Instant Guide to Lava Hound (Updated)
Hello everybody! It’s me, Supermarine here again, with my 25th CRA guide!
I am super excited! I’ve once again gathered friends and clanmates, mainly to celebrate the April Update, to help me out with another one of my Ultimate Guides: The Ultimate Guide to Lava Hound v2!
It will explain all the things you can use with and against it, some decks with him (or her), and more!
Additionally, I’ve gone more in-depth with the list of Counters and added a couple more decks in the Decks section! I even added another video!
First though, let’s start with the basics.
Overview
Lava Hound is an Arena 4 Legendary Card with very high hitpoints that costs 7 Elixir.
Upon death, it splits into six spread out Lava Pups. These Pups have the same health as a Minion but only deal about half the damage.
Hit Speed | Speed | Deploy Time | Range | Target | Cost | Count | Type | Rarity |
1.3 sec | Slow | 1 sec | 2 | Buildings | 7 | x1 | Troop | Legendary |
Lava Hound
Level | HP | Damage | DPS | Lava Pups Level |
1 | 3,150 | 45 | 34 | 1 |
2 | 3,465 | 49 | 37 | 2 |
3 | 3,811 | 54 | 41 | 3 |
4 | 4,189 | 59 | 45 | 4 |
5 | 4,599 | 65 | 50 | 5 |
Lava Pup
Lava Pup Level | Hitpoints | Damage | Damage per second |
1 | 180 | 45 | 45 |
2 | 198 | 49 | 49 |
3 | 217 | 54 | 54 |
4 | 239 | 59 | 59 |
5 | 262 | 65 | 65 |
Card Interactions
The Lava Hound deals extremely low damage and only targets buildings, but the Pups attack anything.
Hound is near incapable of killing any air targeting troop or structure, but the Pups can take out a wide variety of troops, including eWiz, Archers, Bats, and even Executioner, as they’re spread out!
Pups are capable of killing glass cannons in just about 10 shots, and since there’s six of them, it won’t take long before that pesky Wizard, Inferno Dragon, or eWiz is dead!
They can be cleared out by most low damaging spells, so keep them safe!
Strategy
Since Lava Hound has high hitpoints, you can use it as a tank for another air troop like a Balloon or Inferno Dragon.
You can also use it as a secondary win condition. Win conditions or tanks for the Lava Pups will greatly help you get damage on the Tower with the help of support spells.
Another viable, but risky strategy is to make the Lava Hound your main win condition and another card a second win condition or threat card, and elevate the Lava Hound’s threat level using spells.
When playing against Lava Hound, use an air targeting swarm to attack anything behind Hound, then use a tank killer to kill it. Spells will greatly help against the Pups.
Best cards to use with the Lava Hound
Best Counters to Lava Hound
Inferno Tower: This is a no brainer.
Once it hits its third stage of damage, the Hound will just get melted away!
Just be careful of reset cards (Zap, Lightning, etc).
Inferno Dragon: See Inferno Tower. Also, you can counterpush with the Inferno Dragon too!
Mega Minion: Even after its many nerfs, it is still a good option to kill Hound with due to its high damage per hit.
However, you may need to pair it with a card that deals high DPS, like Bats, in order to clear out Pups.
Minion Horde: Minion Horde’s high DPS is great at shredding down the Lava Hound and its Pups.
However, be very careful of spells like Arrows, Fireball, and Poison, as well as area damage troops like Wizard, as they can take down the Horde with ease.
Musketeer: Musketeer is another great counter to Lava Hound.
Her attack speed allows her to deal really good damage to the Hound, and it helps out against Pups as an added bonus!
You can also counterpush with her as well!
Also use:
Best Counters to Pups
Arrows
Arrows, like with Minions, are capable of one-shotting Pups before they do any significant damage.
Ice Golem
Ice Golem is great to place in the middle of the cluster of Lava Pups so it can soak damage, get slows in, and give more time for the Arena Tower to take them all out.
Knight
Knight, like Ice Golem, cannot target the Pups themselves, but he can soak enough damage so the Arena Tower can take them all out. Note that Knight cannot slow Pups like Ice Golem can.
Archers
Archers are very cheap, durable ranged attackers that can survive Zap, Log, and even Arrows and still keep on shooting!
This also means that the Pups cannot one-shot or even two-shot the Archers too!
Tornado
Perhaps every Lava Hound player’s worst nightmare is the Tornado.
It moves the Lava Pups back a ton, and paired with a splash troop can be really deadly to Balloons or Baby Dragons or anything of the sort!
Also use
Decks with Lava Hound
Hooray! We finally get to some decks!
I will be giving a brief overview on each deck just so you folks can learn to play them more efficiently!
All of these were either posited on CRA before or tested by my clanmates.
LavaLoon (by Ash)
We all know this one, don’t we?
This is the Classic LavaLoon! Basically get the Balloon behind the Hound with some support, and combined with your spells, you’re golden! You also have Minions, Gang, and Tombstone as well for defense against Hogs or Rams or anything of the sort.
