Showing posts with label Clash Royale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clash Royale. Show all posts


Hello guys, this will be an extremely long guide about how to play and counterplay every single card in Clash Royale. I’m not the best player so everything I shared in this guide could be not really right. However, I would share with all you guys how I play and counter every card in Clash Royale. This guide is based on vm88’s tips (thank you man).
How to play and counter every Card in Clash Royale

How to play and counter Clash Royale Cards

THE TRAINING CAMP CARDS

Clash Royale Training Camp Cards
Clash Royale Archers
Archers
Archers are quite slow in Clash Royale, they deal a decent amount of damage and are pretty beefy for a ranged unit with only 3 Elixir cost. A single Fireball can take them down but It’s not worth it If you can’t take down them and some other troops (or deal damage to the opponent tower) at the same time.
Most of the time, you don’t want to use the Fireball on Archers by themselves unless it’s extremely necessary.
Baby Dragon, Wizard and Bomber (troops which deal splash damage) can take Archers down quickly and survive with some HP.
Clash Royale Arrows
Arrows
Arrows is one of the most popular cards in Clash Royale as it can 1 hit a lot of swarm troops such as Goblins, Spear Goblins, Minions, Goblin Barrel and Skeletons (from Skeleton Army, Tombstone, Skeletons and Witch).
In most cases, you can get an Elixir advantage when you use the Arrows on those swarms.
If you want to effectively counter the Arrows, the only way is to try to bait it out before deploying your main swarms. One of my favorite trick is to throw the Goblin Barrel towards the enemy tower, most of the time, my opponent will immediately use the Arrows, after that, I just simply plop down my cheap swarms (Goblins, Minions,…).
Clash Royale Baby Dragon
Baby Dragon
The Baby Dragon is one of the best cards in Clash Royale for sure. He is a flying tanker which deals splash damage and kills plenty of troops in just 1-2 attacks. He is extremely versatile on both offense and defense.
Definitely the Musketeer is the best single card you may want to trade with the Baby Dragon. If not, don’t simply drop your Spear Goblins or Minions, you should wait until he is locked on a high HP troop/tower and then use them as he can kill them in just 1-2 hits.
Tesla and Inferno Tower works pretty well against Baby Dragon (but I think it’s not worth it to drop down a defensive building card in order to deal with only one Baby Dragon.
The downside of Baby Dragon is that he can’t deal much damage to the Tower. That’s why sometime you should just sacrifice some HP of your Tower to save Elixir.Clash Royale Bomber
Bomber
Like the Arrows, in Clash Royale, Bomber can be effectively used to get positive Elixir trades Vs. swarms, Barbarians,… especially when you play him behind a building/tower or a high HP tanker.
If your opponent drops Bomber behind a Tower, it’s worth it to Fireball him and also deal damage to the Tower at the same time. That’s a great trade!
If your opponent plays Bomber after a tanker and pushing onto your side, drop a single troop which has decent damage (Knight for example) behind him to easily take him out.
If Bomber is attacking your Tower, he can deal a lot of damage. However, you should let your Tower deals with him If it is locked onto him as well.
Clash Royale fireball
Fireball
The Fireball is pretty similar to the Arrows above but it deals a bit more damage in a smaller radius.
Obviously Fireball can 1-hit every troop the Arrows can.
You can also use it to 1-hit Bomber, low level Wizards, Musketeers. It can also be able to bring Wizards, Barbarians Musketeers and Witches to the red HP bar.
The easiest way to bait out the Fireball is to drop your Barbarians.
Clash Royale Giant
Giant
Giant is a handsome tanker (as known as a massive meat shield). He targets only buildings.
Although he can deal a good amount of damage to the Towers, he is often used to soak damage and protect small ranged troops behind.
Sometimes I use him on defense to distract the enemy troops away from your Towers and defensive troops.
In order to counter the Giant, you can simply use high damage swarms such as Minion Horde, Barbarians… on top of Giant. Use defensive building card such as Tesla, Cannon,… If you have to buy more time. You can easily stop him from attacking your Tower and also deal a decent amount of damage to him with these cards.
When you face a Giant push, I strongly recommend you use Arrows/Fireball on the supporting troops behind him and use other cards to deal with him. If they are not available, you should wait until they push to your side then drop your troops on the top of those supporting troops. Be careful when you drop swarm troops such as Spear Goblins or Minion Horde onto splash damaging troops such as Wizards, Baby Dragon or Bomber.
Clash Royale Knight
Knight
Knight is a pretty cheap card which has decent HP, nice damage and is a ground melee troop.
It’s pretty easy to counter the Knight but he can deal a decent amount of damage to your Tower If he gets left unchecked.
You can effectively use air troops to deal with him without getting hit as he is melee troop and targets only ground units.
If you have to use a ranged troop to deal with him, make sure you place it far enough so he can’t attack your troop before taking a lot of damage.
Clash Royale Mini P.E.K.K.A

