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Introduction
This deck has been one of the strongest ever since the release of archer queen and the hog buffs. You might recognize this deck but with the goblin cage, but cannon is more reliable ranged dps and a strong answer to graveyard which can gives this deck a lot of trouble. The objective of this deck is to out cycle royal hog counters with it's 2.9 average elixir count. It's defensive may seem weak to beatdown decks but with archer queen and royal delivery it has enough defense to defend even lava hounds and golems. Despite the many nerfs against it, it is still a very strong deck in the meta, and sees tons of usage especially at 8k+ tropies. As of now, due to a surge in elixir collector mirror, this deck has unfortunately become unusable, however replacing fire spirit with mirror will keep this deck viable. After the earthquake nerf, this deck loses the spell cycle game, and is now significantly worse(#BuffEQ). However, this deck is still very much viable, just not the top ladder menace it was.
Deck Information[]
- Deck Created by: Ttv1kid
- Minimum Recommended King Level: 14
- Maximum Recommended King Level: 14
- Arena Required: Royal Crypt (Wrong?)
- Average Elixir Cost: 2.9 (Wrong?)
- More Statistics: Go to Deck Builder
Card Roles[]
- Royal Hogs: The only win condition in this deck, gets near guaranteed damage unless your opponent overspends or has a Bomb Tower. Can be split at bridge for a split push that is harder to defend.
- Skeletons: Cycle card, serves as a distraction on defense and deal a lot of DPS for one Elixir. Can counter threats like Bandit and Mini P.E.K.K.A
- Fire Spirit: Air splash card, can instantly kill Zappables and some Loggables for one less Elixir. Also serves as a distraction as well.
- Royal Delivery: Defensive spell, deals a lot of damage and spawns a Recruit to further defend, Also it only costs 3 elixir. Be aware of the 3 second deploy time.
- Cannon: Defensive building that deals a lot of dps for only 3 elixir. Can distract building chasers and get tons of defensive value if protected. Great against Graveyard if placed well.
- The Log: Small spell that can knockback and kill a lot of small troops. Can chip Tower.
- Earthquake: Big spell paired with Royal Hogs, deals a ton of building damage and clears low hp swarms quickly. After the 4/8/22 emergency nerf, earthquake is no longer a viable spell cycle option, but can still be used in a clutch.
- Archer Queen: The only Anti Air of the deck, defending an Archer Queen almost always require a negative elixir trade. Deals a ton of dps with ability and can gain an insane amount of defensive value.
Strategy and Tips[]
Gameplan:
Single Elixir:
In single elixir you want to outcycle your opponent’s royal hog counters, as outcycling becomes harder in double/triple elixir. To cycle back to a card, you and your opponent both have to play four more cards. You have a natural advantage since this deck is a fast cycle deck. You do not want to overspend on offense and risk taking a lot of damage, so only send royal hogs after a push is stopped or as a first play. Royal hogs should always be split in the middle to form dual lane pressure and be harder to completely counter.
If your are having trouble making a first play(eg. defensive starting hand), you can always wait for the opponent to go first. Here are appropriate responses for any opposition first play:
6 + elixir investment in the back: Place a cannon in the 4-3(4-2 if the investment is placed in the right lane) placement to potentially cycle back to another one on defense. If the investment is passive like the elixir collector, earthquake it.
Bridge pressure unit(bandit, ghost, battle ram, ram rider, etc.): Defend accordingly, then you can fire spirit to pressure. Against bandit skeletons 5-2 then fire spirit 6-3 to activate king tower.
Spawner(Furnace, Barbarian hut, Tombstone and Goblin hut): Snipe bad placements with Archer queen or just the Earthquake.
Chip damager (Spirit, Princess and Dart Goblin): Counter them and avoid chip damage.
This deck is an aggressive deck, so you generally should initiate aggression if you have the chance, even a fire spirit will work to do solid chip damage.
Never be below 5-7 Elixir unless you are also certain that your opponent is low on elixir, this deck cannot defend big pushes with low elixir.
Double Elixir:
You should now play more aggressive and start punishing big investments with royal hogs. Against other cycle decks and beatdown decks, push in royal hogs + earthquake every time since those decks lack quick and big punishes. Against bridge spam, you can do the same but to a greater risk, however bridge spam usually don’t run buildings so you shouldn’t have to earthquake along with hogs.
Despite your opponent getting stronger offense and more spell removal, you can cycle more units and cannons to defend. Defending big pushes is definitely harder in double elixir, but is still doable if you place units correctly in the correct order.
