Zappies

Zappies
Elixir Cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Troop
Arena	Electro Valley
Release Date	12 December 2017

“Spawns a pack of miniature Zap machines. Who controls them...? Only the Master Builder knows.”

The Zappies card is unlocked from the Electro Valley (Arena 11). It spawns three single-target, medium-ranged Zappies with low hitpoints and damage. Each of their attacks stun the target for a brief period of time. The Zappies card costs 4 Elixir to deploy.

Strategy

• Since Zappies can stun, they are effective counters against a lone Sparky or Inferno Dragon.
• Zappies can be very effective against low hit speed troops such as the Hunter and Bowler because they can cripple them with constant stuns, making them almost unable to attack.
• Since Zappies have low hitpoints, effective counters are spells such as the Fireball or Poison. Both spells can destroy Zappies for a neutral Elixir trade.
  • Split two Zappies on the lane with the healthier Princess Tower to minimize spell value.
  • Consider using other spell vulnerable troops with the Zappies such as the Royal Hogs to try and bait out the opponent's spell so that they won't be able to take out the Zappies on offense.
• They can be decent support behind a tank since they can cripple buildings, especially the Inferno Tower, and with their stuns, they will leave the Arena Tower barely being able to shoot.
• Zappies crossing the bridge can be countered by the Barbarian Barrel and Royal Delivery fairly well even when supported by a tank, so try to either have support cards to quickly eliminate the follow-up defenders, or simply not push when these counters are in cycle.
• Zappies can be good counters to small swarms like Skeletons and Goblins, and with the help of an Arena Tower, they can also counter more numerous swarms like the Skeleton Army and Goblin Gang. However, these swarms can also be used to counter the Zappies, by surrounding them with the said swarm.
• Zappies are most effective as defensive troops against single targeting units, especially slower ones as all three will focus their attacks onto them, making their stun effect much more effective at slowing them down. Placing them beside the tower will make them line up vertically and efficiently stagger the timing of their stuns, leaving the enemy troop nearly immobile.
• Zappies can easily be stumped by proper ranged support troops like the Executioner, or spell combos, so try and bait these out beforehand.
• The Zappies have an fairly slow first attack, so placing them down on top of a unit to distract them is generally a bad idea. Instead, place them behind the Arena Tower so they have more time to charge their shots and stun approaching units.
• Zappies can synergize well with Graveyard. They can bait out the Graveyard's hardest counter, Poison. Additionally, even just a single Zappy supporting a Graveyard can be deadly, as it will survive to hit and stun the tower once, making it retarget onto the spawned Skeletons, letting the Zappy stay alive and continue to slow down the tower's shots.
• When approached from a distance, Sparky will one shot the trio of Zappies before they can reset her attack. To properly counter the Sparky, wait for it to cross the bridge and surround her so that one or two Zappies will survive and leave her permanently stunned until death. This is also effective against area damage troops that lack a 360° area damage effect.

History

• The Zappies card was added to the game on 12/12/17 with the Electrifying Update.
• On 24/1/18, a Balance Update gave Zappies the ability to target air troops.
• On 3/9/18, a Balance Update changed the reload mechanics by slowing down their first attack after moving but preventing them from being stun-locked by other Zappies.
• On 3/2/20, a Balance Update increased the Zappies’ damage by 20%, but also decreased their hit speed to 2 sec (from 1.6 sec), increased their initial attack speed to 1 sec (from 1.4 sec) and added a 0.15 second deploy time between each Zappy.
• On 2/6/20, a Balance Update decreased the deploy stagger for each Zappy from 0.15 seconds to 0.1 seconds.
• On 7/7/20, a Balance Update increased the Zappies' damage by 14%, but decreased their hit speed by 5% (from 2 seconds to 2.1 seconds).
• On 9/9/20, a Balance Update decreased the Zappies first attack speed to 0.9 seconds (from 1.1 seconds).

Trivia

• The Zappies card is the only Rare card that can stun.
• The Zappies have the third-highest health of all the individual swarm units, behind the Barbarians and Royal Hogs.
• Zappies are currently the only non-Legendary troop card to fall from the sky when deployed.

Statistics

Cost	Hit Speed	Stun Duration	Speed	Deploy Time	Range	Target	Count	Transport	Type	Rarity
4	2.1 sec	0.5 sec	Medium (60)	1 sec	4.5	Air & Ground	x3	Ground	Troop	Rare

Level	Hitpoints	Damage	Damage per second
3	250	55	26
4	275	60	28
5	302	66	31
6	332	73	34
7	365	80	38
8	400	88	41
9	440	96	45
10	482	106	50
11	530	116	55
12	582	128	60
13	640	140	66