Noxious Fumes Strategy – Healing Through the Poison

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beaker0075.1 KyesterdayPeakD5 min read

While I’m still having tons of fun in Frontier, I also jumped back into Modern.

The reason is simple: I’m trying for the Silver leaderboard to squeeze out some extra bonus Glint.
Every single Glint counts right now, since I’m working hard to finish the Soulbound Rebellion set strong. With the next set around the corner, I want to make sure I close this chapter the right way.

And in the middle of that grind I had one of those matches that just makes you smile. It wasn’t just a win—it was a little lesson in how combining abilities can completely turn the table in a ruleset that usually feels brutal.

The ruleset was Noxious Fumes.

Everyone starts poisoned, and unless you have the right tools your team cleanse it away before you start.

Most of the time when this ruleset shows up, I go for a mix of Cleanse units and a couple of Immunity tanks. That’s the “safe” route and usually does the trick. But this time, something different: a healing combo that made my frontline tank practically immortal.

The Lineup

I didn’t have access to a full Cleanse setup in this battle. No double Cleanse, no ideal immunity spread. What I did have was:

A frontline self-healer (tank)
A cleanse and Rear cleanse unit (support)
A backline tank healer with Cleanse support (support)
My trusty Archon Lorkus, applying Life Leech to my tank

That mix was enough to create a synergy where the longer the match went, the stronger my frontline got.

Round by Round

Round 1
The poison damage hit everyone hard, but my frontline already had a bit of extra health stacked thanks to the Life Leech from Lorkus. That small buffer made all the difference—it allowed the healing cycle to kick in effectively.

Round 2
My tank was healing for 3 HP per turn. That’s already more than the poison damage. Add the backline tank heal on top, and suddenly my unit was not just surviving, but thriving. My opponent simply couldn’t push through.

Round 3
By this point the healing had scaled to 4 HP per turn. With poison ticking for 2, I was now flipping the ruleset on its head. Instead of being a disadvantage, poison was feeding into my strategy because my tank kept absorbing everything while the opponent’s team slowly withered away.

Round 4
My healer was exhausted and couldn’t attack, but it didn’t even matter. The match was already won. My tank was unstoppable at that point and the rest of the enemy squad was dropping fast to poison.

The Strategy Explained

What I love about this match is how it showed the power of stacking Self Heal, Life Leech, and Tank Heal together. Each of these abilities on its own is decent. Together, they become a wall that’s almost impossible to break unless your opponent has serious burst damage.

The beauty of this approach in Noxious Fumes is that it flips the expectation. Most players immediately scramble for Immunity units and Cleanse. And also in this match i picked to do this with the extra cleanse units.
But if you can’t field enough of them you still have options. You can create a setup that leans into the poison damage and outlasts it through sheer healing power.

This strategy isn’t foolproof. If your opponent has heavy Affliction

or strong burst that wipes your healer early, it can collapse fast. But in matches where the damage output is more balanced, it’s a nightmare for your opponent to deal with
.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it: one of my surprise match where my strategies worked perfectly (often not the case 🤣) for Noxious Fumes.
I leaned into what I had available and discovered just how nasty a self-healing tank backed by Life Leech and Tank Heal can be.

If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a go. Next time you see the poison ruleset, don’t just default to Immunity. Experiment with healing synergies and see if you can flip the script on your opponents.

That’s the beauty of Splinterlands. Even after so many seasons, I’m still discovering little tricks and interactions that make me smile. This one did, and I hope it gives you some ideas too. What’s your go-to play in Noxious Fumes? Do you stick to Immunity, or have you found your own way to outlast the poison?

See you all on the battlefield