Anti-Bait Clone Deck: A Very Detailed Guide
Hi, I’m q1a2, and I love to analyze Clash Royale and create low-tier decks. I decided to write about this deck because I’ve heard a few people complain about the quest for Dark Prince and Clone, and I’ve heard a lot of people complain about log bait decks
Hopefully, this guide will help you with both of those problems.
This deck is really quite good and tends to do especially well against the classic spell bait control deck featuring Knight, Rocket, and Inferno Tower.
Giant Skeleton Clone Heavy Beatdown
General Gameplan
This deck started as a joke, but it worked so well I had to share it.
Just a word of warning: This is not a ladder or challenge deck
It rushes for wins and has short matches, making it extremely effective for winning timed tournaments, but a few terrible matchups make it too inconsistent for Challenges, and it has too many problems with overleveled interactions to work well on ladder.
This guide will all be assuming cards are at tournament standards.
The deck has won me multiple random tournaments (some of which I joined about a half-an-hour after they started), and it brought me to my trophy record for the season on ladder.
This is a very hard deck to play and describe the strategy for since it requires so much adaptation. With a slow cycle and a lot of options for pushes, you will rarely be defending the same way twice in a row.
In the early game, you need to learn your opponent’s deck quickly. Specifically watch for anything that counters Clone, such as Princess, Tornado, Executioner, and Poison.
Keep those cards in mind and try to come up with what push will work best (usually Giant Skeleton with one or two supporters and Clone at the ready).
The game can go one of two ways.
Sometimes, you need to rush the crap out of them and do insane pushes while ignoring whatever they play (good against some beatdowns). Other times, you need to play patiently and build up Elixir Collectors while waiting for overtime when you can do a viable push (good against some control decks).
In general, sacrifice some damage and play riskily to try and get that push that destroys a tower (or even gets the 3 crown).
Cards Breakdown
Giant Skeleton:
This is the main tank of the deck. He is low-health for his cost, but he packs a good punch if he makes it close enough to the tower.
Use some 4-cost supporters to defend a push, and drop Giant Skeleton in front for a very threatening couter-push.
One of the biggest mistakes I see with people new to Giant Skeleton + Clone decks is when they decide to use Clone.
Most people want to wait until the Giant Skeleton reaches the tower so that he does double the damage. The problem is, this rarely happens.
Clone‘s purpose is to help him reach the tower.
Usually, I play it right after he crosses the bridge so that his 1-health counterpart is quickly destroyed and leaves a bomb behind. This bomb will act like Poison in that it gives you total control over an area for a few seconds.
No smart opponent will play melee defenses until after it blows up.
This is also the only effective way of clearing air troops like Mega Minion and Baby Dragon (with some help from the Night Witch).
Like the P.E.K.K.A., Giant Skeleton can be played as a tank and then later supported.
This works great against things like Valkyrie, Bandit, and even Hog Rider if you’ll accept some tower damage (place him right in the Hog Rider‘s path so he physically slows it). Also note that he can one-shot Goblins, so he can help against Goblin Barrel if you’re desperate.
Also, if your opponent places a ranged troop (Musketeer, Executioner, Wizard, etc.) in the back and you have full elixir (probably the start of a match), you can immediately play Giant Skeleton at the bridge it is headed towards for a good trade. The ranged troop will start firing at him from a position right next to the tower. If they don’t drop any more defenses, then the bomb will hit the tower. If they do drop defenses, they will likely lose those defenses along with the ranged troop to the bomb. It’s surprising how well this works.
Dark Prince:
This is an all-arounder for this deck. He can kill support, provide decent DPS, deal moderate splash, and is semi-spell resistant. In a deck with a slow cycle like this, you’ll find he can do many jobs well enough.
The Dark Prince is probably one of the best cards to Clone in the game. The Clone has a 1 HP shield and lags behind the real Dark Prince, allowing him to survive even through The Log.
The main asset a Dark Prince has is splash damage.
He can one-shot Goblins making him effective against Goblin Gang, and when charging, he can take out Archers and Bombers. His charge also has a wide circular hitbox similar to Valkyrie‘s, which means that it can counter any defensive swarms that an opponent tries to drop directly on your push.
