Clash Royale Sparky Troop Countering Strategies Guide

Clash Royale Sparky Troop Countering Strategies Guide by MWolverine63

In this guide, I’m going to focus on the interactions of Sparky with other troops. Different situations call for different uses of Sparky, based upon your opponent’s plays. A huge aspect of this is about timing, especially managing Sparky’s charge and your opponent’s zapping.

Special thanks to theDauntingZx and TenaciousT (also from colorado fury) who helped me with all this testing!

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

TL;DR:

Defensive Situations:

• Sparky vs. Large Groups of High HP troops
• Sparky vs. Unexpected Push
• Sparky vs. Single High HP Troop
• Sparky vs. Rocket

Offensive Situations:

• Sparky vs. cheap ground troops and Zap *
• Sparky vs. mini-tanks
• Sparky vs. Minion Horde
• Sparky vs. Minions *
• Sparky vs. Mini Pekka and Zap
• Sparky and Ice Wizard vs. Mini Pekka and Zap *
• Sparky and Ice Wizard vs. Mini Pekka, Ice Wizard, and Zap *
• Sparky and Ice Wizard vs. Mini Pekka, Ice Spirit, and Zap
• Sparky and Ice Spirit vs. Mini Pekka and Zap
• Sparky and Ice Spirit vs. Mini Pekka, Ice Wizard, and Zap *
• Sparky and Ice Spirit OR Ice Wizard vs. Mini Pekka, Ice Spirit, and Zap
• Sparky vs. Barbarians and Zap
• Sparky vs. Freeze

Bullet points with an asterisk indicate you should zap your opponent’s troops

Here is a full album of all images used in this post.

Defensive Situations

Sparky vs. Large Groups of High HP troops

Sparky’s high DPS splash damage is perfect for taking out large groups of high HP units. For example, barbarians or Hog + Goblins. Let’s look at Image 1. Other good examples of this are Image 2 and Image 3.

• Situation:

We have barbarians followed by fire spirits (7 elixir), in Image 1. In Image 2, your opponent has dropped Giant and Barbarians on top of each other (10 elixir). In Image 3, your opponent has dropped Miner and Mini Pekka with Minion Horde and Ice Wizard behind.

• Response:

For 6, Sparky will annihilate all of them, while in the back field. However, your opponent could use zap, so you should be ready to drop a distracting troop while Sparky re-charges.

• Analysis:

This situation is a great use of Sparky. Sparky, on defense, can chew through big pushes with ease. Your opponent can risk a zap, but then they are exposed on your counter-push, so they don’t have a lot of great options. If you can keep a charged Sparky in your backfield, your defense is tough to get through.

• Pro Tip: Once you have defended a few pushes, always try to keep a charged Sparky in your backfield. This will pressure your opponent and stop them from making big pushes.

Sparky vs. Unexpected Push

Sparky, because of her charge time, is not a good response to an unexpected push, such as the one in Image 4.

• Situation:

Your opponent has played RG, Bowler, Miner, and Ice Wizard (18 elixir).

• Response:

It’s really tempting to drop Sparky. She can take out the supporting troops and some of the RG’s health in 5 seconds. However, the ice wizard will increase her charging time and the Bowler may get damage. It takes Sparky 2 shots to take out the RG, and he will get at least 1200 damage in that time (10 seconds charging + 1 deploy).

This means you can’t drop Sparky here. The best response is to drop splash damage and defensive troops (building, Mini Pekka, or Musketeer) to clean up the push.

• Analysis:

Sparky, because of her charging time, can’t be used as a response to unexpected pushes (i.e. RG). She’s great on defense, but she has to be dropped pre-emptively.

• Pro Tip: If you want to use Sparky on defense, try to predict when your opponent will start pushing and place a Sparky in the back to begin charging. If your opponent doesn’t push, you can push yourself with Sparky. If he does, he’ll have to contend with a full-charged Sparky.

Sparky vs. Single High HP Troop

Sparky is an OK response to a single high HP troop, such as PEKKA or Golem, as seen in Image 5.

• Situation:

Your opponent has played PEKKA or Golem in the far back of the map.

• Response:

You can drop Sparky and have it handle this situation. It will work against the tank, and your opponent is prevented from dropping any melee support troops (except ranged ones, such as archers or spear goblins) without getting annihilated by Sparky. However, Mini Pekka has a higher DPS than Sparky.

