Lately, I’ve been seeing more battles decided by units that can bring not only huge attacks but also being useful to the team at the same time. They don’t just attack but they increase the value and efficiency of their whole lineup to a higher degree. It’s like watching a leader inspire their team during the fight turning a near loss into victory. And that, in a way, is what this article is all about. It's about looking for units that not only empowers itself but also becomes the reason for the entire team to win.

Lore

Life djinn native to the Plane of Life, the jann of Praetoria value balance and strive to live in harmony with the world around them.

With the Chaos Empire disrupting that balance and harmony, many of the jann have thrown their lot in with the Riftwatchers, leaving their homes in the Frigid Coasts and Northwest Lowlands to wage irregular warfare against the empire, erode its will, and restore order to Praetoria.

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Stats

Janni Rebel is a strong tank and support unit that brings both offense and protection. With 3 Magic attack, Flank and Inspire, she strengthens your melee allies while still dealing consistent damage through armor. Her Divine Shield also helps her survive one time damage which can be good if that damage is a huge hit.

Abilities

Icon	Name	Description
	Flank	At the beginning of battle, if this unit is in the first position, the unit in the second position gains reach.
		is a match because Flank works best when paired with Armored Strike, since the combination allows melee units in the second position to attack safely with their armor. The Armored Strike range is also melee meaning you cannot use it like magic or range attack. The use of Flank to give the unit with Armored Strike a Reach ability is a good way to keep the Armored Strike unit safe while still being able to attack.
		is a counter because Retaliate is dangerous for Flank users since it punishes melee attacks, even those coming from the second position. When enemies have Retaliate, Janni Rebel’s support for melee attackers can backfire by allowing them to get hit by Retaliate. The more melee units that attack, the more likely your team takes extra hits in return.

	Inspire	Gives all friendly Units +1 Melee attack.
		is a match because Inspire pairs perfectly with Charge since it increases the damage potential of all your melee units. The stronger melee hits are especially good in short, high damage battles where your team can overwhelm the enemy before they react. Together, Inspire and Charge turn average frontliners into melee attackers.
		is a counter because Thorns directly punishes melee attackers, reducing the overall value of Inspire since it increases the risk your allies take when attacking. Inspire makes you want to use melee units to gain the advantage but Thorns makes those melee units take damage whenever they attack. Each melee strike results in self-damage making the situation really bad. When enemies have Thorns, your melee boosting Inspire becomes a problem rather than an advantage.

	Divine Shield	The first time the Unit takes damage it is ignored.
		is a match because Protect adds another layer of defense by giving armor to all friendly units. When combined with Divine Shield, this creates a double layer of protection. Divine Shield absorbs the first hit, while armor absorbs the next before hitting your unit's health. This synergy allows Janni Rebel survive longer giving the other unit longer time to enjoy the Inspire from her.
		is a counter because Blast can easily remove Divine Shield from multiple units at once lowering its value significantly. The extra splash damage makes it harder to keep Divine Shield intact across your formation. Janni Rebel may just be sitting near your tank and splash damage quickly removes the Divine Shield from the splash damage.

Good Rules to Consider

Icon	Name	Reason
	Armored Up	All Units have 2 Armor in addition to their normal Armor stat.
		Her Magic attack ignores armor, while Divine Shield and the extra armor make her much harder to take down. The additional armor lets Inspire last longer and support your melee units. This rule set turns Janni Rebel into a powerful backline commander who lets other units take the spotlight by buffing them further.
	Fog of War	Units lose the Sneak and Snipe abilities.
		Without Sneak, Snipe, or Opportunity, Janni Rebel can safely stay behind her frontline and keep boosting allies attack with Inspire. This positioning safety allows her Inspire to remain active for most of the match. It’s a perfect setup for teams that rely on heavy melee synergy.
	Born Again	All units have Rebirth (self-resurrects once per battle with 1 health and 100% of armor; all magic debuffs are removed, and all magic buffs are reapplied; skips turn).
		When revived, she gains Divine Shield again effectively forcing opponents to waste multiple attacks to finish her off. This lets her contribute longer while keeping her Inspire buff alive. While the Divine Shield only negates one attack, it's sometimes enough to win the battle.

Bad Rules to Think Twice

Icon	Name	Reason
	Briar Patch	All units have Thorns (returns 2 damage to attacker when hit by a melee attack)
		Inspire increases melee attack but in this rule, every melee hit causes self-damage from Thorns. Since Inspire encourages you to use melee units and Thorns only damages melee units, it's counterproductive to rely on Inspire during this rule.
	Counterspell	All units have Magic Reflect (returns 50% of magic damage to attacker, rounded up).
		Since Janni Rebel uses Magic attacks, she takes damage every time she attaks. Her Divine Shield can only block one magic reflect leaving her vulnerable after the first hit. This rule makes her risky to use unless you can mitigate or avoid the damage from Magic reflect.
	Keep Your Distance	Units with Melee attack may not be used in battles.
		This rule disables all melee units, completely removing the purpose of both Inspire and Flank. Janni Rebel’s supportive value drops heavily since her core abilities depends on melee allies. You can still use her for Magic attacks but her buff becomes meaningless.

Battle

Link to battle

This battle was way out of my league since my main archon for this week is a different one. I still was able to make it really good for two reasons, I have mostly melee with Janni Rebel boosting my team's melee attack and the enemy is also melee focused which means my Incessant Sage archon's +1 armor really helped. Saltwraith Bulkhead's high damage that is further increased by Inspire also worked really good. I should try and level up my Incessant Sage though because Olivia of the Brook would probably do better in this battle where it dragged for 5 rounds giving her a probable extra 3 abilities. That Tank Heal, if copied by Mimic, would probably be really good in this battle.

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

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