BACKGROUND INFORMATION
This deck’s main push is your Valkyrie supported by all your other troops. Your furnace will allow you to have constant pressure while your elixir collector will be used so you never run too low on resources.
BASICS: AVERAGE ELIXIR AND HOW TO USE EACH TROOP EFFICIENTLY
The average elixir cost for this deck is an even 3.8 and the following cards used are:
TROOPS: USED FOR DEFENSE AND OFFENSE. IMPORTANT TO USE THE RIGHT COUNTER FOR EACH TROOP
Goblins- The regular goblins are also a great choice for this deck because it is still very cheap. The regular shank goblins help you lower your average elixir cost of your deck and allowing you to cycle through and spawning your hog rider and lightning spell more often. These regular goblins can do some major damage to enemy troops, especially if it is behind your hog rider. The goblins in this deck will mostly be used for defense though. The regular goblins and the spear goblins can be used to effectively and easily counter the prince. The regular goblins, the spear goblins, and the minions can be combined to take down the pekka very easily. The goblins can also counter the golem pretty quickly but will be useless at defending against the golemites because they would have been killed by the golem’s death damage. The goblins can also easily counter the hog rider and with the support of your zap spell, will make it impossible for the enemy’s hog to get one swing at your tower. Additionally, since these goblins do so much damage, they can effectively counter an enemy royal giant, although supporting the goblins with the spear goblins and or the minions will make the enemy’s royal giant’s death quicker. The goblins are strong against troops like the hog rider, the musketeer, the prince, the princess, the spear goblins, and many other troops, The goblins are weak when fighting against area of effect troops like the Valkyrie, the wizard, and witch, and the bomber. They are also weak to any air troops like the three elixir minions, the minion horde, and the baby dragon.
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– The minions are part of your trifecta push that includes the hog rider, the valkyrie, and the 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, the fire spirits and the wizard. They are also weak to the ice spirits because they can be stunned long enough so the enemy tower can finish them off. The minions are also one of your only air targeting units so you should be careful and know when the right time to use them is. If you are seen having to defend against a lava hound or balloon without your minions or spear goblins, you will have a pretty hard time defending. Because of this, if you see your opponent has one or two of these cards, you should save your minions or spear goblins just to counter the enemies air troops. 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.
Valkyrie- The Valkyrie, even though it has a slow movement speed, can be quickened. If she is put in front of your fire spirits, she will move at the same speed as your fire spirits. This element of additional speed is why I consider her to be viable when compared to the dark prince. The Valkyrie also only costs four elixir which is fairly cheap. Also, if you put her in front of your hog rider, your opponent will have a very hard time countering your push. Instead of their usual barbarians, skeletons, spear goblins, or regular shank goblins, they have to think of some other way to counter your push. This is because your Valkyrie, now acting as a splash damage tank for your hog, will kill any of those counters extremely quick. If they place an inferno tower down, you can easily time a zap spell to reset its damage and you can plow straight to their arena or crown tower. Another good troop to pair up with the hog rider Valkyrie combination would be the fire spirits. The fire spirits would not only help clear any skeletons, spear goblins, barbarians, archers, or regular shank goblins even faster by help supporting the Valkyrie, but the fire spirits can also counter any air troops. Without fire spirits in your push, our assault can be easily taken out by the minion horde or be somewhat countered by the three elixir minions. With the fire spirits, the three elixir minions will be reduced to nothing and the minion horde will be reduced to a single, half health minion. Having these two troops to support your hog rider will make your push extremely strong and very hard to defend. The valkyrie is extremely durable against most troops because she has high damage and a good amount of health. The valkyrie can tear through the barbarians, the goblins, the spear goblins, the skeletons, the archers, and hut spam strategies. However, the valkyrie only attacks group troops so she will be extremely weak against the three elixir minions, the minion horde, and the baby dragon.
