One of the best decks in Clash Royale in the current meta is this amazing x-bow cycle deck! You can use this x-bow deck on the ladder or in challenges, as it is a great deck no matter where you play it. At a 3.1 average elixir cost, this deck are superb for cycling back to the x-bow. Let’s go over some of the strategy and gameplay for this x-bow cycle deck.
X-Bow Cycle Deck Overview
The entire basis of this deck is defending the x-bow so that it can lock onto the tower and deal as much damage as possible. Use your other cards to protect the x-bow from whatever defensive cards your opponent throws at you! You also have the fireball and log for a bit of chip damage onto the tower.
From a free to play deck standpoint, this x-bow cycle deck is great! By arena 8, every card in this deck has been unlocked, which means that you can start upgrading it early on in your Clash Royale career. Also, with only 1 epic card and 1 legendary card, this deck is pretty easy to request for cards and get the card upgraded quickly!
Roles of Each Card in the Deck
Archers
Archers are a versatile offensive and defensive card, taking out most medium health units.
On offense, archers are going to be one of your primary cards for defending your x-bow. Since they can shoot air and ground troops, they will be able to defend against most counters that are thrown at you.
Archers are also going to be extremely valuable at the defensive end. This is your only real ground troop that can give off constant damage, which makes it critical for defending against defense seeking cards like the giant and hog.
Ice Spirit
The ice spirit is a great one elixir card to help give you a couple seconds to make a play.
With a 1.5 second freeze, the x-bow can add 156 damage onto the tower. So with the ice spirit, you can give your x-bow the ability to deal that much more damage by having it stay alive by freezing defensive troops!
As an added bonus, the ice spirit is just as good on defense as it is on offense. Since it only costs 1 elixir, its great to throw in against any offensive combo, whether it be a solid knight or a golem beatdown push!
Ice Golem
The ice golem acts as a damage soaker, great for defense and for buying your x-bow some time.
Despite not being able to kill any troops, the ice golem is actually going to be one of your top offensive cards, being able to take damage for your x-bow and send off a slowing aspect for any troops within its radius.
Using the same skill set on defense, the ice golem can protect your tower from damage by taking it all itself. Mostly, I recommend playing the ice golem when a counterpush is possible; a way to avoid a couple hundred damage.
Mega Minion
The mega minion is going to be your main air support, raining down damage from the skies.
If you have a baby dragon, executioner, wizard, or any other splash card spraying your x-bow, the mega minion is the perfect card to thwart the counter. Since its tanky, it should be able to take out most cards.
On the defensive side of Clash Royale, the mega minion is best used to distract whatever support cards might be behind a large push. Especially if it is a splash damage card, the mega minion can handle the backup!
Tesla
The tesla is the main defense of this deck, but its also great at defending the x-bow.
With the tesla, you can actually defend your x-bow at the bridge pretty easily. Since it doesn’t take spell damage (as long as its not up), your opponent won’t get value from hitting both. And it deals huge damage, so it can fend off troops well.
This card, being a defensive building, also works great for warding off most tanks. Since it costs only 4 elixir, it is definitely worth playing to counter a hog. It also fares quite well against giants, golems, and PEKKAs too!
X-Bow
The x-bow is the namesake of this deck and will be the key to winning no matter how you play.
Mainly, the x-bow, despite being a building, will be a offensive building (as mentioned many times throughout this article). Play the x-bow close to the river so that it can reach the tower. After, defend it as well as you can!
Even though you should mainly use the x-bow as an offensive card, it does have some defensive abilities. If the tesla isn’t in rotation, don’t be afraid to play an x-bow in the middle to start shooting down some tank cards!
Fireball
The fireball is your biggest spell dealer, taking out wizards, musketeers, and e-wizes.
On offense, you shouldn’t really use the fireball when defending the x-bow unless you can hit multiple units. The fireball should be used to hit the tower along with a unit, so the best time for a play is when a troop is passing the tower.
That being said, there are times when the fireball works well with the x-bow. If a minion horde is played right at the river, the best play would be an immediate fireball. However, if a higher level wizard is against the x-bow, avoid fireballing.
Log
The log offers a pushback effect, which will be great for letting your x-bow get a few more shots.
The pushback that the log gives is invaluable, as it can often give you x-bow a few extra shots as the troops shooting it are backed off. Or even better, the troops can retarget onto a new troop that you play.
On defense, the log can give you a lot of value, especially with the popularity of the princes. The knockback from the log resets the princes charge. You can also clear away goblin gangs and skeleton armies, not to mention princess and goblin barrel!
Different Offensive Pushes
Defend the X-Bow:Don’t let any damage get to your x-bow so that it can get as many shots as possible.
The main offensive combination that you will be throwing together here is the x-bow combined with your support units to get a ton of damage onto the tower. You’ll first place the x-bow in a location that it can reach the tower from and then play your archers/mega minion/tesla to protect it. The goal is to keep it alive as long as you possibly can!
X-Bow-Log: In a niche situation, you can dominate with a solo x-bow supported with only the log.
Some of the more popular counters to the x-bow include cards that can easily be logged down, especially the goblin gang. If you find yourself way ahead on elixir, try playing the x-bow with no support cards whatsoever. From there, you should have the log ready to knock down any troops that might be played to defend agains the x-bow.
Ice Golem Support:Without the x-bow, this is the strongest push that you can do, with the ice golem tanking.
While the x-bow is going to be used to get most of the damage onto the tower, you can do some pushes without including the x-bow. The best one of these is made up of the ice golem and either archers or mega minion. You’ll place the ice golem in front to soak up damage while your mega minion or archers will be in behind dealing the damage to the tower.
Defending against Popular Decks
Giant Double Prince Deck
Without a doubt, this is going to be the toughest deck to counter with your x-bow cycle deck. However, by playing it right and cycling fast, you can take down the giant double prince push. First off, you need to get the tesla down to pull the giant and get some damage going. The ice golem will be great for soaking up the prince charges as well as giving off the slowing effect. You also want to put your archers back a bit so they don’t take damage and have mega minion for some air support.
PEKKA Dark Prince Deck
While not as tough as the giant-double prince combo, this PEKKA deck is still pretty tough to beat. Again, the tesla is going to be important since it can deal a ton of damage while also pulling troops away from the tower. Throw in ice spirits to stop everything and make sure that the dark prince isn’t charing. Again, the mega minion will be a great support card since few cards in this deck can kill air units. The log is also pretty useful for knocking back multiple cards.
Hog Cycle Deck
You shouldn’t have too much trouble stopping this push, unless the hog is able to outcycle your tesla. The hog rider should always be countered by the tesla, since its an even trade that will completely shut down the hog. If a musketeer, ice golem, or ice spirit is added into the push, then you’ll have to play another card in order to equal the one from your opponent. The ice golem is great for distracting the musketeer, while the archers are enough to stop an added ice golem/spirit.
I hope that this guide gave you ample enough information about how to win with this x-bow cycle deck! If it didn’t make sure to comment below to tell us what else we could add to make these guides even better. Thanks for reading and come back soon for more awesome Clash Royale decks!
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