Mini P.E.K.K.A
Mini P.E.K.K.A is a glass cannon melee troop which has pretty low HP but a lot of damage. “She” is a melee troop, which can targets only ground units.
You should use her when you have another high HP troop to tank damage otherwise she will die quickly.
To deal with Mini P.E.K.K.A, you can use cheap ground swarms such as Goblins, Skeletons,…
Clash Royale MusketeerMusketeer
She is a ranged troop who can deal a lot of damage when protected or left alone.
You should protect your Musketeer with a high HP troop/tower to soak damage for her.
If the opponent drops a Cannon, just simply use your Musketeer since her can outrange it without getting a single hit.
To counter the Musketeer in Clash Royale, you can either use a Fireball or Lightning Spell on her and the Tower. Otherwise, you can wait until she crosses over to your side and drop cheap cards right onto her (Goblins, Knight, Barbarians,… are the great choices for this).
Clash Royale Prince
Prince
Here you go, one of the best cards in Clash Royale. Obviously he has brought a lot of more difficulty to new players than all other cards. However, you can easily counter him. He has a pretty nice HP, fast movement speed. He has a special ability which helps him run faster and gain 2x the damage on the targeted unit.
On defense, once he is dropped, you need to react quickly because of his incredible movement speed. The key to deal with him is to use cheap ground swarms such as Goblins, Spear Goblins, Skeletons,… And these troops can deal a decent amount of damage to him and buy more time so your Towers can hit him longer. You should also drop your troops in the middle of your arena in order to lure him there, he will take a lot of damage while running and also getting attacked by both Towers. Never use a single troop to stop him since he can 1-hit most of them.
Clash Royale Skeleton Army
Skeleton Army
Skeleton Army is mostly used on defense. Skeleton Army is extremely useful at dealing with big threats as they can quickly surround them and deal a lot of damage.
This card can be easily countered by Arrows, Fireball, Wizard, Baby Dragon, Bomber,… (all cards that deal splash damage), that’s why we rarely use them on offense.
Before using the Skeleton Army, make sure your opponent doesn’t have the Arrow or any other splash damaging spell card on his hand otherwise it will be a big waste.
Clash Royale Witch
Witch
The Witch summons a certain amount of Skeletons, she deals a relatively low amount of splash damage. Also, her HP is pretty low, that’s why she can be killed by Lightning and some other spell cards.
My favorite way to counter the Witch is to use Lightning to deal damage to both her and the Tower. She will be killed by the Lightning regardless. Also, you can use Fireball and leave her with a small amount of HP. Otherwise, you can simply drop a card (Knight for example) right onto her when she crosses over your arena.
As I said above, If you has a Witch, never place her next to your Tower in order to prevent the opponent from damaging both of her and your Tower.

