Everything You Need to Know About the Night Witch

If you have managed to grab the Night Witch, congratulations! You have one of the best cards in the game right now. However, if you don’t, keep trying! She will come eventually!

With the help of four talented Clasher’s, we have put together, for you. This amazing all in one, super comprehensive, mega guide that aims to teach you EVERYTHING you will need to know about the Night Witch and her Bats.

In this mega guide, we will go over the basics of the cards, how these cards will effect the meta, 7 of the BEST Night Witch decks to use, and cover Night Witch And the “Double Threat”. This guide will be a continuous work and progress, we will constantly be updating it so be sure to check back for updates! Please leave us comments with your thoughts and any ideas you have for the guide. Want to contribute? We’d love to hear from you!

Enjoy!

Table Of Contents

The Basics – GyroBallMetagross The Night Witch How to Counter Night Witch How to Use The Night Witch Bats Night Witch’s Effect on The Meta – GyroBallMetagross Cards That Will See Decreased Usage Cards That Will See Increased Usage The 7 Best Night Witch Decks – VoreyAddicted O K T A Y’s Golem Lightning Remix Deck Iqtaqa1’s Night Witch Cycle Deck Night Witch Graveyard Control Deck Tobi SpiritHawk’s Night Witch Heal Beatdown Deck Night Witch-Giant Combo GiWiWi Deck Hog Rider-Night Witch Deck The Night Witch And “Double Threat” – Handsome_Claptrap What is a “Double Threat”? Examples of DT decks, which are mainly off-meta except for a few Why Night Witch is a perfect Double Threat? Why The Night Witch is so strong I see a Night Witch nerf coming really soon.

The Basics

Before we get into any in-depth strategies GyroBallMetagross has provided a basic guide that goes over the basics of the Night Witch and her Bats.

The Night Witch

The Night Witch is comparable to a Mini Pekka or Lumberjack.

She has less health and DPS than both the Mini Pekka and Lumberjack

She does single-target melee damage, not splash, or spell.

The Night Witch can solo kill a Tower.

She summons Bats similarly to how the Witch spawns Skeletons and spawns Bats upon death like the Lava Hound and its Pups. This arguably gives her more healthy and DPS than both the Mini Pekka or Lumberjack.

She has a medium move speed, which is the lowest of the Mini Pekka and Lumberjack. This means that she will easily pair in beatdown pushes, namely Golem and Giant decks.

As a bonus, her Bats act as a temporary shield from possible Inferno Towers that might want to burn down said tank.

The Night Witch is unlocked from Arena 8 (Frozen Peak).

She does not attack air troops! Minions would be effective at taking her out.

How to Counter Night Witch

Hard counters include Lightning, Rocket, Poison and Fireball.

The Ice Golems death Nova will kill Bats as well as absorb plenty of damage from the Night Witch giving you time to kill her with Archers or Dart Goblin for example.

Archers one shot Bats.

Tornado + Electro Wizard/Executioner is an effective defense combo against her.

To defend a Golem or Giant push, focus on the Night Witch first.

How to Use The Night Witch

The Night Witch is a fantastic fit with any beatdown deck. Her Bats are absolutely amazing and will work great with any tank push. Plus, left alone, she can solo an entire tower herself.

For more information on how to use the Night Witch please head down to the 7 Best Night Witch Decks section for detailed explanations on how to use her with almost every type of deck!

Bats

The Bats are comparable to flying Skeletons.

They are flying Skeletons, with the only difference being The Bat’s have a very fast move speed compared to the Skeleton’s fast move speed.

They have a combined DPS of 335, compared to the Minion’s combined DPS of 252. This means that Bats have almost 33{793653e60bf2c6d512788183170b80ea7e347e273e595c4683e29e4155b44414} more DPS than minions.

Because they only cost 2 elixir, they will fit into many cycle decks like Hog Rider and Miner.

Because the stats mirror those of Skeletons, Bets will be a cheap answer the Graveyard, forcing Graveyard players to use Poison, Zap, or Arrows to exterminate the Bats.

GyroBallMetagross has also provided us with a prediction of the Night Witch’s effect on the meta and what you should expect.

