Hey guys it’s Ash and in this guide I want to go over one of the most important strategies of the game, which is counter-pushing. Some of you probably already know this and some of you probably have some idea of this strategy. Anyways I feel like it’s a very important topic to cover, especially for new players or players at the lower arenas. Understanding this concept will allow you to win the majority of your battles.
How to Counter Push in Clash Royale
So usually new players, when they play a game such as this, their main focus is to stop or counter their opponent’s push and then form a push of their own by again loading up a full Elixir bar. However, this is not the most ideal way of playing because you’re just allowing your opponent to also generate or load up on Elixir and then counter your push at the other end. So in this guide I’m going to show you guys how to punish your opponent when he’s lacking in Elixir with a powerful push and how you can easily calculate and predict whether your opponent has the Elixir to defend against you or not.
So say your opponent starts with a strong push with the Prince and Dark Prince. Both of these troops share great synergy together, the Prince dealing heavy single target damage while the Dark Prince does splash damage to counter the weaknesses of a Prince. However, it is a horrible way to start a battle. Your opponent uses a total of 9 Elixir to make this push happen, which you can choose to use 9 Elixir even less to counter this threat, but as long as you can stop this push, you will be in charge. What I mean is, say you use a Giant to shield against both of the Double Princes, and use Minions and Archers to kill the Princes. So basically you used a total of 11 Elixir to counter a 9 Elixir push. Is that a bad play? So it absolutely isn’t, it’s actually a very good play. Because this way your Giant took less damage and allowed your Archers and Minions to quickly kill the Double Prince, which means that the Giant can now also shield for your Archers and Minions as they then go for your opponent’s Arena Tower. Now at this point, your opponent has only 2 more Elixir than you do, but you’re in charge because of your powerful counter-push and it’s now going to be very difficult for your opponent to completely counter your incoming threat because he just wasted 9 Elixir for his rush attack. So this leaves him with enough Elixir to use his Arrows, which will kill the Minions, but will not kill the Giant and the Archers supported behind it. So now your opponent spend 12 Elixir, while you spent 11 Elixir and still are able to do very good damage to your opponent. This is how you counter-push, and this is how you should always focus on playing when you counter your opponent’s push.
So yea, every time your opponent comes in with a push, always look to combine your counter with a strong combination making it twice as hard for your opponent to stop you because he just wasted a lot of Elixir on his push and now doesn’t have the Elixir needed to stop your counter-push. And this is also the main reason why you should never rush, because if you take the initiative every time, then you’re allowing your opponent to counter-push you, and you really don’t want that.
More examples: Say your opponent comes in with a Hog Rider backed up by Goblins, which is a 6 Elixir combo. You have a Cannon and Minions which is also 6 Elixir to easily stop this push. So your opponent Zaps your Minions and weakens them to the point where their Arena Tower can 1 shot them all. So then your opponent spends 8 Elixir and you spent 6 Elixir on the counter. So in essence, you’ve successfully countered. But what you should have done was add in your Hog Rider in front of those Minions for the counter-push. Even if your Minions are at 1% health, they can still be used for a powerful counter-push when shielded. So then if your opponent uses a Cannon, then he has now spent a total of 11 Elixir, while you’ve spent 10 Elixir with your Cannon + Minions + and now Hog Rider and have complete control. And this is all a result of you converting your defense, which was your Minions, and then adding that Hog Rider for a powerful offensive push. And this is the best move because if you let your Minions die and loaded up on Elixir, then you will also be allowing your opponent to load up on Elixir. So your window of opportunity to strike with your Hog Rider would be gone, because at that point your opponent will have much more Elixir to easily stop your Hog Rider push.
Another example, say you’re behind in Elixir and your opponent goes a powerful combo with Giant backed up by a Witch and Musketeer. Well by placing Valkyrie in the middle of the Witch and Musketeer, and placing your Mini P.E.K.K.A on the Giant, you can successfully counter this 14 Elixir push with 8 Elixir, without incurring too much damage, and then completely overwhelm your opponent on the other end. So then of course you want to focus on the counter-push. Whenever you’re countering, you always want to think counter-push, so adding your Fire Spirits and a Zap Spell would be an incredible combo with your Mini P.E.K.K.A and Valkyrie counter-push.
And most of the time it’s better to mitigate the damage of your opponent’s offensive combo, and form a powerful counter-push. What I mean is, you don’t have to always completely shut down your opponents push. Sometimes it’s better to sacrifice a little health, save your Elixir, and focus on the counter-push. One example I can give you is when my opponent comes in with a lone Hog Rider push. I can counter it easily with my Inferno Tower, but I would actually be losing value if I use a 5 Elixir card to counter a 4 Elixir card. So instead, I’ll use my 1 Elixir Skeletons to defeat the Hog Rider and sacrifice a little Tower health, but gain huge value by killing a 4 Elixir card with a 1 Elixir card. If my opponent uses a Zap Spell, then he loses more value by using a 2 Elixir to beat a 1 Elixir card. Not only that, right after I kill the Hog Rider, I can then focus on punishing my opponent heavily because I’m leading by 3 Elixir thanks to countering his 4 Elixir Hog Rider with my 1 Elixir Skeletons. I can then add those Skeletons with my own Hog Rider and form a deadlier push while leading by 3 Elixir.
Okay guys hopefully you have found this guide helpful! Good luck!