Modified LavaLoon (by You Won!)
Made by You Won!, this LavaLoon is a little different.
Rather than using the Fireball to kill swarms, you have the Arrows. There is also a Rocket rather than the more popular choice, Lightning, to kill Infernos or glass cannons such as Musketeers.
You can replace the Arrows for Zap. I have actually found it quite viable!
Raging LavaLoon (by Haru Cruz)
This variant of LavaLoon by Haru Cruz uses similar principles as the Classic LavaLoon, except that you have a Rage to elevate the threat level of the Balloon.
However, this was sacrificing swarm clear, so to fix the swarms problem, Baby Dragon was added to help dispatch them.
Most cards like Tombstone and Mega Minion remain in the deck because of their roles in the deck, which is being tank killers.
Airfecta (by Tag™)
The original Tag-style Airfecta!
Use the Inferno Dragon as a threat card to take the Tower! You have Skeletons and Bandit for defense and pressure, as well as two low-damaging spells! Poison works great if you don’t have your Baby Dragon in cycle! Bandit allows you to snipe at glass cannons attacking your Lava Hound or any of your Dragons.
Using the Tower’s health as a resource is a generally good idea, as long as you get any heavy tanks killed with Inferno Dragon as soon as possible.
Airfecta v2 (by Supermarine)
The modified version of Tag’s Airfecta, made by me!
This Airfecta has much greater defensive capability than the original (Tag, if you’re reading this, no offense). We have the Tombstone to kite tanks, Guards to attack the support, and Inferno Dragon to kill and counterpush with. Like the original version, Bandit can be used to snipe glass cannons attacking your Hound or Dragons.
Lava Hound Flying Machine Control (by HEbarbian)
This deck made by HEbarbian uses the Lava Hound and Miner as win conditions, and the Flying Machine is meant to be a threat card that forces opponents to react.
Miner Poison pushes work great for chip in Single Elixir, and if you can add in the Lava Pups as well during Double Elixir, the opponent will be in massive trouble!
In terms of defense, you are still quite solid, with the Skeleton Army, Mega Minion and Tesla dealing heavy damage to tanks and mini tanks. Zap can be used for swarm clear on defense or to reset an Inferno Tower/Dragon on offense.
Raging Pups (by Haru Cruz)
Made by Haru Cruz, the Raging Pups deck has a similar principle to the Raging LavaLoon, except the Pups are your sole source of damage.
Skeleton Army is a great card to pair with this push, but only use it for the counterpush.
Once again, we have the Baby Dragon for swarm clear, and Lightning to reset Infernos as opposed to Zap.
Lava Barrel (by Huncho Houndini)
Finally, a deck with the Skeleton Barrel! Made by Huncho Houndini, this falls into more of a control deck, with Miner, Skeleton Barrel, and the Lava Pups doing slow chip.
Goblin Gang also works, but be sure to not use it too often on offense, as it is your main ground swarm on defense. Single Elixir is when most of the slow chip happens, and Double Elixir is when things ramp up. The Lava Pups and the Skeleton Barrel Skeletons can all be used in conjunction with Miner to maximize damage. Against any Infernos, use Zap.
Skeleton Barrel Airfecta (by Lolman)
Made by Lolman (you can call him Lmaoman or Rolfman), this is the deck of the week! It features Skeleton Barrel over Inferno Dragon, and retains the Miner and Baby Dragon.
Poison is used over Fireball to have a better synergy with Miner. You have Gang as your main ground swarm, and MM as a tank killer, but use them wisely, as there is no definitive defensive building in the deck!
This was posted on CRA before. Check it out at here!
Special Thanks To:
- Haru Cruz (provided decks)
- HEbarbian (provided a deck)
- Huncho Houndini (provided a deck)
- Schmenderick (helped edit)
- KlorbitKali (tested all Ladder decks on ladder)
- Dragon Claw (also a deck tester, but for Challenge decks)
Bonus Videos: Some extra videos of popular YouTubers playing some of these decks!
So that’s all for my 10th guide anniversary! Hope you guys learned a lot about using and countering Lava Hound! See you next time!
-Supermarine
IM THE BEST, I’m first
well played…
IM ALSO THE BEST, first reply!
2nd
3rd
Lel
Some great decks showcased and a great strategy breakdown. Well done Supermarine!
4th
i had 2 of my own variants of LavaLoon
Variant 1:
Lava Hound
Balloon
Minions
Tombstone
Mega Minion
Arrows
Lightning
Ice Wizard
Variant 2:
Lava Hound
Balloon
Goblin Gang
Tombstone
Mega Minion
Zap
Fireball
Electro Wizard
looks good, but I don’t think those wizards belong.
its for defensive purposes XD
great guide Supermarine, and congrats on your 10th guide
Poor lavahound needs a buff
My idea:
Add damage by 20% for LH and the pups
OR
Add lava pups health so it’s not arrow-able
or buff the lava pups HP so that lvl 11 zap cant kill lvl 1 lava pups
I agree
I don’t think Lava Hound needs a buff
buff lava pups dmg
I think the lava hound needs a buff where the pups do 15% more damage
arrow proof- lava pups??? seems too op to me. if I was supercell, then I would nerf hard matchups/counters to lava hound to indirectly buff it.
