How to use the Balloon – The Basic Guide
By Hello everybody! It’s NebulaNoodle again, with my TENTH guide!
I’ve celebrated by making an awesome guide all about my favorite win condition, the Balloon.
Since the early arenas, when I obtained it, I used it in Giant-Loon to push to Arena 7 and been a frequent Balloon Cycle user all my life. I recently upgraded this card to get my FIRST lvl 5 epic! Hope you enjoy!
Basics
| Hit Speed | Speed | Deploy Time | Range | Target | Cost |
| 3 sec | Medium | 1 sec | Melee | Buildings | 5 |
| Level | Hitpoints | Damage per Hit | Damage per second | Death Damage |
| 1 | 1,050 | 600 | 200 | 205 |
| 2 | 1,155 | 660 | 220 | 225 |
| 3 | 1,270 | 726 | 242 | 248 |
| 4 | 1,396 | 798 | 266 | 272 |
| 5 | 1,533 | 876 | 292 | 299 |
| 6 | 1,680 | 960 | 320 | 328 |
| 7 | 1,848 | 1,056 | 352 | 360 |
| 8 | 2,026 | 1,158 | 386 | 395 |
The Balloon is a building-targeting flying troop, which deals huge damage with each hit, but has a slow hit speed.
The Death Bomb, when dropped, can kill Goblins, Princesses, Skeletons (obviously), Minions, and bring most glass cannons to half health.
The Balloon is not extremely tanky, and can be taken out by most glass cannons, therefore, the Balloon should be used with a tank, either in a fast paced or slow paced deck.
Strategies
It’s clearly a win condition, and completely useless for defense (except for last-minute kiting for a clutch win, I guess.
As I mentioned before, the Balloon works best with a tank, but you could potentially have a Balloon Rage or Balloon Freeze deck with no tank.
You can use the Balloon as a main win condition, where you should have heavy protection for the Balloon or a fast cycle, or as a secondary win condition or threat card.
Non-damaging spell cards like Clone are extremely deadly if used properly with the Balloon.
Even if the Balloon doesn’t make it to the tower, the two death bombs will deal immense damage!
And if the cloned Balloon and real Balloon both hit the towers, they can take out a tower in a matter of seconds.
When going against Balloon, always be prepared for a pre-placed spell.
Know their cycle and know if you can cycle to your counters. Always have sufficient air defense!
Best Counters to Balloon
Just watch out for spells, especially if you use Minion Horde as your main Balloon defense.
Always have another reliable air defense in your deck!
Most Effective Two-Card Synergies
This is a really good punishing combo, often seen in fast-paced Miner Balloon decks by the pros.
The Ice Golem’s frost nova brings Minions’ health down to zap range, which also is extremely helpful.
A very effective strategy.
Fire Spirits bring down glass cannons to pretty low health and also deal great damage to the crown towers.
Again, a punishing strategy.
How could I forget this? The days of LavaLoon dominance are gone but this remains a viable (and nostalgic) combo.
Simple, right? Balloon behind Lava Hound, and get ready with your Arrows/Lightning.
A simple combo, often seen in the lower arenas because they are both flying units and many people aren’t prepared in terms of air defense.
Try this behind a Lava Hound in the higher arenas for a deadly combo no one can ignore!
An extremely good combo.
This combo forces your opponent to split up their defenses or suffer lots of damage from either troop.
Here’s an advanced tactic: If your opponent counters your Balloon every time, learn from your mistakes.
Right when the opponent’s air defense is about to go for your Balloon, send in the Miner to distract the troop and allow your Balloon to travel unscathed!
Get the Arrows ready for Minions or glass cannons!!
A pre-fired (overleveled) Fireball burns Glass Cannons to the ground before they spawn.
Make sure you know their counters before trying this.
Extremely aggressive, high risk, high reward!
One of the best punishing combs in my opinion- when the Lumberjack dies he drops a rage spell, elevating the Balloon’s threat level.
Best in 2v2 or ladder pushing. Very fun deck to play with.
Effective in the lower arenas but also in the higher arenas!
A simple tank strategy.
The Mega Knight just wrecks everything which is killing the Balloon, and has a retargeting ability.
Giant+Mega Knight+Balloon is just way too OP when combined with spells.
Best Decks with Balloon
Classic LavaLoon (by Ash)
The original and best LavaLoon!
There’s Fireball to eliminate Minions and Glass Cannons, Minions to distract, and Goblin Gang as arrow bait so the Pups can deal damage.