Cards That Will See Decreased Usage

Minions

Bats are simply better Minions that die to Zap. Apart from the fact that Minions are a bit more spell and damage resistant, there’s almost no reason to use Minions with the introduction of Bats. Minions will surely fall out of the meta.

Mega Minion

I believe this card will be hit the hardest with the introduction of Bats and Night Witch. It wasn’t very common to have Mega Minion be swarmed, the only instances being against Minion Horde (which is a 5 elixir card) or a bunch of Spear Goblins from their spawner (which is very uncommon, and also a 5 elixir card). With Bats and Night Witch in the game, Mega Minion will have a very hard time dealing with the swarm of Bats, both of which will probably be in the meta unless they receive nerfs or reworks. Mega Minion will probably fall out of the meta if Night Witch remains popular.

Graveyard

Bats and Night Witch are both excellent answers to Graveyard. The former being a cheaper option while the latter offers a counter push. Poison and Freeze are expensive answers against the Night Witch, meaning that a surprise Graveyard push will almost never have enough elixir for those spells. Zap is the optimal spell to get rid of Bats, but that means the tower will retarget onto the Skeletons resulting in less damage for the Graveyard player.

The Log

The log’s ineffectiveness against these new units will probably have it drop in usage aginst decks that are more weak to air in favor of Zap. The cards usage will drop, but will still be used a lot because of bait decks.

Mini Pekka/Lumberjack

Power crept by the Night Witch which offers much more utility and arguably more DPS. Though only the Lumberjack is present (rarely) in the current meta, there will most likely be 0 usage of these cards in the Night Witch meta.

Knight

This mustached fellow has a tough time against high DPS units. As Lumberjack, Mini Pekka, and Pekka are rarely seen in the current meta, the Knight shines. However, with the release of the Night Witch, the Knight struggles to take her on and cycle decks utilizing the Knight will most likely switch back to the Ice Golem.

Skeleton Army

Skarmy does an excellent job of cleaning up supports units. Against Night Witch, they will be able to take her out but the remaining bats will be monstrous. There will usually be 6 or 8 after she dies. If the Night Witch was supported by a tank, you have to Zap or Arrow the Bats. Additionally, Bats on offense will quickly wipe out the Skeletons from the army, resulting in a need to take out the Bats using splash units or spells.

Minion Horde

Though they will probably still see some usage in 3 Musketeer decks, the few spell bait decks utilizing Minion Horde will most likely switch over to Bats as they simply offer much more utility in exchange for a bit of HP and DPS. The prevalence of Zap will definitely hurt its usage. Even if Minion Horde counters Night Witch, there are cheaper and more effective counters out there, such as Princess, Electro Wizard, Goblin Gang, and Fire Spirits.

Cards That Will See Increased Usage

Zap

Zap is a quick way to neutralize a dead Night Witch’s Bats, as well as take out Bats for a neutral trade. Many beatdown and cycle decks will want to carry Zap because of Bats.

Princess

Princess one shots Bats of any level. This means she is excellent at clearing out the clutter on defense, as well as eliminate most of the Night Witch’s DEPS. Because the usage of The Log will lower a bit, she’ll become much more viable in decks outside of spell bait.

Executioner

Executioner completely shuts down Night Witch and also kills Bats in one attack. He’ll be very useful in control decks and might steal some of the spotlight from Bowler.

Ice Golem

The introduction of Bats and Night Witch is an indirect buff to the Ice Golem, as his frost nova now kills more than just Skeletons. He negates almost all of the damage from a lone Night Witch and can eliminate a swarm of Bats if things get out of hand. Ice Golem will most likely steal the role of the mini tank that the Knight usually fills in many decks.

Tornado

Wit the increased usage of splash attackers such as Executioner and Princess, Tornado will complement both cards, as well as counter Bats and Night Witch fairly well.

Dart Goblin

As a result of The Log’s decreased usage, Dart Goblin will most likely start seeing usage in certain control and spell bait decks. Additionally, Dart Goblin’s fast attack speed means that he’ll have a favorable matchup versus Night Witch and Bats.

Pekka

Wit the surge of Giant and Golem beatdown decks consisting of Night Witch, and a swarm card that Pekka ignores named Bats, Pekka will shine in this meta. Pekka + Zap will shut down and beatdown push, which will keep the tank meta in check. Spell bait decks will still be a pain for Pekka decks, however.

