This my second article reviewing some Splinterland ability. If you want to check out my opinion about opportunist ability, check out my last articles.
Do not use it...
I would recommend not using any monster with the sneak ability. In splinterland monsters keep on fighting until they die, therefore you want to focus your fire on one enemy to knock it out fast.
If you start spliting your fire power by using sneak, snipe and opportunist monsters you will just make few damage to several monsters rather than finishing them off.
This point taken I still think that opportunist monsters can be interesting as they focus on enemy with low health. So they have higher chances to knock out monster.
...or go all in
If you wish to use sneak monsters, you need to use several of them. By using several you will start bringing considerable fire on the enemy tail, which is usually not prepared for it. This should allow you to knock out enemies reasonably fast.
The only sneaky monster I’m often using is the Silvershield assassin. Its dual strike ability make it a reasonable pick to disturb your enemy tail. With the extra attach strength from the level 3, it is becoming a quite devastating card. You can check out this game to see it in action
In my opinion the best settup to use sneaky monsters is the super sneaky setup where all your mele monster will become sneaky. This the setup I will analyse in [today’s example].(https://steemmonsters.com?p=battle&id=e07a0c69782c79415f7b2ae835211ededd5c5ef7&ref=fabm).
… or use it if you are forced to
Beside the supper sneaky setup, sneaky monsters can be interesting when you are force into using them. In up-close setup for example sneaky monster can increase your number of active monster. Similarly if the setup bans magic or long range units, sneaky monsters might become relevant.
How to protect from it
One other reason why I recommend not to use sneaky monsters, is that they are easy to protect against.
You usually place some heavy long range units at the tail of your line like the Ettin Spearman and the Octopider. Those monster have a reasonable HP count and will protect you line for quite a long time.
But if you rely want to protect your tail you can simply use a monster with the healing ability. This can be rely effective as I have shown with the Cerberus in this article. If you have enough mana the cornealus is perfect to protect your tail.
Example of battle
I will use this battler as example : https://steemmonsters.com?p=battle&id=e07a0c69782c79415f7b2ae835211ededd5c5ef7&ref=fabm
Setup
Super sneaky
Heavy Hitters
Mane cap : 32
My lineup
Living magma
Molten Ogre
Exploding Dwarf This monster is nice in super sneaky setup. In fact the main weakness of this monster is its low health. This makes it normally unpractical tanks, and also vulnerable to opportunist monster (if you are not in the equalizer setup). In super sneaky setup opportunist monster become sneaky monster, so the exploding Dwarf is free to explode.
Kobold Bruiser
Kreeping ooze I had 1 mana spare so why not...
Cerberus Again the healing ability is useful to protect the tail.
The enemy lineup
Interestingly my enemy did not used many melee unit, which will make the healing ability of cerberus quite effective. This allowed me to win without losing any monster.