Clash Royale meta decks

This page describes the strategies, hints and tips of meta decks in Clash Royale.

Meta decks are those decks played by many top 200 players, and that show consistent win rates against several deck archetypes.

royalrecruits Hogs fireball bait

Meta deck - royal recruits hogs fireball bait	Three variants using the same base (see royalrecruits-royalhogs-flyingmachine-zappies-goblincage-fireball-barbarianbarrel Deckshop.pro)

Base strategy

• Deck containing many fireball bait cards. Always play them to AVOID giving opp fireball value.

• Play machine in the middle (so that P tower can't be hit).
• Split hogs.

• Usually play hogs after recruits, so that they tank for the hogs.

• All fireball bait. Goal is to never give any value to opp fireball, like always play flyingmachine in the middle (to avoid damage on towers). Then also always split troops on both lanes (eg. when recruits are tanking for the hogs).

2.6 hogrider cycle deck

Meta deck - 2.6 hog cycle deck

Most stable archetype in the whole game. Started playing with this deck during 2nd Clan War season. Very difficult to play but would help better understand / master the game. Guides: new 2.6 hogrider Cycle - Most Informative and In-Depth Guide to the Most Popular hogrider Cycle Deck (electrowizard 2016 - reddit.com) new hogrider-log-deck-2-6-hogrider-cycle-deck/ Clash Royale-2.6 hogrider log Deck In-Depth Guide to the Most Popular hogrider Cycle Deck (Kpid 2017 - gamestroops.com) new hogrider-cycle-guide.2901480/ IN DEPTH 2.6 hogrider Cycle Guide (Klerx69 2020 - Hypixel.net) Youtube: YersonCz YouTube channel 2.6 hogrider CYCLE GOD vs WORLD'S TOP PROS! (Strategy Guide, Clash With Ash - youtube.com) , gameplay from YersonCz BEST 2.6 hogrider CYCLE GAMEPLAY EVER! 7,100+ TROPHIES (Clash With Ash 2019 - youtube.com), gameplay from LucasXGamer, more explanations here. 50 tips for 2.6 hogrider cycle you NEED to know - Clash Royale - TheWizCR - youtube.com — a MUST-KNOW 2.6 hogrider PRO TIPS - OYASSUU - youtube.com

Base strategy

• General goals:

• distract all units,
• avoid taking any damage on the towers, and
• space out key defensive units (to avoid giving spell value).
• never be too low in elixir (to defend rapidly with many units at once).
• cycle with purpose (eg. if playing defense, play musketeer BEFORE hogrider, so that to get back to musketeer first to get better defense).

• General tips [1]

• Tip 1: Push smarter but not harder (eg. hogrider + golem)
• Tip 2: Cycle with purpose (eg. cycle for chiping with spells, or cycle to prepare push...)
• Tip 3: Protect your musketeer (use skeletons, icespirit, cannon).

• Learn to get most value from 1-elixir units (skeletons, icespirit).
• Know spell cycle magic number:

• 6 cards needed to play 3 spells (fireball (4)-log (2)-icegolem (2)-icespirit (1)-skeletons (1)-fireball (4)) and score 663 (lvl 14) / 501 (lvl 11) damage on tower.

Early stage gameplan (<2 min):

• Wait a 5 or 10 seconds to watch for opp aggressive move. If none, play icespirit or hogrider at the bridge.
• DO NOT play musketeer or cannon until you know ennemy's deck.
• Against golem beat down, apply lot of early pressure

Late stage gameplan:

• Focus on defense if opp has one tower down.
• Otherwise, if difficult to go through, start cycling spells, while pressuring with hogrider when possible (eg. by kiting opp troops).

Card guide

How to use them:

• hogrider main win condition. Play it when opp plays his own win condition to apply pressure.

• Can push the icegolem. Do this when cycling fast, to still keep value of golem.
• kite away attacking troops, very useful to split / separate an attack.
• In end game, use prediction spell to get more value.

• icespirit: to slow down balloon or hogrider, avoid them to have a hit against tower or cannon. Reset attacks (but not sparky), so icespirit + icegolem are very interesting to re-aggro an attacking opponent. ALWAYS play spirit first! (to freeze opponent and reduce damage)
• thelog: also defensively, to push forward units, to protect eg. musketeer against pekka/prince or cannon against hogrider. Reset attacks (charge).
• icegolem: will also kill some units (skeletons) and slow them down on death.

Where to place them:

• skeletons:

• 1-3 (eg. very effective against elitebarbarians).

• cannon:

• 3-3 or 3-2 (Ouahleouff [2]) for cannon.
• 4-3 against golem
• 4-2 or 3-2 against hogrider (3-3 or even 2-3 will NOT aggro!).

• musketeer:

• 7-3, then icespirit at 3-3 to attract troops from bridge (and get defense from both towers).

Tower activation methods

• Against megaknight, activation:

• hogrider at 2-4 when megaknight crosses the bridge, then after megaknight jumps icespirit at 8-3 [3]
• skeletons at 4-3 (when megaknight is at 1+2), then when megaknight jumps icespirit at 8-4 [4]
• skeletons at 4-4 (when megaknight is at 1+2), then when megaknight jumps icespirit at 7-4 [5] (here megaknight was coming from middle).
• cannon at 4-2, then icespirit at 9-4 [6]
• cannon at 4-3, and icegolem at 1-4 (other lane), then skeletons at 9-4 when cannon is down [7].
• More activation by YersonCz here.

• Against 2.6:

• On hogrider alone, cannon at 4-2.
• Against musketeer, cannon at 5-2, so that it is not sniped by musketeer. Try to protect cannon with skel, ice or golem.
• Log the icegolem.

