The Log is definitely one of most useful cards in the vast majority of any Clash Royale Meta.

The reason for this isn’t due to its damage or ability to take down enemy towers from far away but rather due to its utility and flexibility as arguably one of the most multifaceted cards in the game.

What do I mean by this exactly? Well not only does the Log have the ability to crush all low health units such as Skeletons and Goblins in their various forms, but it can do so with ease, not requiring much precision as illustrated in the below video against Goblin Barrels.

In contrast with the Zap, you don’t have to be precise with positioning at all.

Clash Royale The Log

• The Log is unlockable from Arena 6 (Builder’s Workshop)
• When played, The Log rolls through the Arena, dealing splash damage and kick back all troops on the ground.

First, let’s take a look at the The Log vs Arrows vs Zap comparision:

I added Poison into the chart since lots of players asked for it. Please note that Poison damages over time. It depends on how long the targeted cards stand in the spell AoE. You don’t always get that full 600 damage while using Poison.

• The Log has a larger radius than both Arrows and Zap. It has nearly double the radius of Arrows and triple the radius of Zap.
• The Log has better damage/Elixir than both Arrows and Zap while hitting the largest arena of units. Also, it’s almost guaranteed that you could do chip damage with The Log.

The Log provides better trade opportunities

• Goblin Gang – Log offers you a +1 elixir trade, Zap doesn’t kill them all, Arrows give an even trade.
• Skeleton Army – Although all 3 spells kill can remove the whole Skeleton Army, using The Log is a lot easier. Also, using The Log offers some chip damage on the Tower as bonus.
• Princess, Goblin Barrel, Dart Goblin – Only The Log gives positive Elixir trades.

Examples:

The most satisfying The Log by /u/beniboy9

The most satisfying The Log by /u/bootinator3000

Moreover, The Log has the ‘special ‘ ability which resets attack animations of many cards (P.E.K.K.A for example) and knocks back cards (including resetting Prince’s charge), resetting their targets. Meanwhile, Zap has the ability of being able to reset charges (Sparky, Inferno Tower, Princes etc).

The Log is also excellent at dealing with cards like Musketeers, Wizard, Electro Wizard etc on defense. Simply toss your Log right once they entered the Tower’s attack range, pushing them back a bit while dealing 240 damage.

When swarms like Elite Barbarians or Barbarians are dropped, The Log can do good damage to them, knock them away from your defensive cards.

The Log can easily deny space for your opponent’s counters

You can throw The Log behind troops like Hog Rider to help them reach the Tower and prevent the opponent from using defensive ground troops on the lane properly.

See OJ’s GIF below for more details:

Meanwhile, with 4 Elixir, you can pretty archives the same area of denial.

Where it falls short

As stated above, Zap is excellent at dealing with charging cards like Sparky, Inferno Dragon etc. Arrows and Zap excel at dealing with flying units.

The Log can’t do much to help either of these cases. However, it offers just too much value when you want to carry other cards that will do the job well (Electro Wizard, Archers etc).

Also, Arrows and Zap are better at dealing with Night Witch, one of the most threatening cards at the moment.

How to use The Log Properly

Dealing with 1 Elixir Cards

Ice Spirit: Occasionally, you can use The Log to deal with Ice Spirit for an ‘okay’ negative Elixir trade, If you are trying to profect a defensive stand or offensive push.
For example, use The Log to prevent Ice Spirit from freezing your Inferno Tower.

Skeletons: Skeletons is one of the most versatile cards in Clash Royale alongside with The Log. In this case, it almost requires you to get more value than simply rolling it over the Skeletons.
For example, use The Log on the defending Skeletons which, giving your Hog 1 more hit on the Tower.

Dealing with 2 Elixir Cards

Spear Goblins, Goblins, Fire Spirits: People usually use these cards to rush for chip damage, or to defend a push of swarm. Because of that, they are not usually alone. Sending The Log after them generally provides a great trade, like this:

Dealing with 3+ Elixir Cards – Positive Elixir Trade!!!

Bandit: Don’t use your Log on the Bandit when she is about to dash. While dashing, she can dash through The Log:

Gif shared by /u/5aeed

Archers: Using Log on Archers when they are about to cross the river into Tower’s range helps avoid damage. Your Tower will hit the first Archer and clear the second one when she crosses back to the Tower’s range.

Ice Wizard, Bomber, Musketeer, Executioner, Witch, Electro Wizard, Wizard: Similarly, use The Log on these ones to minimize their damage.

Goblin Gang: The Log crushes the entire Gang. However, don’t place it too soon. Wait until they are about to cross the bridge so you could pick some additional troops behind.

Goblin Barrel: Not really an easy matchup. You should practice your timing to minimize the damage. Try to toss The Log right before the Barrel lands so Goblins can’t do any damage on your Tower.
Smart Goblin Barrel usually diversify the placements. Learn to watch their shadows and guess where you should place your Log.

Guards: Don’t ignore these Skeletons. They will poke your Tower really really bad! Toss The Log when they are crossing the river to split them into 2 parts, helping the Tower deal with them a lot easier.