When you Clone Dark Prince, this means that troops with as much health as Barbarians will be obliterated the frame they are played on your push.
The Dark Prince also helps take advantage of one interesting aspect of Giant Skeleton: his mass.
When compared to the heavier tanks, Giant Skeleton is relatively light, which means that Dark Prince pushes him to the tower in just 3 seconds! Coupled with the protection of a Giant Skeleton bomb from Clone, this leaves your opponent rather helpless.
Dark Prince can also be used as a weak tank or tank-killer.
I often use him against Hog Rider when I know a Fireball or Lightning is coming. I only use him as a tank when playing the distraction game.
Sometimes, my opponent over-invests in defending my Giant Skeleton before I support it, so I rush the other lane with Dark Prince + support + Clone and let my opponent’s defenses all run into a big boom.
Similarly, I rush if they defend my push with Executioner.
One last trick for Dark Prince requires a lot of predictions.
Play him behind your tower right before an opponent throws a Goblin Barrel, and if you time it right, he will hit the three before they split. If you use Dark Prince in push after that, that’s a free 3-elixir advantage.
Night Witch
This card is the one that I most contemplate replacing, but it’s simply too good when the opponent doesn’t have the right counters in hand, and it’s also one of the only air defenses that synergizes with Clone.
Night Witch is one of the only cards in this deck that is good to place in the back. In the late-game, when you are trying to build a huge push, this can be a good way to start it.
She also is a decent tank-killer. Her DPS with the Bats is better than Dark Prince, and I would call her a “good enough” counter to Hog Rider. This DPS also makes her one of your best supports when trying to destroy a tower (watch out for Zap, though).
Speaking of Zap, she can be used to bait out spells before you Clone everything. If they waste Zap to kill a few Bats she spawned, respond with Clone, which is now much harder for your opponent to answer.
Night Witch, however, is rather weak to splash damage, so only use her if you aren’t expecting Ice Wizard, Witch, Executioner, etc. to be played to defend her.
Lumberjack
The best tank-killer in this deck, and a way to make your pushes fast.
If your opponent plays solo Hog Rider, play Lumberjack. If they play Giant + Musketeer, drop Giant Skeleton on the Musketeer to distract it and play Lumberjack to destroy everything. This guy does a ton, and when you use Clone, you get either double DPS, or your opponent uses Zap/The Log, and you get the Rage effect on this chopping machine.
Lumberjack also makes your pushes faster in two ways. First, when you use Clone, his clone often dies fairly quickly, dropping Rage over everything. Second, like the Dark Prince, Lumberjack can physically push Giant Skeleton to victory. One-shotting Goblins is also a plus.
Fire Spirits
These are both spell bait and anti-spell bait. On the one hand, they are common targets of the same spells that most people would use to try and stop your Clone push. On the other hand, they are the only good response to Minion Horde in this deck and overall provide good splash on defense.
I rarely use these on offense, either for chip damage or as a prediction for my opponent placing a swarm card to defend a push. I would recommend saving them for defense, where they are a lot more consistent.
Fire Spirits also are my favorite answer to Goblin Barrel, since when played as a quick reaction to your opponent tossing one, they don’t allow the Goblins to get a single hit.
Also, with Clone, they can kill most support troops and destroy most of a Balloon for 5 elixir. Only use this during desperate times or when Clone will affect more than just the Fire Spirits.
The Log
Pretty self-explanatory. This is the only spell in the deck. It is used in a variety of situations, but in this deck, it especially shines as a way to finish off towers and as a way to get rid of Princess to let Night Witch run unopposed. Don’t waste it on Goblin Barrel, since Fire Spirits are better for that.
Clone
(Note that Clone no longer counteracts Freeze. I’m a little annoyed that Supercell nerfed Clone in the last patch.)
Clone is the best response to Inferno Tower that I can think of, especially with Night Witch. If they Zap all the cloned troops, then some Bats will spawn, continuing to stall the Inferno Tower. Always push on the left side if you want this to work.
Elixir Collector
Another self-explanatory card.
If your opponent is blocking your pushes, play defensive and try to get some Elixir Collectors down.
