Hog Rider-How to use it on Offence
Since this is my first real post, I think we should make it memorable. So why not make it about everyone's favourite card, the Hog Rider. That's not a lie, as it's in over half of competitive decks, and seen in most ladder games from when you unlock it in arena 4 all the way to arena 12. Costing only 4 elixir, it has become one of the most powerful cards in Clash Royale. In fact, I used it to push all the way from arena 5 to arena 8, then used it a little bit in arena 9, and still use it in arena 10 sometimes. All unit interactions will be assuming that they're all tournament standard.
By the way, if you don't want to read all of this, there's a brief summary of all of it at the bottom (I do suggest you read it though, especially if you're new to using the hog and don't know much about it)
Stats
At tournament standard, the hog rider has 1408 health, does 264 damage per hit, has melee range, and has a hit speed of 1.6. The hog rider only targets buildings, making it a good troop to take out furnaces and cannons protecting towers to make way for your other troops. It's a little bit tanky, and can be used in desperate defensive situations as a last resort shield for your tower. It has a special mechanic that allows it to jump over the river. It won't target troops, only buildings, so it can't be used on defence.
How to use them
Using Support Troops to Clear the Lane for the Hog
Hog riders are mainly used for attacking towers. They will go straight for them if there's no building in the lane, but that often isn't the case, especially in higher arenas. One way to make it bypass buildings is by eliminating the buildings before sending in your hog. If you send an e-wiz or musketeer to snipe a defensive building, you can clear the lane for your hog. After the lane is clear, your hog will go straight to the tower, but opposing troops played defensively can reduce how much damage it does to the tower.
Using Spells to Help get your Hog to the Tower
Often these are cheap troops, like goblins, skeletons, or a skeleton army. All of these are easy troops to counter. You can zap the skeletons and skarmy, but not the goblins. Zapping the goblins will allow your hog to get one extra shot on the tower though (this bit of damage can be the deciding factor to some games). Tornado can be placed behind the tower to pull all counter troops away from the hog, giving it more time to hit the tower, and killing all low health units. Units like goblins have more health, so they need to be logged (my favourite way to counter them). This is known as the hog-log combo. For six elixir, the hog-log can plough down all low health ground units, which gives the hog a clear path to the tower. This will only work the first few times though, because your opponent will start to notice you doing this, and will place their units after the log expires, or off to the side, or they will place flying units.
Supporting the Hog with a Tank
If that doesn't work for you, another thing you can do is put a tank in front of them. This works especially well with with the ice golem, as it's a cheap tank that can take out skeletons and bats when it dies, automatically countering some defences. It will not take out goblins or minions. This will almost always get your hog to the tower. A valkyrie is a tank that is good at clearing out skeletons, and will one shot goblins. It's only flaw is that it can't hit flying units, meaning bats and minions will easily be able to take out your hog after only 1 or 2 hits on the tower. A giant is an expensive unit to put in front of a hog, but will tank a lot of attack for the hog, and might do some tower damage. A hog combined with a freeze spell is very effective. If your opponent's building is out of rotation and isn't on the field, the freeze spell can freeze the tower and all units around the hog. It should be played after the hog is almost at the tower, because your opponent will most likely place a counter unit by that time.
Supporting the Hog with Cheap Units
If you don't have enough elixir for some of those combos, or want to play a cheaper deck, a hog can be backed up with cheap splash units to counter opposing troops. If you fut fire spirits behind the hog, it can take out minions, skeletons, bats and goblins. If there are no counter units for them to attack, they can do over 400 extra damage to the tower! If an ice spirit is placed in front of it, it will tank 2 shots from the tower, then freeze it for 1 second, allowing the hog to get an extra shot off, and doing almost 100 extra damage. If a goblin barrel is thrown, and the hog is placed at the bridge, the hog will tank for the goblins, allowing them to do lots of work on the tower. If left alone, this push can completely destroy the tower. The same works with the graveyard. For 2 more elixir, the hog can tank for the skeletons, and destroy the tower, then do damage to the king tower.
Advanced Methods of Getting the Hog to the Tower (pigpush, cloneskip)
Those methods were only the basics (but very effective). A more advanced way to make a hog bypass a building (placed in the centre, 3-4/4-3 plant) is to pigpush, which is an advanced technique where you quickdrop a unit next to the hog on the inner side of the hog. This pushes the hog to the outer side of the arena, which sends it straight to the tower. This can be done with goblins, fire spirits, skeletons, and other small fast moving units. This can also be done with the clone spell. Since it pushes the unit it's cloning to the left, it makes the hog ignore the building. This can only be done in the left lane, as in the right lane it would just push the hog into the middle, away from the tower.
If your opponent puts a tank in front of the hog a building and a skarmy will be effective at countering it. Play the skarmy far apart from the building to avoid zap, log or freeze. The army will move over to the hog and take it out. If they put a valkyrie in front of the hog, minions or bats and a building will do well at countering it. If the opponent uses the building bypass (pigpush or clone spell skip) your building will have to be placed in front of the tower.
