Poison

Poison is a 4-elixir Epic spell that drops a lingering cloud of toxin over a 3.5-tile patch of the arena, damaging everything caught inside it once per second for eight seconds — air troops, ground troops and buildings alike — while slowing enemy troop movement by 15%. None of that damage lands instantly, which is the whole character of the card: where Fireball or Rocket hit once and push units back, Poison is a zoning and attrition tool that only pays out in full if the target stays in the cloud the entire eight seconds. At tournament standard it ticks for 92 and totals 736, enough to finish a same-level Musketeer or Electro Wizard outright. Most of its balance history has been a slow walking-back. Its Crown Tower chip damage has now been cut four separate times, from 40% of full damage down to the 23% it deals today after a June 2026 update that trimmed the tower damage of twelve spells in one patch, and the 15% slow it carries was stripped out entirely in late 2016 before returning in September 2021. A February 2017 rework gave it its current shape, shortening the cloud from ten seconds to eight while raising its damage 24%. What hasn't changed is the job it does: Poison is the spell you bring to shut down swarms, spawner buildings and Graveyards for a long window, usually alongside a chip threat like the Miner.

• Poison is a 4-elixir Epic spell, unlocked in the Jungle Arena, that damages both air and ground troops as well as buildings — ticking once per second for eight seconds rather than hitting all at once. At tournament standard (level 11) each tick deals 92 for 736 total, rising to 148 per tick and 1,184 total at level 16.

• The cloud covers a 3.5-tile radius, and because the damage is spread across eight separate ticks, a troop that walks out early only takes part of it — landing the full 736 means placing Poison where the target will still be standing eight seconds later.

• A June 2026 balance update cut Poison's Crown Tower damage from 184 to 168 at tournament standard, a 9% reduction that drops it from 25% to 23% of its full damage against towers.

• That nerf came as part of a blanket cut to almost every spell's Crown Tower damage in the same patch — twelve spells in total — aimed at discouraging players from winning through passive spell cycling rather than committed pushes. Poison got off comparatively lightly at -9%, against cuts of -19% for Arrows, -18% for Freeze and -17% for Fireball, Zap, Giant Snowball and Rage.

• Poison's damage to Crown Towers has been trimmed four separate times over the card's life — from 40% of its full damage down to 35% in December 2017, 30% in August 2020, 25% in May 2024, and 23% in June 2026 — steadily pushing it away from being a tower-chipping win condition and toward pure board control.

• The 15% movement slow players rely on today is actually a returning feature: it was stripped out of Poison entirely in October 2016 and stayed gone for nearly five years before coming back in September 2021. It doesn't stack with the slows from Ice Wizard, Ice Golem or Giant Snowball, and it clings to a troop for a moment after it escapes the cloud — most visible when dropped on something fast like a Hog Rider or Lumberjack.

• Poison's 736 total damage at tournament standard is enough to kill a same-level Musketeer (721 hitpoints), Electro Wizard (714), Goblinstein (721) or Little Prince (698) outright — a single Fireball can't manage any of them. It falls short against a Witch (839) or Wizard (832), so those need a follow-up like Zap, Tornado or a distracting mini-tank to keep them in the cloud and finish the job.

• A single tick one-shots Skeletons and Bats at matched level — 92 damage against their 81 hitpoints — but that margin vanishes if they're two levels higher, where 98 hitpoints survives the tick. An under-levelled Poison quietly stops being an instant swarm answer.

• Its long duration makes Poison a hard counter to Clone — eight seconds is enough to wipe every one-hitpoint clone and lock the opponent out of casting it at all for that window — and a reliable, if imperfect, answer to Graveyard, since a Skeleton's first swing comes out faster than the Poison's first tick and a few will still reach the tower.