HELLO to all Splinterlands readers of my humble blog.👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 Welcome to yet another week of the "new" iteration of the Splinterlands Weekly Challenges 😜. The "old" Battle Challenges are now a thing of the past (at least for now?) and they have been replaced with this week's "Splinterlands Community Engagement Challenge: Battlefield Breakthroughs".

For any old Hivers/Splinterlands players who've just come back and are confused, fret not! Even with the name and format tweaks, right at it's core, battles are still the foundation of these posts.

In this week's edition of my Splinterlands Community Engagement Challenge: Battlefield Breakthroughs, I will do something drastically different from my usual battle showcases. Instead of war, I will become a peaceful teacher showing all new players how to most effectively navigate the topic of "Battlefield Breakthroughs".

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Hey fellow Splinterlanders! I recently jumped into a match under the Armored Up ruleset (yup, the one where every monster starts with an extra +2 armour) and ended up pulling off a sneaky win thanks to Lucky Longshot, my favourite sleeper pick from the Conclave Arcana expansion. I’m here to walk through how the ruleset changed things, how Lucky Longshot capitalised, and how you might take that insight into your next battle. Let’s dive in before the armour wears off!

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That being said, here's some tips and tricks from Yours Truly which will hopefully help any new player who comes across this guide. Read on to find out more! 😜

No matter! I present to you — Battlefield Breakthroughs.

So without further ado, let me introduce how best to navigate this seemingly impossible task to you! 🎉

⚔️🛡️ Armour Breaker: Lucky Longshot’s Armoured Up Upset 🛡️⚔️

With all that being said, here is how I would advice ALL players on how you can capitalize on some of these simple strategies!

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“No one calls her Lucky Longshot because she’s lucky. She once bumped into a tree, knocked a beehive loose, and dove into a swamp to escape the bees, landing in a nest of vipers. The vipers were fine. Lucky was not. Another time, she tripped over a black cat and face-planted in a trough of turnip mash while chasing a halfling who stole her pie. The halfling got away, probably dining on it by candlelight with a smug grin and a side of pudding, also stolen.
She still talks about that pie.
But when Bren Palesworn came to the Nimbledook, he saw her mishaps, misfires, and muddled spells, and he trained her anyway. Taught her to steady her bow. To focus her magic. And Lucky—grateful, overwhelmed, and eyebrowless from a little incident with a wild fireshroom—decided to pass it on.
She teaches others like Bren taught her. The results are… mixed.
During one of Lucky’s spin-and-strike drills, Roddick’s shield flew into a tree and stuck fast. They had to use ropes and pulleys to pry it loose. Zipta took Lucky’s advice on rappelling and found herself dangling upside-down by her ankle. And while Lucky was training Razi’s owl to fetch, it careened into a stalactite that fell and nearly crushed all four of them. Lucky apologized. Razi kept a piece of the stalactite.
Against Craniax the Quick and his allies, Lucky’s luck hasn’t improved, but somehow, she always seems to come out on top.
One night, while the gnomes were camped in the Deep, shuffling footsteps and the stink of rot came drifting down the tunnel toward them. The gnomes leaped from their bedrolls. Lucky grabbed her bow, nocked an arrow, and fired blindly.
The arrow hit the cooking rig over the campfire. The cooking rig fell onto Lucky’s backpack. Lucky’s backpack caught on fire. So did the alchemical powder she kept handy in an outer pouch. The ensuing explosion brought the tunnel down on top of the advancing undead.
Silence followed. Dust settled. Razi coughed up soot.
Lucky blinked. “I was aiming for the one in the back.”
She’s fallen off ledges, tripped over quivers, mistaken cursed runes for healing runes, and dropped her arrows too many times to count. But every time, it’s the Conclave Arcana whose luck turned sour.
She’s clumsy. Unpredictable. Possibly cursed. But she’s also funny, fearless, and exactly the kind of gnome you want in a fight you’re not supposed to win.
If the mage wagons show up tomorrow, that’s fine. But Lucky kind of hopes they take their sweet time. She’s finally hitting her stride.