Good Luck!!!
1st
1st reply
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1st reply to the first reply to the first reply
Please stop, it’s annoying to see the same s**t over and over
deal with it
First reply to the person who sweared and got annoyed
s**t isn’t a swear
I censore it bcuz there are some 9 years old kids or even younger.
that’s enough…
First reply to nebula noodle
First reply to myself
Oh come on xD
1st reply to the first reply to the first reply to the first reply
2nd reply too the first reply to the first reply
cmon that’s a bit too much
yae
Is it even possible to first reply your own comment?
yes it is
Second
2nd
2nd
2nd reply
3rd
lol
Hey ur back!
4th no one claimed
It looks interesting. Gonna read it
Poll:
Did you ever use Clone for trophy pushing?
Once. It was a catastrophe.
What was the deck?
What?Was it a catastrophe for you or the enemy?
no but golem clone is viable
I used to use it a few weeks ago
I would never…
same
only in tournaments i would never throw my trophies away like that.
I guess you’re right… Trophy pushing in tourneys
😉
i used to back when jungle didnt exist lol
Nah, in my opinion it’s my least favorite card due to be countered by so many things. I think they should make it where at lvl 1 it has like 10% Health of the unit it cloned then higher percentage as u lvl it up
Nevah,i never really thinked of a good deck with it
5th no one claimed
Nice guide btw
really interesting guide. I don’t think theres enough air defense tho so I would switch out night witch with musketeer or wiz.
Maybe replace with normal witch for the sake of value (aka cloned skeletons) 😀
that is a good idea
But NW is very good air defence.
so your telling me if a balloon came to your tower you would use a night witch? or a minion horde? what about a lava hound? just curious
Yes, I would for Balloon/Lava Hound. NW alone doesn’t allow Balloon for even one drop, and when her bats stacks up, Lava is dead.
at tournament standards it does not counter a balloon
It does
2 bats and tower support does not counter a full health balloon
We’re not going to get anywhere by doing this. Just try it with a clanmate…
good point
My points are always good haha
XD
It does
It does
lava is not dead
Lava is dead if you use NW for this.
Dang it Frisk! You made me late, and 6th, which is the most pointless position! BTW check out my 10th guide special everyone!
I did it’s awesome!
But then why didn’t will post my ultimate sparky guide? It had 5.7 K words? What a lot of wasted time
Don’t worry he will post it one day
idk
Can’t be sure through, but we can ask why he DIDNT post it!
Repost it
I’ve reposted several times! Every time it is rejected!
thats how I feel. I have wroten four guides and none of them have got submitted.
My first few guides didn’t get posted either. Just keep improving and you’ll get there!
If I wrote a pekka hog deck do you think it wold get posted? I’m asking because it takes a lot of time to make and I don’t want it to be wasted
P.E.K.K.A Hog decks have been posted tens of times. Try coming up with something new. Loupanji’s Goblin Hut deck from CCGS perhaps?
I have no idea what that is and I have a level 4 goblin hut bc I never use it . I might want to look at a deck from the ccgs and write a guide!
ccgs is full of interesting offmeta but still viable decks.
it was 4 months before my 1st guide was posted and a crap ton of my other ones werent posted either
ouch ill keep trying
Sad life 🙁 I’ve wrote three, only one has been published (stealing miner deck)
I guess it got too long…5.7k is too much…not many would bother reading it..especially since its on Sparky which many don’t like.
True, but that was a lot of time… *sigh* wasted
Here is the begining of the post tell me if you are interested!
How to use sparky
(Includes a deck, so it is both a strategy guide and a deck guide)
Guide by: XxBismuthxX
Guide for: players who will play sparky in future, and love her like I do (probably!)
Introduction
Three weeks ago (or more, if the guide takes long to post) I was faced with a question: I had 40K gold… now how’s do I spend it… I chose to get a legendary that I didn’t have, so it was either sparky or night witch, and even through my head was screaming NO NO NO NO NO I got sparky, and I don’t regret it now, because I learned that if you see how to use her she is extremely rewarding as I found out by testing her out myself! Some of you may agree/disagree with my tips, if you do then tell me and others why! No offense if you don’t agree.
how you shouldn’t use sparky
let’s start with this, because many of you are playing her wrong without reaching her full potential. Many play her as an offensive support card, but then she can get countered easily by many cards with a positive trade such as these: (some may require tower support)
Electro wizard
Guards
Skeletons (pre-nerf)
Skeleton army
Valkyrie
And the list continues.
