Baby Dragon

“Flying troop that deals area damage. Baby dragons hatch cute, hungry and ready for a barbeque.”

Summary

The Baby Dragon is unlocked from the Training Camp (Tutorial).
A Baby Dragon card costs 4 Elixir to deploy.
It is an area damage, short-ranged, flying troop with both moderate hitpoints and damage.

Strategy

Receiving a Baby Dragon right after finishing the Tutorial is a big advantage for Goblin Stadium since only a few enemies can attack it.
Its attacks deal area damage, so it can easily defeat Archers, Minions, Spear Goblins, and Skeletons from the Witch or the Skeleton Army. However, swarms of troops that can attack air units could be used to destroy the Baby Dragon if it is distracted.
The Baby Dragon's area damage allows it to effectively support and protect key units such as the Giant and the Giant Skeleton from mass, low-hitpoint units that will deal high damage. This is more effective due to its ability to fly, allowing it to attack without endangering itself.
The Baby Dragon is quite easy to counter, as it does very low damage and doesn't have a lot of health. One of the most effective counters is to use a single Musketeer as her firepower is enough to take on the Baby Dragon alone. Other counter cards include Archers, surrounding with Minions, an opposing Baby Dragon, or an Inferno Dragon. After the Baby Dragon has locked on to the tower, Spear Goblins can also work. If split, Archers can take it out as the Baby Dragon won't splash on to the second Archer. However, this requires incredibly precise timing and in most cases, the Musketeer is more reliable.
- Another counter to the Baby Dragon is the Inferno Tower. Because the Inferno Tower's damage intensifies over time against higher health units, it will take down the Baby Dragon with ease, without taking much damage in return.
  - The Tesla will work as well, but be careful when using these because if the opponent has something like the Royal Giant or Hog Rider, it is better to save the defensive building for that.
  - Generally, the opponent will use a tank and then splash or single-target support behind it. No matter what the support or the tank (unless the support is a swarm card) the Inferno Tower will burn straight through them, thereby negating the tank + Baby Dragon combo for a major elixir advantage.
  - A Tombstone can distract the Baby Dragon long enough for it to die to the Crown Tower.
- Remember not to use swarms of low hitpoint troops to counter the Baby Dragon, as they will all be eliminated. However, surrounding the Baby Dragon with the Minion Horde will kill it because the Baby Dragon will not be able to hit all the minions at once.
Baby Dragons are great allies with Spear Goblins. The Baby Dragon's high health and fast speed allow the Spear Goblins to damage Crown Towers while the Baby Dragon takes the Crown Tower's shots.
The Baby Dragon is a relatively high hitpoint troop, but it does very little damage. At higher levels, it becomes almost obsolete as a single Crown Tower can destroy it while taking little to no damage.
It is effective to pair the Baby Dragon with the Prince. The Baby Dragon takes out the swarms of low hitpoint troops while the Prince charges at the Arena Towers. This is extremely effective at lower levels as most troops early on can not target the Baby Dragon. However, this combo can be defeated with Barbarians.
The Baby Dragon also can weaken Barbarians, allowing your crown tower to take care of them.
Pairing the Baby Dragon with the Inferno Dragon is a good idea since the Baby Dragon takes care of small swarms while the Inferno Dragon takes down high health units although this combo is vunerable to a Minion Horde or Rocket, and is easily countered by Musketeer or Wizard.
The player can use a Lava Hound in front of a Baby Dragon so that it can survive longer, if possible.
You can bypass a building that is at least 3 tiles away from the river by placing the Baby Dragon on the edge from the very front, it will work on both sides.

History

The Baby Dragon card was released with Clash Royale's soft launch on 4/1/16.
On 3/5/16, the May 2016 Update fixed the "range bug" and decreased the Baby Dragon's range to 3 (from 3.5) but its effective range is unchanged.
On 24/8/16, a Balance Update decreased the Baby Dragon's hit speed from 1.8 seconds to 1.6 seconds.
On 13/2/17, a Balance Update increased the Baby Dragon's range to 3.5 (from 3).

Trivia

The Baby Dragon is a smaller and weaker version of the Dragon from Clash of Clans. The regular Dragon is not in the game, possibly meaning it is less tame than the Baby Dragon and/or too large to be kept inside the Arena. However, another Dragon variant, the Inferno Dragon is added instead.
It is one of the the two troops that are "miniature" versions of another troop in Clash of Clans, the other being the Mini P.E.K.K.A. They are smaller versions of the Dragon and P.E.K.K.A. respectively.
In Clash of Clans, the Baby Dragon was released along with the Miner. In the Clash of Clans news page in settings, where the update was shown, the Baby Dragon looked like the opponent-view Baby Dragon from this game. In the Baby Dragon info screen of Clash of Clans, the Baby Dragon looks slightly different.
The Baby Dragon is one of the troops that inspired a troop in Clash of Clans, the other being Miner. However, both are slightly different from their Clash counterparts in both looks and abilities.