Hog Rider

"Fast melee troop that targets buildings and can jump over the river. He followed the echoing call of "Hog Riderrrrr" all the way through the arena doors."

Summary

 * The Hog Rider is unlocked from the P.E.K.K.A.'s Playhouse (Arena 4).
 * He is a building-targeting, melee troop with moderate-high hitpoints and moderate damage.
 * A Hog Rider card costs 4 Elixir to deploy.
 * He appears just like his Clash of Clans counterpart; a dark man with brown eyebrows, beard and a mohawk, a golden body piercing in his left ear, riding a pig.

Strategy

 * With his high amount of damage, the Hog Rider can be placed with a high hitpoint card, such as the Giant, to distract enemy troops, with support units such as Goblins, dealing lots of damage. However, you can counter this combo with the Skeleton Army, Barbarians, or a Minion Horde.
 * Note that due to the fact that Giants and other tanks occupy a lot of space in the Arena, you may have problems with the Hog Rider getting to the Crown Tower due to the large troop blocking the Tower in front of him.
 * The Hog Rider in conjunction with the Freeze can be used to extreme effectiveness. Firstly, the Hog Rider is spawned, and if the opponent spawns troops to defend the Tower, cast the Freeze; as the Freeze freezes the defending troops & Crown Tower, and the Hog Rider will remain unhindered to attack the enemy's Tower. It is also recommended to drop cheap ranged troops or Goblins to go with the hog in order to deal additional tower damage.
 * The Freeze can be substituted by the Zap for a cheaper push and a spell that deals damage.
 * A Poison is another alternative, as it will destroy small troops, letting the Hog Rider take less damage while the Poison by itself also does quite a number.
 * The Hog Rider only attacks buildings. This means that it can easily be distracted with a Tombstone or a Goblin Hut, but he can also help out by destroying them. A Cannon is a good counter as it can pull the Hog Rider away, distracting it and giving the towers ample time to damage or kill him. However, a Tornado placed in front of the king's tower will sacrifice a few hitpoints of your tower but will activate the king's tower, helping you for later defenses.
 * He can also clear a key defense or front-placed Elixir Collector for a future push.
 * If the opponent places the Elixir Collector far back in the middle, in front of the King's Tower, the hog can be deployed on the river, and he will jump the river and go straight for it.
 * However, it is important to keep in mind that this placement puts him in the kill zone, where both arena towers can target him.
 * In general, a Hog Rider that is of equal or greater level than an Inferno Tower will be able to get at least one hit off before being incinerated, reducing the lifetime of the Inferno Tower. However, this may not happen if there is interference from other Cards.
 * A Hog Rider and Rage combo can also work to ensure a crown or lots of damage to a Crown Tower.
 * A very powerful combo is the Hog Rider, the Musketeer, and the Valkyrie. The Musketeer is for dealing damage, the Valkyrie is for protecting the Musketeer and Hog Rider from mass troops (i.e. Skeleton Army, Spear Goblins) and the Hog Rider is used to tank for the Musketeer and Valkyrie.
 * This combination of troops is dubbed the Trifecta by the community.
 * This can be effectively countered by Lightning, killing the Musketeer and severely damaging both the Valkyrie and Hog Rider. Minion Horde is also effective, but the enemy can Zap them and the Musketeer will one shot them all. Even if the Musketeer is killed, the Hog Rider and Valkyrie will have enough time to severely damage the Tower.
 * Pair the Hog Rider up with Skeletons, Goblins or Fire Spirits for a cheap and quick assault that can deal very high damage.
 * Both Goblins and Spirits can compliment the Hog Rider's very fast move speed. Melee Goblins and Fire Spirits can be devastating since they offer high damage. The Ice Spirit is also devastating since it can freeze the Arena Tower for 1.5 seconds, but is more vulnerable to splash units. Spear Goblins are also great since they are ranged and chip away from a safe distance when facing splash units, and hence they're less vulnerable to splash units.
 * A better way of using this combo is with a "pig push" (discussed below).
 * If a Goblin Barrel is deployed directly before the Hog Rider, they will distract the Crown Tower while the Hog Rider deals damage.
 * This can also be useful vice versa. The Hog Rider acts as a tank for the Goblins so that the Goblins can deal damage.
 * Sending out a Miner right before the Hog Rider is sent can be an effective combo. As the tower is distracted by the Miner, the Hog Rider can deal extra damage while the Miner also helps destroy it.
 * This can work vice versa. The Hog Rider can tank while the Miner deals damage. Although the miner doesn't deal high damage, he can damage towers if left alone.
