I've been playing video games pretty much nonstop ever since I got my first 360. I love arena shooters, MMOs, and MOBAs, but I'll pretty much try any kind of game.
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
As you venture through the jungle of Trophy Road, you’ll eventually make it to Arena 9 (Jungle Arena). From new skeleton spells, to barbarians in barrels, to big goblins with more goblins on them, this arena has a bit of everything. In this article we’ll go through all the new cards in Arena 9, as well as the 5 best decks for the arena! First up is our recap of all the new cards you’ll have access to in Arena 9, so let’s get right into it!
All New Cards Available in Arena 9
The new cards introduced in the Jungle Arena are all about skeletons, goblins, and barbarians. And Poison, we guess. The new cards introduced here are all important to the game, and none of them are entirely bad. Some of our featured decks include these as major, key elements, so they’re absolutely worth your hard-earned gold.
➡️ Troops: Skeleton Barrel, Goblin Gang, Dart Goblin, Goblin Giant
➡️ Spells: Barbarian Barrel, Poison
➡️ Buildings: Barbarian Hut
The 5 Best Decks for Arena 9, Ranked in No Particular Order
Arena 9 (Jungle Arena) has many great decks to try out. Here’s our list of the top 5 decks for Arena 9, in no particular order.
1. Balloon Attack
All cards in this deck:
- Balloon – air threat
- Valkyrie – ground defense
- Baby Dragon – air defense
- Goblin Hut – building
- Minions – air swarm
- Freeze – offensive spell
- Mega Minion – air defense / backup
- Electro Spirit – cycle spell with shock ability
The Balloon is a good offensive card for any arena. Since Balloon only targets buildings, all you have to worry about it is your enemy’s anti-air units and buildings. Balloon does huge chunks of damage to anything it targets and leaves behind a deadly bomb that clears out weak troops when it dies. To get the most out of Balloon, we have Freeze as a spell to accompany it. Any troops or buildings in the range of your Freeze spell will be frozen for several seconds, giving the Balloon more than enough time to take out any buildings near it.
For ground-based support, this deck utilizes Valkyrie as a way to tank damage and clear out ground swarms. Valkyrie is the strongest defensive unit in this deck, but it’s not the only one. Baby Dragon and Mega Minion both take care of air defense, and also offer strong support behind a Balloon. Minions are also here as both a defensive and support unit, as the more air units we have to go along with Balloon, the better. Goblin Hut offers both defense/distraction and a steady stream of spear goblins to support the rest of the troops. It’s a fun, powerful deck that is definitely capable of getting you a ton of Trophies.
2. Goblin Giant + Skeleton Barrel
All cards in this deck:
- Goblin Giant – self-defending tank
- Skeleton Barrel – sneaky win con
- Lightning – support for Goblin Giant
- Musketeer – air and ground defense
- Guards – defense
- Dark Prince – defense / counterpushing
- Minions – air defense
- Zap – cheap spell
Goblin Giant is one of the new cards in Arena 9, and it’s incredibly well-rounded. In addition to being a big tank, it also has built-in defenses. In its backpack you’ll find a pair of Spear Goblins, which will fight anything that gets near the Goblin Giant itself. Plus, once the Goblin Giant finally does die, the Spear Goblins will stay behind and continue fighting. But you’ll still need some other backup, as they can’t really do much on their own.
To fight alongside the main threats (Goblin Giant and Skeleton Barrel), we have Musketeer, Dark Prince, Minions, and Guards. All four of those provide a mix of air defense, swarm damage, and counterpushing potential. Paired with the two spells Lightning and Zap, you’ll be able to defend your pushes with ease. Lightning is great for taking out threats to Goblin Giant, and Zap is great to either cycle or stun major threats. It can also take out low-HP enemies like Skeletons or under-leveled Goblins.
The secondary threat in this deck, Skeleton Barrel, is best used behind a Goblin Giant or other push. When it gets to a building (hopefully a tower), it drops from the air and lets loose a group of skeletons. They’re able to do massive damage to towers, so they’re great cheap win cons to force your opponent’s hand.