Only use the Zap to reset the Inferno Dragon/Tower onto another target.
Mega Knight Balloon Miner (by Surgical Goblin)
This is a very counterpushing orientated deck, containing the Zap and Gang to complement the Miner, and three tanks for the Balloon: Ice Golem, Miner, and Mega Knight!
An extremely good deck with solid defense and attack. A classic fast paced deck.
Miner Balloon (by CLASHwithSHANE)
A 2.8 Balloon Deck, fast paced! Minimal air defense so tower trading is advised against air-based decks.
Keep the Balloon as a surprise card!
PEKKA Balloon (by Chief Pat)
A deck that has the ability to ‘Rocket’ you to the top! (Get it)?
An interesting off-meta deck that I tried, and ended up getting three crown after three crown in 2v2’s!
Do give it a shot.
GiantLoon (by WhiteLlama67)
A revamped GiantLoon deck, with Furnace for pressure and solid counterpushing ability.
A very pressuring deck! Go check out his guide!
2.5 Loon (by me!)
My deck! Extremely quick cycle, great in 2v2s.
More of a fun deck, but certainly viable.
Try replacing Miner with Fire Spirits, the defense ability becomes stronger.
Miner Balloon Skeleton Barrel (by Regeneration)
Another quick cycle Balloon deck, with the rookie Skeleton Barrel!
It has incredible synergies and your opponent needs to react fast, and it punishes opponents very well for spending lots of elixir.
This one rocks! Check out the guide too!
Best/Worst Matchup for Balloon Decks
Best
Golem decks.
Decks such as Miner Balloon and MK Loon punish extremely well against Golem, and have a fast enough cycle to defend very effectively.
Should be easy wins!
Worst:
Siege decks.
Decks like LavaLoon have very little ground distraction and often the Balloon will get shot down before it reaches the siege weapon.
Facing Mortar is also tricky, they have a fast cycle and usually a strong tank, and rocket to take out your Balloon.
Some Tips for you!
When facing Balloon, a well placed Tombstone or Cannon can shut down the Balloon completely.
Another tip when facing Balloon with a building is to know its sight range.
Hold down your building until you see the red exclamation mark. A properly placed Inferno Tower can take out a Balloon without the Balloon hitting the IT. This applies with all building targeting troops.
A tip when using Balloon, especially for new players: NEVER SEND IT ALONE!
It is pretty squishy and can be easily taken out with the proper units. Make sure to send in a tank. The Balloon is a very versatile card, being able to fit in slow beatdown decks (LavaLoon) or fast-paced, aggressive ones (Miner Balloon).
The Balloon is also a very good surprise card to use in double elixir!
Where is Balloon’s place in this meta?
I don’t see Balloon decks too much in the ladder, if I do, it’s mostly LumberLoon or some weird insanely heavy GolemLoon deck.
On TV Royale, you don’t see much Balloon either with the pros. But in challenges I’ve kept on facing Balloon decks.
The LavaLoon usage rate has waned, the glory days are over, I say!
Miner MK Balloon is still a prevalent and deadly combo, and Balloon Cycle is one of my favorite combos.
I don’t feel like Balloon should be getting a major buff or nerf, but I feel like the bomb timer at 3s is too long; at 2s it would be able to damage slightly faster troops.
I haven’t heard complaints about it.
What do you guys think about it? Is Balloon a balanced card? Yes or No?
Videos:
What do you guys think about the Balloon’s future? Leave a comment below!
That’s it guys, hope you enjoyed this Balloon guide, and I hope if you hated Balloon before and thought it was a no-skill free damage card, you have converted!
I put lots of effort into this so please drop a line in the comments about how you thought.
Thank you guys for everything! PCE <3
Lvl. 4 Balloon does 1000 damage per bomb now
And the death bomb timer is now 3 seconds
nvm if you saw this ignore this
If you are in Arena 2, a flying combo of Balloon + Baby Dragon + Minions is pretty effective, especially against opponents unprepared for air defence. Here is an example video https://youtu.be/ZQZVr09wPQ0
?? What is this
Lol loon plus drag plus minions can be countered by exenado. Plus nobody here is in a2
FIRST LOL
First reply to the first reply,finally youre not nuts
but you didn’t reply a reply, you replied a comment that said “first”
I mean,
replied to*
First reply to first reply to first comment.
