Share Your Battle - The Best Water Ranged Card?

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The theme for the current "Share Your Battle" challenge is Kulu Swimhunter, but I thought of sharing another Ranged card from the Water element. It's none other than Axemaster and in my opinion, it is the best Ranged card for Water because of his Double Strike ability, high speed and decent HP.

As usual, here's a portion of the lore for Axemaster:

The mysterious clan who call themselves Axemasters are perhaps the most peculiar group of people in the whole of ΛZMΛRÉ. They live under the moist ground in cave dwellings in the eastern thickets of the great Jungle, somewhere between the Palace of Eld and the treacherous tree known as Sligbough Oak. For many generations, they have protected the treasures of Eld from intruders, raiders, and even pirates who are unfamiliar with the legends of the curse. Some scholars claim that the Axemasters consider themselves the stewards and true owners of the treasures of Eld, but if you could get close enough to an Axemaster, they would tell you that they are merely protecting the people who would be foolish enough to touch the cursed treasure.

Genetically, Axemasters are a hybrid race called Meru that was created by merging Human and Mer (with a touch of Chaos magic) into amphibious creatures. Mer stories say that these demon offspring were ousted from Poseidar long ago, that they were not welcome anywhere under the water. As a result, they found the surface and made a home for their clan on the shores. In the years since, the clan has continued to migrate further and further from the water, where their Mer enemies are plentiful.


Battle Type & Team Lineup
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PositionCardNotes
SummonerKelya FrendulWith Enrage ability, my preferred Element would be Water because most of their cards have high speed, which will be further boosted by Enrage.
1Serpent of EldSerpent of Eld is the top choice for Enrage battles. With 8 speed (after Enrage) and Dodge, slow monsters will be missing almost every single hit.
2Kelp InitiateAnother water card with a high speed of 5 before Enrage and it will soak up a lot of misses as well. Useful for mid range mana battles.
3Djinn OshannusAlso having a high speed of 5 before Enrage, Djinn Oshannus will be the main attacker in this battle because magic attack won't miss.
4AxemasterWith strong melee and magic attackers ahead, Axemaster slots in nicely behind to deal maximum damage as it will be difficult to catch him.
5Water ElementalWater Elemental pairs perfectly with Axemaster as they both share a high speed of 4. Partnered with Djinn Oshannus and Serpent of Eld, that's a total of 11 unadjusted damage on the tank at the onset.
6Creeping OozeThe cards ahead took up the mana count and I was left with 1 mana for the last card. Picked Creeping Ooze because it will help in an Enrage battle.

  • Pre Battle: I was greeted with a Fire lineup which I thought was probably one of the worst choices to pick, because Fire cards have generally very, very low speed. After Enrage, Living Lava is not going to catch Serpent of Eld easily. Clear cut win for me if I had to predict the outcome. :)
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  • Round 1: The combination of Djinn Oshannus + Axemaster + Water Elemental + Serpent of Eld handed out 6 damage after being hit by Demoralise and Living Lava's Shield ability. Creeping Ooze went off without much resistance. Getting rid of Living Lava fast would be key to winning this.
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  • Round 2: The quartet handed out 10 damage and at a speed of 8, Serpent of Eld was absorbing all the misses from the slow Fire cards.
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  • Round 3: Another 11 damage at the start of the round meant the Fire lineup was on the verge of collapsing. Serpent of Eld finally went down but Kelp Initiate turned up with a speed of 9 after Enrage.
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  • Round 4: My damage output was too overwhelming and the battle was almost over.
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  • Round 5: Axemaster ended the battle with a total of 18 damage over 5 rounds!
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If you are interested to watch the battle, you can find it here.


Post Battle

Did my strategy work? Yes, Water lineups were the optimal choice for Enrage battles and my diversification of attack types across all Melee, Ranged, and Magic helped me to counter potential abilities from my opponent, such as Demoralise and Shield.

Do I like Axemaster? Definitely yes. Axemaster in my view is the best Ranged card for Water. Compared to Life's Pelacor Arbalest, it has higher speed and won't miss so often (a massive problem for Pelacor Arbalest), and it has a much higher HP (which means it doesn't get picked out by Opportunity or Sneak so easily).

Final thoughts? I really enjoy playing Water lineups and Axemaster is a very strong addition to my team. I think their strong damage and high speed makes it so easy to strike out tanks before opponents get a chance to hit.


What are your takeaways from this battle? Feel free to comment below, as I am always keen to learn and improve!

As always, thanks for reading and have a pleasant day ahead!


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