Royal Giant

"Destroying enemy buildings with his massive cannon is his job; making a raggedy blond beard look good is his passion."

Summary

 * The Royal Giant is unlocked from the Royal Arena (Arena 7).
 * He is a building targeting, long-range troop with high hitpoints and moderate damage.
 * The Royal Giant costs 6 Elixir to deploy.
 * Its appearance is similar to that of a Giant but he sports a darker colored cloth coat, has a mustache with sideburns which go down to his chin, wears an earring on his right ear and wields a cannon in one hand, and a cannonball in the other.

Strategy

 * The Royal Giant's range makes him a more flexible option than the Giant. Because he attacks from a long range, he is effective to pair with a Princess, as she has a longer range and can be shielded by the Royal Giant. The Royal Giant stands in place while attacking, luring defending enemy troops towards him and closer to other attacking troops. Therefore, pairing him up with a Wizard or Bomber allows the player to easily eliminate any defending Goblins and Barbarians, giving way for melee troops such as the Prince or Hog Rider to attack unhindered.
 * However, as the Royal Giant is ranged, he will not protect any melee or short-medium ranged troops from enemy defenders, making his high hit points worthless as a shield.
 * It is possible to use the Royal Giant as a tank if the player puts down melee troops after the Arena Tower targets the Royal Giant.
 * The Princess can stay safely behind the Royal Giant as her range is higher than that of the Royal Giant.
 * The Minion Horde, Skeleton Army, and Barbarians are popular cards which can effectively counter a Royal Giant, especially the Barbarians because of their high hitpoints. As he cannot target troops, their large numbers can easily whittle down a Royal Giant's hitpoints.
 * However, they are defeated easily by supporting splash units or spells like Arrows or a Wizard.
 * High damage troops or mini-tanks like the Mini P.E.K.K.A. and Prince also work well.
 * The Ice Wizard's ability to slow down troops can also be an effective option to make the Royal Giant less of a threat.
 * The Inferno Tower is one of the best counters, but place in re-actively or he will attack it from a distance.
 * The Cannon is also a good counter but won't be effective without supporting cards such as Ice Spirit and Skeletons, and a card like the Musketeer to deal damage.
 * Placing him on the end of the bridge almost immediately allows him to attack the enemy Arena Tower, making him an instant threat. After destroying one tower and opening the lane he can be placed in the middle to immediately attack the second Arena Tower.
 * If the Royal Giant is placed on the third tile from the river, he'll target the Arena Tower, without attracting attention from the King's Tower.
 * If you plant the Royal Giant on the fourth tile from the river, he'll target the Arena Tower, but will also be within range of the King's Tower.
 * The Royal Giant's range allows him to out-range any placed defense buildings except for the Mortar and X-Bow. This means that he can effectively take out annoying defenses such as the Bomb Tower and Inferno Tower. However, because the Tesla is able to hide it's appearance underground, the Royal Giant will only be able to target when he appears within its range.
 * If the Tesla is placed 4 or more tiles away from the river, the Tesla won't target the Royal Giant.
 * If the Tesla is exactly 3 tiles away from the river, the Tesla won't target the Royal Giant.
 * Most players try to distract their enemy's troops by placing a building in the middle of their field. If they happen to place a passive building at most 4 tiles from the river or a defensive building 3 tiles from the river you can counteract their blunder and take out the building by placing down a Royal Giant for a relatively risk-free destruction from your side of the field. If you know your opponent has a Royal Giant, it may be most effective to wait for your opponent to deploy it, and then deploy the defense so the defense can target it while absorbing damage for the Crown Tower.
 * If the opponent deploys a Tesla four maximum tiles from the river, deploying a Royal Giant to attack it from across the bridge is actually unwise as the Royal Giant will take high damage from the Tesla, limiting the number of shots he can get on the tower, which is the main priority.
 * If the player fails to place a building on time and an opposing Royal Giant locks on to the tower, they can use a Zap spell or an Ice Spirit to cause the Royal Giant to re-target and hit a placed building instead. If none of these cards are on hand, however, the player can "shove" the Royal Giant by placing troops on him. This will slightly push him out of range of the Arena Tower and cause him to target the player's building or you can just place a building such as an Inferno Tower directly on top of him for the same outcome.
 * While using the Ice Spirit, however, the player needs to back it up using a cheap card, like the Ice Wizard, or the Bomber.
 * Be careful when pushing the Royal Giant back with The Log — sometimes you will push the Royal Giant out of the range of the defense and the Royal Giant can outrange it.
 * If the opponent has an Inferno Tower, wait until they deploy it, then use the Royal Giant, as the Inferno can take out the Royal Giant if placed re-actively, but not if it was placed before the Royal Giant as he is able to out-range it. Alternatively, small troops such as Goblins or Minions can be used to eliminate the Inferno quickly.
 * If the opponent is attempting a Royal Giant + Sparky Combo, the player can actually place the Inferno Tower slightly earlier since the Sparky's shorter range will push the Royal Giant into the Inferno Tower's targeting range. Be wary, though, as the Sparky can quickly eliminate the Inferno Tower with the Royal Giant itself, so be sure to have a way to reset Sparky's attack such as Zap.
 * The Ice Wizard or Ice Spirit + Inferno Tower combo can shut him down, even if your opponent had zapped the Inferno Tower.

History

 * The Royal Giant was added to the game on 29/2/16 with the March 2016 Update.
 * On 23/3/16, a Balance Update increased the Royal Giant's damage by 20%.
 * On 3/5/16, the May 2016 Update increased the Royal Giant's range by 1 and also changed his description. It used to say, "Sighting his massive cannon at enemy buildings, the Royal Giant comes in like a wrecking ball." The same update also fixed the "range bug" and decreased the range by 0.5 tiles with no change to effective range, thereby providing a 0.5 tile increase (effectively a 1 tile increase in range).
 * On 18/5/16, a Balance Update decreased the Royal Giant's damage by 4%.
 * On 24/8/16, a Balance Update decreased the Royal Giant's hit speed to 1.7 sec (from 1.5 sec).
 * On 19/4/17, a Balance Update increased the Royal Giant's deploy time to 2 sec (from 1 sec).

Trivia

 * The Royal Giant is currently the only Common card that targets only buildings.
 * Oddly, the Royal Giant is wearing a chainmail vest under his tunic, but he is less durable than the regular Giant.
 * The Cannon he wields appears to be a turret of a level 7 Cannon from Clash of Clans.
 * He deals the same damage per hit as a Zap, Knight or Barbarian of equal level. He also has the same number of hitpoints as four equal-level Barbarians added together.
 * He is tied with the Elite Barbarians as the most expensive Common card, with a cost of 6 Elixir.
 * Oddly, the cannonball he holds is larger than the cannonball fired from his Cannon. Even so, the Royal Giant can be seen loading this cannonball back into the cannon during the recoil animation after he fires.
 * The Royal Giant appears to be bigger than his counterpart, the Giant, but until level 6, the Royal Giant has fewer hitpoints than the Giant.
 * He is one of the eleven cards who are cheered for by the audience upon spawning and booed when killed, the others include Sparky, Lava Hound, Night Witch, Giant Skeleton, Pekka, Giant, Electro Wizard, Bowler, Inferno Dragon, Golem, and Ice Golem.

Königsriese Gigante noble Géant royal Gigante Royale Королевский гигант