3rd
I wanted to share my recent decks that I have made:
Hog Ice Wizard Mega Minion Cycle: http://www.deckshop.pro/check/?deck=Hog-Fireball-Zap-MM-Knight-IceSpirit-IceWiz-Tornado
Exe Valk Splashyard (my version) (this deck has not been tested yet): http://www.deckshop.pro/check/?deck=Graveyard-Fireball-Exe-Tornado-Valk-Knight-MM-IceSpirit
X-Bow Pump Fireball Bait (edit of Kairos’ X-Bow deck) http://www.deckshop.pro/check/?deck=XBow-Pump-Zap-IceGolem-Barbs-MM-GobGang-FireSpirits
Cancerous Ebarbs cycle (also this one hasn’t been tested yet): http://www.deckshop.pro/check/?deck=eBarbs-Zap-Fireball-IceGolem-MM-Tombstone-Gobs-Bats
X-Bow Pump Fireball Bait (edit of Kairos’ X-Bow deck) (yep.. still an un-tested deck) http://www.deckshop.pro/check/?deck=XBow-Pump-Zap-IceGolem-Barbs-MM-GobGang-FireSpirits
“The Punishment” Control (Cancer deck, could replace mega minion for goblin gang [this replacement hasn’t been tested yet] for a better overall deck but you can just surround the Wizard and the Witch with the Goblin Gang and surround the Exe with Barbarians, but you lose to Beatdown decks that use a splash support troop, unless you can catch them having only zap for your minion horde or something like that)
4th
5th
I mean 5th to say “[insert a number here] comment”
Damn late
Nice guide! Just started using WhiteLlama67’s deck and having great success with it!
Oh wait first after repost no one claimed xD!
Its a repost?In that case 2nd after after repost
The regeneration guy’s comment was 3 weeks ago lol.
Siege isn’t a problem for LavaLoon; LavaLoon uses the Tombstone, either of Skarmy and Goblin Gang and either of Mega Minions and Inferno Dragon.. so Siege isn’t that much of a problem unless it’s a good siege that isn’t cycle (as in hybrid siege with a different second win condition than a mortar or a fireball bait siege which in particular uses the minions, because KT’s fireball bait is mostly the only fire ball bait siege deck that people still use)
But most lavaloon decks I face have no ground cards, and I have a friend who is in arena 7 who has only fire spirits to deal with siege.
Most lavaloon decks there are have at least one ground unit – buildings count
siege counters lavaloon pretty well all the same.
yeah.
mostly. but if the opponent is really good at siege, then you’re screwed. for example, they could just go xbow when you drop hound, and if that doesn’t work, they can always turtle up and rocket cycle to win.
New poll : What’s the best building in the game? Inferno Tower all the way for me! #ITFTW
inferno tower same
Tombstone
Tombstone boi!
Elixir Collector.
Tombstone
teslaaaaaaaaaa
You can get the most value out of tombstone I’d say
Eagle artillery:
Range: infinite
Targets: buildings
Damage: infinite
Health: infinite
Lifetime: infinite
Cost: 0 elixir
same
Tesla,mortar,or tombstone
who are you? and IT for meh
What do you mean by “who am I”?
crap,again late!!
This is the 1st episode(I guess you could call it) of my sequel of Scarlet’s fanfiction, It is called The Fall of the Cannon, Hope you enjoy. Please like it if you enjoyed. (Will I would love it If you posted this).
50 HEALTH LEFT
King James was throwing out all he had to stop the enemy forces from taking down the tower. Suddenly the king rushes with a giant, and James counters with a cannon. Danny steps onto the arena floor and runs forward to meet the giant.
30 SECONDS LEFT
The giant reaches down and delivers a crushing blow to the cannon, and another, and another, the major defensive building in King James’s team is failing for the first time. The giant slams Danny and throws him out of the arena.
10 SECONDS LEFT
The giant heavy steps resonate throughout the arena.
7 SECONDS LEFT
The giant is simply feet from King James’s tower.
5 SECONDS LEFT
James desperately sends a lumberjack with his remaining 4 elixir.
3 SECONDS LEFT
The giant is hit hard relentlessly but continues forward. The heavy arm reaches forward.
1 SECOND LEFT…
Boom…
King James falls from the crumbling tower and hits the ground hard, trophies spilling out.
Another 35 trophies gone.