• firecracker:

• cannon at 4-2 (at least when she comes from the middle). To confirm.

• mortar at river: skeletons right in from of K tower and aligned with mortar, or the left/right neighbour square, when mortar timer is at 3/4.

Match-up guide

• against lavahound+balloon:

• On lava: hogrider opposite lane always (if needed, cycle aggressively, like with spirit or golem at bridge).
• Against 1st balloon: cannon at 4-1, then cycle (log on tower, golem 7+4 to be under lava when he pops, spirit under balloon to slow it down a bit) and then 2nd cannon at 7-3 to activate K tower.
• Against balloon at 0+4: cannon at 0-2, then fireball to push back balloon, trying to hit puppies as well.
• Against ground troops: skeletons at 0-4.

• against lavaminer:

• Against minipekka: icegolem at 4-3, or skeletons at 0-4!!!
• Against miner: cannon at 4+5!!!, and icespirit.
• Against babydragon: cannon to distract, then icespirit.
• On lavahound: icegolem at 0+3, then hogrider at 0+3 also, then skeletonsat 0+2 opposite lane (skeletons are for minipekka distraction)

• On single tower: when opp tower is around 600, time to cycle fireball and/or musketeer.
• Against hogrider-earthquake:

• when minipekka is out of hand: hogrider at bridge.
• we can force minipekka play when our musketeer is full health, we protect her with icegolem. This will allow later to play hogrider.

• King activation against Marcher:

• icespirit at 7-2 when Marcher is finishing crossing bridge, then immediately thelog at 1+4 to push Marcher a bit [8].

• Against mortar-hogrider:

• K tower activation on mortar: when mortar at 0-2, play skeletons at 9-3 (right in front, against k tower edge).
• Against mortar: icespirit 5-4 (ie. opposite lane), then icegolem 5-4 again.
• Against mortar at border: musketeer at 3-x can shoot mortar.
• Against naked horde: only icegolem or kite with hogrider. icespirit also good to weaken them.

• Against sparky:

• cannon played middle to defend the tank, then icespirit, skeletons and thelog to distract the sparky, and also defend the musketeer.
• On sparky play, match with icegolem same lane.

• Against elixirgolem-healer-nightwitch:

• icegolem behind K tower, then when it reaches P tower upper edge, musketeer at corner. then cannon at 0-3 to distract golem. Then fireball when all troop together (on golem, electrodrag...). Then thelog to push nightwitch, and finally icegolem again opposite lane to kite witch away, and finally hogrider to pull ennemy further back.
• icespirit at bridge regularly to chip more damage.

• General advice: NEVER play cannon or musketeer first because opponent may react. Only play these cards in reaction to opponent's play.
• Against golem:

• Play aggressive first 2 minutes (go with icegolem, pushed by hogrider, covered by musketeer). This takes tower if undefended.
• Then defend when one tower down.
• cannon at 3-3 as defense.

• Against hogrider: cannon at 1-2, no damage taken; at 3-2, no damage taken either. at 2-2, also good.
• Against miner: cannon at 5-0 or even 6-0, to deal with the miner. Alternatively, icespirit on the miner, then icegolem or even (better?) skeletons to aggro the miner!

reddit guide notes (to be merged)

Deck overview

• hogrider: best win condition.
• musketeer: only defense card. card of placement. save it for defense only, but can be turned into offense in counterpush. Can snipe at building 3 tiles from river!
• icegolem: tank, distract, kite units.
• skeletons: 1st cycle card. high DPS, kite, distract, pull enemy units.
• icespirit: 2nd cycle card. offense / defense. don't let your spirit die!
• cannon: main defense against tanks.
• fireball: instant damage, offense and defense, allow prediction.
• log: small swarm units.

Strengthes / Weaknesses

• fireball + log to remove some hogrider counter (barbarians, cannon, tombstone, skeletonarmy).
• pig push to bypass buildings at 4-3 placement
• Weak against bowler / infernotower.
• Weak against deck with 2 hard counters for the hogrider.
• Weak to beatdown decks with big push, to graveyard decks, to lavahound decks.

General gameplan

• Play frequent hogrider pushes, and use chep cycling cards to out cycle opp's defense.
• Best start is hogrider + icegolem (golem can kill nearby skeletons on death). hogrider + icespirit or hogrider + skeletons also good. If hogrider not in cycle nor next, play musketeer to bank your elixir (useful if eg. hogrider is last).
• Before 2x elixir: cycle hogrider + X pushes (the three above), and use musketeer and cannon to defend. Use fast cycle card to out cycle opponent, and keep in mind opp's hogrider counters (eg. if skeletonarmy, have log in rotation before hogrider push).
• 2x elixir: can be more aggressive. Here really try to outcycle opponent with cheap cards. If cannot push, then cycle spells instead.

Basic Offense

• The three pushes: hogrider + icegolem (most effective in general), hogrider + icespirit and hogrider + skeletons (here hogrider is the tank, and skeletons can shieldthe back of the rider).
• In counterpush, musketeer comboed with hogrider (I guess idea is to send rider early so that to tank for musketeer).

Advanced Offense - Outcycling

• Ideal rotation is musketeer, skeletons, icespirit, icegolem. Best done in 2x elixir.
• Don't overcommit. Don't try to outcycle two hogrider counters before 2x elixir.
• Keep in mind what hogrider counters the opponent has in rotation, to cycle appropriately.

Advanced Offense - Pig pushing

• Useful to bypass a building at 4-3 plant.
• icespirit: icespirit at 0+4, then immediately hogrider same square.
• skeletons: hogrider at 0+4, then immediately skeletons at 0+3.
• icegolem: icegolem at 0+4, then immediately hogrider same square (NOT ideal because golem loses value here).
• musketeer: musketeer at 0+4, then immediately hogrider same square.
• Don't hesitate to switch lane for pig push if say opponent has no hogrider counter in hand!

