New Meta Hog Rocket Deck for Arena 8+
Hey guys, what’s up! It’s cow (known as Cow FTW in the comments) here for my first deck guide!
I have been a fan of Clash Royale Arena for a while but have struggled to convince myself to write a guide. I first stumbled upon this deck while I was on Stats Royale, gave it try, and crushed my opponent. So because you probably don’t care about my history with CRA, here’s the deck!
The Deck
Hog Rider – You main Win Condition and main damage dealer.
You use him to deal damage to the tower, whether he is paired with a spell or left-over troops. However, keep in mind that with a Hog Rider you need to constantly push with him to slowly chipping away the opponents tower.
It is very important that while playing this deck you understand that you MUST counter push in order to deal some real damage.
Because this isn’t a cycle deck (Sitting at 3.3 Elixir Average) counter pushing is a more reliable way of deal damage then just out cycling.
Now I am not saying at ALL that you should not send in a Hog Rider alone, I am merely suggesting you should try not to over-defend so you have enough elixir to place a Hog.
Ice Wizard – He is your all time defensive card.
Use him to slow down big pushes and then count push, slowing down any threats that might kill your Hog Rider.
Although he is a great card for defending low HP troop, he is not very good at dealing damage so it’s usually best to pair him up with other cards.
He is a very defensive card, allowing him to count many cards when played on defense.
Because he lacks DPS that would be needed to support a Hog Rider, I would not recommend using him offensively for a push.
Tornado – All time awesome defensive spell counters tons of cards!
Pair this card with Ice Wizard to deal with pushes easily or simply pull away other cards. Plus you can pull Miners, Hog Riders, and Goblin Barrels to your King Tower, makes facing them a lot less intimidating and allowing you to spend less elixir to counter them!
Like I said before, pair this card with the Ice Wizard for an amazing defensive combo! For even more information click here.
Rocket – This card is a staple of this deck, allowing you to get massive value on colossal pushes.
Due to Lightning getting nerf and Sparky becoming viable, this card has seen a bit of an increase in use rate.
Don’t hesitate to get value on a troop next to the tower if it’s 5+ Elixir or Rocketing that tower that’s two rockets away from winning.
You can rocket Elite Barbarians for a neutral trade but they are hard to hit so if you have poor aim with the rocket, or little experience with it, then I wouldn’t recommend taking the risk.
If your opponent drops a pump, try to rocket it as soon as you can unless you are facing Three Musketeers or x-bow. In this case you will want to save your rocket, and punish with the Hog Rider instead.
Mega Minion – Your main anti-splash DPS unit.
Mega minion is primarily used for defending and secondarily, counter pushing.
While he is good for pushes, I would not play him offensively in, say, a Hog Rider push.
Although he might get some get damage in, he is relied on for defending those pesky troops that Goblins and Ice Wizards can’t deal with.
Even though he is pretty good at taking down a Hog Rider, I would not use him because you have many other options for defending one (Tombstone, Tornado, ect.)
Goblin – Cheap defensive option.
Goblins are self-explanatory.
Use them to defend against that Mini P.E.K.K.A. or Prince, surround that Musketeer, kite that Baby Dragon and the list goes on.
Overall, use them defensively to tank some hit, deal that DPS the Ice Wizard never could, or throw them in with the Hog Rider for a pig push.
Tombstone – Your Defensive Building
This is hands down my favorite building and probably one of the best. It is great at defense, being able to deal with many tanks/threats but also drawing them away from your towers. If you are playing against a Hog Rider with this deck, it is important that you Tornado it to the King Tower in order to activate it. Then, when he plays his Hog Rider again, you can play the tombstone a little deeper allowing the King Tower to shoot at it. This way the Hog Rider won’t touch your tower!
Zap – Simple, take out swarms that will kill your Hog Rider, weaken Minions to be “one shotable”, or to finish low hp troops.
Gameplay
3:00-2:00
Early on, you should not go very aggressive, but start quick, tiny pushes to try to do some chip damage. However, if your opponent plays a heavy card in the back, (Like Golem, P.E.K.K.A., ect.) you should try to punish hard.