Lightning

Lightning kills the Night Witch, leaving her only her Bats left, which are much easier to deal with. Though this is a negative trade, it will be very easy to find value with Lightning, on offense and defense. Lightning will probably be the heavy spell of choice for many decks, stealing the role of Fireball and Poison.

The 7 Best Night Witch Decks

Hey everyone, VoreyAddicted here with Clash Royale Strategies to outline the best Night Witch Decks so far! There are many known popular Night Witch decks out right now, and you may know quite a few of them. There are also many obscure ones that are hidden under the radar. Do you have what it takes to master these decks?

1) O K T A Y’s Golem Lightning Remix Deck

As you may know by now, “O K T A Y” has remixed and popularized TMD Yao Yao’s Golem Baby Dragon deck. Using Lumberjack, he has surged to the top of the leaderboards. Yet, people found out a way to make it even better. By replacing Lumberjack with Night Witch, people have destroyed in challenges and in ladder.

General Rundown

Using the same strategies as O K T A Y, place down as many pumps as you can before double elixir, using minimal resources to defend.

If you need a little bit of extra elixir, don’t hesitate to ignore something as small as Minions. They will do minimal damage to your tower and you should be able to pump up quicker.

At double elixir, place the Golem in the back and watch the other lane for a counter push. Keep building up your push until it becomes almost unstoppable.

Also, if you see an opportunity and you have an elixir advantage, don’t be afraid to strike! Even if you end up with a negative elixir trade, you have dealt enough damage to be able to go right through the tower next time around!

Pros

This is a very reliable golem deck won’t be dropping out of the meta anytime soon. It would be a smart choice to level up this deck to use efficiently in ladder.

Even if the Night Witch gets nerfed, this deck will still work very well.

The cheap cycle potential of this deck is tremendous, and should not be ignored.

The push that you can build up is extremely strong and is almost impossible to stop a lot of the time.

Cons

This deck is weak to many cards in the meta, such as Inferno Tower and Tornado.

Good Against

(Bolded are advantageous matchups)

Giant Graveyard Control

3 Musketeer Cycle

LavaLoon Beatdown

Mortar and X-bow Cycle (without Inferno Tower)

Hog Cycle

Chip Cycle

Weak Against

(bolded are disadvantageous matchups)

Executioner Tornado Control

Mortar and X-Bow Cycle (With Inferno Tower)

Hog Cycle

Suggested changes

Mega Minion -> Electro Wizard

Log -> Arrows

2) Iqtaqa1’s Night Witch Cycle Deck

A Reddit user by the name of “Iqtaqa1” came up with a Night Witch deck that shocked tons of people. Consisting of 3 known low-tier cards and an average cost of 2.1 elixir, this deck managed to best even the top players in Grand Challenges. I have used a variation of this deck with massive success, getting 12 wins in Classic Challenges and 5-10 wins in Grands. Plus, I bested my trophy high of 4890 and kept on climbing; past 5k!

General Rundown

Get to know your opponent’s deck very well. This is a very situational deck; if you make one wrong move, you can lose.

To build a successful push, you need to start with ice golem in the back and be mindful of any spells that they might have. Once you get to the bridge, Clone and Rage immediately (budget your elixir very well, or you will stop short of a good push).

If your first push doesn’t work out as intended, try again! Find a workaround to their deck (i.e., slow cycle and/or specific counter cards).

If you took a tower and you know that if you pushed, the opponents would take your tower. Be mindful of this fact when time is running down. Go for the draw or one tower win; if possible!

If they have specific counters to your deck, split the Night Witches and keep them spread out. This will prevent easy spelling, such as tornado and fireball.

Pros

For ladder, this deck can be extremely under leveled and still net you wins very easily. You might not get three crowns often, but it is easy to secure a crown and wait it out.

For challenges, this is a huge push maker in a very brief time. You can get three crowns very easily with this deck if you play correctly.

The extremely cheap cycle of this deck should not be ignored, as double lane pushing will be a huge threat to even Tornado Control players.

This deck is surprisingly reliable for farming crowns and challenges.

Cons

This deck is highly situational; some matches are instant wins, while others are instant losses.

If you keep facing opponents with counters to your deck, you WILL lose a lot.

