Graveyard

Graveyard
Elixir Cost	5
Rarity	Legendary
Type	Spell
Arena	Spooky Town
Release Date	28 October 2016

“Surprise! It's a party. A Skeleton party, anywhere in the Arena. Yay!”

The Graveyard is a Legendary card that is unlocked from the Spooky Town (Arena 12). It is spell with a large radius. After 2.2 seconds, it spawns a single Skeleton that appears to be rising from a tombstone with the letters "XX" on it every 0.5 seconds for 9 seconds on the edge of the spell's radius in a random order. A Graveyard card costs 5 Elixir to deploy.

Strategy

For Battle Decks with this card, click here

• An effective strategy with the Graveyard is to place a high hitpoint unit, such as the Giant, and then cast the Graveyard near the Crown Tower. The Giant will tank the damage from the Crown Tower while the Skeletons destroy the Tower. However, this strategy can be effectively countered with an area damage unit such as a Valkyrie or swarms like Guards to handle the Skeletons and a high damage per second unit such as a P.E.K.K.A to handle the tank.
• Since the Graveyard can be placed anywhere on the map, it has great synergy with the Miner, as the Miner can immediately tank for the Skeletons while they decimate the Tower. However, this combo is still weak to the types of cards mentioned above. This problem can be temporarily solved with a Tornado, as it can pull the units away from the Graveyard and allow the Skeletons to continue dealing damage, though this is a large amount of Elixir to spend.
• Tornado synergises well with Graveyard, as it can pull the units away from the Graveyard and allow the Skeletons to continue dealing damage. However, this is a large amount of Elixir to spend.
  • If splash units are played to support the Graveyard, pulling the defending units into the splash range can allow for better value from splash unit, possibly taking out those units.
• A Graveyard has many counters, but most of them can easily be dealt with Poison or Fireball.
  • Effective counters to the Graveyard include Goblins, Lumberjack, Barbarians, Archers, Guards, Valkyrie, Witch, Night Witch, Dart Goblin, and Minions. Guards and the Lumberjack are great counters to the Graveyard. They are both fast, the Lumberjack has high hitpoints, allowing him to survive most spells and Guards are resistant to most spells (only being susceptible to Poison).
  • A Skeleton Army and Goblin Gang can be great counters to the Graveyard for a 2+ Elixir advantage. As they cover a large area, they can quickly react to the Skeletons that are newly spawned and destroy them before they have a chance to do any damage. However, they are susceptible to Giant Snowball, Arrows or Poison.
  • With the help of a Crown Tower, the Mother Witch can not only counter Graveyard, but also create a massive counterpush for a positive Elixir trade, since she OHKOes each Skeleton and the Graveyard spawns 13 Skeletons.
  • The Magic Archer is an effective counter to the Graveyard, as he shoots rapidly and his arrows can hit multiple Skeletons at once. However, his higher vulnerability to Poison compared to a troop like Musketeer means that he will often be defeated during a larger Graveyard push. Players should take advantage of his long range and place him behind their King's Tower to make it harder for the Graveyard user to spell him without accidentally activating the King's Tower.
• Spells are very effective at defeating several grouped Skeletons. Delaying the spell for a bit is more effective than an immediate deployment, as it allows the spell to clip a few more Skeletons. Building a deck with many spell vulnerable cards like the Princess can be useful in indirectly supporting a Graveyard, as the opponent will only be able to use their spell on one of them.
• It is generally not a good idea to pair the Graveyard with a Zap spell, as the stun will cause the Tower to retarget onto the Skeletons, weakening the tank-Graveyard synergy.
  • However, troops that have stun effects within their main attack (like an Electro Wizard) are very effective with Graveyard. Their attacks mess with the Crown Tower's attack speed, allowing more Skeletons to spawn before the other ones are killed.
  • The Ice Wizard can work similarly by slowing down the Crown Tower's attack speed. However, this is still an 8 Elixir push, so only do this if your Ice Wizard has successfully defended against something beforehand.