Countering their counters

• infernotower
• cannon
• tombstone
• barbarians
• elitebarbarians
• bowler

MORE...

Tips

Tips from 50 tips for 2.6 hogrider cycle you NEED to know - TheWizCR - youtube

• wallbreakers: skeletons at 3+2. asap (perfect).
• balloon: fireball at 6+2 when balloon shadow touches blast circle (only explosion hits).
• hogrider (0+4 or 1+5): cannon at 4-2 (perfect, both tower shoots).
• bandit: skeletons at 2-5 when she crosses our river border (perfect, both tower shoot).
• minipekka: skeletons at 3-4 when it crosses our river border (perfect).
• megaknight: activation with skeletons at 4-3 when it reaches 2nd row, then icespirit at 7-4 in the middle of the jump (note: K tower takes quite some dmg)
• balloon with lavahound: activation 1st cannon at 4-1, then 2nd cannon at 7-3 (close to K). Then musketeer at 11-1 to finish off.

As a result always put cannon after lava connected on tower to allow this activation.

• megaknight: hogrider at 0+4 when megaknight it reaches 3rd row.

Usually play musketeer first at 9-3 when megaknight reaches bridge, then the hogrider, then icespirit + icegolem (perfect)

• minions (dropped at bridge): skeletons at 0-4 asap (perfect, both towers shoot)
• furnace: icespirit at 5-1 when first firespirit crosses our river border.
• electrospirit: place any troop at 11-0.

... or maybe also at 8-1?

• balloon at bridge: cannon at 4-2 asap (only explosion hits, both tower shoots).
• cannoncart: thelog then fireball when cart closes to opp tower (immobilizes).
• hunter: icespirit at 1-4 when he crosses our river border (perfect)
• golem at bridge: cannon at 4-3 asap, then musketeer at 5+5.
• minipekka: icegolem at 3-4 asap, ie. when it crosses opp's river border. (perfect)
• musketeer: skeletons at 0+2 when she is middle bridge.
• speargoblins: skeletons at 2+2 when they crosses our river border, allowing one goblin to connect (only one spear hit).
• xbow (border, +1 river) then tesla at bridge: icegolem at 4-4 asap, then musketeer at 3+5 asap.
• against tornado: icegolem + hogrider at 1+3 to avoid tornado.
• Against any tank: cannon at 4-3.
• electrowizard: icespirit at 1-4 when wizard middle bridge.
• elitebarbarians: icegolem at 3-4 when they crosses opp's river border, then skeletons at 6-3 when they killed the golem (perfect).
• firecracker: activation with icespirit at 6-2 when she crosses opp's river border.
• magicarcher: activation with icespirit at 5-4 when archer middle/third bridge, then skeletons at 7-2, when archer shoots 2nd shot and moves.
• Catch opp. off guard with musketeer + hogrider at 0+3.
• ramrider: cannon at 4-2 (perfect, both towers shoot).
• lavahound+balloon: cannon at 0+4 to have balloon come in front, then musketeer at 5-2.
• Against ramrider in opp.'s hand: Add skeletons after hogrider jumped.
• Against tower played at 3-sq river: hogrider at 0+4, then musketeer at 0-3.
• royaleghost: skeletons at 3+2 when royalghost on 2nd row (to surround him) (one hit).
• fisherman: skeletons at 7+4 when fisherman middle bridge (perfect).
• dartgoblin: skeletons at 0+2 when goblin at opp's border (perfect).
• fisherman: icespirit at 5-4 when fisherman middle bridge (perfect).
• bowler: activation with cannon at 6-0 when bowler at our river border, then thelog at 2+4 when bowler on 3rd row and his outer foot up in the air and going to touch 4th row (perfect), ie. when (top of) his health bar is crossing mid bridge (better indication).
• magicarcher: icespirit at 5-4 when archer middle/third bridge (perfect).
• miner: icespirit (typ. 10+4, best predict) then immediately skeletons on him.
• sparky: skeletons at 1+2 when sparky front is entering 2nd row (perfect, 2 skullies survive!)
• cannoncart: icespirit at 0-2 when cart front is touching our river border, then asap skeletons at 0+2 (perfect).
• electrodragon: activation with any card at 11-0 when dragon's shadow fully on 3rd row / touching 4th row.
• wallbreakers + miner: cannon at 4+4 to still defend the miner.
• golem: cannon at 4-3 then skeletons at 1+2 when golem crossing our river border (one or two hits).
• darkprince: skeletons at 0-4 when princes crossing our river border, then icespirit when skullies are dead (perfect, both tower shoots).
• Juke goblinbarrel (played at 11+2): activation with skeletons at 13-2 (right beneath k tower).
• giant + graveyard: cannon at 5-0 to target skeletons, then musketeer at 13+1, then thelog when many skullies (lose 1000hp at lvl11).
• hogrider + earthquake: cannon at 4-2, then icespirit on hogrider asap when earthquake.
• royalgiant + earthquake: cannon at 0-3 when RG is middle bridge (avoid earthquake), then asap musketeer at 4+5 (one hit).
• bowler: activation with icegolem at 2-4 when bowler crossing our river border, then skeletons 4-3 when bowler right above, then icespirit 6-3 when bowler again right above (perfect).
• bandit: activation with hogrider at 1-4 when bandit third/middle bridge, then icespirit 8-4 when bandit entering 2+5 square (ie. crossing the median vertical between spirit and P tower).
• sparky in 2x elixir: fireball, thelog, then cycle icespirit+golem+skeletons, then fireball, on tower for extra damage.

