Clash Royale Sparky Comprehensive Guide

Clash Royale Sparky Comprehensive Guide by MWolverine63

Background: I got the Sparky at about 2600 trophies a few weeks ago, and I used a Sparky deck to climb into Legendary Arena.

My high is 3100 trophies, and I’m currently at 3042. I used a RG/Sparky deck to get up here, and I’m currently experimenting with a Valk/Sparky deck.

Sparky: The most offensive, annoying, and fun card to play in the game, but also one of the easiest to counter. In this guide, I’m going to detail how to best use Sparky, and how to win with her.

Why Sparky is great (and my favorite card): * Huge damage, if you can get her locked on the tower

• Very punishing if you make a slight mistake
• Great as a supporting troop
• Forces opponents to respond
• Psychologically intimidating, the mere sight of her can cause opponents to panic
• Great on defense against any type of tank
• Dynamic (if you are behind, you can easily come back in one push)

Why Sparky is difficult:

• Easy to counter and lose your elixir advantage from it (Zap, Valk, Guards, Dark Prince, Gobs + Skeletons, Mini Pekka, Barbarians, Fire Spirits…)
• High cost for potentially no gain
• Doesn’t defend against air
• Charge time means she is very vulnerable on opponent’s turf after one shot

Sparky is a very well-balanced card because there are almost more cons to playing her than pros. There is no getting around the fact that Sparky is hard to play. However, if you can master her (and I certainly haven’t lol), then you can win consistently.

Tips on playing Sparky:

Never lead with Sparky

Because of how easy she is to counter, I don’t recommend playing her as your first card. The caveat to this is, if you are in a lower Arena (5,6,7), then you can probably get away with this because your opponent won’t know what to do, he’ll hesitate, lose elixir, and then go full defense mode, letting you dictate the match. Once you get into Arena 8 and 9, never start with Sparky.

If your opponent plays a tank (Giant, Pekka, Golem), play Sparky in your backfield to take out his tank

It takes Sparky 2-3 shots to take down any tank, and even if your opponent has a zap ready, their tank won’t make it to your tower if you distract it with a building or troop in the middle. Sparky will keep firing at their tank, leaving you time to deal with support troops and build up an offensive push. Starting with Sparky on defense then transitioning to offense is the best way to use her.

If your opponent plays the Royal Giant, don’t respond with Sparky

Because of how fast the RG will target your tower, it will take Sparky too long to charge up, fire, then charge up again, and take out the RG. Don’t treat Sparky as a counter to the RG because you’ll lose about 800-1000 HP on your tower. You’ll need to pack another counter, like Mini Pekka, to deal with the Royal Giant.

Protect Sparky as much as you can

The longer you’re able to keep Sparky alive, the more shots she gets off. The more shots she takes translates into more wasted elixir for your opponent or more health off of their tower. If you can keep Sparky alive and get her to get off a lot of shots, you’re golden.

You definitely need Sparky to be behind some sort of tank, such as the Giant, Royal Giant, Golem, Pekka, Valkyrie, Bowler, or Baby Dragon. I haven’t seen any Lavahound/Sparky decks, but you can certainly try.

Support Sparky with splash damage troops, like Wizard, Princess, Bomber, Fire Spirits, and Furnace

Some of the most popular counters to Sparky are Zap + cheap troops to finish her off. Using splash damage on support will prevent these cheap troops from finishing her, which keeps Sparky alive longer.

Here are my fast, simple tips to building a Sparky deck

You need a back-up plan:

Sparky is so easy to counter, even if you play her perfectly you may only get 1 shot on the opponent’s tower in the entire game. You’ll need another way to get damage on their tower that doesn’t rely on Sparky.

Based on your backup plan, pick a tank to protect Sparky.

Pick a tank you are familiar with first, and go with that while you learn the deck. I’ve used RG/Sparky and Valk/Sparky personally, but Giant/Sparky is very popular, and Pekka/Sparky and Golem/Sparky could be effective, too (although expensive).