THE GOBLIN STADIUM CARDS

Goblin Stadium Cards
Clash Royale Goblin
Goblins –
This card summons 3 small Goblins that have nice damage but low HP. However, If you leave them unchecked, they will definitely a decent amount of damage to your troops and towers.
You can Fireball, Arrows,.. to 1 hit them but I recommend doing this If you can also other troops at the same time. Otherwise, most troops can be used to deal with them.
Clash Royale Spear Goblins
Spear Goblins
Definitely Spear Goblins is one of the most useful cards in Clash Royale.
This card spawns 3 fast ranged Goblins that can deal nice damage but has pretty low HP.
You shouldn’t use only Spear Goblins since lots of troops can 1 hit them, unless you want to use them at starting, when the Elixir bar hits 10 (You can place them on the bridge so they can deal hundreds damage to the enemy Towers). It’s recommended to have a tanky protecting them.
If your opponent groups them with other swarm troops such as Goblins, Minions, Skeletons,… It’s worth it to throw an Arrows card on them, or maybe even a Fireball If there are some Archers and Barbarians.
Wizard and Baby Dragon are extremely effective at dealing with them since they can 1 hit them anytime.
If the opponent use only Spear Goblins to deal some damage to your Tower, it’s better to just do nothing and let your Tower dealing with them.
Clash Royale Goblin Hut
Goblin Hut
The Goblin Hut spawns a Spear Goblin after a decent time. This card is usually used to apply constant pressure to a lane and launch a massive push later.
If your opponent drops the Goblin Hut on one lane and starts attacking on the other one, it’s better to just ignore the Goblin Huts since it can’t do much damage to your Tower (just a few hundred damage).
If the opponent places some Huts on 1 side and try to launch a big push, you can use either Fireball, Rocket or Lightning on those Hut and also try to deal damage to the enemy Tower at the same time.
Poison is also very great to deal with Hut Deck.
Clash Royale Goblin Barrel
Goblin Barrel
This is another pretty popular card in Clash Royale. Not only new players but also many top players are using Goblin Barrel a lot as his card can deal a ton of damage to tower If left unchecked.
Most of the time, players throw this card onto the enemy tower. You can easily drop the Arrows on top of your Tower when the Barrel has crossed the river. But you should take care about this. Sometimes the opponent wants to bait your Arrows out with Goblin Barrel. Make sure you opponent doesn’t have any swarm before using your Arrows.
As I said above, one of my favorite strategy to bait out the Arrows is to drop Goblin Barrel right on top of the opponent. Non-Experienced players usually immediately drop the Arrows and I can start launching my massive push with no worry.
Clash Royale Lightning
Lightning
This is one of my favorite cards in Clash Royale. Lightning is the anti-building card which works extremely wells against X-Bow decks, Hut decks, defensive decks,…
Sometimes, you can use Lightning to deal with slow pushes which have high DPS troop such as Musketeer, Wizard.
If your opponent has a Witch, simply drop Lightning onto her and also the Tower to take her down within seconds.
The downside of this card is that it is quite expensive. Before using it, make sure you have enough Elixir to deal with any sneaky push.One of my favorite combos I usually use in low leagues is to drop the Barbarians right on the bridge at starting and then drop Lightning when once the opponent drops a big cards to deal with the Barbarians.
Clash Royale Valkyrie
Valkyrie
Valkyrie is rare used in Clash Royale. I haven’t seen many decent Valkyrie Decks yet.
She has nice HP and does splash damage in a circle around her.
If you want to kill her, don’t use group swarm troops such as Barbarians, Skeleton Army, Goblins,… as she can kill them all in just 1 second.
The best way to deal with her is to use either air troops or ground troops which can deal damage to single target (Knight, Musketeer,…).

Updating…
Don’t worry guys! This guide is being updated! I am going to finish it soon!
Also, please comment If you have any idea and suggestion! I wand to read your comments!
This is a list of the top 10 mistakes I see players are making in Clash Royale. Some of the mistakes are mostly done by beginners, but I still think they could be useful for experienced players to think about.
I’ve written about them in order of importance. I believe that not calculating elixir and playing too offensively are the two biggest mistakes Clash Royale players make. Making any of those two mistakes will have a big impact on your game. Please leave a comment if you have things to add or something you don’t agree with.