Against Golems, because they only target buildings, I really like dropping Sparky. Sparky will take care of the golem while you can focus on the supporting troops.

Against PEKKAs, I prefer Mini Pekka because it’ll handle her in less time. If the PEKKA gets onto Sparky, you’re toast. It’s less of a risk to drop the Mini Pekka, but I find myself resorting to the Tank and Spank most often (seen in Image 6). That’s where you absorb the PEKKA hits with a tank and destroy it with Mini Pekka or Sparky.

• Analysis:

I like Mini Pekka for PEKKAs simply because there’s less risk for a bad trade and more upside. However, Sparky can definitely work, you just need to keep the PEKKA from getting onto Sparky. Both are great options for Golem, but I do prefer Sparky. If you have a bad rotation, don’t stress about dropping one or the other to deal with a huge tank.

• Pro Tip: If your opponent drops Golem in the back, wait a few seconds then drop Sparky so she is fully changed to meet the Golem on your side of the map. If your opponent drops PEKKA, protect either Sparky or Mini Pekka with swarms or a tank.
• Bonus: Don’t drop Mini Pekka with your PEKKA when facing Sparky

Sparky vs. Rocket

One of the rare hard-counters to Sparky is the rocket, coming down in Image 8. Your opponent can drop it on Sparky and the tower, making a really good trade.

• Situation:

A Rocket on Sparky can go one of two ways. In Image 9, the rocket completely destroys Sparky and gets free damage on your tower. InImage 10, the Rocket is not a tourney levels (level 7), and Sparky survives with a sliver of health.

• Response:

If the Rocket destroys Sparky, you shouldn’t play Sparky again unless they play Rocket first.

If the Rocket doesn’t destroy Sparky, push hard.

• Analysis:

If Sparky is gone, you can’t play Sparky again. There’s nowhere you can drop Sparky away from your tower so she is fully charged when she reaches the river—and if Sparky isn’t fully changed, she can’t protect your tank from countering troops and your opponent doesn’t have to zap Sparky before taking her out.

If Sparky survives, your opponent just wasted 6 elixir to damage your tower, but Sparky is still alive and can still get shots off. That’s makes a really dangerous situation for your opponent. They can zap her down, of course, if they carry zap, but then they’ve wasted 8 elixir on a 6 elixir threat with the rest of your push still intact. It’s a bad situation for them.

• Pro Tip: If your opponent plays Rocket early, before you’ve played Sparky, commit to a big push right away because you don’t know if you’ll get the chance to get Sparky out again.

Offensive Situations
The biggest risks to Sparky on offense are clean-up troops and spells that affect her charging time:

• Ground troops
• Air troops
• Ice Spirit
• Ice Wizard
• Freeze Spell
• Zap Spell

Sparky vs. cheap ground troops and Zap

A common way to deal with Sparky is to zap her then drop low-cost high DPS troops, such as goblins. Alternatively, a shot can be wasted with skeletons then goblins can be dropped. I’ve shown this in Image 11.

• Situation:

Your opponent has zapped Sparky and then dropped goblins or cheap ground troop on her.

• Response:

With cheap ground troops, zap them, drop fire spirits, arrow them, etc.

• Analysis:

These troops are very vulnerable to any type of spell. If you have the extra elixir, you can easily keep Sparky alive. This forces your opponent to respond again, with Sparky’s charge nearly full this time. It’s great for you, bad for them.

Sparky vs. mini-tanks

Another way to defuse Sparky’s charge is to drop a mini-tank, such as Valkyrie (because at tourney levels, Sparky doesn’t one-shot Valkyrie). You can see this in Image 12.

• Situation:

Your opponent drops Valkyrie to defuse a Sparky shot to buy time and/or take her out with cheap ground troops.

• Response:

Since it takes 1.00000001 shots for Sparky to take out a Valkyrie, send in troops to do the final 248 damage to take her out, at tourney levels.

• Analysis:

If you drop a spell, you’ll have to use fireball to clean her out—arrows leaves Valk with 5 HP. Fire Spirits are great, Princess is another option, really any clean up troops are good. Even if your opponent zaps Sparky first, you’ll want to get damage on the Valkyrie so Sparky only takes 1 shot.

Sparky vs. Minion Horde

One common counter to Sparky is the Minion Horde. Immune from damage from Sparky, Minion Horde doesn’t even require the use of zap. You can see it in use in Image 13.

