Is the Royal Giant an Easy Card

Introduction

This Royal Giant cycle deck has surfaced into the meta ever since the rise of the Royal Delivery. With a strong defense and an even stronger counterpush, this deck is fairly easy to pick up and a ton of fun to play. As a bonus, it's F2P friendly as well, only consisting of Common and Rare cards!

Deck Information

Deck Created by: AesDragon

Minimum Recommended King Level: 9

Maximum Recommended King Level: 13

Arena Required: Legendary Arena (Wrong?)

Average Elixir Cost: 2.9 (Wrong?)

More Statistics: Go to Deck Builder

Card Roles

Royal Giant: Your win condition. Usually, you'll be playing this card if you have a Firecracker or Goblin Brawler counterpushing already, or you'll be playing it alone to punish a bad investment from the opponent. Of course, it's fairly costly at 6 Elixir and has little defensive value, so you don't want to be too aggressive with it. You should almost always attack with an Earthquake in hand if they have a building to defend with.

Earthquake: Your offensive spell. There's not too much to say about this card, really. If your opponent places a building or a frail swarm on defense, the Earthquake will take care of it relatively quickly. It deals a lot of Crown Tower damage, more than a Fireball for a cheaper cost, so you can spell cycle reliably if need be. You can play this on defense to slow an enemy push and possibly avoid your tower from being destroyed, but this is far from a go-to option.

Firecracker: Your all-around support card. The Firecracker is incredibly annoying with its pseudo-splash, long range, and self-pushback mechanic. It's safe to cycle in the back as it's cheap and you should be able to defend with what you have on hand should the opponent decide to attack in the opposite lane. While the Firecracker can activate the opponent's King Tower, the activation almost never comes into play on defense as the Royal Giant is ranged. It can help defend against almost any push, and can often defend in one lane and counterpush in the other.

Skeletons: Your defensive cycle card. This card is great in almost any situation. You'll mainly be cycling it in the back or using it to stall on defense. It deals great DPS for its cost and can bait out a Zap from the opponent, allowing your Bats to thrive on either offense or defense.

Bats: Another defensive cycle card. This card is a step up from Skeletons, and plays similar roles to it. Bats have more DPS and are more effective on offense as support for your Royal Giant, but they are more expensive. Like mentioned before, they are very effective after a small spell such as a Zap has been baited out from the opponent, as otherwise there isn't much they can do to prevent Bats from shredding their push.

Heal Spirit: Another cycle card, this time mainly offense oriented. This card isn't as good as Skeletons on defense, but makes up for it by being a surprisingly good synergy with the Royal Giant, being able to discourage the opponent from playing small swarms while also allowing the Royal Giant to land a few more deadly blows. Don't feel forced to reserve it for offense, though; it's perfectly fine to cycle it in the back to get to another card instead.

Goblin Cage: Your defensive building. The Goblin Cage has surged in popularity ever since its damage buff in Season 11. It's a unique sort of building in that the main value comes after it dies. Due to this, it's often a waste to spell down in its Cage form, and the Brawler itself is fairly spell resistant as well. This makes it a good passive play in the center to force the opponent to commit first. The Brawler is also effective on a counterpush to deter the opponent from playing any frail troops without sufficient protection.

Royal Delivery: Your defensive spell. Ever since I initially wrote this guide, it's sort of been turned into a bargain bin Fireball (not the best kind of bargain) but its main roles haven't changed too much. Drop it on top of swarms, frail troops, and clumped up pushes to get the most value out of it, but be especially mindful of its long deploy time due to its lack of knockback.

