Goblin Drill

For the evolution of the Goblin Drill, click the Wild Shard.

“Building capable of burrowing underground and appearing anywhere in the Arena. Spawns Goblins one at a time until destroyed. Then spawns a few more, to make sure everything nearby has been properly stabbed.”

The Goblin Drill is an Epic card that is unlocked from the Serenity Peak (Arena 14). It spawns a building with high hitpoints. The Goblin Drill can be placed anywhere in the Arena. When it resurfaces, it will deal damage to enemy units around it in a 360º area around it, and inflict knockback. Every 3 seconds, the Goblin Drill will passively summon a Goblin. However, its first wave of Goblins will spawn 0.8 seconds after it is deployed. When defeated, it will also spawn two Goblins. It appears as a building with a wooden hull, a circular hatch, a team-colored stripe, and a metal drill on its top. A Goblin Drill card costs 4 Elixir to deploy.

Strategy[]

For Battle Decks with this card, click here.

The Goblin Drill is very powerful on offense, being able to directly reach Crown Towers with its unrestricted deployment range, and will quickly spawn Goblins which deal high damage while tanking for them. Once the Goblin Drill is destroyed, even more Goblins will spawn and tank for each other.
The Goblins will spawn at the top of the Goblin Drill when used by the player, or at the bottom of the Goblin Drill when used by the opponent. The Goblin Drill will do more damage to a Crown Tower if it is spawned in front of it than if it was spawned behind the Crown Tower, as the Goblins will spend less time moving.
An interesting technique involving the Goblin Drill is using the Tornado to pull defending troops (i.e. Valkyrie) away from the Goblin Drill and clear defending swarms (i.e. Skeleton Army or Goblin Gang) right before its death spawn of 2 Goblins. This play is similar to the Tornado and X-Bow technique, and can almost always guarantee some Tower damage if done correctly, unless the opponent uses a spell or a long-range troop.
Compared to the Miner, the Goblin Drill's burrowing speed is 33% slower, and its sound effect is different, so the player must keep this in mind to know which card is being deployed and when.
Its high hitpoints make it an effective tank for building-targeting troops like the Giant, Goblin Giant, Hog Rider, Ram Rider, or Golem. However, its extremely short lifetime means that it will not pull these troops for very long. Therefore, it is more effective to place the Goblin Drill directly on top of building-targeting units to take advantage of its hitpoints and so that the Goblins can immediately begin attacking.
Using Earthquake on a Goblin Drill is not recommended as its extremely high decay rate means that the Earthquake's building damage multiplier is somewhat wasted. It is better to save the Earthquake for other troops, such as swarms, or to simply use the Elixir on other cards.
Since it deals knockback after spawning, it can stop the Battle Ram, Prince, Dark Prince, Ram Rider, and Evolved Royal Recruits' charge, absorb their damage and defeat either unit for an even or positive Elixir trade.
The Goblin Drill can be used to eliminate spawner buildings placed behind your opponent's Crown Towers. This comes especially in handy against the Furnace since the drill absorbs one Fire Spirit and the Goblins can rapidly take it out on top of forcing a response from your opponent.
A spell alone cannot fully counter a Goblin Drill. The player will either have to use their spell early to reduce the building's lifetime and hit the Goblins that spawn over its duration, or use their spell when the building is destroyed, Either will result in some damage as spells are usually temporary.
- This does not apply to the Poison though. The Poison lasts for the entirety of the building’s lifetime. It would cripple the building and destroy all the Goblins spawned for an equal Elixir trade. However, you would still take some minor damage so prepare your backups.
The Log or Barbarian Barrel make decent soft counters to the Goblin Drill, as the area of effect can hit both the Goblin Drill and the spawned Goblins after its destruction. Arrows have a similar effect. Royal Delivery can hit either the Goblin Drill or one-shot the spawned Goblins, but not both.
The Goblin Drill has just enough hitpoints to endure a single shot from Sparky at equal levels provided you send it directly at her. The resulting Goblins that spawn from the Goblin Drill will help to take her out.
The Goblin Drill's spawn damage is just enough to one-shot Skeletons. When paired with either Giant Snowball or Zap, it can one-shot swarms like the Goblin Gang, making them useful to pair with the Goblin Drill on offense.
The most reliable counters to the Goblin Drill are troops who can deal splash damage, troops which one-shot Goblins, or both, like Bomber, Bowler, Executioner, Firecracker, Princess, Goblin Demolisher, and Wizard.
- Most swarm cards can negate most of the damage done by the Goblin Drill and its Goblins, but this requires precise timing. The swarm should be dropped right after the Goblin Drill spawns so that its spawn damage does not hit the swarm. Otherwise, the Goblin Drill will either one-shot the swarm, or put the swarm's health low enough so that a spell will one-shot the swarm. Air swarms are more reliable, as they will completely avoid the Goblin Drill's damage and the damage dealt by the Goblins, allowing them to survive more easily during the defense.
- Mini tanks are another effective counter to the Goblin Drill. Knight, Valkyrie, Royal Ghost, Lumberjack, Golden Knight, and Dark Prince will prevent most, if not all of the damage.
- Single-target ranged units are generally ineffective. When placed at a distance, they will let a fairly high amount of damage through, and when placed on top of the Goblin Drill, they will be defeated in the process.

