Every time I open a gladius pack, I wish to get Quora Towershield among them. Before I could even flip each card, I am already imagining her beautiful face smiling back at me.
There is this one time I opened a pack, and as usual, I am a bit disappointed when she did not appear amongst the warriors. What made it worse though, is the appearance of Krash Wonderford. As I am not familiar with all the gladius cards, I was surprised to see one that has no attack. I can’t help but wonder what good can his Bloodlust ability do, if he cannot even attack?
After a few more brawls and packs, I was able to raise him up to level 2 and placed him aside. If only I could sell him then he was gone a long time ago.
Just recently, I was checking on my gladius cards and he again caught my attention. This time though, I thought of giving him a chance by evaluating his possible place in the battle field. Is he any good?
Position Valuation
Whenever I am evaluating a card, one of the things I consider are the positions they can be placed within the lineup. And their stats and abilities dictates this. Krash Wonderford, despite NOT looking like a Gladius Warrior, is no exception.
A notable characteristic of Krash Wonderford, aside from his Swiftness ability, are his high speed (6) and high health (6). These makes him suitable for positions that requires being agile and or being able to take some damage – a meat shield.
Swiftness - increases the speed of all members of our lineup.
Bloodlust - increases all the stats of a monster that has this ability after each kill.
A Frontline Tank
The first most obvious possible position for him is as a frontline tank. As some of us have already experienced, there are times that the best candidate as a frontline tank are those that doesn’t attack. They are immune against melee counters such as Thorns and Retaliate. A perfect example for this would be the popular Pelacor Conjurer under the life splinter.
Under the Melee Mayhem ruleset, using Krash Wonderford have the high chance of being missed when being barraged with melee attacks.
Melee Mayhem – all melee attackers can attack to opposing teams frontline from any position.
Thorns - does 2 melee attack damage to melee attackers hitting a monster with this ability.
Retaliate - has a chance to attack back a melee attacker hitting a monster with this ability.
An Anti-Snipe Shield
Whenever we are using a ranged or a magic attacker, we must always consider the possibility that they might get sniped. Ranged and magic attackers generally have low health and they can be eliminated as early as the first few rounds. Krash Wonderford can be placed before them to absorb such attacks.
Under the Target Practice ruleset, Krash Wonderford can protect our ranged and magic attackers from being eliminated in the early rounds. This will give our own attackers ample time to snipe the opponents’ snipers first.
Target Practice – all ranged and magic attackers will have the snipe ability.
Snipe - monsters with this ability enables them to target non-melee attackers first that is not in the first position of the opposing team.
An Anti – Sneak Shield
Sneak attacks are one of my favorite strategies to employ. I would say, it is more common being encountered in the battle field than sniping. Since most who have this sneak abilities are melee attackers, Krash Wonderfords’ high speed along with his Swiftness ability can prove troublesome against sneaking opponent. He has high health that can also absorb a considerable amount of damage.
Under the Super Sneak ruleset, it is always a good idea to defend your team from sneak attacks.
Super Sneak – all melee attackers will have the sneak ability.
Sneak - monsters having this ability will make them attack the monster at the very back of the opposing team.
Abilities at Higher Levels
A quick look at Krash Wonderfords' abilities at higher levels re-enforces the possible positions we have discussed above.
Thorns
Available at level 4, Krash Wonderford having the Thorns ability would make him even more attractive as a frontline tank or as an anti-sneak tank. His Thorns ability damages melee attackers that would dare hit him.
Return Fire
At level 7, Krash Wonderford would gain the Return Fire ability that would make him a perfect counter against ranged attackers. He can be positioned as a frontline tank if we are expecting a lot of direct ranged attacks from the opponent. Also, since most snipe attackers are ranged, he also be positioned after our main tank to catch and return fire to the snipers.
Dodge
Lastly, at max level, Krash Wonderford will obtain the Dodge ability that would further enhance his agility to avoid attacks. These and in combination with his Swiftness ability that is readily available at level 1, makes him almost impossible to hit.
Dodge - an ability that increases the chance of a monster not being hit.
Low Mana Requirement
Aside from having a high speed and a high health, another attractive characteristic of Krash Wonderford is his low mana requirement. This makes him more valuable under low mana battles and under the rulesets Little League and Even Stevens.
Friendly Competition
When being considered as a tank, either frontline or at the rear, a considerable competitor of Krash Wonderford for this position is Antoid Platoon. They have the same mana requirement with Antoid Platoon having the advantages of being able to attack and one hard mini tank.
One limitation of using a Gladius card is that we can only use one during a battle. This makes me prefer to use one that can actually attack. In this case, the closest competitor for Krash Wonderford would be Orella Abadon and Sarius.
Conclusion
Krash Wonderfords’ high speed and high health make him perfect as tank or as a shield. Also, he requires only 4 mana which makes him valuable on low mana battles. Unfortunately, only one Gladius card can be used in battle. This makes other card that can actually attack more preferable than Krash Wonderford.
This is all for me now.
Thank you for taking your valuable time reading my post.
Please don’t forget to leave any comments below.
So long…
Have a great day ahead of you.
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Attributions:
1st image background - Photo by Kevin Olson on Unsplash
2nd image - Photo by Hugo L. Casanova on Unsplash
3rd image - Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash
4th image - Photo by Henry Hustava on Unsplash
Splinterlands logo and Krash Wonderford character by Splinterlands
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