A good starting move would be to place Ice Wizard, Goblins in the back or tombstone in the middle. I would not recommend placing a Mega Minion, unless you have Ice Wizard and Tornado, because he is your main air DPS unit.
Unlike beatdown, your games are most likely going to end 1-0 or 2-1 so you must defend as best as you can, taking as little damage as you can. Because this is single elixir time, you should not rocket the tower unless you can get value, like hitting a 5+ elixir troop plus tower.
2:00-1:00
By now you have probably done a few Hog pushes and have done some damage. Keep attacking, but now, start adjusting to the way your opponent counters your Hog Rider. He/she uses Skeleton Army to kill your Hog? Keep zap for your next push. Ideally, you would want to keep your Hog Rider and Zap to be in the same cycle but stress too much about that.
By now you will probably know what deck you are against, so you should try to keep a card to counter their win condition. For an example, since my opponent is using the balloon, I should keep my Mega Minion in hand to counter it.
1:00-End Of Overtime
This deck is very defensive so put those defensive cards to use and try to take as little damage as possible during overtime.
Keep pushing with Hog + Goblins + Zap, next, defend with Mega Minion, Ice Wizard, Tornado, and Tombstone and, then, counter push with surviving troops. Don’t be afraid to use rocket on the tower if the tower is low, just make sure you can defend any threats that your opponent will throw at you.
Continuously chip at the opponent’s tower till you claim the win!
Matchups
Giant Beatdown
Make them waste Elixir!
When going against Giant decks, push on the opposite lane lightly whenever they place a Giant so that they are forced to waste elixir on the other lane. Then, defend from there.
If their Giant deck has a Elixir Pump, you should immediately rocket their Pump. If you don’t have the Rocket in your hand, then try to punish hard.
Golem Beatdown
Punish them!
Similar to Giant Beatdown, you are going to want to punish them when they place a Golem and Rocket their Elixir Pump.
However Golem beatdown decks really shine in double elixir, so you should to push more aggressively in single elixir time and play more defensively in double elixir. In double elixir, you probably won’t be seeing an Elixir Pump, so you should use your Rocket on defense.
Hog Rider
Very easy match up.
Tornado the enemy Hog Rider to your King Tower and then from there you can use Tombstone in the center of the map. You can also Tornado the enemy Hog Rider to the center of the map, where all three towers can hit it, allowing 0 hits on the tower.
If it’s Hog P.E.K.K.A or Hog Mega Knight you should use Tornado on the Hog Rider and save the rest of the other cards to deal with the tanks while you slowly chip away at the enemy’s tower.
Miner
Like the Hog Rider, you should tornado the Miner to the King Tower.
Overall, it’s a very simple match up. Save your Tombstone for any threats that might come after the Miner, like Battle Ram, Bandit or E-Wiz and use your Mega Minion or Goblins to deal with the Miner.
Graveyard
I will keep it simple, use Ice Wizard or Goblins to defend the Graveyard and Mega Minion for the tank. Just be sure to counter push afterwards!
Well, that wraps up for this guide. Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or suggestions, share them in the comment section below!
– Cow FTW
1st!!
First reply!
First to put this in the trash can
the hog should be nerfed to oblivion he’s so OP wtf supercell I face him in literally 910 of my matches
Hog’s my fave card 🙁
I don’t think he is very OP at all. He is easily countered by a lot of card. I mean, almost every build counters him!
He already fits in as a CR redditor
Does your deck have Hog counters?
I have like 4 counters for hog in my deck but he still gets to the tower and deal massive damage
hog is like one of the most balanced cards in the game, its overleveling thats the problem for practically everyone including myself
the overleveling is another probelm but hog is really strong right now
This is electrify’s ladder deck! Well done explaining.
Thanks! Never knew who made this deck but I really enjoy it.
Question: Why d’you like cows so much that you decided to put it as ur Disqus nickname lmao xDD
My name in Clash Royale is cow, so I thought it would be fitting to name myself CowFTW.
