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 single target, melee troop with both moderate hitpoints and damage that targets buildings.
 * 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 spawned in affiliation with a high hitpoint card, such as the Giant, to distract enemy troops, with support units dealing lots of damage.
 * 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 spell 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 spell, as the Freeze spell 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 spell can be substituted by the Zap spell for a cheaper push and a spell that deals damage.
 * A Poison is another alternative, as it will destroy small troops and cripple larger ones, 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.
 * He can also clear a key defense or front-placed Elixir Collector for a future push.
 * In general, a Hog Rider that is of equal or greater level to an Inferno Tower will be able to get at least one hit off before being decimated, reducing the lifetime of the Inferno Tower.
 * 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 protecting the Valkyrie and Hog Rider from air troops, 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.
 * The player can also cast Poison to help the combo deal extra damage, as it slows and damages anything inside its radius.
 * Pair the Hog Rider up with Skeletons, Goblins or Fire Spirits for a cheap and quick assault.
 * A better way of using this combo is with a pig push, go down further for the info.
 * 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.
 * 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 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.
 * 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.
 * 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 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". For more info look below.
 * 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 river, and quick-drop small units like Goblins 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 plant 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 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 plant 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 plant the structure less than 3 tiles away from the Arena Tower.
 * Credit to Orange Juice Gaming for the pig push.
 * 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

 * 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 CoC 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 river in the separating area.
 * When he is jumping over the river, he cannot be targeted by any troops or buildings.
 * Alike Clash of Clans, the Hog Rider wears a gold earring on his left ear.

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