Hello guys, due to the rise of the combo Giant + Balloon in Clash Royale, people are using Balloons a lot these days. But, I have also seen lots of players using Balloons the wrong way, so, yea, hopefully you will find this special guide helpful!
Clash Royale Balloon – An Ultimate Guide
Balloon Summary
Strengths
All in all, its strengths far outweigh the weakness!
- Flying ability: Can’t be easily countered by Goblins, Mini P.E.K.K.A, etc, like other tankers.
- Targeting: Balloon can’t be easily pulled to the middle like other ones. Placing it at the very corner can bypass the defensive buildings in the center in many cases.
- Damage: It has a perfect damage-per-hit.
- Death Damage: Upon death, it drops a explosive bomb which can easily finish off supports nearby.
Weaknesses:
- Speed: Balloon movement speed is medium, not like Hog Rider, Mini P.E.K.K.A, etc. Opponents will have enough time to plan their counters. But, in some deck, you can easily increase it by placing a Baby Dragon behind.
- HP: As a tanker, HP is outclassed in HP by most other tankers. But, I usually think of it as a damage dealer, not tanker.
How to make the most of Balloon
In order to show you how to use Balloon, I would like to give you this deck and show you how it works. This is easier.
This Balloon deck doesn’t require any high level cards and Balloon is the only Epic. In addition, because I talked about these cards a lot before so I will make the Cards Breakdown section below simple. If you have any question about using these cards, don’t hesitate to comment!
Cards Breakdown
- Balloon – Yes we are talking about Balloon so this is an obvious choice.
- Giant – He can soak damage and protect Balloon while it is getting to opponent’s Tower.
- Valkyrie – Tanky and has good splash damage. She will help you deal with lots of distractions and swarms.
- Archers – Good damage and can’t be 1 hit by Zap.
- Minions – Very versatile card and can be used in lots of situations.
- Arrows – This will help you deal with Minion Horde, swarms and Princess.
- Barbarians – Obvious choice. These guys are very useful and can be placed in almost any deck.
- Elixir Collector: You can replace it with Cannon If you have problems with Hog Rider. If you don’t have either, Bomber is a great choice! All in all, Elixir Collector is still the best choice If you want to push further with this deck
General Gameplan
The main idea while using this deck is to get the Balloon to opponent’s Tower and chip it away. And here are some variations of pushes you will want to use:
Full Push: If done properly, this push can easily destroy a Tower. In addition, because this push takes lots of Elixir so you will want to do it in the x2 Elixir time, depending on how much pressure you are being placed on.
- Place the Giant behind your King’s Tower. Because this push takes lots of Elixir, you will want to have enough Elixir to build it before the Giant reaches the bridge.
- Add a support troop behind to protect the Giant, to prevent opponent’s small troops from chipping him away. It can be either Archers or Minions. If your opponent doesn’t have air troops, Valkyrie would be nice (play her behind your Giant). Just remember, let your Giant cross the river first, Otherwise opponent buildings will target your support troops.
- If you have enough Elixir, play your Balloon right behind the Giant. Opponent troops can’t kill your Giant because he has enough HP to soak damage while your supports behind are dealing damage. And the Balloon will be totally safe!
- Get your Arrows ready because your opponent will usually over-commit and play lots of troops at the same time.
Giant + Balloon: Play the Giant right on the bridge and followed by Balloon, make sure your Arrows is ready. This combo is deadly If your opponent doesn’t have air defense in hand (bad opening hands at the beginning). Ideally, launch this combo after placing your Elixir Collector.
Balloon + Valkyrie: Play the Balloon right behind the Valkyrie you are taking the Elixir advantage. Your Balloon will get 1-2 hits off but still can devastate the Tower.
Giant + Archers: Cheap but very effective, especially after defending with Archers.
Balloon Placement
We all want the Giant to soak all the damage so we need to send him in first. The Balloon must be behind the Giant otherwise it will be taken down quickly. Your opponents will always try to take down the Balloon first because it definitely does more damage than the Giant. Truly it is pretty hard to catch the Balloon properly because:
- Giant has a larger footprint than Balloon. He completely covers the perimeter of Balloon as you can see in this image.
- Sine the Giant is walking on the ground and the Balloon is flying, it is very hard to tell either Giant or Balloon is exposed. A wrong move can make the Tower destroyed.
Direct Counters
Your opponents will likely try to use some of these following strategies to stop your pushes:
- Minion Horde: Minion Horde destroys a Balloon in just 3 hits so If your combo played well, throw your Arrows and get the positive Elixir trade.
- Playing Building: This is largely ineffective If the Giant can’t be killed before the Balloon get there, as your Balloon can destroy most buildings in just 1 hit. The exception should be Bomb Tower and you will need the help from your Minions.
- Musketeer – If your opponent Musketeer can hit your Balloon, it will not make it to the Tower. So, you will want to place your combo correctly.
- Musketeer – again, it is about placement. If you let your opponent lock on to the balloon it will not make it to the tower. If it locks on to the giant, his tower is likely going down.
Matchups
These are some popular matchups we face everyday!
Giant Push: Drop your Barbarians (or Goblins) out of the opponent’s support troops attack range, then place your Valkyrie right on top of those supports. Valkyrie is enough to deal with Wizard, Bomber, Witch, Spear Goblins, Archers,…
Hut Decks: If your opponent places a Barbarian Hut down, immediately play everything you have on the other lane. He will not have enough Elixir to counter things properly. Most of the time, you can take down the first Tower easily, then, play defensively. Otherwise, play defensively and wait for the opportunity.
Hog Rider: Place Barbarians right in front of your Tower. If played well, the Hog Rider will even not able to hit it. If you don’t use Elixir Collector, Cannon is always an obvious choice for this!
P.E.K.K.A Push: Pull the P.E.K.K.A to the middle first then use Valkyrie to deal with supports behind her. Barbarians would be enough to take her out.
Poison Breakdown – Barbarians are your best choice as they acn withstand the lifespan of the Poison.
Okay guy so that’s everything I want to share with you today. Hopefully you have found this guide helpful. Don’t hesitate to ask me anything you want!
Shared by JBruh from Clan Bekfast Club.
