X-Bow Deck Guide: Best X-Bow Decks, Placement, and How to Play Siege
X-Bow is a siege building that shoots the enemy tower from your side of the arena, so the deck wins by defending it. The strongest X-Bow deck right now is X-Bow Siege (Siege) with a 50.5% win rate over 11,750 battles in the last 7 days (updated October 20, 2026).
TL;DR
- X-Bow attacks the tower from your side: protect it, and it does the damage.
- Play it when the opponent is low on elixir or has just used their tank.
- The strongest X-Bow deck right now is X-Bow Siege (Siege) with a 50.5% win rate over 11,750 battles in the last 7 days (updated October 20, 2026).
What is an X-Bow deck?
X-Bow is a 6-elixir building with very long range. Placed near the river, it locks onto the enemy tower and shoots it from your side of the arena. X-Bow decks are siege decks: instead of sending troops across, you defend the X-Bow while it does the damage.
The best X-Bow decks right now
| # | Deck | Cards | Elixir | Win rate | Usage | Battles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | X-Bow Siege with Evo Tesla & Hero Knight | Evo Tesla, Hero Knight, Evo Archers, Skeletons, The Log, Fireball, X-Bow, Electro Spirit | 3.0 | 50.5% | 1.8% | 11,750 |
| 2 | X-Bow Siege with Evo Tesla & Evo Knight | Evo Knight, Hero Ice Wizard, Evo Tesla, The Log, Skeletons, Rocket, Tornado, X-Bow | 3.5 | 50.3% | 0.6% | 3,670 |
| 3 | X-Bow Siege with Evo Tesla & Hero Knight | Evo Tesla, Hero Knight, Evo Archers, Rocket, The Log, X-Bow, Electro Spirit, Skeletons | 3.3 | 55.2% | 0.2% | 1,131 |
| 4 | X-Bow Siege with Hero Valkyrie & Evo Giant Snowball | Evo Giant Snowball, Hero Valkyrie, Evo Skeletons, X-Bow, Musketeer, Ice Spirit, Electro Spirit, Elixir Collector | 3.1 | 59.9% | 0.0% | 192 |
| 5 | X-Bow Siege with Evo Tesla & Hero Knight | Evo Tesla, Hero Knight, Evo Archers, Fireball, Ice Spirit, Skeletons, X-Bow, The Log | 3.0 | 52.9% | 0.1% | 852 |
| 6 | X-Bow Siege with Evo Tesla & Evo Knight | Evo Knight, Evo Tesla, Archer Queen, Skeletons, The Log, X-Bow, Rocket, Electro Spirit | 3.5 | 55.2% | 0.1% | 429 |
A classic X-Bow list is X-Bow, Tesla, Archers, Knight, Skeletons, Ice Spirit, The Log and Fireball: cheap, defensive cards that cycle back to X-Bow quickly.
Where do you place X-Bow?
There are two main placements:
- Offensive placement, on your side right next to the river, close enough to lock onto the enemy tower. Use it when they are low on elixir or have just played their win condition in the other lane.
- Defensive placement, further back in the centre, where it targets enemy troops first and then reaches the tower if they leave it alone.
Once X-Bow is locked onto the tower, it keeps shooting the tower even if troops come near. Your job is to keep those troops away from it.
How do you play X-Bow?
Defend and cycle
Most of the game you play defence with cheap cards and cycle back to X-Bow. Tesla handles ground pushes, Archers cover air, Knight tanks.
Lock when they are out of position
The best moment for an offensive X-Bow is right after the opponent commits to a big push in the other lane, or when they are low on elixir. If they can immediately send a tank to the X-Bow, it will not survive.
Protect the lock
Place Knight in front of X-Bow and Archers or Tesla nearby. Use The Log and Fireball on whatever reaches it.
Which cards pair best with X-Bow?
| Card | Played with X-Bow |
|---|---|
| The Log | 97% of games |
| Skeletons | 97% of games |
| Knight | 94% of games |
| Tesla | 90% of games |
| Electro Spirit | 73% of games |
| Archers | 70% of games |
How do you counter X-Bow?
- Send a tank at the X-Bow, not at the tower: a Giant or Royal Giant pulls the defence and breaks the building.
- Earthquake or Rocket damage the X-Bow and the cards defending it.
- Pressure the other lane when they place it offensively.
The cards X-Bow does worst against in real ranked battles:
| Card | X-Bow win rate | Battles |
|---|---|---|
| Flying Machine | 27.8% | 837 |
| Royal Recruits | 29.0% | 1,392 |
| Royal Giant | 31.4% | 950 |
| Rune Giant | 32.7% | 1,798 |
| Little Prince | 34.7% | 1,786 |
| Fisherman | 36.4% | 1,129 |
Common mistakes with X-Bow
- Locking into full elixir. They will send a tank straight at it.
- Over-defending one push. Siege decks need elixir for the X-Bow itself.
- Wrong placement. Too far back and it never reaches the tower; too far forward and troops reach it instantly.
- Spending Fireball on chip damage. It protects the X-Bow from support troops.
Where to go next
- All X-Bow decks and Tesla decks.
- X-Bow card stats.
- Best decks right now and counter decks.
- Test your siege list with the Deck Checker.
RoyaleDeck Team
Written by the RoyaleDeck Team. The deck tables in this guide are filled live from ranked battles collected through the official Clash Royale API. About us · How we compute our stats