You ever had one of those matches where your opponent just refused to go down, no matter how many hits they took? Some units feel like they're built with bricks, man. Lately I been paying more attention to those types, the ones that just sit in front and tank while slowly chewing away at your team. They're not flashy, but they make a big difference. Anyway, I saw one of these tough guys pop off again in my last few battles. They didn’t have a big attack, didn’t even look like much at first. But it just kept taking hits and punching back until the field was clear. So I thought, "Yeah, maybe it's time to talk about this one."

Lore

Unlike most types of leopards, those of the Skyspire Mountains hunt in packs. They stalk their prey for hours, concealed upon the snow-laden slopes by their coats, and wait for the perfect moment to strike. When they do, they attack with savage, coordinated precision.

If you spot one, common sense dictates you should keep your eyes on it. But there’s likely a reason it revealed itself: the others are behind you, and they’re moving in for the kill.

https://splinterlands.com/card-detail/683/regular/13?tab=lore

Stats

Skyspire Leopard is both an offense and defense due to its stats and abilities. With Retaliate, it can punish melee attackers. Void Armor absorbs magic attacks through armor first making this unit good when enemy spams magic attacks.

Abilities

Icon	Name	Description
	Retaliate	When hit with a melee attack, Units with retaliate have a 50% chance of immediately attacking their attacker.
		is a match because Retaliate and Inspire work well together because Inspire increases the melee attack of all friendly units including those with Retaliate. When a unit with Retaliate gets hit by a melee attack, it has a chance to strike back immediately. If Inspire is active, that Retaliate will deal more damage.
		is a counter because Since Retaliate is considered an attack, when the enemy has Thorns, your unit will take Thorns damage after retaliating. This means even though your unit is striking back, it still suffers a penalty if the enemy has Thorns active. In some cases, this can lead to your unit taking multiple rounds of damage, once from the original hit, and again from Thorns after the Retaliate. This makes units with Retaliate bad when enemy units have Thorns because of their own abilities or certain rules.

	Void Armor	Magic attacks hit this Unit's armor before its Health.
		is a match because Void Armor and Repair can also be a strong combo. Void Armor allows magic attacks to affect armor before health, giving armor a more important role in battle. Repair supports this by restoring armor to the most damaged ally with armor at the start of each round. The more hits a unit takes to its armor, the more value Repair brings by letting armor keep absorbing damage that would otherwise go to health.
		is a counter because Shatter counters Void Armor because no matter how small the damage is, it can completely remove a unit's armor in a single hit. Void Armor allows magic attacks to hit armor first instead of health, which usually adds an extra layer of protection. However, with Shatter, even a 1-damage attack can destroy all of the armor instantly. Once the armor is gone, all future magic or physical attacks will go directly to health, making the unit much easier to deal with.

Good Rules to Consider

Icon	Name	Reason
	Super Sneak	All melee units have Sneak (targets the enemy unit in the last position).
		Melee hits from the back trigger Retaliate often when Leopard is positioned last.
	Up Close & Personal	Only Units with Melee attack may be used in battles.
		Only melee units allowed means Retaliate will trigger a lot more.
	Holy Protection	All units have Divine Shield (ignores all damage once, after which the Divine Shield is destroyed).
		Extra survivability from Divine Shield makes Skyspire Leopard tankier and allows Retaliate to be used without taking damage.

Bad Rules to Think Twice

Icon	Name	Reason
	Back to Basics	Units lose all abilities.
		Both abilities are disabled, turning it into just a slow and average-stat melee.
	Earthquake	Non-flying Units take 2 Melee damage at the end of each round.
		No Flying means it takes unavoidable damage every round, a few rounds and Skyspire Leopard dies.
	Explosive Weaponry	All units have Blast (deals an additional 50% damage to units adjacent to the target, rounded up).
		Void Armor may help this unit not get affected but the blast will still damage whoever is behind him.

Battle

Link to battle

Skyspire Leopard didn't get attacked until the later part of the battle but that also means he was able to focus on being a valuable attacker for the team. Due to the damage my team can dish out, Skyspire Leopard didn't even need to act as a tank for Nimbledook Explorer and just attack consecutively each round.

Images were taken from Splinterlands, made in Canva, drawn in Krita and animated in Photoshop.

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