“Zaps enemies, briefly stunning them and dealing damage inside a small radius. Reduced damage to Crown Towers.”
The Zap card is unlocked from P.E.K.K.A.'s Playhouse (Arena 4). It is an area damage spell with a medium radius and low damage. When used, this spell can stun enemies in its effective radius for 0.5 seconds. A Zap card costs 2 Elixir to cast.
Strategy
- The Zap card inflicts area damage, similar to the Arrows. As such, the Zap can also be an alternative to Arrows, as it inflicts slightly less damage and a brief stun in a small area at the cost of 2 Elixir, as opposed to the Arrows' Elixir cost of 3 and no stun.
- The Zap is valuable for decimating small swarms of troops, as the Zap inflicts area damage.
- While it will not kill Goblins or Minions of equal level, it is capable of destroying Goblins one level lower and Minions two levels lower by itself.
- Pairing the Zap with the Ice Spirit or Ice Golem can easily counter Minions.
- A well placed Zap can destroy most or all of a Skeleton Army.
- A well timed Zap on a Minion Horde defensively can allow your Princess Towers to take them out before receiving any damage.
- The Zap can be also used to briefly stun enemy troops and buildings, reducing the enemy's damage per second.
- The Freeze is more effective at immobilizing enemies and reducing incoming damage compared to the Zap. However, the Freeze spell costs double the Elixir and deals less damage than Zap.
- The Zap is particularly good at stopping the Prince and Dark Prince. The Zap will halt them and reset the charges, allowing the defending player to deploy units to counter.
- It is also an effective counter to Sparky. A Zap resets Sparky's charge, giving you extra time to defeat the Sparky before it can attack again.
- The Zap can be used to allow a brief lifeline for damaged troops and let them be able to get one extra hit in.
- For example, stunning a tower to allow a Hog Rider to hit it one extra time.
- The Zap can also be used to reset the Inferno Tower and Inferno Dragon's charge.
- The Zap can also be used to temporarily stun troops like Balloons from reaching your Princess Towers, giving the defending player's Crown Towers and troops a little more time to eliminate the Balloon to prevent causing heavy damage.
- Zapping units or the opposing Crown Tower can possibly change their targets. For example, if an X-Bow is targeting a Tower and the player deploys a troop or building closer to the X-Bow than the Tower, then zaps the X-Bow, it will change targets to the nearest deployed card.
- The Hog Rider + Zap combo utilizes the Zap to stop most cheap troops (or to stun defending troops) that are played to take out the Hog Rider.
- With proper timing, Zap can be used to deny a wave from troop spawners such as Barbarian Hut or Goblin Hut, allowing the player to gain a small Elixir advantage. The same strategy can also be used against Elixir Collectors, as it will deny 2 Elixir if timed just correctly, but this is an even Elixir trade.
History
- The Zap was added with Clash Royale's soft launch on 4/1/16.
- On 9/2/16, the Chest Rewards & Card Balance Update increased the Zap's damage by 6%.
- On 19/2/16, the Balance Update decreased the Zap's Crown Tower damage by 20%.
- On 29/2/16, the March 2016 Update added a stun effect to affected targets in the Zap's AoE (Area of Effect) for 1 second and decreased its damage by 6%. The update also changed the description from "Lightning zaps enemies, dealing damage inside a small radius. Reduced damage to Crown Towers." to the current description.
- On 24/8/16, a Balance Update decreased the Zap's stun from 1 second to 0.5 seconds.
- On 23/1/17, a Balance Update decreased the Zap’s damage by 6%.
- On 12/12/17, a Balance Update decreased the Zap’s Crown Tower damage from 40% to 35% of the full damage.
- The 20/6/18 Update moved the Arena to unlock the Zap from Spell Valley (Arena 5) to P.E.K.K.A's Playhouse (Arena 4).
Trivia
- It deals the same damage as a single Knight or Barbarian of an equal level.
- It also does the same damage as an equivalently leveled Electro Wizard's spawn damage.
- The Lightning and Zap spells have completely different functions, even though they have similar effects and visual appearances. The Zap deals less damage than the Lightning, but it has a much lower Elixir cost and does area damage. The Zap and Lightning are the only spells in the game that could stun buildings or troops. (Freeze is not counted since stun is to freeze for a very brief period)
- The container for the Zap (along with Poison and Clone) resembles the Dark Elixir spell containers from Clash of Clans.
- When stunned, enemy buildings and troops turn into the same light blue color as when they are frozen by the Freeze, Ice Spirit, or Lightning.
