So, he dropped, available for purchase, who will buy him. Or rather, who thinks that there is now a thunder legendary worth buying with Zyla and Voltiak in play ? I plan to buy him, I think his skillset is too valuble in terms of a thunder control monster, and that he is a hard counter to both Zyla, VoltiaK and Theyts.

I bought him, may be a while before he's offered again.

He seems moderately interesting for a counter to VoltaiK and Zilla, but too expensive to rank up to 130 to be affective. Obviously SP does not realize that any new monster is not going to be too attractive because of the cost to rank up to be competitive with other 130s.

I bought him, will power him up to level 70, but I will only use him in Dungeons for fun.

EDIT: what a difference 2 months makes.

I purchased him but honestly by the time I take him out of storage and level up to be useful there will probably be a counter for him.

@Nynaevelan speaking of counters, I cant help but see SP releasing more and more of these monsters with 0 stamina moves, first nemesis, now Sparking Mantis, I do see it making the game more interesting.

He's very tempting to me. Love the stamina drain he brings and counter against being stamina drained himself.

Now let's think of the best stamina drain comp:
Blob + Sparking Mantis + (General Thetys, .. ?)

Not super excited by Sparking Mantis.

Great stats. High damage. But so what? He isn't in any Book, and the Thunder attacker pantheon has Voltaik and Zyla who are an order of magnitude more effective as attackers.

No group denial. At best, an effective 45% aoe stamina drain if stamina leak isn't resisted. Else just 30%.

Single target drain denial - if successful on two 95% accuracy checks, and doesn't prevent a special. This is why Blob is risky to use.

Gaining 30% stamina while draining 30% stamina on 0 CD and 0 cost... ummm. I can get 50% back by recharging. And taking 30% off a target is hardly awesome. At best it slightly reduces Volt effectiveness or prevents Thetys from using Stamina Devourers. But Mantis isn't likely to be faster than Thetys because otherwise it carries no strength, making those big damage moves redundant.

So... what am I missing?

@MarshallTheBeef said in Sparking Mantis:

Now let's think of the best stamina drain comp:
Blob + Sparking Mantis + (General Thetys, .. ?)

Thetys One: Stamina Devourers
Timerion: Stop Time, Cooldowns Deactivated
Thetys Two: Elite Sea Troops

Repeat until all enemies are dead.

@C0ntr1v3d said in Sparking Mantis:

Not super excited by Sparking Mantis.

Great stats. High damage. But so what? He isn't in any Book, and the Thunder attacker pantheon has Voltaik and Zyla who are an order of magnitude more effective as attackers.

No group denial. At best, an effective 45% aoe stamina drain if stamina leak isn't resisted. Else just 30%.

Single target drain denial - if successful on two 95% accuracy checks, and doesn't prevent a special. This is why Blob is risky to use.

Gaining 30% stamina while draining 30% stamina on 0 CD and 0 cost... ummm. I can get 50% back by recharging. And taking 30% off a target is hardly awesome. At best it slightly reduces Volt effectiveness or prevents Thetys from using Stamina Devourers. But Mantis isn't likely to be faster than Thetys because otherwise it carries no strength, making those big damage moves redundant.

So... what am I missing?

Ah ok. Thanks Ekto. Niche value on defence in Thunder wars with all 4 drain moves and hope to frustrate an attacking Volt as long as the other 2 rules don't supply something that negates it.

I think that Vigor Glance is useless. It it just a stronger recharge, his other skills removes more stamina and deals very hihg damage, and very few monsters has 2 skills that removes stamina.

I cannot say how much I love Sparking Mantis - one of the best purchases I have made in ML.

However, seeing as he was a Premiere Monster, can you please tell me why is not in the VIP book, whereas all other recent premiere monsters are?