Splinterlands Beginners Guide – Troop Formation

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In this guide, we will be discussing the importance of troop formation as it will greatly affect the outcome of battles. The position of monsters during a match and the strategy behind it is important in winning battles. We will guide you through based on troop formation of using all six positions, although there will be matches where limit of mana will restrict players from using up all the six positions.

The Battlefield

Splinterlands The Battlefield

The image above shows how each position is played in a match.

Summoner

At the beginning of a match, players would choose the summoner which consists one of six Splinters or elements. Summoner will determine which type of monsters a player can play, monsters have to be the same Splinter as the summoner, so choose wisely.

Types of Splinters:

  • Fire
  • Water
  • Earth
  • Life
  • Death
  • Dragon

Position 1

The first position monster will act as a tanker to absorb damage from opponent monsters. There are few rules which the first position monster has to follow:

  • Melee monsters can only attack from first position unless their ability supersedes this rule (sneak, opportunity, reach)
  • Monster in the first position will only attack opponent’s monster on first position, so abilities such as sneak, opportunity or reach does not work when monster is in position one.
  • Range attack monsters will not attack when it is in position one, so it is better to place melee or magic attack monsters in the first position.

It is best to place a melee monster with more health or with abilities like healing, dodge or shield to be able to absorb more damage in the first position.

Position 2

From second position onwards, monster with range attack may attack but do remember that once the first position monster is killed, then the second position monster will be move to first position.

Monsters with reach ability will work well in position 2. In the Earth Splinter, Minotaur Warrior is an example of second position monster. That is because it can attack from second position with a speed of 3. Its lack of health is made up by 1 additional armor.

Position 3 to 5

Monsters in the middle position mostly acts as damage dealer or with special abilities like heal, inspire, protect or strength.

On the offensive side, range and magic damage monsters are ideal in these positions or melee monsters with abilities like sneak, snipe, and opportunity. To strengthen your defense, monsters with heal, repair, protect, or strength are used.

Position 6

This is the last monster in formation. Usually it is a good idea to place a range attack monster here so it will last longer, being the last to be attack. But this is not always the case as some monster abilities will target the last monster in a formation like sneak ability.

That is why self heal monsters are useful in this spot and preferably with range attack or monsters with ability to evade attacks like flying so it can stay alive longer and keep on attacking from the back.

Summary

As the battle progresses, monsters may get knocked out, so it is a good idea to plan carefully which is the next best monster to be in the front line as the first position is filled in by the next monster in line. Leading front monsters with abilities to take advantage of neutralizing specific attacks like retaliate and reflect magic is a good idea for certain matchup.

The objective of the game is simple, the first one to knock out all the opponent’s monsters will be victorious. Troop formation is key here to predict how the battle will play out.

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