Start most defensive sequences with a 4-2 or 4-3 cannon, and cycle back to more if the first one is destroyed. Skeletons to distract single target units, and royal delivery on stacked units. Then archer queen at edge to prevent lightning value. This sequence is able to take down most pushes.
In double elixir, playing aggressive is recommended, but committing on offense is never good with this deck, be sure to never attack when you are down elixir or if your opponent can make a huge counterpush after defending royal hogs.
Triple Elixir:
If you haven’t noticed, playing this deck gets progressively harder as a match goes on. In triple elixir, you have to mess up even less since pushes will be bigger and the opponent will have more elixir for spells. If you don’t mess up however, you are likely to be rewarded a win.
Play similar to double elixir, but note that you need to watch out for lightning even more. If you can’t get damage through, cycling earthquakes is always an option.
Don’t worry about being down elixir after attacking if your opponent can’t hard punish you, the extremely fast elixir generation means that most threats can be countered even if you are low on elixir.
2 Tower Game:
Usually this deck doesn’t get put in this situation, but play similar to whatever elixir multiplier you’re in. The thing to watch out for is pocket units to take out your cannon, so always place it slightly away from the pocket so you can react to units being placed to take out cannon. When attacking, place royal hogs in the pocket for the fastest way to get to tower, however, you may also want to place pocket queen and use the regular royal hog placement to catch building placements. It may be really tempting to go for a 3 crown when the opponent’s king tower is lower health than their princess tower, but it’s much more reliable to go for a 2 crown since it takes longer to get to king tower, leaving the opponent more room for defense.
Cannon Placements(assuming player is defending left lane, some placement mirror each other):
4-2:
The placement that pulls troops at bridge from both lanes, will also pull bypass placement hog riders in the left lane. Move one tile right to defend right lane hog riders.
4-3:
Make tanks in the left lane walk the farthest distance, place one tile to the left to defend tanks in the right lane.
3-3:
Anti fireball placement for the left lane, move it one tile left to cover the right lane.
0-3:
Anti lightning/earthquake placement for the left lane, move it one tile left for the right lane.
0-2:
Will pull balloon placed in the left lane’s bypass placement, move it one tile right for the right lane.
7-3:
The optimal king tower activation cannon for the left lane, move it one tile left for the right lane. Best paired with a 4-2 placement for king activation.
5-0:
The anti graveyard placement for the left lane, use the 5-5 placement for the right lane. This allows the cannon to both distract units while targeting the spawning skeletons.
How To Attack With Royal Hogs:
There are 3 kinds of ways of playing royal hogs, the one lane rush, the 2-2 split, or the 3-1/1-3 split(pretty much the same thing just mirrored). You want to place all of the hogs in one lane to get maximum damage, and is especially good when your opponent doesn’t have hog counters in cycle. The 2-2 split is the best when you are trying to create equal dual lane pressure and is best as a cycle play, it also prevents splash value from fireball, mega knight, bowler, etc. The 3-1 split is best when you have surviving defensive units remaining like an archer queen or a recruit, then you can split one hog to the lane where the remaining unit is still alive and 3 hogs to the other lane.
When To Activate Queen Ability:
Archer Queen ability is a big game changer, so activate it wisely. When using ability on offense, make sure archer queen at least has around 1/5 of her health left and no attacks are going to connect to her during the 1 second vulnerability window. Use it to make units retarget to other troops like royal hogs or skeletons for more queen value. The ability should always be used when facing a big tank. Use the ability once archer queen is in range of the enemy crown towers if queen is used to pressure the bridge. The ability should be used on defending units if they die or almost die to the full duration(eg. bandit).
Helpful Interactions to Know:[]
- 5-2 skeleton placement fully counters bandit.
- 4-2 skeletons into 6-3 fire spirit will make bandit or mega knight activate king tower.
- Skeletons surrounding sparky will counter her with the help of a tower.
- Skeletons counters a lone musketeer with log.
- Cannon 4-2 or 4-3 can counter a pekka with the help of skeletons in any placement.
- Archer queen counters a pekka in any placement that will drag the pekka and is also at most 2 tiles from the river(eg. 3-2), make sure to activate ability right before pekka goes for a hit.
- Royal delivery + log fully counters opposing royal hogs for a neutral trade.
- Royal delivery counters the following units: ice wizard, electro wizard, musketeer, wizard, magic archer, mother witch, royal ghost, bandit, sparky.
- Royal delivery one shots firecrackers, bombers, and archers at most 2 levels above.
- Royal delivery + log kills fireballies like ice wizard and magic archer.
- Cannon 2-2 into log will drag tanks placed at bridge to the opposite lane.
