There's Always Thorns In The Splinterlands - Drybone Raiders on The Briar Patch

The classic weekly battle challenge retired to make way for the Battle Mage Secrets series, making it more entertaining. This new set-up adds a focus on dynamic strategies, as players will be able to choose from a greater selection of more diverse units to bring into battle. May the gods of random be in my favor!

Let's enjoy the Briar Patch ruleset, where all the monsters will receive the Thorns ability at the start of the battle. Enemy units that use melee attacks receive damage back after they hit their target, as the sharp thorns will puncture even the hardest shell! A good tactic is to use the Amplify ability to increase the damage.

The returned damage is equal to damage of the attacker divided by two and then rounded up, which means that the harder you hit... the harder you get damaged by the thorns. However, the melee monsters with the Reflection Shield ability do not take damage from thorns.

The Briar Patch term or variants may refer to a thicket formed by thorny plants, one of those places where nature created a barrier. You can try to force your entry but you will always end up with scratches!

How to get rid of thrones and shrubs? Death and decay will be one option, or fire, if you like to see them turned into ashes! I will cover both extermination options, and will use Death and Fire to raze the briar patch

Death And Decay! The shadow of death watch us all... and some will earn a ticket to Valhalla from a glorious death on the battleground... while others will bleed out from stings and thorns.

The approach for this glorious battle was the use of weed-killer, spraying the briar patch with all sort of chemicals. The mana pool for the fight was generous, set at 49 for higher monster selection, and the combo of battle-rules made it deadlier.

Super-Sneak and super deadly this time, with all monsters hitting the unit at the back... and with Up To Eleven in the mix. Everyone got boosted with Amplify, and the Magic Reflect, Thorns and Return Fire will do one more damage!

Thaddius Brood: -1 Health & -1 Magic Damage to all enemies

Bone Golem: Melee Tank with Void Armor

Undead Rexx: Overpowered dinosaur

Revealer: Caster with Stun

Possessed Pupper: Melee with Double-Strike

Drybone Raider: Melee/Ranged with Double-Strike

Cursed Windeku: Melee with Thorns

The Cursed Windeku set the briar patch, ready to take on sneaky damage and give thorns back to his attackers. The whole synergy of the team was to hit hard with the double-strikes.

The Undead Rex was unleashed and the Bone Golem would be a hard shell against magical damage. His Void Armor will reduce spells by 50%, on top of the casters penalty given by Thaddius Brood.

I planned the battle well, and Obsidian was no match for my feral team. I never seen a T-Rex so keep on mushrooms, not until my Undead Rexx devoured the Mycelic Slipspawn. The Mycelic Infantry attacked his the Windeku, and received some thorns in return.

The Drybone Raiders are used with the briar patch, as they live in wastelands. My one had the pleasure to destroy the rock-hard Gargoya Devil, but then gone soft on the Regal Peryton. He raider didn't raided at all... missing both his attacks!

I had to watch the Bone Golem miss his attack on the Pelacor Mercenary, the third failed attack I had in one round. No panic... yet!

The number went higher in the second round, with the Possessed Puppet and the Cursed Windeku both failing to damage the Regal Peryton. As a consolation, the Peryton dealt zero damage to the Bone Golem, as his spell power was cursed.

No panic I said? The Undead Rexx opened his jaws and was ready to snap the flying beast... but was to slow. The Peryton moved with lightning speed and avoided the bite!

The Drybone Raider had not one ... not two... but for chances to deliver the killing blow! He landed to attacks and missed the other two... as the Regal Peryton lived to fight another round. Six missed attacks and counting!

Bone Golem Down... Rexx to the rescue! Seven... Eight... as the Possessed Pupped had two knife slices but bot touched the Peryton! Make it nine as the Windeku missed his attack as well!

The Undead Rexx didn't miss this time, but his attack only destroyed that one armor the Mercenary had. The Revealer made sure the Pelacor won't interfere, stunning him with a spell.

The random factor is taking a piss, as this wouldn't be statistically possible. From the four attacks the Drybone Raider had on the Regal Peryton, none hit the target.

If this is how lottery works... that's why I don't play it! More missed attacks added to the tally, two from the Possessed Puppet and one from the Cursed Windeku. I missed already 16 attacks and yes... now was when I started to panic!

The Undead Rexx was still hungry and had the Pelacor Mercenary as a snack, with feathers and weapons as a side. But more panic kicked in as the Drybone missed again... all four attacks!

Give that puppet a biscuit! After 20 missed attacks on the Peryton... the unicorn chicken was finally down!

It was Rexx who finished the job... with a tea time mycelic and biscuits! The Infantry shield was strong but couldn't reduce that bite to make it non-lethal! See the full battle here!

Burn Bright Like A Briar Patch! Thorns can be deadly when played right, and can make even the strongest beast bleed to their demise. This Briar Patch battle-rule was doubled up by Taking Sides, and neutral monsters couldn't be used for this fight.

Qid Yuff: Piercing for all friendly monsters

Radiated Scorcher: Melee with Shatter

Scorch Fiend: Zero-Mana Melee

Djinn Inferni: Caster with Giant Killer

Djinn Apprentice: Caster

Efreet Elder: Caster with Last Stand

The reasons behind the team selection were clear, delay and destroy. The Radiated Scorcher and the Scorch Fiend were selected and used in the first positions to delay any damage to the casters! I usually use Tarsa when playing fire splinter, but was pointless to do that today. I swapped her with Qid not for the Piercing ability but for the lower mana cost.

The back line was made out of strong casters, and the Efreet Elder was my endgame. I hoped that he will be ... the last standing! Was it a good tactic or not?

Both teams had melee monsters, but only low cost ones. The tactic was similar, with them on the battlefield to return attacks with Thorns damage.

There was a lot of damage dealt in the first round, with the melee decoys serving the purpose. I managed to take down both melee tanks and the Celestial Harpy will die from thorns damage soon enough.

The opponent had a tactical advantage, the extra health from Mother Khala. But it was clear already that my endgame plan will work, as no one could hit the Efreet Elder until he will be the only one.

At the start of round three it didn't look great, as my team was down to only the Efreet Elder. Will Last Stand change the tides of the battle? Call him Duncan McLeod ... at the end can be only one!

Last Stand transformed the Elder into a 12 health beast with 2 magic power. It looked overpowered, and it was overpowered.

Finally the Harpy died from thorns damage! The Celestial Harpy hit and died! Was game over when the Pelacor Arbalest was the only enemy left. No holy ground here and he was beheaded quickly! See the full battle here!

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