HOLY SHIT i just realized the Hog is riding a rocket
lol
dude the hog is not riding the rocket the rider is lol
Ooopsies
I’m too used to using Hog as a generic term for Hog Rider
2nd!
They should make a card, ‘Hog Rocket’ . The rocket does normal damage and it spawns a hog on the tower. Costs 7 elixir, Legendary.
Now that would be OP
TOO op. Imagine the damage
Holy shalalalalala HOG ROCKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LMAOOOO
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb729fe3c48fe1cfad7d78e6fee8f95bd13e5c9f8b9c0b9125f1f9ee51ea41d4.jpg
Plz feature this comment! xD
Don’t upvote your own comments, don’t beg Will and the other mods and we only count to 5. (because Zigge can’t count past then)
I was just joking :
Obviously
But did u get it? ‘Broken Ladder’?
No
cuz ladder is broken. And the picture showed a picture of a broken ladder
I think we all got it.
okokokokokokok
Um….. welll, 🙂
sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry
spamspamspamspam
I’ll stop, sorry
Kinda
i honestly dont know if he is or not…
Congrats! Your comment got Featured!
XD i featured his name
More like deleted. . .
I didn’t go past 5.
I’m sry :
Mr. Jayspamstoomuch
IKR
🙁
Wow….:(
???
Everyone in this chat hates me now cuz of that one picture 😛
I don’t
That was a long time ago, I thought we were on gd terms? :/
Don’t have to be salty :
I am not…
*this moment when you’re so desperate that you’re upvoting your own comments*
Lol, I haven’t hit that stage yet.
Sry!
Boi
Where did Peakcell go? I miss him 🙁 He was such a good writer and gave great tips. A great guy.
I heard that he…
I can’t say it.
omg is that all you look for?!
me?
Also please don’t assume any genders. 😛
Aieee ok
The point was that I miss PeakCell’s guides 🙁 rip
Ayy Cow is back!
Ahhhh, was I ever here in the first place?
Aren’t you Scarlett the Cow?
Hate to break it to ya, but I am not that good at writting stories.
So to answer your question, no I am not.
Hi steven! I am your friend from school!
Creep. Also I’m homeschooled. You know that.
you calling me a creep?
Yep, without hesitation also
Waaah
cow, you need help. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Thanks for the offer but I’ll pass.
It’s for a limited time!
Also lets not use real names man. This the Internet. You never know, Will could be a famous kidnapper for all I know.
you didn’t know that?
Nooope
Idk. And why didn’t Will post my guide? Probably the author box…
1. Why would Cow know it?
2. Stop spamming about it and be patient
Funny thing is, I didn’t add the picture that between Zap and gameplay! Thank you to anyone who helped edit this guide!
Will
Yh Will adds random pictures sometimes.
Great job for ur first time man
Thanks man! Mean a lot, very encouraging.
Keep writing b/c that was quility man!
😀 I hope to make more! I am currently using a Giant Bowler Graveyard which is really old, but it still works great! All I need is E Wiz instead of Musketeer and I think the deck will be great!
Yea! Keep being awesome! BTW I have a challenge for you: Post a Hybrid Deck!
Tricky, I will think about it.
Example: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a693865484969ae6293503b8458c83a1c35f97e57274247de65e394478e30b8e.png
xDDDD missing cards in your collection: Ebarbs RG
hehehe
ur name is good so keep writing guides
Just because of my name I should keep writting guides? Thanks?
3rd no one claimed!
Btw nice deck but should be arena 7+
Ayyyyy
sup my dood
GTG see u in an hour (after GYM)
bye!
This was in best decks! *Tear* So proud https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/32da745a04ee9d4e0c32860a2553d3f97ddb6f198e919146e28b9489d38e9a0c.png
I’m proud too! #SparkyNation
Just a tiny bit weak on air defence, other then that it looks good! (AdBlock FTW!)
Same
Pixlr FTW!
