Image Credit: Supercell
I've been playing video games pretty much nonstop ever since I got my first 360. I love racing games, MMOs, and shooters, but I'll play just about anything.
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
Balloon has always been one of the strongest win cons in Clash Royale. It only targets buildings and it flies, so it’s hard to take out. But on the other side, it’s slow and not exactly a hard target to hit. In this article I’ll take a look at three great Balloon decks right now, but first, let’s take a look at how to play Balloon in general!
How to Play Balloon
Since Balloon only targets buildings, that gives it a very clear role. Balloon exists only to destroy buildings, with the end goal being crown towers. The best way to counter this is to use buildings like Inferno Tower or Tesla that can deal enough damage to stop Balloon before it makes it past. So, if you’re going to play Balloon, you’ll need to have a way past opposing defenses.
Balloon decks can be either aggressive or patient, but I think they work best when on the more aggressive side. It often takes multiple Balloons to do enough damage to take out a tower if your opponent defends well, so spamming them as often as possible is a good way to get enough damage through. However, you could still choose a more patient route with a large payoff similar to a Golem deck’s one-push style.
Balloon Deck 1 – Miner & Baby Dragon
Cards:
- Baby Dragon (Evo)
- Goblin Cage (Evo)
- Miner
- Balloon
- Berserker
- Minions
- Vines
- Arrows
This deck utilizes one of the best combos in Clash Royale: Miner + Balloon. Miner’s strength is his ability to appear nearly-instantly anywhere on the map, as well as his relatively high HP. You can spawn Miner on the enemy side of the map, and then use him to soak up damage so Balloon can make it to the tower with enough HP to take it out in one attempt. You can also use Miner for defense if needed, as he’s not a bad troop on his own. Goblin Cage is strong thanks to its evolution, as it can counter almost any troop with its ability to “lock them up” in the cage and drain their HP.
Baby Dragon is the second evolution in this deck, and it’s the most obvious card to include. The speed boost from the evolution is extremely helpful here–so much so that I’d say Baby Dragon is the best overall support card for Balloon. Berserker is here to cheaply counter tanks and help with ground defense, and Minions have the same purpose but for flying troops instead. Vines and Arrows are the only two spells in this deck, with Vines the more aggressive of the two.
You can play really aggressively with this deck thanks to the Miner + Balloon combo. In double elixir, you can start to add Baby Dragon (especially with the evolution) into the pushes too. Vines and Arrows help with these large pushes, and in many cases Vines is able to single-handedly turn a Balloon push into a game-winning one.
Balloon Deck 2 – Cycle
Cards:
- Musketeer (Evo)
- Skeletons (Evo)
- Balloon
- Miner
- Ice Golem
- Barbarian Barrel
- Snowball
- Bomb Tower
As the name for this deck would suggest (which is the same name it has on on RoyaleAPI–not taking credit for that), it’s similar to the popular Hog Cycle decks which focus on playing Hog Rider over and over again thanks to an especially low average elixir cost. Where this deck differs, obviously, is its choice of win con. Balloon takes the Hog Rider role of relentlessly damaging towers, with the rest of the deck focusing on either defense or quickly cycling towards another Balloon. The only exception is Miner, which is a tank to cover for Balloon, and Bomb Tower, which is slightly more expensive than what most Hog Cycle decks would play.
The two evolutions for this deck are Musketeer and Skeletons. Musketeer is great for air defense, which is particularly good for a Balloon deck. Then Skeletons work really well here since cycling them helps both with playing more Balloons and getting an evolved version. The evolved Skeletons are much more dangerous, as they multiply on each hit. So if you can get them to attack a tank or any mid-HP troop that doesn’t come with splash damage, you can turn 1 elixir into a whole army of Skeletons. The rest of this deck is mostly just focused on cycling cards and cheap defense.
I really like this Balloon deck since it’s so simple and reliable. However, it is hard to play. Defending with limited resources is hard, and sometimes it feels like it’d be easier to just play a Balloon deck with more valuable defenses. But once you get used to defending with it, this deck is really fun to play and can absolutely get you three-crown wins.
Balloon Deck 3 – Lumberjack & P.E.K.K.A.
