Beginners Guide: How To Play Splinterlands

Play to earn has gained prominence in gaming thanks to the rise of NFTs. These games allow gamers to play and earn from the activity by trading in-game items and so on. 

Splinterlands is one of the pioneers in this space, having been around since 2018, initially going by the name Steem Monsters. 

Over the years, the platform has refined its gameplay, making it one of the safest NFT games. 

This guide will outline how to set up an account and avoid rookie mistakes to ensure you get to earn earlier.

 

Getting Started: How To Play Splinterlands

Visit the official website and click on “play now.” You will be taken to a page where you have to create an account for free. 

Enter your email address and confirm it. If you have a referral code, you can add it, agree to the terms of service and continue. 

Proceed to create a password and confirm it or use a supported crypto wallet.

Once signed up, you have the option to practice how to play the game by following the instructions on offer. 

You will notice every battle is different, and the rules of engagement can vary in three areas: 

Combat rules apply to changes, buffs, or limitations on how STATs, abilities, combat, or team creation works. Note that this battle is standard, and gameplay has no change. 

Mana cap – the cap will show how much Mana you can spend on a single battle, and each card has a Mana cost. 

Elements – this represents the summoning magic allowed when selecting your team.

Once you understand the above rules proceed to create a team by selecting a summoner who is a famous arena duelist specializing in specific elements. 

You will notice most summoners provide special STAT buffs or even group-wide abilities. 

Crucially they will determine the type of elemental magic used to create your team. 

Unfortunately, you won’t be making anything until you buy a $10 summoner’s spellbook that allows you to harness the elemental magic contained within its pages. 

These include daily focus and season rewards, completer in tournaments, and purchase packs. 

Also, you get to battle your way to higher leagues where you can access better rewards. 

The spellbook can be bought using a gift card or promo code, PayPal, or crypto. 

Once you have bought the spellbook, you can change your name to whatever you want. Also, your rating will be zero; the lower the rating, the lower the Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) you can earn. 

This can be quite discouraging at the start, given their market value, but once your rating improves, your rewards will get better. By hovering over the Dark Energy Crystals tab, you will notice a capture rate that goes down over time as you play ranked battles. 

It will reduce by one percent. But this shouldn’t worry you as you can play once the rate recharges. 

The goal is to keep away bots from spamming the game or deter individuals from spending a whole day collecting DEC tokens.

Card Stats And Abilities

On the top bar, you will see what cards are playable to you by clicking on the cards tab. 

As a beginner, you will have nothing on your own tab, but this will change as you battle. 

By clicking the summoners, you will see different decks you can choose. 

For example, there is a fire deck with one plus melee that allows you to attack all the melee monsters, or you can choose the fire deck that has one plus speed. 

A water deck gives you plus one magic or minus one. There is an earth deck where you get plus one health or minus two armor to your enemy team. 

Additionally, there is a life deck where you get plus one armor or plus one health and the death deck where you get minus one melee or minus one range to your enemy. 

Finally, on the bottom, you can find the dragon deck, which is unique because you get plus one armor and can select any other deck on top of that and combine for greater firepower. 

The monsters tab will display various monsters you can utilize in your battles. They range from fire, water, earth, and so on. 

Remember, each card has some unique features. For example, the Kobold miner will cost you 2 Mana, it has plus one attack, plus 2 speed which increases the doge or miss chances, and there is plus 2 heart for health. 

Also, different cards have unique abilities. The above card has a sneak attack, which means it will attack the last monster on the enemy team instead of the first, which weakens their backline. 

Selecting Your Cards For Battle

Sort your monsters using Mana cost, melee range, or magic damage. 

Select the optimum combination to guarantee success in your battles. 

Once the other player is ready, you will battle. You can slow or speed the game. Initially, it’s advisable to slow the game and understand why you are winning or losing your matches, which will improve your gameplay. 

Countering Your Opponent

You will see what your opponent has played in the last five encounters with more battles. 

This will help you understand what kind of death they like to use. 

The key is mastering how to remember cards to be best prepared to beat your opponent. 

This involves a level of skill and strategy on your part. 

That said, remember at the start, the rewards will be awful; however, hang in there, and it will get better as you rank up. 

Daily Quests

Each day you will be given daily quests that you can click on and see the details. 

Mostly you will have to win five ranked battles with a certain summoner. Other times you may see a snipe quest where you have to win five matches using at least one snipe monster, a sneak one, or a no-neutral monster. 

As for rewards, they can either be portions, a reward card, or some extra Dark Energy Crystals. 

All in all, remember that practice and patience is the key to mastering how to play Splinterlands. 

With time you should get the gist of it and be able to earn something decent daily. 

Keep in mind that this is no quick get-rich scheme but something that allows you to enjoy the game as you earn.