The defensive capabilities are pretty good, but be careful of double or triple spell combos that can ruin your whole defense and counter push.

You will most likely start off with a bad hand, so you must cycle to the right card rotation to start a push.

Good Against

(Bolded are advantageous matchups)

Golem Beatdown

LavaLoon Beatdown

3 Musketeer Cycle

Graveyard Freeze Control

Mortar and X-Bow Cycle

Weak Against

(bolded are disadvantageous matchups)

Executioner Tornado Control

Graveyard Poison Control

Hog Cycle

Suggested Changes

Ice Golem -> Knight

Zap -> Arrows

Clone/Rage -> Freeze

Ice Spirit/Skeletons -> Elixir Pump

3) Night Witch Graveyard Control Deck

Shortly after people started winning the Night Witch Challenge, this deck was everywhere in challenges. Being a stable giant graveyard deck, many people flocked towards it; winning lots of battles. This deck features reliable win conditions, well-rounded support troops, and the elixir pump. Finally, with the addition of skeletons, a player can cycle back quickly to their elixir collector, not losing much defensive value from picking another card.

General Rundown

Starting off, you want to cycle to your Elixir Pump as quickly as possible to start gaining an elixir advantage. Unlike most pump decks, this one makes you focus on what deck archetypes your opponents are using and playing around them.

The Night Witch is going to be your best defensive card; play her whenever a push is coming up to ensure that your tower takes minimal damage.

After you have built up an elixir advantage (it does not have to be double elixir), place your Giant in the back and watch for other lane pushes. These should not be any trouble.

If it’s necessary, use your Graveyard to protect your Giant, as Graveyard will be your opponent’s primary focus.

Pros

This deck works well in ladder, even when under leveled. However, you might want to switch Electro Wizard for something else, as it can be one shot by Fireball.

Even though defensive potential looks weak on paper, the Night Witch keeps spawning Bats to distract the opponent’s troops.

This deck can build up a double lane push very quickly, so don’t forget to cover both lanes if you see the opponent focusing only on one side.

Cons

Air defense is weak, see you might want to switch out a card for another that can deal with air.

Be careful of Graveyard RNG. We all know what happens when that one Doot hits the King Tower.

Splash damage only comes in the form of Poison and Log. Be careful of swarms, as you can’t deal with them very well.

Good Against

(Bolded are advantageous matchups)

Hog Cycle

Mortar and X-Bow Cycle

LavaLoon Beatdown

3 Musketeer Cycle

Weak Against

(bolded are disadvantageous matchups)

Graveyard Poison Control

Executioner Tornado Control

Swarm Cycle

Golem Beatdown

Suggested Changes

Electro Wizard -> Splash Unit

4) Tobi SpiritHawk’s Night Witch Heal Beatdown Deck

Recently, a player by the name of “Tobi SpiritHawk” created a curious Night Witch spam deck that a lot of people have picked up. Not only is it very fun to use, but also counters one of the most dreadful archetypes that there are: Tornado Control decks. With the Mirror, a player can do a myriad of actions, such as mirroring the Elixir Pump for a bigger elixir advantage, mirroring the Night Witch to create a Bat storm, or mirror the Heal to power through the executioner-tornado-fireball combo!

General Rundown

Starting off, you want to cycle to your pump and mirror it. Even when the mirrored pump gives you a smaller elixir advantage, it is better in the long run.

Follow your opponent’s playstyle. Are they predictive, or are they able to predict your moves? Adjust your play style according to the opponent.

At double elixir, you want to always keep pressure on the opponent in multiple places, as you will have many pumps around the map.

If they use spells to hurt your support troops, always use heal to keep them safe! You might end the game earlier with the win then later, where your opponent has fully learned your deck!

Pros

This deck will overwhelm the opponent when played correctly.

You can easily mirror the pump to frustrate the opponent and force them to make a move.

Heal will power through most spell combos, and if you can mirror Heal, you can easily outlast your opponent’s troops.

The close range aspect of this deck is really good, so you might want to wait until troops move closer to deploy yours.

If you fail a push, you can quickly rebound.

Cons

The ranged aspect of this deck is practically nonexistent, so you might want to switch a card or two if some decks are giving you trouble.

Many double and triple spell combos can wipe out your push.

