LeoGlossary: Attack Type

SplinterGlossary: Attack Type

There are three types of attacks in Splinterlands:

melee
range
magic

There are also monsters with no attack at all, which usually compensate in other ways for the fact that they won't attack.

Melee monsters normally attack from the first position, also known as a tank.

The Sneak, Opportunity, and Reach abilities allow melee monsters to attack from different positions, as do the Melee Mayhem and Super Sneak rulesets.

Melee monsters have a ruleset of their own, where non-melee monsters are not allowed: Up, Close & Personal. At the same time, they have a ruleset where they can't be used: Keep Your Distance.

Range monsters normally attack from the backline (any position except the first one).

The Close Range ability allows them to attack from the first position, as does the ruleset with the same name.

Broken Arrows ruleset forbids the use of range monsters.

Magic monsters attack from any position. Without other counters (Void Armor ability, Weak Magic ruleset), magic attack bypasses armor and takes Health points directly. Unlike Melee or Range, Magic attack also doesn't miss, unless the attacked monster has the Phase ability.

Lost Magic ruleset doesn't allow the use of monsters with magic attack.

Sometimes monsters have combined attack types, like:

melee + range
melee + magic

Such monsters attack first with magic or range, and then with melee. One of their attack types can be blocked depending on the position in the lineup or the ruleset.