Spear Goblins

"Three unarmored ranged attackers. Who the heck taught these guys to throw spears!?! Who thought that was a good idea?!"

Summary

 * The Spear Goblins are unlocked from the Goblin Stadium (Arena 1).
 * It spawns three single-target, medium-ranged Goblins with low hitpoints and very low damage.
 * A Spear Goblins card costs 2 Elixir to deploy.
 * They resemble the normal Goblins, but are taller and thinner, have sharper elven ears, wear a blue/red bandana, have a spear-case tied to their backs with a rope, and always have a wooden spear in their hands.

Strategy

 * Spear Goblins can be a good backup to higher hitpoints troops such as the Giant, as for just two Elixir, they can add high damage per second to any offensive and are not as susceptible to splash damage when supported behind a tank as the Goblins due to their range.
 * If mirrored/cloned behind a tank, Spear Goblins will provide protection (6 Spear Goblins will take out single-unit glass cannons or Minion Horde effectively) and a powerful push for the cost of 5 Elixir; if coupled with the less expensive tanks such as Giant or Balloon, this will result in a near instant gain of one Crown. This strategy is still very vulnerable to the tactic of spawning troops in between the tank and its support.
 * They can be used effectively to take down air troops such as the Minions, Balloon, and Baby Dragon when they are distracted — be careful, as the troops will be eliminated if the enemy is not distracted.
 * Spear Goblins are a decent defense for Arena Towers against enemy air and ground Cards.
 * Spear Goblins can prevent a lot of damage from a Graveyard but because one Spear Goblin cannot one shot a Skeleton the Skeletons will still end up doing some damage to the Arena Tower.
 * As with other low hitpoints cards, the Spear Goblins can be easily eliminated by spells and troops that deal area damage, such as Arrows and the Bomber.
 * The Zap is extremely effective to eliminate opposing Spear Goblins, due to the spell's equivalent Elixir cost of 2.
 * However, the player should be cautious about when they use their Zap, as the opponent may take advantage of this and send cards where the Zap would have been more appropriately used, such as Minion Horde or Goblin Barrel. This happens mostly in a Zap Bait deck.
 * Due to their low Elixir cost, Spear Goblins are easily disposable and can be used to block an enemy Prince's charge. In fact, Spear Goblins with the help of Crown Towers can take out a Prince. They player should place the Spear Goblins 4 tiles to the center and 3 tiles up. When the Prince attacks the Spear Goblins the second Crown Tower will also damage the Prince, taking him out.
 * As they target air troops, they are often better used over Goblins. However, Goblins are much better in specific cases as they have far more health, damage, and speed.
 * Spear Goblins are effective as lures, air troop destroyers, or for chip damage, but they are not effective when used alone on offense.
 * Spear Goblins are very similar to Archers in almost all stats, but Archers cost 1 more Elixir and are slightly better in every way (except speed and count).
 * For example, they can easily defeat a Minion Horde when paired with the Zap.
 * However, the Spear Goblins are a quicker and cheaper option due to their lower Elixir cost, despite being weaker.

History

 * Spear Goblins was added with Clash Royale's soft launch on 4/1/16.
 * On 3/5/16, the May 2016 Update fixed the "range bug" and decreased the Spear Goblins' range to 5 (from 5.5) but their effective range is unchanged.

Trivia

 * They appear similar to Goblins but have considerably lower hitpoints and damage, which is strange as they appear much more muscular in the card image.
 * If one closely looks at their card images, Spear Goblins appear to have blue eyes, while Goblins have green eyes. The Goblin in the Goblin Barrel card image also has green eyes.
 * Spear Goblins have the lowest Damage per Second of all of the common cards, dealing only 56 Damage per Second at level 13.
 * If a player's Spear Goblins are at least 1 level higher than the opponent's, the stronger Spear Goblins will need exactly 2 hits (as opposed to 3) to take out each of the others.
 * It's one of the 6 cards associated with Goblins, with the others being the Goblins, Goblin Gang, Dart Goblin, Goblin Barrel and Goblin Hut.

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