Splinterlands Tutorial [+Decks to Play] for Beginners

Image assets property of @splinterlands

@splinterlands has been the top play-to-earn blockchain-based game in the industry in the last 7 days.

And it's not me saying that, it's DappRadar itself 👇

The first one below is an ad, which puts Splinterlands in top position.

Splinterlands is fun, fast, and makes you money. Sounds like a good deal to me!

I'm a beginner myself, and I'm doing a lot of reading.

In this guide, I'm putting together everything I learned recently about the game so you can get started as soon as possible.

I'll include:

• An introduction to the game
• How to set up your account
• Some decks to play

What is Splinterlands?

Splinterlands is a play-to-earn, blockchain-based collectible card game. You build a collection of cards, which are NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens).

Each card has unique abilities, and you use them to go to battle against other players. You can buy, sell and trade your cards at any time.

It's a safe place to start if you're new to the game because it's an established game (launched in 2018) and you only need US$10 to start playing. The US$10 is necessary to purchase the Summoner's Spellbook (more on this below).

Easy Sign Up on the Website

If you haven't signed up yet, you'll have to do so from the homepage (my affiliate link).

Signing up is super simple, however at some point you'll have to use the Hive Keychain to do pretty much everything. You can do this at a later time, but I recommend going through this guide here by @ecoinstant.

Practice to See If You Like The Game

Before you even purchase the Summoner's Spellbook, you can practice before actually playing real battles.

Go to Battle and find the Practice + Fight button like in the image below.

Practicing, as you can read above, does not affect your Ranking. Plus, it's a way for you to understand if the game it's worth your time and money.

Of course, you might want to read this guide first before you battle for the first time. This will help you understand the game better.

Purchase the Summoner's Spellbook

Let's assume you practiced a little and you decide you like the game. Now it's the time to purchase the Summoner's Spellbook.

Splinterlands is a free-to-play game, but to earn real-valued rewards and unlock the full potential of blockchain-based gaming, you're required to obtain the Summoner's Spellbook.

You can purchase through PayPal, Crypto or Promo Code. You can read this guide to see how it's done.

After you purchase the Summoner's Spellbook, under Battle you will see that your Rating is 0.

The less Rating you have, the less DEC (Dark Energy Crystals) you get per win.

NOTE: Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) are the official in-game currency of Splinterlands. You can earn them in different ways in the game and they can be used to purchase all sorts of items and boosts that can help you rise to the top of the leaderboard.

And, when you'll start playing the game, you'll earn very little DEC. You'll wonder why you're actually playing the game.

However, you will soon find out that the more you earn and rank, the more DEC you'll earn, which you can use to buy more stuff for the game, or convert into FIAT money (like US$ or €) for your living expenses.

The Cards: Free and Paid Cards

Let's take a look at the cards.

Go to the Cards tab in Splinterlands.

Those ☝ are some free cards you get from Splinterlands to get you started with the game and start earning and learning about the game.

If you click on the drop-down menu and look at the Owned cards, you'll see there's nothing there.

However, you can and should start playing with the free cards first. When, and if, you'll feel more comfortable, you'll purchase some cards.

The Importance of the Summoners

If you click on Summoners in the top menu, you'll get to see the summoners only on the screen.

Each time you start playing, you have to pick 1 Summoner first, and then your monsters within that specific card deck.

You have a deck corresponding to different elements.

For example, you can choose a fire deck, by choosing the Malric Inferno Summoner.

This guy will give you +1 Melee Attack to all Melee Monsters.

Or, for example, you can choose this other guy below, which will give a +1 Armor to all the monsters of the deck.

Or this other one below for instance. Can you see the -2 at the bottom? That means that that Summoner will give a -2 to the enemy monsters' armor.

Let's take a look at the monsters. Click on Monsters from the top menu.

As you scroll down you'll see a number of monsters belonging to the 6 different elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Life, Death and Dragon (same order in next image).

In fact, you have the Fire monsters:

The Water monsters:

The Earth monsters:

The Life monsters:

The Death monsters:

Remember, the Summoner uses magic to call upon the different creatures, habitats and races that exist within the same Splinter.

For example, a Summoner of the Earth Splinter will be able to call forth monsters that live in the forests and mountains.

Specific Stats and Abilities of Monster Cards

It is imperative that you understand what all the numbers on the cards mean. Those numbers correspond to specific abilities of the monster you're looking at.

Let's take a look at an example.

This below is the Kobold Miner.

