![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmbBGJmqPzHfGz9iuHnigVjJqxsBMFiPP53tPXMjt4ZXQx/upcloseandpersonal.png)

<center>**BATTLE MAGE SECRETS Weekly Challenge**</center>

<div class="pull-right">https://images.hive.blog/DQmR9KJg9Jdb2TFSY5X2oTM7vbZvbBt26z2iXZbGJjc6oUe/upcloseandpersonalruleset.png</div>
RULESET: Up Close and Personal<br><br>
Description: <br><br>
Only units with melee attacks can be used.<br><br>
Use Thorns and Demoralize to counter melee attacks.<br>
Units with 2 types of attacks (including melee) can be used.<br>
<a href="/@splinterlands/battle-mage-secrets-weekly-challenge-november-22-2023" target="_blank">Click for More</a>
<hr>

In battles with the **Up Close & Personal Ruleset**, only Monsters with Melee attack may be used in battles.

Using the **Thorns Ability** and **Demoralize Ability** against melee attacks can provide an advantage in battles, so I attach great importance to using these abilities in battles with the **Up Close & Personal ruleset**. Additionally, in such battles, monsters with two types of attack power, one of which is melee, can be very effective, especially those with magic attack. That's why I attach great importance to using monsters with two types of attacks in such battles.

I will share one of my most interesting battles with the **Up Close and Personal ruleset**, I hope you like it.

<center>**BATTLE**</center>

<center>https://youtu.be/SWKQW4z_VBs</center>

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmXLKfZR6XRUeNYNcZP9Fdwf5ngw4KrXcmYxVuevqHSR4k/battle25112023.png)
[Battle Link](https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_d30c24f2f81c4d131e8de5b20a4895e0&ref=rtonline)

<center>**Battle Ruleset**</center>

<center>![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmPKVC1oCEquzddirmSYTwfiYXsEDEHeqGp37RhzLeJNo4/ruleset25112023.png)</center>

- **Up Close & Personal**: Only Monsters with Melee attack may be used in battles.
- **Up to Eleven**: All Monsters have the Amplify ability.
- **Aim True**: Attacks always hit their target.

<center>**MY STRATEGY**</center>

Before starting the battle, when I reviewed the recnent 5 battles of the opposing player and considered the rulesets of the battle, I can say that I believed that using the Thorns Ability and Monsters with two types of attacks (including melee) in this battle would be quite advantageous and I determined my strategy accordingly.

First of all, I chose Helios Matriarch as the summoner because I will be using a gladiator card andI thought also it would be advantageous to have high speed in this battle and to be able to use the Dragon unit and the Earth unit together.

Also, in this battle, all monsters would have Amplify Ability, so I put Monsters with Thorns Ability in the first two positions without hesitation. Using Thorns Ability and Amplify Ability together against melee attack monsters is really effective in battles, we will see this in the below battle.

I added Agor Longtail and Quora Towershead, who have Melee Attack and Magic Attack, to the team, I believed that both of them could be very effective in this battle, but I thought that the opposing team would have monsters with Thorns Ability, so I put them in the back line.

I also added Disintegrator, which has the Demoralize Ability, to the team, so that the melee attack of all enemy melee attack monsters will be reduced by -1.

Frankly, I did not use Sneak and Opportunity Abilities in this battle, considering the possibility that the opposing player could choose Mylor Crowling as the summoner. Also, I added Dumacke Orc to the team. Frankly, I would have loved to use the Inspire Ability in this battle, but unfortunately I did not have a card with the Inspire Ability suitable for this battle.

<center>**LINE UP**</center>

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/soulbound/Helios%20Matriarch_lv4.png</center>
<center>**Summoner : HELIOS MATRIARCH**</center>

**Helios Matriarch** is a **Dragon Summoner** that allows the use of one additional **Gladiator** card in battle, and grants +1 speed to all friendly monsters. I chose Helios Matriarch as the summoner to be able to use the Quora Towershead in this battle.  Additionally, I believed that having all friendly monsters have +1 speed would give my team an advantage in this battle.

