The Rare card ‘Hero Ice Golem’ is a large, snowy creature that dons armor and the Hero Shard. This card costs 2 Elixir to launch and another 2 Elixir if you want to activate his Hero Ability. The Hero Ice Golem shares the same base stats as the regular version of the card. His main ability, ‘Snowstorm’, activates a giant, snowy blizzard that slows down and then eventually ‘freezes’ all rivals in the nearby vicinity.
Although this ability only affects enemies in a 4-tile radius, it can still be quite deadly for you if a Hero Ice Golem card is on the opposing team. To counter these cards and prevent their ability from catching your troops unawares, it is crucial to understand exactly how Hero Ice Golems work in Clash Royale.
What Makes Hero Ice Golem Hard to Counter
Hero Ice Golem does more than the classic Ice Golem. After you deploy him, you can activate his Snowstorm ability for 2 Elixir. Each one of three blasts does 134 damage and has a slow effect. The final blast freezes enemies caught inside the radius. This makes him both a mini tank and a crowd control unit, able to stall group attacks and protect support troops.
The good thing is that this ability has a 17-second cooldown period once it is used. The strategy to counter often utilizes this cooldown window by forcing his ability early on in the battle and then exploiting that time period.
Main Counters, Tips, and Tricks
Here are some reliable ways to counter the Hero Ice Golem:
- Deploy ranged troops such as Musketeer, Archers, Dart Goblin, or Electro Wizard outside his ability radius so they escape the Snowstorm’s crippling and paralyzing effect.
- Space out your troops. Do not clump support units, Hero Ice Golem’s ability covers a wide area and hits everything close together.
- Force his ability early on, on low-value units that you can afford to lose, so he has less control later in the game.
- Use spells like Fireball, Log, or Poison to weaken him and any support behind him.
This mix of counters aims to either kill him quickly or reduce the damage he can do with his ability.
Exploit the Cooldown Period
According to fan discussion on social platforms, the Snowstorm’s cooldown window of 17 seconds is this large, snow-covered creature’s Achilles’ heel. Because his ability cannot be used instantly again, you have a chance to counterattack or deploy support troops without worrying about being frozen.
If you can bait the Hero ice Golem into using his ability to attack cheap cards, you can play your heavier troops later during the cooldown period. This puts the pressure on your opponent to defend rather than control the lane with Snowstorm.
Conclusion
Countering Hero Ice Golem comes down to a strategic, spaced-out placement of your troops on the battle arena, as well as timing and smart usage of cards and spells. Make sure you do not let Hero Ice Golem hit your main troops all at once. Use cards with ranged damage abilities and try to force him to use his Hero Ability on troops you can afford to lose to weaken his control.