Statistics

Goblin Drill Attributes

Cost	Spawn Speed	Deploy Time	Lifetime	Type	Rarity
4	3 sec	1 sec	10 sec	Building	Epic

Goblin Attributes

Hit Speed	First Hit Speed	Speed	Range	Target	Transport
1.1 sec	0.4 sec	Very Fast (120)	Melee: Short (0.5)	Ground	Ground

Card Statistics

Level	Goblin Drill Hitpoints	Goblin Drill Spawn Damage	Goblin Drill Spawn Tower Damage	Goblin Drill Hitpoints lost per second	Goblin Hitpoints	Goblin Damage	Goblin Damage per second
6	820	52	15	82	126	75	68
7	902	58	17	90.2	139	82	74
8	990	63	18	99.2	152	90	81
9	1,087	69	20	109	167	99	89
10	1,195	76	23	119.7	184	109	99
11	1,313	84	25	131.2	202	120	109
12	1,441	92	28	144.3	221	132	119
13	1,585	101	30	158.2	244	145	131
14	1,739	111	33	173.8	267	159	144
15	1,908	122	37	191	293	175	159

Card Mastery

Type	Level/Tier	Objective	Reward
Spawner	1	Spawn a total of 660 Troops	20 Goblin Drill cards 75
	2	Spawn a total of 1,800 Troops	6,000 75
	3	Spawn a total of 3,000 Troops	150 75
Damage Dealer	1	Deal a total of 160,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings with Goblin Drill and spawned Goblins	9,000 125
	2	Deal a total of 450,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings with Goblin Drill and spawned Goblins	20 125
	3	Deal a total of 790,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings with Goblin Drill and spawned Goblins	15,000 125

History[]

2021

The Goblin Drill was once available in the Goblin Drill Card Release Draft Challenge, which started on 12/6/2021. In this challenge, gameplay was similar to a regular Draft Challenge, except that one of the players was able to choose who would use the Goblin Drill. If the player achieved at least 6 wins, they obtained the Goblin Drill early.
On 17/6/2021, prior to the card's general release, a maintenance break, added a 1 second delay in its first spawn, adjusted the formation of the Goblins which spawned upon the Drill's destruction (now spawning more closely together in the center of the Drill), and reduced the push effect of the Drill's burrowing effect on ground troops.
The Goblin Drill card was generally released on 11/7/2021.
On 6/9/2021, the 2021 Quarter 3 Update, decreased the Goblin Drill's Goblins spawned upon death to 2 (from 3).
On 27/10/2021, the Champions Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 14 (from 13). It also changed the Goblin Drill's trail to make it more distinct from the Miner's and also fixed unintended interaction with Goblin Drill and Clone.

2022

On 30/3/2022, the Miner Update, fixed an issue where the Goblin Drill's Star Levels used the sound effects of the Miner.
On 7/6/2022, a Balance Update, decreased the Goblin Drill‘s burrowing speed to 300 (from 400).
On 26/10/2022, the 2022 Quarter 3 Update, increased the Goblin's first attack time interval to 0.4 seconds (from 0.2 seconds). It also moved the Arena to unlock the Goblin Drill from Rascal's Hideout to Serenity Peak. The same update also added missing particles effects to Goblin Drill’s Star Level 1.

