By Civenge
Looking to counter the mighty Colossus? Colossus costs 9 mana and is legendary card which packs a punch! He may be slow, but his wide arc swings kill most weak ground units. Here are some of the top cards to counter this legendary minion. Before we get into which units are best, understand there is a right way and a wrong way to counter Colossus.
The Wrong Way
I’ve seen it time and time again, the enemy plays a colossus near the back end of their field, and my teammate throws a fireball, chain lightning, daggerfall, or whatever spell at it. There aren’t any other units near colossus and so best case scenario they hit their tower and the colossus for maybe 170 damage from a fireball. Colossus has 1200 health, so congrats on taking out approximately 15% of it’s health and the enemy tower.
What happens next? Well just before it gets to the bridge, or as it is crossing the bridge, a priestess is played behind it. Now your fireball (or other spell) is totally nullified and the 4 mana wasted. Not only that, they are building a push towards your base. Always assume if the enemy played Colossus they have a way to support it through healing, nether step, stun or other means.
The Correct Way
So what could we do better? Do not send ground minions at colossus when it is not on your side of the field. Seriously, just don’t. It is a waste of mana. Instead, if you need to play something send it to the other side of the field. Start your own push since they just invested 9 mana on a slow unit. Make the enemy react to you, not the other way around.
Once Colossus does get onto your side of the field, then it is all about positioning. Colossus, like all units, turns towards the nearest unit it can engage. He is also slow as snot, so a cheap ground ranged unit like Grenadier or ST.INT are great to place at the edge of his aggro on the furthest side away from your base to make him move away from your base. Then you can play more valuable ranged or flying units to actually counter him.
But what if he has backup in the form of range units, priestess, more melee, etc. and how do I deal with that? This is where you start to use spells. That fireball you didn’t use earlier, is great to take out the enemy priestess, flying and ranged units.
Best Counter Units
Below are some of the best units to counter Colossus:
Drone Buzzers
Or anything flying really. Much like MC Hammer, Colossus “can’t touch this”. Drone Buzzers on their own can take out a Colossus before it gets to your base if they are left alone.
Haunting Hugger
At only 2 mana this is one of the cheapest counters out there for any high health minion. The trouble is typically in getting him to haunt the unit without being killed. However, if you can time it correctly and succeed, the cursed effect will burn through the health almost as fast as drone buzzers at half the mana cost.
Laser Turret
Laser Turret is the #1 counter to high health minions. Brutus, Colossus, Jahun or whatever else they can throw at you. The only reason it isn’t at the top of the list is it can be countered by a lot of measures. Hordes, stuns, or even spells like fireball can cut short the usefulness of this building dramatically. Still, a great counter otherwise.
Ghost
Remember how I said to let Colossus get to your side of the field before you engage him? Well this is another good reason why. Even though you apply the curse effect, a nearly full health Colossus will be yours for almost 30 seconds. That 4 mana you just spent gets you a nice tank in return and a sweet 5 mana advantage over the other team.
Beam of DOOM!
While not my favorite choice, Beam of Doom can not only burn through half of Colossus’ health, but also units just behind him like Priestess, Annihilator, Succubus or other ranged units. The big value here is if you can take out several units and wound Colossus.
Fire Imp
A little more tricky to do well, Fire Imp has serious stopping power in an area of effect. The main issue with Fire Imp as a ground unit is keeping Colossus out of range long enough to get the multiple burns needed to chew through it’s health. Again, playing cheap units on the far side will keep Colossus turned around to let the burn do it’s work.
Summary
This is not an exhaustive list of all of the units that counter Colossus. Again, anything that is flying will do a good job. Make sure to not panic, over commit on mana, or send anything to the enemy side of the field to counter Colossus. Let him get to your side of the field before actively engaging him.