So the other day I was going through my email, when I saw some emails about people asking me as to whether they should be countering the elixir collector or not, and requested me to write an article about it. I thought, well why not?and here I am.

So Today I am going to discuss about the elixir collector, its basics and reveal exactly whether to counter it or not.

The Elixir Collector costs 6 elixir, and produces 8 elixir in it’s lifetime. That is a good 2 elixir produced in just about a minute.  Before understanding whether or not to counter the elixir collector, let’s get into what counters it and in what way.

The Rocket: The Rocket costs 6 elixir and can counter the elixir collector completely. Rocketing a sole collector will lead to a even elixir trade , but it is definitely more worth it if your opponent places it directly behind the princess tower. This way for the Cost of 6 elixir you will be able to destroy both the elixir collector and get a good damage on the tower. However, once your opponent knows you have Rocket, he will place his collector in front of the King Tower, where it is not possible to hit both the pump and a princess tower, and you obviously wouldn’t want to activate the King’s tower.

The Lighting: The Lighting also costs 6 elixir and just like the rocket, counters the elixir collector completely, denying all 8 elixir off it. The only difference as compared to using the rocket , is that not matter where the Enemy places the Pump, you will be able to destroy the pump as well as get good damage on the Tower. That is 6 elixir for 6 elixir plus Tower damage. Combine that with a troop that passes by and it is Christmas.

Fireball: The new buffed fireball is again very strong against the collector. It denies 6 elixir to the enemy for the cost of 4 elixir. However, he still gets 2 elixir, for his 1 elixir remaining, assuming you cancel out his 4 elixir played with yours. So, it is not the best elixir trade but it is viable if you are getting some tower damage done with it, or you feel that the enemy has nothing particular to punish you for using your fireball on the pump. I.e, if your deck is not dependent on fireball to counter Troops like the minion Horde and the 3 musketeers, you will be fine.

Poison: The Poison costs 4 elixir as well, and just like the Fireball, denies 6 elixir off the pump. This makes the trade even, because you are cancelling out 6 elixir out of the 8, giving the enemy 2 elixir for his 2 extra elixir spent. The Reason I would prefer the poison over the fireball is that the Poison does damage over a larger area and over a period of time. This makes that Area where you drop the Poison a minefield, where the enemy is bound to lose  if he places a troop there. The best way to use poison is to build a push, preferably with the Hog Rider with maybe the minions and place the poison in such a way that it covers the Collector, the tower, and any other troop that he places to counter you push, which from experience, will be placed near the collector and tower. This is going to be perfect for you, and will give you a massive advantage.

Arrows: Arrows deny 2 elixir off the collector, and it should never cross your mind to arrows a sole collector even if it comes with tower damage, because it will yield in a negative elixir trade, and More often than not the enemy will have some troop or the other to punish you. Not recommended at all, unless you get it with the minion horde, or the princess. Just put it here for the sake of stats.

Log: The Log also denies 2 elixir, for the cost of 2 elixir. It is still a negative elixir trade, but if the enemy places the princess in front of the pump, it is perfect to log there, as it will kill the princess costing 3 elixir, along with denying the pump 2 elixir, all for the cost of a mere 2 elixir. Definitely a positive elixir trade.

The Zap: The zap spell also, just like the arrows and the log, denies 2 elixir off the collector. It is still not viable to zap a lone collector just for the sake of it, but the reason it is better than the log and the arrows *if you want to* is because it is relatively less risky, costing 2 elixir, and having a variety of uses. However, it is best to Zap the collector as well as swarms placed to defend against your troops, which will result in a positive elixir trade. 

Freeze Spell: Surprised to see this being included, aren’t you? Well, it is not common knowledge, but the freeze spell also denies the elixir collector 1 elixir. Now it is obviously senseless to freeze a pump just for denying it 1 elixir, but if you can somehow use the freeze spell in such a way that it can freeze the tower, pump, and surrounding units, it is basically the same utility but with the added benefit of denying 1 elixir to the enemy. Keep this tip in your mind next time you use Freeze and it is guaranteed to yield you benefits.

Conclusion:

To conclude, I would like to say that when you see your enemy placing an elixir pump, don’t just sit there, do something! A good way to “counter” it without using the aforementioned cards is to push as hard as you can and punish your enemy, because he just spent 6 elixir! That keeps him with 4 elixir compared to 10 of yours. So the next time someone you face uses a collector, recall this article and punish your opponent. I hope this article will help you. That is it for this one guys, till next time, cheers.