Starting Hand Plays

Firecracker played behind the King Tower
Skeletons split behind the King Tower
Heal Spirit played at the bridge or behind the King Tower
Bats split behind the King Tower
Goblin Cage in the center (a 3-4 plant is best as it can pull Hogs placed in either lane)

General Tips

Protect your Firecrackers, especially if you recognize they don't have efficient offensive counters to them (cards that allow them to take out defending Firecrackers). They will eventually stack up on defense, and by the time your opponent can get splash value on them, they'll have already done their job on defend enemy pushes.
- Efficient offensive counters to Firecracker are spells such as Arrows, Fireball, or Poison, as well as long ranged troops such as Magic Archer or Musketeer. Flying units can also be a good counter as they can cross the bridge and take out a Firecracker that is busy defending something else.
Don't be afraid to cycle Goblin Cages in the center. Even if the opponent plays their building chaser in the back right afterwards, your card cycle is fast enough that you can get back to another Cage.
Against large pushes, invest your Cage followed by the Firecracker, and then cycle your Bats/Skeletons/Heal Spirit in the back as their push heads towards the bridge. By the time it gets to your side, you'll already have another Goblin Cage and Firecracker in hand to deploy if need be.
Offense is the best defense; sometimes, in order to counter a huge push, you need to prevent it from happening to begin with by sending a Royal Giant in your healthier lane. This can help your frail defending support troops in the other lane survive longer.

General Gameplan

Single Elixir Time (3:00 - 1:01)

You can freely cycle your cards to avoid leaking Elixir (see Starting Hand Plays). Your opponent will have to respond to a Firecracker, Goblin Cage, or Heal Spirit, lest they let you build up troops on the map for free or get free damage. If they decide to try and punish in the opposite lane, Royal Delivery combined with whatever you have on hand should be able to stymie it.
Using the Royal Giant at this time is often not a bad idea if you have a Firecracker or Goblin Brawler backing it up. Most of the time, the opponent will either have to spend an equal amount of Elixir to defend, or take chip damage. If they overcommit on a defense, your cycle cards can defend Elixir efficiently.
If you notice they have Skeletons or Bats, try to sync up your Heal Spirit so you have it in hand as an option when your Royal Giant is attacking. They may be crutching on their cheap swarm to DPS the Royal Giant down, so the Heal Spirit will put them in for a rude awakening. This also works if it seems like their defense will just barely stop the Royal Giant from connecting (such as versus a building).

Double Elixir Time (1:00 - 0:01)

Here, bigger pushes will start to come down towards you, and you won't be able to cut as close on Elixir when defending these.
- To defend against most large pushes, first invest a Goblin Cage or Firecracker in the lane you expect a big push to come down, so you can cycle to another by the time their push is actually on your side.
- Otherwise, you will be playing similarly to how you did in Single Elixir Time, except being more aggressive with your Royal Giant pushes in order to stop the opponent from building up something big of their own.
This is when you can start effectively stacking Firecrackers, as not only does the increased Elixir generation help you to cycle faster, but few decks have both a fast cycle and Elixir-efficient counter for them, making it a lot harder for your opponents to recoup lost Elixir from their offense.

Overtime/Triple Elixir

If you took a tower before Sudden Death and it is now a two tower game (both players are aiming to take out the other player's remaining Princess Tower), you have the option of placing the Royal Giant in the center of their side, allowing it to lock onto their tower much more quickly.
- The optimal placement most of the time is placing it one tile from the innermost tile, as it will avoid King Tower damage while deploying. Placing it deeper may be more effective if you just need to connect quickly and get the tower into a spell cycle health range.
- Be wary as most competent players will be anticipating this, and may pre-emptively place troops or buildings in that area to DPS your Royal Giant down more quickly. To counter this, you can place the Royal Giant at the bridge normally. If they place a troop in the center, you can possibly kite it to the other lane with Skeletons or the Heal Spirit, making their defense weaker.
If you can't break through, it's best to cycle Earthquakes on their towers when you have an Elixir lead instead. Be sure to keep cycling your defensive cards so you're always ready to protect both lanes.

Deck Substitutions

While this deck is fairly F2P friendly, some players may want to add an Epic or Legendary so as not to waste things like Trade Tokens and Sunday Requests.

