Top Lava Hound Decks for Clash Royale

Mastering the Lava Hound Deck in Clash Royale: A Guide to Three Top-Tier Strategies

The Lava Hound, a legendary air troop in Clash Royale, is a formidable win condition known for its massive health pool (3581 HP at tournament levels). While its damage output is minimal, its death triggers the deployment of six damaging Lava Pups, making it a powerful force. Its effectiveness has led to the evolution of various Lava Hound decks throughout the game's history. This guide explores three of the best current strategies.

How Lava Hound Decks Function

Lava Hound decks operate as Beatdown decks, prioritizing the Lava Hound as the primary win condition, unlike Giant or Golem-based strategies. They typically incorporate a mix of air support troops and one or two ground units for defense and distraction. The core strategy involves deploying the Lava Hound at the back, often sacrificing some tower health for a decisive push. This methodical approach requires patience and strategic trading. The Lava Hound's synergy with the Royal Chef champion card, which boosts troop levels, significantly enhances its effectiveness.

Top Lava Hound Decks

Here are three leading Lava Hound deck variations:

• LavaLoon Valkyrie
• Lava Hound Double Dragon
• Lava Lightning Prince

Detailed breakdowns of each follow.

LavaLoon Valkyrie

This popular deck combines two powerful air win conditions. While its 4.0 elixir cost isn't the lowest, its faster cycle compared to other Lava Hound decks makes it highly effective.

The Valkyrie acts as a mini-tank against swarm troops, while Guards provide ground DPS against heavier units. The Lava Hound and Balloon are deployed together for a powerful push, with the Hound tanking for the Balloon. Inferno Dragon provides air DPS, Evo Zap resets towers/troops, and Fireball offers direct tower damage or counters. Skeleton Dragons support the Balloon push.

Lava Hound Double Dragon

This deck leverages the Evo Bomber for significant tower damage and the Evo Goblin Cage for potent defense against various win conditions.

Guards provide DPS and tower defense, while Inferno Dragon and Skeleton Dragons offer air support. Lightning clears enemy defenses or directly damages towers. Arrows handle swarms and provide spell cycling.

Lava Lightning Prince

This deck, while not the strongest, serves as an accessible entry point. It utilizes several meta-defining cards.

Evo Valkyrie's tornado effect controls both air and ground troops. Evo Skeletons provide DPS. The Prince offers a secondary push option. Skeleton Dragons and Inferno Dragon provide air support. Lightning and Arrows function similarly to the previous deck. Mini-Pekka can replace the Prince for a lower elixir cost.

Conclusion

Lava Hound decks require a different approach than cycle decks, prioritizing a slow, methodical push. These three decks offer solid starting points, but experimentation with card combinations is key to finding your optimal playstyle.