Giant

“Slow but durable, only attacks buildings. A real one-man wrecking crew!”

The Giant card is unlocked from the Training Camp (Tutorial). He is a building-targeting, melee troop with very high hitpoints and moderate damage. A Giant card costs 5 Elixir to deploy. He wears a large, brown coat made of cloth and has ginger sideburns and bushy eyebrows with blue eyes.

Strategy

The Giant is effective when used as a shield for other troops due to his great elixir to health ratio.
- A good strategy is to pair the Giant with Balloon. This combo it is hard to defend as high damage troop for both air and ground is required.
  - This combo is especially effective when your opponent lacks air counters or is low on elixir.
  - A high DPS air swarm such as Minion Horde can defeat this combo.
  - Inferno Dragon will not defeat this combo in time, and will allow the Balloon to damage your Crown Tower.
- The Giant can be used to protect troops from spawners, like Spear Goblins from the Goblin Hut to build up a sizeable push.
  - On the flip side, countering a spawner with a lone Giant is not a very good idea, as he will allow the troops to build up into a strong push, unless it is a Furnace.
- The Goblin Barrel can be effectively played with the Giant. The Giant’s high hitpoint and cheap cost will buy the Goblins a long time to damage the Crown Tower.
  - This combo can be countered by spell or swarm against the Goblin Barrel and a high damage troop or building against the Giant.
- A charging Prince deployed behind the Giant will speed him up.
Dealing with an opposing Giant that is paired with a support troop can be difficult. The player must wait for the troops to cross the river, then counter them with an appropriate counter. They must not forget to deal with the Giant right after, or distract him with a building to give their Crown Towers more time to take him out.
An effective way to counter the Giant is by using high damage troops like the Mini P.E.K.K.A. or the Prince, or by using swarms of troops that output a large DPS like the Skeleton Army or Minion Horde. If the support troop behind the Giant has low hitpoints, the player can use Arrows to eliminate them, and then deploy any of the aforementioned cards.
The Witch is a reliable counter to the Giant. While her damage is very low, she continuously spawns Skeletons that can build up to enormous strength and can hit everything behind the Giant with her splash. They can then be used in a counterpush, especially if paired with other troops such as another Giant or a Golem.
The Giant costs only 5 Elixir, which is very cheap considering its health pool. This makes it more effective in decks that rely on the counterpush to gain damage, as the Giant will be able to be deployed more quickly as a tank for these pushes.
One of the most effective counters to the Giant is the Inferno Tower, as it will both distract the Giant and eliminate it in seconds with its ramp up damage.
- However, Bats and Minions are great blanket counters to the Inferno Tower. The Giant will tank the Crown Tower damage, protecting the swarms while they overwhelm the slow retargeting building.
  - As the Inferno Tower user, be aware of when the opponent has distraction troops in hand for your building. For example, the Inferno Tower could be placed to the side of the arena if the opponent keeps playing swarms in the center of the arena to distract the building. This results in the Tower targeting the Giant first, making the defense smoother. Another option is to simply spell down the swarm.
- A good alternative to the Inferno Tower is the Inferno Dragon. The Inferno Dragon costs less Elixir than the Inferno Tower and can be used in a counterpush, but its damage is weaker and it is vulnerable to knockback, which will reset its charge. Most of the same strategies against a defending Inferno Tower will also work against the Inferno Dragon, but keep in mind that the Dragon flies and can attack Towers after defending.
  - Zap will reset the charge of both Inferno cards, but if the player lacks other support units to take these cards out, the Giant will still be incinerated.
An overlooked Giant attacking a Crown Tower can easily destroy it on his own, so never ignore an offensive Giant.
Depending on the situation, a Giant can be played similarly to an Ice Golem and kite troops to the opposite lane. The difference is that the Giant costs more, but is much more threatening than the Ice Golem.
If the player has nothing else to defend with, a Giant can counter a Giant Skeleton that has reached the Tower. Deploying the Giant in front of the Crown Tower pushes the Giant Skeleton, thus causing it to retarget, and since it is slow, it will lure the Giant Skeleton away from the tower, taking away with it the enormous death damage that the Giant Skeleton can deal.
A Sparky + Tornado combo is a very good answer to the Giant and anything that may be behind one. Wait until the enemy drops a Zap, Lightning or Electro Wizard, and once the Sparky has charged up two rings, use the Tornado to pull everything into one spot so that Sparky can obliterate it all.
The Giant can be easily distracted by placing a building in the centre, such as the Tombstone, as it allows both Princess Towers to attack the Giant. Using a Tombstone is very useful, since once it's destroyed, the Skeletons spawned will aid in eliminating the Giant.
A P.E.K.K.A. is an effective counter to the Giant. She will kill the Giant for a negative Elixir trade, but she can then be used for a counter-attack.
If the player only has fragile cards to counter splash units, they can use the Giant to tank and distract the splash unit and then quick-drop the card directly behind the splash unit. If the unit in question is a Dark Prince or Valkyrie, use an air troop like Minions, as they both can attack in a 360° radius.
Whenever a Giant is deployed in the very back, a player must prepare for a very big push such as a Sparky behind a Giant accompanied with a splash unit such as a Wizard. A good idea is to get the opponent to use Elixir by pushing on the other lane. This weakens their offensive potential as however much Elixir the opponent uses to counter this push is how much Elixir is denied from their Giant push.
If no other counter is available, the Giant can be used to absorb the damage of opponent’s pushes. Make sure this is done before the troops target the tower, otherwise it would just be a waste of Elixir since the Giant will not damage the troops.

History

The Giant was added with Clash Royale's soft launch on 4/1/16.
On 9/2/16, the Chest Rewards & Card Balance Update increased the Giant's hitpoints by 5%.
On 23/3/16, a Balance Update increased the Giant's damage by 5%.
On 19/9/16, a Balance Update decreased the Giant's damage by 5%.
On 20/10/16, a Balance Update decreased the Giant's hitpoints by 5%.
On 5/11/18, a Balance Update decreased the Giant's hitpoints by 2%.

Trivia

The Giant and his targeting system are similar to those of his counterpart in Clash of Clans.
- The Giant's patch on his right shoulder is the same as the Level 1 Giant in Supercell’s other game Clash of Clans.
- However, he attacks all buildings, not just defences. For example, he will willingly attack a spawner like the Goblin Hut over a defence like a Cannon if it's closer.
The Giant has the second best health-to-cost ratio out of any unit, second only to the Golem plus its Golemites.
The Clash Royale player Jason won the Helsinki tournament undefeated, using a deck based on the Giant.
The Giant's first four balance changes resulted in him having the same stats as he did when Clash Royale soft launched.
He is one of the twelve cards which bring an excited reaction from the audience upon spawning and brings a collective groan from the audience when killed, the others include Sparky, Goblin Giant, Giant Skeleton, P.E.K.K.A., Electro Wizard, Night Witch, Bowler, Inferno Dragon, Golem, Lava Hound, and Royal Giant.
The Giant is the subject of a set of Emotes.