- Cannon in 5-0 placement renders a lone graveyard useless.
- Cannon fully counters an electro giant with help from log if placed in the 4-3 placement.
- Cannon 4-3 + log and skeletons/royal delivery fully counters a royal giant.
- Fire spirit one shots goblins at most 1 level above and one shots princesses/rascal girls/dart goblins at least 1 level below.
- All three hits from earthquake fully kills goblins.
- Log+earthquake deals exactly 249 damage to crown towers at tournament level.
Synergies:[]
Offensive Synergies:
- Royal Hogs + Earthquake:
Earthquake removes building and small swarms for royal hogs to reach tower, place earthquake at the corner of the crown tower to get chip damage too. This is a big commitment, so evaluate the risks,
- Royal Hogs + Archer Queen:
Hogs tank for archer queen, and archer queen helps clear the way for the hogs.
Defensive Synergies:
- Skeletons + Cannon:
Skeleton distracts while cannon deals ranged damage, really good for single target troops. This combo can also take down tanks that target buildings quickly since skeletons deal a lot of DPS. Can counter solo P.E.K.K.A.
- Royal Delivery + Cannon:
Royal delivery is better than skeletons against area damage troops since the recruit is more durable. Works the same as skeletons + cannon, can defend mega knight for a positive trade and a healthy cannon.
- Skeletons + Archer Queen:
Works better against troops that target other troops since archer queen has more health than cannon and has cloaking cape ability.
- Skeletons + Fire Spirit:
Really good against goblin barrel if you don’t have log or delivery in rotation. Can activate king tower against bandit and mega knight.
- Log + Cannon:
This can pull building targeting tanks to the other tower if timed right.
Substitutions:[]
This deck isn't easy to substitute but there are still a few cards that can be substituted depending on preference.
Skeletons = Guards: Guards are much harder to spell down and offer 3 times the dps, but with 3 times the cost that greatly impairs the cycle speed of this deck.
Fire Spirit = Ice Spirit/Electro Spirit/Heal Spirit: Electro Spirit can counter graveyard very well, while Ice Spirit gives a very annoying slow effect. Heal spirit is really useful as it can heal hogs. However, fire spirit can chip damage much better.
Fire Spirit = Mirror: Highly recommended substitute for the current meta, as fire spirit doesn’t do too much in this deck and mirror is required to take down elixir collector mirror decks.
Archer Queen = Musketeer: Musketeer got a huge buff so she now has noticeably more base dps than archer queen. She is also fireball bait cards for your royal hogs. Use them if you aren’t king lv 14 yet.
Cannon = Goblin Cage: The brawler is a solid tank killer and having goblin cage gives more answers to mega knight, but graveyard will be harder to face, so bring electro spirit instead of fire spirit.
Deck Matchups:[]
1 is a free matchup, 10 is an unwinnable matchup
Splashyard: 3-7
Graveyard is countered well by cannon + fire spirit/log, but they usually run a building, splash units, and tornado so hogs can't get damage through easily. Despite this, this deck outcycles every functional graveyard deck, and an earthquake will make short work of the building(usually tombstone). There is also no way for graveyard decks to counter hog without overspending, so always try to outcycle them. The E spirit variation gives an even bigger advantage, as e spirit is another graveyard counter. However, if they have bowler you’re probably screwed.
Giant Graveyard: 3-5
You can take out giant easily, and graveyard won’t deal much damage to your tower. Always prediction earthquake around the hogs to counter skarmy, as giant graveyard usually don't run threatening building. If they have bowler however the matchup becomes harder, though not by much since they lack a big spell to spell cycle you.
Double Prince: 4
Separating the princes and the tank is key, as giant alone is not threatening. Do this by kiting the princes back with hogs and placing down cannon + skeleton for the giant. Giant double prince runs no building so hogs are really good guaranteed damage.
Hog Rider Cycle: 5.5
They have similar cycle speed, and a lot of variations run bomb tower to counter royal hogs for a +1 trade. Despite this, cannon also counters hog rider for a positive trade. This matchup is usually dependent on who messes up first on defense, or whoever wins in the spell cycle game.
Giant/Goblin Giant Sparky: 3
These decks usually don’t run a big spell, so your ranged units and building will get very high defensive value. These decks usually don’t run a good hog counter as well aside from sparky, so you can punish every time they invest a tank in the back to force out a sparky in the opposite lane to separate the push.
Royal Giant: 4
Hogs can get a lot of damage through, but royal giants are quite hard to defend without a high health building. Always try to cycle through multiple cannons in double elixir if they spell down one of them. However, this matchup still favors you as cannon + some support can make good trades on royal giant, you just have to defend near perfectly.