Things I learned

• Before 2x: WHen playing a passive musketeer, sending hogrider + golem at bridge is over-extend usually. I guess we should only do golem, icespirit, skeletons (after musketeer is tanking).
• When opp plays goblinbarrel and skeletonarmy, use thelog for barrel, and fireball for skeletonarmy (in particular in 2x).
• log + fireball on witch looks over-extend...
• Usually dangerous to start with hogrider first play. Seems better to start with icespirit at bridge, or deep golem.

• Then maybe better make a dual lane push, musketeer on one side and hogrider on the other, to avoid value from megaknight if opp plays it (oftentimes). However, better have cannon / golem in the hand to defend if hogrider is countered badly.

• Against giant, better not go same lane. If possible, punish with hogrider on the other lane, and split opp. troops.
• (ouah) In push with eg. pekka + hogrider, put cannon at 3-3 to attract hogrider in the middle, so that it is killed by both towers.
• Playing hogrider in the pocket may help in end game, especially against megaknight. Opp often replies with megaknight at bridge when our musketeer reaches it, so hogrider in the pocket may help distract, avoid giving value to megaknight and score damages.

lavahound+balloon deck (Carl the Legend)

General tips (from Carl's gameplay)

• hogrider: play tombstone in lane.

• play lava opp. lane.
• play mega to defend lava.
• after fb on lava, balloon + guards opp lane.

• On executioner in the back: balloon spam opp lane. If electrowizard / tornado: guards. On Ex, megaminion.

• Against lumberjack+balloon spam: skeletondragons 5+3
• On ex middle, fireball sideways (on him + tower) to push him further.

• Mostly play tombstone at 4-2 or 4-3.

• against megaknight, tombstone at 7-2
• Against elixirgolem, tombstone 4-4 still attracts it!

• Against witch: balloon on opp lane. Then on witch, megaminion on her.
• Tips:

• balloon + guard bridge spam.
• tombstone 1st play ok. Not too high (4-3 placement) to avoid sniping from the bridge.
• SKelly drags first ok, but not too deep, or opp will get fireball value.

• Build push:

• In x2, When lava first and balloon not in cycle, can play skelli drags in the corner when elixir up, then balloon behind lava when in hand. Drags will reach the group on time.

• Against infernotower (middle field)

• Skellidrags at bridge, then zap when 1st drag is about to die.

• Against lumberjack+balloon:

• skeletondragons at 3+4 asap, then zap at 1+2 when lumberjack is crossing the bridge. Then fireball 4+3 asap.
• With minions: minions 4+2 then fireball 2+3 asap. minions should kill rapidly the lumberjack, and then the balloon.
• [9] (balloon at 0+3) First skeletondragons at 4+2, then tombstone at 0-1 when (top of) balloon shadow is crossing 2nd row (at roughly 3-sq distance from balloon).
• (in the pocket) First tombstone at 7-3 (this will attract both troops), then megaminion at 7-2 to kill first the lumberjack.
• (if our tower already down, eg only 1500HP left at lvl 11) then only megaminion at 3+2 is ok.
• Play tombstone at 3-2 in advance may help.
• [10] Against lumberjack at 0+4 and balloon at 1+4: play valkyrie at 4+3 asap, then tombstone at 3-2 (when balloon shadow half river), then skeletondragons at 7-5 (so other lane). Only got death bomb, but there was also a hit from our megaminion.
• [11] Against lumberjack at 0+3 and balloon at 1+5 (+ a electrodragon at 1+3): play valkyrie at 5-3 (far from electrodragon), then tombstone at 3-2, and finally fireball at 3+1 to push back balloon and kill the electrodragon, and finally had to play a megaminion at 2+1 because our tombstone was dead.
• [12] Naked balloon with rage already and a megaminion already there, play tombstone at 0-2 or 0-1 (at 3-sq distance from balloon) when shadow top is crossing 2nd row.
• [13] Against lumberjack at 0+2 and balloon at 0+4: play tombstone at 4-2 (!) but let lumberjack connects to tower, then fireball at 3-0 to push back the balloon and kill the lumberjack, and finally skeletondragons at 5-5 (other lane then). This costs 1500 HP.
• [14] Against lumberjack at 0+2 and balloon at 1+5: play valkyrie at 4+3 asap, then tombstone at 3-2 when top balloon shadow is crossing our river border, and finally skeletondragons at 2-0 when balloon crossing that column.

• Good lavahound+balloon placement:

• Lava in bottom corner
• When lava shadow covers 3rd and 4th row, play balloon 1+5!
• Against opp tombstone at 4-2, lava will still go on tower, and balloon as well! twitch, 00:28:00

• To defend single tower against balloon in the pocket, put tombstone in the river pocket on opp side.
• Against xbow-infernotower:

• can guards+balloon at bridge on xbow if nothing.
• ... or valkyrie 5-4 (ie. other lane to tank damage)
• play tombstone 5-2 (deep, to protect her?), then lava other lane. If xbow same lane as lava, dragons to push lava, so it stay in front. If tower, zap on tower to refocus tower on skullies. Before the zap, play balloon 1+5.

• Against infernodragon coming straight on lava:

• Play meganion behind the lava at bridge, then fireball the infernodragon (aim square right above infernodragon shadow) to bring it closer to lava, and be shot by mega.

• Against infernotower, if opp plays it at bridge, one option is to send balloon before lava, and zap. Then tower would be destroyed by lava, and we can send another support troop (skullies, or infernodragon).
• Don't play lavahound+balloon first, but wait for opp move:

• If needed, start with zap, megaminion, or tombstone.
• If opp plays an "innofensive" card (miner, etc), then lava is ok (because it means our lava cost less).

