This is the forth in a series to explain to my friends how Steemmonsters works, here are the other 3 if you need to catch up!

#101-1 Steem Monster Rules - 101 (The Beginning)

#101-2Steem Monster Rules - 101 (The Battle Rules)

#101-2Steem Monster Rules - 101 (Your Monster Levels Matter))

I realize different people have various knowledge levels of the game, so I decided to do a series of different posts to break it down and simplify it. If you are familiar with it, then you will find this boring. But if you are new, then hopefully I can make it simple to see how it works.

Steem Monster Rules - 101 (Amazing Abilities And Strategy To Use Them)

Rule #1 - Pay Attention To Each Monster's Abilities

As you have noticed by now there are many abilities that most of the monsters have. The key to understanding them and how to maximize their value is to pay attention to what each ability does and at what level you gain on any particular ability. Some are "offensive abilities", like increased melee boost for "INSPIRE"; while others are "defensive abilities", like "GROUP HEAL" from the Divine Healer. (See pics below to see how you know what ability your card has at any particular level)

Offensive Ability

Defensive Ability

And don't forget, as mentioned in the last lesson:

Each monster has a group of stats and potential abilities that get stronger as the card gets more experience (aka "gains levels"). There are 2 ways for your monster to get this experience (defined as XP):

#1 Monsters can earn experience through playing in @steemmonster hosted games (both individual battles and tournaments). Each time a card is played it will earn something in these contests, but the exact definitions are yet to be disclosed. Suffice it to say that they will cater to both the avid player and the casual player, and find ways to make both grow over time!

#2 Monsters can earn experience through "merging" with other cards of their production run. So for instance, if you have bought the "alpha edition" cards already and you have 2 Level 1 Medusa's. You can combine the first Medusa with the second Medusa and make a brand new card that will be a Level 2. (NOTE: as you go up levels this gets much harder and requires many many cards.)

I am reminding you of these 2 points because it is VERY IMPORTANT to check how high (or not) you want to level your monster to get a particular ability. This is majorly part of the game strategy and each monster has different levels that are optimal. Unless you have an unlimited budget, then you should match your monsters to 1) no higher than your summoner level and 2) get the abilities and stats you want to play your team with.

Rule #2 - Know What Each Ability Does

In order to understand the value of an ability, you much learn about that ability and how it affects either your team or the opposition. To help you do that, I've taken the abilities from a list posted by @yabapmatt of Steem Monsters that defines all the abilities:

Rule #3 - Develop Your Strategy Based On Your Abilities

In the list of abilities I've highlighted in red 2 abilities to give you an example of how these abilities affect strategy, "Sneek ability" and "Snipe ability". (see pic above) Both of these two abilities affect the PLACEMENT of your monsters in your lineup, so understanding them is very important and will make a big difference.

Let's go back and look at our sample team from the last 2 weeks. The reason is the last monster in the lineup (Fire Beetle) has "Sneek Ability".

Now lets look at the definition of "Snipe Ability" again:

Monsters with Snipe will attack the first Monster on the opposing Team that has Ranged or Magic attack. Only Monsters with Ranged or Magic attack can have the Snipe ability.

So this means that your Snipe monster will most likely attack the opposing guys behind the tank (Note: most "tanks" are melee attackers, but there might be some magic tanks used on limited occasions). This can be a very powerful tool as it can do damage behind the tank and maybe even take out a range or magic opponent. Remember the name of the game is to dish out as much damage, while at the same time reducing your own.

Another note is that you will almost never place your SNIPE in the first position as it 1) probably has range attack (which can't fire from the first position) and 2) most likely has small levels of health to withstand an attack against it. Essentially the goal is to "hide" or "bury" the snipe in between monsters with higher health so that it can fire away at the opponent while taking no fire itself.

The positioning of monsters in your lineup will require you to think of a) what works best between the monsters you've chosen and b) what you think your opponent will field against you. There is no exact perfect lineup that beats everything, so a lot of this game strategy is essential to figuring out how to win. It is also very encouraging to even the small players, because even if your team isn't expensive it can still take down a bigger opponent if the opponent doesn't also pay attention and focus on maximizing his own abilities.

This ends today's basic lesson. These are 3 rules that I think everyone should know when first starting out with this very cool game. There are other posts that you can get more info if you feel you are ready to go to the next step, like this one:

Steem Monsters Gameplay Mechanics Revealed!

I will be doing a followup where I expand on the topics discussed soon. I like to give out info in smaller bites so that people can consume it easier. But I also encourage anyone to ask any questions below in the comment section and I will be happy to answer to the best of my ability.

Also if you haven't seen a match with the cards yet, check out this match with me and @yabapmatt. It shows how awesome this game is going to be, and just remember we are all still very much in the beginning! No real gameplay has even started yet ;)

(Note: run in 0.25x speed)