1. Not calculating elixir

calculate-elixir-clash-royale

Elixir advantage is the most important concept in Clash Royale. If you consistently kill more elixir worth of enemy troops than you spend yourself, you will win the game. A huge mistake most players make is to not pay enough attention to this, especially new players. You can learn more about how to gain elixir advantage in Clash Royale here.
Whenever you play a card think about if it gains you elixir advantage or not. The most common example would be goblin barrel. Goblin barrel cost 4 elixir to cast and you can kill it instantly with a well timed Arrows card. Arrows cost 3 elixir so you will be ahead one elixir after this play. If you keep doing plays like this you will end up ahead.

2. Playing too offensively.


In my opinion playing too offensively is the second most common mistake players are making. In general it’s a lot more fun attacking and killing your opponent’s tower than it is defending your own.
What often happens is that you send all your troops down one lane to kill the enemy tower. Your opponent defends his tower with most of his troops and sends a price, hog rider or something similar to kill your undefended tower. The result is that you lose your tower without being able to take out his.

3. Playing the winner’s game.

winners-game-clash-royale

This is a concept I’ve talked about before, and there is a great article about it here.
In most Clash Royale games the players are of about equal skill. The ELO rating system leads to that after all.
When two players are more or less evenly matched, the winner is usually the player who makes the fewest mistakes. However, most people are usually trying to make the fancy winning place instead of focusing on reducing mistakes. This is the winner’s game, and what you should try to avoid. Instead play the loser’s game and consistency make good elixir trades and avoid mistakes. This will let you win the game in the end.

4. Keep playing when tilting.


Tilting happens to most players after they lose a couple of games in a row. It means to get pissed off and then play worse cause of that. The concept is very common in poker, which I used to play before.
If getting pissed off from losing is a problem for you, take a short break after losing three games in a row. Don’t keep playing and get more and more angry of as you are playing worse and worse, you might lose 100s of cups if you do that.

5. Switching decks too frequently.

switching-decks-frequently

I totally agree it’s fun to try out new decks, especially when you unlock new cards it’s nice to test them out. However, don’t rearrange your whole deck every time you lose like some people do. The reason you lost was probably not your deck.
Instead of doing this I suggest you learn one deck well and then just tweak the deck by replacing one or two cards at a time. Also, if you stick to the same deck for a long time you can focus on levelling up just the cards that you need instead of levelling up everything.

6. Playing cards too late.


There is one barbarian left hitting your tower, do you really need to place your archers there to take it out? No, you don’t. The tower is doing fine by itself and now you just wasted 3 elixir on archers that will walk over to your opponents tower and die without doing anything useful.
I do this myself as well far too often. I have to wait for elixir and end up playing a card too late and the result is that I just waste elixir. This is very common to do with arrows as well. Your opponent throws a goblin barrel at you and you are so slow playing Arrows that the goblins are already dead before it lands. Playing cards too late is a huge elixir leak.

7. Playing reactive cards proactively.


Proactive cards are cards that are hard for your opponent to make positive elixir trades with. One good example would be the baby dragon, it’s very hard for your opponent to make positive elixir trades with that. It does well against most troops and can also do a lot of damage to enemy towers solo.
Reactive cards on the other hand are cards whose purpose is to counter other cards. You use these cards to react to your opponent’s moves. It’s a huge mistake to play these when there is nothing to react to. Spells like Arrows and Freeze are good examples of this. Don’t play Arrows or Freeze on your opponents towers, you will just waste elixir. The same goes for troops like minions or skeleton army, they are a waste of elixir if they are played solo.

8. Running out of elixir.


It’s so frustrating running out of elixir and just have to sit there and watch while your opponent takes out your crown tower. Always have some elixir left unless you know your opponent is low on elixir as well, your are defending or the push you are making will really swing the game.

9. Only playing attention in one spot.

only-one-spot-royale-mistake
There are two lanes in Clash Royale, you have to pay attention to both of them. In the middle of the action it’s easy to only focus on one spot. Humans have a tendency to get tunnel vision when something that really excites or worries then is happening, like taking out your opponents tower or defending your own. When that happens you won’t notice what is going on in the other lane. This has happened to me countless times, pay attention to it and try to avoid it.