From Splinterlands Lore on Lucky Longshot

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🔍 Why This Ruleset & Card Deserve a Spotlight

Using Armored Up shifts the equation: armour gets a head start, which means physical attacks have more “budget” to chew through, and magic attacks hit armour first (unless you have void armour etc). Meanwhile Lucky Longshot from the Conclave Arcana set has a mix of potent abilities (double attack, ranged + magic) that shine under this kind of environment. So when you combine them, you’re looking at a meta twist where the “armour fuss” is real but you’ve got a card that can punch through in creative ways.

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The ruleset forced me to re-think attack types

Because every monster started with +2 armour under Armored Up, my usual go-to heavy physical hitters were a bit slower to make impact and my baseline damage was softened. That made me pivot to cards that either bypass armour or have multiple attack types. Lucky Longshot provides that diversification (ranged + magic) so it could target weaknesses more flexibly. My takeaway: when armour is amplified, having versatility matters more than raw single stat power.

Lucky Longshot’s double weapon training made the difference

Lucky Longshot comes with the “Weapons Training” ability (and double attack) which means it can deliver two hits in one round, and in an armour heavy environment, that “two swings” often meant getting past the bonus armour on the first hit and capitalising on the second. This taught me that under Armored Up you might need two chances rather than one big shot. If you only swing once and the armour absorbs, you lose momentum.

Positioning became more critical than ever

With extra armour, the tanking dynamics changed. The unit in front could soak more reliably, giving rear units time to do work. I placed Lucky Longshot in second slot behind a sturdy taunter so that the armour buff was “spent” by the front guard, giving Lucky the chance to strike with full effect. The strategic insight: when armour is generous, consider using a “front muffin” (tank) to exhaust that buffer while your multipliers shine behind.

Deck building takeaway: mix attack types + armour synergy

The match taught me that when facing Armored Up, my deck should include:

(1) at least one unit that can hit in more than one way (e.g., magic + ranged) so you can exploit both armour and health layers.

(2) a partner unit that can draw fire or absorb the initial armour buffer.

(3) a swing card like Lucky Longshot that thrives when given time to strike twice. I’ll now prioritize cards with two attack types or double attack when I see Armored Up pop in the queue.

Community context — sharing my “turn-two swing” moment

In the replay I posted to my guild chat, my breakthrough moment came when Lucky Longshot landed two hits on a rival monster that was still buffed by +2 armour. The first hit chipped the armour and the second hit delivered the knockout. There was an audible “oof” in voice chat and the reaction was instant. This is why I encourage you: when you get a moment like this, screenshot it, share the turn count, talk about how the armour was neutralised, and you’ll help the community learn that armour isn’t just a pad but a trigger for strategy.

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So there you have it: under the Armored Up ruleset I turned a match around thanks to Lucky Longshot from Conclave Arcana. The extra armour made me rethink attack types and positioning, but the double attack and flexibility of that unit let me exploit the situation. Next time you queue into a ruleset that buffs armour, don’t panic. Lean into versatility, pick a swing card that can adapt, and let the armour become your stepping stone instead of a roadblock. Go forth and share your breakthrough moment, gear up, lock in, and show the everyone how you turned armour into opportunity!

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💭🧐💭Ending Thoughts💭🧐💭

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I definitely can appreciate Battlefield Breakthroughs and how it changes the dynamics of usual gameplay. This is one of those situations which can be turned into a huge advantage if surrounded with the proper strategies. The role it brings to the battlefield will give a player the edge in squeezing out every tiny advantage to get the win. 👍🏻

I hope this article has given you some insight into its potential. 😉

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To any new players who wish to explore the world of Splinterlands, do feel free to sign up with my REFERRAL LINK 😊.

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