When people hear “Global Warming,” most of the time they think about the climate change, the rising temperatures, melting ice caps and all sort of scary stuff we see on the news. Don’t worry, I’m not here to give a science lecture. Instead, we're here to check a different Global Warming, the newest Splinterlands modifier that gives every unit the Burning status effect the moment the battle starts.

If you haven’t played with this modifier yet, here’s the quick breakdown: when the fight begins, every single unit on the field starts with Burning. That means each round they take 2 damage, kind of like Poison. To make things worse, Burning can also spread to units beside the one who has it, and it’s got a one-third chance of spreading. The only good news? Burning can be cleansed, which gives you some hope in a battle that feels like everyone is slowly losing health no matter what. But since everyone has Burning at the start and it has a chance to spread each round, completely removing it during your battles are almost impossible.

When I first saw this modifier, I thought, “Okay, so everyone just slowly dies together?” But after a few matches, I realized there are clever ways to work around it. I’ll share two of my battles in this post, the one where my strategy worked out nicely and another where I did the same but better.

Why Global Warming is Tricky

Most modifiers just change how you play, but Global Warming changes the entire pace of the match. Normally, you can rely on healing, armor and tough tanks to last a while. You also have the option to cleanse it like when your units have poison but it would only stop it temporarily since the Burning spreads.

Two damage per round might not sound like much at first, but after three or four rounds, most units are already half-dead (if they aren't dead-dead yet) before they even swing. Suddenly your support units are going down without doing anything useful. So, how do you deal with it?

What I learned and some ideas I have:

Cleanse is gold. If you’ve got a unit with the Cleanse ability, protect it at all costs. It can save your tank or a high-damage unit from Burning away too fast.

Cleanse Rearguard is another option. This is Cleanse but for your backline units similar to the interaction of Tank Heal and Triage. Cleanse Rearguard can help you and if you're lucky, you can start removing the danger starting from the back.

Immunity does not help. While Immunity will not get your units affected by Poison and other debuff, your units still burn even when they have Immunity ability.

Positioning matters. Since Burning can spread to units next to the one who has it, you want to think carefully about who you’re placing side by side. If you have a unit with Cleanse, placing him as your tank can keep him Cleansing himself to survive. It's similar to when you have a Tank Heal unit and it acts as a tank. It heals itself. If you have a unit with Cleanse Rearguard, placing him last can give you the same effect but not as consistent.

Lastly, faster damage wins. You can’t rely on long, slow fights. You need to hit hard and end things quickly before Burning eats up your whole team. This is the main strategy I have when dealing with this modifier. It's the most consistent way I learned to deal with it.

Battle One

Here’s my first battle: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_78e787d1009641f56241d5f81dd34919

This is a battle in Frontier Mode. In this fight, I tried to lean on magic attacks while selecting units with the highest health that I have.. I picked a summoner that gave me an advantage in stats had two front lines since I don't have a unit with Cleanse. I didn’t expect my team to live long, so my goal was to punch through with magic attacks before Burning deals too much damage.

My lineup went something like this:

Archon: Marlai Singariel

• I wanted the extra magic damage to deal with health directly.
  
  1. Port Guardian - Main Tank

• A sturdy tank up front. He's the main tank for Water in Frontier Mode. Simple unit but with decent stats.
  
  2. New Beluroc Aegis - Second Tank with Taunt

• Since there's Melee Mayhem modifier, he can attack even though he's a melee unit. The Taunt allowed him to take the heat off Port Guardian as well.
  
  3. Great Bear Druid - Third Tank with Two Attacks

• The Melee Mayhem Modifier allowed Great Bear Druid to also attack while being far back. He attacks with both melee and magic each round.
  
  4. Saltwater Mage - Sneak Magic Unit

• A backline damage dealer that I wanted to keep alive as long as possible. Sneak and Magic attack are really scary combination and I will prove this further on the next battle.
  
  Opening Rounds:
  The enemy team has stronger and more units than me. Fortunately, with Marlai Singariel's help, I have higher magic damage which directly hits the enemy unit's health similar with Burning. So, the extra armor from the enemy Archon and it's units does not give him a lot of extra protection.
  
  Mid-Game
  The enemy's main tank, Twice Yester Knight, is the first to fall which is good. This means I get access to their backline making my life easier. Unfortunately, New Beluroc Aegis also gets eliminated. Lady Amara gets eliminated as well thanks to Saltwater Mage's Sneak.
  