10. Not knowing enough about the cards.

not-knowing-enough-about-cards

If you want to be successful in Clash Royale you have to know the basic of the cards. Basic stuff like which troops can target air, which troops are flying, which troops deal splash damage, etc. You could take a look at that in the cards category here on this site, or if you like check out my Clash Royale guide app for iPad/iPhone as well. You should also know which troops are tanky and which you have to defend with other troops.
I hope you found some of these tips useful. If you know of any other mistakes Clash Royale players are making please let me know by leaving a comment here. I really appreciate feedback to make the content here as good as possible.
After the global launch I’ve put together lots of different decks with Training Camp and Goblin Stadium cards, and this is the best deck I have come up with. I remember how hard it was to decide on a deck starting out with the game, and hopefully this guide will be useful to new players. I’ve used the same format as my Arena 4 – 6 guide, take a look at that if you’re pushing arena 5, 6 or 7.
This deck is built up around countering and taking advantage of your opponent’s mistake. From arena 1 all the way up to arena 5, most players make lots of mistakes. The most common mistake I saw as I was testing out decks, was opponents playing too offensively. This deck has lots of good defensive troops to stop your opponents push and then take out crown their tower in a nice counter-attack. It’s also a low elixir cost deck at 3.6, a good thing for new players as well.

The cards.

Prince-Epic-Card-Clash-RoyaleBaby-Dragon-Epic-Card-Clash-RoyaleArchers-Epic-Card-Clash-RoyaleKnight-Common-Card-Clash-Royale
Fireball-Rare-Card-Clash-RoyaleSkeleton-Army-Epic-Card-Clash-RoyaleValkyrie-Rare-Card-Clash-RoyaleSpear-Goblins-Common-Card-Clash-Royale
Lightning and baby dragon are the only two epic cards in this deck. The rest of the cards are mostly lower level cards, so they are not that hard to get. Most cards can also be replaced while without effecting the deck too much.
Archers.
Archers are one of the most underrated cards in Clash Royale. They are great in defence dealing good damage to both air and ground troops. They don’t die to arrows or the same level and will deal a lot of damage to enemy crown towers if protected.
Prince.
Prince is and has always been an awesome card. It’s the first real tower killing card most players get access to, and you can use this card all the way up to Legendary Arena. What is nice with the Prince is that you can even defend with it in emergencies. Usually you’ll use it to kill one of their crown towers when they are low on elixir however.
Baby Dragon.
The Baby Dragon is one of my favourite cards and is an important part of this deck as well. The reason this card is awesome is because it is both flying and deals splash damage, which makes it awesome at taking out enemy barbarians and minion hordes. It can also do decent damage hitting the enemy tower solo.
Valkyrie.
Valkyrie is not a card that is used a lot, but especially for beginning players she is a very good card to have in your deck. Bomber would be a good alternative, but the Bomber is much harder to play. Valkyrie is really hard to misplay, just use her to counter enemy ground troops and you will do fine. She can also be used to tank while your archers and spear goblins are hiding behind her.
Fireball.
This deck doesn’t use arrows, so a fireball is really needed then. You use this to take out Minion Horde, Barbarians Goblin Barrel and other annoying cards. Lets say they drop a giant, they will often follow up with a Witch, Bomber and Archers. Your fireball will take out all the troops behind the Giant and they are the ones that cause the most damage.
Skeleton Army.
Skeleton Army is in here to deal with Prince and Hog Rider mainly. However, it can also be used to swarm other troops like Pekka, Mini Pekka and the Golem.
Knight.
The Knight is in the deck for defending primarily. It will take out a Wizard, Musketeer and Witch one on one and still survive, which will give you a nice elixir advantage. The Wizard and Witch costs 5 elixir to the Knights 3 elixir, a 2 elixir advantage! The Knight can also distract a Baby Dragon while your tower takes it out, and will even take out a Giant Skeleton.
Spear Goblins.
These guys are also in most of my decks. They are cheap and decent at taking out enemy flying units. I also often use them to distract enemy tower killing troops until I can deal with them.