• Situation:

As soon as Sparky crosses the bridge, your opponent drops Minion Horde right on top of Sparky.

• Response:

There are two types of responses: preventative and responsive.

Preventative responses:

• Wizard
• Furnace
• Princess

Reactive responses:

• Fire Spirits
• Zap
• Arrows
• Freeze

If you don’t have ready splash damage, don’t zap Minion Horde.

• Analysis:

Minion Horde is so rapid at tearing through Sparky that you need to expect it to counter it well. That’s why you see Wizard so often with Sparky, because he is good at stopping Minion Hordes. Often, the first time I see Minion Horde I am not ready to counter it—but I am the second time.

The best response is to wait for your opponent to zap Sparky (or drop counter troops), then drop Fire Spirits at the bridge. Because Fire Spirits can be zapped, don’t drop them before your opponent either drops Minion Horde or zaps Sparky.

Another good response is to zap the Minion Horde, if you have Princess up. One zap + one Princess shot will annihilate a Minion Horde.

Sparky vs. Minions

Another common response to Sparky is Minions, but it isn’t as effective as Minion Horde. Here it is in Image 14.

• Situation:

Your opponent drops Minions on top of Sparky as soon as she crosses the bridge.

• Response:

If you have any type of anti-air with Sparky, use it. Minions are so slow at destroying Sparky that they can be easily countered.

Zap Minions so you have even more time to deal with them.

• Analysis:

Because minions have half the DPS of Minion Horde, you have time to work around them. With Minion Horde, you have to react instantly or Sparky is gone. With Minions, you have twice the time to take them out (and half the units to take out). Thus, you can zap and have enough time left over to save Sparky.

Sparky vs. Mini Pekka and Zap

The most common response to Sparky is to zap then drop Mini Pekka, as shown in Image 15.

• Situation:

Your opponent zaps Sparky then drops Mini Pekka at the bridge.

• Response:

At this point, you can’t do anything. The Mini Pekka will take out Sparky with 2 shots before she can get a shot off.

Don’t zap the Mini Pekka; even if you zap her, she will still destroy Sparky.

• Analysis:

Mini Pekka has such high DPS that it will destroy Sparky in 3.8 seconds. Even if you zap the Mini Pekka, she will only need 4.8 seconds to destroy Sparky. It’s close, but you can’t ever win the race (because Sparky takes 5 seconds to charge).

Sparky and Ice Wizard vs. Mini Pekka and Zap

You can support Sparky with an Ice Wizard to slow down your opponent’s Mini Pekka. It changes the math! Take a look at Image 16.

• Situation:

Your opponent zaps Sparky then drops Mini Pekka. You’re supporting Sparky with Ice Wizard.

• Response:

Ice Wizard will slow Mini Pekka just enough to let you get a shot off, if you zap the Mini Pekka.

• Analysis:

This will put you ahead because Mini Pekka won’t destroy Sparky. However, Mini Pekka will get 1 out of 2 hits on Sparky, so you will take damage. Your opponent has just spent 4 elixir to take out Sparky, and you’ve spent 2 (5 if you count the initial Ice Wizard). They’ll still have to handle Sparky somehow, and this often takes them by surprise.

Sparky and Ice Wizard vs. Mini Pekka, Ice Wizard, and Zap

This scenario is very similar to the one above, so it’ll be pretty short. You can see this situation in Image 17.

• Situation:

Your opponent zaps Sparky, drops Mini Pekka and Ice Wizard. You’ve got Ice Wizard on support for Sparky.

• Response:

Same as above. If you zap the Mini Pekka, your Sparky will survive, but it will take 1 Mini Pekka hit.

• Analysis:

I’m not sure on the numbers here, but I know that the Red Ice Wizard doesn’t add enough time to Sparky’s charge to prevent her from getting a shot off. If anyone knows the percentage slow that Ice Wizard applies and could help here, please leave a comment!

Sparky and Ice Wizard vs. Mini Pekka, Ice Spirit, and Zap

Ice Spirit is rarely seen currently, but it’s worse than zap because the freeze duration is twice as long (2 seconds). You can see this inImage 18.

• Situation:

Your opponent zaps Sparky (because she would shoot the Ice Spirit first otherwise) then drops Ice Spirit and Mini Pekka.

