Greeting Everyone,
I hope we all have a good day today, not only to my fellow Splinterlands Summoners, but to all hivians too. Today I want to share one of my favorite meta. I call this one the Turtle Formation. Yes turtle, by its name I think you guys can guess what kind of meta it is... the super defensive one.
In the past, I often used turtle formation because during old days, there weren't many units that could deliver massive blows, and abilities were not as many as now. Nowadays many units have massive attack power, some abilities enable units to kill their target in one go, and many more.
So it is not wrong that super defensive meta is no longer superior. It is not like they get nerf, but more like we have many alternatives to break the defense a part. However it also means that the super defensive meta can still work well.
So let me share you a battle that can explain what is a turtle formation
This is a simple battle, we only have one ruleset, IV or Four's a Crowd with 21 mana cap. There isn't many combination we could develop in this battle, because the mana is tight and we have only 3 available elements.
What so special about this battle is that my line up is actually a perfect turtle formation. Yes a perfect! Allow me to tell you one by one.
1. This Is An Anti Magic Team
I have Silverblade Fighter as my main tank. He is an anti magic tank, with his ability void armor. Magic attack won't hurt him directly, they need to deplete his armor first and it won't be easy because Silverblade Fighter has a thick armor.
The only way to break him easily is using Shatter, however I doubt my opponent could get a shatter ability in this ruleset.
2. This Lineup Is Strong Against Melee and Range
Now the funny thing, this meta is prepared for any melee and range, how come?
I have Nimbledock Explorer, he has that protect ability. He will make sure all my units get +2 armor. This way, it will make any melee and range or let say any physical attack could harm any unit directly. They need to tear down the armor first.
This armors also protect my backline units. So any sneak and snipe won't hurt my backline unit directly. They could be dangerous, but not on first attack.
3. Repairman
I have Tidal Tsunamist in my line up and she plays great role in this meta. Repair could repair any broken armor for any units, this way it is like healing or supporting any units in your line up.
However what great about repair ability is, that if you have a main tank with void armor, it gives similar effect as if the repairman is healing him. As long there is an armor there in the unit, no damage will reduce health point directly.
4. Backline Healing
There is a Caravan Guard in my team, he will keep healing backline units with his triage. He will be the backline tank in my team, it won't be easy to put him down.
With triage, It is more safe for backline units against snipe and sneak units which use magic damage. The odds is small due to 21 mana cap, but there is still a probability of it.
5. Anti Opportunity Attack
This is the funny thing in this perfect turtle formation. This formation is an anti opportunity line up. All of my units have 6 health point, it means opponent units who use opportunity attack, could only attack my main tank.
However this could be a con if my main tank is not a sturdy one. Fortunately Silverblade Fighter has thick armor, so it should be fine for him.
6. Anti Proper Attack Power
The problem of Defensive Line Up is that we tend to end up having too low fire power, and this could lead us into losing condition because we do not have what it takes to put down opponent's units.
However this is not the case of my turtle formation. I have two DPS units, or damage dealers. Nimbledock Explorer will throw his armor as his attack, and it will be counted as 5 melee damage per attack. That's a serious fire power, not some puny 1-2 damage.
The second one is Tidal Tsunamist who will hit for 3 melee damage per attack. The issue is that she uses sneak attack, so the damage won't be focused to the front or opponent main tank. However this is a good approach too, because she could wipe out her opponent backline units, incase the main tank is too sturdy.
Bottom line is that these two delivers 8 damage per round and that is great. Avoid having any 2 damage per round only because any heal ability will negate it. Avoid relying your whole team on a bunch 1 damage units, because with some defensive ability, either it is shield or void, those attack will be nulled.
The Result
I won't talk about the battle progress in detail, you can check it directly and watch the battle. However I will share two milestones in that battle here.
On the second round, my team is leading convincingly without any damage at all. They have lost a tank, and it seems all mages squad is not working against my Silverblade Fighter who keeps getting his armor repaired by Tidal Tsunamist.
Round fourth is the last round for this battle. As you can see above, even my Silverblade Fighter still has his health point at max. The battle goes quickly all thanks to my damage dealers here, The Nimbledook explorer and Tidal Tsunamist. Their attacks are too much for my opponents.
Ok that's my post today about my Turtle Formation. What do you think about this? I know some people dislike playing defensive overly, however that's actually my preferred meta here for ages. See you in Splinterlands Rank Battles!!!
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