Pick supporting troops that do splash damage

Add in a defensive structure to district tanks with

This will give you time to drop other counters to your opponent’s tanks. You don’t need to pack an inferno tower because Sparky will take out the really big tanks like Golem and Pekka. One building I would suggest is the Furnace, because it will distract tanks, including RG and hog, and it will also be able to support your Sparky on a push.

Add a counter to RG or Hog

These two cards are the hardest to deal with using a Sparky deck. Hog cycle decks can rapidly get in and do damage, which prevents you from taking the time to build up a big Sparky push. RG will lock onto the tower so fast you can’t rely on Sparky to counter, as talked about earlier.

Plan on how YOU would counter your own deck, or how you would counter a Sparky deck with your deck

This will make you think through your deck choices, and it’ll also get you ready when you face another Sparky deck. My tip for facing Sparkies is to get your own Sparky down as often as possible and to face the enemy Sparky on your own side of the river.

Let me know if you have any questions, and I will do my best to answer them!

I’m going to discuss the best uses of Sparky so you win as often as possible.

How an average Sparky battle progresses:

1. **Let your opponent make the opening move**

You never want to open with Sparky. Because of how many counters there are to Sparky, as well as the fact that your opponent will have full elixir, this will almost always result in a negative elixir trade.

You want to start the game by assessing what strategy your opponent is playing, as this will determine how you play Sparky.

2. **Get a pump down early (but don’t leave yourself low on elixir)**

You’ll want a pump going to finance your huge Sparky pushes. However, because of the expensive push cards (Tank and Sparky), you may not have great options for defense in your hand. If you play an aggressive pump and your opponent pushes, you could be caught off-guard. Be ready to defend, if you play an Elixir Collector.

3. **Spend the first 45-60 seconds (it goes fast) of the battle watching how they play**

My personal preference with Sparky is to get a sense of what my opponent is playing before I drop her. I like to understand their playstyle before I start a risky push.

The result of this strategy is that you will lose HP off your tower in the first part of the battle. This is completely normal with a Sparky deck, and you can easily make a comeback in one push.

4.**However, there are times when you can play Sparky early**

I will play Sparky early in these conditions:

• My opponent drops a huge tank, such as Pekka, Giant, or Golem:

a. Sparky’s high damage means Sparky + ice wiz or MP is the best option to deal with these high HP tanks. This can also force my opponent to use a zap on my side of the map, which is better than on their side of the map. If you defend well, you can then drop a Giant in front of Sparky and they might not have the elixir to defend.

• My opponent drops their own Sparky

a. The best defense against a Sparky is your own Sparky. If you can play it right and blow up their own Sparky with yours surviving, you are almost guaranteed a tower down. You’ll want to zap use Zap/MP/Ice Wiz/Goblin Barrel to defuse and destroy their Sparky while yours deals with the tank in front.

• My opponent drops a Lavahound

a. The Sparky decks I run are pretty weak to air, so these battles turn into base races for me, generally. If I can pressure the opposite lane with a Giant/Sparky push, my opponent doesn’t have the elixir to support their Lavahound, which allows me to only have to deal with a hound.

5.**Once you know what your opponent is playing, defend your low-health tower with Sparky pushes**

This is my favorite part of the battle. Your first Sparky push has the greatest potential for damage (because it is a surprise), so be sure to do a full push with supporting troops.

Drop Sparky in the very back of your side so she has time to fully charge by the time she gets to the bridge. You do not want an uncharged Sparky at the bridge.

Don’t go overboard on the first push if you aren’t in double elixir because you need to be able to 1) respond to what your opponent does on their side of the map and 2) defend their counter push.

By sending pushes up the lane of your low-health tower, you force your opponent to deal with your push before they can go for damage on your tower. This can often result in you taking their tower and they aren’t able to get any more damage on your tower.

6. **As the game progresses, continue to drop Sparky in the very back**

This is what I call the Pain Train. By continuing to drop Sparkies in the backfield, you keep the pressure on your opponent while simultaneously defending your tower.

Your opponent has no time to build an offensive push because they are so busy dealing with Sparky, and you may take their tower down from Giant damage alone.