3. Hog Blitz
All cards in this deck:
- Hog Rider – offensive troop
- Freeze – support for Hog Rider and Goblin Barrel
- Goblin Barrel – offensive spell
- Bomb Tower – defensive building
- Archers – support
- Knight – cheap tank
- Skeletons – cycle card / distraction
- Ice Spirit – cycle card with freeze effect
There’s always a good Hog deck for each arena, and we think this one has the most potential right now. Hog Rider only targets buildings and can jump over the river to quickly rush towers, making him much harder to respond to than most other threats. We also have Freeze in the deck to shut down any counters your opponents might try to use. It’ll guarantee that the Hog at least gets a few hits in, as long as he isn’t locked onto an enemy’s building. The second major threat in this deck is the Goblin Barrel spell. Just throw it at a tower to spawn three goblins around it that will do a ton of damage. Freeze can help defend either win con, so you’ll always be able to keep them alive for a little while at least.
For defense, we have Bomb Tower to help defend against swarms. It can easily handle any ground troops that don’t have a ton of HP, so it’s great for defending against the counterpushes that will come your way after a Hog dies. The support troops for this deck are the simple duo of Knight and Archers, which are perfect for defending against any attack and helping clean up any counterpushes. Skeleton and Ice Spirit are both here to help cycle through cards to get more Hogs and Goblin Barrels, but they can be used to distract or freeze enemies as well.
4. Spawners
All cards in this deck:
- Goblin Giant – tank
- Barbarian Hut – troop-spawning building
- Goblin Hut – troop-spawning building
- Baby Dragon – air defense / counterpushing
- Dark Prince – defense / counterpushing
- Mega Minion – air defense
- Arrows – defensive spell
- Ice Spirit – cycle card with freeze effect
This deck is all about utilizing buildings that spawn troops. Goblin Giant is here as a strong tank that contributes to the troop count (thanks to the Spear Goblins), and it provides a good frontline for your army of spawned troops. The best spawner buildings you can get by Arena 9 are Barbarian Hut and Goblin Hut, so we have them both in this deck. Barbarian Hut gives you a stream of Barbarians for only one more Elixir than the base group for 5, so it’s a great value. Goblin Hut is more flexible, as it gives troops that can target both air and ground units. Those three cards combine to make an incredibly annoying wave of enemies that your opponents will struggle to fight off.
The defense and support team for this deck is simple and powerful. Baby Dragon is a great air tank, and it also helps clear out any kind of swarm. Dark Prince can tank a shot from any troop, and provides solid damage and great counterpushing potential. Then you have Mega Minion, which is the best all-round cheap flying troop for defense. All that, along with Arrows and Ice Spirit for defense and cycling, make a really fun deck that can hang with the best.
5. Double Princes
All cards in this deck:
- Prince – major threat / counterpushing
- Dark Prince – major threat / counterpushing
- Fireball – high-damage spell
- Royal Hogs – consistent tower damage
- Dart Goblin – air and ground defense
- Ice Golem – cheap tank / distraction
- Spear Goblins – cheap air defense
- Skeletons – cycle card / distraction
Unlike most decks, this one doesn’t really have a specific win con. Instead, it relies on a combination of some of the best cards in Clash Royale, with the goal of defending any push and building an unstoppable counterpush. Both Princes take center stage here, as they both work really well together to stop any ground push and take towers quickly. We also have the Royal Hogs as a potential win con, but they’re more of a way to apply pressure than they are a win con here, unlike with some other Hog-based decks.
When it comes to pure support and defense cards, we have Dart Goblin, Ice Golem, and Spear Goblins. Dart Goblin does great DPS, so it can chip away at air tanks and towers alike. Ice Golem is mostly useful for distracting other troops, but it can also tank for the Princes when needed. Then with Spear Goblins, you can just play them behind your Prince pushes or use them to defend against air attacks. Skeletons is also in the deck, but it’s mostly used for cycling cards or to distract some slow-attacking units like Mini P.E.K.K.A.
The only spell in this deck is Fireball, but it’s essential since it’s the best one to backup your Princes. Since they are entirely weak to air-based damage, having a quick answer to both Minions and Skeleton Dragons is fantastic. Fireball gives us that and so much more, so it’s perfect for the deck.
