Steemmonsters - Sneak & Snipe 101

Still wondering about the 'sneak' and the 'snipe' abilities in Steemmonsters? No need for that anymore after reading this post.

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It Took Me A Long Time...

Although I have been playing Steemmonsters since November 2018, it wasn't until about 2 months ago before I finally got how the 'snipe', and especially the 'sneak'-ability worked.

Before, I just played, without really paying attention to these abilities, and how to counter them.

Earlier today, my friend @anouk.nox got totally confused when we were talking about double sneak and double snipe in our @teampossible Discord channel, and I remembered I had promised her a while ago I would draw her a picture to explain.

Since I have no talent for drawing, I figured screenshots and some explanation would have to do.

The Basics

When playing Steemmonsters, your monsters generally attack the first monster in line, the one that is in the first spot.

You've probably already noticed that there are a few exceptions to that rule. These exceptions are the cards with 'sneak' and 'snipe' ability.

They can be recognized by the small symbol that is shown at the bottom of the card.

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The monsters carrying this symbol don't follow the standard rules... they have a rule of their own.

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I'll show you some examples below.

Each of the 5 splinters has 1 snipe and 1 sneak monster. Same goes for the Neutral cards: 1 sneak monster, 1 snipe monster.

Mnemonic Aid

Even though I learned to use and to counter these abilities, when I'm in a conversation, I still have the tendency to mix them up.

Well... to be honest: not only in a conversation. You can't see it, because I noticed in time and edited the above image with the symbols before I published this post, but I originally placed the wrong word next to the wrong symbol.

So I'm using a mnemonic aid to remember what the symbols and names stand for.

This symbol is obviously a masked face. In general, guys wearing masks don't have the best intentions. They often sneak up behind you to attack or rob you.
That's how I remember that sneak is the ability that attacks the last monster of the opponent's team.

This symbol for snipe shows a person with an arrow in his head.
If you look up the word snipe you'll find it is in fact a bird. The verb, however, means: to shoot at someone from a hiding place, especially accurately and at long range.
When I think of a sniper, I visualize someone sitting on a roof, patiently waiting for a specific person to come within range. In the @steemmonsters game, this specific someone is either a magic monster, a range monster, or a monster without abilities.

Sneak - or Double Sneak

So, as I stated above, the sneak monsters are the masked guys, that attack you from behind. They go for the last card of your opponent's team, no matter whether it is a melee, magic, ranged or no-ability monster..

If your opponent doesn't watch his back, a sneak monster can be very effective. No need to say that a double sneak attack (2 sneak monsters in a team) is double as effective.

Let's take a look at how this works:

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The white arrows point out the 'regular' attacks. The first monster in line is targeted.
The yelllow arrows, however, show you exactly which monster will be targeted by the 'sneak' monsters (in this case, the Kobold miner and the Elven Cutthroat will both attack the Cyclops. Once the Cyclops has been taken out, they will start attacking the Peacebringer, then the Feral Spirit, and so on...)

Watch the replay to see this in action HERE

Snipe - or Double Snipe

When it comes to the snipe monsters, it is important to remember they will ignore all melee monsters as long as there are other monsters available. A monster with the snipe ability will go for the first magic, ranged or no-ability card of your opponent's team.

Only when all magic, ranged or no-ability monsters have been taken out, they will start attacking the first monster in line, like every other card. Snipe can be really useful when battling for example the Life bots, since the ones in the lower leagues often have their Divine Healer in second spot. If you can take that one out quickly, you have a much better shot at winning the battle.

Let's take a look at how this works:

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Again, the white arrows point out the 'regular' attacks. The first monster in line is targeted.
The yelllow arrows point to the first non-melee monster in the lineup, the one that will be attacked by your snipe monsters.

(In this case, the Centaur and the Fire Beetle will both attack the Wood Nymph. As you can tell from the picture, she'll be dead after the first round, so the opponent won't have a tank healer anymore. Once the Wood Nymph is dead, they will turn to the Javelin Thrower, then to the Pirate Archer. Only when there are no magic, ranged or no-ability monsters left, they will point their arrows at the tank in the front.)

Watch the replay to see this in action HERE

Choose!

When setting up your team, it is very important to decide which way you want to go. For an attack to be effective, it should be targeted.