• Against spawners: tombstone 6-2 is good.
• Against musketeer (in particular 2.6):

• If doing a push lavahound+balloon + infernodragon, opp usually plays musketeer middle, and distract the dragon with small troop. Use fireball knock back effet to bring the musketeer immediately in dragon spot and kill her asap. [15]
• Send lavahound + megaminion instead of balloon, so that we can fireball + zap the musketeer.

• Against hogrider (in particular 2.6):

• Ideally, keep minions (or infernodragon but that's 4 elixir) or guards against hogrider. Otherwise, if not in the hand, play tombstone 3-3 (but opp can then log it).

• When we have one tower advantage, keep pressure:

• Sometimes best way to defend is to go with a balloon + minions/skeletondragons on the lane with our strongest tower, so that opp has to spend elixir on defense.

• Against elixirgolem:

• Best answer seems to be guards on golem at the bridge, then fireball the battlehealer + electrodragon (and/or infernodragon) [16]

• Against elitebarbarians:

• Deep tombstone at 6-2 (or also 5-2 in some videos). Always positive trade, except if zap or rage.

• Against infernotower + dartgoblin:

• When tower + goblin is right out of cycle, send naked balloon at the bridge [17]
• When sending lavahound+balloon push (+megaminion) on the tower (at least when tower in lane), zap the P tower + infernotower AFTER the lava pops so that the balloon is actually killing the tower. [18]

• Against bandit:

• Don't put tombstone in the pocket, but rather behind the P tower when one tower is down (or bandit will destroy it easily).

• Against witch and spammer decks: deep tombstones!
• Elixir advantage:

At game start, focus on and keep track of elixir advantage. If opp plays random card, and we can play lava for 2, 3 or even 4 less elixir, then it is a big push possibility. Play lavahound+balloon, and keep pressure, to go for a tower trade. If opp over commits on one lane, it is often possible to punish with naked balloon on the other lane. Keep track of balloon counters!

• Against small swarm troop (eg. bats) behind tank: play minions / skeletondragons at 6-3, so that 2nd tower is giving support, and our defense survive!
• Against musketeer: don't walk in against musketeer, because it's bad value. Instead, let her connect, then play skeletondragons on her.
• Against graveyard: tombstone in the back. If so, playing lavahound is also ok.
• Against mortar or xbow: go for tower trade on the other lane.
• Against hogrider cycle 2.6:

• Don't send the balloon, because bad value. Instead go for chip damage with the lava, and defend with all the rest (in particular 3-3 tombstone placement, and if so, make sure to kill the musketeer at the river if she snipes).
• Can also kill the musketeer with fireball + zap.
• Comba lava + skeletondragons, then guards on fireball also seem to work. If so, think of fireballing the cannon to get most value.

• Things to DEFEND:

• Balloon, dark prince.

• Things that are not worth to DEFEND (in general):

• Goblin gang, zappies, mother witch

Things I learned

• When P tower is down, avoid attacking K K tower if opp has a building (because lava will be distracted, and under double fire)
• If one P tower is HP low, attack the other tower first! This way K K tower cannot defend!
• If Opp plays wizard, seems better to put tombstone at 5-2, so that W cannot shot on tombstone from bridge (is that true?)
• Don't forget to use zap to force retarget -> very important to get extra or first hit for balloon. Like wait balloon is out of reach, then zap. Must anticipate best time for zap (soon but not too soon).
• Don't forget tombstone behind tower if against goblinbarrel, in particular if opp has log.
• In push with tank front, always kill support troop first.
• Never send balloon first when building a push, always start with lava (except punishing push at bridge). Otherwise it gives no option for reaction, whereas lava can still chip damage if things go wrong.
• Don't put guard in the pocket if ennemy has good counter in hand (like wizard) against balloon + lava puppies.
• Against icewizard behind K tower, wait for him to be next to P tower (9-0 square) before playing lava same lane (if playing same lane). This way, he will be in tower range.
• Play guards in the middle, so that both towers shoot and distance increase! Very important eg. against pekka + knight push against tombstone, follow with guards in the middle!
• I got a tower, but opp has electrowizard full hp left, defend him first before next lava (coz' electrowizard slows down defense greatly)
• Against nightwitch + golem, won with lava same lane, followed by skullies on golem (witch was so close it got killed too). But player was not really good (bridge spam with elitebarbarians).
• Another golem player, but without nightwitch (golem, lumberjack, darkprince, tornado, electrodragon, babydragon), won lava opposite lane. Don't defend the golem, only the support troop if any.
• Against lavahound+balloon-tomb, don't put tombstone to defend lava. Put it after the lava connects, in order to distract puppies after. Attack lava with mega. If our lava attacked, kill attacking troop with mega if possible, if it can then have it attack opp lava. fireball attacking troops on lava.
• Against goblinhut middle, send lava on tower. Then ballon on hut (0-2, not too middle), same lane, and then skullies to cover balloon when the goblin pops. In between zap the goblins targetting the balloon. But maybe better would be to wait for all goblinbarrel to pops, then zap them all, and don't send skullies.
• witch alone to defend lavahound+balloon is not enough to prevent balloon to connect. But witch + tornado is very DANGEROUS combination. witch must be shot down, either with fireball+zap, or pushed with fireball to our offensive troops.

Some rule of thumbs:

• Don't defend goblingang naked?
• Don't put skullies on goblinbarrel, then lava at front (over extend, very weak).
• When opp has tesla, make sure that the tower + tesla aggro the lava before playing the balloon!

 Otherwise opp may play tesla to attract balloon, which will then be aggro'ed by the tower!!!

• When opp. play a distract troop or counter-push troop (eg. elite barbarian in our field when one tower is down) to counter our own

 push, play guards to distract that troop and bring it close to our aerian support troop, to better kill that counter-push. Usually better than say putting guards
 between both towers.