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/reward/Djinn%20Chwala_lv3_gold.png</center>
<center>**Position 1: DJINN CHWALA**</center>

**Djinn Chwala** is a Dragon that can attack the target with Melee Attacks and has **Thorns Ability** from level 1. The most important reason why I added Djinn Chwala to my team is that it has the Thorns Ability, and I put it in the first position.

- **Thorns Ability** : When hit with a Melee attack, does 2 Melee damage back to the attacker.

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/chaos/Venari%20Knifer_lv3_gold.png</center>
<center>**Position 2: VENARI KNIFER**</center>

**Venari Knifer** is a **Earth Monster** that can attack the target with Melee Attacks and has **Thorns Ability** from level 1. The most important reason why I added Venari Knifer to my team is that it has the Thorns Ability, and I put it in the second position.

- **Thorns Ability** : When hit with a Melee attack, does 2 Melee damage back to the attacker.

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/gladius/Quora%20Towershead_lv2.png</center>
<center>**Position 3: QUORA TOWERSHEAD**</center>

**Quora Towershead** is a very powerful Earth Gladiator with both Magic Attacks and Melee Attacks and has **Bloodlust Ability** and **Heal Ability** at level 2.  I had a lot of confidence in Quora Towershead in this battle and believed that it could be very effective in this battle and would help me a lot in winning. And I put Quora Towershead in the third position.

- **Bloodlust Ability** : This Monster revels in the glory of combat and becomes more dangerous as the battle goes on. Every time it defeats an opponent, it gets +1 to all stats.
- **Heal Ability** : Restores a third of max health to this Unit's health each round.

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/chaos/Disintegrator_lv5_gold.png</center>
<center>**Position 4: DISINTEGRATOR**</center>

**Disintegrator** is a **Neutral Monster** that can attack the target with Melee Attacks and has **Demoralize Ability** and **Trample Ability** at level 5. The most important reason why I added Disintegrator to my team was that it has the Demoralize Ability, so that the melee attack of all enemy melee attack monsters would be reduced by -1. I put Disintegrator in the fourth position because I wanted the enemies to stay away from their first attack, and not be destroyed too early.

- **Demoralize Ability** : Reduces the Melee attack of all enemy Units by 1.
- **Trample Ability** : When a Monster with Trample hits and kills its target with a Melee attack, it will perform another Melee attack on the next Monster on the enemy Team.

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/soulbound/Dumacke%20Orc_lv5.png</center>
<center>**Position 5: DUMACKE ORC**</center>

**Dumacke Orc** is a Neutral Monster that can attack the target with Melee Attacks and has **Shield Ability** and **Retaliate Ability** at level 5. After Agor Longtail is destroyed, I put Dumacke Orc in the fifth position as I believe it can be effective against Sneak and Opportunity Monsters.

- **Shield Ability** : Reduces damage from Melee and Ranged attacks by 50%.
- **Retaliate Ability** : When hit with a Melee attack, Units with Retaliate have a 50% chance of immediately attacking their attacker.

<center>https://d36mxiodymuqjm.cloudfront.net/cards_by_level/rift/Agor%20Longtail_lv2_gold.png</center>
<center>**Position 6: AGOR LONGTAIL**</center>

**Agor Longtail** is a very powerful Dragon with both Magic Attacks and Melee Attacks and has **Flying Ability**, **Taunt Ability** and **Void Armor Ability** at level 2. I added it to the team because I believe that Agor Longtail will be very effective in this battle and will help the team. Since I thought there might be monsters with Thorns ability in the opposing team, I put it  in the last position, otherwise şt is a dragon that can be more effective in the first position.

- **Flying Ability** : Has a 25% bonus chance of evading Melee or Ranged attacks from Units who do not have the Flying ability.
- **Taunt Ability** : All enemy Units target this Unit (if they are able to).
- **Void Armor Ability** : Magic attacks hit this Unit's armor before its Health.

<center>**BATTLE COMMENTS**</center>

<center>https://youtu.be/SWKQW4z_VBs</center>

You can watch the entire battle from the video or from the [Battle Link](https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_d30c24f2f81c4d131e8de5b20a4895e0&ref=rtonline)

**Round 1**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmXLKfZR6XRUeNYNcZP9Fdwf5ngw4KrXcmYxVuevqHSR4k/battle25112023.png)

To be honest, the opposing player's strategy was also very good, but I was very surprised that the opposing team did not have a monster with Thorns ability, but this was a very good thing for my team.

