Lava Hound COC

Air Defenses are a magnet for these dragons, who offer protection to allied troops. Once defeated, they unleash weaker and smaller dragons.

Lava Hound Clash of Clans Summary

The Lava Hound boasts impressive aerial tank capabilities, with a high hitpoint count and moderate speed. Its damage output may be low, but that doesn’t detract from its usefulness. It’s important to note that this unit can only be unlocked once Dark Barracks level 6 has been achieved.
The Lava Hound is a fearsome creature that resembles a canine, with small wings and rock plates that cover its body. Lava flows through the seams, making it a formidable opponent.
Upon its defeat, the Lava Hound detonates, inflicting harm in the vicinity and releasing Lava Pups that promptly assault nearby targets.
It is crucial to understand that in battles, Lava Hounds have a specific target priority. Their main focus is Air Defenses, and they will disregard all other enemy buildings and troops until all Air Defenses are destroyed. Even when under attack by enemy Clan Castle troops, heroes, or Skeleton Trap skeletons, they will maintain their focus on the Air Defenses. It should be noted that Lava Hounds, like other troops that prioritize defenses, do not consider the Clan Castle to be a defense, even if it houses enemy troops. However, they do recognize the defending Grand Warden and activate Town Hall weapons (if any) as defensive buildings. Once all defenses have been taken care of, Lava Hounds will attack the nearest building to them, regardless of type, and will engage in combat with any nearby enemy units.

Strategies

Offensive Strategy

Lava Hounds have high health and are essentially the aerial equivalent of the Golem. They can be used to protect Dragons, Minions, Healers, and Balloons, much like how Golems can protect a group of Wizards or Witches. Due to their priority against Air Defenses, they can easily occupy them while other troops decimate the base – they deal little damage on their own and almost always require support from something else.
- However, it is not a good idea to use Baby Dragons with them as they can’t activate their rage ability while near other aerial allies.
Be sure to keep it away from single-targeting Inferno Towers, which can kill it with ease.
- However, it may also be helpful if the Lava Hound pops on top of the Inferno Tower since the Lava Pups can distract the single-target Inferno for some time.
- It is a good idea to bring a Freeze Spell if a single-target Inferno Tower is present since the tower will go down easily if paralyzed and then bombarded with attacks from allied troops.
- Against a multi-target Inferno Tower, Lava Hounds would be fine, but the Lava Pups and a large number of allied units that come after it will be decimated, so keep an eye out for them, too.
Don’t use too many Lava Hounds, as they are extremely weak offensive units and will be destroyed before they do too much damage to your enemy, even given their prodigious hitpoints.
Lava Hounds may make high-level Giant-Healer strategies more viable, but they are still one of the weakest strategies at TH9+. This is because Giants hold the least hitpoints for any tank, and unlike the Barbarian King, they do not have a hero ability to get them out of a big Doom Circle. Besides, they are intended to absorb fire from anti-air defenses, making ground attackers pointless anyway.
It is advisable to have a Clone Spell ready in Lava Hound attacks. Clone the support troops to drastically increase the Lava Hound’s effectiveness as it holds off air defenses while other units destroy the buildings. A Rage/Haste spell can be even better since most of the units that work well with Lava Hound tend to move slowly.
It is best to strategically place them around several defenses so they can absorb enemy fire better.
While Dragons work well with Lava Hounds, you need to watch out for Seeking Air Mines since they are incredibly effective against strong individuals.

Defensive Strategy

Spreading your Air Defenses out is a good idea. This forces attackers to keep their Air Troops near the Lava Hounds for protection, making Air Bombs and Wizard Towers more effective. Also, have Seeking Air Mines close to your Air Defenses so they will be more likely to be triggered by Lava Hounds.
- However, this will not work if your opponent somehow manages to destroy too many air defenses.
Be sure to use at least one single-targeting Inferno Tower, which will destroy a Lava Hound with ease, just like they destroy Golems with ease.
Lava Hounds are a great choice as a Clan Castle troop for level 5 Clan Castle or higher, particularly at higher leagues. While they do virtually no damage on their own, their tremendous hitpoints allow them to soak up a lot of damage from the attacker while the defenses fire upon them, and upon popping, they break down into many Lava Pups, which can deal a good amount of damage to the attackers. Poison Spells aren’t always effective against the Lava Pups because they often scatter too far apart to be caught by a single Poison Spell, which gives the Lava Hound some stalling potential on defense.