• Against battleram, fireball sucks. Because the barbarians remain, and we spent 4 elixir already. Best is tombstone, or skullies, or megaminion (and zap?)

2x elixir tournament tips

• Source: [19]

Against megaknight:

• tombstone 6-2 (possibly to activate K tower then)?

Against pekka:

• tombstone 5-2?

• Protect tombstone with guards to get more value from tombstone.

Against InfernoD:

• FB the drag, so that it is pushed towards the megaminion or skullies that support the lava.

Against witch + infernoD:

• Send lavahound+balloon, FB and zap the witch. Idea is to make sure the balloon connects to the tower.

Against hogrider:

• tombstone at 4-2, then skullies at 2+2.
• Or guards at 5+3

In single tower, against witch played middle behind k tower, when sending lavahound+balloon:

• Skullies in river pocket, then fireball on witch to bring witch closer to skullies.

Against lumberjack + firecracker balloon:

• tombstone 4-2, then lava corner same lane, then FB on balloon + lumberjack (before they connect to tombstone), then skullies 2+4 to finish balloon and be immediately in support against firecracker.

Against pekka (in same lane as lava):

• Deep tombstone same lane, 6-2

Against Healer + elixirgolem, when lava is opp lane already:

• skullies in the corner, then tombstone 4-3.
• On lava, opp played baby and electroD. We send megaminion on baby, then FB the baby to bring it closer to mega.
• On golem, we send guards before tombstone pops.

Against queen + (baby D):

• lavahound+balloon same lane.
• fireball and zap the queen (and baby D).
• On the graveyard, guards

Tips from videos

• Opp tower down: lavahound at 0+4, then balloon at 3+2 (opp's field) when lava shadow is touching 4th row. balloon will push lava a bit.
• Against princess: better go lavahound same lane.

Match-up guides

• BEATING HARD COUNTERS IN TOP LADDER w/ LAVA LOON!

xbow + archerqueen

• Tower king activation if possible (eg. he plays with electrospirit) is nice (to avoid opposite lane pressure).
• lavahound first play is not too bad if we have skeletondragons in the hand. On xbow, play them so that to boost the lavahound towards and have it aggro'ed by tower.
• Opp. plays archer queen on the outer border, then tesla middle. We play the balloon right in front, away from the queen, who died under our pups on skeletondragons.
• 2nd lavahound played a bit higher (at 6+5).
• If opp has fireball in the hand, DO NOT PLAY skeletondragons.
• In 2x elixir, DO NOT PLAY lavahound in the back, because opp would play xbow fast, and we would lose the tower.

log bait - goblinbarrel + princess + infernotower + rocket

• Here also: dartgoblin (harder)
• TIP: always go in with the balloon (when he doesn't have the infernodragon, dartgoblin or the princess), because it needs to play rocket, which is then +1 elixir trade.
• TIP: play the tombstone behind the tower, to avoid value from the log.
• TIP: if opp plays with electrospirit, try to activate the K tower.
• If opp has rocket in the hand, DO NOT GO with lavahound + balloon. Instead go in with megaminion and/or skeletondragons, otherwise it is too much value for him. Then only go with balloon when the rocket is out.

royalhogs + earthquake

• TIP: Keep fireball against the royalhogs (best response). valkyrie is usually less good if opp has thelog and skeletons in the hand, because she will then give less pressure.
• TIP: Play tombstone only after he played earthquake
• TIP: Make sure to play balloon on the side of the lavahound so that balloon is pushed a bit on the outer side, making it harder for opp to play the cannon correctly.

megaknight

• Also in the deck: ramrider, royalghost, bandit, archerqueen, snowball, electrospirit, lightning
• Against ghost: valkyrie in the corner.
• TIP: Play tombstone at 6-2 against megaknight.
• TIP: When opp has lightning in the hand, DO NOT PLAY classic lavahound + balloon push. Play instead megaminion or skeletondragons.
• TIP: zap the ramrider so that she doesn't charge on the tower. Ideally zap her when she next to our defensive troops.

Videos summary

Midladder:

• Try the valkyrie (iso guards), and possible fireball + arrows!

Against goblinhut / furnace:

• Play tombstone 6-2 same lane as goblin.
• Play Lava very high (5+5), then balloon (1+5) right behind. Finish furnace with FB.
• If hut played close to river, skeletondragons on them ok.
• When hut explodes, if they target laval, zap them all.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7cmmwqTIM8

• guards: excellent value, can do lot of damage, naked behind balloon or lava. valkyrie is another alternative (esp against skel king).
• TBC

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyuw29x7oBM

• How to beat E-giant:

• Never play tombstone out of the cycle when you know opp has e-giant in cycle (because opp will play bomber or alike to defeat tombstone), then probably react to any defense with tornado.
• Always play the Skelli Drags out of the circle.
• tombstone placement: if electrogiant from left or right, we play tombstone at 4-3. But if electrogiant is coming from center (hence he will be closer to center on the bridge as well), then play tombstone at 4-4! Of course tombstone must be defended.

Exception: if tombstone would be snipped by opp from opp lane, play tombstone at 5-2 instead (aka deep tombstone).

• If electrogiant first play, go opp lane with balloon + skelli drags(or guards), then defend with tombstone at 4-4 and mega on any other troop.
• Kill backup first! eg. kill the bomber, princess, etc with eg. megaminion.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5vJGEKNiBI

• How to beat log bait

• Always kill the princess (eg. with megaminion same lane same depth). Don't go balloon opp lane, try to keep the field clean!
• megaminion vs troops.

• If princess close to bridge, place mega at bridge, it tank one hit from princess and can get one hit on tower.