Well, that's everything you need to know about using the hog. Watch for daily posts on units, new updates, deck archetypes, card concepts, and much more!
By the way, if you don't want to read all of this, there's a brief summary of all of it at the bottom (I do suggest you read it though, especially if you're new to using the hog and don't know much about it)
Stats
At tournament standard, the hog rider has 1408 health, does 264 damage per hit, has melee range, and has a hit speed of 1.6. The hog rider only targets buildings, making it a good troop to take out furnaces and cannons protecting towers to make way for your other troops. It's a little bit tanky, and can be used in desperate defensive situations as a last resort shield for your tower. It has a special mechanic that allows it to jump over the river. It won't target troops, only buildings, so it can't be used on defence.
How to use them
Using Support Troops to Clear the Lane for the Hog
Hog riders are mainly used for attacking towers. They will go straight for them if there's no building in the lane, but that often isn't the case, especially in higher arenas. One way to make it bypass buildings is by eliminating the buildings before sending in your hog. If you send an e-wiz or musketeer to snipe a defensive building, you can clear the lane for your hog. After the lane is clear, your hog will go straight to the tower, but opposing troops played defensively can reduce how much damage it does to the tower.
Using Spells to Help get your Hog to the Tower
Often these are cheap troops, like goblins, skeletons, or a skeleton army. All of these are easy troops to counter. You can zap the skeletons and skarmy, but not the goblins. Zapping the goblins will allow your hog to get one extra shot on the tower though (this bit of damage can be the deciding factor to some games). Tornado can be placed behind the tower to pull all counter troops away from the hog, giving it more time to hit the tower, and killing all low health units. Units like goblins have more health, so they need to be logged (my favourite way to counter them). This is known as the hog-log combo. For six elixir, the hog-log can plough down all low health ground units, which gives the hog a clear path to the tower. This will only work the first few times though, because your opponent will start to notice you doing this, and will place their units after the log expires, or off to the side, or they will place flying units.
Supporting the Hog with a Tank
If that doesn't work for you, another thing you can do is put a tank in front of them. This works especially well with with the ice golem, as it's a cheap tank that can take out skeletons and bats when it dies, automatically countering some defences. It will not take out goblins or minions. This will almost always get your hog to the tower. A valkyrie is a tank that is good at clearing out skeletons, and will one shot goblins. It's only flaw is that it can't hit flying units, meaning bats and minions will easily be able to take out your hog after only 1 or 2 hits on the tower. A giant is an expensive unit to put in front of a hog, but will tank a lot of attack for the hog, and might do some tower damage. A hog combined with a freeze spell is very effective. If your opponent's building is out of rotation and isn't on the field, the freeze spell can freeze the tower and all units around the hog. It should be played after the hog is almost at the tower, because your opponent will most likely place a counter unit by that time.
Supporting the Hog with Cheap Units
If you don't have enough elixir for some of those combos, or want to play a cheaper deck, a hog can be backed up with cheap splash units to counter opposing troops. If you fut fire spirits behind the hog, it can take out minions, skeletons, bats and goblins. If there are no counter units for them to attack, they can do over 400 extra damage to the tower! If an ice spirit is placed in front of it, it will tank 2 shots from the tower, then freeze it for 1 second, allowing the hog to get an extra shot off, and doing almost 100 extra damage. If a goblin barrel is thrown, and the hog is placed at the bridge, the hog will tank for the goblins, allowing them to do lots of work on the tower. If left alone, this push can completely destroy the tower. The same works with the graveyard. For 2 more elixir, the hog can tank for the skeletons, and destroy the tower, then do damage to the king tower.
Advanced Methods of Getting the Hog to the Tower (pigpush, cloneskip)
Those methods were only the basics (but very effective). A more advanced way to make a hog bypass a building (placed in the centre, 3-4/4-3 plant) is to pigpush, which is an advanced technique where you quickdrop a unit next to the hog on the inner side of the hog. This pushes the hog to the outer side of the arena, which sends it straight to the tower. This can be done with goblins, fire spirits, skeletons, and other small fast moving units. This can also be done with the clone spell. Since it pushes the unit it's cloning to the left, it makes the hog ignore the building. This can only be done in the left lane, as in the right lane it would just push the hog into the middle, away from the tower.
If your opponent puts a tank in front of the hog a building and a skarmy will be effective at countering it. Play the skarmy far apart from the building to avoid zap, log or freeze. The army will move over to the hog and take it out. If they put a valkyrie in front of the hog, minions or bats and a building will do well at countering it. If the opponent uses the building bypass (pigpush or clone spell skip) your building will have to be placed in front of the tower.
Well, that's everything you need to know about using the hog. Watch for daily posts on units, new updates, deck archetypes, card concepts, and much more!
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