Clash Royale Graveyard Basic Guide

Clash Royale Graveyard Basic Guide by Summer4president

Hello, clashers, today I will be presenting a guide to a very lucrative and unique Legendary card: the spooky Graveyard. This is a high risk-high reward card, meaning that if you mess up/overcommit, you lose a tower. One good push is a tower taken. My name is Summer and I am from San Francisco, California. I play Clash Royale as my favorite pastime. The Graveyard is my favorite card. For the people that do not have the Graveyard, this guide can also be useful because it shows how to counter it and what to watch out for while countering it. This is my first guide so any help and feedback in the comments are very helpful, so please don’t think I will be offended if you point out a mistake I made in formatting, grammar, or flat out misinformation. So let’s hop right into it! This guide is divided in 6 sections. There is a high chance that if I play even more matches and learned even more about this card, I will be updating this guide. If you can’t be bothered to read the whole thing, skip to the end for the TL;DR! Capitalized bold is one section, but uncapitalized bold is a subsection.

Table of Contents:

1. The basics and what you need to know before using the Graveyard
2. How to counter, common counters and how to counter those counters
a. Common counters and how to counter those counters.
b. How to counter
3. Archetypes and Synergy
a. Beatdown-Tank
b. Beatdown-Blitz
c. Control
d. Cycle
e. Specific cards that synergize with the Graveyard
4. When to use the Graveyard
5. My deck
a. Strengths and Weaknesses of my deck
6. TL;DR

THE BASICS AND WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE USING THE GRAVEYARD

-The Graveyard is a legendary card that is unlocked in Arena 5, Spell Valley.

-It is a spell, so therefore it has to be supported. It’s like fireball: you shouldn’t just throw a fireball at a tower unless you like negative trades.

-The Graveyard has a slow load time to spawn the first Skeleton. It takes 1.5 seconds to be precise, and this must be taken into consideration while playing it. A skeleton spawns at a rate of two per second or 1 per .5 seconds. This allows skeletons to accumulate quickly, meaning that it cannot be ignored.

-The placement of the Graveyard is key if you would like to have success with this great card. There are two safe positions to play the graveyard without activating the king tower. Position one is the one I do not prefer simply because the skeletons all clump up near the wall, making them easier to counter. Position two is better (in my opinion) because if the opponent places a valk, the skeletons on the side opposite to the wall do some small damage.

–Never play the graveyard alone. This is a five elixir donation and if you haven’t played it before in the match, they now know what cards you have and they know to save those cards to counter them. However, if you do play a GY alone, you can figure out their counters and you can fireball/Freeze them.

-The Graveyard’s damage varies with each spell play. Since skeletons spawn differently in different places, it usually does between 1800-2300 damage to a tower that can one-shot the skeletons. (I have seen my level 6 friend play a level 2 Graveyard).

** HOW TO COUNTER, COMMON COUNTERS AND HOW TO COUNTER THE COUNTERS**

Common counters and how to counter those counters

-The Valkyrie is the hard counter to Graveyard. Rocket+Zap would work, but it is a huge negative elixir trade. Thankfully, you do not see this card too much. Freeze is a good counter to the ginger ninja. Baiting this out with skarmy is also good.

-Skeleton Army: Effective counter if you don’t have Arrows/Zap/Fireball/Log. Use these spells if you see the doot army pop up.

-Minions/Minion Horde: Fireball/Arrows will take care of this.

-Barbarians: Fireball that and take your tower damage and that +1 positive elixir trade.

-Ice Wiz/EWiz/Witch/Musketeer/Most Other Medium-Low health troops: Same story as barbs, but the +1 trade depends. Ice Wiz and Witch don’t kill the skeletons in one shot (at tournament standards, on the ladder this could be different), so the GY still does damage.

-Spear/Goblins: Zap.

-Guards: Nobody uses them (This is surprising, they’re a hell of a good counter to eBarbs), but if you see it, arrow the shields and Zap the Guards. (OJ voice) Negative elixir trade

-Baby Dragon: Unfortunately, this is another hard counter to the Graveyard and only Rocket/Freeze can stop this angry green baby. Baiting him out by using swarm troops is also an effective counter to this counter.

-3 Musketeers: +5 positive trade with Fireball.

Archers: This is a very good counter to the Graveyard. Play it behind the circle here and enjoy your +2 positive trade.

-Summary/Best Counters: The two counters that I hate are the Valk and the Baby Drag because you need to take a freeze to counter them, and it won’t even die.

How to counter:

-The best troops to use to counter the GY are the Valk and the Baby D. I don’t suggest running the Golem+Baby D deck because if you play the Golem, you will get slaughtered by Elite barbs. Using the Valkyrie is your best bet because this+Ice Spirit counters eBarbs.

