Lava Hound is a Legendary air troop in Clash Royale that targets enemy buildings. It has a whopping 3581 HP at tournament levels but deals minimal damage. However, once it dies, it spawns six Lava Pups, each targeting anything within range. Because of the massive health pool of the Lava Hound, it’s considered one of the strongest win conditions in the game.
As new cards have been introduced, the Lava Hound decks have evolved significantly over the years. It’s still a solid win condition, and with the right card combination, this type of deck can easily push you to the top ladder. We’ve compiled some of the best Lava Hound decks you might want to try out in the current meta of Clash Royale.
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How Does a Lava Hound Deck Work?
Lava Hound decks typically play like a Beatdown Deck, but instead of going with Giant or Golem, you’ll be using the Legendary card Lava Hound as your primary win condition. Most Lava Hound decks also use a variety of air troops as support cards, with only one or two ground units to defend or distract your opponent’s cards.
In most cases, these decks focus on creating an overwhelming push by placing a Lava Hound at the back of the King Tower, even if it means sacrificing a tower at times. These decks are slow and methodical, and you’ll often have to sacrifice some of your tower’s health to win the trade.
Lava Hound always had a respectable win and usage rate in Clash Royale at all skill levels, similar to Log Bait decks. However, its popularity skyrocketed the moment Royal Chef made its appearance in the arena. Since the new champion building can level up your troops, it works extremely well with Lava Hound. If you’ve got the champion unlocked, you’ll always want to use it as your Tower Troop when you’re running a Lava Hound deck.
Best Lava Hound Decks in Clash Royale
Here are the three best Lava Hound decks right now that you might want to consider trying out in Clash Royale.
- LavaLoon Valkyrie
- Lava Hound Double Dragon
- Lava Lightning Prince
You’ll find more information about these decks below.
LavaLoon Valkyrie
The LavaLoon Valkyrie is one of the most popular Lava hound decks in Clash Royale, featuring both the flying win conditions in the game. Sure, it’s not the cheapest deck out there, with its average 4.0 elixir cost, but compared to other Lava Hound decks, it has a much quicker cycle.
Here are the cards that you’ll need for this deck.
|
Card Name |
Elixir Cost |
|---|---|
|
Evo Zap |
2 |
|
Evo Valkyrie |
4 |
|
Guards |
3 |
|
Fireball |
4 |
|
Skeleton Dragons |
4 |
|
Inferno Dragon |
4 |
|
Balloon |
5 |
|
Lava Hound |
7 |
This deck uses Valkyrie and Guards as its two ground troops, serving two specific purposes. The Evo Valkyrie acts as the mini-tank and takes care of swarm troops such as the Skeleton Army or Goblin Gang. If you’re up against an X-Bow deck, you can use Valkeyrie to tank the hits. Guards, on the other hand, serve as your main ground DPS against troops like Pekka or Hog Rider. Since they don’t go down as quickly as the 1-elixir Skeletons, you can often get excellent value out of them.
You’ll want to use both the Lava Hound and the Balloon in a single push when you’re using this deck. Start with a Lava Hound at the back, and place the Balloon on the bridge as soon as your Lava Hound reaches it. With the Lava Hound tanking for it, your main goal is to make sure the Balloon reaches its destination. A single Balloon hit can often mean the difference between victory and defeat when you’re playing this deck.
Inferno Dragon is an excellent air DPS troop that can handle high-HP units such as the Golem or Giant if you’re matched against those decks. As for your spells, you’ve got the Evo Zap to reset enemy towers or troops and Fireball to take out annoying counters like the Musketeer or get direct damage on the enemy tower.
You can push the Balloon forward or out of range of the enemy buildings using the Skeleton Dragons.
Lava Hound Double Dragon
Evolution cards in Clash Royale shifted the meta significantly when they first came out. However, most Lava Hound decks didn’t benefit much from it. Sure, it added some extra firepower to the offense, but in most cases, these decks played pretty much the same way. However, with the Lava Hound Double Dragon deck, things were different.
Here are the cards you’ll need for the deck.
|
Card Name |
Elixir Cost |
|---|---|
|
Evo Bomber |
2 |
|
Evo Goblin Cage |
4 |
|
Arrows |
3 |
|
Guards |
3 |
|
Skeleton Dragons |
4 |
|
Inferno Dragon |
4 |
|
Lightning |
6 |
|
Lava Hound |
7 |
While Lava Hound is still your primary win condition, the Evo Bomber in the deck can help you deal massive damage to the tower if you use it smartly. On the other hand, the Evo Goblin Cage can stop pretty much any win condition, including the Royal Giant. Unless your opponent has something like a Lightning or Rocket to counter it, it’s extremely hard to break through when you have your Evo Goblin Cage in cycle.
You still have the Guards to offer DPS support and protect your tower against ground troops. But since you don’t have a Balloon in this deck, you need to find a way to break through with your Lava Hound to win the matchup. For your air support, you’ve got the same old combo of Inferno Dragon and Skeleton Dragons.
As for your spells, you’ll use Lightning to take out opponents’ defensive troops or buildings while getting massive damage to their towers and Arrows to take out swarms or units that your opponent uses to defend your push.
Arrows deal more damage than Log or Snowball, so you can use them to spell cycle later in the game.
Lava Lightning Prince
The Lava Lightning Prince deck isn’t necessarily the strongest out there. But it can serve as a decent starter deck for those who want to try out this deck archetype. Despite being a bit heavy, this deck is pretty easy to play since it uses some of the strongest cards in the meta.
Here are the cards you’ll need for this deck:
|
Card Name |
Elixir Cost |
|---|---|
|
Evo Skeletons |
1 |
|
Evo Valkyrie |
4 |
|
Arrows |
3 |
|
Skeleton Dragons |
4 |
|
Inferno Dragon |
4 |
|
Prince |
5 |
|
Lightning |
6 |
|
Lava Hound |
7 |
The Evo Valkyrie is typically considered the best evolution card to pair with a Lava Hound deck. Its Evo form creates a small tornado that pulls in both air and ground troops every time the Valkyrie swings her axe. In addition, the Evo Skeletons can help DPS down just about anything your opponent uses unless they take it off the field quickly.
With the addition of the Prince in this deck, you have a secondary way to pressure the enemy tower. The charge damage of the Prince can take out just about anything on the field, and if it connects to the tower, you’ll have enough damage to win the game just with that.
For your air support cards, Skeleton Dragons take care of swarms, and the Inferno Dragon can handle the tanks or mini-tanks. Like the LavaLoon deck we showcased earlier, you’ll want to start your push with the Lava Hound behind the King Tower. Try to time your push in a way that Royal Chef gives your Lava Hound the level-up buff as soon as you place it on your side of the arena.
You can swap out Prince with a Mini-Pekka if you want a lower elixir cost.
Lava Hound decks in Clash Royale can take a while to get used to, especially if you’re a cycle deck player. It takes a slower approach to the game, focusing on building up an overwhelming push from the back instead of chipping down the HP of the opponent’s towers. The decks we mentioned should give you a solid foundation to start. But it’s also important to try out your own card combination to see what works best for your playstyle.
