Background Information
This deck revolves around a high defensive stance built up by your elixir collectors. Once you have one or two elixir collectors down, you should be able o place enough troops and building down to where your defense is extremely strong and you will eventually overwhelm your opponent.
BASICS: AVERAGE ELIXIR AND HOW TO USE EACH TROOP EFFICIENTLY
The average elixir cost for this deck is 3.8 elixir and contains the following cards:
TROOPS: USED FOR DEFENSE AND OFFENSE. IMPORTANT TO USE THE RIGHT COUNTER FOR EACH TROOP
Musketeer- The musketeer is the main damage dealer besides your mini pekka. The musketeer is your long range, anti air damage dealer so it makes her a little more special. She is very good behind a Valkyrie because her high ranged damage lets her take down recently deployed troops very quickly. If your opponent decides to spawn in spear goblins to counter the ice Valkyrie and musketeer push, those spear goblins will die before they even get one spear thrown because of how good the Valkyrie is good at splash damage. The musketeer is fairly weak in terms of health points which make sense because her damage is very high. This can result in a same level fireball killing her though. Be careful because if you send a lot of your troops out because all your damage can be taken out with a single fireball, giving your opponent a huge elixir advantage. The fireball can kill most of your whole deck. Its defensive abilities are very good too because it can hide behind your crown tower or arena tower while doing a lot of damage to the attacking troops. The musketeer will be able to kill a whole army of small troops without taking much damage and also the musketeer will not let the arena or crown tower take much damage. Later on, there is a card called the three musketeers which basically spawns three of these single musketeers. They have the same stats per level as this card does so they can be taken out just as easily. The three musketeers do cost five more elixir but that card does come out with two more musketeers than this one. This single musketeer card is a very good option to have in a new, beginner deck because of its high damage, long range, ability to hit air troops, and how versatile it is in many situations. The musketeer is very vulnerable to point damage troops like the mini pekka, the pekka, and the prince. It is also vulnerable to direct damage spells like the fire ball, the arrows, and the lightning spell
Mini Pekka- The mini pekka is very versatile on defense and can be a treat if put on offense. The mini pekka is considered a glass cannon, where it deals a lot of damage but have little health in comparison. The mini pekka is great at countering high health tanks. The mini pekka can kill an enemy hog rider in two hits and only lets the hog rider get off one shot on your tower. Of course the mini pekka may only need one shot if you have some supporting troops defending with the mini pekka. This will also make the enemy hog rider not even get one shot off on to your tower. The mini pekka also kills the royal giant very efficiently. The mini pekka, since it does so much damage, will kill the enemy royal giant in just a few hits. This makes it hard for the royal giant to get much damage off on to your tower. With only the mini pekka defending your tower, the royal giant may get around 500 damage off of your tower. However, you most likely will have other troops, most likely the musketeer or the spear goblins, supporting your mini pekka which will make the enemy royal giant drop even faster. The mini pekka also kills the regular giant very easily and it can solo defend good enough. You do not need to worry about supporting your mini pekka with anything else. The mini pekka works great against single targeting troops like the musketeer, the wizard, the Valkyrie, the prince, and the troops previously mentioned above. What makes the mini pekka strong against the prince is that your mini pekka can easily survive the charge from the enemy prince, letting your mini pekka take in lots of damage while also dishing it out. The mini pekka is weak against swarm troops like the spear goblins, the skeletons, the regular shank goblins, and the barbarians. The mini pekka is also weak against some air troops like the minions and the minion horde.
