Lava Hound

***"The Lava Hound is a majestic flying beast that attacks buildings. The Lava Pups are less majestic angry babies that attack anything."***

## Summary

* The Lava Hound is unlocked from the P.E.K.K.A's Playhouse (Arena 4).
* It is a building-targeting, short-ranged, flying troop with very high hitpoints and small damage.
* A Lava Hound card costs 7 Elixir to deploy.
* Upon death, it bursts into 6 spread out Lava Pups, which have no preferred target and deal the same damage as the Lava Hound, but have much lower hitpoints.
* It only attacks buildings, has high hitpoints and splits into smaller units, similar to the Golem. The only exception is that the Lava Pups attack anything while the Golemites only attack buildings.
* The Lava Hound appears to be a burning rock monster with an underbite, short wings, small rocky dog ears, and small limbs.

## Strategy

* Sending the Lava Hound alone is futile. It is best to use another ranged troop to support the Lava Hound.
* Lava Hound is a good air tank with high hitpoints, so it is best used as a shield for air troops with higher damage like Minions, Minion Horde, Balloon and Inferno Dragon.
	+ It's ineffective to use the Lava Hound as a shield for ground troops, as the opponent can ignore the Lava Hound and counter the ground troops.
* Like the Golem, the Lava Hound does little damage on its own, even less than that of the Golem. Support it with high-damage cards that can use the Lava Hound as a meat shield.
* The Inferno Tower is an excellent counter to the Lava Hound, as it deals high damage to the Lava Hound while it doesn't take much damage from the hound in return.
	+ Back the tower up with a Musketeer or use Arrows to finish off the Lava Pups.
	+ Despite this, the Lava Hound may not be powerless. Send Minions to distract/destroy the Inferno Tower and the Musketeer. This will allow the Lava Hound to continue its job!
	+ Zap may also help with dealing with the Inferno Tower, as its stun effect will make it retarget the Minions, as well as resetting its damage.
	+ However, Inferno Tower will not stop a Lavahound + Balloon push by itself if the opponent uses Zap or Ice Spirit.
	+ The Tesla is much better because it can take out the Lava Hound and the Lava Pups without any support.
* If the Lava Hound is paired up with another tank, a Crown Tower will likely target the other tank after killing the Lava Hound. If this happens, have an area damage spell ready, as the Lava Pups will spawn and deal incredible damage.
* A Lava Hound is often more useful than a Golem. The Lava Hound costs less Elixir, and cannot be targeted by high-damage troops like P.E.K.K.A or Prince. Lava Pups have higher damage than Golemites. The Lava Hound also has a one second deploy time as opposed to the Golem's three second deploy time.
	+ However, one disadvantage is its difficulty to obtain and upgrade, as the Lava Hound is a Legendary. Also, it cannot be targeted by troops that cannot target air - such as Barbarians, which means it cannot distract them.
	+ Also, it has less health than the Golem both at Tournament standards and at Max level.
* The LavaLoon is a popular strategy where the Lava Hound tanks for a Balloon while it wreaks havoc on towers. It interestingly is also a good strategy in Clash of Clans.
	+ However, this strategy is easily countered if the troops have no support, because the Balloon can be taken out before the Lava Hound. For example, Minion Horde/Minions/Mega Minion can easily destroy the Balloon before it does damage to the tower if placed correctly and proceed to destroy the Lava Hound.
* Whenever defending against it, the player must be very wise in deciding what to do. A Lava Hound can shield any troop effectively, and be ready for a very strong attack if your opponent has been placing Elixir Collectors.
* If you place a Minion Horde behind a Lava Hound it will do a lot of damage, but for a heavy cost.
* Arrows are actually a good counter to the Lava Pups. As the Lava Pups are the main source of damage, wait for the Lava Hound to explode, then arrow them.
* During x2 elixir time, a very strong push can be used. Lava Hound+Baby Dragon+Inferno Dragon+Mega Minion/Minions. But experienced players can counter this without losing much health on the Arena Tower.

## History

* The Lava Hound was added to the game on 3/5/16 with the May Update.
	+ On its introduction, it was the first Legendary that a player is able to obtain, at Arena 4. Now, the Inferno Dragon is also available at Arena 4.
		- However, the Legendary Chest can contain legendary cards from any Arena.
* On 18/5/16, a Balance Update increased the Lava Hound's hitpoints by 3% and Lava Pup's hitpoints by 9%.
* On 21/6/16, a Balance Update increased the Lava Hound's damage by 28%.

## Trivia

* Before it was added to the game, the only cards that cost 7 Elixir were the Barbarian Hut & P.E.K.K.A.
* It is the most expensive Legendary card.
* It functions just like its Clash of Clans counterpart. A difference is that when the Lava Hounds get upgraded, the Clash Royale Lava Pups increase in stats, while Clash of Clans Lava Pups increase in numbers.
* Lava Pups are similar to the Minion Horde, having similar hitpoints and equal in number, but only deal about half the damage.
* Even if ignored, the Lava Pups are powerful and deal equivalent damage to a tower as a Hog Rider being hit by the Arena Tower and Archers would do.
* The Lava Hound is one of the two air troops that target buildings, with the other being the Balloon.
* The Lava Hound's attacking sounds are similar to that of the Baby Dragon.
* It is currently the only Legendary card to originate from Clash of Clans.
* When the Lava Pups spawn, they will forcefully push air troops aside.