Air Bomb

  • Summary
    • Explodes when a flying troop comes into proximity. Essentially an airborne version of the normal Bomb, though the trigger radius and blast radius of the Air Bomb is much greater.
    • Extremely effective against large groups of Minions, and does a significant amount of damage to Balloons (especially level 3 and below). It’s much less effective against higher health targets such as Dragons.
    • Once activated, traps must be re-armed in order to be a part of the next defensive Layout.

Giant Bomb

  • Summary
    • Explodes when an enemy comes into proximity. Essentially a much more powerful (and expensive) version of the Bomb. This creates splash damage to all enemies within a 3-4 tile radius, depending on the Giant Bomb’s level.
    • If you love using Giant Bombs and you want to get a good amount of troops with it, place it where you commonly see a large amount of troops deployed when you are being attacked.
    • Once activated, traps must be re-armed in order to be a part of the next defensive Layout.
    • Although Hog Riders are the “preferred targets” of Giant Bombs, the bomb will still be triggered by (and damage) any ground troops that venture into its range.
    • Giant Bombs of all levels deal enough damage to instantly destroy all Tier 1 troops and Wizards, regardless of their level.

Spring Trap

  • Summary
    • ​Causes instant death to the first group of enemies that step on it, bouncing up to 15 housing units of Troops. For example, it will bounce 15 Archers or 3 Giants.
    • P.E.K.K.As, Golems and Heroes are unaffected due to the fact that they take more than 15 housing space.
    • If put in a strategical way, Spring Traps can ruin a raid, including the infamous Giant-Healer combo.
    • The Spring Trap often does not affect the Goblin either, but this is because the Goblin is too fast for the Spring Trap to bounce it away (it usually is able to move out of range before the Spring Trap has the opportunity to affect it). However, if the Goblin doesn’t continue moving once the Spring Trap has been triggered (stopping to attack a resource building, for instance), it will be bounced similar to a Barbarian or Archer. Also, if there is a horde of Goblins, the Spring Trap will bounce the Goblins in the back, since the Goblin in front triggered it first.

Bombs

  • Summary
    • Bombs are inexpensive traps that remain hidden until they are activated by an attacking troop moving into their trigger radius.
    • Once triggered, Bombs must be re-armed, for a small fee, in order to trigger again during an enemy raid. For example, if one’s village successfully defends against an attack, but several Bombs are triggered, then any attacks after that will not have to deal with those Bombs until they are re-armed.
    • Although they are the weakest of all the Traps, Bombs can still have a positive impact on the effectiveness of a village’s defense if properly placed. But only if they are always re-armed after triggering.
    • Even though Bombs are classified as “Defensive Buildings”, they are not buildings and do not need to be triggered/destroyed for your enemy to reach 100% destruction (nor do they count toward it).
    • The Bomb explodes approximately 1.5 seconds after an enemy comes within 1 tile of it, causing splash damage to every enemy ground troop within 3 tiles. This delay means that you’ll want to place the bomb in an area where troops are likely to remain for a period of time, like right next to a building they’re attacking.
    • By itself, a single Bomb will not do a great deal of damage to even the weakest of Troops (although every bit helps). However, several Bombs in a cluster can significantly damage or even destroy an entire group of Archers or Goblins.

Lightning

Lightning (6 Elixir Cost) 

  • This card is THE anti building card, great against Hut decks, Xbow decks, and Defense/Rocket decks. Also good against slow pushes that rely on getting a somewhat squishy damage dealer such as a Wizard or Musketeer behind a big tank, as it can kill the troops and damage the tower at the same time. The downside is that the card is very expensive at 6 elixir and players usually wait for maximum value before they use it. If you’re running a slow push, try putting out your tank troop before your damage troops to discourage them from using it when your troop goes around your tower.

Rocket


Rocket (6 Elixir Cost) 

  • The highest damage spell in the game, the Rocket is the cornerstone of a Defensive siege deck. Most decks that run Rocket will aim to establish an unstoppable defense on their side of the arena, then start throwing out Rockets on your crown tower. The best way to counter this is to play very aggressively and keep these decks from setting up that infrastructure. Commit to taking down their defenses so they cannot use the 6 elixir Rocket without putting themselves at a huge elixir disadvantage. Also, do not give them efficient trades by placing troops near your towers, as the Rocket will kill those and do significant tower damage making that 6 elixir price tag more worth it.

Zap

Zap (2 Elixir Cost) 

  • Zap is a very cheap spell that deals small amounts of damage to a small area and stuns for one second. If you know your opponent has Zap, try to take advantage of its small range and keep your squishy troops spread out. Otherwise, try and push with tankier troops.

Goblin Barrel


Goblin Barrel (4 Elixir Cost)

  • Another card that often stumps newer players, an unchecked Goblin Barrel can do a ton of damage to your tower. Players will most often throw it right on top of your tower, and a preemptive Arrows on top of your tower right after the Barrel has crossed the river should take care of the Goblins before they can get a stab in. Zap also works well against Goblin Barrel but the timing is different as Zap casts quicker. You also have to be more accurate using Zap as the radius of the spell is smaller. Fireball works in a pinch for a zero net elixir advantage and timing is similar to Arrows. If you don’t have one of those 3 spells at your disposal, drop some cheap troops on top of your tower to draw the Goblins’ attention away from the tower.

Freeze

Freeze (3 Elixir Cost)

  • With the ability to keep troops and buildings from attacking for a few seconds, Freeze is an incredibly powerful spell when used correctly. When combined with troops that focus buildings like Hog Rider or Balloon, Freeze is a very deadly offensive tool. It can even be used in a pinch on defense, however, you should make sure you have a high DPS troop like Minion Horde or Wizard to take the frozen troops out. Like X-Bow, Freeze can be scouted out (but is a bit more difficult to do so). If your opponent is playing a naked Hog Rider or Balloon and hasn’t invested in a big push recently, then they most likely have Freeze in their hand. Once you know your opponent is playing Freeze, you need to take very specific precautions to minimize its effectiveness. First off, never drop your troops around/behind your tower. The best place to drop your troops when your opponent is running Freeze is actually near the river, well in front of your tower. This forces your opponent to choose between Freezing your tower or your troops. If you’re down one tower and your King Tower is activated (cannon is out), NEVER put your troops in the area between your King Tower and your remaining tower. In fact, always put it towards the edge of the arena. This forces your opponent to choose between Freezing your King Tower and your remaining tower or freezing your troops. Second, use cheap troops to defend (such as Goblins, Spear Goblins, Archers) and NEVER drop them all at once. Drop one troop to bait out the Freeze, then once the Freeze is used, immediately drop the others. Lastly, Freeze leaves your opponent open for a big counter play if they don’t take out your defensive troops (which they won’t with Hog + Freeze or Balloon + Freeze), as they’ve invested 4 elixir into a spell that doesn’t damage troops, so gear up for a big counter push and punish them.