Clash Royale Giant Bowler Decks and Counters Guide

Clash Royale Giant Bowler Decks and Counters Guide by Microcras

Intro:

I’m ChickenBob (or Squakbot YT) from the clan Silent, a top 50 global clan. I have placed 2nd in the SMC, 3rd in a 15k, and first in an ESL Game Cup with giant bowler as well as rocket cycle. This deck is the beatdown variant’s ultimate form. The scary papa of the shadow realm. Hold your applause for the cancer that is giant bowler poison. You will win challenges, tournaments, and maybe a log with this beast of a deck.

Alot of you guys have complained about the tank and giant meta. Well if you don’t like giant AT ALL check out my previous guide above as I detail the deck that is the number one counter to giant poison.

Deck List:

edit Now that inferno dragon and mega minion came out I recommend replace ice wiz with musketeer or replacing mini pekka with mega minion or inferno dragon.

SHT Giant Bowler

Someone had the smart idea to put in bowler in the “flex spot” of the OG giant poison deck.

Giant, Poison, Bowler, Mini Pekka, Pump, Guards, Musketeer, Zap

Giant Bowler Evolution

Darwin’s theory at its best. A giant deck better suited for a giant ebowler.

Giant, Poison, Zap, Pump, Bowler, Mini Pekka, Ice Spirit, Ice Wizard,

*I’ve seen lumberjack instead of mini pekka and musketeer instead of Ice Wizard

Pcats Mega Bowler

Giant, Poison, Zap, Pump, Bowler, Mega Minion, Ice Spirit, Musketeer

Hazard Light Bowler

Giant, Lightning, Arrows, Bowler, Tombstone/Skeletons/Pump , Ice Wiz, Ice Spirit, Mini Pekka

Bowler Defensive Cheese

Giant, Bowler, Inferno Tower, Poison Zap, Mini Pekka, Miner, Ice Spirit

Combo of Miner Poison Burn and Giant Poison

Pony Boy and Purple Squidward

Giant, Bowler, Prince, Ice Wiz, Ice Spirit, Pump, Poison, Zap

Some people throw in a mega minion for fun lol

How to Play:

I will only focus on Giant Bowler Evolution since it is the standard giant bowler.

This deck is COMPLETELY based on the bowler and its high counterpush ability. If you cannot use the bowler to its full potential or cannot counterpush with it just call it a day. So how DO you use the bowler effectively? Alot of people think it’s very easy to drop a bowler and then just defeat a whole push. Its actually not that easy especially against an experienced player.

Let’s start with how bowler works. You want the bowler to push back cards as much as possible and for the bowler to control a lane. You don’t ever use bowler for the damage. You only use bowler for its tankiness and its ability to scramble pushes and defenses. If bowler is pushing back a mini pekka but the mini pekka isn’t being targeted by the tower or any other high dps troop that is a loss.

Ok lets first talk about how to start a game. You want to start off with one pump. You never want to make the first move with giant bowler. You usually want to start the game by testing the waters. Drop a low investment low elixir troop in the back like Ice Wiz or Ice Spirit. Try to cycle to pump as quickly as possible. The farther away your pump is in your cycle the more elixir you have to “throw away” or use badly, which gives you an elixir disadvantage. Recognize that by not going on a reckless push. The more you pump, the less risky it is for you to pump. Defend miners from your pumps with ice spirit + a troop.

Ok now to play defense. A bowler and an ice spirit should stop any small pushes such as hog rider valk or knight goblins and musketeer, and so on. You only want to setup a full defense when the enemy is setting up a multilayered push either from the back or from a counterpush. If you see the enemy setting up a push never set up a bowler since bowler is such a huge one lave investment. A good opponent would immediately splitpush. I would start off with ice wizard or mini pekka if it is a giant or a tank. This is where ice wiz and ice spirit is key. You must play them in the most effective way possible that’ll buy your bowler and mini pekka more hits. The more pushbacks from the bowler, the more mini pekka swings. The more slow from ice spirit and ice wizard the more bowler pushback. You really want to have a cycle with ice spirit or ice wiz combined with bowler. A wasted ice spirit on a defense may not seem like alot but 2 seconds is way more valuable than just 1 elixir. Some situations require a giant in front of your defense to tank and spank but use this rarely and smartly. Once you drop a giant you have to commit into an offensive push. Placement is also key since a giant up front will be too far from your support and it will die before your support can arrive.

Time for offense baby. Bowler is not a good 5 elixir offensive investment just by itself. It’s not a mini pekka. Since you don’t want to drop a bowler just for offense, you really want to setup a good defense with bowler + one support troop (mini pekka or ice wizard). This is where you drop a giant in front of the defensive remains even if you have a pump in your hand. However do not do that when you have a sever elixir disadvantage or if you only have a lone bowler from defense and no support troops. Pump is not vital for this deck. It’s just there so that you have enough elixir to setup a good defense since this deck gains the most positive elixir trades from a good defense. If you do use your ice spirit or ice wizard correctly, you will not have a supporting troops surviving from a defense and you don’t want to support a lone bowler.

Basically if you set up pumps, you can set up a good defense with bowler + support If you set up a good defense, you can use ice spirit and ice wizard to slow down the push and protect your bowler + support to gain an elixir advantage in the form of a counterpush. If you protect your bowler + support, you could drop a giant in front and begin your push. If you fail at any point of this cycle, reset by pumping up.

Once you have a push going with Giant, Bowler, And One Support Card (Again Mini Pekka or Ice Wiz), you want to back them up with an ice spirit. Then either poison or deploy another support card depending on how the opponent will try to counter your deck.

A good player can manipulate or tell the enemies cycle and send the right support to take advantage of that. For example enemy drops minion horde to counter your giant, bowler, mini pekka. You know that minion horde is their best defensive option in their hand and you poison/zap and ice spirit prehand, stopping a minion horde devestaion.

What if you opponent doesn’t send a push at you for you to counter push with?

Always deploy ice wizard or ice spirit in the back to cycle to another pump. If they have a pump poison it. If they have a poisonable troop in the back, poison that and the tower. You never want to randomly just drop a giant, mini pekka, or a bowler in the back. If you must, you could drop a giant in the back if you don’t have ANYTHING in your hand.

This deck lacks alot of ways to punish bad play or large elixir investments. I would not recommend doing this if you don’t have a feel for the deck, the enemies cycle, and the enemies elixir, but in order to punish sometimes it is advisable to drop giant, mini pekka, ice spirit at the bridge with sometimes an ice wizard or a poison to support. Most of the times you’ll be doing this against lavahound decks by splitpushing.

How to Counter: Read “How to Play” and force the opponent to do the opposite. Manipulate their cycle by sending small test pushes. You never want to invest into a big push against giant bowler. If you do, you have to distract the bowler somehow. This is possible with a miner or a tank. With a tank, you must wait till the tank goes close to the bowler and then the bowler will turn around. Bait out the bowler and mini pekka and then invest into a big push. Once the bowler and mini pekka is out the oppoenent would be stuck with nothing in their hand. Also splitpushing is extremely advisable against a bowler just because of bowler’s lane control abilities. Never poison or fireball enemy pumps since a giant bowler deck does not have to rely on its pumps. Also, poisoning or fireballing a bowler player’s defense is crippling. Even though it doesn’t kill anything it weakens everything severly. Never allow a giant bowler player to build up a big push. if the opponent abandons their bowler that is a win. A bowler is easily counter able by itself. You will find an ice spirit slowing down your momentum of many of your pushes.

Advanced tech: With a well timed zap you should be able to stun the ice spirit and then kill it. Similiary, a miner or a poison with a quick zap kills ice spirit.