire burns me in this match after all. You can see how it went for yourself here.
At the end of round one, it’s not the worst case when fire’s tank misses my Serpent of Eld, and my Pixie's armor is intact. It's already game over for fire.
But as anticipated, the first of fire’s opportunists has been washed away, and the featured Xenith Archer has been reduced to cinders.
As round two ends, the lava-flow-slow magma-man again misses. Fire has lost its second opportunist, and my Lurker is ready to fall.
Round three closes with the Bruiser finally scoring a hit against my sea serpent. But the armor will be replaced before my tank faces another attack.
And now it should be clear that fire is fried. Next round starts with the Bruiser falling, and the round thereafter the first of his sneaks is sunk. Meanwhile my Hireling is untouchable making my serpent invincible even if not untouchable.
And it’s the Serpent of Eld that delivers the final blow.
Once again, water douses fire. And for fire teams that rely exclusively on backfield attackers, the combination of Kelya Frendul, Serpent of Eld and Scavo Hireling is very hard to beat. With at most one forward facing attack at a time, the fast, heavy hitting snake can nearly bring the whole opposing army to its knees, one fighter at a time. All the while taking no damage beyond its sure-to-be-repaired armor. Just keep the Hireling safe from the backfield attackers and watch the tsunami wash the fire team away.
In my match, the Xenith Archer played the role that it is often relegated to, that of speed bump. But it played it well. In Splinterlands, guards of all types are important. Lining up low mana-cost combatants to block the line of attack to stronger ones is a strategy that leads to victory. The four mana points I spent on the Ice Pixie and the Xenith Archer negated 11 points of damage and allowed the rest of the team to get on with the business of dousing fire’s flames.