 * Pairing the Hog Rider with the Balloon can deal devastating damage. If executed properly, the Hog Rider will act as a tank while the Balloon deals damage.
 * Remember that this combo is very vulnerable to the Minion Horde, as neither of the troops target anything but buildings.
 * Plus, it is easy to separate, since the Hog is very fast and the Balloon quite slow.
 * The substitute could be a Giant, but at the cost of being 10 elixir total, and having both troops at slow speed.
 * Barbarians, Elite Barbarians and Skeleton Army can also be used to counter it, but be careful because the Hog Rider may be backed up by area-damage troops, such as the Bomber, or spells, such as Fireball.
 * If a Hog Rider is charging towards an Arena Tower, a Cannon is a good way to take care of him. Place the Cannon away from the tower but in the Hog Rider's aggro range, so that Freezes and Zaps miss the tower or the Cannon. This is done most easily with a 4-3 building deployment, deploying the building 4 tiles from the river, and three tiles from the arena tower, toward the middle. However, you must have quick reaction time to place the Cannon at such a position as if you deploy it too late, the Hog Rider will ignore it.
 * This strategy can be defeated by placing Goblins or other small troops and the Hog Rider at the same time, so he is pushed off the bridge and to the edge of the arena. This is known as a "pig push" (discussed below).
 * The Bowler is a big counter to the Hog Rider. It keeps pushing the Hog, meaning less damage. However, this is a negative elixir trade. Also, it cannot prevent damage.
 * However, the Hog cannot attack the Bowler, so you can use it for a counterpush.
 * It is possible to bypass a building that is at least 3 tiles away from the Arena Tower by doing a "pig push". To do this, deploy the Hog Rider in the very edge from either the very front or 1 tile from the river, and quick-drop small units like Skeletons beside the Hog Rider (not front, behind, or diagonal).
 * To quick-drop, put a unit anywhere, and then release your finger and quickly select and deploy the unit where you want to deploy it, or after selecting the first unit, put it in the tile you want (but don't release your finger yet) and then pre-select the second unit, and then release your finger from the first unit and put the second unit in the tile you want.
 * The player can still execute a pig push with cards that only spawn one unit but it is a bit different, they would have to first drop their unit where the Hog Rider will be and then quick-drop the Hog Rider on the same tile.
 * Pig pushing from 1 tile away from the river will give your opponent more time to react, but it is more rewarding as the unit which would normally target the building will target the Arena Tower instead.
 * Pig pushing from a Tesla is different. If the Tesla is 2 or less tiles away from the river you can't pig push, but if it is exactly 3 tiles away from the river, you can pig push, and if the Tesla is 4 or more tiles away from the river you don't need to pig push, but you do need to deploy the Hog Rider in the very edge, since the Hog Rider will bypass the Tesla as long as it is not activated yet.
 * The pig push can be countered by using two structures but in most cases that is a negative Elixir trade. To counter it with a positive Elixir trade, you have to wait for your opponent to do a pig push and deploy the structure less than 3 tiles away from the Arena Tower. You can also Zap the units that are paired with the Hog Rider. Tornado can also counter a pig push quite easily.
 * A good combo for the Hog Rider is to use it in conjunction with Minion Horde and Fire Spirits or an Ice Spirit if you have it.

History

 * The Hog Rider was added with Clash Royale's soft launch on 4/1/16.
 * On 21/6/16, a Balance Update decreased the Hog Rider's damage by 6%.

Trivia

 * The Hog Rider is the only ground card that possesses the ability to jump across the separating area in the middle of the Arena.
 * His description is based on the Clash of Clans commercial, Ride of the Hog Riders.
 * When he is deployed, he yells "Hog Rider!" similar to how the Clash of Clans Hog Rider does in the commercial.
 * The Hog Rider is based on its identical counterpart in Clash of Clans, given that both of them can jump over obstacles that normal ground units are unable to.
 * Although in the description of the Hog Rider the middle separating area is referred to as a "river", in Bone Pit and Builder's Workshop there is no water in the separating area.
 * When he is jumping over the river, he cannot be targeted by any troops or buildings. However, if he was already targeted by an Inferno Tower or Inferno Dragon, he would receive damage when he jumps over the river.
 * Alike Clash of Clans, the Hog Rider wears a gold earring on his left ear.
 * Two Hog Rider statues can be seen in Legendary Arena (Arena 10) behind the enemy's King's Tower.
 * When jumping over the river, the Hog Rider can jump over The Log.

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