Clash Royale Hog Rider: How to Use and Counter It

This week's card is the Hog Rider, and since every player has the opportunity to use it at max level, we wanted to give you a quick rundown and introduction to the Hog Rider. Most cheap swarm cards complement the Hog Rider well because they're almost as fast as it is, and they generally force the opponent to spend more than one card. Watch out for swarms against the Hog Rider, since they can damage it, cut off and slow its path, and quickly finish it off. Barbarians in particular make for very solid defense against it.

A Hunter placed directly in front of it can kill the Hog Rider in 2 hits. However, if you place something in front of the Hog Rider, the pellets from the Hunter's shot may still chip away at it, though they won't land full damage. The Hog Rider combined with the Ice Spirit can catch the opponent off guard and let the Hog Rider deal much more damage than expected, especially if the opponent's counter is a swarm or if swarms are the only thing effective against it. Skeletons and Bats will be wiped out instantly by the spell, while Spear Goblins, Goblins, and Minions will have low enough health to be finished off by a follow-up Zap or Giant Snowball. However, since it takes the Hog Rider a little time to destroy a building, this strategy isn't very effective against buildings and gives the opponent plenty of time to counter-push elsewhere. Against troops that have no swarm, it can deal a lot of damage during the freeze window, but this can also let the opponent build a big counter-push. For this reason, players should only go for the "Hog Rider + Ice Spirit" combo when there are other units backing up a counter-push, or when the match is about to end and dealing as much damage as possible matters most. Sending a Hog Rider in just to destroy a building isn't a good idea. It's more efficient to use spells to take out defensive buildings, or simply wait out the building's lifespan. The exception to this is an Elixir Collector placed in front of the King Tower. If a Hog Rider is placed at the bridge, it can destroy the Collector for a positive Elixir trade, though the damage from both Princess Towers usually means it won't survive long enough to deal damage to them. However, if the opponent sends defending troops, it can be an opportunity to get spell damage value. In a deck with several low-cost cards, sending the Hog Rider at defensive buildings can be worthwhile. These decks cycle their cards fast enough that the next building comes up before the opponent's card rotation catches up to the next Hog Rider. Long-ranged troops like the Musketeer and Flying Machine can break these buildings while preserving some of the Hog Rider's health, and likely let it deal damage to the Tower as well.