-Place the Valk right in the middle of the GY spawn area. OJ’s video is linked here for more details. Use the same logic to place the Baby D.

-Counters for every deck type used commonly with GY is right below this line of text.

ARCHETYPES AND SYNERGY

First, let’s get into the archetypes that this card fits and does not fit in.

Beatdown-Tank: This archetype shines with GY. Since the goal of the beatdown archetype is to take down your opponent in a huge push that beats down his tower, the Graveyard is no different.If you use a big, beefy tank such as the P.E.K.K.A., Giant, Giant Skeleton, or Golem. This combination works because the tank absorbs all of the arena tower arrows while the skeletons accumulate extremely quickly on the tower, taking out the tower in a matter of seconds. Countering this seems difficult, but it is actually quite simple. If your opponent goes all out with a Giant+Graveyard combo for 10 elixir, you can use a Tombstone and Guards to counter their push, equaling in a +4 positive elixir trade, in which you can use that four elixir to put a hog at the bridge when the Guards reach there. A downside of this type is these combinations being very expensive and easy to get a positive elixir trade on. Here is a good GiantYard deck that Chief Pat is using to push up globally.

Beatdown-Blitz: A blitz-beatdown is a deck that uses a very fast card like the Hog Rider, Prince, or Elite Barbarians. These fast cards pair very well with Graveyard, as the fast damage-dealer like a Hog Rider and a Graveyard combination can catch your opponent very off-guard, especially if he is low on elixir. You usually beat this combination by placing a building like an Inferno Tower or a Tombstone, and a normal counter like minions or archers to counter the GY. The downside of this is again it is very expensive and is hard to get the blitz card to the tower. Popular decks using this is the HogYard deck by Ash-Clash Royale, and the Elite Barbarian+Graveyard deck used heavily in the Electro Wizard Challenge. Here is a good HogYard deck made by Ash.

Control: Since the main goal of a control deck is to defend during normal elixir times generating positive elixir trades and using all that extra elixir during double elixir to go on a huge push that your opponent cannot stop, this fits perfectly with the Graveyard. Since the GY is a win condition, all the other cards are usually defense based, and the GY is to go on counterpushes in X2 elixir. A very popular deck is the Gravy Bowl Control. I myself use this deck, and it is very punishing if the opponent makes a misplay. To counter GY control decks, what you have to do is play passively against it, and in double elixir, try overwhelming them with a big push. Or, you can constantly chip their tower throughout the match with a card such as a miner. Here is a great Bowler Graveyard Control deck made by Coltonw83 .

Cycle The cycle archetype flourished with the Graveyard. Basically, your goal in a cycle deck is to keep cycling your tank and the GY. Generally, cheap mini-tanks like the miner and the Ice Golem work well. The GraveDigger combo is a very prolific strategy that can catch your opponent off guard. I will link a deck and guide by ICantThinkOfNameHelp here. To counter this playstyle, what you have to do is keep up with our opponent in terms of cycling and be sure to have your counter in hand.

Specific Cards That Synergize with GY -As most cards that have above 500 HP can work well with the GY, I will only include best ones. A simple Mega Minion+GY can annihilate a tower, even if the Mega doesn’t get there.

-Ice Golem: This cheap ass cold dude is an excellent tank for the GY, and this plus the GY can allow the skeletons to accumulate very quickly if the opponent does not deal with it. As an added bonus, it can slow down whatever the opponent uses to counter the GY, as they will probably worry about the GY more than the Ice Golem, allowing it to get to the tower and slow down their counter, letting more skeletons spawn.

-Knight/Valk/Most Mini Tanks: These cards are excellent with GY, especially the Knight because of his solid point damage and very high health plus the relatively cheap elixir cost of 3. The Valk is also a good counter because of her 360-degree splash damage that can wipe out skarmy. Using a Very Fast troop like Goblins or Hog Rider to push her to the tower, and she does a surprisingly decent amount of damage.

-Giant: This card synergizes veeeeeeery well with the Graveyard because he outputs lots of damage and lets the skeletons accumulate quickly. This combination is mostly used in double elixir, and I also used a variant of the GiantYard deck.

-Fireball/Freeze: These two cards synergize very well with GY, and if you have a tank that is tanking the tower hits, this combination can be very destructive, especially with Freeze because it is able to freeze the tower and the troops the opponent uses. But Freeze is a high-risk-high-reward card because you have to be at an elixir advantage when you use it, or you will probably get smashed by the counter push the opponent will have on you. Fireball is a safer option in this case, because it does chip damage to the tower, and it wipes out most of the common GY counters like Archers, Minion Horde, or Barbarians. Taking a -1 Elixir trade for countering Archers and Minions and other 3 elixir support troops the opponent has is worth it because you will most likely be getting more tower damage plus the damage you will get from the Fireball.