XD no photoshop
Pixlr > Photoshop
Pixlr=Photoshop?
nop
Doesn’t have nado : /
Nado isnt required or anything…
Ik but i can’t play sparky without nado
Ok
It’s like executioner, not super good without nado imo
Yea but that’s the top sparky deck that exists…
Okay then
i agree. exe needs nado a bit more but sparky is for sure viable without tornado. i just dont think its as good. any crafty tornado player with sparky is pretty much undefeatable unless facing rocket
Yeah i guess it’s just me then, i can’t play sparky without nado
Exactly
:/
Coz a level 9 got to 5100 trophies with a similar deck, and Surgical Goblin used it to get 12 wins in GC
CCGS origin
Really?
uh huh
4th
5th
no one cares
nobody asked for your opinion
Tis true. Funny how they still feel the need to offer up their unwanted opinion though, huh?
Dang it
lol fail
🙁
oh okay 😛
My computer shut down
I am thinking of posting this deck on CRA. Poll: Should I post it? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/563ee8d00336c5c0ec85adf7f185b8a32c8ef671b87372d9d40633a11c45f701.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a6873a4f597a82c524b87c3ade357ee329ee90abe2f2e12c7f28250aadba56ec.png
Sure
Kool deck! Yes u should.
Why not? I would be interested in hearing your reasoning for using both legendary wizards has opposed to say minions or mega minion.
Well the popular deck runs bats/minions not ice wizard…
ice wizard is beast tho
Not enough air dps tho
I never said play it solo.
Im saying the bats provide dps that is necessary
Dude what class do we have is common :/
yea good synergy with many cards in the deck cuz of its slow
after his buff
I agree, and I’m proud to say he was my first legendary (and it took Molt ages)
lol
he was my second last
i wouldnt have ice wiz AND ewiz in the same deck… i would go minions, mega minion, or bats for ewiz
True, but I’d go Mega Minion due to it being most similar
please do not feel satisfied with it just cause all of the deck ratings are green. It will get absolutely annihilated by lavaloon with lightning or 3m pump. focus on trying out decks on ladder and challenges to see how good they are rather than using that website. It’s a good reference but i see all too commonly people thinking a deck is good or bad solely based off of what that website says. Thats why it says (with a grain of salt) at the top
But look, he’s used it and has an 86.8% win rate, although I agree with you about LavaLoon, although it’s not very popular (I still use it but still.) For pump, use Lightning and for Three Muskies use PEKKA
Excuse me, I have had an 86% win rate across 3 arenas. So I think I have mastered this deck quite well.
i have lightning for musketeer, lightning for pump, lightning is longer no popular, lavaloon will be destroyed with lightning, e wiz.
Actually ppl on the leaderboards use this deck but with skeletons instead of gobs and log instead of zap
hi
look at my deck below
hog rocket new meta? more like hog rocket always been meta
yeah
I didn’t write the name.
yeah its will with his clickbait titles lol
Nice deck but would you rather replace ice wiz with e wiz or somethin else?
nope, ppl on the leaderboards actually use the ice wiz in this deck, ppl finally realize the true potential of IceNado
ice nado is actually really good
Happy you agree
yup after the huge buff of ice wiz i use him in my most of decks and especially ice nado is devastating for lava and hog decks
yep, i once wiped out a lavaloon combo with icenado
yeah me too
I wouldn’t. You need the splash damage more than you need the spawn damage or anything like that.
Yeah but I dont have ice wiz, I would do regular wiz but it ups the average elixir cost a lot. I think I’ll do princess
Executioner + tornado is almost the ultimate defense (excluding the rocket and miner weakness *cough*), so that is viable. However it does make the deck heavier. If you don’t have icy, i would recommend playing a hog cycle free2play or hog-exe-nado deck, if you have your eyes set on the hog for a win condition.
musketeer or ice golem would be good replacements
Nah, you need the splash damage! Maybe Ice Golem will work, or fire spirits, but you need splash damage! Maybe even Princess, but remember, none of these cards have a health pool like Ice Wiz.
What do you think about replacing tombstone with tesla? Tesla is super strong now, post-buff, and mine is at a nice high level. 😛
I assume it would work just that the deck will defend differently
Yeah, goblins would have to be used to block melee attackers instead of the spawned skeletons.