• A fairly reliable counter to the Graveyard is the Poison, with the Poison covering most of the radius of the Graveyard and being able to one-shot the Skeletons per tick. However, some Skeletons that spawn right next to the Crown Tower will still be able to attack it once, as the first attack speed of a Skeleton is lower than the time required for the Poison to take effect (1 second).
  • You may want to implement cards in your deck that can bait the Poison, like Goblin Hut or Ice Wizard, to prevent them from using Poison on your Graveyard.
  • On the other hand, the Poison works well with the Graveyard. The Poison can deal with enemy counters well, and can counteract enemy placements of Minions or other small troops. However, it is not effective against higher-health troops such as the Valkyrie.
• Pairing this card with the Freeze can allow the player to circumvent counters that would otherwise be difficult to prevent, such as Valkyrie or Baby Dragon, and deal massive damage to the opposing Crown Tower. However, after the Freeze's effect wears off, the opponent will have a healthy troop available to counterpush with. The player should avoid freezing without a substantial Elixir advantage or if they know that they will be able to end the game before the opponent can take advantage of the Elixir deficit (e.g. in the Overtime period, where taking a Tower immediately ends the game). Keep in mind that Poison can defeat this combo for a +5 Elixir trade.
  • The opponent might be able to predict the Freeze if the Graveyard is played without a tank. Try to use a tank to keep the surprise factor, while also allowing the tank to take advantage of the lack of counters.
• The Graveyard should not be placed in the center of a targeted Crown Tower, as there is a chance for a Skeleton to spawn near the King's Tower and activate it early. Instead, it should be placed on the side of the Crown Tower that is the furthest away from the King's Tower to prevent any Skeletons from spawning near it. The optimal position is 1 tile staggered to towards the edge of the Arena.
• The Graveyard can be used as a response to a spawner building like a Furnace, or an Elixir Collector. The high amount of Skeletons and spawn pattern prevents the opponent from defending their building quickly and with most buildings having a slow spawn speed, it will result in the building being destroyed without much resistance. This should not be done however if the building is close to the King's Tower since it can activate it early.
• Compared to a Goblin Barrel, the upsides of the Graveyard are that it spawns more troops than the Goblin Barrel and virtually guarantees damage, due to its unpredictability. The downsides are that it is more expensive and harder to obtain, as well as upgrade.
• Due to the staggered spawn of the Skeletons, Graveyard is also a situational defensive card against single targeting units or units with a slow attack speed. This means it can synergize well with an Inferno Tower to defend against large pushes. Even if the opponent uses Zap, the support behind the tank will be preoccupied with the Skeletons to deal with the Inferno Tower. The spell must be placed a bit preemptively due to its 2.2 second delay before the spawning of the first Skeleton. It is good at stalling troops when both the player and the opponent are racing to take the other's Tower in Sudden Death, granting the edge to the player.
• An activated King's Tower is an enormous problem for a Graveyard user. The King's Tower can attack alongside any Crown Tower and their combined targeting will eliminate more Skeletons, severely weakening a Graveyard push. Try not to have troops in your deck that are exploitable for King Tower activations like Electro Spirit and Firecracker.
  • Freeze can temporarily mitigate this issue, as it can be used to temporarily disable the King Tower, and the Crown Tower. However, it will limit where the player can deploy their spell, thus making it easier to counter with troops.
• An opponent might use fragile ranged cards to defend against your Graveyard. You can use a Tornado to bring those troops closer to your Skeletons so that they can kill these counters, or weaken them enough for a spell to finish them off.

