Splinterlands | Return Fire Ability | Ranged Attacker Becomes the Attacked!

6 min readApr 10, 2024

Splinterlands | Return Fire

The return fire ability is one of the rules in the new iteration of the game. The rule simply means that all ranged attackers will be attacked back half of their attack value. This is similar to the reflection rule for magic attacks.

Whether it is the reflection or the return fire rule, I find it amusing that it is so easy to circumvent the rule. I mean, if the return fire is in play, don’t use ranged attackers at all. As simple as that, right?

Or maybe not. Some players are strong playing ranged attackers and would want their cards in battle. But they can’t during this rule. There would be strategies players might be using and I can’t wait to see.

How about we see the rule in battle? But before that, shall we spend a minute getting to know Splinterlands? After all, that’s where you will find all these fun battles, rules, and monsters.

What Game is Splinterlands?

Splinterlands is a digital card game that allows you to collect, trade, battle, rent, and even earn from the cards. ***The game gives Play to Earn a whole different meaning.*** By now, you would know that the governance token (SPS) airdrop made millionaires out of the early adopters. It still keeps giving and remains a fun and engaging game.

To give you an idea of how lucky you can get in Splinterlands, read my story of getting cards worth $500 from buying only a few packs worth $20.

Got Cards Worth $500 from $20 Packs

And this is just a tiny number. I have witnessed people getting uber-expensive cards in their pack and selling them for as high as $6500. In fact, there is a whole Splinterlands marketplace on the Hive blockchain and now on Wax too. And now the sales of the Rebellion packs, the newest of the lot, have also started.

Any reason not to try it out? To join, scroll down quickly. 😊

Return Fire Ability | How Do You Play It?

The simplest way to handle this rule is to avoid ranged attackers in the lineup during the rule. However, that would be something avid ranged attack players wouldn’t want to hear. There are a few other ways to look at the rule.

If the ranged attacker has shield ability, the return fire won’t hurt much. Using a summoner with the shield ability would also help neutralize the return fire for one round.

Sometimes I use the ranged attackers under the rule only because they have a high attack value. In such cases, I am betting on destroying the opponent’s lineup with the attacks before my attacker is destroyed. Or, the ranged attacker has a high health along with a high attack value. The bet here would be that my ranged attacker would outlast the opponent’s return fires.

Anyway, I hadn’t found much success betting on ranged attackers during the return fire rule. So, yes, I would rather bet on not taking them to the battle. 😊

The Battle | Frowns and Angry Brows

A quick look at the rule, and let’s get on with the battle.

The battle was a low mana battle with the return fire rule in play. Since it was low mana, I would have preferred either melee or magic monsters anyway. If I had second thoughts about the monsters, the return fire rule sealed it. I chose to go with the magic and melee attackers.

That was the easiest way of countering the rule.

The Face-Off Screen

Here is what the battlefield looked like. 😊

Both, the opponent and I, came up with the same strategy — no ranged attackers. The opponent is at the bottom of the screen while my lineup is at the top. I had Quora Towershead in my lineup for the blood lust ability. The opponent too had a sneak-cum-blood-lust monster at the back of their lineup. It also has dual-attack ability. So, it could be quite a lethal monster.

Let’s see how the battle pans out.

We Battle Hard

By the end of round 2, the opponent’s blood lust monster looks crazy good.

See that? It had already taken down two monsters at the back of my lineup. Mine took out the opponent’s tank, but that’s where it all stands. I still believe that Quora would get the battle through.

And The Battle Races to Conclusion

Near the end of round 3, this is what was left.

Yeah, the blood-lust monsters against each other. Both the opponent’s and mine had powered up considerably. In this case, Quora has already taken one hit from the opponent’s monster and the second one is the last attack of this round.

As my luck would have it, the second attack was a miss. Even if it had connected, it wouldn’t have taken out Quora. So, at the beginning of round 4, Quora finished it with one swipe of her magic wand.

Game over. I won! 😊

A Hard-Fought Battle | An Interesting Result

As much as it sounded funny, the apparent idea is, indeed, to avoid ranged attackers in a return fire rule. That’s what the opponent did too. In the end, the one with the stronger melee and magic monsters won. So, that was it.

I hope you enjoyed reading. Do take a look at the battle live in the link provided below. Enjoy!

Namaste!