Hog Trifinse v2.0 – How I Reached 5,000 Trophies With Ease!

Hey guys! Zigge here with the new meta Hog Rocket cycle deck!

I’ll start off with a little story; A couple weeks ago Hurma showed me this Hog cycle deck with Rocket and Princess. I really liked it and started using on ladder, pretty successfully.

One of the biggest issues for me was playing against regular Hog Fireball decks, because I would usually get out-cycled (the thing above all I don’t like). So then I replaced Goblin Gang with Skeletons for a quicker cycle. Not only does my deck cycle faster than my opponent’s, but it also has the better direct damage spell.

Enough of this, let’s move on to the actual deck!

New Age Hog Trifense

So essentially this is the Tornado version of the spell bait deck, with the only difference being that I chose Skeletons instead of Goblins Gang.

You can go either way, but when all of my opponents had Arrows or max level Zap (I have only level 12 Gang), it was a pretty useless card.

However, Gang adds an element of bait to thee deck, and if your opponent just ‘logged’ your Princess, punishing with Hog Gang can be devastating.

The other cards are pretty clear, Ice Spirit for cycle, Rocket as a pocket or prediction spell, Knight, Princess & Tornado for defense, The Log for crowd control.

Hog Rider

The biggest victim of Reddit complaints. Both his win- and use rates are really high and it’s getting annoying for many players. I don’t wanna go into the discussion too much in this post though.

Hog cycle is a rather easy strategy to pick up, but if you want to get to the top with it, it requires insane skill.

The biggest thing is to know when to play the Hog and when not to. Counting Elixir and card rotation is essential and game awareness also.

This may seem like very standard things you need when playing any deck on a high level, but I guess I’m just trying to say that it’s very difficult to get to the same level as other deck.

Rocket

This is arguably the most difficult card to play, not only because of the risk factor playing a 6 Elixir card which could result in no value, but it also requires a very good game awareness.

Evaluating whether you will be able to defend your opponent’s deck push, how much Elixir they have right now, how fast Elixir generates… the list goes on and on.

Hog Rider and Rocket have become a staple combo because of how many Hog counters the Rocket eliminates. Barbarians, Sparky, Mini P.E.K.K.A… all gone! They also share a great synergy even when you don’t use them together, rather the opposite. \

If your Hog just can’t get through, throwing a Rocket will always guarantee you hundreds of damage.

This deck thrives at just this because of how many cheap defenders we have.

Lacking high dps cards doesn’t really matter when your opponent has to punish you quickly, because they’re usually not gonna put a Golem at the bridge.

And even then a lone Golem is pretty easy to stop, the problem comes when they have 8-12 Elixir worth of troops backing it up.

Ice Spirit

Ice Spirit has great synergy with most of the cards in this deck. Cards like Princess and Tornado will take out Goblins and Minions in one hit with help of the tiny Ice Spirit.

There are some really neat tricks you can pull of with these cards, such as pulling a Minion Horde into a Princess or clumping it up with a Tornado, just to get crushed by the Ice Spirit. The possibilities are infinite.

It also works great with Hog Rider, freezing your opponent’s counter, allowing the Hog one or even two more swings. The most satisfying thing for me is getting my opponent’s Barbarians frozen, then getting squished by a Rocket, allowing my Hog to run past unscathed.

Read more about Ice Spirit at here!

Tornado

Another really hard card to use.

Timing and placement are the things you need to learn before mastering this powerful spell.

You can pull anything from a Goblin Barrel to a Golem to an Ice Golem into your King Tower

Another trick you can pull off it pulling enemy units away from your Hog Rider. This is a x2 Elixir only thing, and should be avoided if your opponent is using any sort of building chaser (Anything from Golem to Hog).

I highly recommend checking out Orange Juice’s Tornado video here.

Knight

Okay, finally a less skill intensive card. Knight is maybe the most straight forward and basic card in the game, but he’s just so good!

I’ll just list everything he does:

• Taking out support units
• Tanking for a Hog
• Distracting a Miner
• Kiting air units
• Somewhat high dps
• Easy to level up
• Cheap cost
• Greatest mustache in the game

That’s a really long list, and I could probably double it if I really tried!

Princess

As you might have noticed by now, Princess is by far my favorite card.

Her long range gives her incredible lane control (almost as well as Archers do).

She has a huge splash area and even though the damage isn’t great, they key interactions are still very favorable; taking out Minions  and Bomber in 3 shots, Goblins, Archers, Dart Goblins and other Princesses in 2 shots and Skeletons, Bats, and Fire Spirits in 1 hit.

