I finally I did it!!! Legendary Arena!! The deck I used since 2700 is the deck in the pic. Discovered it after losing to a similar hog zap deck, really liked it and kept playing it. Originally used archers over minions, but lost to someone who used minions and realised its efficacy (e.g. To snipe cannon tower), thus swapped it in.
The funny thing is I wasn't consciously trying to climb to 3k, just playing for fun. And when I stumbled upon this deck, I started winning a lot and climbed to 2800+, my highest ever. Then I began to realise hey, I can probably do this.
The climb from 2900 was the most nerve-wrecking because it's so close yet so far, and almost every single opponent had higher level cards/towers. It was frustrating facing lv9/10 commons, and lv6-8! rares, and lv4-5 epics.
Kept my cool, focused on my strategy, and maintained a 66% win rate over the last 25 games, and a 75% win rate in the final 10 games. Final game was a mortar user, and when I realised I was gonna win (just had to cycle to fireball/zap again) I kept chanting 'don't screw up, don't screw up'. Whew!!
So happy... going to sit at 3k until at least tonight, then maybe play some games to get my chests.
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Will go through the function of his unit in this deck, then briefly describe the overall strategy.
Cannon - Essential to pull Hog Rider which is an extremely common unit (probably most popular). I try not to put it down until the Hog appears, as the lifetime is pretty short. This means never overcommitting to a push, and having 3 elixir to drop this.
This is also quite important against giant/golem pushes, just to extend their pathing slightly. Pekka too, though if they don't reinforce with Wizard you can also pull Pekka with melee gobs.
Melee Goblins - They are almost always comboed with Hog Rider, unless you need them to defend against Pekka, Prince, Mini Pekka or some other emergency situation.
Minions - I'm favoring this a lot over Minion Horde due to its even elixir trade with Arrows, so opponents are more hesitant to Arrow it. It has 3 main uses:
- To defend certain strong ground pushes (e.g. Barbs, Valkryie, Mini Pekka, Pekka/Giant/Golem, etc). Remember that Minions have one of the highest DPS/cost ratios in the game
- To reinforce Hog Rider push when you don't have melee Goblins
- To snipe a structure that's placed centrally, so your Hog Rider has free reign later (This has won me several games). Cannons are easiest to snipe, Bomb Tower / Inferno Tower are more to poke down. Elixir Collector, if you get off a few hits definitely puts you up/even, especially if they Arrow your Minions.
Zap - 2 main purposes
- For a Hog Gob push, a well-timed Zap gives you 1-2 extra hits on the tower, sometimes even a lot more damage than you expect.
- Defensively, to stop Prince charges, one-shot Spear goblins, and most commonly, on Minion Hordes. One thing is Zap on an approaching Minion Horde will mean you take 0 tower damage, ONLY IF there's nothing else coming your way (e.g. Hog Rider). This is quite important when deciding between Fireball or Zap to deal with MH, both of which is a trade-up for you anyway.
Fireball - Useful for decks which run tricky combos like MH + Goblin Barrel, since you have Zap and Fireball. Otherwise, a great defensive and offensive spell (mass of Barbs approaching? Fireball!)
My favourite use for this is when the opponent drops something at the back, and I use it to hit that unit as well as his Crown Tower.
This is also essential against 3Musketeers, where you'll want to save Fireball +Zap for his 3M (3 elixir trade up!)
Mini Pekka - I love this so much though 50% of the time I'm almost throwing it away to gobs and wanted to switch in Valkyrie at some point. But it is super super useful to stop any Giant / Pekka / Golem / double Prince pushes, coupled with other stuff to support it.
And it has ridiculous single target DPS - if you can somehow sneak one to reach the opponent's tower, you can sit back and marvel at how fast it chunks down the tower. Even getting off one hit is good enough.
This is also useful to drop on top of Wizards/Musketeers when they are supporting some stronger push in front.
Ice Wizard - Not sure what you can substitute for this, as it is sooo strong defensively. One well-placed Ice Wiz can defend against a full HP MH (he loses only about 25% of his hp). Use him to trade up defensively, then respond with a Hog push on the same side. Ice Wiz - Mini Pekka sometimes work too - make sure Ice Wiz leads.
If you don't have this, you can consider Spear Goblins / Archers
Hog Rider - The centrepiece of this deck. I would say 90% of the damage you do comes from Hog Rider. The most common combo is Hog - Gob - Zap, though you may often not want to Zap depending on what happens. My rule of thumb is if they dropped a good counter (e.g. Cannon pull, Barbs), I don't Zap. If they drop a sub-par counter (e.g. Musketeer, Wizard / Ice Wizard, melee or spear goblins), I definitely Zap. I even Zap Minion Hordes - you'll be able to get off 1 (or even 2 sometimes) hit with the Hog, and the MH will be too low to touch your tower.
Other combos are Hog Minions Zap (same Zap rules), Hog Zap alone (if gobs are out of rotation and you know you are ahead in Elixir). This deck really revolves around how WELL you use your Hog Rider (timing to drop, where to drop, how you reinforce it), and it's a pretty high skill cap.
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Playing against the common metas:
Mirror matchup (other Hog Zap/Freeze decks) - these are really a skill matchup. You basically need to Cannon up whenever he drops a Hog, and try to throw off his rotation so he doesn't have a Cannon for your Hog (or use the Hog Gob drop on the edge trick if you know how to avoid the central structure). One example is using Minions to snipe his Cannon. The key is to keep executing better Hog pushes than him, then finish off eventually with a final Hog push with Fireball or something.