In the first round, 3 monsters attacked the targets in both teams and the attacks of all three of them were quite effective, especially I can say that the attacks of the enemy monsters were more effective. In short, the opponent team was more effective, but using Djinn Chwala in the first position was very useful, so Drybone Barbarian took serious damage.

**Round 2**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmS9XcaMAGcZaCWWdfcwwat82erqppJpZxTj92n6nEuzFv/round2.png)

Since the battle had the Aim True ruleset, all monsters' attacks were effective because they all hit their targets. Early in the second round, Quora It was pretty good that Towershead destroyed Drybone Barbarian because it got +1 to all its stats that way. In the second round, while one monster from the opposing team was destroyed, all monsters on my team were still alive.

**Round 3**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmanvBYC7sApWuiJSWwvYzgNkxpH17iy9DsE8BBfkhiqTc/round3.png)

In the third round, the enemies managed to destroy Agor Longtail. Frankly, I already knew this would happen in such a battle. In addition, the Thorns Ability made it easier to destroy the monster that was in the first position on the opposing team. In the third round, a monster from the opposing team and a monster from my team were destroyed. In particular, it was great when Quora Towershead made the final hit that destroyed the enemies, which gave my team a great advantage in the battle.

**Round 4**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmV2weNcUfZ543wE9TSrfiNSLbGLouBj57H8Wsx7F7UZWu/round4.png)

In the fourth round, another monster from the opposing team and another monster from my team were destroyed. But Quora Towershead destroying a monster almost every round destroyed the opposing team's hopes of winning because all their stats were increasing.​ That's why I like to use my Quora Towershead card in these types of battles.

**Round 5**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQma68kRnwddiutqsN57AfK1DZRVRUNDXWXyGrfyoNdndHT/round5.png)

In the fifth round, while another monster from the opposing team was destroyed, no monster from my team could be destroyed. Frankly, I thought I had won the battle because it was now very difficult to deal with Quora Towershead.

**Round 6**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmR24fotu1BUSACQQiy5XoTcN71xy8bqrQjGAiyLVznfSy/round6.png)

In the sixth round, one monster from each team was destroyed. But only Dumacke Orc was left in the opposing team, and it would not be difficult for Quora Towershead to destroy it in the next round.

**Round 7**

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmbrjGn6AGoD7xfwAhjDQX9E5vAXGeHww9smr1nuahZD2q/round7.png)

At the beginning of the seventh round, Quora Towershead destroyed Dumacke Orc and my team won this very tough battle.

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmNYThTnCXqqgiZFZttro9P6zASw4v8EKVqrDFYdjCMRKj/round72.png)

The battle lasted 7 rounds and my team managed to win this very tough battle. Frankly, I can say that in this battle, the fact that I used Thorns Ability and Demoralize Ability, and monsters with two types of attacks worked very well, and thanks to this, my team was able to win this very difficult battle. Also notable was that by the end of the battle, Quora Towershead had 6 Melee Attacks, 6 Magic Attacks, 8 Speed, and 14 health.​​ I recommend you to watch this very interesting and challenging battle from the [Battle Link](https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_d30c24f2f81c4d131e8de5b20a4895e0&ref=rtonline). I hope you will like it.

<center>**BATTLE RESULTS**</center>

![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmdyGgtxkMHkegpozqmoYAGY5rLSJPQrEB8uxiBkr2QFCE/battleresults.png)

<center>https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/carrieallen/b2DaEIe4-Text20divider20-20red20black.gif</center>

What are your thoughts on the battle and my strategy? I would be glad if you write your thoughts in the comments.

[Battle Link](https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_d30c24f2f81c4d131e8de5b20a4895e0&ref=rtonline)

**Would you like to join Splinterlands? [Here is my reference link](https://splinterlands.com/?ref=rtonline)**

Thank you for reading.
@rtonline

<center>https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/carrieallen/b2DaEIe4-Text20divider20-20red20black.gif</center>

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