Statistics

Graveyard Attributes

Cost	Radius	Duration	Spawn Speed	Type	Rarity
5	4	9 sec	0.5 sec	Spell	Legendary

Skeleton Attributes

Hit Speed	Speed	Deploy Time	Range	Target	Count	Transport
1 sec	Fast (90)	2.2 sec	Melee: Short (0.5)	Ground	x13	Ground

Card Statistics

Level	Skeleton Hitpoints	Skeleton Damage	Skeleton Damage per second
9	67	67	67
10	74	74	74
11	81	81	81
12	89	89	89
13	98	98	98
14	108	108	108
15	119	119	119

Card Mastery

Type	Level/Tier	Objective	Rewards
Damage Dealer	1	Deal a total of 140,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings	2 Graveyard cards 100
	2	Deal a total of 420,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings	8,000 100
	3	Deal a total of 700,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings	150 100
Tower Tapper	1	Hit enemy Crown Towers a total 1,750 times	12,000 150
	2	Hit enemy Crown Towers a total 5,000 times	2 150
	3	Hit enemy Crown Towers a total 8750 times	18,000 150
Siege Weapon	1	Hit towers at least 30 times within a single battle a total of 50 times	100 200
	2	Hit towers at least 30 times within a single battle a total of 150 times	125 200
	3	Hit towers at least 30 times within a single battle a total of 300 times	150 200

History

2016

• The Graveyard card was added to the game on 28/10/2016.
• On 1/11/2016, the November 2016 Update, changed the Graveyard's description. Prior to this, its description was "Unearths a gang of Skeletons anywhere in the Arena. Spooky!"

2017

• On 11/8/2017, a Balance Update, decreased the Graveyard's duration to 9 seconds (from 10 seconds).
• On 9/10/2017, the Epic Quests Update, increased the Graveyard's duration to 10 seconds (from 9 seconds), decreased its radius to 4 tiles (from 5), increased the first spawn time interval to 2 seconds (from 1.5 seconds), and made the spawn mechanics of the Skeletons less random by making the Skeletons spawn on the edge.

2018

• On 25/4/2018, the Clan Wars Update, allowed the Graveyard to be placed on the river.
• On 5/9/2018, the September 2018 Update, changed it so that Legendary cards start at Level 9 and end at Level 13 (from 1 to 5).

2019

• On 28/1/2019, the January 2019 Update, moved the Arena to unlock the Graveyard from Spell Valley to Spooky Town.
• On 26/11/2019, the End of November 2019 Update, removed the Graveyard from Touchdown Draft.

2020

• On 3/11/2020, a Balance Update, increased the minimum range where Skeletons can potentially spawn to 3.5 tiles (from 3 tiles).
• On 18/11/2020, the Clan Wars Improvement Update, reverted the Graveyard to its state before 3/11/2020. More specifically, the minimum range where Skeletons can potentially spawn was decreased to 3 tiles (from 3.5 tiles).
• On 9/12/2020, a Balance Update, increased the first spawn time interval to 2.2 seconds (from 2 seconds).

2021

• 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, decreased the Graveyard's duration to 9.5 seconds (from 10 seconds)
• On 3/6/2022, a maintenance break, added a card render to the Graveyard's card info screen.
• On 26/10/2022, the 2022 Quarter 3 Update, added the Siege Weapon Card Mastery task for the Graveyard.

2023

• On 19/6/2023, the Card Evolution Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 15 (from 14).

2024

• On 5/3/2024, a Balance Update, decreased the Graveyard’s duration to 9 seconds (from 9.5 seconds).

Gallery

Current card render.

Graveyard being used on the Princess Tower.

Trivia

• In Clash of Clans, there is a similar spell called the Skeleton Spell, which summons Skeletons within its radius. It originally summoned its Skeletons all at once, but has since been reworked to behave similarly to the Graveyard. However, unlike the Graveyard, the Skeleton Spell in Clash of Clans spawns Skeletons with shields, similar to Guards.
• The Graveyard is 1 of 15 cards associated with Skeletons, with the others being Bomber, Skeleton Dragons, Skeleton Barrel, Tombstone, Bomb Tower, Skeleton Army, Guards, Witch, Balloon, Giant Skeleton, Wall Breakers, Super Witch, Skeleton King, and of course, Skeletons.
  • In the Norwegian, Arabic, Indonesian, and Vietnamese language settings of the game, the Graveyard's name translates to "Cemetery". In the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese language settings of the game, the Graveyard's name translates to "Skeleton Rush", "Tomb", and "Skeleton Call" respectively.
  • It is the only spell card associated with Skeletons.
• The Graveyard is 1 of 7 spells which have team-colored rings on their radius, the others are Earthquake, Freeze, Poison, Rage, Clone, and Tornado.
• The small tombstones visual effect can be seen in this card's image and also when this card is deployed. This effect is taken from Clash of Clans when Elixir troops die.
• The jingle that plays upon its deployment is an excerpt from the Clash of Clans battle theme.
• The Graveyard was featured in the winning deck of the The Crown Duel Tournament, by a player called Backstabx.