LavaLoon Deck That Got Me To 4k Club at Level 10

Hello fellow clashers! I am SiciliaDraco with my first guide. I recently got to Challenger 1 as a level 10 with this old(ish), but gold deck!

This deck is awesome for ladder due to its massive pushes that no one can counter in this meta.

I have been playing Lava Hound combinations since Frozen Peak, so I know the ins and outs of this deck.

Now without any further ado, let’s get to the deck before I start rambling on and on!

Pros

Cons

The Lava-Lightning Deck

Lava Hound

This fat puppy may not be appealing to you at first, but the famous quote says, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”.

This card can tank for air-targeting units and let your Balloon rage bombs on the tower.

If the pups are left ignored they will deal thousands of damage.

Optimal times to drop the Hound is when you have an elixir advantage or when you know your opponent has no win condition.

If you drop your Hound at the very start, your opponent could rush you with E-Barbs + Zap; and if you don’t have your Tombstone or Guards, bye bye tower.

There are no substitutions for this card because Lava Hound is the only major air tank in this game.

Balloon

This one Skeleton dropping bombs on your opponent’s towers is usually the MVP in this deck.

At the start of the game, one shot with a regular level Balloon is good, but two shots usually wins you the game.

It can be used as a punish card if a high elixir cost troop is placed on the other lane.

You could replace the Balloon with Miner, but Lava-Miner has a different playstyle than Lava-Loon.

Guards

Switching from Skeleton Army to Guards is the SOLE reason I easily pushed to 4k.

These beautiful troops are spell-resistant, unlike Skeleton Army.

When my opponent dropped a Hog, I would place Skeleton Army which would be immediately Zapped and I would frantically drop a Tombstone which the Hog would break through like slicing butter and it would still get a pop shot on the Tower.

But, when I used Guards instead of Skeleton Army, my opponents can’t counter Guards due to them being spell resistant. If your Goblin Gang is at a good level, you can sub that in.

Tombstone

Ahh. The magical spawner of white entities is so crucial in this deck.

It counters the Hog Rider and it can successfully counter lone E-Barbarians. Use this building to kite any high damaging troop or kite a tank.

Even if your opponent destroys the Tombstone with spells, the 4 Skeletons pop out and do massive damage.

Only the Log can kill most of the Tombstone, so watch out! But, if they do Log your Tombstone, you have Guards to defend with.(Assuming there is no Witch behind the tank.)

Even though the age of Furnace is long gone, the Tombstone is the cheapest hard counter to it.

This card easily shuts down a viable Sparky and when played right, it can shut down a solo Mega Knight because the Mega has such a slow attack speed and it will constantly keep on jumping on one skeleton at a time.

If you are skilled with a high DPS card that can be replaced with a building such as Lumberjack, Night Witch, Mini P.E.K.K.A, etc., use it in your deck if you want to.

Arrows

Two words: Minion Horde.

The sole purpose of this card is to use it against Minion Horde.

The Horde is one of the best counters to the Hound, so always Arrow a Horde if it is the cheapest way possible. It can also be used to take care of swarm troops.

If you want to replace with Zap, use Fireball instead of Lightning (no major explanation)

Lightning

These 3 bolts of Lightning used correctly can decide a game.

Use this card to clip multiple “fireballies” or glass cannons and gain an Elixir advantage.

You can also use it to stun an Inferno Dragon or Tower to give your Hound more health or you can hit a damaged Executioner to kill it.

You can use Fireball/Zap if your Lightning/Arrows are underleveled, but it’s gonna be harder to counter Minion Horde and multiple glass Cannon. (Really no major explanation)

Mega-Minion

This Minion on steroids has been one of the best defensive cards in the game since its release.

Use it as a cheap counter to glass cannons and if the Mega has a good chunk of health left, you can counterpush with a Balloon if you have enough Elixir.

Minions

These 3 flying creatures do massive DPS by throwing Dark Elixir or “bowling balls” at their enemies.

These troops are used in this deck mainly because they are cheaper than the Minion-Horde and they provide a good support and defense with the Hound.

Use them to make “Positive Elixir Trades”.

General Gameplan

Early Game – 3:00 to 2:00

Defend and gain an Elixir advantage

Only drop a Hound once you have a sufficient Elixir advantage

Find out what deck your opponent is using and the counters towards your Lavaloon push

The best opening moves to play is a Tombstone in the middle and/ or Mega Minion in the back

Middle Game – 2:00 to 1:00

Once you have gained an Elixir advantage by defending, your opponent should have revealed some or all the cards in his/her deck and you should form a plan to build up your push in Double Elixir time.

