You've probably seen it. That moment where your Royal Champion (RC) locks onto a single, measly skeleton while a Multi-Inferno Tower melts your entire Hybrid push. It’s frustrating. Enter the Rocket Spear. This piece of Epic Equipment changed the math for Town Hall 13 and above, yet honestly, half the player base still treats it like a niche novelty. They're wrong.
The Rocket Spear isn't just another shiny toy; it's a fundamental shift in how the RC functions. Instead of a dive-bombing suicide mission, she becomes a long-range sniper. It's weird at first. You expect her to jump the wall and get in the mix, but with this equipped, she stays back, hurling glowing projectiles from across the map. It fundamentally solves the "RC death" problem that plagues most Queen Walk or Fireball strategies.
What Actually Happens When You Equip the Rocket Spear?
Let’s talk numbers, but not the boring kind. Basically, when you drop the RC, she gets a set number of "Rocket Spears"—starting at 5 and scaling up to 8 at max level. These aren't normal attacks. They have a massive range increase. We’re talking about 9 tiles at level 27. To put that in perspective, she can outrange almost every defense in the game, including the dreaded Monolith and those annoying Single-Target Infernos that usually delete her in three seconds flat.
The damage is the real kicker. Each spear deals a burst of massive damage. If you pair this with the Seeking Shield, you can effectively delete a quarter of a maxed-out TH16 base before the RC even takes a single point of damage. It's high-octane. It’s fast. But it's also temporary. Once those spears are gone, she reverts to her standard range. That’s where people mess up. They think the Rocket Spear is her new permanent state. Nope. It’s a literal opening salvo.
The Misconception of "Waste"
I hear this a lot: "But I'm wasting her ability right at the start!"
In the old meta, you saved the RC ability for the backend of the raid. You'd wait until she was at 10% health, pop the shield, and hope she finished off the last few cannons. The Rocket Spear flips that. You are using the ability to prevent her from taking damage in the first place. Think of it like a pre-emptive strike. By the time the "Rocket" phase is over, the most dangerous part of the base—the part with the High-DPS clusters—should be rubble.
Synergies That Actually Work (And Some That Don't)
If you’re running Rocket Spear with the Royal Gem, you’re basically playing it safe. It's fine. It works. But if you want to actually three-star consistent max bases, you need to look at the Haste Vial.
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This is the "Pro" combo. The Rocket Spear gives her the range and damage; the Haste Vial gives her the attack speed. When you combine them, she turns into a literal machine gun. She will clear five or six major defenses before the Haste effect even wears off. It’s terrifying to watch on defense.
- The Haste Vial Combo: Best for clearing compartments quickly.
- The Seeking Shield Combo: Perfect for "Sniper" entries where you need to take out specific targets like an Air Sweeper or a stray Monolith.
- The Hog Rider Puppet: Honestly? It’s a bit clunky with the spear. The Hogs want to be in the face of the defense, while the Spear RC wants to be far away. It creates this weird split in your pathing that usually ends in disaster.
Let's be real for a second. The biggest threat to an RC isn't a Cannon. It's the Ground Skeletons. Because the Rocket Spear has such a long range, if a Skeleton Trap triggers far away, she will spend all 8 of her precious, high-damage spears on... skeletons. It is the most painful thing to watch in the game. You have to path her away from potential CC or trap locations, or bring a Poison Spell specifically for her pathing.
Why the Pro Meta is Shifting
At the highest levels of play—think ESL or the World Championship qualifiers—consistency is king. The "Old" RC with the Seeking Shield and Royal Gem was consistent, but it was reactive. You reacted to her dying. The Rocket Spear is proactive.
Players like Klaus from NAVI have shown that using the RC as a "secondary Queen" is often more effective than using her as a cleanup troop. With the Rocket Spear, you can send her in on a flank. While your main army is hitting the Core, she is 10 tiles away, sniping the defenses that would otherwise be picking off your Bowlers or Root Riders.
It’s about "funneling by destruction." Instead of using a Baby Dragon to clear a corner, you use a Rocket Spear RC to clear an entire side of the base. It sounds like overkill because it is. But in TH16, overkill is exactly what you need to beat the clock.
The Learning Curve is Steep
Don't expect to equip this and get immediate triples. You will fail. You will accidentally activate her ability when she’s targeting a Wall. You will misjudge the range and have her walk into a Giant Bomb.
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The trick is the "Target Lock." The Rocket Spear activates the moment she is deployed if you have it set to automatic, or you can manually trigger it. Most top-tier players are now manual-triggering it to ensure she is locked onto a high-value target like an Eagle Artillery or a Scattershot before the spears start flying.
Upgrading Priority: Is it Worth the Ore?
Glowy Ore is hard to come by. We all know the struggle. If you’re deciding between maxing your Queen’s Frozen Arrow or the RC’s Rocket Spear, it depends on your main army.
If you use Root Riders, the Rocket Spear is a luxury. Root Riders are tanks; they don't necessarily need the RC to snipe from distance. But if you are a Lalo (Lava Hound and Balloons) or Hybrid (Miner and Hog Rider) player, the Rocket Spear is mandatory. It clears the path for your balloons in a way that no other equipment can.
- Level 1-12: It feels okay, but the range isn't quite there yet.
- Level 18: This is the sweet spot for most casual players.
- Level 27: Absolute dominance. The damage boost at the final levels is what allows her to one-shot certain peripheral buildings.
Advanced Tactics: The "Recall" Play
Here is something most people haven't tried: The Rocket Spear + Recall Spell.
Because the Spear count is a "per-deployment" or "per-ability" mechanic, some players are using the RC to snipe a specific compartment, Recalling her before she takes damage, and then dropping her elsewhere. While she doesn't get the spears back (since the ability was used), she is at full health for the backend of the raid. It’s a high-skill cap move that requires perfect timing, but it's the kind of play that wins Clan War Leagues.
A Word on the "Giant Gauntlet" Comparison
People keep asking if the Rocket Spear is as "broken" as the King's Giant Gauntlet.
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The answer is no. The Gauntlet is a broad-brush tool; you use it and everything in a 4-mile radius dies. The Rocket Spear is a scalpel. It’s for the player who looks at a base and thinks, "If I can just get rid of that one Multi-Archer Tower, my Hogs will sweep the rest." It requires intent.
The Strategy for Your Next War
Next time you’re scouting your mirror, look for "dead zones." These are areas where defenses are tucked behind high-HP buildings like Storages or the Clan Castle. A standard RC would spend 10 seconds hitting the Storage while getting shot. A Rocket Spear RC stands behind the Storage and hits the defense directly.
That is the value proposition. It’s not about the damage number on the screen; it’s about the effective damage—the damage that actually removes threats.
Stop playing the RC like a sacrificial lamb. Start playing her like the elite assassin she was meant to be. The Rocket Spear isn't just equipment; it's a statement that you know exactly how to dismantle a base tile by tile.
Next Steps for Mastery:
- Audit your Ore: Check your Star Bonus and War history. You need roughly 1,920 Glowy Ore to hit the level 18 power spike.
- Practice the Drop: Go into Friendly Challenges and practice dropping the RC at the 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock positions relative to your main push.
- Watch the Replays: Specifically look at what she targets. If she’s hitting trash buildings, adjust your funnel.
- Pairing: Start with the Rocket Spear and Haste Vial combo in your next five raids to get a feel for the increased movement and attack speed.