Barbarians– The barbarians costs five Elixir. This is best used to counter Princes, P.E.K.K.A, and the Hog Rider. They are also an extremely helpful distraction for smaller troops that can do major damage if left untouched, like the Minions, Spear Goblins and the Goblin combo. Also, the Barbarians can help defend against the dark prince if the situation is desperate, but is not recommended counter since the Dark Prince is a pretty good Barbarian destroyer. The barbarians can also counter a miner. All you have to do is place the barbarians where the miner will pop out and only one of your defending barbarians will get killed, If the Barbarians are set on top of the much feared Sparky, they can easily destroy it, and you will gain a major Elixir advantage. The barbarians in this deck is for defense though. If the enemy spawns in a hog rider, send your barbarians just in front of the contested arena or crown tower. If you do this perfectly, the hog rider will get no damage onto your tower. Usually though, the enemy hog rider will squeeze through and be able to get one shot off. Additionally, if the enemy combines a fireball, zap, or fire spirit and zap combo,l they will be able to get a lot more damage off onto your tower so be very careful about what they have to support the hog rider and make adjustments accordingly. If they send in a prince, the barbarians are a great hard counter to him and will kill the enemy prince with ease. In my opinion, the Barbarians are one of the biggest staple cards in the game. The barbarians are extremely vulnerable to splash damage units like the bomber, the Valkyrie, the witch, the fire spirits, the sparky, and the baby dragon. The barbarians are also very vulnerable to most direct damage spells such as the fire ball and the lightning spell.
Minions– This deck uses the Minions instead of the Minion Horde. The Minions are preferred in this deck over the Minion Horde because you want to keep the cost of troops low. By keeping the cost low, you will be able to cycle through your cards faster. The Minions also do well enough against air troops like the Balloon or Baby Dragon, although for the Baby Dragon needs to target your Crown Tower first. Minions also can take out the Barbarians with the help of the Spear Goblins. This leaves you with a major counter push at the ready. Also, these blue little monsters can help destroy Prince rushes with the help of some ground troops. Even if your enemy uses Arrows, you are not at a Elixir disadvantage, unlike the Minion Horde. The Minions could also kill a Sparky before it can take its aim at the Tower. The minions are very vulnerable to anything that attacks air troops like the baby dragon, the witch, the spear goblins, the musketeer, and the wizard. The minions are also weak to direct damage spells like the zap spell and the arrows. Both of these direct damage spells will give your opponent an equal or an advantageous elixir trade. It is strong against group troops that have a medium or low amount of health. The are strong against the mini pekka, the musketeer, the barbarians, the pekka, and the princes.
SPELLS: THEIR MAIN USES AND HOW TO MAXIMIZE THEIR POTENTIAL
Zap– The Zap spell is mainly used to support your royal giant. The best way to use the zap is to either severely injure a minion horde and let your spear goblins or your minions finish them off. The other major use for zap in this deck is to stun any inferno towers. With the most recent update,. the zap will now reset the inferno tower’s damage. This will greatly increase the life time of your royal giant and make this deck even stronger. Remember, the longer your royal giant stays alive, the longer your high damage per second troops stay alive, and the more damage you can put onto enemy building, arena or crown towers, and on their troops. The zap will be your best friend because since it resets the inferno towers damage, it is better than the freeze spell. As a bonus when compared to the freeze spell, the zap spell only costs two elixir while the freeze spell costs four elixir. This lets you put two more elixir into your push that would have been spent on freezing the inferno tower. I recommend you zapping the inferno tower when the inferno tower’s beam is on the second stage. This will allow the royal giant to receive little damage and by the time the inferno tower resets, locks back onto the royal giant, and charges back up, the tower should be destroyed by your royal giant and the other supporting troops behind him. With this zap your pushes should be able to hit harder and last longer, a great support spell when trying to take down an enemy arena or crown tower. The zap spell hard counters small troops like the spear goblins, the regular shank goblins, the skeletons, the minions, and the minion horde. The zap also counters the goblin barrel spell quite well. It has a hard time when trying to kill high health point troops like the golem, the pekka, the barbarians, any type of prince, the balloon, and other troops like that. The zap can also stop the princes charges and make them start walking before they charge again . This allows the zap to be used in some tight defenses when a prince is right next to your tower.
