The Hog Rider is a fast ground troop with medium hitpoints, low damage, and the ability to jump over enemy Walls. He is unlocked at level 2 Dark Barracks. The Hog Rider (person) is a bare-chested dark-skinned man holding a hammer. He has a mohawk, wears a brown leather loincloth, a red belt, and a pair of leather sandals, as well as two large golden wristbands and a gold earring. His ride is a large hog, about half his height. It has a brown leather bridle looped around its tusks, which in turn is held by the Hog Rider. Hog Riders prioritize defensive structures above all other targets, and will bypass all other types of enemy buildings and troops while any defenses remain on the battlefield. This is true even if they are under attack by enemy Clan Castle troops, heroes or Skeleton Trap skeletons. Note that like all troops that prioritize defenses, Hog Riders do not consider the Clan Castle to be a defense regardless of whether or not it contains enemy troops, but do consider the defending Grand Warden and the activated Town Hall weapon (if any) to be defensive buildings. Once all defenses are destroyed, Hog Riders become like any other troop with no preferred target; they will attack the nearest building to them regardless of type, and will turn and attack enemy units if they become aware of any nearby.He can be used to jump over any level Walls, rendering them ineffective against Hog Riders. Note that while this allows Hog Riders free access to what lies behind the Walls, it does not open up gaps for other troops to move through. If the Hog Riders need the support of other ground troops, you will still need to deploy Wall Breakers, a Jump Spell, or Earthquake Spells in order to assist them. Hog Riders can be used en masse, i.e. a "Hog Rider Rush", without requiring any Wall Breakers to break Walls. However, such a strategy can be costly in terms of Dark Elixir, and sports weaknesses against defending Clan Castle troops, Heroes, and Skeleton Traps, a problem which only becomes more prominent at higher levels. At Town Hall 10 and above, Hog Riders can be combined with Miners in a strategy known as Miner Hog Hybrid. Both troops are able to bypass Walls innately, but Miners do not have a preferential target, allowing them to cover for Hog Riders by dealing with defending Heroes and Skeleton Traps. The combination also has weaknesses against flying Clan Castle troops, as neither are able to target air. At lower levels, Hog Riders are quite capable of acting as distracting troops like Giants; they have nearly as much health as a similar-level Giant, move twice as fast, and do considerably more damage. They work well with the Healing Spell when you group several of them together. A good tactic for using Healing Spells is to place them strategically on a cluster of defenses (at least about 3 or more) and also deploy them shortly before the Hog Riders arrive in the area, i.e. deploy them ahead of the Hog Riders. This is so that the Hog Riders get the most out of the Healing Spell, and destroy the defenses without losing too much HP. Spots where Giant Bombs or Bomb Towers are/may be should be given special attention when deploying Healing Spells. Hogs of the same level as the Giant Bomb will survive a single Giant Bomb, but they're helpless against a pair of Giant Bombs even with a Healing Spell. Heal them after they've gone through a Giant Bomb blast. The Hog Rider is one of the best troop types for drawing out Clan Castle troops, as it can avoid Walls to penetrate deep enough to reach centrally-placed Clan Castles (and enough health to not die before it gets there). Deploy one or a few to trigger the Clan Castle troops, then lure the reinforcement troops to the corner side, and deploy multiple Archers or Wizards to slaughter them, and then deploy the remainder of your Hog Riders. This strategy is especially effective during Clan War raids. However, Skeletons from the Skeleton Trap and Heroes can also easily kill the Hog Riders, as they can only target defenses, so make sure to have some troops that target anything, such as Wizards, which can swipe out the Skeletons. Hog Riders don't target air so flying Clan Castle troops, especially Dragons, can be a big threat. Most mass Hog Rider strategies in Clan Wars require that the Clan Castle troops be killed first by luring. Bring other troops in addition to Hog Riders, such as Wizards, to deal with enemy Clan Castle troops and clean up the base. Poison Spells can be used to kill almost any enemy Clan Castle troop, but beware as the troops will attempt to flee the poison. If the Poison Spells are decently leveled, and you effectively keep the Clan Castle troops from escaping the Poison Spell with distracting troops, they can eliminate almost any troop. They can also be used to dispense of those pesky Skeletons risen from the Skeleton Traps. Time is also a factor to consider. With only 3 minutes in an attack, it is essential to make sure that this whole process and the remainder of the attack is done as quickly as possible to avoid running out of time.Defending against Hog Riders is tricky, as their ability to bypass Walls renders them irrelevant. However, the fact that they can jump over Walls and attack defenses means that they may leave behind their ground support (such as Barbarians, etc.), as they will not be able to follow. This will allow your interior defenses to concentrate on the Hog Riders. Another way to defend against Hog Riders is to exploit the fact that they will attack the closest defensive building. You can arrange your base in such a way so that you have high-powered defenses on the inside and lower-powered defense on the outside, with a layer of resources in between. That way, the Hogs will (in theory) complete a loop around your base before being able to attack your interior defenses (Inferno Towers, X-Bows, etc.), by which time they should have all been killed by the interior defenses. You can place Spring Traps in between defensive buildings to take out a few Hog Riders at a time; good usage of multiple Spring Traps can severely hinder a Hog Rider rush. Hog Riders can be easily killed using "forced pathing". Forced pathing is a strategy that manipulates the Hog Rider AI and makes them go to at least 2 defenses that cannot be prevented by surgical dropping or side clearing. Placing a set of Giant Bombs in between the two can most certainly hinder the attacker progress. They would not be able to heal the Hog Riders in time. Clan Castle troops, Heroes, and Skeleton Traps set to Ground Mode can be an annoyance to mass Hog Rider raids, as Hog Riders will not attack them unless all defenses have been destroyed. Make sure to centralize them if you want to beat Hog Riders. In Clan Wars, Dragons are excellent troops to place in Clan Castles against Hog Riders, especially for Town Halls 8 and 9. They have high HP, meaning they won't die easily and can kill mass quantities of Hog Riders swiftly if not properly lured. Most mass Hog Rider strategies require that the enemy Clan Castle troops be killed first, so if the attacker lures out a Dragon, but fails to kill it, then a 3-star win is next to impossible, much less a 1-star win via destroying 50% of the buildings. Multi-target Inferno Towers can be a severe hindrance to Hog Riders, having high HP to take several hits from Hog Riders, while hitting large groups of them. Although the Hog Rider is certainly not a liability on defense, the fact that all defensive troops are unimpeded by Walls negates the primary advantage of the Hog Rider. Still, for the space they take they are faster and more damaging compared to Giants.