“Zaps enemies, briefly stunning them and dealing damage inside a small radius. Reduced damage to Crown Towers.”
The Zap card is unlocked from the Spell Valley（Arena 5）. It is an area damage spell with a medium radius and low damage. When used, this spell can stun enemies in its effective radius for 0.5秒. A Zap card costs 2 Elixir to deploy.
Strategy[]
- Zap inflicts area damage, similar to the Arrows. As such, the Zap can also be an alternative to Arrows, as it inflicts slightly less damage and a brief stun in a small area at the cost of 2 Elixir, as opposed to the Arrows' Elixir cost of 3 and no stun. Zap is also deployed instantly. This makes a big difference if the opponent has swarm cards like Skeleton Army, as the time that the Arrows take to travel will allow the Skeleton Army deal some damage to opposing troops.
- Fireball pairs well with Zap and can be used to destroy units such as Wizards, Musketeers, and Witches. The combo can be an alternative to the Rocket and also shuffles the player's deck more quickly, as 2 cards are being used for the same price.
- The Zap is valuable for decimating small swarms of troops, as the Zap inflicts area damage.
- While it will not defeat Goblins or Minions of equal level, it is capable of destroying Goblins one level lower and Minions two levels lower by itself.
- Pairing the Zap with the Ice Spirit or Ice Golem can easily counter Minions. The former can also be used to counter Archers.
- A well placed Zap can destroy most or all of a Skeleton Army.
- A well timed Zap on a Minion Horde defensively can allow the defending player's Princess Towers to take them out before receiving any damage.
- A well timed Zap can also block most of the damage from the Goblins in the Goblin Barrel. Quickly Skeletons as well will prevent the damage entirely.
- Zap can prevent most damage dealt by a Dart Goblin on a Princess Tower. Its damage will allow the Princess Tower to finish it off, only taking two shots from the Dart Goblin.
- The Zap's low Elixir cost and instant deployment time make it serviceable for finishing off nearly destroyed Crown Towers.
- Zap can be also used to briefly stun enemy troops and buildings, reducing the enemy's damage per秒.
- Freeze has 8 times the duration compared to Zap and has a larger radius. However, it is twice as expensive and does less damage.
- The Zap's 0.5秒 stun can allow damaged troops to get one extra hit in or prevent the player's troops from taking a hit.
- The Zap can also be used to reset charging attacks from cards like Inferno Tower, Inferno Dragon, Prince, Dark Prince, Ram Rider, Battle Ram, Bandit, Fisherman and Sparky.
- The Zap can be used effectively in tandem with the P.E.K.K.A. or any tank units. The attacker can let the tank absorb some damage from the Inferno Tower or Inferno Dragon before zapping it, forcing them to reset their attack. This can let the P.E.K.K.A get an extra swing and destroy the Inferno Tower.
- When used on troops that are inside a Poison, the 0.5秒 stun will keep them inside the radius of Poison for a longer amount of time, which allows the Poison to deal more damage to the troops. The extra damage will also finish off troops that can survive a lone Poison, such as a Witch.
- The player can use Zap to temporarily stun troops like Balloons from reaching their Princess Towers, giving them and their troops a little more time to eliminate the Balloon and prevent it from causing heavy damage.
- Zapping units or the opposing Crown Tower can possibly change their targets. For example, if an X-Bow is targeting a Tower and the player deploys a troop or building closer to the X-Bow than the Tower, then zaps the X-Bow, it will change targets to the nearest deployed card.
- The Hog Rider + Zap combo utilizes the Zap to stop most cheap troops（or to stun defending troops） that are played to take out the Hog Rider, ensuring that the Hog Rider gets some chip damage every time. This can be particularly devastating to the defender if the Zap is readied and manages to destroy the entire Skeleton Army.
- With proper timing, Zap can be used to deny a wave from troop spawners such as Barbarian Hut or Goblin Hut, allowing the player to gain a small Elixir advantage. The same strategy can also be used against Elixir Collectors, as it will deny 2 Elixir if timed just correctly, but this is an even Elixir trade unless something else also gets hit.
- Zap pairs very well with other spells, like Fireball and Poison. The extra damage that Zap does is enough to finish off units that would survive those two spells like Night Witch and Witch. However, this is mostly a negative Elixir trade, so try to get additional value by hitting other units as well.
