Bomber

Bomber is a 2-Elixir Common troop that throws a single lobbed bomb at Ground targets, dealing area (splash) damage in a 1.5-tile radius around the impact point. It has a very fast "first hit" (0.2s) but a slow overall attack cycle (1.8s), moves at Medium speed, and cannot target or damage air units at all. Its role is cheap swarm clearance (Skeleton Army, Goblin Gang, Barbarians, etc.) and chip defense. Its Evolution keeps identical cost/speed/range but adds a bouncing-bomb mechanic — each thrown bomb ricochets twice more, 2.5 tiles apart in a straight line, each bounce dealing the same full splash damage as the base card's current 225 (a parity that an October 2024 damage trim applied symmetrically to both variants, and therefore preserved rather than broke). Per the entry's most recent available snapshot the Evolution also carries higher hitpoints than base (332 vs. 304), but that comparison is UNRESOLVED as a current fact rather than settled: a reported (not independently confirmed in this pass) Evolution-specific hitpoints cut in November 2025 may have shrunk that edge from the previously assumed ~9.2% to as little as ~1.6% since the snapshot was taken, or may not have happened at all — official Supercell balance notes for that period do not mention Bomber.

• Base Bomber identity: Common-rarity Ground-targeting Troop, deploys x1 unit, costs 2 Elixir, Medium movement speed (60), 1 second deploy time.

• Base Bomber Level 11 (tournament standard) combat stats: 304 hitpoints, 225 area damage per hit, 125 damage per second, 1.8 sec hit speed, 0.2 sec first hit speed, 4.5 range, 1.5 splash radius, 400 projectile speed.

• Bomber's 'first hit speed' of 0.2 sec (vs. its normal 1.8 sec hit-speed cycle) means its very first attack after it becomes ready to fire lands almost immediately rather than making it wait through a full attack cycle before its opening shot — letting it punch back quickly against a swarm the instant it's deployed, even though its follow-up attacks are slow.

• Bomber's splash (area) damage hits every enemy Ground unit within 1.5 tiles of the bomb's impact point, which is why it is used defensively to counter cheap ground swarms (Skeleton Army, Barbarians, Goblin Gang, Archers, Guards, Royal Recruits) for a favorable Elixir trade, typically clearing Skeleton Army in 2 hits. It cannot target or damage air units at all — flying troops like Minions or Baby Dragon pass over it completely unharmed.

• Balance history: in the October 2025 balance update, Supercell reduced Bomber's level-11 hitpoints from 332 to 304 (-8%), stating: "Bomber is overly versatile, being played in both cycle and heavier decks as a cheap defensive option. We're slightly trimming his hitpoints to match troops like Firecracker and Archers." This is the change that produced the 304 HP value now shown in the current LOCAL_SNAPSHOT base stats (fact #2 above), so that snapshot value is confirmed current, not stale.

• Combat interaction: since an August 2026 balance patch cut the four Spirits' (Fire/Ice/Heal/Electro) hitpoints from 230 to 215 (final, live figure), Bomber's 225 area damage now one-shots any Spirit in a single hit at matched levels. Supercell's own patch note names Bomber explicitly: "Now taken out in 1 shot by Archers, Archer Queen, Bomber, Musketeer, and Tesla."

• Evolutionthe Evolved Bomber shares identical cost (2), hit speed (1.8s), first hit speed (0.2s), range (4.5), splash radius (1.5), speed (Medium/60), deploy time (1s), and targeting (Ground only) with the base Bomber — the Evolution changes only hitpoints and adds the bounce mechanic, not the card's tempo or cost.

• Evolutionafter its initial throw lands, the Evolved Bomber's bomb bounces two more times, 2.5 tiles apart in a straight line, with each bounce dealing the same full area damage (225 at level 11, matching the base card's current damage) in the same splash radius as the original impact — so a single throw can hit up to three separate spots, and skilled players can angle the throw to ricochet bounces into backline troops or even directly damage the enemy Crown Tower. Note: an October 8, 2024 balance change cut Bomber's damage from 230 to 225 (-2%), but Supercell's own patch note explicitly states this applied to "both Evolved and non-Evolved Bomber attacks" — so base/Evolution damage parity at 225 was preserved by that change, not broken.