Dragons of Legends!
So I started off with my favorite Neutral monsters for newcomers. Neutral monsters can be used with any Splinter, and as such, they were the most important to recommend to newcomers! If for some reason, you missed it, you can check it out here: My Favorite Neutral Monsters for New Players
Now, we'll start with Dragon, out of the actual splinter types, as it can be combined with 1 Splinter of any other type, making it the 2nd most versatile splinter, which will help you win across ALL elements and allow you to win a larger variety of quests. Quests, & renting are crucial to your growth as a new player! This will help you win more quests, and also increase your collection power by renting cards!
About Dragons
Dragons tend to be very powerful cards, but very costly cards as well. There are not a lot of mid-mana cards in Dragon. They tend to be tanky, powerful, and have a variety of abilities. It's best to think of the Dragon Splinter as a mixed up toolbox that augments OTHER splinters. The more optimal builds with Dragon tend to feature 1-2 Dragons, not a full team of them. Dragon Splinter on its own, shines best in Earthquake rounds due to a large amount of Flying Cards, and in very High Mana rounds, such as 99 Mana, where their power can really shine in a group.
In this one, I will recommend SUMMONERS as well. I will start with 5 Creatures I think are pivotal to Dragon. This one, I think, is, and will be the most difficult one, as Dragons are situationally very powerful. Neutral has a few great universal cards. Dragons. Dragons are situational, but boy are they POWERFUL. This means I'll be going over a few crucial positions a newbie needs most. There are many really solid choices in Dragons, and you don't really need all of them, you just need to find a good one that supplements what your favorite Splinter is lacking!
These are definitely not the best Dragon cards, they are just really solid choices for climbing through Bronze-Silver, as they will complement your initial weaknesses in all splinters, and they will improve your High Mana and Low Mana battles (Both of which are lacking in the initial set of cards you start with)
#1: Position 1 High Mana Tank: Robo-Dragon Knight
A CRAZY strong high mana Legendary card. He's not very expensive to rent, but THAT is the beauty of him, he offers a lot of Collection Power, and he's an excellent high mana, Anti-magic tank. 3 Melee, 3 Speed, 8 Armor, 9 Health. Did I say anti-magic? He's also anti melee. He's pretty much anti everything. He's similar to Goblin Mech, in the sense that he becomes more and more situational as you climb through the ranks, but from Bronze-Silver, your opponent won't know what hit them. He's basic a walking (knight)mare for Water Splinter.
#2: Dragon Jumper: An Opportunist for every Splinter!
Most Dragon cards are legendary. This is pretty much Dragon's playstyle, you add a very power key dragon to your team that fills out what your team would lack without it. Dragon Jumper is a powerful Opportunity attacker and he pairs well with Snipe, Sneak, etc. Bonus points for being good in Earthquake rounds as well!
#3 Lightning Dragon: A Heavy Hitting Ranged Attacker
A fast ranged attacker, Lightning Dragon is a really good choice for really upping your damage and gives you a very powerful ranged attacker (with flying for Earthquake rounds!). This guy is especially good because he's not too expensive to rent, he offers 1000 Collection Power, and he rounds out your ranged options for high mana battles, with a whopping 3 Range at level 1!
#4 & #5 Low Mana Casters: Dragon Whelp or Dragon Mystic
2 Cards for number 4, because they are both great for low mana. This might seem weird, but having an edge on a low mana battle really matters, and these are both excellent in their proper situations: Serpentine Mystic is great to prevent healing, regeneration, etc. Bye Bye Sea Monster, Cerberus, etc. etc. Meanwhile, Dragon Whelp is better in situations where Earthquake is active.
Honorable Mention Fiendish Harpy is not as good as these two, as her melee attack limits her positioning, but she is another option for low mana cards that can augment your other Splinter's playstyles. For instance, she could be used as a meat shield for a Water Splinter magic stack on low Mana.
Summoners
*keep in mind I am recommending summoners for newbies without much DEC, so my goal here is to help them as much as possible for as cheap as possible. No Legendaries, No Epics unless they're cheap to rent, etc. etc
Daria Dragonscale
Daria Dragonscale grants +1 Melee damage to all users. She's affordable to rent, and that is a very powerful factor on dragons like Dragon Jumper and Dragon Knight. She's perfect paired with Fire or Earth teams who rely on cards like the Spy and the Goblin Thief in low mana, and Finneas Rage or Nectar Queen in higher mana battles!
Brighton Bloom
Brighton Bloom will change Earthquake rounds into a breezey win, nearly every time, as she gives flying to all targets. Highly situational, but this one summoner gives peace of mind. Flying also gives all monsters a chance to dodge Ranged and Melee attacks, and, if you're willing to bet on that RNG, it could very easily turn around a losing battle.
Honorable Mention: Delwyn Dragonscale
Also cheap, in fact, the cheapest of the three, he would be absolutely perfect at 4 Mana, to power up your low mana battles with Dragon Whelp or Serpentine Mystic. Unfortunately, 5 Mana makes him less ideal for low mana battles. That being said, he is a great alternative for Magic heavy splinters like the Water splinter, if they need a little extra boost from a mighty dragon caster.
Splinterlands, How to Sign Up
Never played? Interested in getting in on the action? Want to find out what all the fuss is about for these battles, or maybe you've seen a bunch about SPS? You can play the game 100% for free initially, without earning currency. If you like it, you pay $10 to get in on the action by buying a Spellbook! You'll make that 10 dollars back in less than a month at current prices. If you sign up, feel free to message or comment and I might hook you up with some free starting cards, or delegate a card to you for a week!
Join me on Splinterlands, if you use my link, I'll send you 100 DEC when you sign up and get a spellbook, (as long as you show up as referred) which should help you get started via renting! Also, feel free to message me, I can answer any questions, give tips, etc. I might even give you a card or delegate some to you for your first season! I also will be doing a monthly giveaway for my referrals for as long as I play! Last month, I gave my first referral a 1 month delegation of 3 Legendaries and Mylor, plus some other stuff for the month! This month I think I will be delegating a gold Serpentine Spy to somebody for the month of September and who knows what else!