Card replacements.

Here are my suggestions for replacements. Most new players don’t have all the cards yet, so as long as you don’t replace more than 2-3 cards the rest of the guide and play style should be quite similar. I’ve also used cards from higher arenas in the replacements, as I’m sure many player reading this guide are higher than arena 1 already.
  • Archers can be replaced with Minions.
  • Prince can be replaced by Hog Rider or Giant.
  • Baby Dragon can be replaced by Witch or Wizard.
  • Skeleton Army can be replaced by Tombstone or Tesla.
  • Spear Goblins can be replaced by Minions.
  • Fireball can be replaced by Arrows or Zap.
  • Knight can be replaced by Minions.
  • Valkyrie has a great replacement in the Bomber.

Opening. (0:00 – 0:30)

spear-opening
My preferred option is to open with Spear Goblins behind one of my towers. Spear Goblins are cheap at only two elixir, and I will have almost all my elixir left to react to whatever my opponent is opening with. I place them behind my towers so that I can place tank units, like Knight, Valkyrie or Baby Dragon, in fromt of them before they reach the bridge.

opening-baby
If I don’t have Spear Goblins in my opening hand I will go for the Baby Dragon. The Baby Dragon is moving slowly and does well on it’s own even without support. It is very hard to counter the baby dragon and come out on top. If there are no other threats to deal with I will often place Archers or Spear Goblins behind it once i reaches the bridge.
knight-opening
My third choice of opening would be the Knight. The knight does well against most troops alone and can also do some damage to the enemy crown tower if he is not stopped. The combo with Archers or Spear Goblins behind him work really well.
archer-opening
The last choice of opening would be archers, they don’t do too well against enemy towers alone, but if I can get a Knight, Baby Dragon or Valkyrie in front of them before they reach the bridge they are great. Versus most troops the Archers also do well alone, it’s hard to kill them efficiently and gain an elixir advantage.

Midgame. (00:30 – 2:00)

This decks is built around defending efficiently, and then use your elixir advantage to counter-attack. When you play, be patient and don’t overcommit on an attacks. That is what your opponent is going to do, and you are going to sit back and kill his troops in front of your towers. Then, once you have your opponent at an elixir disadvantage, attack!
prince-archer-combo
The Prince with Archers behind him works really well. The Archers can both do good damage to the towers and take out any defensive troops your opponent might place. In this situation he placed Minions to defend, and my Archers took them out.
Especially in lower arenas players keep attacking and attacking without letting their elixir reset. Don’t do this, it’s a big mistake. Anyways, this means that you often will have enough elixir to counter-attack in the other lane while still holding back your opponent’s attack.
prince-push-other-lane
In the screenshot above you can see such a counter attack. I don’t need all my elixir to defend so I can counter-attack in the other lane while my opponent is out of elixir and is unable to defend it. This Prince can easily take out the rest of the tower as my opponent will spent too long time waiting for elixir before he can defend.

Endgame. (2:00 – 3:00)

How the endgame goes depends on how much damage you have managed to cause in the midgame. Hopefully you have brought one of the enemy towers down to 600 hp or lower. If you have, you should focus almost all of your effort in defending at this point, that means no pushing with the Prince unless you’re 100% sure your opponent is out of elixir and unable to defend.
Whenever you’ve successfully repelled an enemy attack, try to get the enemy tower down to where your fireball or lightning can kill it in one hit. Then you can just keep defending and launch a fireball or lighting at the last second of normal time to take out the tower.
endgame-clash-royale-update
If you on the other hand have a lot of hit points left on the enemy tower, or even worse, he has killed one of yours already, your gameplan changes a lot. In this case you have to take more risks. Elixir is increasing at double speed so players get more stressed and often miss defending the lane they are not currently focusing on, if you’re lucky your Prince can take out a crown tower solo without your opponent noticing.
A general rule is that more behind you are in the game, the bigger risks you should take. In same cases you will ignore defending your tower or castle completely if you believe there is a chance you can take out the enemy tower before your tower is dead. This is especially true during overtime, the first one to kill a tower wins the game then after all.