TOWERS: HOW TO USE THEM AND WHERE TO PLACE THEM
Cannon- The cannon is your main defense against building targeting troops like the giant, the hog rider, the balloon, the royal giant, and the golem. Make sure you have good placement with your cannon because its five and a half tile range is very short. Also, you should never pre place a cannon. If you do, your enemy can send any air troop, like the three elixir minions or the baby dragon, and destroy it without taking any damage. You enemy can also just place a single musketeer and out range the cannon. This can make you basically waste your defense and make you lose three elixir. Also, you cannon is out of your hand which makes it a lot harder to defend from the defense targeting troops like the giant, balloon, and hog rider. If your opponent doesn’t have those troops or they just used it and you have the cannon in your hand, you can use the combination of the ice wizard and cannon to defend from hordes of small group troops. A cannon and ice wizard combo can defend from barbarians. The cannon is very cheap which makes it have synergy with the rest of your deck. Since you have two very expensive cards in your deck, having the cheapest defense in the game will help you on defense when you are on low elixir. The cannon is strong against weak ground troops like the skeletons, the archers, the spear goblins, and the regular shank goblins. The cannon, if provided with some sort of distraction, can be good against the prince, the the mini pekka, the barbarians, and the valkyrie. The cannon, being only able to attack ground troops, is very weak against the three elixir minions, the minion horde, the baby dragon, the lava hound, and the balloon.
Bomb Tower-This card is what I would call your foundation defense. If its in your hand, play it once you get max Elixir. This card provides big value on defense and can help intimidate your opponent from an aggressive assault. This card also works magic against any hut spammers, the barbarians, the hog rider and any goblin pushes. Against the barbarians, the bomb tower can unleash enough bombs to be able to kill all four of the barbarians without even being swung at. Against the hog rider, the bomb tower will easily destroy the enemy hog rider but be careful that you do not do this trade that often. Your opponents hog rider costs only four elixir while your bomb tower costs a whopping five elixir. This gives you a negative elixir trade and that is why I would recommend you to use your tombstone when countering an enemy hog rider. The bomb tower is better suited at countering the royal giant because its extremely high health can provide a huge distraction while other troops can damage and kill the enemy’s royal giant. You can also wait until the royal giant crosses the bridge and then place your bomb tower down so it is within range of the royal giant. This will make the bomb tower have multiple purposes as being the damage sponge for your arena or crown tower and also help damage the enemy royal giant. Also, if your opponent supported their push with goblins, barbarians, or some other ground troops, the bomb tower can also kill those troops while killing the royal giant. The bomb tower can work well in this deck and is perfect because it has a skeleton on top of this tower. The bomb tower costs five elixir and stays with the theme of an all skeleton deck.The opponent may also send out a minion horde to destroy the bomb tower. Sending your own arrows to kill the Minion Horde will not only protect the precious tower, but also let you gain an Elixir advantage. Since no Elixir Collector is present, this card, when on the field, will give you a little Elixir defense bonus. This also works well as a tank since its health points are very high, like any building after the May Third update, you should be weary if the opponent has a Royal Giant as it can out range most defensive buildings.
Elixir Collector– The Elixir Collector is a very special card. Most people don’t see its full potential. At first glance, most people just think it just gives you two additional Elixir. While this is true, there is a hidden, more important use for it. The Elixir Collector allows you to build up an even bigger push faster than without one. This lets you gain an elixir advantage on your opponent during your assault or perhaps when you need a quick reaction defense. Since it is such a valuable card, instincts tell you to put it at the back of you base, where it can’t be touched. this is a good strategy because you can easily protect the elixir collector from any troops. Just be aware of any direct damage spells your opponent may have as they can get the crown or arena tower and elixir collector combo on you for a big elixir advantage. However, there is a draw back into putting an elixir collector in the back. Since you are down on elixir for a defense, the enemy can send down a elixir heavy push and you will have a hard time defending because you are very low on elixir. For example, a hog rider user can immediately rush you and destroy the tower. To counter this quick offensive push made by your enemy, you can put the elixir collector between your arena or crown towers, two to four squares in front of your king’s castle. This will make hog rider pushers think twice before making the attack. If they do launch one, be ready to deploy your minions, barbarians, and or the spear goblins to help take down the hog rider. I suggest having at least one elixir collector on your side of the map at all times because this deck is a bit expensive. If you want two down on the field at the same time, i recommend placing the elixir collector far away from each other. If you put them too close together, the enemy may rocket, fire ball, or lightning both of your elixir collectors for a huge elixir profit.