There is no knight in this deck so I’d keep tombstone
Yeah that makes sense. Tombstone is an epic counter to ebarbs, and the spawned skeletons afterwards can be used to support a hog.
tombstone is decent, but i would rather have inferno tower and have knight + swarm to deal with e barbs giants and MK
Wow ok, just did a couple battles where the tombstone literally won me the game on defense. Thank you, Ultimate, for sharing your infinite wisdom. 😛
My wisdom has no limits…jk
Tombstone works better vs Pekkas, Princes, basically high dmg slow attack speed troops. Tesla is better all-around though.
Not in this deck imo
My tesla went from lvl 2 to 10 when I saw the buff xD
I got so excited I wasted so much gold
Mine went from about lvl 4 to 10, so yeah me too. I never much used any other defensive buildings like cannon or inferno tower except for tombstone, so when I saw the tesla buff, I was like, “Meh, why not?”
Haha yeah. My spawners r still lvl 2 and 3 or so mostly xD except my furnace which is lvl 8 for some strnage reason.
Yeah, I have lvl 7 gob hut and barb hut, but then again, basically all of my cards are at least tournament standard. Gob hut is actually strong now after the buff, but only in certain decks. And I wish my furnace was like lvl 8 or 9. that would make me so happy. Sadly, it is still chilling at lvl 6, spitting out lvl 8 fire spirits. 😛
i use only inferno tower
Same
coz its so op
True, but you really need skill in case of spells
u r right
me to
i use IT and tombstone
yeah but when i use golem or lava,i often use tombstone but most probably i use inferno tower
mine went from 8 to 10 cuz im a knucklehead
Yeah u should use it
Someone plz do an updated CRA Hierarchy!
What do you mean by that?
Like with Will at the top, then Norby, Zigge, etc, then mods, then frequent guide writers, then commenters etc.
But who really cares? Also, it’s still pretty accurate.
Meh ok.
ok, i got nothing to do anyway…….
Thx! Post it on my new guide. The sparky one.
That thumbnail tho
Indeed.
You forgot the most important matchup for decks with only rocket as hard spell…..
3M
pressure when an elixir pump goes down, rocket the 2m and then MM on the lone one
besides, who even uses 3m anymore…
A lot of people… still decently popular on leaderboard and is used alot in ccgs
i thought it almost died after the death of bridge spam meta
You thought very wrong.
ppl still uses miner/battle ram 3M tho
no, i come across a few 3m decks but i can ez win against them as long as i have fireball+zap or any other high damage spell
Quite a lot, i faced them maybe 3 out of 10 matches
I hit on the subject a little in section about Rocket
One of my favorite clutch moves when playing Three musketeers is if an Elixir Pump in front of the Kings Tower and you opponent splits three musketeer in the center, you tornado all of them next to them Pump and then Rocket. However it is very rare that you will have this opportunity.
Nah, it does happen pretty often, but you need precise timing
True dat
lightning is there and overlevelled fireball are also good counters for 3M tho…
Rocket Nado takes care of them + support units!
Make an 8 letter word with the first letter of these 8 cards! Good luck 😉
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f1246583b9f32424debaa24f201af75e64636470dcdee0986f83b441235877e9.png
The first letter doesn’t mean I and D in the case of Inferno Dragon, it means I.
Chainsaw
well done xD
in this deck is there anywhere that a could sub in the knight it is a really good defensive card and mines level 12 and i would like to get back into running hog again
Completely unrelated to CR but is there anyone who plays Town of Salem?
*raises hand*
Never heard about that game :p
this deck i found pretty good in ladder (got 3 wins in a row and 1 draw) good thing I’m not chief pat!
Never heard before :p
The original version of this deck uses Skellies and The Log over Gobs and Zap though :3
Yep, but I felt like there would be better synergie between Goblin and the Hog Rider. Also I used Zap because was needed to reset Infernos as well as Sparkys. Plus I don’t have The Log 😀
i use a variant of the original deck but with arrows instead of log (saving up gold to buy log)