Background
This guide is to help you make a deck of your own if you want an original and unique type of deck. Choosing a few of these cards to put into your deck will help you create a lot better deck and make you gain trophies. I included all the cards that I though deserved recognition. Each of the following cards are either a great support, offense, or defense card. I hope that you guys learn more information about some of your favorite cards and some more information on your not so favorite cards. Please leave in the comments if you agree or disagree with me on the list. Tell me if you would have added a certain card in and if you would have taken out some of the cards I have chosen.
10. Spear Goblins- Spear Goblins are a very versatile card and definitely deserve to be in the top ten card list. Whether they are to get 300 chip damage off your opponents tower at the start of the game or when you are about to max on elixir, or when you want to distract high damage units, there spear goblins get the job done easily and effectively. Also, with their range, they provide something special that regular goblins can’t achieve. They can shoot down air units like baby dragons, lava hounds, balloons, and minions. This added range also allows them to attack faster. If you have an oncoming enemy wizard with just a sliver of health, an already sent spear goblin pack will kill the wizard while the regular goblin pack will not kill it. If the opponent puts some type of tank in front of the wizard because goblins were sent instead of spear goblins, that damage will be carried on just like the wizard was at full health. Because the spear goblin card spawn the same amount of goblins as the regular goblin card does, it attacks air, and has range, this card is a lot better suited in most decks. That being said, the regular goblins are still a great choice and may fit a lot better than the spear goblins in your deck. The spear goblins however do not trump the 3 elixir minions.
9. Inferno Tower- The inferno tower is the best tower defense in that game in my opinion. This is also the only building in the game. You may be wondering why I chose the inferno tower instead of the cannon or elixir collector. The reason the inferno tower is a lot better than the cannon is because you really only need help defending against the tankier units. Smaller units can easily be countered by the splash damage in your deck or just your own small units like spear goblins. Because of this you really don’t need the cannon. The inferno tower can also counter the hog just as easily as the cannon can, it just costs a little more elixir. Also, the inferno can kill other units that the cannon cannot. The inferno tower can kill heavy tanks like the pekka, golem, giant skeleton, lava hound, and balloon while the cannon can’t. Not being able to defend against these cards easily will make it very hard to keep your towers standing after every push they send out to you. Having an inferno tower free will help demoralize your opponent if they do use a tank and you may even be able to make them rage quit, Also, the inferno tower has an easier time defending against the royal giant than the cannon. Both cards require expert placement and timing so they cancel each other out. The inferno tower kills the royal giant a lot faster and has more health so it can withstand supporting troops the royal giant has behind him. The cannon, on the other hand, would be destroyed very quickly and let your tower get a ton of damage. The inferno tower also beats the elixir collector because after all the nerfs to the elixir collector, the elixir collector is rendered pretty much useless. An equal level fire ball can take an elixir collector down to under half health. This means that a rocket would be able to destroy your collector, do 500 damage to your tower, and it only costs them 1 elixir. This gives them a major advantage because the collector probably helps the success of your deck and without it your pushes would have to be smaller. Also, if they combo your elixir collector, tower, and another troop like a princess, they will actually get a positive elixir trade and do damage to your tower. The elixir collector probably would have been on the list if it had not been nerfed 20% and then another 9% in the past 2 updates. Overall, the inferno tower is a great defense that can be used as a semi tank and can take down all types of tanks. By itself, the inferno tower can take down a pekka by itself. The inferno tower looks like a promising card for the future because it is not receiving any hate, so it is less prone to nerfing, and also counters most meta strategies pretty well.
8. Minions- The three elixir minions are one of my favorite cards in the game. They can take down a balloon down by themselves. This gives you a major elixir advantage of two elixir with the free minions. Additionally, these minion can kill melee troops very easily. Combined with goblins, they can take down a whole group of barbarians. But without going further in detail, you may be wondering why I did not chose the minion horde to be on the top ten list. I didn’t chose the minion horde because people usually have easy and cheap counters for them. Easy counters include arrows, which gives the opponent a plus two elixir advantage, the fire ball, which gives the opponent a plus one elixir advantage, and the wizard, which gives them a free wizard and one elixir. The minion horde can also be countered by the fire spirits which would give your opponent a plus three elixir advantage. The zap spell would also give them a plus three elixir advantage. There are a lot less effective counters towards the 3 elixir minions. Arrows will only be an equal trade, and it makes the waste a spell card which is good for you in case you have other small units, the fire ball is completely useless as a counter for your opponent as it give you a plus one elixir advantage,and the wizard is only a good counter to your minions as they spend one elixir for a wizard. The fire spirits and zap still gives your opponent a plus one elixir advantage but it limits their profits on this trade. It is now only an one elixir advantage instead of a three elixir advantage. The minions are also cheaper than the minion horde which allows you to make cycle decks and to defend from troops faster. Having a troop be two elixir cheaper can be the difference of winning and losing in some cases. In short, the minions do almost as good of a job as the minion horde but they ability to be countered less effectively puts them ahead of the minion horde.
