Ability strategy analysis: Snare

Ability strategy twitter.png

Introduction

Flying units often have the upper hand—literally with the extra dodge change. Together with the earthquake rule set, where often more flying units are selected. This is where snare will come into mix. Take down those wings and bring them back onto the ground.

Snare removes the Flying ability from enemies when it lands a hit, grounding them and making them vulnerable to Earthquake damage or just easier to hit. It’s a niche ability, but in the right matchups.

With the arrival of new Rebellion cards, things have gotten even spicier. There's a Rebellion summoner that gives all your units Flying, Risqruel Drath, which sounds amazing—until someone counters it with Eternal Tofu,



Let’s do a deep dive into how Snare works, where it shines, and which cards to keep your eye on if you want to start clipping wings in style.

Ability

100% chance to hit and apply Snared to targets with Flying. Snared units lose all bonuses from Flying.

  • When the target unit gets hit with Snare, that unit has Flying removed. However, the attacking unit with Snare will still hit this same unit 100% of the time, even when the Flying ability is removed.
  • Snare can be Cleansed.
  • If a flying unit is Snared, dies, and gets Resurrected, Snare is removed and will need to be re-applied.

Official ability information from splinterlands: List abilities

Synergies / strategy

Abilities benefits
Scattershot - I like to combine snare with scattershot especially when earthquake is in the mix it funny to watch to see multiple flying taken down to the ground.

Snipe/Sneak/Opportunity - Combining Snare with targeting abilities can be exceedingly useful if the flying unit is not in the first position. Your opponent may intersperse their flying units strategically - particularly if the Earthquake Modifier is involved.

Ruleset benefits
Earthquak - This is the most obvious one there is a higher change flying unit are select so this the best time to take along a snare unit.



Select / favorite

Mine snare units:

Now it comes down to choose my favorite snare unit. That is not easy task because i do not choose often a specific unit for its snare. so lets bring some stats to it.

My most selected snare units:

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Well definitely the Venari Marksrat is not selected for its snare so that is not my favorite Merdhampir is a better pick but lets also watch what my best performing units

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Looking at this my pick is going to be:

No1 Card: Merdhampir

I will be honest still the other ability are the most existing the life leech and cripple. The snare is a bonus

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Strategy

Medium mana battle, with little league is good change to get the Merdhampir out on the battlefield. 3 restrictive rules can become a hard selection.

Rulesets

Little League:
Only unit that cost 4 mana or less

Taking Sides:
No Neutral units are allowed

Going the Distance:
Only ranged units

The Lineup

Summoner

CardReason
This time we select Keyla a perfect choice with little league. Still one of the stronger and most often chosen summoners of the chaos legion

Units Lineup

#1#2#3#4#5#6

Angelic Mandarin (lvl 8)
For only 3 mana you get 7 health even it cannot attack from this position it can heal the backline if my opponent choses a snipe of sneak attack.


Mar Toren Seeker (lvl 5)
Range unit with dodge and snipe when it gets in the front it might trigger a miss one or two.


Mar Toren Trader (lvl 10)
The headwind is a very useful skill when there are only ranged units, my opponent will do -1 damage for each of its units.


Merdhampir (lvl 10)
Star of this week when my opponent brings a flying it will be snared down. Also the cripple with life leech is a double edge sword it reduces the max health of your opponent and you gain a extra health do i need to say more.


Igor Darkspear (lvl 6)
Only 2 mana for 5 health is sweet deal. It does 3 damage.


Kulu Swimhunter (lvl 10)
The backline defender even tough there are not many range sneak units it still to protect you back and its the highest attack power another reason to put it in the back.

The Battle

Reference

Link to the battle:
Link to battle

Rounds


Start :

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My opponent made some interesting picks right out of the gate. First up, they brought a Protect unit, giving all their monsters bonus armor. That’s always a solid defensive move—it can really throw off damage calculations, especially in early rounds.

Then there’s the unit with Burning. That one’s a bit of a gamble. It’s sitting right in the front line, which is bold. I’m hoping once round one kicks off, the Fire starts spreading to the backline and causes some chaos for them.

Looking at their team, I spotted two Flying units. That’s where my Snare pick starts looking smart. If I can land hits on those flying monsters early, I’ll bring them down to earth and open them up to Earthquake damage or make them easier to finish off.

But here’s the real kicker—they only brought one high-damage attacker. That’s perfect for me, because I’m running Headwinds, which reduces Ranged attack across the board. With just one big hitter on their side, this debuff hits hard. Their offense just got clipped, right along with their wings.


Round 1:

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Both sides took a hit this round—we each lost a frontliner. Unfortunately, the Burning effect didn’t spread like I hoped. That front unit just went down without lighting up the rest of the enemy team. Bit of a missed opportunity there.