The plan will change depending on what deck your opponent is using (More on that on the counter section !)

Start to build up Lava pushes, but don’t place Balloon down unless you know your opponent has no counters for it. Back the Hound with support troops like Minions and/or Mega Minion so you have enough Elixir for a spell

End Game  – 1:00 to End

Double Elixir is when Lavaloon shines the most.

Overwhelm your opponents with Lavaloon combined with a support troop and a spell

Matchups

Hog Rider

Tombstone and Guards can be used here!

If vs. Hog Poison, use Mega Minion to defend

If Hog is accompanied with a support troop, Tombstone the Hog and place Guards on the support troops

In dire situations use Lightning to fully counter a Hog push.

Elite Barbarians

Tombstone fully counters these “once” cancerous beings easily for me if opponent Zaps the 4 remaining Tombstone Skeletons, kite the E-Barbarians with Guards

If E-Barbarians with support comes in, Lightning everything and kite the low health troops with Guards so the arena Tower can finish them off

Royal “GG” ?

If RG is deployed in the back, put Hound same lane in the back(Doomsday Machine Theory says you have a huge advantage), support with Minions and Mega-Minion appropriately placed from Hound to avoid a glass Cannon’s splash.

Your troops will destroy the RG first and attack the support, leaving your opponent to deal with the newly popped pups. (combine this with the surviving support troops and Tower down. )

If deployed in front, Tombstone + Guards/Mega Minion will shut it down and counterpush

I sometimes deploy Hound at the bridge same lane to tank for support and put Guards/Minion/Mega Minion to kill the RG and counterpush

Giant

Unlike RG players, Giant players are reactive and will only spam other lane if a high Elixir card is played in the other lane

If Giant is deployed in the back, put Hound same lane in the back(Doomsday Machine Theory says you have a huge advantage

If aggressive Giant + support is dropped, place Tombstone to kite and Guards to counter support

If  you suspect that your opponent is playing a Giant, DO NOT place your Hound in the back unless you have a BIG Elixir advantage to avoid aggressive Giant plays in the other lane

3 Muskies

ALWAYS Lightning the Pump

Your opponent should immediately split his Musketeers, so place your Tombstone on the side that the single Musketeer is on and use the Hound to tank for the remaining 2 Musketeers

If a support troop is deployed with the single Musket, use additional Guards to take care of the push

This deck has no real counter to Lavaloon, except 3-Musks which you Lightning and Minion Horde which you Arrow.

Take initiative in Double Elixir

Miner Poison

Always use Mega Minion or Guards to counter Tombstone ; they take a long time to die to Poison or survive Poison, easily earning you a positive Elixir trade

The deck’s main tank-killer is a P.E.K.K.A and a Glass Cannon, so it is very easy to win against this type of deck

If the main tank-killer is an Inferno Dragon/ Inferno Tower, try to Lightning it in Double Elixir along with a glass Cannon. It’ll be all gucci from there

Bait

You have Guards for Goblin Gang and Barrel, use Tombstone for the Knight, Mega-Minion the Princess.

This deck’s defense is based on either Rocket-Nado or Inferno Tower.

Lightning the Inferno Tower in a push and specifically try to also clip a Princess or even a single Spear Goblin

If playing against Rocket-Nado, space out your troops, so your opponent can’t get all the troops in the middle of the Tornado

“Meta” Knight

Most people don’t use Mega Knight for offense, so don’t expect them to drop it in the back a lot

If the Mega is dropped in the back, go Hound same lane and place a Tombstone to fully counter the Mega.

This card is found in the common MK Inferno Hog Deck, so you should revise the Hog portion of this guide

Some of my opponents may use the Mega Knight to tank for my support troops and try to kill the Hound with a Inferno Dragon, so be aware of that

Golem

The hardest counter to this deck!

Golem NW is usually a 25% win rate because the Night Witch’s Bats will destroy the Hound and when combined with a Lumberjack; it will destroy a Tower

The Night Witch’s Bats also will target and kill the Guards in the air

This deck can handle other Golem decks reasonably

Send Balloon other lane if Golem is dropped to make defending a tad bit easier

Kite Golem with Tombstone and beat it up with a Mega Minion while using Guards to kill the support troop

Well, that’s all guys and gals! Comment down below on how the guide is and have a nice day !!

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