Sparky can be countered easily, but what if you couldn’t place any of these cards?… then she would be a powerful card right?… and you may think that making her immune to these cards would be impossible or near impossible right?… well it’s not, and let’s talk about that next!
7th is even more pointless. 7th
Interesting deck idea!
I approve of this Guide.
k but ur opinion dont matters :3
haha
Lol
Opinions don’t have to matter to others, that’s why it’s mine not yours
the one time he shows up
Sry but….not helpful and no one cares
Savage
savage cabbage
okay…. but who even are you? xD
Discord admin?
Discord admin/ Dank Prince#8115
Who is this dude? I’ve been here for it seems for forever, been here when there were only ~20 users or so, now there is much more, more joining by the week
Discord Admin/ Dank Prince#8115
This is similar to ah craaaaaaaaaap’s golem clone deck
Yeah, strongly reminds me of it.
What’s the deck?
Golem Clone Poison LJ NW Mega minion Pump Fire Spirits
Check CWA’s YouTube channel.
Cool deck, but don’t see a consistent damage dealer? Exenado wrecks this.
thats true and the air defense isn’t that great
Fascinating how an anti-bait deck runs pump… Nah I’m jk, obviously it’s to bait out the Rocket.
I think a Wizard in this deck would do wonders. It’s great against bait and gives you a strong anti-air unit which this deck currently lacks. I have learned not to underestimate these wacky tank-darkprince decks due to my clanmate dominating a clan bracket with it. Took me an hour to figure out how to beat him.
in my humble opinion, wizard is very underrated
wizard is overused on ladder lol
agreed
In higher arenas he’s just overshadowed by exe
But these EBarbs RG users don’t understand that Exe > Wizard
Yeah, I hate him
in low tier arenas, yea. i’m talking about above challenger 1
I face him in 1/3 matches above Challenger 1.
really? thats interesting..
Wizard is OVERRATED
no
Yes he is
it is weak on health
yes but it does great dps and splash
I think the DP or Nyte Witch should be switched for a win con like Balloon.
wasn’t this on reddit?
this deck looks like it needs a buttload of skill
or its just trash
well we have no explanation on how to play it….
to me it seems like the weird decks I face in hog without a win condition and their always draws
that’s exactly what it is
Super well explained tho…
yes but I wold never play it no offense to the writer
Is there even a win con in the deck?
unstoppable cloned push?
Writing a 3.4 Giant GY guide-
Giant, Graveyard, Poison, Ice Spirit, Minions, Skeletons, Baby D, Tesla
How is it?
You’ll need a low-damage spell.
(So many spell bait users)
ya the spell bait meta NEEDS a nerf. Oh, and also bandit!
😉
Bandit is OK in the meta
bandit does NOT need a nerf! she needs a BUFF!
i’d say bandit is balanced
agreed. it already is pretty popular
yeah she needs to dash like she used to!!!
upvote if you agree
that was a bug
She needs her dash back to normal
I meant it to be a 2v2 deck
looks good to me!
Try switching Skellies for Zap and Minions for Gang.
You need other spell and goblins instead of skellies
Most popular deck in game, also known as spell-bait, counters this deck perfectly.
Yeah I’m adding Zap instead of Ice Spirit
nice, i have Gy ard i might try it out
this deck is just weird and has bad cards in it, but good guide, just try to make a better deck…
What do you mean? It’s the best! It has the best card, the clone!
Hes using for fun(maybe) and dont be so harsh
its a deck for fun not trophie pushing, i bet you didnt even try it out,
Earn a reputation before you criticize dude! -_-
Off meta deck, nice
Nice guide! You just made me wanna try this out. BTW im gonna replace lumberjack (no have) with ebarbs to make it more cancerous on ladder ^_^
oh great…
I hope you shatter your phone while playing this disgusting, nast, cancer
( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°)
Uuuuuugh here we go again…
haha……… .–. of course
instead of low tier, shouldnt it be non meta?
