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Card Highlights #47: Cursed Windeku

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If you look into the darkness long enough, you might find something staring back.
by H.P. Lovecraft
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This battle is a perfect example of game mastery and how much I learned throughout my... Was it already a year of playing Splinterlands? The battle is very unique as I were able to maximize not only my units, my summoner, but also the ruleset for this battle which led me to an easy victory. Check out the whole blog to learn how you can do the same.

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Lore

Cursed Windeku are nightmarish creatures that live in the deepest and darkest woods. They hunt at night, stalking their prey before attacking with their claws, while their thorn-like horns and natural healing ability provide an excellent defense,.
They exude a pungent pheromone that reduces the reaction time of their victims, often allowing the Windeku to begin devouring them before they are dead. While these lifeless creatures may appear animalistic, they are highly intelligent. They have heeded the call put forth by the Lord of Darkness. Their thirst for blood is now focused on the Chaos Legion.

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^{For full lore of this card, visit this website:
https://next.splinterlands.com/card-detail/361/regular/7/?tab=lore}

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Buy and Rental Costs

The Cursed Windeku’s buy price at max level costs $3.90. For a max level unit, this makes it affordable. This price keeps it accessible for most players looking to add a reliable melee unit to their Death element decks. Compared to more expensive options, Cursed Windeku is a solid stable choice for those who want to boost their Death Element team without spending too much.

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Cursed Windeku's rental price is at 2.57 DEC per day for a max level. This is actually on the lower end allowing players to get good value without a high daily cost. It's an essential card for any Death element build as this one unit covers a lot of the Death element's weakness.

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Card Stats

Cursed Windeku brings misfortune to whoever harms him making it a dangerous melee choice in Death Element lineups. Known for its Thorns ability, this unit counters direct melee attackers with with a return damage when hit. It is also a strong choice for survival due to its high health and Heal ability. The combination of high health, high melee attack, high speed, and really strong abilities makes Windeku a good tank role and fits nicely in many matchups.

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Card Effects

Thorns

When hit with a Melee attack, does damage back to the attacker

Thorns is great for countering melee attackers especially when Windeku is placed in a frontline role where it would take the most hits since tanks are usually melee units.

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Heal	Restores a portion of the Unit's health each round

Heal makes Windeku last longer in battle. High health makes Heal stronger as well.

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Slow	Reduces the Speed of all enemy Units

Slow helps reduce enemy speed allowing allies to gain an edge in turn order and less miss on their attacks.

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Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths
Cursed Windeku’s main strengths are its Thorns and Heal abilities giving it strong defensive potential in the frontline. Thorns deals damage to any melee attackers that attack him which is great against enemies using lots of melee units. Heal adds endurance keeping Windeku in the fight even when taking consistent damage.

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Weaknesses

Its main weakness is his no armor making it vulnerable to high melee and range attacks. Armor acts as a second health which means even 1 armor can protect him from a really strong attack altogether increasing his survivability more. He's also weak against units using Recharge. Units like Uriel the Purifier can hit you with 12 damage in an instant due to Recharge and will kill Cursed Windeku with one blow.

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When To Use

Super Sneak

All Melee attack Units have the Sneak ability.

Super Sneak Ruleset is ideal for Cursed Windeku. It adds flexibility as you can now use him at the front or back allowing you to put him as your main tank or counter against enemy's Sneak.

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Rise of the Commons

Only Common and Rare Units may be used in battles.

Rise of the Commons Rule Set forces players to use Common and Rare units only like Cursed Windeku. Since Cursed Windeku is a Rare unit, he fits the qualification allowing you to use him in this ruleset.

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Up to Eleven

All units have the Amplify ability.

Up to Eleven ruleset gives your team Amplify that increases the damage of Thorns, Magic Reflect and Return Fire making this a really good ruleset for him.

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When Not To Use

Back to Basics

Units lose all abilities.

Back to Basics Ruleset removes all unit abilities which can be a disadvantage for Cursed Windeku since removes two of his strong abilities, Thorns and Heal.

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Briar Patch

All units receive the Thorns ability at the start of the battle. Enemy units that use melee attacks receive damage back.

Briar Patch Ruleset can be negative to Cursed Windeku because he is a melee unit and will also take damage from Thorns. He doesn't get any enefit from the ruleset because he already had the Thorns in the first place.

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Tis But Scratches

All Units have the Cripple ability.

Cripple is really bad for any unit that relies on Heal. The lower the max health of a unit, the lower the heal power will be.

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Battle Sample

^{https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_4f5b743ca02aba7c78f834e0993caa4e}

This is a battle where I specifically chose Cursed Windeku and Djinn Muirat as the main units since I saw Up to Eleven ruleset. This ruleset makes their abilities more powerful. I used multiple attack points in order to maximize the spread of Poison on the enemy team. I have units attacking the front, my Sneak units attacking the back and another unit prioritizing the middle portion with Sneak. While this is bad in a normal game since it takes longer to kill your enemies than to focus at them one at a time, this multi point attack is good when you have Waka Spiritblade as a summoner that gives poison ability to your unit's attacks.

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Final Thoughts

Cursed Windeku’s high stats and abilities makes him a really good tank. While hem ay not be good in all occassion, he's good in majority of them.

Its affordable buy and rent prices make it accessible for both players who want to buy or rent him who need a reliable and solid melee tank.

Great Windeku is an all around attacker and defender which is a great pick for new and veteran players alike. If you need a unit for any occasion, Cursed Windeku is a good choice when you are building your Death Element team.

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If you have suggested combos or questions, feel free to comment it down below.

If you are planning to play and is inspired by my post, please consider using my referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=kpgamingch

I do not own any of the photos in this post. All credits goes to:

• Splinterlands
• Peakmonsters
• Canva
• Giphy