Good Against

(Bolded are advantageous matchups)

Lavaloon Beatdown

Golem Beatdown

Executioner Tornado Control

Hog Cycle

Graveyard Poison Control

Mortar and X-Bow Cycle

Weak Against

(bolded are disadvantageous matchups)

Spell Bait Decks

3 Musketeer Cycle

Suggested Changes

Mega Minion/Skeletons -> Splash Unit

5) Night Witch-Giant Combo

The Night Witch, if used appropriately in conjunction with the Giant, can work wonders in actual gameplay. How could any opponent tackle an air and ground combination, especially if they can be used together? Remember the Royal Giant-Minions deck or the Barbarians-Minion Horde one? These two strategies work effectively in the lower arenas. However, you are bound to aim for the higher arenas after acquiring the most elusive Night Witch card. Here’s the most basic way in which you could go about winning with it.

This is the cheapest deck that you could use in conjunction with the Night Witch. The Arrows and Zap are mostly used for defense purposes. Take down a swarm of troops with the help of those spells. The Giant should ideally be used as a surprise troop. So, don’t deploy it in the initial stages of the battle.

At the start, all your need to do is to tackle any attack that might come your way with the help of Musketeer or Spear Goblins, along with the spells. You may slip the Hog Rider in the other part of the arena just to frustrate your opponent. If you are able to defend your towers with the help of support troops apart from the Night Witch, you will stand a high chance of winning the battle with the Giant, Night Witch, and the Miner in tow in the double elixir stage of the game.

Any air troops can be countered with the help of the bats, so make sure that you deploy the Night Witch near the King Tower. The Spear Goblins could possibly aid you in the late attack if you use your elixir wisely.

6) GiWiWi Deck

In Clash of Clans, the GiWiWi would mean Giants, Wizards, and Witches. However, in Clash Royale, it implies Giant, Witch, and Night Witch. Many clashers have known to try this strategy but to no avail. A part of the reason why this strategy may have failed for most would be the combination of the remaining troops and spells.

Your main attack combo would obviously involve the Giant, the Witch, and the Night Witch. All you will need is to defend your tower from the possible onslaught of your opponent. The Inferno Tower and the Fireball would be your best bet. You may even use the Spear Goblins or the Minions to kite the opponent’s attack.

As soon as you reach the double elixir stage, don’t hesitate to deploy the Giant along with the Night Witch. The regular Witch can be dropped near the bridge. A combination of air and melee multiple-damage can rain chaos on the defensive strats of the opponent. The Witch will destroy any oncoming air defense whereas the Night Witch will obliterate any ground cover thrown by the enemy. The Giant will obviously target any building that comes in the way of your attack.

7) Hog Rider-Night Witch Deck

In the lower arenas, the Hog Rider works well in conjunction with the Skeletons or the Fire Spirits. However, did you know that with the Night Witch in your repertoire, you can use this strategy in the higher arenas as well?

Deploy the Elixir Collector as soon as you get it. The Log, the Zap, and the Fireball are primarily used for defense. You can also use the Skeletons to lure the opponent’s offensive troops to the center of your arena. Your main offensive army would include the Hog Rider followed by the Night Witch and the Mega Minion. The Night Witch will tackle any melee defensive troops whereas the Mega Minion would take care of the air troops. Thus, they will make way for your Hog Rider to attack the tower.

You may use this strategy in the earlier part of the battle as well, with the help of the Elixir Collector. During double elixir, this plan of action will definitely overcome any defensive procedure put forward by the enemy.

What do you think of these decks? Do you think that the Night Witch will change the meta more than it has already? Let us know in the comments section!

The Night Witch And “Double Threat”

Handsome_Claptrap here! The Night Witch is very strong because she is the embodiment of the rather off-meta “Double Threat” concept – Let’s go over what this means.

What is a “Double Threat”?

Most strategies in CR rely on having a single main win condition, with your whole deck centered around supporting it and making it successful.

Double Threat is a strategy that isn’t mentioned a lot but is used a lot of times without even realizing it. It consists of pushing with two different menacing cards that require specific counters or pushing both lanes at the same time. The purpose of this is that your opponent is less likely to have the right set of cards needed to counter both threats: most of the cases a threat is countered and the other not, or both are not completely countered (note: countering both is still possible, that’s the reason they are not so meta). You basically have two co-win conditions, none of them is great when used alone, but used together they can be quite successful.