Pekka Bridge Spam: 2
They have no way to prevent hogs from doing huge amounts of damage, as hogs survive a pekka hit and royal ghost and e wiz don't do enough damage to the hogs. Their pushes are easily defended with archer queen, royal delivery, and cannon. However, one mistake can lead to a loss due to the high burst damage of bridge spam.
Logbait: 2-3
You have a whopping three ways to counter barrels and an even faster cycle speed, so they really can't get damage through with barrels. They also don't have good defense for hogs. Rocket cycle is their only way to win, or you might just have missed a log or royal delivery and the goblins got damage through. Newer variants running mirror is also manageable, as royal delivery still kills mirrored loggables for an at worst even trade even.
Mega Knight Ram Bridge Spam: 7
Mega knight is much harder to deal with than pekka, and their lightning will gain tons of value if you placed troops incorrectly. The matchup is somewhat tough, but defending isn’t too hard, and just don’t use royal hogs when they have mega knight in rotation to prevent a huge counterpush with mega knight.
Lumberloon: 2
It’s impossible for them to break through since balloon can no longer one shot cannon. Royal hogs get guaranteed damage even with bowler defending, and they naturally lose to spell cycle due to lacking a. big spell. Save cannon for defense and this matchup is really easy after balloon nerfs.
Golem: 5
You can't really deal with golem support too easily, and they can counter your archer queen with lightning. Always use the anti lightning position when using cannon + archer queen. However, golem decks lacks royal hog counters and you can always punish opposite lane.
E Giant: 4
E giant players would need to make a choice between lightning the archer queen or the cannon if you use the anti lightning placement. Pre place cannon ensures that you will get a second cannon out in double elixir. However, E giant usually runs splasher+building+tornado, so expect to have trouble breaking through.
Lavaloon: 5
Archer queen hard counters balloon, and they have no defense against hogs + eq. Royal delivery also counters lava pups well. In double elixir put archer queen below balloon and immediately activate ability, as now they can afford to fireball arrow the archer queen. Hunter makes this matchup better as he is arguably the best balloon counter.
X Bow: 3-5
You don't really have a tank against x bow, but you do have earthquake and royal hogs. Cannon + Eq is the most efficient way to take out x bow, and always try to get chip damage with hogs. Icebow is much easier than 3.0 due to not having fireball, but both are good matchups. After earthquake nerfs, xbow decks actually win the spell cycle game, making the matchup harder.
Mortar: 4-7
Like x bow, mortar gets to snipe your tower in their part of the map, but unlike x bow, mortar can be distracted easily due to it’s slow attack and the fact that it can only get 6 shots in a lifetime. You can use cannon to take out mortar head to head if it’s unsupported, and just add in eq if it’s supported. This matchup heavily depends whether they use valkyrie.
Miner: 2
Simple matchup, you can just outchip them easily since your cycle spell is usually better, and their big spell will most likely be used to defend royal hogs. Skeletons to predict miner placements, and earthquake down their building.
Elixir Collector Mirror: 10
This deck has gone from the worst deck to one the most dominant decks in the meta after the mirror buffs, your opponent will spam elixir collector and build up unstoppable pushes, if you earthquake they will simply mirror the elixir collector. Unlike pekka/mega knight/ebarb/drill bridge spam, this deck is never low on elixir and can always form counterpushes, with it’s own pushes being far harder to defend than other bridge spam decks. The solution to this unwinnable matchup is to replace fire spirit with mirror, as you can now deal with mirrored elixir collectors.
Upgrade Priority:[]
1. Royal Hogs: You don't want them to get one shotted by a Fireball, so upgrade them. They are also your only reliable tower damage.
2. Archer Queen: If she dies to fireball + log/zap, things go much worse.
3. Earthquake: You want it to kill skeletons in one tick, and the building damage is important.
4. Cannon: Only defensive building, upgrade it so it takes more hits from win conditions.
5. Royal Delivery: Very important defensive spell, so the higher level the better.
6. Fire Spirit: Needs to one shot goblins, being able to chip tower is also helps.
7. Log: Just needs to one shot princess, rascal girls, and dart goblins, otherwise upgrades don’t mean too much.
8. Skeletons: Gets one shotted anyways and stat buffs aren’t big so the upgrades don't matter too much. However it’s helpful that they one shot other skeletons so level them up still.
Conclusion:[]
Overall, this deck is really strong in the current meta, and is one of the best cycle decks in the game currently. It's not super hard to use, and has tons of potential. Thank you for reading.
External Links[]
This links may give you a better understanding to this battle deck.