You may also need to reinforce the cannon if he has Freeze, and if the Hog Rider is higher level than your cannon (e.g. Lv5/6 Hog is about equal with a Lv8 Cannon, safer to have one extra defence if it's a lv6 v lv8 cannon. Lv7 Hog kills a Lv8 cannon, you definitely need more)
Mortar decks - Never overcommit to a push. Be always content to chip damage off his tower bit by bit. Cannon in the middle draws mortar fire but not for long - you need to have something to damage / kill the Mortar. Adapt based on his defences to know what to take out the Mortar with. Using a Hog to clear it is fine, just be careful if he has Barbs. Against a Mortar user, it's perfectly perfectly ok to play for a draw. Never over-commit in pushing for a win.
Giant / Pekka / Golem - These decks are abit tricky. Against a Giant, pulling him to the middle with Cannon, dropping a Mini Pekka on the back to kill the support (or if you have another way to deal with the support, dropping Mini Pekka in front of Giant clears it fast too) defends well.
Pekka / Golem is slightly trickier. It's generally a good idea to send a Hog Gob down his opposite lane to make him commit Elixir there. Then when the Pekka / Golem reaches your bridge, drop a Cannon to lure, and deal with it as per normal (e.g. drop Mini Pekka/Minions/Ice Wiz on the reinforcing troops, use Zap/Fireball on them, etc). I find Golems a bit harder to defend, since you can't lure them like a Pekka, but I've won several Golem games with this deck so yea.
Double Prince - These are slightly tricky. You need to see which Prince leads. If Dark Prince leads, never ever drop Melee Gobs in front. Mini Pekka is fine. If Prince leads, Melee Gobs are best to absorb the charge. Always try to pull them to the middle with Cannon. If you have Elixir advantage, dropping an early Minions is good too, but do have enough to pull with Cannon / Gobs etc.
If you have Ice Wiz ready, try to keep it behind structures/other units. Using Zap to stop charge is also useful. Remember that your Cannon alone will NOT stop either Prince well.
In emergencies, It's generally ok to let a Dark Prince hit your tower, then drop melee Gobs behind him to finish him up.
If you don't have this, you can consider Spear Goblins / Archers
Hog Rider - The centrepiece of this deck. I would say 90% of the damage you do comes from Hog Rider. The most common combo is Hog - Gob - Zap, though you may often not want to Zap depending on what happens. My rule of thumb is if they dropped a good counter (e.g. Cannon pull, Barbs), I don't Zap. If they drop a sub-par counter (e.g. Musketeer, Wizard / Ice Wizard, melee or spear goblins), I definitely Zap. I even Zap Minion Hordes - you'll be able to get off 1 (or even 2 sometimes) hit with the Hog, and the MH will be too low to touch your tower.
Other combos are Hog Minions Zap (same Zap rules), Hog Zap alone (if gobs are out of rotation and you know you are ahead in Elixir). This deck really revolves around how WELL you use your Hog Rider (timing to drop, where to drop, how you reinforce it), and it's a pretty high skill cap.
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Playing against the common metas:
Mirror matchup (other Hog Zap/Freeze decks) - these are really a skill matchup. You basically need to Cannon up whenever he drops a Hog, and try to throw off his rotation so he doesn't have a Cannon for your Hog (or use the Hog Gob drop on the edge trick if you know how to avoid the central structure). One example is using Minions to snipe his Cannon. The key is to keep executing better Hog pushes than him, then finish off eventually with a final Hog push with Fireball or something.
You may also need to reinforce the cannon if he has Freeze, and if the Hog Rider is higher level than your cannon (e.g. Lv5/6 Hog is about equal with a Lv8 Cannon, safer to have one extra defence if it's a lv6 v lv8 cannon. Lv7 Hog kills a Lv8 cannon, you definitely need more)
Mortar decks - Never overcommit to a push. Be always content to chip damage off his tower bit by bit. Cannon in the middle draws mortar fire but not for long - you need to have something to damage / kill the Mortar. Adapt based on his defences to know what to take out the Mortar with. Using a Hog to clear it is fine, just be careful if he has Barbs. Against a Mortar user, it's perfectly perfectly ok to play for a draw. Never over-commit in pushing for a win.
Giant / Pekka / Golem - These decks are abit tricky. Against a Giant, pulling him to the middle with Cannon, dropping a Mini Pekka on the back to kill the support (or if you have another way to deal with the support, dropping Mini Pekka in front of Giant clears it fast too) defends well.
Pekka / Golem is slightly trickier. It's generally a good idea to send a Hog Gob down his opposite lane to make him commit Elixir there. Then when the Pekka / Golem reaches your bridge, drop a Cannon to lure, and deal with it as per normal (e.g. drop Mini Pekka/Minions/Ice Wiz on the reinforcing troops, use Zap/Fireball on them, etc). I find Golems a bit harder to defend, since you can't lure them like a Pekka, but I've won several Golem games with this deck so yea.
Double Prince - These are slightly tricky. You need to see which Prince leads. If Dark Prince leads, never ever drop Melee Gobs in front. Mini Pekka is fine. If Prince leads, Melee Gobs are best to absorb the charge. Always try to pull them to the middle with Cannon. If you have Elixir advantage, dropping an early Minions is good too, but do have enough to pull with Cannon / Gobs etc.
If you have Ice Wiz ready, try to keep it behind structures/other units. Using Zap to stop charge is also useful. Remember that your Cannon alone will NOT stop either Prince well.
In emergencies, It's generally ok to let a Dark Prince hit your tower, then drop melee Gobs behind him to finish him up.