  Final Rounds
  At the start of the last round, Global Warming claimed the lives of enemy's Paprikash and my Saltwater Mage leveling the battlefield with 2 units on each side. I won by shear luck by my units acting first, Great Bear Druid attacking first killing Sherringham Logger and then Port Guardian killing Wild Horse Tamer.

Battle Two

Now for the second one: https://splinterlands.com/battle/sl_7a5360a85126d5c46c65a5db6745d175

This time, I went into the match feeling confident. Like I mentioned, Sneak Magic Units are very scary so what's better than one Saltwater Mage sneaking from behind? Two units sneaking from behind. This is a Modern Ranked Format battle. I tried Modern Ranked Format because I got tired of doing the same thing in Frontier Mode so I rented some cards and went to battle.

I built my team around the two units with magic attack and Sneak abilities. I made a decent team that can take care of most builds unless they do something tricky.

My lineup went something like this:

Archon: Prophet Rosa

• Rebellion archons have this weird ability that lets you choose between two abilities they have and you can give them to any unit in that battle. I usually add Shield on the main tank or sometimes, add it to my last unit when there's Super Sneak modifier.
  
  1. Sea Dog of Eight - Main Tank
• This is an amazing unit. He has armor, high health, good damage, Heal and Corrosive Ward. I usually give him the Shield from Prophet Rosa to withstand a lot of attacks.
  
  2. Abyssal Elemental - Second and Third Tank
• Just like in Frontier Mode, I use a second tank as well in Modern Ranked Format. Although he doesn't have Taunt, the good health and Resurgence ability can still give me enough time to clean up the enemy's backline. Resurgence allows him to get revived with full health and armor once per battle. The catch is he deals 1 damage to all units (friendly or enemy) when the ability gets used. But because of this, I get to have like an imaginary additional unit because the enemy has to deal with this unit twice.
  
  3. Saltwater Mage - Sneaky Damage Dealer
• Saltwater Mage is the only unit I think that I use from Foundation units that I use in Modern Ranked. The magic damage and Sneak are good combination and is the core strategy for my build.
  
  4. Captain Fellblade - Saltwater Mage but better
• Not only Captain Fellblade has two attacks, magic and melee like Great Bear Druid, but he also has Sneak and Strengthen. Sneak allows both of his attacks to target the last unit so this one unit technically counts as two in terms of a Sneak attacker. Strengthen is a simple +1 health to all units making them a little bit durable than usual.
  
  5. Bludgeon Hucker - Damage with Snipe and Slow
• This unit is considered a filler. I liked the Snipe and Slow abilities so I added him so I can attack faster than my enemies usually but he's not a core member of this group.
  
  Opening Rounds:
  The enemy team is using a number of magic attack unit with Marlai Singariel which means my Shield is ineffective in this battle and they have higher damage than me. This won't stop my team though as my strategy is more consistent than my enemy.

The round ended with Mystic Scaleweaver on the dumps. One hit and this unit dies and their Slow will get lifted giving my team a better time.

Mid-Game
At the start, Lunaki Howler and Mystic Scaleweaver died from Burning. A little later, their Saltwater Mage gets eliminated as well by my Sneaky units. A clear advantage and a road to winning is seen by now with me having all units still on the board while the enemy only have Commander Slade at half health.

Final Rounds
Game ended in Round 2 very quickly even before Global Warming deals attack for the second time. My strategy of quick sneak attacks gave me huge opportunity prioritizing the softer units at the back first keeping the tank unit as the last one I need to deal with.

Closing Thoughts

Global Warming is one of those modifiers that forces you to think differently. Instead of dragging battles out, you have to plan for quick, accurate fights and smart ways to defeat your enemies before the flames consume you. Even though I recomment Cleanse and Cleanse Rearguard, I prefer a quick painless death.

I personally enjoy this modifier now because it makes every fight feel unpredictable. Will the Burning claim the lives of your units at the wrong time? Will my tanks last long enough? It always keeps me on my toes and I think that’s what makes Splinterlands so much fun.

How about you? How do you handle the new Global Warming modifier when it shows up in your battles? Let me know your favorite strategies or share your stories below.

Posted Using INLEO