幻影刺客

「The Bandit dashes to her target and delivers an extra big hit! While dashing, she can't be touched. The mask keeps her identity safe... and gives her bonus cool points!」

The Bandit card is unlocked from the Rascal's Hideout (Arena 13) or a Legendary Chest. She is a troop with moderate hitpoints and damage that has the ability to dash to nearby targets, dealing double damage if she hits a target with her dash, similar to a Prince's charge. Due to a bug, she is currently untargetable during her dash, rather than being targetable and immune to all forms of damage. She has white hair, wears a mask, and wields a blackjack. A Bandit card costs 3 Elixir to deploy.

Strategy[]

The Bandit functions well as a cheap punishment or dual lane push card due to her dash mechanic and fast speed making her an immediate threat. Completely ignoring a Bandit is often fatal as she will take the Princess Tower's health to 50% for just 3 Elixir.
The defender can force the Bandit to target weak units, such as Skeletons, by placing the weak units in front of their stronger units in order to soak up her dash attack. This must be done, at the latest, right before the Bandit dashes.
The Bandit cannot dash towards targets that are within 3 tiles of her. Take advantage of this and place melee troops directly in front of her to prevent her from initiating her dash and dealing high damage. Without the dash, she cannot one shot any mini-swarm with hitpoints higher than or equivalent to a Goblin. Knowing this, Goblins can easily shut down the Bandit for a positive Elixir trade.
The Bandit's dash is able to cross the river. Knowing this, she can be effective at taking out ranged troops that are placed near it. Her dash damage is enough to one-shot equivalently leveled Dart Goblin s and Princess es, and it will take down troops like the Musketeer to half health, only requiring two more regular attacks to completely defeat them.
When there is a single troop that is one shot by the Bandit's dash between the bridge and the Princess Tower, place the Bandit down so that she will dash onto the troop, then dash onto the tower. This lets her get to the tower faster while countering a troop.
She pairs well with the Dark Prince. They are able to keep up with each other while not colliding too much, and the Dark Prince's splash will eliminate swarms like a Goblin Gang. When this damage is combined with the Bandit's dash, they can take out glass cannons like a Lumberjack. However, this combo is suspectible to air units, such as the Minion Horde, so be sure to have proper supports.
The Bandit has relatively low dps without her dash, so cheap swarm units like skeletons and goblins can be used to soak it up, protecting more important troops such as the Dart Goblin or Princess.
It is best to put Bandit at a range while defending as her relatively low hitpoints and damage without her dash will cause her to lose most one-on-one interactions. However, her powerful and quick dash can be highly threatening on offense, making her more of an offensive card.
The Bandit is very effective against units that are spread out as her dash attack can easily cover the distance between the troops and deal double damage.
If the Bandit dashes while being targeted by an Inferno Tower or Inferno Dragon, their ramp up damage will reset, allowing her to distract them for an extended period of time. This makes her an effective distraction for both, although the Bandit will still get incinerated.
The cheapest but riskiest counter to the Bandit is the Ice Spirit. Release it on the fourth tile and one tile in the other lane 1.3 seconds before it is in the Bandit's aggro range. This allows the Ice Spirit to escape her dash and freeze her, completely denying the Bandit.
A lone Bandit can be countered completely with just Skeletons. When she is charging up her dash, the player should place Skeletons 2 tiles from the centre to the Bandit’s attack side and 3 tiles from the King Tower. She will dash into the attacking range of both towers and be defeated right before she is about to attack the Princess Tower.
The Bandit is great at being a card that can bait out counters. She is usually countered with cards like Mini P.E.K.K.A. but their absence would mean that other similar cards like Hog Rider can be used in the other lane without having to worry of being countered by that Mini P.E.K.K.A. She is the best at this tactic compared to other similar cards because of her great mobility and low Elixir cost.
When using her defensively, place her at a distance from the opposing troop, similarly to how you would place a ranged troop. This will allow her to dash for the extra damage, which can allow her to preserve more of her hitpoints for a counterattack.
When defending against a Bandit with a melee mini-tank, place that troop close to her so that she does not dash and deal unnecessary damage.
A risky play is deploying Bandit as soon as the battle begins. If the opponent does not react fast enough, the Bandit will dash onto the tower and deal massive damage. This can also allow the player to quickly scout the opponent's deck if they happen to react to her fast enough.
The Bandit's long dash range and fast dash initiation makes her effective at reactively punishing the opponent for overcommiting.

History[]

The Bandit was once available in the Bandit Draft Challenge which started on 17/3/17. 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 Bandit. If the player achieved 12 wins, they obtained the Bandit early. However, this was not exploitable like the Electro Wizard Tournament as the Bandit Draft Challenge had one-time rewards.
The Bandit card was added to the game on 24/3/17.
On 12/6/17, a Balance Update allowed the Bandit to initiate her dash ability quicker.
On 13/6/17, a maintenance break increased the Bandit's hitpoints by 4%. This was supposed to happen the previous day in the mentioned balance changes but it did not make it to the game. This got fixed.
On 9/10/17, the October 2017 Update fixed a bug where she dashed a shorter distance than she normally should have.
On 12/2/18, a Balance Update decreased her minimum dash range to 3.5 (from 4).
On 5/9/18, the September 2018 Update made her immune to damage while dashing, instead of untargetable.
On 1/4/19, a Balance Update decreased her hitpoints by 4%.
The 2021 Quarter 2 Update fixed a bug where the Bandit's dash would continue after the timer reaches zero. It also moved the Arena to unlock the Bandit from Jungle Arena (Arena 9) to Rascal's Hideout (Arena 13).
On 27/10/21, the 2021 Quarter 3 Update added the level 14 Bandit. A bug caused the invulnerability on the Bandit's dash to be removed, making her untargetable during the dash instead.

Trivia[]

The Bandit's personal name is Juno, as is revealed if the language is set to Japanese.
The Bandit is the only card in the game with the "dash attack" ability. However, the Mega Knight has a "jump attack" which functions similarly (without invulnerability).
If two Bandits were charging at each other, neither side would be damaged by the other's dash. In a one-on-one duel between them, the Bandit that was placed second will survive.
The Bandit is the subject of three Emotes.
The Bandit, along with the Mega Knight, are the only Legendary cards in the game that have a charge attack.
The Bandit often says "Ha!" when attacking.