• Response:

There’s nothing you can do. Sparky is basically out for 3 seconds, and it takes Mini Pekka 3.8 seconds to take out Sparky without any interference. Don’t zap the Mini Pekka.

• Analysis:

At the end of the day, you can’t do anything here to prevent Sparky being taken out. Even with an Ice Wizard slowing the Mini Pekka, Sparky simply can’t charge up fast enough after 3 seconds down to get a shot off before the Mini Pekka takes 2.

Sparky and Ice Spirit vs. Mini Pekka and Zap

In this case, you support Sparky with the Ice Spirit—not as common as Sparky with Ice Wizard, but just as dangerous. You can see it inImage 19.

• Situation:

You are supporting Sparky with the Ice Spirit, and you opponent drops zap then Mini Pekka.

• Response:

You don’t have to do anything other than drop the Ice Spirit.

• Analysis:

At tourney levels, Ice Spirit can’t be zapped down, so you can even drop it early (but I’d keep it a surprise). Ice Spirit will freeze the MP for 2 seconds, enough time for Sparky to charge and take out the Mini Pekka before it takes its second shot.

Sparky and Ice Spirit vs. Mini Pekka, Ice Wizard, and Zap

In this case, your opponent is playing using Zap, Mini Pekka, and Ice Wizard. You’re supporting your Sparky with Ice Spirit, as seen inImage 20.

• Situation:

You drop Sparky and Ice Spirit, and your opponent zaps, then drops Mini Pekka, then drops Ice Wizard.

• Response:

Zap the Mini Pekka.

• Analysis:

I was surprised by this, but Mini Pekka plus Ice Wizard on Sparky will stop Sparky from getting a shot off, even if the Ice Spirit freezes the Mini Pekka for 2 seconds. However, if you zap the Pekka, Sparky has just enough time to get a shot off.

Sparky and Ice Spirit OR Ice Wizard vs. Mini Pekka, Ice Spirit, and Zap

This is a bit of an edge case, but I included it for reference in Image 21.

• Situation;

Your opponent zaps Sparky and drops Mini Pekka then Ice Spirit. You have Ice Spirit or Ice Wizard on defense.

• Response:

Don’t zap the Mini Pekka.

• Analysis:

If you both play Ice Spirit, it’s like your opponent only used Zap. As a result, the Mini Pekka will take out Sparky before she can get a shot off.

If you have Ice Wizard on support, your opponent’s Ice Spirit will create a longer effect, which means the Mini Pekka will still win the race.

Sparky vs. Barbarians and Zap

Whew, we finally made it through all the Ice Wizard/Ice Spirit combinations. This is a more rare counter to Sparky and harder to execute. To decrease the risk (if barbs aren’t placed correctly and are all in front of Sparky rather than around), normally Zap is included. You can see this in Image 22.

• Situation:

Your opponent drops zap then surrounds Sparky with barbs.

• Response:

If you just have Zap, don’t use it.

However, if you have Zap and Fire Spirits, use them. Zap and Fire Spirits will take out barbs at tourney levels, so you can catch some/all of the barbarians and Sparky could survive.

• Analysis:

If you just use Zap, you slow the barbs down, but all four hitting Sparky will take her out before she gets a shot off. Even if she does get a shot off, she won’t get all four barbarians. There isn’t a good way to get around barbarians, if they are played correctly.

Sparky vs. Freeze

This is seen less often because Freeze isn’t in the meta, but it is a really tough combo to get around. You can see why in Image 23.

• Situation:

You have Sparky fully charged, and your opponent drops Freeze on her.

• Response:

You will have to play something else on defense, or try to put down something like fire spirits outside the Freeze radius to try to protect Sparky. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything you can really do.

• Analysis:

At tourney levels, a Freeze spell will last for 4.9 seconds. It will reset Sparky’s charge, so you then add on another 5 seconds, so Sparky is useless for 9.9 seconds. In that time, your opponent will almost definitely take Sparky out. If I see a Freeze, I don’t play Sparky again that match.

Current Deck:

• Win Condition: Giant
• Win Condition 2: Sparky
• Win Condition Support: Princess / Fire Spirits
• Main Defense: Mini Pekka
• Defensive Support: Elixir Collector
• The Runner: Ice Wizard / Ice Spirit / Furnace / Defensive Building
• Versatile Response Card: Goblin Barrel / Miner
• Spell: Zap