7.**Use the mantra: *One push, one Sparky* **

Dual Sparkies can be very dangerous. With 2 charges, you can deal with any threat. However, it’s costly to set-up and one zap can allow your opponent to destroy both Sparkies.

If you ever try this, do it in double elixir for a 3-crown attempt.

I suggest using this very sparingly. One Sparky is more than enough to take a tower down. Using 2 allows your opponent to gain a huge elixir advantage and take down your towers, instead of the other way around.

8. **You don’t have to be continually pumping, but you want to be pumping while Sparky pushing**

Because of the high push-cost, a pump helps you to put together a killer push. However, the high cost also means you don’t always have a lot of elixir to defend with (another reason why your tower health will go down early). You have to be smart when you play a pump. Wait for full elixir before you play it, with nothing coming at you from your opponent.

I said earlier to wait until your opponent has made some pushes before starting the Pain Train (Sparky pushes). I will start my pushes when I’ve defended a push or two from my opponent, started a pump in the back, and have 10 elixir.

If there’s a pump down and you’ve seen a few pushes from your opponent, you can definitely start a push. If you want to play a littlerisky, you can even drop a Sparky if you just have a pump down (and haven’t seen any opponent pushes yet).

9. **Play Sparky decks patiently**

You can’t be aggressive with Sparky because of 1) the high push cost and 2) the low-cost counters. You need to have some sort of tank in front of Sparky for any push, and you also need supporting troops.

Sparky pushes take time to build, so be patient with it. Unlike other decks, you only need one good push to take a tower, so make each push count.

10. **What decks Sparky is good against, and what decks Sparky is weak to**

Sparky is very strong against:

• Pekka-Double Prince

a. Assuming you can protect Sparky and get shots on the Pekka, Sparky will counter the Pekka quickly and for an elixir advantage. If you can get a shot on the double princes, you almost guaranteed yourself a free tower on the ensuing push.

• Hog cycle

a. Hogs are easy to defend against: MP/Ice Wiz or MP/building, etc. Once you get your Sparky down, you can even 1-shot hogs on your side of the map. You can stop hogs from taking your tower in the early game and follow up with strong Sparky pushes.

• Golem decks

a. Sparky can decimate Golems with 3.2 shots (and Golemites in 1), gaining you a net elixir advantage and low tower damage. You won’t struggle against these.

Sparky is weak against:

• Air decks

a. I don’t carry Musketeer in my main Sparky deck, so I’m weak to Lavahound decks. As I said earlier, I push the opposite lane with Sparky to prevent my opponent from supporting their Lavahound.

• Giant-Loon

a. The lack of Musketeer makes me weak to Loon, and Sparky is not a good counter. Sparky takes time to charge up, so if you play Sparky as they play their Giant, your tower is done because Sparky can’t charge up 2.7 shots in time. You’ll need a counter toGiant/Royal Giant beyond Sparky in your deck.

Sparky can be OK or not against:

• Miner decks

a. I generally beat Miner cycle decks, but it depends on your opponent. Between zap and the miner, your opponent can discharge plenty of Sparky shots to keep her off their tower. It comes down to skill rather than any innate counters.

• 3 Musketeer decks

a. I struggle against 3 muskie decks mainly because I don’t run fireball. They can use 3 musketeers along with a Zap to take out my Giant then my Sparky, which is a positive trade for them. It’s hard to defend a tower from 3 Musketeers, so I often go down 2-1 with a loss.

• Royal Giant decks

a. Once you get the Pain Train (Sparky Pushes) rolling, Royal Giants go down pretty quickly (in 2 shots). In the early game, they can definitely be difficult. You will want another counter to the RG beyond Sparky.

• Sparky decks

a. It really comes down to skill here. If you’re able to handle the opponent’s Sparky well, then you can easily win. But if you make a mistake, you’ll generally lose. It takes a lot of practice and knowing which plays to make when.

Just today, I zapped the opponent’s Sparky at the wrong moment and lost the game; I also played well against one and 3 crowned them.