Clash Royale Sparky Elixir Management Guide

Clash Royale Sparky Elixir Management Guide by MWolverine63

Welcome back to the Sparky Strategy Series—today I’m going to discuss elixir efficiency, how to make good trades with Sparky, how you can get behind with Sparky, and end with some discussion about the different Sparky deck archetypes and how they build an elixir advantage.

TL;DR:

• Elixir Efficiency
• How to Get Ahead (with Elixir & in Life)
• How to Fall Behind
• Sparky Deck Discussion

ELIXIR EFFICIENCY

When I play Sparky, I’ve noticed that early in the game I can tell how the game is going to go. I can see if I will beat my opponent, if my opponent won’t fall to Sparky, or if I might be able to pull out the W at the very end.

The reason I can tell this early is by looking at their elixir trades—how do they respond to my early defense and how do they handle my first Sparky push. If they seem to panic and throw lots of elixir at Sparky, I can tell that I will likely win, because they will get behind quickly.

People talk so much about elixir trades on this reddit that I don’t want to repeat things, but I will speak with a focus on Sparky. Sparky battles often go really far one way or the other, and there aren’t many draws.

This is because Sparky wins by building massive elixir advantages. If your opponent gets multiple troops zapped by Sparky in an effort to avoid a tower shot, he will get way behind. You can build on that advantage and likely win the game. However, it goes the other way as well. Your opponent can counter Sparky for 6 elixir or less, then his remaining troops will turn around and handle your tank.

Suddenly, your opponent has a nice counter push and you got little damage on the tower.

That’s why it’s so important to spend elixir efficiently while running a Sparky deck. You want to maximize your potential positive trade and minimize a negative one. That’s why most Sparky decks run an Elixir Collector: not because it’s necessary for high-cost pushes but because they need to recover from bad trades.

When building a Sparky deck, I pick low-cost support units—4 elixir or less. I want to have cards that will support the push effectively but at a low cost. This improves the deck’s cycling and also builds a net elixir advantage into the support itself; take, for example, Fire Spirits versus Minion Horde. I prefer Fire Spirits over Wizard because of their lower cost and same utility—you only need one shot to get rid of Minions or Minion Horde, so Wizard is overkill and expensive.

In the next section, I’ll cover some tips and tricks to building a positive elixir lead over your opponent with Sparky.

How to Get Ahead with Elixir

The best way to get ahead is to bring an Elixir Collector, which lets you passively gain elixir over time.

Here are some basic tips:

• Use Sparky on defense first

By starting Sparky on defense, you are almost guaranteed to get value from her. You spent 6 elixir on her, so you’ll need to get at least 6 elixir back to break even. One good tip is to zap the tank, so the supporting units crowd up behind it and Sparky shoots all of them at once.

• Don’t over-counter

You want to stop your opponent’s push so they don’t get too much damage on your own tower, but you also don’t want to waste elixir countering a push that would die before it reached the tower. An example of this would be wasting spells, as well. It’s tough to watch this in the heat of the moment (for me, too).

Play conservatively, but don’t give up a ton of tower damage just to save elixir.

• Prioritize defense over offense

It’s much easier to get good value from any card on defense, so I always start by focusing on defense. It’s also a good mindset to have in Sparky decks, because if you get too aggressive and don’t manage your elixir, you can fall behind quickly!

• Pick Efficient Support cards

I touched on this above, but a huge aspect of elixir management is picking good support cards. If your cards are expensive and don’t support Sparky well, you can fall behind because of how expensive the push is. If there is a card that offers similar value for less elixir, go for it.

• Track your elixir trades

Now, I don’t do lots of elixir math in the middle of a battle—but I keep a rough count of where I stand relative to my opponent. With Sparky it’s easy: just track how many troops she blows up. If Sparky is shooting down a ton of troops, you’re in good shape. If she gets tower damage, you’re also in good shape. If she doesn’t shoot down many troops or just gets 1, it’s time to pump up and defend for a while.

How to Fall Behind

• Dropping Sparky at the river

Except in very specific circumstances (i.e. you have a pre-charged Sparky already at the bridge), this is a bad move because your opponent doesn’t have as much time-pressure. They have 8-10 seconds to counter your Sparky, which is bad news. You always want Sparky to be charged at the river so she is ready to support your tank.

• Continuing to drop troops if Sparky is targeted by the tower

Once the tower locks onto Sparky, you don’t want to invest anything more into the push. Don’t drop any more troops, start pumping, and wait for the next push. However, if it is super close, you can zap the tower to get a Sparky shot off.

• Don’t get desperate

When you are behind in a battle (I’ve done it as well), it is really tempting just to drop everything in one big push and hope for the best. This often doesn’t work, and it means you won’t have another chance to come back. Keep the faith and repeat your main push as many times as needed.

Sparky Deck Archetypes

Sparky decks fall into a few basic categories:

1. Sparky Beatdown
2. Sparky Cycle
3. Sparky Distraction
4. Sparky Siege

The most common is deck archetype #1, where Sparky is paired with a Giant or Royal Giant, and your opponent is building a huge push to take out your tower. It generally includes splash support and an Elixir Collector.