Cards:
- Lumberjack (Evo)
- Baby Dragon (Evo)
- Balloon
- P.E.K.K.A.
- Vines
- Guards
- Tornado
- Barbarian Barrel
For this last deck, we have another one that’s been really popular lately thanks to the relevance of new cards. Baby Dragon’s new evolution has driven a lot of people towards Balloon decks since they pair so well together, and Lumberjack just so happens to go perfectly with them as a trio. Both Lumberjack and Baby Dragon now have the ability to speed up Balloon, and Lumberjack’s improved damage with his evolution’s post-death effect make it even better as well.
Where this deck differs from some Balloon decks is the inclusion of P.E.K.K.A. Typically, Balloon is either paired with Lava Hound or it doesn’t have a tank at all with it. P.E.K.K.A. is more fun to play than Lava Hound in my opinion since the gameplay is more interactive, so I think this change has improved the health of the deck as a whole. The inclusion of Baby Dragon makes Tornado strong since it allows the AOE to hit more targets, and Vines also contributes by letting P.E.K.K.A. or Balloon have more time to hit targets thanks to its freeze effect. Then we have Guards for some cheap ground defense and Barbarian Barrel because Goblin Barrel is still scary.
I consider this one of the more aggressive Balloon decks out there since Lumberjack really benefits the playstyle. You don’t want to waste the rage pool it drops, so playing aggressively and maximizing how many Balloons you can “enrage” is the best way to go about it. Just don’t forget to keep enough elixir to counter whatever your opponent is trying to do.
Clash Royale Navigation
- Clash Royale: All Cards Ranked (2025)
- Clash Royale: Spirit Empress Guide
- Clash Royale: Best Tower Troops
- Clash Royale: Best Cards for Draft Battles
- Clash Royale: How to Win Mega Draft and Best Cards
- Clash Royale: All Champion Abilities Ranked
- Clash Royale: All Spell Cards Ranked
- Clash Royale: Best Evolutions, Ranked
- Clash Royale: All Champion Cards Ranked Worst to Best
- Clash Royale: Best Legendary Cards, Ranked
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 20 (Boot Camp)
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 19 (Dragon Spa)
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 18 Silent Sanctuary
- Clash Royale: Best Deck for Arena 17 (Royal Crypt)
- Clash Royale: Best Deck for Arena 16 (Executioner’s Kitchen)
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 13 Rascal’s Hideout
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 11 Electro Valley
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 8 Frozen Peak
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 7 Royal Arena
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 3 Barbarian Bowl
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 2 Bone Pit
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 1 – Starter Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 5 Builder’s Workshop
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 15 Miner’s Mine
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 9 – Jungle Arena
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 12 Spooky Town
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 6 P.E.K.K.A.’s Playhouse
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 10 Hog Mountain
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 14 Serenity Peak
- Clash Royale: Best Decks for Arena 4 Spell Valley
- Clash Royale: Best Ways to Spend Gems and Gold
- Clash Royale: Spirit Empress Guide
- Clash Royale: Merge Tactics Beginner’s Guide
- Clash Royale: 7 Best Win Cons (2025)
- Clash Royale: Best Tower Troops
- Clash Royale: How to Win Mega Draft and Best Cards
- Clash Royale: All Champion Abilities Ranked
- Clash Royale: A Getting Started Guide
- Clash Royale: News & Events
- Supercell Games: Clash Royale vs Clash of Clans vs Brawl Stars
- Clash Royale: Beginner Guide, Tips, and Strategy
- Clash Royale: Best X-Bow Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Inferno Dragon Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Hog Rider Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Balloon Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Lumberjack Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Three Musketeers Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Giant Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Sparky Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Evolved Baby Dragon Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Miner Decks (2025)
- Clash Royale: Best Prince Decks (2025)
- Clash Royale: Best Free-2-Play Decks (2025)
- Clash Royale: Best Royal Recruits Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Touchdown Decks
- Clash Royale: Best War Decks
- Clash Royale: Best 2v2 Decks
- Clash Royale: Best Mega Knight Decks
- Clash Royale: Super Witch & Hexed Havoc Best Decks Strategy
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