• tombstone behind 2nd tower. This prevents value from log, and also tank damage from goblinbarrel barrel.
• Go same lane as princess.
• best way to kill the barrel. Don't use the fireball (keep it for eg princess). Play guards 9+4 (if left tower), or 9-0 (right tower)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWwXYJ6Xcvw

• How to beat xbow

• Tower trade! if xbow one lane, go lava opp lane, then balloon. Opp plays tesla. If also fireball, play skelli drags (12+5, ie. one above corner), then fireball the archers. Try to go into an early tower trade.
• Don't go with lavahound+balloon when the xbow is played in the middle (ie. not on the external border). Otherwise opp can play tesla to lure balloon to it then xbow.

Instead go with the megaminion, fireball the tesla, etc.

• Go for lavahound+balloon push only if fireball in cycle. This is necessay to kill the archers, otherwise they get too much values against lava.
• Boost your lavahound with Dragons in the xbow. Usually opp will play xbow same lane against Lava. This prevents playing balloon or megaminion because they have shorter range (hence they'll be targeted by P tower). Instead, play Skelli Drags behind the Lava (ie. 1+5) so that the Lava is pushed (boosted) by them.
• Predict (counter) xbow with tombstone, when opp has one tower down. Put tombstone close to tesla, so that xbow would be pushed back, and won't hit tower.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkbU1AZb3tc

• Pushed to #9
• TODO: Watch this again
• Don't balloon naked at the bridge if opp has infernodragon in hand.

• lavahound+balloon ok, but we support in hand (megaminion and zap)

• After a push that we can defend, guards spam on other lane is good.

Video: New META deck (arrows)

• FB + arrows, strong against queen (now that )
• FM, instead of skully drags (because arrows has splash enough)

Video: How to Escape from MIDLADDER - 2022-01-02

• Midladder = 6600.
• Deck: lavahound+balloon, zap + fireball + tombstone, megamion, skully drags, valkyrie
• valkyrie: elitebarbarians, witch.
• Against megaknight + princess, let it take the tower (was 500 hp), so put Mega behind k tower, and when opp plays bats, play skully drags to kill bats, then princess, then megaknight... and enough time to put lavahound in front of skully drags!
• Playing Lava on the opposite side of firecracker.
• When opp one tower down, in 1x elixir:

• Lava 1+5.
• If opp plays hogrider + earthquake (+firecracker), so fine to go with balloon (in top border corner), and zap the tesla if needed.

• Opp plays 7 elix, so fine to go with lavahound+balloon on K tower, then zap the tesla.
• Never play lava first, because not safe (eg. walking in an executioner). Better play tombstone, zap or megaminion.

• If opp plays valkyrie, play lava same lane. Then opp plays infernodragon, we play balloon behind lava as usual. Opp plays electrodragon, we zap. He's tornadoing. Then we activate K tower with megaminion at 11+4, and distract idrags with valkyrie at bridge.
• We are playing splashyard... We send lava opp lane, and megamion behind it (no balloon!), then fireball on idrags, so that mega can kill it.
• Against graveyard, tombstone behind tower, and skully drag 4+5 to avoid the freeze!

• Against golem in the back:

• Immediately balloon + skully same lane (balloon 5th card, so we play skullies at 5+3, then balloon 0+3). If nightwitch, zap when bat connects to balloon. This takes the tower
• Not to be worry if K tower low, because can defend easily golem with tombstone 0-1 for instance, when golem coming from middle. This kites the golem to 2nd tower.
• 2nd golem + witch push:

• we play lavahound+balloon.
• Wait for 3rd wave of bats, and zap them.
• tombstone 4-3, and skully drags behind witch.
• Then megaminion on golemites, and finally valkyrie to distract flyingmachine (ideally it must be in tower range)

• 3rd golem:

• Before that, we skully drags the nightwitch, and send balloon on k tower from other side to keep pressure.
• He play golem pocket, so tombstone 5+3 from k tower (ie. 2 sq above original tower).
• We fireball + zap to kill megaminion, then skully drags.
• Opp plays elitebarbarians + nightwitch at bridge: we play high valkyrie + megaminion at 3-3 (within range of skully drags in fact), and finally fireball.

• Execution: very hard counter.
• TIP against executioner: use fireball knock-back to push him into our skully drags or megaminion to have it killed.
• Against ramrider middle: tombstone 4-4! (one hit only, sometimes none). Otherwise tombstone 4-3.
• We send lavahound+balloon: opp defends with infernodragon, then electrowizard. We fireball!
• Against megaknight: when megaknight middle bridge, valkyrie 2+1, that's flawless.

Video: Best lavahound Deck for 2022! - 2022-01-07

• Deck (from WELCOME, top 10): lavahound+balloon - fireball + arrows + tombstone - guards / minions / infernodragon.
• Deck for tournaments, or top ladder.
• Here: fireball + arrow to kill the queen, which is one of worst counter against lavahound+balloon. Otherwise, not that good ;-)
• 1st game:

• Don't lava 1st play. We play tombstone (otherwise, megaminion, arrows, or guards at the bridge, ok).
• prince: we play guards 6+5, they meet at 1+2.
• Opp plays earthquake -> huge elixir advantage, so lavahound+balloon.
• Opp plays electrogiant corner... so we play idrags 4+4, and tombstone 3-3 !!! (not 4-3).
• Against archerqueen: lavahound+balloon 7+5 when queen entering bridge.
• minions: to add pressure on lava push, or in the pocket to tank for balloon and allow it to connect on K tower.

• 2nd game:

• Skullies + miner: minions on miner.
• Musky + mortar: we fireball (push musky towards the bridge), then guards.
• Musky + morter: we infernodragon on musky at bridge, then balloon on mortar asap.
• tombstone behind the tower (so that it cannot be targetted), then lava same lane, and balloon.