Probs. It uses off meta cards.
Very not f2p friendly
I like GS clone tho, switch dank prince with sparky maybe, better defense
Or LJack for a win con
dank prince? lol but it will be too expensive
I would describe the decks u make as ‘decks with low tier cards’ rather than ‘low tier decks’
file:///Users/abc/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail%20Downloads/179AE4A9-7BDB-4FF2-8373-9583AAA0BAC2/FullSizeRender.jpg
The pains of Hog Mountain. At least they weren’t over leveled. . .
EDIT: If this is considered spam, I’m sorry, I realized that the picture didn’t go through but turned into a link.
He also, has my deck been turned down? I turn it in a while ago.
Matchups list? 🙁
Hey guys, sorry to say this, but I am quiting this site. There will be no more polls sorry, since I have lost my account I pretty much quit CR. So here’s probably the last poll made by me : new poll : did you enjoy my polls? I enjoyed it when you all responded to me.
Bye and happy clashing,
Larry.
This is heartbreaking to read. I loved reading and answering your polls. I do wish you can come back.
yeah Larry they were fun to answer. Do you have android I can give you my CR acc
cya bro and yes your polls were great
I enjoyed (most of) them.
Gonna miss you:(
PS: I also started with polls
I am heartless pekka but who are you lol (probably everyone starts hating me now)
🙁
i guess i will honor you by continuing with the polls…
hi (is this spam?)
I can do that!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand you’re still on!!!
Nice deck and extreme explanation and what the heck cr,princess showed at my shop again,its just been 3 days what the heck.
Does anyone have a hybrid deck that I can use (I am using a P.E.K.K.A Hog Hybrid which I will try to make a guide on).
Mortar Hog spell-bait deck.
That’s cool
Pekka bridge spam is awesome in every meta (literally)
Bridge spam is dead
So whal if it’s off meta that makes it even better cuz enemies are not expecting it
Off-meta decks are off-meta for a reason.
And it still works, good at facing every deck archetype
Really? I beat it so easily
hehe face me m8 🙂
Okay
Do it m8
Do you have Discord to contact?
ye Discord
Gimme your Discord tag
#9798
#9798 -sirius-
Bo3?
? BOI
Bo3 – Best of 3
ok nice
some bridge spam cards arent, like bandit, hog, and the ebola barbs
Yeah, that;s true, but the original NW Ice Golem Battle Ram Bandit Inferno Dragon deck IS dead
On Ladder, yes, in Challenges, not entirely. I defeated a Bridge Spam yesterday using my MortYard Hybrid. Last week, I was using P.E.K.K.A Miner Poison and got three crowned by Bridge Spam.
Maybe opponent was skilled? :p
I’m doing a guide on that! I have TONS of motivation!
Yay yes please (actually no, I wwant to feel special)
Mine is nothing like yours dude (I hope). What’s the deck?
But seriously, P.E.K.K.A bridge spam with E wiz is starting to get really popular
True dat, but his is probably different than mine.
Ya, do you use Hog Rider spam or Battle ram or niether?
Dank Prince actually (although I’ve been getting more into Bait recently).
Cool, I have been using F2P Hog Bait in Hog M and have been having some seriously good results.
pekka, bandit, ram, ggang, zap, arrowsewiz bats (legy heavy)
giant skelly deck wuuut????
Giant Skelly is underrated, good DEFENSIVE card.
I have to agree with you there. Big Larry just isn’t a clear win con. I suggested that he replace the LJack (Night Witch is a tank killer too) with a win con like Balloon, as it also synergizes well with Clone.
Yeah, I had 10-3 run on Classic Challenge with GSkele Clone once.
Omg just did a counterpush with ggang litterally after a very early enemy hog push and thats a tower #1 + chip king wooot
You said its not for ladder or challenges…
Yet got you to your all time trophy high
and allowed you to win a competitive challenge in 30 minutes.
pretty good guide and deck but i think ec is not needed and should use ice spirit,ice golem or ice wizard
have you ever used the giant skeleton for defense