Offense tactics.

Here I will discuss some common situation where this deck really shines and gives you a nice elixir advantage if you play correctly.

Counter attack.

defending-hog-rider
Here my Archers first take out the enemy Hog Rider in defence. If you use Archers to defend against Hog Rider it will only be able to hit the tower two times.
counter-attack-one
Once the Archers reach the bridge I place my Knight in front of them. I also place my Prince behind the Knight so it will push the Knight forward to tank the damage for everyone else. The Valkyrie also joins in for the big push.
counter-attack-two
My opponent tries defending with Minions and Archers, but the tower is still taken out with one of my Archers surviving. My opponent was too low on elixir to defend the push and also misplaced his Tesla.

Fireball to kill Swarms.

fireball-minionhord-elixir-advantage
If your opponent plays Minion Horde, Barbarians or any combination of weaker troops together Fireball gives you a real nice elixir advantage. Both Minion Horde and Barbarians cost 5 elixir to play, and taking them of with Fireball will give you a one elixir advantage. Barbarians might still survive depending on level, but it will leave them low enough for your tower to take them out without taking damage.
If you kill two cards worth of troops with your Fireball you can get an even larger elixir advantage. Often I’m able to kill 8 elixir worth of troops like Witch and Archers with one Fireball. This is huge, a 4 elixir advantage like this enables you to do tons of damage to their towers.


Defence tactics.

Here I’ll describe some common situations you will face with this deck, and how to defend them. Please let me know by leaving a comment if there are any other situations you’d like me to discuss.

Defending the Giant push.

I noticed that pushing with Giant in front is really popular in the lower arenas. I guess that is because most players really struggle stopping this push. The Giant push is placing a Giant at the far back of your towers and place weaker DPS troops behind it once it gets to the bridge. Then the Giant will tank the damage while the DPS troops will deal the damage.
incoming-giant
It can be hard to stop this push if you don’t know how to do it, as you will often end up in a situation where all your troops are hitting the Giant while the enemy troops are shooting at your troops without taking damage.
What you ideally want to do is to take out the troops behind the Giant first, and then deal with the Giant. Fireball is a great spell for this, it will often take out all the troops behind the Giant. Lightning is another option of they use troops like Witch or Wizard behind the Giant.
knight-dragon-placed-behind-giant
If you don’t have spells ready or the right situation for them, you have to use regular troops. Depending on what troops they use behind their Giant you want some or all of your troops behind the Giant to deal with them. In the image above you see that the Knight and Baby Dragon is placed behind the enemy Giant to deal with the troops there. Here I also had Fireball ready, but I had to use that to deal with the Goblin Barrel.

Defending against Prince and Hog Rider.

hog-rider-vs-swarm
Hog Rider is not common at lower levels, but you often have to deal with the Prince. If you don’t stop the Prince he will deal a ton of damage to your tower. The main card for dealing with Prince and Hog Rider is Skeleton Army. Playing this as soon as you see the Hog Rider approaching will take him out without any hits landing on your tower. Dealing with the Prince you can play it even later, as long as it lands before he hits your tower the skeletons will swarm around him and take him out.
defending-hog-rider
If you don’t have Skeleton Army ready you are in a bit of trouble. Spear Goblins or Archers can do the job though, Archers will take out a Hog Rider before it can land more than two hits to your tower.

Comeback.

If you do some errors and get behind from the start of the game, don’t give up. This deck gives you a good chance at a comeback if your opponent makes errors, and he will for sure. Players makes error all the time, and the winner is usually the player who makes the least amount of errors.

Conclusion.

This is a very active and fun deck to play, and from my experience it does really well against all other decks. I did not find any specific deck type I had a big problem with.
It is also a great deck to learn the game with in my opinion. You learn which troops counter which and how to use your elixir advantage to as much damage as possible to the enemy towers.
Please let me know how you’re doing if you’re using this decks. Also if you have any suggestions on how to improve the decks I’d love to hear that as well, thanks!