Upgrade difference

The appearance of the Lava Hound undergoes noticeable alterations at all levels except for level 2.
- Upon initial observation, the Lava Hound appears to be a creature of the canine variety with a hardened exterior. Its surface is adorned with cracks that emit molten lava.
- Once it reaches level 3, its back spikes transform into a fiery lava hue. The eyes increase in size and turn a brighter orange. The forearms’ molten glow disappears, and the wings and body grow larger. Furthermore, the glow undergoes a slight alteration.
- Once the level reaches 4, the creature’s body starts emitting a deep red glow caused by the lava it holds.
- The spikes on its back turn dark brown, and the wings become bronze-colored once it reaches level 5.
- At level 6, the back spikes and wings transform into a striking dark red hue.

Statistics

Preferred Target	Attack Type	Housing Space	Movement Speed	Attack Speed	Dark Barracks Level Required	Range
Air Defense	Melee (Ground Only)	30	20	2s	6	1 tile

Statistics

Dark Barracks available	Dark Barracks upgrading
5m	10m

Training Time of Lava Hounds

Level	Damage per Second	Damage per Hit	Damage Upon Death	Lava Pups Spawned (After Death)	Hitpoints	Research Cost	Research Time	Laboratory Level Required
1	10	20	100	8	6,100	N/A	N/A	N/A
2	12	24	150	10	6,500	35,000	2d 12h	7
3	14	28	200	12	6,800	50,000	4d 6h	8
4	16	32	250	14	7,200	85,000	6d 6h	9
5	18	36	300	16	7,600	120,000	9d	10
6	20	40	350	18	8,000	160,000	9d 12h	11

Super Troop Boost

Super Troop	Boost Cost	Lava Hound Level Required
Ice Hound	25000	5

Super Troop Boost

History

Patch	Type	Description
September 11, 2014	Sneak Peek	Announced the Lava Hound in the sneak peek, with 3 levels.
September 16, 2014	Update	Added the Lava Hound.
September 9, 2015	Update	Lava Hounds no longer attack flying troops, even as a defending Clan Castle troop.
December 19, 2015	Optional Update	Fixed a crash when fighting Lava Hounds near the edge of the map.
May 4, 2016	Balance Changes	Reduced Lava Hound’s training time from 45 minutes to 15 minutes.
May 18, 2016	Sneak Peek	Announced the level 4 Lava Hound.
May 24, 2016	Update	Added the level 4 Lava Hound.
December 19, 2016	Update	Changed Lava Hound’s icon and info image.
December 18, 2017	Update	Increased hitpoints at levels 1-3.Level 1: 5,700 -> 6,100 Level 2: 6,200 -> 6,500 Level 3: 6,700 -> 6,800
June 8, 2018	Sneak Peek	Announced the level 5 Lava Hound.
June 11, 2018	Update	Added the level 5 Lava Hound.
June 26, 2018	Balance Changes	Reduced Lava Hound’s upgrade times at level 2-4.Level 2: 10d -> 6d 12h Level 3: 12d -> 8d Level 4: 14d -> 11d 12h
October 23, 2018	Update	Reduced Gem donation cost of Lava Hound from 30 to 20 Gems.
December 9, 2019	Update	Decreased the explosion upon death radius from 5 tiles to 3.5 tiles.
March 30, 2020	Update	Fixed flawed graphics offset for Lava Hound.
June 18, 2020	Sneak Peek	Announced the level 6 Lava Hound.
June 22, 2020	Update	Added the level 6 Lava Hound.
October 12, 2020	Update	Reduced upgrade costs at level 2 and 4. Level 2: 60,000 -> 50,000 Level 4: 150,000 -> 125,000 Reduced upgrade times at levels 2-4.Level 2: 6d 12h -> 5d Level 3: 8d -> 6d 12h Level 4: 11d 12h -> 9d
April 12, 2021	Update	Reduced upgrade costs at level 2 and 4. Level 2: 60,000 -> 50,000 Level 4: 150,000 -> 125,000 Reduced upgrade times at level 2-4.Level 2: 6d 12h -> 5d Level 3: 8d -> 6d 12h Level 4: 11d 12h -> 9d