“The bigger the skeleton, the bigger the bomb. Carries a bomb that blows up when the Giant Skeleton dies.”
The Giant Skeleton is an Epic card that is unlocked from the Frozen Peak (Arena 8). It spawns a single-target, ground-targeting, melee, ground troop with very high hitpoints and high damage. When defeated, he drops a bomb which explodes after 3 seconds, dealing damage, which is double against Crown Towers, and inflicting knockback. He appears as a colossal skeleton wearing a team-colored ushanka with a large gunpowder barrel on his back and a bomb in his hand. A Giant Skeleton card costs 6 Elixir to deploy.
Strategy[]
For Battle Decks with this card, click here
- The Giant Skeleton is effective to use as a meat shield for other troops. This makes him a good card to use as a buffer for spawner buildings, as any unit that takes out the Giant Skeleton will be taken out by his bomb afterwards while the spawner cooks up troops. They will continue unopposed to the Crown Tower. However, he is not very interchangeable with a Giant, as the Giant Skeleton can be distracted with any ground unit, has less hitpoints, and costs 1 more Elixir.
- The Giant Skeleton's death bomb is useful for weakening or destroying troops that are close together. The death damage is very similar to a Fireball, and it does a similar amount of damage as an equivalent level Mega Knight's jump damage. Combined with The Log or a Barbarian Barrel, the combo can one-shot Musketeer, Wizard, and the like. Tornado also works well with the Giant Skeleton, helping his death bomb and support troops to hit more units, and also allowing Zap and Giant Snowball to one-shot the weakened troops.
- Clone can forcibly push an allied Giant Skeleton forward, allowing his death damage to hit the Crown Tower reliably. The cloned bomb can also help clean up the troops that the opponent used to defend the first Giant Skeleton. If the Giant Skeleton was already attacking the Crown Tower before being cloned, it is almost a guarantee that his clone's bomb will also detonate on top of the Tower, dealing much more damage for just 3 extra Elixir.
- Since he moves quite slowly and has a low damage per second, players may need to back him up with splash damage troops, such as the Witch or Wizard. This gives the Giant Skeleton a higher chance to connect to the Tower.
- Spells with an unrestricted placement also support a Giant Skeleton well once he has crossed the bridge, decimating swarms placed to destroy him.
- Fast troops can push the Giant Skeleton forward and allow him to reach the Tower more quickly. However, depending on the unit that is used, the main weakness of the push may become amplified (eg. a Mini P.E.K.K.A. combined with a Giant Skeleton is still weak to swarms and air units), so often times more than 1 layer of offense will be necessary.
- As the Giant Skeleton is easily countered by swarms, a good way to ensure the Giant Skeleton reaches the Tower is to deploy him with the Skeleton Army. The Skeleton Army will surround the Giant Skeleton and defeat any swarms and troops sent to surround him. Furthermore, they will also help damage the Tower, and some Skeletons can even remain to help deal some extra damage on the King Tower. This however, is easily countered by spells or splash-damaging troops such as the Valkyrie.
- Pairing the Giant Skeleton with another threatening troop can cause the opponent to split their defenses thin, allowing one or the other to connect. For example, a Giant Skeleton paired with a Balloon can block air units and protect the Balloon long enough for it to reach the Tower. Additionally, the defending units will almost certainly die to one or both of the death bombs, eliminating or weakening the opponent's opportunity to counterpush.
- However, this push is extremely weak to air units (such as the Inferno Dragon or the Minion Horde), so it may be more beneficial to play anti-air cards or anti-air spells along with the push.
- The Giant Skeleton is a good way to stop a large push, since he can group the enemies up and his death bomb will cripple the push, allowing other cards to finish everything off.
- Despite being a negative Elixir trade, the P.E.K.K.A. is a good counter to the Giant Skeleton, since she can easily defeat him and not let the Crown Tower take any death damage.
- The Inferno Tower is an effective counter to the Giant Skeleton. Not only does it cost 1 less Elixir, but is also less vulnerable to most enemy spells. If needed, the Giant Skeleton can also be pulled away with another cheap card such as Skeletons.
- The Giant Skeleton can be a good tank for pushes in Rage Battles, as his increased speed will force the opponent to put more focus on him to prevent colossal damage to Towers. However, this benefit comes with a catch - a decreased viability on defense, since enemy troops will be able to quickly leave his death bomb's range before it detonates.