But hey, here’s why I love running Mar Toren Seeker: that Dodge came in clutch this round. One clean miss from the enemy and suddenly the tempo swings in my favor. You can see it in the screenshot—Seeker doing its job with style. 👍

Now, the big moment I’m looking for: taking down Kha'zi Conjurer. Once that unit is out of the way, I don’t see much left in terms of firepower on their side. From here on out, I feel like the game’s tilting my way.


Round 2:

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Just as expected—once that heavy hitter went down, my opponent’s team really started to crumble. With barely any damage output left, it’s basically a walk in the park from here.

Shoutout to Merdhampir and that Snare! It did exactly what it was supposed to—ground those flyers and make them easier targets. Love when a plan comes together.

Neither of us brought any Close Range units, so now the monsters sitting in the front are just soaking hits without fighting back. They're pretty much sitting ducks at this point, just waiting for cleanup.


Round 3:

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Boom! Another miss! You just gotta love the Dodge mechanic—seriously, it never gets old. 😍 My Mar Toren Seeker is straight-up styling on the opponent at this point.

Meanwhile, Merdhampir—a total star of the week—keeps doing what it does best: draining health and stacking it up. It’s already sitting at 11 HP and looking tankier than ever.

With the enemy team falling apart and no real threats left on the board, I’d say we’re just one or two rounds away from wrapping this up.


Round 4:

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Thanks to my speed advantage, I got to strike first this round—and that made all the difference. I managed to take down another unit before it could even react, leaving my opponent with just one monster in the front… and it can’t even attack.

At this point, it’s basically over. With no threats left and my team still going strong, it’s just a matter of time. Next round—GG.


Round 5:

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Victory!


Conclusion

This was a fun one—Little League really changes the dynamics, and you could see how certain units shine in that format. Merdhampir was an absolute beast, racking up HP with Life Leech and throwing in Cripple for good measure. Add Snare to the mix and you’ve got a monster that does it all.

Snare might not be the flashiest ability, and yeah—it’s a bit niche. But when you’re up against Flying units, especially in rulesets like Earthquake, it becomes a huge asset. Grounding your opponent’s key units can be the difference between barely surviving and dominating the match.

So next time you see wings across the board, don’t be afraid to bring a Snare unit and clip 'em.

Previous ability strategy posts

Below you will find references to the other ability strategies / analysis posts.

Abilitypost
AfflictionAbility post: Affliction
AmplifyAbility post: Amplify
BackfireAbility post: Backfire
BlastAbility post: Blast
BlindAbility post: Blind
BloodlustAbility post: Bloodlust
CamouflageAbility post: Camouflage
ConscriptAbility post: Conscript
Close RangeAbility post: Close Range
CleanseAbility post: Cleanse
CrippleAbility post: Cripple
DeathblowAbility post: Deathblow
DemoralizeAbility post: Demoralize
DispelAbility post: Dispel
Divine ShieldAbility post: Divine Shield
DodgeAbility post: Dodge
Double StrikeAbility post: Double Strike
EnrageAbility post: Enrage
FlyingAbility post: Flying
ForcefieldAbility post: Forcefield
FuryAbility post: Fury
Giant KillerAbility post: Giant Killer
HalvingAbility post: Halving
HeadwindsAbility post: Headwinds
HealAbility post: Heal
Tank HealAbility post: Tank Heal
ImmunityAbility post: Immunity
InspireAbility post: Ispire
Knock OutAbility post: Knock Out
Last StandAbility post: Last Stand
Life LeechAbility post: Life leech
Magic ReflectAbility post: Magic Reflect
MartyrAbility post: Martyr
OpportunityAbility post: Opportunity
OppressAbility post: Oppress
PhaseAbility post: Phase
PiercingAbility post: Piercing
PoisonAbility post: Poison
ProtectAbility post: Protect
ReachAbility post: Reach
RechargeAbility post: Recharge
RedemptionAbility post: Redemption
Reflection ShieldAbility post: Reflection Shield
RepairAbility post: Repair
ResurrectAbility post: Resurrect
RetaliateAbility post: Retaliate
Return FireAbility post: Return Fire
RustAbility post: Rust
ScattershotAbility post: Scattershot
ScavengerAbility post: Scavenger
ShatterAbility post: Shatter
ShieldAbility post: Shield
SilenceAbility post: Silence
SlowAbility post: Slow
Snare

That's all for this week hope you enjoyed reading this ability strategy/analysis. See you all on the battlefield.

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6 comments
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"Interesting combo! Do you think Snare still holds up well in higher leagues with more Immunes in play?"

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(Edited)

I think snare is niche over in all leagues.. not that often uses mostly chosen when earthquake rule set is in the mix. Often it a nice bonus ability imho.

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