7. Fire Spirits- This card also is a great supporting card and defensive card, just don’t use it against the prince. The fire spirits can be the most annoying card by far if you use it correctly. If you combine these fire spirits with your barbarians, they can no longer use small troops to destroy them. They also can use their own barbarians as theirs will die from the splash damage caused by these kamikaze dudes. They will be forced to either use a defense or spell to even have a chance for getting ahead. Another combo they pair extremely well with is the hog rider and the zap spell. The most common counter to the hog is either a minion horde, or the barbarians. The fire spirits annihilate both of these. The fire spirits by themselves will destroy the whole minion horde, leaving you with an enormous three elixir advantage and a hog at their tower. The they counter with barbarians, the fire spirits combined with a high level zap will destroy almost any realistic level of barbarians. This again leaves you with a one elixir advantage and a hog at their tower. If they send goblins, it will take only two fire spirits to kill them, giving you around 150 damage at their tower plus the hog rider. Them defending with spear goblins are even worse as it only takes one fire spirit to kill all three leaving you with an additional 300 damage and a one elixir advantage. These bad boys can basically kill any troop by themselves that come in groups of two or more. Be careful if your opponent has a zap spell though, as it can destroy your momentum by killing your secret weapon. I find the fire spirits more useful than the arrows because it is cheaper and does a lot more damage. The only downside to the fire spirits when compared to the arrows is that you can send your fire spirits to the back of their side of the arena. The fire spirits card is definitely worth taking a look at and possibly try in your deck. Since it is so cheap, it works great with any type of cycle decks. Also, do not use them to counter princes as they die instantly and the prince will get its charge off on your tower.
6. Hog Rider- Yes, a main offensive unit has finally entered the list. You probably wondered why so many support cards were featured before an actual good offense troop and the reason is that there are only a few viable options right now, and the ones that are viable are extremely good. If you have ever fought in arena 7 or higher, and especially arena 8, the hog rider is one of the most used offensive cards, only second to the royal giant. I personally use the hog rider myself and I agree that at this point and time, the royal giant is in fact, a lot better. SO you may be wondering, “Why the h e double hockey stick are you using hog?”. My answer is quite simple and may persuade you to chose the hog over the royal giant. Supercell nerfs cards that they feel overpower or cards that have been used a lot. There is always some commotion about the hog, but the focus is always on a different strategy. The first time it was rocket defense, then hut spammer, then x bow, and then mortar. Last time it was pekka, prince, and dark prince. This time it is the royal giant. The hog rider was a good strategy throught all the updates and they have not even touched him. This shows that Supercell thinks the hog rider is fine as it is. Since the royal giant is getting all the crap now, it will be nerfed next update. I guarantee it or your money back (with payment of shipping and handling). So I think that since my royal giant is level one, 7k gold to get it to a playable level will be a waste only to have it good for one month. That being said, I am a free to play player. I do not spend any money on this game what so ever. If you have the gold or money for it, you can definitely change to the royal giant. it is just my position that does not let me switch. If you do switch though, do not be surprised if it becomes a lot less powerful next month.
5. Royal Giant- Ahhh yes, now we get to talk about the most annoying troop in the game at the moment, the royal giant. As it stands, the royal giant is extremely strong. It can out range any useful defense, and is pretty much guaranteed damage on your opponents tower. Combined with its long range, high health points, and moderate damage, it is a very strong card. Because it is so strong, over 75% of the people you play in arena 8 use this card. The best combos I have seen with this card is royal giant and ice wizard combined with one other troop or support spell. When I go against royal giant users, the hardest comb is one of three add ons. It is either the bomber, since the barbarian counter is so prevalent it does wonders. But because it can be fire balled the regular wizard works well too. The regular wizard also can kill defending minion hordes and other swarms much quicker and easier. The second combination is either the fire ball or fire spirits. These can also counter the minion horde and barbarians easily. The fire ball does cost more so fire spirits do look like a lot better option right now. However, their inability to hit all of the barbarians at once at times may deter you from using them and into sticking with the much ore reliable fire ball. The third and final combination is the most deadly, but can also lead to your own self destruction. The third troop is the sparky, yes, I said it, the sparky. Te sparky is deadly to barbarians and is annoying as melted Popsicle juice in summer. You can’t counter the royal giant with barbarians any ore and your only real hope is using the minion horde. But if they have arrows, say by to your tower. I rarely defend from a royal giant sparky user that is extremely skilled in this strategy. Take note though, that only people very skilled and knowledgeable about the sparky can make this strategy work. If you only know a little bit about the sparky, you will not do well with it. The best defense to this however is zap the sparky and then immediately place down your barbarians. With good timing, you will be able to defend from that push with only losing about 1000 health points on your tower. I know this is a lot, but its a lot better than having your tower left in ruins. Other ways of stopping the royale giant can be found in Snehil Gupta’s guide found on this website.
