Spiky Ball

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"Shoots a Spiky Ball which bounces between buildings"
==Summary==
*The Spiky Ball is an Epic piece of Hero Equipment for the Barbarian King. It was first seen in the first level of Haaland's Challenge, and made its debut in the Clash with Haaland medal event on May 7, 2024. Since July 9, 2024, it may appear in the Trader, where it is obtainable for 1,500 Gems.
*The Spiky Ball allows the Barbarian King to launch a spiked ball that ricochets across multiple buildings, damaging each building hit.
**The Spiky Ball will not target defending troops unless it has already hit every targetable building. Buildings cannot be hit twice by the Spiky Ball.
**If the Spiky Ball does attack troops, it can only hit ground troops, and cannot attack air troops.
*In addition to the ability, the Spiky Ball grants additional damage per second and hitpoints to the Barbarian King.
==Strategies==
===Offensive Strategy===
*In general, pairing up with either Rage Vial or Giant Gauntlet helps them clear up a compartment faster with its massive damage increase, on top of its ability.
*With the Vampstache, the King can help funnel with its extra attack speed and lifesteal for sustainability, which is especially useful for Air Spam attacks, and his higher hitpoints makes it so that he can tank the defenses for longer.
*With the Earthquake Boots, the combination of the proportional damage and from the Spiky Ball itself can destroy every building except the Town Hall, which is extremely useful against the core of the base with high value defenses that have high health.
*The Spiky Ball has more damage than the Giant Arrow, but less damage than that of the Fireball. As a Hero Equipment providing direct damage, it has its own niches to excel in where the other two may struggle; because it chains between nearby buildings, it can clear irregular clusters of buildings that the Giant Arrow and Fireball might not. The Spiky Ball is also not as timing-dependent as them, making it somewhat easier to use.
*It can be effective in ZapQuake attacks to weaken compartments and buildings for the Lightning Spells to destroy, and because of its high damage, it can be good at taking out entire compartments.
*It is quite unpredictable at first if you have not funneled and routed correctly and is a challenging piece of equipment to get high value off. However, if you have a correct funnel and a correct timing, it could be extremely effective at dealing with tanky buildings, defenses and taking out crucial targets.
*It can be used in the core of the base to damage many defenses in the core, assuming if you have destroyed most of the outside.
**However. sometimes it might hit some core defenses but then go out to hit other buildings closer to the edge, so make sure you funnel the buildings properly or block them with an Overgrowth Spell, or you might not get much value out if it!
*It is comparable to the Royal Champion's Seeking Shield, since they both hit buildings, dealing damage. While the Seeking Shield hits defenses only and deals less damage, the Spiky Ball deals more damage, hits more targets, but targets any building, which can be a double-edged sword.
*It has an impressive HP increase of 1/4th of a max-leveled King when at max level, and the highest DPS increase of any Hero Equipment, so these passive boosts are great for any attack, even if you do not get the most value from this ability, so keep that in mind.
*Using Invisibility Spells and Overgrowth Spells can also help to path this ability, which can gain more value for the Barbarian King's ability.
===Defensive Strategy===
*You can try and put high-HP buildings to try and direct it away from core defenses, storages work really well for this purpose due to their high HP and it will protect your most important defenses.
**However, this might not work if the Barbarian King also has the Earthquake Boots equipped.
==Statistics==
User 	Ability Type	Rarity	Unlock Requirement
Barbarian King	Active 	Epic 	Buy in Clash with Haaland event for 3,100 or purchasable from the Trader for 1,500
Level	Ability Attributes 	Ability Attributes	Hero Boosts 	Hero Boosts 	Upgrade Cost	Upgrade Cost	Upgrade Cost	Blacksmith Level Required
Level	Projectile Damage (per Target)	Number of Targets 	Damage per Second Increase	Hitpoint Increase	Shiny Ore 	Glowy Ore 	Starry Ore 	Blacksmith Level Required
1 	1,000 	2 	35 	365 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	1
2 	1,000 	2 	38 	478 	120 	- 	- 	1
3 	1,250 	3 	42 	590 	240 	20 	- 	1
4 	1,250 	3 	45 	703 	400 	- 	- 	1
5 	1,250 	3 	49 	815 	600 	- 	- 	1
6 	1,500 	4 	52 	928 	840 	100 	- 	1
7 	1,500 	4 	55 	1,040 	1,120 	- 	- 	1
8 	1,500 	4 	58 	1,153 	1,440 	- 	- 	1
9 	1,750 	5 	65 	1,265 	1,800 	200 	10 	1
10 	1,750 	5 	76 	1,378 	1,900 	- 	- 	1
11 	1,750 	5 	88 	1,490 	2,000 	- 	- 	1
12 	2,000 	6 	101 	1,603 	2,100 	400 	20 	1
13 	2,000 	6 	112 	1,715 	2,200 	- 	- 	3
14 	2,000 	6 	124 	1,828 	2,300 	- 	- 	3
15 	2,250 	6 	135 	1,940 	2,400 	600 	30 	3
16 	2,250 	6 	148 	2,053 	2,500 	- 	- 	5
17 	2,250 	6 	159 	2,165 	2,600 	- 	- 	5
18 	2,500 	7 	171 	2,278 	2,700 	600 	50 	5
19 	2,500 	7 	176 	2,390 	2,800 	- 	- 	7
20 	2,500 	7 	182 	2,503 	2,900 	- 	- 	7
21 	2,750 	7 	188 	2,615 	3,000 	600 	100 	7
22 	2,750 	7 	194 	2,728 	3,100 	- 	- 	8
23 	2,750 	7 	199 	2,840 	3,200 	- 	- 	8
24 	3,000 	7 	205 	2,953 	3,300 	600 	120 	8
25 	3,000 	7 	211 	3,065 	3,400 	- 	- 	9
26 	3,000 	7 	217 	3,178 	3,500 	- 	- 	9
27 	3,250 	8 	222 	3,290 	3,600 	600 	150 	9
==History==
Date 	Description
May 7, 2024 	Made the Spiky Ball available in the Clash with Haaland event.
September 9, 2024	Reduced the number of targets that the Spiky Ball can hit at every level.
*Level 1-2: 3 -> 2 
*Level 3-5: 6 -> 3 
*Level 6-8: 6 -> 4 
*Level 9-11: 7 -> 5 
*Level 12-17: 7 -> 6 
*Level 18-26: 8 -> 7 
*Level 27: 9 -> 8
==Trivia==
*Out of all the Hero Equipment, the Spiky Ball gives the highest increased health when equipped, in the game.
Category:Hero Equipment
Category:Army
Category:Home Village