The only hard counter to LH is IT, and it never gets any nerf
(I suppose ID is hard counter too but it doesnt attract LH and is quite balanced so yea)
Can I start polls in the comments?
Sure
Thanks:)
Ps: I’ve already posted one.
Hell yes
My idea is almost like Haru’s except instead of rage I use Heal
So it would look like:
Lavahound
Balloon
Baby Dragon
Heal
Zap
Goblin Gang
Mega Minion
Tombstone
5th no one claimed
I don’t have the lavahound, however this is a great guide!
Poll:
Which spell is too OP right now and deserves a (little) nerf?
log
probably zap since it’s the most used card in the game
zaps damage was nerfed before. seems fine to me. Also if zap gets nerfed even more then bait decks will just run even more rampant
yea i just couldn’t think of another spell
Even after all those nerfs log still needs 1 more: It needs its width decreased from 3.9 to 3.5
hard one, if i have to choose, then maybe poison
they’re all fine imo but they should fix the freeze, rage, heal, and lightning.
no spells are OP right now.
Supermarine, nice deck, but you posted a pic of gob barrel instead of skel barrel.
It was suppposed to be Skeletons Barrel! Guess it was just a mistake…
Blame will lol
Hey guys! New poll: Which one of the Lava Hound Decks was your favorite?
raged lavaloon i made my variant of it
lava
loon
rage
mini pekka
skarmy
zap
fireball
mega minion
Classic LavaLoon
I prefer the new lavaloon with mini pekka, but it wasn’t on the list… I got a lot of wins against people who are high up in the leagues with that deck although I suck at using hound.
Same
Out of the ones on the guide?
Yes
I honestly have a complaint. Why does the most recent poll has “Bait” as an archetype of decks? I’d rather consider it a Sub-Archetype in Control, but, geez, why does most people consider random stuff as new deck archetypes? Think of bridge spam!
Because it is so widely used that you need to make a new archetypes
it’s still a control deck.
The archetype is defined by the playstyle, isn’t it? How
does a “Bait” archetype differ from the Control one?
I didn’t define it as a new archetype I said it was a Control deck. With a control deck you are trying to get you win condition to connect using many different strategies like spell predictions and I suppose baiting counters counts.
Oh, sorry! Wasn’t meant to reply you, but rather Smough. Sorry!
deal with it
because bait is an archtype that was popular awhile back but has lost usage, it is still in the area but not as midly known but i would still consider it a poll option
Congrats on your 10th guide Supermarine!
Thanks
lol there is a typo for the lava barrel. You say skeleton barrel but there is pic of gob barrel. But good guide.
Yeah da bois! Lavahound FTW!!!
IKR
HEY ALL! Here is a video of me beating CWA! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ceXFzhNogA&t=6s
awesome
I thought his username was “clash with ash”, not Clash with YASH.
ya exactly. this guy played against an indian utuber, CWY
Whooo loving these lava hound guides
I like that recent lavaloon deck that went like this:
Lava hound (nah duh)
Balloon (nah duh)
Tombstone (nah duh)
Mega minion (nah duh
Zap
Fireball
Mini Pekka
Bats
I made that
I love it
When Lolman’s Skeleton Barrel Airfecta has no Skeleton Barrel or Skeleton troop with the gob barrel be like lol man. And why is my lavahound deck not up there???
Dude I didn’t know u made a Lava Hound Deck. U could’ve told me in comments before I posted this…
Lol it doesn’t matter really it’s an old deck 🙂
What’s the deck?
first after reupload ¯_(ツ)_/¯
2nd after repost
Third after repost!
I think something’s went wrong during the posting process… because this is NOT very updated! The changes aren’t even there!!! Will, plz fix! Oh wait, just checked WordPress. Will is editing it right now.
This is the one you submitted buddy
No dude, it wasn’t. Mine had an extra video by Hazardâ„¢ and several more decks in it. Clone was also in the last of synergies too. Must have been a glitch or something.
Kindly check your email 😀
Ok then…
yeah 10th anniversary? lol
Does anyone have an active clan with 40000+ trophies that I can join. I am level 10 with card levels 3/5/8/11. I use lavaloon.
join my clan, it’s called succ city 1000(probably, if you see a player named Hs with 4014 trophies ish), we are aiming to be top 200 US local clan. we just won our first clan wars, so we have a lot of skilled players here too. please join!
Awesome I will try join in about an hour. Have u already started your second war? Are u the leader?
yeah, we already did, so join our next war. and no, I’m too much of a noob to be a leader 🙂 happy clashing!
I have 4K is that ok?
yeah the average is probably 4k to 4.2k
Nice
25th guide!!!! U have so much time lol