Splinterlands Community Engagement Challenge: Battlefield Breakthroughs - Drybone Raider Deals 14 Damage Per Round!

It's been a while since I did a Community Engagement Challenge and when I saw that this week's theme was Unsung Heroes, I thought why not give it a shot?

Drybone Raider is one of the rare card boosting dual attacks (2 Melee and 1 Ranged damage) and the Double Strike ability. This essentially at the appropriate time, he can deal up to 4 hits, with a total of 6 damage.

In normal battles, this is not possible, because Melee damage can only be dealt from the tank position and the Ranged damage can only be dealt from the backline. But seasoned players will know that there are quite a few rulesets that allow the 4 hits to happen in the same round. And one of them is Melee Mayhem!

Of course, for the ability, this card doesn't come cheap. While most cards were worth less than 1 USD, this one is pretty expensive. Whether it's worth the value, depends on individual strategy and playing style. One thing for sure is high mana cards are very valuable in high mana battles!

Before we go further, here's the lore for Drybone Raider and you should take a read too!

The Drybone Raiders are part of a tribalistic and fractious collective of anarchists led by the llamataur warlord, Eternan Brune. They control the Drybone Badlands in the Wild Northeast of Praetoria and often conduct predatory incursions into neighboring lands, attacking settlements for loot, plunder, and fun.

Drybone Raiders generally armor themselves in primitive furs and leathers, wield all manner of swords and spears, and sometimes ride large, beast-drawn war machines into combat. They are known to create warpaint from dyes and the bones of their enemies. While undisciplined and disorderly, they are feared throughout the Drybone Badlands and its outlying areas for their ferociousness and tenacity.

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Using a recent battle to illustrate, here's how I lined up my cards together with Drybone Raider. In this battle, there were two important rulesets!

• First is the Melee Mayhem, which puts Drybone Raider in a very advantageous position because he will be able to deal 4 hits and 6 damage per round.
• Second is the Born Again, which means I can strategise and pair him with Venari Marksrat. With the first Martyr boost, this will boost his 6 damage per round to 10 damage per round. And with Rebirth, there will be the second Martyr boost, this will boost his 10 damage per round to 14 damage per round.
• And the bonus is, with Astral Entity, which has a Resurrection ability, if Venari Marksrat gets that Resurrection and sends another Martyr boost to Drybone Raider, this will further boost his 14 damage per round to 18 damage per round!

Round 1: A warm up round as with all big mana battles. No casualties yet as you can see, Drybone Raider got the Martyr boost and is up to 10 damage per round with 2 Ranged and 3 Melee damage already.

Round 2: My strategy played out successfully and we got the second Martyr boost on Drybone Raider, and the damage output is up to 14 damage per round with 3 Ranged and 4 Melee damage already. With Melee Mayhem, my opponent's cards were swiftly taken down.

Round 3: With 14 damage per round from Drybone Raider, and all the hits from the rest of my lineups, my opponent really had no chance here. Interestingly, Venari Marksrat is still surviving as the tank and we might not have the chance to see the ultimate 18 damage per round play out.

Round 4: A perfect 6-0 victory here! Amazing for a medium-high mana battle to not lose a card!

You can view the battle here.

So to sum up:

In my opinion, even though Drybone Raider is a Legendary card, at 12 mana, it is not a versatile card that can be used in any battles. Drybone Raider belongs to the category of cards where they perform well in certain type of rulesets. With the right rulesets, and right pairing of summoner and cards like Astral Entity and Venari Marksrat in this case, its maximum potential can achieved. Even though we didn't manage to the ultimate 18 damage per round materialise, it's still very strong for a 12 mana to dish out 14 damage per round, and not many lineups can withstand this level of damage output.

That's all I have! Let me know if you have any thoughts too!

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

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