4. Barbarians- The much favorited, much used card finally finds its spot at number 4. When it comes to the barbarians, they are the strongest four men you will every see. They can pretty much counter anything when it comes to golems, pekkas, princes, hogs, and the royal giant. This card is also one of the only, if not the only, cards that can stop a ten elixir push by themselves. Their hit rate is fast enough, their health is high enough, their damage is strong enough, to pretty much annihilate anything in its path…unless it flies or has splash damage. Yes, these masculine men can easily be destroyed by Valkyries, minions, the wizard, and the bomber. Also, one of the most common spells used, the fire ball can also easily take them out to very low health. They are extremely qualified when it come to distracting the prince. With the help of a tower, two barbarians will still be alive once the prince dies leading for a counter push buffer. Also, the barbarians fit fairly well into some of the few troops that counter sparky well. A zap and barbarians combo will take the sparky with no casualties. And if you do not feel like running zap in your deck, the barbarians dropped right on top of the sparky will result in a dead sparky and only one or two dead barbarians. Costing five elixir, they are definitely worth their cost. However, because it may be considered expensive for some people, they may chose to use skeletons instead as it is 4 elixir cheaper and allows for a faster cycle between cards. The skeletons almost made it to the top ten list but just fell short.
3. Fireball- The fire ball, in my opinion, is the best spell card in the game. It can counter almost every single medium to low health point troop your opponent throws at you for a positive or equal elixir cost. Of course super small units like skeletons, spear goblins, and regular goblins do not pose a threat and should not be fire balled, that just common sense. The most common counters are the fire ball to the barbarians, which gives you a one elixir advantage, the minion horde, which gives you a one elixir advantage, the goblin barrel, which gives you an equal elixir trade, and the princess, which gives you a one elixir disadvantage but can be combod with other units to gin an elixir advantage. The fire can also support your hog by using it preemptively. Sending a fire ball preemptively means that you send a fire ball in a space where nothing is in hopes of getting more in return. Lets say your opponent always counters your hog rider by placing barbarians in front of their tower. You can send your hog rider and immediately after send a fire ball to the space right in front of his tower, where he or she normally spawns the barbarians. Having the fire ball hit the barbarians right when they spawn does a lot for your hog. The hog has an open pass to his tower, which makes him not slow down trying to shove between the barbarians and it does one more thing. It knocks back the barbarians so the barbarians now have to walk back to the hog instead of being right next to it. This can give you a net profit of 600 to 1000 extra damage, maybe even more if you do it a few times in a match. Be careful though, your opponent may become smart or do something different and you just wasted a fire ball. I recommend only doing this once per game because your opponent will get smarter throughout the game. I believe that the fire ball is a lot better than the arrows because it is more versatile throughout various situations and events.
2. Ice Wizard- Wooo, a legendary finally made it to the top ten. Ok, so the ice wizard far exceeded my expectations when it first came out. At first I thought it was the weakest troop in the game, but as it turns out, it the second best card in the game in my opinion. For god sake, it can stop a whole lot of barbarians and minion hordes. That has got to say something. Also, it is a surprisingly good tank on defense. In a dire situation, it can slow an oncoming pekka down and take two whole swings from it before dying. Also, it is one of the best support cards in the game. It sort of acts as a healer in the sense it negates damage done by enemy troops onto your troops. The ice wizard combined with any small unit like goblins can do an extraordinary amount of damage for how innocent that push looks. The ice wizards acts as the tank while slowing the tower. The goblins come from behind and do a ton of damage. The ice wizards can do all that, for just three elixir. It just costing three elixir is a major part in why it is ranked 2 on the list. When I first played against him, I thought he costed around four to five elixir and was shocked when I found out that he only costed 3 elixir. That just made my eyes open onto how many rockets I used on that darn thing. Speaking of direct damage, this ice wizard can withstand a fire ball. It is basically as strong as a barbarian, a five elixir card. Because of these reasons, I think it definitely deserves its spot on the list.
1. Princess- Behold, the top card in the game, the princess. She is also the second and only other legendary card on this list. She has many names, especially on the forums, “Walking Mortar”, “OP”, and “Garbage”, and “OMG A LEGENDARY”, are a few of her names. I agree with the first name the most. She has the best range and can three crown an opponent all by herself. She also does extremely well against swarm cards, hut spam cards, and hut spammers. Because of her great splash damage, she can take down barbarians and minion hordes from the other lane. But Supercell has counteracted this with her health. Her health is trash. If you step on her toe she dies. In battle, she will die to arrows seven levels higher than herself. SO a level 8 arrow card will kill a level 1 princess and so on and so forth. But, that is also a good thing about that card. You can make your opponent waste their arrows or fireball so you can safely play your goblin barrel or your minion horde without fear of them getting arrows out of the sky. Also, if the princess is spawned right in front of your bridge, she will do an almost guaranteed 150 damage to the tower, maybe more but that depends on her level. Because it is so cheap, it can also be used effectively in a cycle deck where you want to get to a high cost troop over and over again. This card is very deserving of the title of “best card in clash royale” and I think many people believe that she is not only the best legendary card in the game, but also the best overall card in the game. This concludes my article for today, and until next time, have a great day.