If your opponent does’t have a good counter to her, it’s extremely easy for you to run on a 10 Elixir cycle (Knight, Princess, Skeletons, Ice Spirit, The Log) just constantly cycling Princesses. I must admit this is the most fun thing to do and I highly recommend you try it if you go up against a deck which doesn’t run a direct Princess counter.

If you know your opponent is gonna counter your Hog with a Minion Horde, trying to hit it with a Rocket is not always the best way to work around it.

Instead you place your Princess at the river, but in the center slightly towards the side you’re pushing. The Princess will walk for a couple seconds, and if your opponent doesn’t have anything to take the Princess out other than the Minion Horde, they’re in a really tough situation where they will either have to sacrifice the minions but save a lot of tower health (also your Princess will survive) or sacrifice hundreds if not thousands of damage on their tower when waiting for your Princess to lock onto the tower.

Skeletons

You might question my decision of going with Skeletons over Goblin Gang or even Goblins.

Skeletons provide so much less damage per second and their health is much lower, getting taken out by even a Zap.

What I’m looking for when I want a distracting unit for a Hog Rider deck is just something, no matter what it is.

Therefore I chose Skeletons, however, almost anything will work in its place (Spear Goblins, Bats etc.).

The Log

Mostly used to clear Goblin Barrel on defense or predicting Skarmies or Tombstones on offense. Great for cycling the deck and chip opponent’s towers.

I chose to clarify that this deck is a ladder deck because it does really poorly in overtime.

It’s difficult to defend properly and the Skeletons pick over Goblin Gang is coming back to bite you.

While Goblin Gang does heavy amounts of damage, close to a Skeleton Army, 3 Skeletons don’t, and you really gotta try to seal the game before overtime.

Replacements

General Gameplan

Early Game (3:00 – 2:00)

As with any deck, your job in the first minute is figuring out what your opponent is running.

This is very important to do as soon as possible so you can start throwing down prediction spells.

Mid Game (2:00 – 1:00)

This is where you do most of your damage. You gotta hit hard before double Elixir and this is your chance.

Around this time you can start throwing out blind The Logs whether you know their hand or not.

Late Game (1:00 -)

This is where you gotta start playing offense Rockets and hope they catch at least something.

There’s no way to defend a Golem push in this state, so just don’t.

Offensive Princesses at the bridge is not a bad move.

Matchups

Golem

This is very skill dependent, and the match can go to anyone.

Your job is to keep up the pressure and only allow your opponent 1 or max 2 Golems.

With this deck, a Golem is always gonna get hundreds of damage on your tower, and the best way to avoid that is not letting them play a Golem.

Tower trading is not advisable, but you might have to do it in a pinch.

Bait

You should be able to out-cycle their Inferno Tower and throw down a prediction The Log against their Goblin Gang.

You have the faster cycle so rocketing is on your side in a pinch.

Miner

Tower trading is on your side if you get the opportunity to do it.

Otherwise you have to be smart with Knights and Ice Spirits when predicting their Miner placement.

One favorite strategy of mine is throwing a Rocket on their tower and something like a Knight, then letting them build up a small push and go for the tower trade (not advised for starters).

Mortar

This is a tough one.

Always attack the opposite lane they are attacking in and remember tower trading is on your side; go all in if you find an opportunity.

Hog Rider

This is one of your easier matchups.

It’s because not only do you have the cheaper cycle most of the time, but you also have the beefier direct damage and Princess which can beout at the bridge for chip damage.

Giant

There are lots of variations of Giant decks; Giant- Balloon, Sparky, beawn and Graveyard.  They all work similarly, but there are some slight differences.

The only on which is really hard to counter is Giant Graveyard, and you will have to be extremely aggressive and never let them get a push going.

Overleveled Sparky or Balloon could be a problem, but it’s definitely not the hardest deck.

Regular Giant beatdown decks are annoying to face because of how aggressive they can be, but still it shouldn’t be a problem.

Poisoned Gravy 

This is the only really tough matchup for this deck.

You will probably have to Rocket cycle or go for a draw. I can’t help you with this.

X-Bow

Rocket their X-Bow and never get out-cycled.

Attack same lane as them.

Royal Giant

Royal Giant is surprisingly hard to face, but as long as they don’t have Furnace or any other building you should be able to run ahead in the chip race.

Lava Hound

Princess + Rocket takes care of support troops, Tornado finishes pups if they Arrows your Princess.

Be smart with your The Log on offense and place center river Princesses to catch a Skeleton Army or Tombstone.

Spawners

Rocket Cycle. Princess wrecks the Spear Goblins and Barbarians.

Three Musketeers

Rocket their Pumps, always. Princess + The Log + Tornado takes care of the two Musketeers and you can finish the other side with Knight and some small cards.

That’s it for me! Peace out guys <3

-Zigge