Let me show you using an example:

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The team I have set up in the above picture has a couple of monsters that are going for the first monster in line. I have the Fire Beetle with snipe set up to target the Divine Healer, and the Kobold Miner as a sneak attack - it will attack the Crystal Werewolf.

If you compare this lineup with the one above, you'll notice that it will take 2 rounds for the Divine healer to be knocked down, instead of only 1 when I was using the double sneak attack. Also, it will take multiple rounds for the Crystal Werewolf to die. In this example, the Crystal Werewolf doesn't have the 'thorns' ability yet. If it would have, it'll probably take out your Kobold Miner before your Kobold Miner will be able to kill the Crytal Werewolf.

All this to illustrate that you attacking randomly is less effective.

You have more chance on winning a battle when you focus your attack on a particular monster of your opponent's team. You can avoid using sneak or snipe monsters, and just go for the first monster in the lineup. If your opponent is using a powerful tank, it might be of your best interest to take that out as quickly as possible.

But if you can find a pattern in your opponent's team setup, (more on that later), you might want to use that against him by adding (double) sneak or (double) snipe to your team.

Habits

Most people develop certain habits when playing. Only recently, I learned I should protect the back of my team a bit more, just in case my opponent will be using a double sneak.

The more you play, and the more you get to know your opponents, the more familiar you will become with the strategies they use.

Just to give you an example, it was @taug who taught me that it was important to watch my back, since he is (or was) a fan of the double sneak.

Another example: by battling a lot of the Life bots in the Silver league, I started to notice a pattern. There is no guarantee, because they seem to get smarter and often use a different splinter these days, but when using the Life splinter, a lot of the bots have their Divine Healer as the first non-melee card.

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We all know that the Water Splinter - or any other splinter that allows you to use a lot of Magic - is the best way to counter the Life bots.

But if for some reason, you can't use a lot of Magic, it is in your best interest to take out that healer as fast as you can. When it is the first Magic card (90% chance it is), there is only one way to go.

Right!

Double snipe!

Without the healer, the Life bots are a lot easier to beat.

Finding Those Habits

Of course, there is no guarantee... a player can change his strategy whenever he wants.
Still, I think it is important to take a couple of seconds to check out which were the last couple of teams he has played.

The downside is that it will cost you some precious seconds, but I have found it is well worth it most of the time.

Once an enemy has been found, you get to see this screen:

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By hovering your mouse over the circles that represent the 5 last played battles, you can see which teams have been used. This allows you to detect whether your opponent tends to protect the back of his lineup with a strong card or not. You can also detect which kind of card he uses as the first non-melee card.

Check all 5 teams to see if you can find a pattern.

If all 5 times would be like the one you see in the above image, it is clear what to do.

Since Elemental Tree (with self-heal) is in the back, there's little use in trying to take it out using your sneak monsters. Instead, his first non-melee card is the Wood Nymph. At level 5, she had only 4 health. Nothing a double snipe can't handle.

Double snipe is good, but it means you need a high mana game. With the Flesh Golem having Self-Heal, you need enough monsters to attack and take him down too. In a low mana game, you might just need to opt for single snipe, and let all other monsters take it out on Fleshie...

No Guarantees

Once again, there are no guarantees. A player can decide to change his strategy every moment, and with every new battle played.

One point still stands, though... it's always better to try and target only a few monsters, instead of all of them.

Want To Learn More?

This is just a small part of everything the @steemmonsters game involves. It took me a while before I got this, so I thought it might be useful to others too.

If you want to learn loads more about gameplay strategies and how you can use the different rulesets to make the most out of them, I can highly recommend the series of tutorials @theaustrianguy published recently.

Here are the links:

• The Ultimate Stratytorial Part 1 - A comprehensive battle guide for Steem Monsters!

• The Ultimate Stratytorial Part 2 - A guide through the Steem Monsters rulesets!

• The Ultimate Stratytorial Part 3 - A guide through the remaining rulesets!

• Things you probably didn't know about SteemMonsters

Have Fun Playing!

Recommended

Interested in more stories about what it is like to start playing Steemmonsters without having a truckload of money to invest? Check out @senstlessmonster and @bxlphabet, who are doing something similar.

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