Dart Goblin, Princess: Wait until they are almost at the bridge. You could get more value If your opponent drops Ice Spirit/Skeletons to support them.

Battle Ram, Dark Prince, Prince: Use The Log to reset their charges to minimize the damage when you distract them with other cards.

Valkyrie: Maybe you don’t know this. The Log can be use to counter Valkyrie as the following gif:

Gif shared by X3NOM

Barbarians: The Log can take out 1/3 of their HP. Do the timing well and you can split them apart, helping the Tower deal with them more effectively.

Elite Barbarians: The Log takes out only 25% of their HP but you can use it to reset their attack animation, giving your other cards more time to deal with them.

Miner: If your opponent plays Miner on your Elixir Collector at the middle, use The Log to protect your investment and pushing towards the Tower, forcing him to re-target.

Royal Giant: The Log works well at killing/damaging support troops while pushing the Royal Giant back a bit. While he is walking back to the previous position, you can place any building down to deal with the push (If you were late doing this before).

With large troops like Giant, Golem Royal Giant, use your Log to hit them with the side of The Log, pushing them towards the middle If you have planted an Inferno Tower (so they will not be out of Inferno’s range).

Sparky: The Log doesn’t reset her charge but it could help you kill her before it’s too late.

Tombstone: One of the best uses is here! The Log totally destroy the weakened Tombstones and all of the spawning Skeletons. This helps your Hog Rider/Giant/Golem gets to the Tower a lot easier.

Three Musketeers: The Log + Fire Spirits = +5 Elixir Trade!

Ultimate Spell Comparison

Inspired by /u/edihau, this chart indicates whether a spell/combo could kill the unit. The number represents the remaining HP of the unit after getting hit by the spell/comobo.

For Poison, let’s assume that the unit is damaged by the Poison for the full 8s.

Shared by crSean

So finally the Night Witch is available in the Clash Royale Arena! It’s time to test out the best decks with her!

Clash Royale Night Witch

• The Night Witch is unlocked from Arena 8 (or Frozen Peak).
• She is a single-target melee troop. Pretty similar to Witch, she summons 2 Bats (instead of Skeletons) every 5 seconds.
• Upon death, she spawns 4 Bats (similar to Golem or Lava Hound).

Since the Night Witch is single-target melee troop summoning flying units, you just can’t simply use her instead of the regular Witch in most cases.

Comparing to the Witch, at Tournament standard, she has pretty similar stats for 1 less Elixir. She is better on offense but worse on defense. She can’t deal with most ground troops which you could counter with the Witch. She can’t use the Bats to distract ground-targeting units.

The Night Witch can solo kill a Tower. Yes! She can kill the entire tower before she dies. She would spawn up to 12 Bats before she dies.

Dealing with Night Witch

Night Witch’s hard counter would be Lightning, Rocket, Poison and Fireball. Be ready to deal with the bats once she is killed because they would deal a ton of damage If protected.

Archers are very good against her because they can one shot Bats and then take her out easily.

In order to deal with a Giant Night Witch push, you need to kill the bat spawner first.

Ice Golem is great at dealing with Night Witch as his death damage is enough to kill the Bats at Tournament Standard.

Electro Wizard, Executioner and Tornado are also great at dealing with her on defense.

As Night Witch has become rather popular in beatdown decks, Executioner + Tornado has received an indirect buff as the Executioner can splash behind the tank and kill the Night Witch. This combo also keeps the Golem from reaching your tower for a bit longer thus mitigating the damage done.

Using Night Witch

Due to the movement speed, the bats always fly in front of her and will die easily, making her easy to counter. You should think about this while using her.

You can use Night Witch in Miner Control Deck! First use her on defense to deal with ground troop. She will act as a meatshield while the Bats are doing damage. Once died, she spawns 6 more Bats, giving you a great opportunity to counterpush with Miner. If your opponent decides to deal with the Bats first, it would be great for you as countering Bats is usually negative Elixir trade.

Night Witch is also pretty good in Graveyard decks. She really does shine in control decks despite beatdown seeming like her archetype. Which is not really the case because of just how effective Executioner Tornado is. Executioner Tornado already is a deadly combo in the popular Hog Lightning deck and this can completely shut down a push in its tracks, allowing your opponent to simply Hog in front of the counter and perhaps even take a tower.

Here was able to take the tower after Hogging in front of the Executioner rather easily. I got a +3 trade off that exchange.

She is a great counter-attack card. If she dies, your opponent will have to deal with the Bats. If she doesn’t die, she will spawn loads of Bats. Also popular defensive cards like The Log, Knight, Valkyrie etc won’t have a good time stopping the Night Witch because after killing the Night Witch with a tank being focused by the tower, your Bats will kill the Knight and then move onto attack the tower.

