Mmm it's-a Orange Juice
What's up everyone, this is yarn from Orange Juice
With the removal of the 11th Elixir, we're starting to see more Giant combos
Especially in tournament matches
To counter Giant combos, you need to understand how to counter him alone
Most decks have at least one building
Use this building to pull the Giant
If you don't run a defensive building and you keep losing to Giants
Perhaps it's time to consider integrating one into your current deck
This is very dependent on your meta
The optimal position is a 4-3 plant
Which is planting the building 4 tiles from the river, and 3 tiles from your Arena Tower
The Tesla is bit smaller, but the same principles apply
This is the maximum distance to pull him
Even after the Giant has crossed the river
You can plant the structure to pull him so long as he hasn't traveled greater than 2 tiles
Any further than this and the Giant will beeline straight to your Arena Tower
These building placement rules apply to all melee ground units that only target buildings
Depending on the situation, if you want the building to tank the support units
You may want to do a 4-2 plant, where it's 4 tiles from the river, and 2 tiles from the Arena Tower
I want to stress that these are the optimal building placements for optimal conditions
You may need to adapt the placement based on the playing field
When possible, treat all defenses as if there's a poison on the map
Fragile units planted on the outside radius
With Mini Tanks that can survive inside the radius
You don't want to put your eggs all in one basket
This denies your opponent from sending in a value Fireball or Poison
Depending on the type of deck you run
You can counter the approaching Giant combo with different methods
If you know your opponents rotation
And you have a good hand, such as a pusher, a small splash unit or spell and a building
You can pressure the opposite lane to force your opponent to expend elixir in the other land
They won't have enough elixir to execute their Giant combo
Then you can counter the unsupported Giant for for a positive elixir trade
Ice Spirit and Musketeer also takes out the Balloon without the assistance of the Arena Tower
If you have a momentum deck that requires a really large push
Start by planting your support unit in the very back
An experienced Giant user will have Minions that will fly straight to your defensive structure
You can use this to your advantage by baiting them if you have Fire Spirits or a Wizard in rotation
Typically if the Giant is supported with a splash unit
The Mini PEKKA is ideal to take them out
This Mini PEKKA directly counters their units, while still remaining on the map
Allowing you to snowball your defense into a huge a counter attack
If you have an Inferno, use it as a Zap bait
Release your small units after they reset your Inferno with a Zap, they're now down a Zap spell
And you have small units on the map
Countering Giant combos requires reading your opponent
Whenever a Giant is planted in the back, you can expect a glass cannon, or mini tank supporting it
The ideal situation for dealing with all of these small units is to address them individually
Pull the Giant with a 4-3 plant
Your second Arena Tower will do work to the Giant
As well as break up the combos so you can address the units individually
A Mini PEKKA addresses all of the smaller glass cannons
Small units like Goblins or Guards are great against a Musketeer and Mini PEKKA
They're one of the best epics in the game if you're fortunate enough to have level 4 Guards
Against a splasher, such as a Wizard, if you only have Minion Horde or other fragile cards
You're going to need to tank and spank
Plant a temporary tank in place to distract the splash units
Countering a Giant is not that bad, lets talk Balloons first
When a Balloon is planted on the very edge
You have to do a 4-1 plant to even consider pulling it
When a Balloon is planted on the second tile from the edge, you can do a 3-2 plant building plant
When the Balloon is planted right on the path, you can do the usual 4-3 plant
The Lava Hound behaves a bit differently, you need to do a 3-1 plant
Knowing the optimal tile positions, you can pull the Giant and Balloon with a 4-1 plant
Ice Wizard messes up the Giant Balloon combo really hard, but not many people have the Ice Wizard
If you have strong cards that can take out the Balloon in 1 swoop
You can pull the Giant a maximum distance with a 4-3 plant to fully utilize both Arena Towers
Minions are great, because they're also air units that obstruct the Balloons pathing
This can be risky if your opponent has arrows, and you use Minion Horde
Be prepared with another card and don't rely just on Minions
If you pull both the Giant and Balloon
A spell or spirit can come in handy to stun, slow, or deal burst damage
Whenever a Giant is planted in the very back
Be prepared for a big push like Sparky, accompanied with a splash unit such as the Wizard
Depending on your deck
And card rotation
You can lightly pressure the other lane
This causes your opponent to expend elixir
Then address the Giant with a 4-3 building plant
Once the Giant splits the group, you can Zap the Sparky and address the supporting units accordling
If you don't have Zap
Skeletons and Guards are perfect for absorbing 1 attack from Sparky
If you don't have any small units to absorb the Sparky
You can do a 5-1 plant and have the building pull the Giant and tank 1 shot from the Sparky
A 4-3 plant will pull the Giant
But it won't aggro the Sparky
In a pinch, the Giant is great for tanking multiple shots from a Sparky
Tombstone, Furnace and Goblin Huts are really great at distracting Sparky too
If there's a Witch protecting their Giant, a Zap takes care of that, allowing your Inferno Tower to lock onto the Giant
Splanks absolutely wreck the Witch
Especially if you manage to separate her from the Giant
A triple Musketeer is easily disarmed with Fireball and Zap
Or a double quick drop of Fire Spirits and Zap
Check out our Zap video if you haven't watched it already
The only time this combo is trouble, is when you're facing an experienced Musketeer user and they execute a split push
You'll need to pull the Giant with a 4-3 plant
Save your Fire Spirits and Zap for the 2 Musketeers
Then Goblins or Mini Tank to address the single Musketeer
This video generalizes a lot of points
But we hope you can take away from this video and apply it in real situations
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