- Try to bring cards which can perform a similar role to Zap on defense in case of enemy bait decks.
- An alternative to Zap is The Log. The Log cannot hit air troops and has limited deployment area along with a different AOE. However, it does more damage and pushes back surviving ground troops.
- Another alternative to Zap is Giant Snowball. The Giant Snowball has some travel time and does not stun, but it slows and knocks back most enemy troops instead, which allows it to disrupt a larger variety of them.
- When playing against a Graveyard, the player should wait for a few Skeletons to group up so that they can hit as many of them as possible without taking too much damage.
- The Zap's instant deployment can make it very effective when used preemptively against swarm cards, especially those which are one-shot by it. Since it has a low cost, an incorrect prediction is not very punishing as the player was at an Elixir advantage. The player should take note of how the opponent uses their swarm to defend and Zap accordingly.
- The Zap pairs well with the Goblin Giant and the Ram Rider. Enemy troops that can survive one Zap will be slowly defeated by the additional attacks from these troops, as opposed to using a stronger, more expensive spell, allowing the player to save Elixir. However, the player's unit will usually take more damage when doing this.
- A Level 11 Zap is enough to one-shot Level 14 Spear Goblins. Therefore, it is not a bad idea for the player to invest their Common resources（i.e. Wild Cards or Trade Tokens） into other Commons first. However, a Level 11 Zap cannot one-shot Level 15 Spear Goblins, so the player should consider leveling it to 12. Also, a higher level Zap have a bonus of one-shotting troops such as Goblins, as it normally couldn't.
History[]
- The Zap was added with Clash Royale's soft launch on 4/1/16.
- On 9/2/16, the Chest Rewards & Card Balance Update increased the Zap's damage by 6%.
- On 19/2/16, the Balance Update decreased the Zap's Crown Tower damage by 20%.
- On 29/2/16, the March 2016 Update added a stun effect to affected targets in the Zap's AoE（Area of Effect） for 1秒 and decreased its damage by 6%. The update also changed the description from "Lightning zaps enemies, dealing damage inside a small radius. Reduced damage to Crown Towers." to the current description.
- On 3/5/16, the May 2016 Update added the level 13 Zap.
- On 4/7/16, the Tournaments Update allowed it to stop the Elixir Collector's Elixir generation.
- On 24/8/16, a Balance Update decreased the Zap's stun from 1秒 to 0.5秒.
- On 23/1/17, a Balance Update decreased the Zap’s damage by 6%.
- On 12/12/17, a Balance Update decreased the Zap’s Crown Tower damage from 40% to 35% of the full damage.
- On 25/4/18, the Clan Wars I Update allowed the Zap to be placed on the river.
- The 20/6/18 Update moved the Arena to unlock the Zap from Spell Valley（Arena 5） to P.E.K.K.A's Playhouse（Arena 4）.
- On 4/8/20, a Balance Update decreased the Zap's Crown Tower damage from 35% to 30% of the full damage.
- The 2021 Quarter 2 Update moved the Arena to unlock the Zap from P.E.K.K.A's Playhouse（Arena 4） to Spell Valley（Arena 5）.
- On 27/10/21, the 2021 Quarter 3 Update added the level 14 Zap.
Trivia[]
- The containers for the Zap（along with Poison, Earthquake and Clone） resemble the Dark Elixir spell containers from Clash of Clans, despite being made of Elixir.
- The concept of Zap was adapted as the new iteration of the Lightning Spell in Clash of Clans.
- The Zap, along with Giant Snowball, Rage, Log, and the Barbarian Barrel are the cheapest spells, costing 2 Elixir.
- The Zap is 1 of the 9 cards to be associated with electricity, the others being Electro Spirit, Tesla, Zappies, Electro Dragon, Lightning, Electro Giant, Electro Wizard, and Sparky.
- The Zap is 1 of the 11 cards from Clash Royale to appear in Clash Quest, the others being the Fire Spirit, Bomber, Spear Goblins, Furnace, Fireball, Goblin Hut, Rocket, Baby Dragon, Prince, and The Log.
- Out of all cards, the Zap has the shortest name in English, with only 3 letters.