Electro Wizard: This electrifying wizard has great synergy with the Graveyard! If you put him down and then the GY, he will tank a few tower hits and when he zaps the tower, the tower will retarget onto the skeletons, letting the EWiz to do 200 damage each hit, along with skeletons piling up from the zaps! This is one of the deadliest combos that you can use with the GY.

WHEN TO USE THE GRAVEYARD

-The Graveyard is a card that needs very precise timing. Knowing when to use it is crucial. Usually, you want to use it when you have supporting troops that were left over from defense to counterpush with it on offense in various control decks. In a beatdown deck, usually in double elixir, you begin a big push from the back and begin to back it up with support and play the GY when your tank reaches the bridge. The optimal time to use the Graveyard is usually in X2 elixir, since it is a fairly expensive card, and you can easily afford a tank to pair up with the GY since it has a slow load time.

MY DECK

-The deck that I use is the Gravy Bowl Control deck with the Fireball. The cards are: Bowler, Fireball, Graveyard, Mega Minion, Archers, Inferno Tower, Zap, and Ice Golem. I will go into an explanation about each card in my deck, and why it is there.

Zap: This is arguably the most versatile card in the game, next to probably the Ice Golem. Its ability to stun troops even after it got nerfed from 1 second to .5 seconds is so invaluable in buying time in the last 20 seconds in the match when I need to defend my ass off. This card is also valuable for taking out cheap swarms or rendering them useless like the Minion Horde, Skeleton Army (Which are both great counters to the Graveyard) and also both Goblins and the Goblin Gang when it is released. Its cheap 2 elixir cost also is good for lowering the average elixir cost.

Meta Minion: This card is so good for taking out support troops and most troops that cannot hit air. It can also serve as a good tank for the Graveyard after it is used on defense. It also is good against Minions and Princesses, as it can 1-shot them.

Archers: An excellent anti-air card and GY counter. This card can support my Bowler on offense, support my inferno on defense, and it shreds Graveyards. shudder overall an excellent card and can fit into almost every deck, plus the cheap 3 elixir cost puts the cherry on top. Bowler: This big blue guy is a god on defense. He can take out support troops in beatdown decks, he can cancel out entire hog pushes, and he is very tanky, so he can be used on offense even at half health to counterpush with GY.

Ice Golem: This guy is an excellent, versatile cheap beast. He can be used to push with GY on the counter, play in front of your bowler that was used on defense, or kite elite barbarians to next week.

Inferno: The Tank Shredder. This guy is very good for disracting and killing mini-tanks and tanks. If it is zapped, use the mega minion for the backup tank killer and use Ice Golem to distact the support. Here is a video on how to counter big pushes.

Graveyard: The main win condition paired with a bowler. Usually, you need to use this card on the tower when you have supporting troops from defense to tank for it in double elixir.

Fireball: A direct damage spell that takes out many Graveyard counters like Archers and Minions/Horde. I personally prefer this over freeze because you don’t get played up against by a huge counterpush, and it is the safer option of the two, and I am a passive player that goes for 1-0 wins in OT.

Weaknesses and Strengths to my deck

Strengths: eBarbs, RG, Furnace.

eBarbs: Bowler is all I need to say. If you don’t have it in rotation though, an ice golem kite in these positions depending on what lane plus a mega minion does the trick. If you’re in a pinch, the Inferno isn’t too bad.

RG: Thankfully, you do not see him that much anymore. But if you do, the Inferno is the counter. Play it reactively, and be sure that it’s in range! If you don’t have it in cycle, a Mega Minion+Archers does not do too badly.

Furnace: I love playing this card. The bowler hard counters it so hard it’s not even funny. Seeing those angry emotes from your opponent is amazing! The bowler is especially good against the mirror/furnace/barrel Molt deck.

Weaknesses: Heavy Air.

This is a tricky one. I swapped Tombstone for Inferno just because of LH decks. But if i see a Hound dropped in the back, I usually go Ice Golem+GY and fireball their minions, and I know I will have enough elixir to place my Inferno because the hound is big and slow. This could backfire if you have not the optimal hand, and might have to push with a full-on 10-elixir Bowler+GY push. More info on big tank countering in yyarn ‘s video here. Let me know if you try this deck and tell me more weaknesses!

TL;DR

TL;DR: Basically, the GY is a random spell that requires precise placement and good timing and can be destructive when paired with anything that is tanking for it. The deck I use is Gravy Bowl Contol, and Fireball>Freeze IMO. These spells pair great with the GY. The Ice Golem, Knight, Giant, and Bowler are great support cards for it.