Clash Royale: Archetypes and Counter Guide

General Counter Guide

For this section, I’m gonna go through the various major win cons, combos, and strategies that are most common in Clash Royale. In each section, I’ll give some tips for how to counter those types!

Hog Rider, Ram Rider, and other Charging Threats

One of the most threatening types of enemies you’ll come across in Clash Royale are the win cons which only target buildings/towers. Since they aren’t distracted by your troops, they get to your towers much quicker. The easiest way to counter these kinds of threats is by using a building. Anything from Tombstone to Inferno Tower works. Against Hog Rider and Ram Rider I personally like Tesla and Inferno Tower the most, but Tombstone is also great since it’s so cheap. In fact, Tombstone is probably the building I play most because of the low cost.

If you don’t want to use a building for this, though, swarms are also a good way to deal with them. Skeleton Army, Guards, Minions/Minion Horde, and many other swarms can pretty easily deal with either of the Riders.

Royal Giant

Royal Giant is a threat that must be dealt with as soon as possible. He’s a huge tank that only targets buildings, and his long range allows him to start hitting the tower soon after being placed. Since he’s a tank, you’re pretty limited in how to deal with him. The most consistent way is by using a high-DPS troop like Mini P.E.K.K.A. or Hunter, as they’re harder to counter than something like a swarm. Swarms like Skeleton Army or Minion Horde can also counter Royal Giant, but they’re also easy to counter in return. Swarms are also weak against the evolved Royal Giant since he does splash damage, so the high-DPS troops are definitely the way to go.

Lava Hound + Balloon Combo (Lavaloon)

The Lava Hound + Balloon combo (usually called Lavaloon) is one of the most deadly if you’re unprepared. Lavaloon decks usually play entirely flying troops, so you have to be constantly aware of that. Lava Hound is a high-HP tank, so dealing with it isn’t too hard. Inferno Tower or Dragon is the best way, but any combo of a building and flying troop to defend will work. The problem is stopping Balloon at the same time. When played together, you’ll have to find a way to deal with Lava Hound while also not losing a tower to Balloon. Buildings are essential here, but so are troops like Minions, Mega Minion, Musketeer, etc. that do high DPS to fliers. There’s nothing you can do to stop your opponent from setting this combo up, but trying to split them apart and focusing damage on the Balloon should be your priorities.

Golem & Other Generic Tanks

Golem is a very dangerous tank, but not because of any special abilities. His strength lies in his ability to keep pushing forward, which is due to both his high HP and ability to split upon dying. Dealing with the smaller Golems is easier, but still important since their damage is still pretty dangerous. When dealing with Golem or really any generic tank that just wants to slowly walk towards your tower, your best bet is to use buildings and swarms. Buildings are always good against tanks, but swarms are better here than against Royal Giant since you’ll have more time to prepare. Golem usually gives you plenty of notice that he’s on his way before he reaches your side, so swarms like Skeleton Army paired with buildings or troops like Mini P.E.K.K.A. is the best strategy.

Royal Hogs

The Royal Hogs are super popular right now thanks to their new evolution, but really they’ve always been popular. Royal Hogs charge directly at your towers, so you need to respond quickly. Against either the normal or evolved Royal Hogs, buildings that do splash damage are the best defense. Bomb Tower, evolved Tesla, and evolved Cannon are the best buildings to stop them. Bomb Tower is my top recommendation overall since you don’t need an evolution for it.

You can also use spells to deal with Royal Hogs. Poison, Fireball, Rocket, and even Lightning are all good options to quickly take them out. You can also use troops like Valkyrie that deal strong splash damage. Evolved Valkyrie is even better, but not a requirement.

X-Bow

X-Bow is the only building that can damage your towers from the opponents’ side of the arena. This makes X-Bow, without a doubt, one of the cards you must respond to the fastest. You cannot ever let X-Bow start hitting your tower, as it’ll do a ton of damage (and possibly destroy it). Dealing with X-Bow is also hard since it’s on the other side of the arena. Spells like Earthquake and Poison are strong against X-Bow, as are any other high-damage spell. But if you don’t have a spell that can deal with it quickly, you’ll probably need to use a troop to tank the damage. Tanks are actually very strong counters for X-Bow, as the damage isn’t high enough to bother them for the most part. A good tank backed up with some support will make quick work of X-Bow, even with Tesla backing it up.

Goblin Barrel & Skeleton Barrel

The two “barrel” cards (excluding Barbarian Barrel) are great win cons that apply constant pressure. These are cheap cards that benefit from being spammed over and over again, leading to a battle of attrition. The good thing is that they’re the easiest win cons to counter. A single Log or Barbarian Barrel is enough to take out all three goblins or all the skeletons from either barrel. Zap is an effective counter for Skeleton Barrel, but not Goblin Barrel since it doesn’t one-shot goblins. Fireball, Arrows, and Vines are also good counters, even if they require more elixir.