Hog Rider



"Having tamed the fierce leaping hog, the Hog Rider punishes those who hide behind their puny walls! Fueled by Dark Elixir, these warriors have never known defeat!"


 * Summary
 * The Hog Rider is a rugged, tanned man riding a large hog. He is bare-chested, wearing only a brown leather loincloth, a red belt and a pair of leather sandals. He has two large golden wristbands and a gold earring. His weapon of choice is a large warhammer.
 * His mount is a large boar/hog, about half its rider's height; the Hog Rider holds a brown leather bridle which is looped around the boar's tusks.
 * He is a mortal troop and can be created in multiple numbers like other normal troops.
 * Because of his hog he can jump over Walls, giving the user a great advantage over the enemy base.
 * Although he has high damage per second and high hit points, he only takes 5 minutes to train.
 * Hog Riders make good distractions when deploying other units such as Archers.


 * Offensive Strategy
 * He can be used to jump over any level Walls, rendering them ineffective against Hog Riders. Note that while this allows Hog Riders free access to what lies behind the wall, it does not open up gaps for other troops to move through. If the Hog Riders need the support of other ground troops, you will still need to deploy Wall Breakers in order to assist them.
 * The Hog Rider could potentially be used in a fashion similar to Barbarians, i.e. a "Hog Rider Rush", without requiring any Wall Breakers to break Walls. However, this would likely be a poor tradeoff of resources, as a large raid of Hog Riders would cost a significant amount of Dark Elixir.
 * Hog Riders are very capable of acting as distracting troops like Giants; they have nearly as much health as a similar-level Giant, move twice as fast and do considerably more damage (and only take up one more housing space). They do not specifically target defensive structures, however, so they may get sidetracked on resource buildings, but their wall-jumping capability can offset this drawback.
 * When used all together they can be extremely effective offensive troops, though this is balanced by the fact that you must use a substantial amount of Dark Elixir.
 * Defensive Strategy
 * Defending against Hog Riders is tricky, as wall placement becomes irrelevant when dealing with them. However, the fact that they can jump over a Wall and attack a defense means that they may leave their ground support behind (Barbarians, etc.), as they will not be able to follow. This will allow your interior defenses to concentrate on the Hog Riders. Also, Hog Riders do not have a preferred target, so placing non-essential structures near your turrets may attract the Hog Riders' attention away from more important targets.
 * Although the Hog Rider is certainly not a liability on defense, the fact that all defensive troops are unimpeded by walls negates the primary advantage of the Hog Rider. They essentially become speedy (albeit slightly stronger) Giants that take up more housing space in the Clan Castle. Given that every level of Clan Castle can hold one more Giant than it can Hog Riders (6 Giants at maximum level as opposed to 5 Hog Riders), it is generally preferred to use Giants (or other offensive troops) in their place.


 * Upgrade Differences
 * At level 3, the Hog Rider's hammer increases in size and turns black. The brass bands on the hammer's head disappear, replaced by a massive golden knob.
 * At level 5 his mohawk turns red, making it similar to that of a level 5 Goblin.


 * Trivia
 * Though the Hog Rider appears in many ways to be a mounted barbarian, unlike the Barbarian the Hog Rider's teeth appear to be in perfect condition and that he has dark, tanned skin.
 * He has more than a passing resemblance to "Mr. T", who is an American actor.
 * He was added in the March 12th 2013 update.
 * Hog Riders bounce in the air when their Army Camp is tapped.
 * You can have a maximum of 40 Hog Riders at one time in a full complement of fully upgraded Army Camps. This number increases to 45 if you include the 5 that can fit into a fully upgraded Clan Castle.
 * He is the only ground troop able to jump over Walls without using the Jump Spell.
 * They have a similar body build to the Barbarian.