Mana Cost - See Number "2" in Top-Left Corner

This is the Mana Cap or Mana Cost. In each battle, before you start, you need to assemble your team.

You have a certain amount of Mana Cap (30, 18 etc.) that you can use. For example, if you had to add the Kobold Miner to the battle, it'd cost you 2 Mana. And remember, the more powerful the card, the higher the Mana Cost.

Stats - See Numbers "1", "2" and "2" in the Middle

The Stats have this meaning:

• The number "1" on the left represents the Melee Attack. This is how much attack the monster does; which is 1 in this case.
• The number "2" (just below "1") is the Speed. This monster has "2". Speed is important because A) Higher speed means the card will go first in the battle order and B) It also increases the dodge or mischance ability.
• The number "2" with the heart means how much Health the monster has. Of course, when a monster's health goes to zero, then it dies.

Level - See Symbol ⭐1 Towards the Bottom

That is a Level 1 card. A higher level translates to a more powerful card. Gaining levels may increase STATS or unlock abilities.

Abilities - See Symbol at the Bottom of the Card

The image below tells it all. This monster has a Sneak attack special ability, which means that it'll attack the last monster on the enemy team instead of the first one.

The Sneak ability is pretty powerful as it'll obliterate the back line of your opponent's team.

The Stats and Abilities are many. You need to experience the game and start learning.

It's pointless to go over all of them here. However, this page on Splinterlands has a list of all Stats and Abilities for you to take a look at.

Practice Without Affecting Your Ranking

As mentioned earlier, the best thing you can do before investing money or trying to rank is practicing the game.

And you should definitely do that.

Click on Battle (top menu) then slide to find the Practice and Fight button.

The system will find an enemy for you.

And then it'll show this.

Let me explain the elements here ☝

RULES: When you start a practice session, there are no extra rules. It'll always be a standard battle. Rules will appear to you when you start climbing some ranked divisions.

MANA CAP: As we said earlier, each Summoner and Monster will cost you Mana when you assemble your team. As you add cards, you'll consume Mana up to the cap value.

ELEMENTS: You have every deck available to you when you practice. When you're higher up, some will be darkened and you won't be able to choose any deck you want.

COUNTDOWN: This is the time you have to assemble your team before the battle begins.

Some Decks That Worked for Me During Practice

I've been practicing by playing a lot of battles in the past few days, and I took notes of the decks that worked for me.

I'll give you the Mana Cap I started with, and the precise position of each monster. Hopefully these combos will give you some inspiration.

Mana Cap: 29

I had some luck with the Life deck and this formation:

• Tyrus Paladin (Summoner)
• Shieldbearer in the front. This monster has Taunt (all enemy monsters target this guy if they're able to) to help you keep the rest of the team alive
• Divine Healer to heal your Taunt and it's very hard for your opponent to get enough damage to actually kill your Taunt
• Silvershield Knight in third position that will give you Inspire (gives all friendly monsters +1 Melee attack)
• Feral Spirit which will increase the attack of the Silvershield Knight (Note: if you have enough mana, use the Cave Slug in this position instead of the Feral Spirit).
• Elven Cutthroat
• Truthspeaker

Mana Cap: 28-30

I tried the Life deck and this formation:

• Shieldbearer
• Divine Healer
• Silvershield Knight
• Feral Spirit

Mana Cap: 26

• Drake of Arnak (Summoner) paired with Fire deck (Note: This has worked many, many times for me. I don't know why exactly?!)
• Cerberus in the frontline because he can heal himself
• Goblin Shaman that lowers enemy's health
• Serpentine
• Fire Elemental for blast
• Spark Pixies for some extra-range damage
• Fire Beetle

Mana Cap: 12-13

Here, I found some luck with the Death deck and this formation:

• Zintar Mortalis as the Summoner. Note: This has -1 Melee is pretty powerful against those low-mana formations. Sometimes though, you may want to use the Contessa L'Ament as the summoner if you see that your opponent is using a lot of range damage (not possible to see in practice)
• Haunted Spirit to use almost always because it has 7 health and able to heal itself making it a very good addition in low-level battles
• Skeleton Assassin to destroy the backline OR the Undead Badger that uses the sneak attack to the back
• Death Elemental and Twisted Jester
• Undead Priest

Mana Cap: 19

I had success with a Fire deck and this formation:

• Drake of Arnak (summoner) paired with Fire deck
• Living Lava
• Cerberus
• Serpentine Spy

And that's it!

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Ciao 👋😁