Another loss… the whole castle was depressed, King James had gone from 2892 to 2000 since the update that nerfed the cannon, me. I went down to King James’s (my dad’s) quarters. I tried the door and it was unlocked so I walked in and saw King James lost in thought.
“ Well um, hey dad” I said. My dad gave me an uneasy look.
“Well Danny, I was thinking”… “that after battling for so long you must be tired, and you might want to leave the battle team for a little while so you have time to relax and have fun”. He tried for his most optimistic look.
“Well I mean I am not that tired from battling, and I kind of want to stay” I said slowly. “Is there another reason why you do not want me in the battle team”? I continued,
“Oh Danny have you not heard” He said sadly, he then showed me today edition of News Royale.
“ Introducing our new member of clash royale, the Cannon Cart. Better than the regular cannon in every way, the cannon cart has a fast movement speed, and when it loses all it’s health, it goes from a cannon on wheels to a cannon not on wheels”. “This much better substitute for the cannon will be coming out in 2 days and will be unlockable from builders workshop”.
Thank You
— SuperCell
I was lost for words…
“The Night Witch has struck again I fear” James said.
Scared and confused for the state of my role in the battle team I slowly backed away from King James and left the room. I stay in my room for the rest of the day, “What if I am kicked out of the battle team” I think to myself.
Those are the last thoughts I had before I fall down on my bed fast asleep.
The next day…
“Hey Mavey” I greeted my lumberjack friend.
“Did you hear, King James’s sister Cadey here today and King James wants to do a friendly battle with her”.
Just then Danny and Mavey disappear from sight, and find themselves sitting on benches.
“Oh the friendly battle just started” Mavey realizes.
They see Cadey flash a smirky grin at King James from the opposing tower.
King James simply responds by saying good luck
Suddenly the crowd cheers. Cadey had just placed down a giant and executioner.
King James counters by running a hog rider(Joe) on the other side and zaps the skeletons that pop up while stunning Cadey’s tower at the same time. He then places Scarlett in the middle of the executioner and the giant which in turn kills the executioner.
After taking down the executioner Scarlett steps forward and swings her axe trying to take down the giant.
Undaunted Cadey laughs out loud surprising everyone in the arena. She pulls a lever.
An eerie noise fills the air…
Bats appear and demolish Scarlett,
The eerie noise continues…
and then out of the horde steps out Raven,
Thoughts of fear race down Danny’s mind like ice
Cadey had got the Night Witch, and the Night Witch was coming, coming for King James, and one cannon, one cannon different from the rest.
The fall of the cannon had only begun…
BTW I am finishing the second episode
Post a link instead, it’s hard to read everything all in the comments
But did you like it?
I like it I like it! Send me a link!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bz9P6de-50Ckt1m56qwQ9snem7aswnHdde2v_SNKfNE/edit?usp=sharing
Here is the link, you can comment on it.
it’s view only rn, pls change to comment only lol
Error: Cannon Cart isn’t unlockable from Builders’ workshop!
I know I just changed it for the story for king James is not in hog MT.
ah ok
Just say he beat the draft challenge or something
Did you like it though
it was ok in my opinion needs to be longer and not as fast paced but other than that great job
ok
Maybe write a little longer guide. More ppl will want to read
guide?
story, sry
nice!
It was amazing! Keep on writing more of these man, you got me hooked! 😉
Thanks
hooray! hooray! *clap clap clap*
Maybe I should work on my guide on the ice wiz XD
Well, of course!
ice wiz? you like ice wiz? i never noticed. wow im really surprised!
Just realized? Lol I like using ice wiz even before the buff
Great guide Nebula, lots of good info in there. Thanks for the feature btw!
Yeah hehe! You have a good future in writing guides too!
First lvl 5 epic?
3660 trophies. Not normal?..
I only have 2 lvl 5 epics and I’m in challenger 1
i only have one at 4k lol
i only have one at 4k so i guess it is normal
pretty normal, I had my first lvl 5 epic when I was at 3500, which was poison. it is still my only lvl 5 epic
I don’t know
I’m at 3500 – 3600 and my first lvl 5 epic was gob barrel, and as of now it is still my only lvl 5 epic
lol my goblin barrel is also my only lvl 5 epic, although I can upgrade my skarmy to lvl 5 as well
Back again!
Poll: Is the ladder broken?
Yes
Slightly… Gold rush and the ten crowns quest brought some players, like me, to battle on ladder
Kinda.