Ice Spirits- The ice spirits can be a great card to use in conjunction with the hog. The ice spirits can be compared to the zap spell because both of those cards stun enemy buildings or troops. However, unlike the zap spell, the fire spirit does not cost two elixir. Instead, it is half as expensive and only costs you one elixir to use. In addition to that bonus, the fire spirit’s stun ability lasts twice as long as the zap spell. Because of these two stats on the ice spirit, the ice spirit is worth about four times as much as the zap spell is per elixir. However, there is one downside to using the ice spirit over the zap spell. The ice spirit, unlike the zap spell, can easily be countered. The ice spirit can be countered by almost anything from direct damage spells like the zap spell, the arrows, the fire ball, and the rocket. The ice spirit is also very fragile against any splash damaging troops because even if they target your own hog rider, the splash damage effect can still kill your ice spirit since the ice spirit has such a low health point stat. Some splash damage troops that can kill your ice spirit is the wizard, the baby dragon, the ice wizard, the princess, the bomber, the witch, and the Valkyrie. Because of this, using the ice spirit is a risk reward type troop. If the ice spirit does get its stuff off before it dies, it is well worth it and you have a four times effectiveness when compared to the zap spell. However, if it dies it has a zero effectiveness when compared to the zap spell. If you find that your opponents are countering your ice spirit more times than not, you make want to switch to the zap spell. Switching to the zap spell will guarantee that you will get a stun on each of your pushes every single time. The zap spell will also get you a little more damage that is also reliable.
TOWERS: HOW TO USE THEM AND WHERE TO PLACE THEM
Furnace-The furnace has some offensive capabilities. The furnace is a card that can help support your pushes. The fire spirits can be a great addition to constant pressure push. Even though you only get 2 fire spirits, they can still do a ton of damage. Two fire spirits can reduce a whole minion horde down to everything but one, single half health minion. This greatly reduces the damage going on your troops and lets you get a lot more damage on to your enemy’s crown or arena tower. The furnace can also be used just as a stead supply of chip damage. With a reasonable level furnace, one fire spirit will always make it to the enemy crown or arena tower. Since each fire spirit can do a decent amount of damage, your opponent has to keep an eye on this furnace. If you opponent just leaves that furnace alone and does not try to counter it at all, you will get a lot of damage off onto his or her tower. The total damage will be around 500 to 1000 damage, quite a lot for only the cost of four elixir. The furnace can also be used in a hut spam strategy. The furnace can provide aerial and ground coverage which only the goblin hut can also provide. It also provides much needed splash damage in the hut spammer deck. Where as before a hut spammer would be completely destroyed by a minion horde, the furnace, along with the goblin hut, lets you easily counter the minion horde very quickly. The furnaces main job, in my opinion, is a defensive one. If you place it behind one of your crown or arena towers, it is very safe and can essentially block off that whole lane. The reason that it can block off a whole lane is because the two fire spirits do a ton of damage. If an an enemy tries to push up the lane where your furnace is located, they will probably receive four to six fire spirits during the whole time of their push. This can be up to eight hundred damage and completely destroy a ton of pushes. Eight hundred damage will kill barbarians, hog riders, balloons, or prince pushes. Because of this, you can sort of influence your opponent to push your other side. A good idea to use the furnace like that is when one of your towers is stronger than the other. If you place the furnace on the side of the weaker crown or arena tower, you make that weaker side a lot stronger. The furnace makes a tough decision for your opponent to make to whether attack the weaker side with the furnace, or attack the stronger side with no furnace. The furnace can also be placed in front of your king’s tower a few squares forward. This, in an addition of being a spawner building, makes the furnace be able to be a big distraction. The furnace can distract the hog rider, the giant, the royal giant, the balloon, the golem, and the lava hound. This can act as a tank for your tower and absorb the damage from troops instead of your own crown or arena tower take the damage. Both of these defensive strategies are very useful but you should use them in their specific situations. If they have a hog rider, place it up front. If one of your towers has 1500 health, place the furnace behind that tower. After you get to know the furnace, you will know what action is the best to take in any given situation.
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.
SPELLS: THEIR MAIN USES AND HOW TO MAXIMIZE THEIR POTENTIAL
Zap– The zap spell does do a little splash damage and almost happens in an instant. The Zap spell is mainly used to support your sparky and 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 sparky and giant and make this deck even stronger. Remember, the longer your sparky and 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 sparky and 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.
