Bowler

“This big blue dude digs the simple things in life - Dark Elixir drinks and throwing rocks. His massive boulders roll through their target, hitting everything behind for a strike!”

The Bowler card is unlocked from the Frozen Peak (Arena 8). He is a medium-ranged, area damage troop with high hitpoints and moderate damage. The Bowler throws massive boulders which roll linearly, damaging and knocking back his target and any other units in the boulder's path. A Bowler card costs 5 Elixir to deploy.

Strategy

The Bowler's attack has a knockback effect that will push back all but heavy units such as a Prince. The knockback can also reset attack the animations of troops if they can be knocked back in the first place.
The Bowler has a linear attack that passes through all troops, allowing him to damage support troops behind a tank and clear swarms with ease. Maximize his damage potential by lining up enemies with the Tornado.
The Bowler can counter the Goblin Barrel if he is played behind the Crown Tower. His deployment timer should finish just as the Goblins spawn.
His high health, linear attack, and knockback effect makes him a strong defense against pushes, damaging both the tank and support units. As an added bonus, his inability to knock back tanks means he can separate the tanks and the support units, making them easier to deal with individually. He is extremely effective when paired with an Ice Wizard and Electro Wizard as their slowing effects coupled with the Bowler's knockback make for a near impenetrable wall.
The Bowler is one of the best counters against spawners. He can one-shot Spear Goblins, Fire Spirits and Skeletons. He can also take out Barbarians since he constantly delays them with his knockback, giving himself enough time to take them out. If he lands the final blow on a Tombstone, he will not only destroy it, but also destroy the Skeletons that would have spawned from it. This also makes him a very strong counter against the Witch since he can easily tank her attacks and will destroy any Skeletons she spawns.
Minions and Inferno Dragon can take out a Bowler without facing retaliation. Despite his splash damage, his slow attack-rate means that he can still be taken out by swarms like the Skeleton Army if he is surrounded.
He has a slow hit speed and low damage per second, so the player may need to back it up with troops with fast attack speeds and hard hitters such as the Musketeer and the Witch.
He can counter Elite Barbarians due to his knockback ability and high hitpoints, while preserving most of his health for a counterpush.
He is not very good at countering tanks, due to their high health, their inability to be pushed back, and his low damage per second.
The Executioner can be a reasonable substitute for him. Executioner counters air, but has lower health and cannot counter ground mini-tanks. Bowler counters almost everything ground but isn't very effective against large, heavy troops that ignore his knockback effect, and he gets demolished by air troops as he cannot target them.
While a player is defending against the Bowler, they should try not to place troops between the Bowler and their Tower, as his boulder rolls for a long distance and could lead to unnecessary Tower damage.

History

The Bowler was added to the game on 4/7/16 with the Tournaments Update.
On 24/8/16, a Balance Update decreased the Bowler's Elixir cost to 5 (from 6), decreased its hitpoints by 7%, and decreased its damage by 10%.
On 19/9/16, the September 2016 Update changed his description. The description used to say "This big blue dude digs the simple things in life - Dark Elixir drinks and throwing rocks. His massive boulders bounce off their target, landing behind for a double strike."
On 1/11/16, the November 2016 Update changed the Bowler's sound effects.
On 4/8/20, a Balance Update decreased the Bowler's sight range by 20% (to 4 tiles, from 5 tiles), increased his projectile range by 25% (to 7.5 tiles, from 6 tiles), and increased his hitpoints by 8%.

Trivia

He is the first troop that can push back other troops with its attack, and also the first one with a linear rolling attack that can go right through units.
The description was taken from Clash of Clans, although there actually isn't Dark Elixir in the game. Also, before the September Update, the description used to be wrong, as the boulder rolls, not bounces.
Although the Clash Royale Bowler is similar to his Clash of Clans counterpart, in Clash Royale his rocks actually roll while in Clash of Clans they bounce, hitting 2 areas instead of 1.