Mortar: The Definitive Guide

Hi guys, this is Excalibur back with a guide on one of the most underrated win-conditions in the game. Yep, we’ll be talking about the Clash Royale Mortar today.

I’ll tell you strategies to use the Mortar, and I’ll also highlight some of its special features. Finally, like always, we’ll have two decks with the Mortar as the win condition.

Mortar Summary

Mortar is a 4 Elixir Building unlocked from Builder’s Workshop.

Mortar is a card which fairly easy to play with. It combines well with mini tanks (Ice Golem, Knight) and tank killers (Mini PEKKA, Hunter) because of its unique blind spot mechanic.

However, using the Mortar is not everyone’s cup of tea.

It’s got an insanely high skill cap. That means you’ll take a lot of time to understand how to use this card. But let me tell you, it’s totally worth it.

How high is the skill cap, you ask?

Hmm. Go to Top Royales, and keep scrolling till you see a Mortar deck.

Almost no one uses Mortar now – because there are easier cards to push with.

The problem with using Mortar is that it doesn’t guarantee you a steady rate of trophies like 2.6 Hog Cycle or the 3.5 Icebow. Mortar players must rely on skill rather than card mechanics, and this is what makes using Mortar difficult.

Back in the day, it was one of the most sought-after cards. It used to cost 6 Elixir (yes!), and had higher health and damage. Supercell responded to its high win rate with a heavy 20% health nerf, increased deploy time, and less damage.

However, the ‘nerf’ which decreased its cost to 4 and lowered its HP was actually a buff – albeit a very slight one.

Mortar is much more viable as a win condition than many of the cards out there (lookin’ at the Mega Knight). It’s cheaper to play now, so you aren’t risking as much.

Mortar’s Pros and Cons

Strategies for Using Mortar

Blind Spot

I don’t think that the blind spot belongs in the cons, because it’s a very unique mechanic that provides returns well.

Consider that you’re playing a match against a Hog Rider. The opponent plops down a Hog at the river. Normally, you’d put a Tesla or a Cannon. But I’d use the Mortar. The Hog will enter its blind spot before it has even finished deploying – thus guaranteeing that the first hit will land on the tower. A 1-0 plant (1 tile directly below the bridge) will allow the tower to attack the Hog Rider and snipe the enemy tower. This gives you three hundred damage for free – because with the help of your tower, the Hog will die.

This technique is also handy for tank defense.

The Mortar cannot fire at close targets, so once the tank enters its blind spot it retargets to the troops behind the tank. This is a unique mechanic that allows you to destroy Golem pushes – the Mortar has got a good amount of damage that can clip Bomber, Wizard, Executioner, or any other support hiding behind the tank.

Swarm Countering

Mortar also comes in handy for defending 4-3 plant Furnaces and Goblin Huts.

It’s got a VERY long range, so you can do a deep plant (5-3) and still splash incoming troops with it. Unfortunately, Spear Goblins and Fire Spirits have a very fast movement speed. The boulder may not even hit them – at best, it’ll clip the Fire Spirit lagging at the back.

If you absolutely cannot afford tower damage, do a light plant at 4-2 and use the Ice Golem as a meatshield. This will coagulate the Spear Goblins and Barbarians as well, which allows you to pick them off all at once.

What about spell value?

Unfortunately, I see this in problem in two passive buildings – the Elixir Collector and the Mortar. They don’t have a large number of hitpoints – a single Fireball is enough to severely cripple both of them.

Most of the time, this is not a problem with the Mortar. You don’t actually put it down next to the tower.

Getting spell value on Mortar is incredibly easy.

You can completely counter a Mortar with an Ice Golem and Zap (if it’s locked onto your tower). Put the Ice Golem in the classic lure position – a 0-5 plant – and Zap the Mortar. It will retarget on the Ice Golem, which is slow enough to tank all the shots until the timer runs out.

So beware of Lightning and Poison, these 2 spells are the only ones that could give spell value to the opponent.

Mortar Placements

This is the best possible placement for Mortar because you can drop troops in front of it, it’s in the range of the Tower and ignores troops put in the opposite lane.

You can also put your Mortar directly below the bridge but that doesn’t allow you to put damage-soaking troops (Knight, Ice Golem, Mini PEKKA) in front of it.

Other Mortar Interactions

1. If someone does a 0-5 Mortar plant, you can wait for ~2.5 seconds and place the Skeletons right in front of your King Tower. The Mortar will shoot at the Skeletons, which will walk away before the boulder’s splash hits the King Tower.
2. A similar thing can be done with the Elixir Collector. If they’ve placed it in front of the King Tower parallel to the tower, it can be sniped by the Mortar. Each shot denies 1.66 Elixir.
3. A 1-0 plant can completely counter the Royal Giant if it’s locked on to your tower. It pushes the RG back, forcing him to retarget while being in the blind spot. Thus you counter an RG for 4 Elixir and get +300 damage on your enemy tower.
4. Mortar + Bomb Tower is a very good defensive combination as the Bomb Tower’s splash can protect the blind spot of the Mortar.
5. When placing a Mortar, you can do a 1,-1 plant (1 tile away from the bridge but towards the vertical edge of the Arena). This prevents the Mortar from locking on to mini-tanks placed in the opposite lane.
6. Mortar can be used as a building killer for Furnace, Goblin Hut, and Barbarian Hut. Tombstone has got a very high rate of spawning which will prevent the Mortar from attacking the Tombstone itself.
7. Mortar is a very good anti-support card. It can splash troops in one tile proximity of the tower. Thus, countering enemy Princesses walking along the sides of the tower gets you one hit off the tower as well.
8. Remember that Mortar boulders cannot hit Very Fast troops, or charging ones like Battle Ram, Prince, and Ram Rider.

