Updated for Town Hall 18 (October 2026).
The Lava Hound is a flying tank: a slow-hitting lava beast with a huge hitpoint pool that heads straight for Air Defenses and keeps them busy while the rest of your air army works. When it dies it bursts into a ring of Lava Pups that keep fighting. You unlock it at Town Hall 9 with a level 6 Dark Barracks, it takes 30 housing space, and its max level is 8 at Town Hall 18.
How the Lava Hound works
The Hound’s favorite target is the Air Defense. It flies at speed 20 and bites once every 2 seconds for very little damage (24 per second at max level), so on its own it barely scratches a building. What it brings is hitpoints: 6,100 at level 1 and 9,500 at level 8. Every shot an Air Defense spends on the Hound is a shot that doesn’t hit your Balloons or Dragons.
The Hound can only attack buildings and ground units. In a defending Clan Castle it only comes out when a ground unit walks into the Castle’s trigger range, and it can’t fight back against air attackers.
Lava Pups
When a Lava Hound is destroyed it explodes for a small amount of area damage and releases Lava Pups in a circle around the spot where it died. Pups are fast little flyers (speed 32) with no favorite target. Each one has 50 hitpoints and does 35 damage per second from 2 tiles, against ground or air. They can’t be trained or donated by themselves, and their stats don’t change with the Hound’s level; only the number of Pups does.
- On attack you get 8 Pups at level 1, plus two per level, up to 22 at level 8.
- From a defending Clan Castle you get fewer: 8 at level 1 up to 15 at level 8.
- Pups ignore Seeking Air Mines, like Minions, but regular Air Bombs hit them and can wipe a whole ring.
- For the Tornado Trap, Clone Spell and Recall Spell, a Pup counts as 1 housing space (down from 2 in March 2025).
Even a ring of weak Pups can stall a single-target Air Defense or Inferno Tower, since each target takes a separate shot to clear.
Lava Hound levels and stats
Research is done in the Laboratory with Dark Elixir. Levels 7 and 8 sit at Town Halls 16 and 18, so Town Halls 13 to 15 and 17 add nothing new.
| Level | Hitpoints | Damage per second | Death damage | Pups (attack) | Pups (defense) | Research cost (Dark Elixir) | Research time | Town Hall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6,100 | 10 | 100 | 8 | 8 | – | – | 9 |
| 2 | 6,500 | 12 | 150 | 10 | 9 | 14,000 | 2d | 9 |
| 3 | 6,800 | 14 | 200 | 12 | 10 | 21,500 | 2d 12h | 10 |
| 4 | 7,200 | 16 | 250 | 14 | 11 | 42,500 | 3d | 11 |
| 5 | 7,600 | 18 | 300 | 16 | 12 | 60,000 | 4d | 12 |
| 6 | 8,000 | 20 | 350 | 18 | 13 | 80,000 | 7d | 13 |
| 7 | 8,500 | 22 | 400 | 20 | 14 | 200,000 | 8d | 16 |
| 8 | 9,500 | 24 | 450 | 22 | 15 | 345,000 | 15d 6h | 18 |
Costs and times are before Gold Pass discounts. A level 5 Lava Hound lets you boost the Ice Hound super troop for 25,000 Dark Elixir.
How to attack with Lava Hounds
Think of the Hound as the air version of a Golem. It shields Balloons, Dragons, Minions and Healers, and the famous LavaLoon armies (Hounds plus Balloons, often with Minions for cleanup) are built on that idea.
- Send Hounds at different Air Defenses so each one is tied up, rather than stacking them on one side.
- Don’t overload on Hounds. They deal almost no damage, and an army that is mostly Hounds runs out of time.
- Single-target Inferno Towers melt them. Bring a Freeze Spell for any Inferno near the Hound’s path. If a Hound does pop on top of a single Inferno, the Pups buy a few seconds by soaking its beam.
- Multi-target Infernos barely bother the Hound but shred Pups and everything behind it, so plan for that too.
- Spend spells on the support troops: a Clone Spell on Balloons, or Rage and Haste for slow units, multiplies the damage while the Hound holds the Air Defense.
- A Hound in front of a Battle Blimp helps the Blimp reach its drop point, though a Seeking Air Mine set off by the Hound can still catch the Blimp nearby.
- Baby Dragons are a poor fit: they don’t trigger their Tantrum while other air units are close.
How to defend against Lava Hounds
- Spread your Air Defenses. Attackers then have to keep their air troops close to the Hounds, which sets them up for Air Bombs and Wizard Towers. Seeking Air Mines next to Air Defenses get triggered by the Hound and hurt it badly.
- Keep at least one Inferno Tower on single-target if you see a lot of air attacks; it deletes Hounds the way it deletes Golems.
- A Lava Hound is a strong Clan Castle defender from Castle level 5 up. It soaks a lot of fire, and its scattered Pups are hard to catch with one Poison Spell. The Pups are especially good at stalling slow attackers like Electro Dragons and the Royal Champion.
Recent changes
- December 12, 2023: Pups from a defending Hound cut from 8-18 to 8-13 (Town Hall 16 update).
- November 25, 2024: Dark Elixir troop costs halved.
- March 24, 2025: Lava Pup housing space reduced from 2 to 1; training time removed that month.
- June 16, 2025: level 7 added.
- February 23, 2026: level 8 added for Town Hall 18, with Ice Hound level 8.
Other Dark Elixir troops by Town Hall
| Town Hall | Dark troops unlocked |
|---|---|
| 7 | Minion, Hog Rider |
| 8 | Valkyrie, Golem |
| 9 | Witch, Lava Hound |
| 10 | Bowler |
| 11 | Ice Golem |
| 12 | Headhunter |
| 13 to 16 | Apprentice Warden, Druid, Furnace, Ruin Witch (one per Town Hall) |
Lava Hound FAQ
What Town Hall unlocks the Lava Hound?
Town Hall 9, through a level 6 Dark Barracks.
How many Lava Pups does a Lava Hound release?
On attack, 8 at level 1 rising to 22 at level 8. A Clan Castle Hound releases 8 to 15.
What does the Lava Hound target?
Air Defenses first. It only attacks other buildings when no Air Defense is left.
Do Lava Pups set off Seeking Air Mines?
No, but Air Bombs hit them.
Sources: in-game troop and Laboratory data; Supercell release notes: February 2026 update (Lava Hound level 8), Clash Anytime update (Lava Pup housing), Town Hall 16 update (defensive Pup count), Town Hall 17 update.