• ... then send infernodragon on the musky middle, which then also predicts a mortar at river that was distracting the balloon!

• 3rd game:

• princess k tower: we play lava for sure.

... later we send an infernodragon to kill the princess.

• prince other lane: we defend only with minions.
• skeletonarmy other lane: guards at 0-5 !!!, so that guards still go other lane after defending.
• ... afraid of megaminion + skeletonarmy in the pocket: defend proactively with tombstone 6-0
• Mistake: played the infernodragon out of hand against princess, which allowed played RG + megaknight.

• 4th game:

• Against bats, never naked balloon at the bridge.
• ... predictive arrows on last push (to predict bats or skeletons...)

• 5th game:

• goldenknight + babydrag: minions, then fireball on both.
• ... we know 1st air counter = baby, any 2nd counter?
• ... we could play guards at bridge, but that's megaknight value.
• ... instead we play lava, and keep tombstone in case opp punishes... but he put golem.
• When one tower down, tombstone 6-0.
• Against elitebarbarians in the pocket: tombstone 7-1.

Video: How to get past mid ladder - 2022-01-09 TODO: To watch

• Deck: lavahound+balloon, zap + fireball + tombstone, megamion, skully drags, valkyrie
• For 6600 trophies (midladder = anything up to top 1000).

Video: Best F2P lavahound Deck in Clash Royale - 2022-01-11

• Best F2P Deck (from WELCOME, top 10): lavahound+balloon - fireball + arrows + tombstone - guards / minions / infernodragon.

• 2 leg, best to use jokers, etc.

• Variant (from comment): arrows iso zap (for queen, log baits...). zap goes better with skully drags, and possibly goldenknight iso guards.
• TIP: If K tower low hp and opp plays on lane w/o tower: play tombstone 0-4 or 0-5, this will kite troops to 2nd tower.
• When defend with infernodragon, position it to go the lane we want next.

Video: lavahound TIPS FOR MID LADDER - PART 2

• DECK: lavahound+balloon - fireball + arrows + tombstone - guards / minions / infernodragon.
• Start: fireball on archers.
• Against elitebarbarians: guards 5-3. If rage, minions 4+2.
• Start: Against witch: fireball
• Against musketeer: deep tombstone, 6-2.
• Against balloon + rage: minions 5+2 ! (perfect, only death bomb)
• Against hogrider: play lava same lane, then infernodragon behind to finish off hogrider, this gives huge elixir advantage (play infernodragon 7+5 when lava on that square).

• Push = lava + infernodragon + balloon ( he defend with baby, fireball, then tombstone again ), then guards.

• When bad starting hand (infernodragon, guards, minions, arrows):

notes

• What do we go against 2.6?
• What do we go against elixirgolem / nightwitch / ...

Video: INSTANT PLATZ 1 DER WELT PUSHEN IM NEUEN GLOBAL TOURNAMENT! DANACH LVL 11 ACC MAXEN!

• Deck: lavahound+balloon - fireball + arrows + tombstone - guards / minions / infernodragon
• TODO: 0-35min
• What do we go against xbow?

• When one tower down, tombstone 6-0, then lava 7+5, then fireball tesla+xbow+archers, then balloon asap (but make sure lava is front), then arrows on archers, then infernodragon on knight.

• Against elixirgolem / healer / infernodragon:

• Send infernodragon on golem, and fireball+arrows the electrodragon/infernodragon/healer, and minions the infernodragon to finish it.
• After push send balloon in front of guard (because air counter out of cycle?)

• Against graveyard - skelking - dart - tombstone - infernodragon - bats

• defend, and when push with infernodragon + some minions, opp defend with infernodragon, we play lava 6+5! other lane, then balloon. Defend lava push with arrows, and counter graveyard with guards.

• Against golem: lava same lane, then infernodragon on golem.

How to beat golem w/ lavahound+balloon!

• Even elixir, against golem first play:

• First tombstone at 4-3, then lavahound same lane (to tank eg against nightwitch while we defend).

• What if no tombstone in hand:

• Ideally ballon + skeletondragons (0+4 and 0+3 asap) OPPOSITE lane. If opp's react (eg. fireball our push), play guards at 3+2. Then if babydragon,play megaminion on it. Then if nightwitch, play zap (so that megaminion still kills her). We have elixir lead, no need to fireball, also, keep tombstone for next big push.

• tombstone against backup cards (eg. elitebarbarians bridge, or lumberjack bridge):

• Play tombstone at 5-2 if we are low elixir, perfect defense, big elixir trade.
• But best would be to play guards at 4-4 (same aggro as eg. icegolem 3-4), so that we can keep our tombstone for big big pushes.

• How to defend BIG golem pushes (in particular 2x / 3x elixir)

• golem first play, we do tombstone 4-3, then lavahound, then balloon (very soon, eg. 9+5, on lava's rear). Opp plays nightwitch + baby + elitebarbarians. We do fireball on with + baby (and barbs if possible), then skeletondragons 2+3 ON THE BACKUP. Then again a tombstone.

• Activate King Tomer when opp plays electrodragon

• Possibly bait the electrodragon with guards at bridge.
• Play a SINGLE troop (ideally megaminion, but tombstone also ok) at 11-0 or 9-1. Best to wait THIRD shot so that megaminion is still max life.

lavahound TIPS FOR MID LADDER - PART 3

• First game:

• tombstone, 3-2, then lava same lane (because troop on opp lane would go to that building anyway)
• infernodragon on skel giant, arrows + fireball on wizard + archers.
• opp plays tombstone... we play naked balloon on the other tower...

lavahound TIPS FOR MID LADDER - PART 4

• Same deck as usual.
• TBC