Tips for Playing Mortar Like a Pro

Mortar Tips

1. The mortar should regularly be placed 1 tile from the bridge, and 1 / 2 tiles from the side of the arena!
2. When countering Hog Riders, the Mortar should be placed at the bridge, in the middle, closer to the side they’re pushing on. This way the Hog enters the Mortar’s blind zone, and the Mortar is switching on the Tower! It’s essential to use a cheap troop like skeletons or goblins to kill the Hog faster in case they support it.
3. Against Three Musketeers, when they get closer to the bridge, Rocket the side with One, they’re most likely to Battle Ram or something else! You can easily counter the two with a Knight!
4. This tip is the same for non-mortar users too: Never overcommit defending a Mortar! They might just plain Rocket the tower, and still be equal on elixir! Also, when someone spends more on defending your Mortar, and you have good defensive cards in cycle, just Rocket the tower!
5. When playing against Bowler or Executioner, split up your Knight and Archers placement so they won’t get splashed together! Most likely they will place it closer to the middle.
6. When playing against Graveyard Freeze, use your skeletons first to counter the Graveyard, then Archers if they react to your skeletons. You have the log to clear out a few of them if they get close.
7. When playing against Hog Cycle with Knight and Archers, Rocket the Knight if it gets close to the Arena tower. The Archers and Goblins are easy to deal with, Mortar to defend hog.
8. Never go opposite lane with Mortar. Mortar is designed for chip damage, while if he supports his Giant on the opposite lane, it will get extremely hard to defend. The biggest disadvantage is that if he takes down that tower, you will go for the 2-1 win. It’s extremely hard to Mortar on a side that is already taken down by your opponent, so he can just surround it with Barbarians and kill it no matter how hard you guard it.
9. When playing against all kinds of Zap Bait, Always set up defensive Mortar at double elixir time, and start Rocket-cycling. Mortar gets significantly harder to pull off in double elixir, since they will always have elixir for that extra knight or ice spirit to keep the Mortar busy. Get damage in single elixir, then start rocket cycling.
10. If you recognize a Mortar or Hog deck playing against you, always split Archers. Don’t let them get Log or Fireball value.
11. Well known tip: always place Skeletons or Ice Spirit in front of a naked Mortar to discract counters such as Inferno Tower, Mega Minion, etc.
12. When defending against Lava Hound, always place the Mortar into the Hog Spot, at the River, closer to the side they’re pushing.
13. When your enemy is defending Mortar with Mortar, place a Knight at the River, closer to the opposite side. The enemy Mortar will shoot the Knight. Pro tip followup: Place a predictive Ice Spirit and Log in front of the Mortar to kill his archers!
14. Very valuable tip: When countering Royal Giant, place the Mortar one tile BELOW the average placement. This way it’s 2 tiles in front of the King tower and 3 from the Arena tower! This way the RG enters the area where the Tower shoots him, the RG shoots the Mortar, and you can place it anytime! No outranging, stress, timing, like for the Inferno Tower or Cannon or anything else. You just place it there, and chill out.
15. Most important aspect: When the match is not going your way, just go for the draw! Never give spell value on Archers, never place mortar close to the tower, and don’t let anything through! Always remember, there is no reason to go for the win against an RG Bowler deck, unless you get good damage on the first few Mortars. Just hope he has no high damage spells.

Anti–Mortar Tips

1. Ice Spirit and Skeletons are great cards to distract the Mortar. It has a 30 sec lifetime, so take advantage of it!
2. If you have a pump deck, always try to outcycle their rocket. It may sound impossible, but it might work out against an average player.
3. If you have a tank like an Ice Golem, Knight, Giant, anything, just place them in the opposite lane, in the middle. By the time they die, the Mortar is already dead.
4. A Mortar shoots 6 times during its lifetime. Remember that!
5. Always remember the blind zone! If you’re attacking with hog and they mortar, put a knight on your side, preferably somewhere in the middle, to tank the shots!
6. When defending Mortar vs Mortar, always count that they will tank your Mortar. Aim for countering tip 13. A Knight opposite lane is perfect.
7. Maybe the only tip everyone knew, don’t give them rocket value.
8. Don’t overcommit on countering his Archers or other troops, because he will rocket your tower for free.
9. Cannon is a very good counter to Mortar. When you attack with Hog, place the Cannon predictively at the River, at the middle.
10. Lastly, if you find it very hard countering Mortar, just put Bowler into your deck. Easy fix!

Best Mortar Decks

These 2 decks are just an example of what Mortar decks look like. There are many more decks that may be better than these, so feel free to build your own deck with the Mortar.

Hog EQ Mortar

Mortar Pekka Bait

So that’s it guys, this is all for today. If you have any questions regarding the Mortar in Clash Royale, please ask them in the comments, and don’t forget to rate the post!