Category: Troop

Balloon (5 Elixir Cost) 

• As a beefy flying unit that deals massive damage to buildings, the Balloon can be tricky to deal with. There are two ways to dealing with Balloons – luring and killing. To lure, use any structure in front of your tower, to get the slow Balloon to waste time going out of its way to kill it. While it is flying, drop down your ranged troops and hope you have enough time to take it out before it one-shots your structure and then attacks your tower. I prefer to straight up kill the Balloon, which requires having a high damage troop that can hit air (basically Musketeer or Minion Horde). Your opponent will most likely drop the Balloon as close to the river as possible on the edge of the arena. You should drop your Minion Horde/Musketeer close to the river as well, never behind the tower if you’re in arena 5 or up. The reason is many Balloon decks also run Freeze and if your Minion Horde or Musketeer get frozen, then your tower is dead. If done correctly, the Balloon should pop before it reaches your tower. Be careful of a preemptive Arrows on your opponent’s second Balloon attempt if you use Minion Horde to counter the Balloon the first time.
  
  

Bomber (3 Elixir Cost)

• Like arrows, Bomber trades very well vs swarm troops and Barbarians, especially if it is played behind the tower or another beefy troop to tank the damage. If their Bomber is played behind the tower, it may be worth a Fireball to take him out, damage the tower, and save your push. If he is played behind a tank and pushing onto your side of the arena, dropping something a bit beefier behind the Bomber to attack him (such as Knight) will take him out easily while sustaining minimal damage. If the Bomber is locked on to your tower, he can do a ton of damage, however, it may be best to ignore him if the tower is locked onto him as well as he dies in 2 tower hits.

Minions (3 Elixir Cost)

• The Minion trio can be thought of as flying Spear Goblins. They’re easily countered by basically any ranged troop, and your tower can make quick work of Minions by themselves. For this reason, you mostly see Minions being played on defense. Unless there are a lot of squishy swarm troops with the Minions, I recommend holding your Arrows or Fireball and letting your tower take care of the Minions. Zap is a spell worth considering as it should either kill the Minions in one hit or leave them with a sliver of HP left, while putting you at an elixir advantage.

Archers: Quicker initial attack (like Spear Goblins)
(3 Elixir Cost)

• The Archers’ use rate falls off after the early game, while the Spear Goblins remain popular across all levels. We’re making their initial attack quicker, so they’ll feel more responsive and effective.
• Archers are moderately slow, do a decent amount of damage, and are quite beefy for a cheap ranged unit. They can be taken out with a single Fireball, which may be worth it if you can take out a few other troops or damage the tower at the same time, although you probably don’t want to waste your Fireball on Archers by themselves unless absolutely necessary. Splash damage from Wizards, Baby Dragons, and Bombers also destroy Archers with relative ease and should survive with some health left.

Goblins (2 Elixir Cost) 

• Goblins are similar to Spear Goblins, spawning 3 quick and squishy Goblins. However, left unchecked, Goblins will utterly decimate troops/towers with their very high damage. Take Goblins out the same way you’d take out Spear Goblins – Arrows or Fireball if you can take out other valuable cards at the same time. Otherwise, any troop should work. Splash damage wrecks Goblins just as badly as Spear Goblins, and a lone 3 Goblins vs your tower should be left alone as the tower will quickly take them out.

Skeleton (1 Elixir Cost) 

• 1 elixir Skeletons are rarely used, but can be very powerful if used effectively. They are essentially used for only 1 purpose: to distract troops away from the tower. When playing 1 elixir skeletons, you should almost always do so on defense in the middle of your side of the arena. Watch out for splash damage from Wizards, Bombers, and Baby Dragons as they will one-shot your skeletons. Skeletons are also a great counter for Prince if played in the right place as they will distract him for a while and deal enough damage for your tower to take him out quickly. They can also be used in a pinch to deal damage to a Hog Rider. Unless there are a lot of other juicy troops around the Skeletons, it’s usually not worth it to waste an Arrows or Fireball on them.

Valkyrie: Hit points and damage increased by 10%

• The Valkyrie’s use rates are quite low, as she still needs to find her place in the world. More damage and health should help her get there.

Spear Goblins (2 Elixir Cost)

• One of the most versatile cards in the game, spawning three fast and squishy Goblins with relatively high-damage ranged attacks, you’ll see this card getting played a LOT. If they’ve built up a swarm of Spear Goblins + other squishy swarm troops such as Goblins and Minions, it’s usually worth an Arrows or maybe even a Fireball if they’ve got some Archers, Barbarians, or Wizards thrown in the mix. Otherwise, any troop should easily take them out. Splash damage from Wizards, Bombers, and Baby Dragons are especially effective vs Spear Goblins as they can easily kill all 3 in a single attack. If it’s just 3 Spear Goblins attacking your tower by themselves, it’s usually best to play nothing at all, as you’ll take minimal damage and the tower will quickly take them out.

Musketeer (4 Elixir Cost) 

• Glass cannon ranged troop that can deal a lot of damage from afar if left alone. Always protect your Musketeer with a troop or tower to tank for her. To counter someone playing Musketeer behind their tower, use a Fireball on her and the tower and pray one of your troops hits her once. To counter a Musketeer that has crossed over to your side of the arena, simply drop something cheap such as Goblins or Knight on top of her to quickly take her out.

Knight (3 Elixir Cost)

• Knight is a cheap, relatively tanky, moderate damage melee troop that is pretty easy to counter but can do quite a bit of damage to your tower if left unchecked. Air troops do very well vs him as he is melee and cannot damage them. I would not suggest using glass cannon type troops such as Bomber or Wizard vs him unless there is a troop or tower tanking for it.