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<div class="text-justify">Another week, another share your battle challenge. This time we are tasked to play a battle with one of the members of the Fire Splinter - the Molten Ash Golem. It is a rare Ranged Attack Monster which is usually best suited for battles with where melee Monsters cannot be used. It also does do a decent job as an off-tank due to it decently sized body. </div>
Now before getting into the stats discussion of the Monster, let's have a ***sneak*** peek into its [LORE](https://splinterlands.com/?p=card_details&id=403&gold=false&edition=7&tab=lore)
<div class="text-justify">So, the Molten Ash Golems actually form from pools of gunk fallen off Forgotten Ones, well that's definitely an interesting way to be brought into existence.</div>
<div class="text-justify"> Alright, we've got some idea of what the **Molten Ash Golem** is, after glancing at its lore. Let us now have a look at its stats and abilities at different key levels.</div>
- It starts off with 1 Ranged Attack, 1 Speed, 0 Armor and 9 Health, but most importantly it has the Close Range ability right from the start, which allows it to attack from the first position in the line-up.
- At **level 3** it gets an addition Ranged Attack point for a total of 2.
- At **level 5** it gains its 2nd ability - Weaken (Reduces the health of all enemy Monsters). It is actually a pretty useful ability.
- At **level 7** it gets an addition Ranged Attack point for a total of 3.
- Finally maxed out at level 8 it has 3 Ranged Attack, 2 Speed, 0 Armor, 10 Health, and most importantly it also gets its 3rd Ability - Demoralize (reduces the Melee Attack of all enemy melee Monsters). Weaken in combination with Demoralize is not that bad of a debuff combo and could prove useful at the highest level of play.
Now that we know what the card does (or doesn't do) at the different levels of play, let us have a look at the battle I have chosen to showcase.
<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>[BATTLE](https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=sl_4cb2e30165b037f0dcb442d6b28fc793)<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>
- The line-up of the Battle and the Ruleset:
<div class="text-justify">The rulesets for this battle are Target Practice (All Ranged and Magic attack Monsters have the Snipe ability) and Keep Your Distance (Monsters with Melee attack type can't be used). The mana budget is 99 which is the maximum amount so I can choose whatever Monsters I have available. Two Slinters are available - Fire and Dragon. Even though I can showcase the Molten Ash Golem using any of the two Splinters, I've decided to go with the Dragon Splinter for this battle.
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<div class="text-justify"> First in the line-up is another Share Your Battle Challenge participant - the Void Dragon. It is very well-known for its evasiveness so I have it at the front to evade as much as "dragonly" possible. It is also very resilient to Magic Damage so that will definitely also be useful for its temporary main tank position.
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<div class="text-justify">The 2nd spot goes to our protagonist - the Molten Ash Golem. I've got it in this position to soak any enemy Snipe attack damage. All ranged enemy Monsters will likely target the 2nd position due to the fact that Snipe is a Ruleset this battle (as already mentioned).</div>
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<div class="text-justify">The 3rd place in the line-up goes to another favorite Monster of mine and also a share your battle star - the Chaos Dragon. It was the most expensive (in mana terms) Monster in the game until Agor Longtail showed up. It often wreaks havoc in the enemy backline due to its Scattershot and Blast abilities paired with its Magic attack </div>
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<div class="text-justify">Following immediately after is another recent favorite of mine - Oshuur Constantia. I've got her here to support my larger Monsters who can attack from the tank spot as long as possible. She can also take a hit or two if it gets to that, while healing herself in the meantime.</div>
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<div class="text-justify">In 5th spot we have another new addition to the Dragon Splinter team - the Runic Skyclaw. Not only the art of the card is great but the Monster itself is a very nice Ranged Attacker with Snipe and Flying. Yeah, it does come at a hefty price of 9 mana but with 4 attack, 6 speed a good amount of health and armor, and the aforementioned abilities it is definitely a worthy candidate for any setup which can afford its mana tag.</div>
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<div class="text-justify">Last but definitely not least is the 2nd member of the Fire Splinter in this battle namely Countess Sinash. Countess Sinash is a great Ranged Attacker specifically for the abilities she has - Opportunity Strike, Swiftness and Camouflage. Hopefully she'll get luck and survive until the end. </div>
It is time for a quick round by round analysis:
- So the Summoner I am going with for this battle is my very own Quix. I have him at level 3 so he's not a hard pick for my gold-level battles. My enemy is rocking a level 3 Quix as well so this is a mirror match at least as far as the Summoners are concerned. However, our line-ups are significantly different. I feel my opponent has not done a great job at all picking appropriate Monsters for the mana allocation of the battle - 99. I don't think I will have a lot of issues winning this battle considering the questionable picks they have in their line-up.
- After 1 round both "tanks" are still standing which is actually expected as the main damage on both sides is undoubtedly targeted at the 2nd spots. My enemy has lost their Xenith Archer.
- At the start of Round 3 you can see that I have basically ravaged the enemy back-line. This outcome was obvious from the very beginning since the health and damage of the enemy team just was not there (apart from their Chaos Dragon).
- The end of Round 3 - the enemy level 3 GF Dr. Blight has just been hit by my Molten Ash Golem for its last point of Health.
**Molten Ash Golem** is a relatively good Ranged Attack Monster for the Fire Splinter. The thing about it is that to get most bang for your buck you need to level it at least to level 5, which is Gold League level, to gain access to its Weaken ability. The good news is that at $0.06 per BCX it is pretty cheap to level it to any level you want.
Over and Out,
[Referral](https://splinterlands.com?ref=ghostlybg)
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