Statistics
Giant Skeleton Attributes
Cost |
Hit Speed |
Speed |
Deploy Time |
Range |
Target |
Count |
Transport |
Type |
Rarity |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 | 1.4 sec | Medium (60) | 1 sec | Melee: Short (0.8) | Ground | x1 | Ground | Troop | Epic |
Bomb Attributes
Death Damage Splash Radius |
Deploy Time |
Target |
---|---|---|
3 | 3 sec | Air & Ground |
Card Statistics
Level |
Hitpoints |
Damage |
Damage per second |
Death Damage |
Crown Tower Death Damage |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 | 2,260 | 167 | 119 | 334 | 668 |
7 | 2,486 | 183 | 130 | 367 | 734 |
8 | 2,734 | 202 | 144 | 404 | 808 |
9 | 3,005 | 222 | 158 | 444 | 888 |
10 | 3,299 | 243 | 173 | 487 | 974 |
11 | 3,616 | 267 | 190 | 534 | 1,068 |
12 | 3,977 | 293 | 209 | 587 | 1,174 |
13 | 4,361 | 322 | 230 | 644 | 1,288 |
14 | 4,791 | 354 | 252 | 708 | 1,416 |
15 | 5,265 | 389 | 277 | 778 | 1,556 |
Card Mastery
Type | Level/Tier | Objective | Reward |
---|---|---|---|
Damage Dealer |
1 | Deal a total of 220,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings | 20 Giant Skeleton cards 75 |
2 | Deal a total of 670,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings | 6,000 75 | |
3 | Deal a total of 1,120,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings | 150 75 | |
Tower Tapper |
1 | Hit enemy Crown Towers a total of 280 times | 9,000 125 |
2 | Hit enemy Crown Towers a total of 800 times | 20 125 | |
3 | Hit enemy Crown Towers a total of 1,400 times | 15,000 125 |
History[]
2016
- The Giant Skeleton card was added with Clash Royale's game launch on 4/1/2016.
- On 2/2/2016, the February 2016 Update, added the Death Damage statistic on the Giant Skeleton's card info screen.
- On 29/2/2016, the March 2016 Update, increased the Giant Skeleton's hitpoints by 11% and death damage time to 3 seconds (from 1 second). It also decreased the Giant Skeleton's sight range to 5 tiles (from 6 tiles).
- On 3/5/2016, the May 2016 Update, fixed the "range bug" and decreased the Giant Skeleton's range to 0.8 tiles (from 2 tiles), but his effective range was unchanged. There was also an unannounced change to the Giant Skeleton, a decrease to his collision radius to 1 tile (from 1.2 tiles).
- On 4/7/2016, the Tournaments Update, increased the Giant Skeleton's damage by 20%.
- On 1/11/2016, the November 2016 Update, changed the Giant Skeleton's sound effects, and he now laughs when deployed.
- On 15/12/2016, the December 2016 Update, increased the Giant Skeleton's damage by 8%.
2017
- On 12/12/2017, the Electrifying Update, increased the Giant Skeleton‘s hitpoints by 5%.
2018
- On 5/9/2018, the September 2018 Update, changed it so that Epic cards start at Level 6 and end at Level 13 (from 1 to 8).
2019
- On 1/4/2019, a Balance Update, decreased the Giant Skeleton’s first attack time interval to 0.3 seconds (from 0.5 seconds) and increased his mass to 18 (from 15).
- On 5/8/2019, a Balance Update, removed the Giant Skeleton from all Draft selections.
- On 26/11/2019, the End of November 2019 Update, added a card render to the Giant Skeleton's card info screen.
2021
- On 30/3/2021, the 2021 Quarter 1 Update, decreased the Giant Skeleton's death damage by 54% and increased his attack damage by 29%.
- On 7/6/2021, the Summer 2021 Update, gave the Giant Skeleton's bomb the ability to inflict double damage on Crown Towers. It also moved the Arena to unlock the Giant Skeleton from Bone Pit to P.E.K.K.A's Playhouse.
- On 27/10/2021, the Champions Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 14 (from 13).
2022
- On 4/4/2022, the April 2022 Update, increased the Giant Skeleton’s hitpoints by 7% and decreased his attack time interval to 1.4 seconds (from 1.5 seconds).
- On 3/6/2022, a maintenance break, changed the Giant Skeleton card icon and card render.
- On 12/9/2022, a maintenance break, decreased the Giant Skeleton's hitpoints by 5%.
- On 26/10/2022, the 2022 Quarter 3 Update, moved the Arena to unlock the Giant Skeleton from P.E.K.K.A's Playhouse to Frozen Peak.
2023
- On 19/6/2023, the Card Evolution Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 15 (from 14).
2024
- On 3/1/2024, a Balance Update, increased the Giant Skeleton's hitpoints by 6%.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Bombs were first invented in China during the ninth century. Initialy, they were made with ceramic material along with gunpowder, however, they were later changed to cast-iron shells with the Thunder crash bomb during the twelve century.