She fits naturally very well in Beatdown decks either fast or slow. Lumberjack could synergies with the Night Witch very well because his Rage ability would give her Bats a ton of extra damage. Also in decks like Golem beatdown, she can fit into the Lumberjacks slot. Her high DPS actually works better than an LJ because she can shut down a Hog before it gets more than 1 swing off the tower and also her counterpush potential is great. She moves slower as well allowing you time to put something in front of her as well, also because of the Bats she’s more spell resistant. Your opponent would have to Lightning + Zap or Arrows to get rid of the pesky Bats as well for an example.

She could work with Lava Hound very well! Her Bats would support the Lava in the air meanwhile her melee attack could help take out Electro Wizard, Musketeer, Executioner etc. Placing her beneath the Lava Hound at the bridge would be a great move If your opponent has Inferno Tower. Because the Bats can act as distractions for the Inferno Tower, similar to Minions, or if you run something like Miner + Lavahound with Night Witch, which has more of a control feel to it, you can simply let the Lavahound and Night Witch die and Miner to tank for them because you want her to die to get the Bats DPS on the tower.

She could spawn up to 8 Bats before she hit the river. Meanwhile, Zap can destroy Bats instantly at Tournament Standard so you will want to use one or two zap bait cards like Goblin Gang or Skeleton Army in your deck. This means she could do pretty well in Zap Bait Decks also.

The Bats really makes Night Witch deadly! Assuming that your opponent drops the Night Witch at the back and then the Giant right in front of her when she is about to reach the bridge. You could easily use Knight or Mini P.E.K.K.A to kill her but you will need to deal with 8+ Bats right after that. Using Arrows would give you a negative Elixir trade and using Zap is not a positive Elixir trade.

Great Decks Utilizing Night Witch

Here are some great decks which would be dominating at the moment in the Arena.

Night Witch Mirror Rage

Golem Night Witch

Night Witch Three Musketeers

Lava Night Witch

Decks countering Night Witch

Now many of you might be facing a lot of Night Witches in Grand Challenges and perhaps even on ladder. Because it’s a new cards your own deck might not be adapted well to handle her.

For example, If you’re using something like Golem beatdown that’s easy picking for a Night Witch user because only having the Baby Dragon as a counter card for her Bats.

So a few decks that will do well against any and all Night Witch decks will be listed below.

Splashyard

Hog Lightning

Similar to Splashyard you want to keep the Executioner for the Night Witch pushes and Tornado always in cycle as well. Executioner Tornado will deny the Night Witch along with support. What I like to do is, Tornado and Ice spirit together to freeze them together allowing the Executioner longer to splash the clump. Also you need to get a good Executioner placement as well. A good spot is right in front of tower or center if your opponent tends to split push and you want Executioner just in case to be able to reach the other side as well.

Graveyard Poison in general (Splashyard included)

Poison is very effective vs Night Witch and most decks carrying her do not run many Night Witch counters. Taking the Lavahound Night Witch deck and the Golem Night Witch deck, Poison is the best counter. You can get a free Poison whenever they drop the Night Witch to counter the Graveyard. Poison 1 shots the bats as well allowing you to maximize the damage done to the tower. Using a Poison on defense is fine as well. Poison+ The Log while you keep Night Witch in the poison will deny all Skeles.

Poison’s value

Defensive Poison

Also specifically Splashyard. On defense, you want to save your Baby Dragon for a tank + Night Witch push. Vs a lone Night Witch you can easily use a Knight for a +1 trade. Usually Night Witch beatdown has Pumps. If not behind the tower ALWAYS Poison it, if behind the tower then place the Knight a little ways from the bridge, allowing you to build up a few elixir then Graveyard and you will have enough for a Poison. Wait on the Poison, try and always get value rather than simply placing it smack on the elixir collector.

Log Bait

You have Princess to splash troops and Inferno Tower, try and get anti Lightning placement. Goblin Barrel can be used to draw out Log, if not you can Skeleton Army to do so. Save your Goblin Gang because it is the only one that has air attacking troops to clean up the bats. Honestly the Princess splash is AMAZING vs these decks, just protect her from miners because if you lose her that can be devastating. Never let your opponent pump up and make good trades in order to make sure your opponent never gets too far ahead in Elixir.

Also if you are running the somewhat old Miner, Minion Horde or Mirror Furnace version. Minion Horde does work as well. Mirror is something not many anticipate so make sure your opponent plays to your rotation as you should while playing control decks.

Miner Poison

You’ve got 2 answers to Pumps and Poison as shown above is just amazing on defense. You have Skeles and Ice Spirit which can kill a night Witch, Knight works well too. Try not to use E-Wiz 1v1 because night Witch does a LOT of damage. Place E-Wiz far from the night Witch similar to how you should place it vs a Battle Ram. Rather than on top and have your E-Wiz die to the barbs. Or this case night Witch. You also have Inferno just in case your opponent runs a beatdown Night Witch deck. Making good Poison plays is how you win this. Because it’s very cheap you can cycle back to Poison REALLY fast.

Using these decks you will rather easily be able to deal with the night Witch. That being said later on different decks may emerge as the meta evolves as it usually does to adapt to new cards. You will be able to use these strategies and decks to deal with decks with her later on.

What do you think about our new Legendary guys? Please share your opinions!

Edited by lolman