It needs level caps
Agreed
It does have level caps… lvl 13 commons, lvl 11 rares, lvl 8 epics and lvl 5 legendaries
Not those caps
HaHa
yea
Yea, it needs arena caps
meaning the fall of rg and ebarbs
#CancerCure = #Level Caps
WE’RE ALL SAVED
If only if supercell would listen
thats why i dont play ladder anymore 🙂
that would be a miracle
That’ll be a good thing, except for the ebarbs and RG users themselves
Well you didn’t give me a picture of a ladder so how would I be able to tell if it’s broken…also depends on the brand of ladder. Which is the most durable and steady? How much does the ladder cost?
lol
I’d assume LittleGiant.
the ladder was 4 years old and survied a hurricane.. i bet it is pretty broken
lol!
A very uncertain question, as nebula noodle said, a visual would help to clarify if the ladder is broken, wooden, old, creaky, long, new and all of that stuff!
yes, and it is the reason I dropped to 3760, also it is the reason why I don’t play clash royale much now.
i would lean more to saying yes.. as you can fight people in the arena above you if they loose 1 time.. and also it make me made when im a lvl 9 and face lvl 11s with 4 lvls higher cards (epic rare commen leggy etc)
Congrats on the 10th guide! Well written too!
On a side note the dart goblin can somewhat counter the balloon as well(with tower help and it will give up the death damage).
But then again Dart Gob dies to most light spells, remember! Not the best choice. I only wrote best and effective counters. Anyway thanks for the support!
Congrats on your 10th well written guide boi! One more, and you’ll have 11 like me!
thx 4 support!
Seriously? I thought 10 and 1 would add up to 14.
Great Guide.
thank you! 🙂
Poll: What was the most game-changing card when it came out?
First came out or after a buff?
Night witch or E-wiz
night witch.
e-wiz cuz know you hade a stun effect every 1.8 seconds on two troops/buildings witch rects most of the popular win conditions and defensive cards at the moment (balloon, inferno T and D, skarmy with his “enter with a zap!” and high damage dealers making him change target etc..) he’s also the least lvl demanding cuz his main use is the stun …
Not really, he had to get a buff before he was viable as he got killed by a fireball
Both nw and ewiz
Tie between night witch, ice wiz, princess, ewiz, and executioner
E wiz and NW they changed alot of decks and the meta
NW
Sparkloon would be nice ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
im at 3900 trophies now! just faced a LEVEL 13, GEEZ, but i surprisingly won, despite his level TEN rares, level SEVEN epics, and level FOUR legendaries that he was using. you see, guys, i am NOT strong for my trophy range AT ALL. just some high win cons to help me win.
maxed cancer is stronger than those lvls.
ya I was about to say … those lvls aren’t good for a lvl 13 … maybe he did a lot of donations?
You won because of a fundamental fact that differentiates people like me and you from the mundane opposition ; HIGH LEVEL EBARBS AND RG!!!!!
because you over lvled your RG and e barbs….
Wat about his commons?
nice
guys, I don’t know if anybody cares, but I’m working on my iceyard guide right now! after that, for my 5th guide, I have a special ‘Ultimate’ guide I am going to write… I promise it will be good. also, GG!
are you in the same clan as me?
yeah
whats the clan name
Asylum Royale
asylum royale
Yo guys! I got to 3951 as a level 9! I need help on stuff to do with my deck to get to 4k! Exclamations! Current deck is: Ice Golem, Archers, Mini Pekka, Ice Spirit, Log, Fireball, X-Bow, Mega Minion! Is there stuff I should do to change my deck?! I really want to get to 4k as a level 9!
dang nice man im lvl 10 with 3300, trophies, i run a seige to, i would guess just keep your card lvls standard to that rang. and keep the good work.
You forgot the archers, they counter the balloon and don’t die to light spells.
If they’re underleveled they might die to log or arrows
Unless you’re in my arena, and every archer is OVERLEVELED. In that case, i throw my phone at the wall 😉
what arena you in?
3600 trophies
nice
guys i got the MEGA KNIGHT and the LOG in the same day. im so fricking hyped
Congrats! Wish I was so lucky…
thanks! i mad e apekka MK deck
MK Pekka beatdown?
wut?
wow! lucky you! xD
Hehe
WHOOHOO, LumberLoon for the win! Too bad it’s not as good in the meta now with so many air counters…
You bag on me for spending 10 bucks and you play elite barbs…
oh god dude this wasn’t e i swear
this was when i first started clashing account
Still play cancer