- The Giant Skeleton is 1 of 23 troops that originated from Clash Royale and reappear in Clash Mini, the others being Knight, Spear Goblins, Royal Recruits, Mini P.E.K.K.A., Musketeer, Battle Healer, Dart Goblin, Elixir Golem, Guards, Dark Prince, Prince, Mega Knight, Electro Wizard, Miner, Princess, Royal Ghost, Ice Wizard, Magic Archer, Bandit, Lumberjack, Fisherman, and the Skeleton King.
- Unlike his Clash Mini counterpart, his bomb cannot stun enemies.
- The Giant Skeleton is 1 of 16 troops that inspired a troop in Clash of Clans, the others being Spear Goblins, Bomber, Bats, Skeleton Barrel, Minion Horde, Battle Ram, Ice Golem, Zappies, Baby Dragon, Ram Rider, Inferno Dragon, Miner, Royal Ghost, Ice Wizard, and Night Witch.
- According to his Clash of Clans counterpart's render, the actual color of his hat is brown. However, when used in battle, he is shown to have a red hat, similarly to an opponent's Giant Skeleton troop in Clash Royale.
- Unlike his Clash of Clans counterpart, the Giant Skeleton in Clash Royale attacks anything in sight instead of just buildings.
- Before the 3/6/2022 maintenance break, the Giant Skeleton's card render was taken from his Clash of Clans counterpart's render, except with a color change of his hat.
- The bomb and barrel of the Giant Skeleton appear to be taken from a Giant Bomb from Clash of Clans.
- The Giant Skeleton is 1 of 15 cards associated with Skeletons, with the others being Bomber, Skeleton Dragons, Skeleton Barrel, Tombstone, Bomb Tower, Guards, Skeleton Army, Witch, Balloon, Wall Breakers, Super Witch, Graveyard, Skeleton King, and of course, Skeletons.
- In the Japanese language setting of the game, his description refers to how the Bomber is a tiny skeleton carrying a much smaller bomb.
- According to a Clash-A-Rama comic strip, a Skeleton is the Giant Skeleton's child.
- The Giant Skeleton is one of the first troop cards to receive a card render, alongside the Archers, Knight, Goblins, Bomber, Skeletons, Barbarians, Bats, Royal Recruits, Skeleton Barrel, Rascals, Musketeer, Giant, Valkyrie, Wizard, Flying Machine, Hog Rider, Royal Hogs, Dart Goblin, Zappies, Elixir Golem, Baby Dragon, Skeleton Army, Witch, P.E.K.K.A, Prince, Balloon, Goblin Giant, Hunter, Electro Dragon, Wall Breakers, Bowler, Cannon Cart, Mega Knight, Ram Rider, Miner, Royal Ghost, Ice Wizard, Magic Archer, Bandit, Lava Hound, Night Witch, and Fisherman.
- The Giant Skeleton is 1 of 4 troops that has been featured as a raged troop in the Built deck game mode, the others being Giant, Mega Knight, and Ram Rider.
- The Giant Skeleton has the same walking sound as the Skeleton King.
- He appears to have an underbite, similar to the Minions, Guards, Lava Hound, and Super Lava Hound.
- The Giant Skeleton makes a laughing sound when deployed, possibly a reference to the Clash Royale Giant Skeleton commercial.
- The Giant Skeleton is 1 of 14 troops which bring an excited reaction from the audience upon spawning and brings a collective groan from the audience when defeated, as well as a concerning gasp when the opponent plays him, the others include Royal Giant, Giant, P.E.K.K.A., Goblin Giant, Golem, Bowler, Electro Wizard, Inferno Dragon, Sparky, Lava Hound, Night Witch, Super Lava Hound, and the Monk.
- The Giant Skeleton is unavailable in multiple special game modes. More specifically:
- It is 1 of 4 cards that is unavailable in Triple Draft, the others being Three Musketeers, Clone, and Mirror.
- In Touchdown, if a Giant Skeleton is still on the Arena after a touchdown has been scored (unless he scored it himself), will have his dropped bomb cleared.
- The Giant Skeleton is the subject of certain cosmetics in the game. More specifically:
- The Giant Skeleton is the subject of 2 Emotes.
- The Giant Skeleton is the subject of a Tower Skin.
- On 1/4/2016, certain Content Creators were given a different version of the game, with a Tombstone that visually looked larger and would spawn Giant Skeletons instead of Skeletons.
- Before the Giant Skeleton's card release, the Giant Skeleton's cost was decreased to 6 Elixir (from 7 Elixir), his hitpoints were decreased by 10%, and his damage was increased by 11%.