2023

On 19/6/2023, the Card Evolution Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 15 (from 14).
On 23/10/2023, the End of October 2023 Update, increased the Goblin Drill's damage by 1%.

2024

On 5/3/2024, a Balance Update, increased the Goblin Drill’s lifetime to 10 seconds (from 9 seconds), decreased the Goblin Drill’s first spawn time to 0.5 seconds (from 1 second), and decreased the Goblin Drill’s hitpoints by 8.9%.
On 14/5/2024, a Balance Update, increased the Goblin Drill’s first spawn time to 0.8 seconds (from 0.5 seconds).
On 17/6/2024, the Goblin World Update, added the Goblin Drill to the Goblin class.
On 15/7/2024, the Goblin Drill’s Evolution was added.

2025

On 31/3/2025, the 2025 Quarter 1 Update, increased the Goblin Drill's hitpoints by 0.07% and its damage by 1.2%.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Goblins are small, grotesque, monstrous creatures that appear in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on the story and country of origin, ranging from mischievous household spirits to malicious, bestial thieves. They often have magical abilities similar to a fairy or demon, such as the ability to shapeshift. Similar creatures include duendes, kobolds, leprechauns, and ghouls.
- In the German and Dutch language setting of the game, the Goblin Drill's name translates to "Kobold Drill". In the Spanish, Turkish, Arabic, Vietnamese language settings of the game, the Goblin Drill's name translates to "Duende Digger", "Mole", "Ghoul Digger", and "Leprechaun Drill" respectively.
- The Goblin Drill is 1 of 17 cards associated with Goblins, with the others being Spear Goblins, Goblin Gang, Baby Goblins, Dart Goblin, Goblin Demolisher, Suspicious Bush, Goblin Cage, Goblin Hut, Goblin Giant, Goblin Barrel, Goblin Curse, Goblin Machine, Party Rocket, Party Hut, Goblinstein, and of course, Goblins.
  - Despite other cards that spawn Goblins having 3 Star Levels, the Goblin Drill only has 1 Star Level. This trait is shared with the Goblin Curse.
The Goblin Drill is inspired by a drill used by Goblins to steal Elixir from an Elixir Storage in the Clash-A-Rama episode "Goblin's Eleven".
- However, this may be contradicted as the Baby Goblins are responsible for creating the Goblin Drill, according to the Clash Royale Goblin Machine Lore Drop video.
The Battle Drill Siege Machine in Clash of Clans is likely inspired from the Goblin Drill.
The Goblin Drill's stats are the highest or lowest among all buildings. More specifically:
- The Goblin Drill has the shortest lifetime of all buildings, with a lifetime of 10 seconds.
- The Goblin Drill loses the most hitpoints per second of all buildings, with 237 hitpoints per second at Level 15.
- Among all buildings that can spawn troops, the Goblin Drill has the highest spawn speed of all buildings, with an spawn speed of 3 seconds.
The Goblin Drill is the only building that can be deployed on the opponent's territory.
The Goblin Drill is 1 of 2 buildings that has been featured with a Rage buff, the other being Tesla.
The Goblin Drill is unavailable in multiple special gamemodes. More specifically:
- It is unavailable in The Floor is Healing Challenge, much like other building cards, as well as the Cannon Cart.
- It is 1 of 3 cards that is unavailable in Boost Fields, the others being Goblin Barrel and Miner.
- It is 1 of 3 cards that is unavailable in Timeless Towers, the others being Rocket and Miner.
- It is 1 of 12 cards that is unavailable in Chess Royale, the others being Royal Recruits, Rocket, Earthquake, Lightning, Poison, Miner, Golden Knight, Skeleton King, Archer Queen, Mighty Miner, and the Monk.
The Goblin Drill is the subject of an Emote.
There is an inconsistency with the Goblin Drill: placing it at the center would cause the Goblins to spawn on the left lane for one player and on the right lane for the other player.
On 3/1/2024, the Goblin Drill was supposed to receive a Goblin first attack time interval increase to 0.5 seconds (from 0.4 seconds), a lifetime increase to 10 seconds (from 9 seconds), a 9% hitpoints decrease, and a first spawn time decrease to 0.5 seconds (from 1 second), but this change was pulled back last minute.
Before the Goblin Drill's card release, the Goblin Drill was supposed to be a Legendary card. However, it was changed to an Epic card post-release.