Royal Giant - Substituting this sort of changes the core of the deck, as it doesn't mind the King's Tower activation the Firecracker usually causes. Although, Hog Rider and Royal Hogs are quick, punishing win conditions that cannot be ignored and still synergize well with the other cards in the deck.

Earthquake - Poison is the closest substitute. It essentially trades off effectiveness versus buildings for effectiveness versus troops. Additionally, it's an Epic, so it may be easier to level up compared to three Rare cards.

Firecracker - This card's continuous pushback mechanic and difficulty to counter while defending is a core part of this deck, so substituting it may cause counterpushes to be less effective at snowballing. The closest substitute would be Flying Machine, as it has a similar attacking range and flies, which can be better especially to snipe buildings if you run Poison over Earthquake.

Skeletons - Spear Goblins are the closest substitute. They are more likely to bait Zap along with Bats and can deal chip damage on their own. However, this will slow down the rapid cycle of the deck.

Bats - Minions are the closest substitute. They are slightly more bulky at the cost of Elixir, speed, and DPS. Personally, I don't find the extra hitpoints to be much of a boon, as protecting the Bats isn't too difficult to get a hang of, and I like the faster cycle.

Heal Spirit - The healing burst can come in really clutch to let the Royal Giant get a few extra shots or to save a Firecracker from being two shot, but if you really want a substitute, Ice Spirit trades off offensive power for defensive power.

Goblin Cage - Bomb Tower is the closest substitute. It's less effective to invest as the bomb is not nearly as valuable as the Brawler, but the splash damage and healthpool are undeniable boons.

Royal Delivery - Giant Snowball or Barbarian Barrel have the most similar functions to the Royal Delivery, especially its previous iteration. The other small spells work fine, but I wouldn't switch it out for something like Fireball; the low cost is what sells it.

Key Offensive Synergies

Royal Giant + Heal Spirit

This is most effective to counter Bats or Skeletons placed on top of your Royal Giant while healing it or to bait out a The Log for your Skeletons in the following defense.

Royal Giant + Earthquake

Self explanatory. Building ruining your Royal Giant's day (and subsequent tower connections)? Ruin theirs by crumbling that building to pieces and dealing major Crown Tower damage. Can also be useful against a large group of defenders in general, as two hundred damage for three Elixir on several units while also chipping the tower is not a bad deal.

Royal Giant + Bats

Good for opponents who like to play their tank killer right in front of the Royal Giant. Bats will whittle them down quickly, rendering them unusable for a counterattack unless they have a spell to deal with them, which still lets your Skeletons put in work. Can also be good against Inferno cards to deny them from getting much value.

Note that you can counterpush with almost anything besides Royal Delivery if you have an Elixir advantage and the pace of the game is in your favor.

Key Defensive Synergies

Bats + Skeletons

If your opponent can't support a lone troop crossing the bridge with spells or area damage, this pair is almost guaranteed to take it out unless it's something super bulky like a Golem. Do keep in mind this may allow them to get their small spell back in cycle for the next time you play them, as the pair will just get wiped out by the tower easily once they've defended.

Firecracker + Skeletons

Similar to the above synergy, but more effective against grounded troops or just bulkier troops in general as they can be kited for a bit longer due to the Firecracker's extra health.

Firecracker + Heal Spirit

Great on both offense or defense against troops that do not one shot the Firecracker. The heal isn't instantaneous, but is fast enough to save the Firecracker nine times out of ten. This can be incredibly annoying for opponents who lack a spell to fully counter the Firecracker.

Goblin Cage + Royal Delivery

Your best defensive synergy versus those huge pushes. Reel everything in with the Cage, drop the Delivery on top of all the support, and add in whatever you have on hand when necessary and you should be alright.

Gameplay Examples

I had recorded some gameplay a while back, but the following seasonal updates changed a few of the properties of some cards in this deck, so I decided I wanted to re-record at a later time to give a more accurate idea. The video can be found here.

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Source: https://clashroyale.fandom.com/wiki/Deck:Royal_Giant_Earthquake