Sparky cycle decks lack a true tank and rely on mini-tanks (such as Valkyrie or Bowler or Miner) to get Sparky to the tower. It plays more like a chip damage deck (and fits more under Control than Beatdown). You gain an elixir advantage more often by zapping your opponent’s troops with Sparky, rather than zapping his tower.

Sparky distraction decks utilize Sparky as a red herring. You distract your opponent with Sparky on one lane then rush the other and take them by surprise. It works the best the first time, so don’t waste it!

Sparky Siege decks use Sparky to defend a mortar or X-bow. It’s not as Sparky-centric as most Sparky decks, so it’s really a Siege deck. These decks are very rare.

If I got any of this wrong (since I’ve played mostly Sparky Beatdown decks and dabbled a bit in Sparky Cycle), please correct me in the comments!

In this section, I will provide basic guidelines for a Sparky deck under each of the 4 archetypes listed below. If you have suggestions for decks, put them in the comments!

Sparky Beatdown Archetype Deck

• Giant
• Sparky
• Splash damage support (common options: Wizard, Princess, Fire Spirits, Fireball, Ice Wizard)
• Elixir Collector
• Melee 1
• Defense 1
• Defense 2
• Spell

These decks rely on a GiSparky + Splash main push. There’s a few slots for melee support troops and a few slots for strong defensive cards, which is a weakness of this deck.

This deck archetype suffers against fast cycle decks because of how expensive the pushes are. If you are continually on defense and can’t build a push, you won’t win.

Here’s my Sparky beatdown deck (my PB is 3468):

• Giant
• Sparky
• Fire Spirits / Princess
• Mini Pekka / Barbs / Lumberjack
• Elixir Collector
• Cannon / Ice Wizard / Furnace (for more fire spirits) / Ice Spirit
• Minions / Ice Spirit / Goblin Barrel / Miner
• Zap

HOW THIS DECK GENERATES AN ELIXIR ADVANTAGE

Once Sparky is protected by the Giant, Sparky zaps as many enemy troops as possible, as well as tower damage.

Sparky Cycle Archetype Deck

• Valkyrie / Bowler / Miner / Other Mini-Tank
• Sparky
• Furnace / Fire Spirits
• Mini Pekka
• Melee 1
• Melee 2
• Defense 1
• Spell

These decks have a chip damage core, which is why Furnace is a critical card. It gets damage on the tower and protects Sparky during the push.

I haven’t played this deck archetype a ton, but it seems like you gain an elixir advantage by shooting your opponent’s troops rather than taking out his tower, which you chip damage does over time.

This deck is super low cost (think Hog cycle), so you don’t need an Elixir Collector.

• Sparky
• Mini Pekka
• Fire Spirits
• Princess
• Goblins
• Musketeer
• Arrows
• Zap

HOW THIS DECK GENERATES AN ELIXIR ADVANTAGE

This deck doesn’t require as large of an elixir advantage as other decks, because the pushes are less expensive. Sparky herself doesn’t generate much advantage except on defense and tower damage. It plays like a control deck, where positive trades with many different cards on defense add up over time.

Sparky Distraction Deck Archetype

• Sparky
• Miner
• Mini Pekka
• Fire Spirits
• Melee 1
• Melee 2
• Defense 1
• Spell

It’s hard to put together a single archetype for this deck because of how varied the decks are.

The core mechanic is a dual-lane push. Right as Sparky reaches the bridge on one side, you drop a rapid push on the other lane, trying to catch your opponent off-guard. For example, this deck would do Sparky on one lane and Miner + MP + FS on the other lane. You could throw in Goblins as one of the melee and run Miner + Goblin pushes at other times during the battle.

I don’t have an original example of this deck (if you run one of these, comment and I’ll edit it in!). Here’s a deck I would make if I were running this archetype:

• Sparky
• Miner
• Mini Pekka
• Fire Spirits
• Goblins
• Minions / Ice Wizard
• Cannon
• Zap

HOW THIS DECK GENERATES AN ELIXIR ADVANTAGE

Through split pushes, this deck tries to distract opponents, cause them to panic, and make bad decisions. Sparky helps shoot troops and your opponent will make unusually bad decisions.

Sparky Siege Deck Archetype

• X-Bow
• Sparky
• Defensive Building
• Defense 1
• Defense 2
• Melee 1
• Melee 2
• Spell

This deck is actually a Siege deck in disguise. Sparky is another defense for the X-Bow, but she will continue a push after the X-bow has died. It’s a very interesting strategy, and an unexpected one at that.

• Sparky
• X-Bow
• Furnace
• Elixir Collector
• Guards
• Arrows
• Zap
• Inferno Tower

HOW THIS DECK GENERATES AN ELIXIR ADVANTAGE

Sparky will shoot troops placed to counter the X-Bow, after giving value on defense. She may get tower damage depending on how your opponent handles the X-Bow / Sparky combo.