Examples of DT decks, which are mainly off-meta except for a few

Most Three Musketeer decks. Split pushing they create a double threat.

Miner Poison PEKKA. The PEKKA is easy to stop but usually requires a lot of focusing on him, which leaves the tower open to the Miner chipping.

PEKKA Sparky Graveyard. Really underused and more a Triple Threat, but in the hands of good players it can be surprisingly effective. When all these 3 cards are deployed, each of them requires a quite specific counter, failing to counter even 1 threat means the tower is doomed.

Most Sparky decks in general. Giant Sparky, Giant Skeleton Sparky, Hog Sparky and so on.

Most Graveyard decks. Either you counter the Doot party or the Giant/Bowler tanking for them.

Lava Hound decks in the past like LavaJack. Contrary to LavaLoon, in the past Hound players exploited the fact that first, you needed to counter a flying tank, so DPS and single hitters were ideal, after that you needed to counter Lumberjack + pups, so ground troops, fast hit rate or spells were needed.

Tank + Lumberjack decks. Either you leave the LJ to rampage or you kill him and rage the tank.

Most Miner decks. Either you deal with the push that went trough the bridge or with the Miner chipping at your tower.

Overall, cards that exploit the most the DT concept are PEKKA, Sparky, Graveyard, Giant Skeleton, Miner, Ballon, Lumberjack and Hound decks that exploit the Pups.

Why Night Witch is a perfect Double Threat?

Night Witch causes a lot of trouble cause she is melee glass cannon, which passively generates flying swarms. This is already a DT, but on top of that:

She is very cheap.

She has both defensive and offensive value.

The two threats compliment each other well.

Addressing the Bats before killing the Witch can leave you exposed against the death spawns.

Addressing the Witch before killing the Bats can prove hard unless you have the right cards.

Basically, to defend from Night Witch you need a very specific counter: either a lasting splash source like Poison or Executioner or a quick DPS-splash combo such a Mini Pekka on her and a Zap.

Why The Night Witch is so strong

The issue with DT strategies is that they are expensive as fuck. PEKKA Sparky Graveyard can be deadly, but we are talking about an 18 elixir push that requires spell support! This makes so that DT decks have to be used with skill, strategy, good timing and awareness of the opponent cards and cycle, otherwise you could get easily counter pushed very hard. This also means that is possible to get positive elixir trades if you have the right counters available.

The Night Witch instead is a DT that is very cheap, so basically you will almost always have to use 2 cards to counter her, which means that is borderline impossible to get a good trade against her unless you kill other troops along with her (like with Executioner + Tornado or Poison).

Outside of the few hard counters she has, soft counter combos can prove troublesome because generally, they are more expensive that 4 elixir. This wouldn’t be an issue if the defense were left alive for a counter push, but generally, the Bats are so fast and immediate that they hurt your troops instantly, hindering your counter push.

This also explains while Mirror Night Witch strategies are so viable: Normally, a card offers only 1, 2, max 3 qualities, like DPS and anti-air (Mega Minion), splash and mini tank (Valk) and so on, so mirroring the troop isn’t ideal because it is better to place another troop to build and all rounded push. Instead, Night Witch offers pretty much all roles except mini tank (she has DPS, fast speed, anti-air, fast hit rate trough the bats, swarm status which distracts single hitters and so on) so mirroring her proves effective.

I see a Night Witch nerf coming really soon.

I imagine that SC didn’t release Bats along with Night Witch so that she acts as a benchmark for Bats.

Bats, in fact, are the part fo the NW that causes most troubles and supplies more qualities to her, so I think they will get nerfed in the next balance change. Probably SC is taking more time for this round of balancement for this, I really hope she gets nerfed otherwise we will have a full hellish month before the next round, which will get even worse if Bats release the way they are now. I’m having nightmares just thinking about over leveled Bats defensive potential, such DPS, much cycle, so swarm.

The End

As always, you are welcome to share any other effective Night Witch strategies or decks that you may have come across during the trial and testing period. We are consistently looking out for improved game plans that could possibly render the Night Witch absolutely unbeatable!

Thanks again to all of the contributors for this amazing guide.