I posted this on YouTube and the game's Discord server two months ago, but I realized there might be parts of the Steam community that haven't seen this yet.

This video can help you top the Golem Challenge leaderboards, get the achievement for the Crystal Golem Challenge, and might improve the way you think about the game.

I recommend watching the video, but if you prefer reading, here's the video's transcript:

Hi! I’m paperpancake. I’m having a blast with the Golem Challenge in Crystal Clash. I played over a hundred hours in this game mode alone, though I’ve had a lot of fun in PvP as well. The thrill of discovering effective playstyles and tweaking decks is a big part of the fun. If you are new to Crystal Clash and don’t want spoilers on your road to discovery, stop this video now and just go play. Eventually, however, I get curious about what tactics other players use. You, too? Well, you will soon see my offering: a 6-minute-49-second speedrun on the highest difficulty level.

First, here is my deck.


Are you surprised to see that all these cards are pretty basic? They are gold tier, but that doesn’t make them stronger. It just gives me more charges. How can weak units like this bring down the very scary Granite Guardian?

I used to build Golem Challenge decks with Tier 3 Legendary units strong enough to go toe-to-toe with the Granite Guardian. I still love Tier 3 units for PvP. But in this Challenge, Tier 3 is unavailable for 8 minutes. Times between 8 and 10 minutes used to top the monthly leaderboards, but I wanted to break that Tier 3 speed barrier.

The good news is that with so many Tier 1 cards, I have more tactical flexibility at the beginning of the game. The bad news is that I… well, I am basically using water guns. To take down the Granite Guardian, I need enough water guns to create a tsunami.

Enough talk. Let’s fight! Shakabooey!

I start by luring the enemy units back to my nexus. That nexus ammunition is a free and powerful resource, so use it. (This priest always wanted to be a martyr. There he goes!) After this, I need to give the nexus time to replenish ammunition, so it’s essential that I push forward while I can and take the first tower.

I place a priest back slightly so that it will use its enchantment before attacking. The priest’s enchantment increases a unit’s armor class, which means that we can get better value from the same amount of healing–useful already, and even more useful later. Stone Weavers deal siege damage, so they are perfect for demolishing these buildings quickly.

The timer at the top left is close to 0, so a large wave will soon spawn at the enemy nexus. When it does, you can watch it approach on the mini-map. Before I transition to defending against that wave, I want to first take advantage of some free tower ammunition to help me whittle down these defenders.

The Golem Challenge is a little different from PvP, but it’s always important to control where you fight no matter what mode you play. Don’t be afraid to fall back and regroup far away from enemy towers. Use your tower ammunition well, and find ways to avoid, minimize, or waste the enemy’s ammunition.

Notice that even though I can afford another permanent spawner, I’m saving it for after my nexus defeats this next wave. Waiting can sometimes put you behind on mana, but not this time. The display in the bottom left shows that spending 800 essence will not yet be enough to push me to the next mana tier anyway, so I might as well wait.

Unlike in PvP, enemy Golems never regain control over destroyed towers, at least not in the current Challenge. Losing a tower temporarily doesn’t hurt me, and it gives my Nexus more chances to attack.

Enemy wave annihilated? Time for a counter-push! We’re still limited to tier 1 cards for the next two minutes, but the second tower is strong. I will borrow mana by using Echoes of the Future. And a few stuns from Light Pulse will give our squishy damage dealers more time to work.

While we wait, it’s worth noting that enemies in this Golem Challenge have different stats and abilities than your units have. For example, the enemy Granite Scouts are not immune to spell damage like yours are. The Crystal Chanters bestow a bounce attack instead of just increasing attack speed. And so forth. I learned this over time, but you can always start a game, click on the units, and hover over their stats.

There’s Echoes of the Future. Light pulse. Throw in some cheap cannon fodder. (“Hey!!” It’s true, tho.) A spawner to jump to the next mana tier. Aaaand… That tower is going down! [~3:28]

This was as far as I expected to get with this push. I’m completely tapped out of mana for the next 30 seconds. A strong enemy wave is approaching. In most games, I lose more units in the fight for the second tower, so I fall back to let *my* tower and nexus ammo take care of this enemy wave. While that slows me down a little, my best time in those circumstances is still 6:59.

But this time was different. A combination of luck and good timing left me with enough units to win this fight and claim the tower. This took me by surprise. You might notice that I’m a bit slow on making some decisions. But hey, that just means there’s room for improvement, right?

So… when you don’t know what to do, go back to the basics. Avoid enemy towers, and use friendly towers to take out a chunk of their defenses.

Ah, Stage 2. It’s time for a tsunami.

I need my tsunami to start slowly so that it has time to build. I also need as much of it to survive as possible.

Do you see this green unit? The Heart of the Forest is the heart of my tsunami. It has no attack at all, so it’s perfect for a slow start against a predictable opponent. It enchants other units to bestow better health and attack. More health means more survivability, especially when the priest can add armor to make the ballista’s healing more effective.

My wave is still moving too fast, so I need to slow my roll even more to let reinforcements catch up. The Petrify spell is perfect for this, since it affects all units, not just enemies.

It’s normally rare for a priest to successfully enchant an archer. Priests only enchant wounded units, but archers die so quickly. The hp buff from the Heart of the Forest is what makes this synergy possible and keeps so many of my archers alive.

The enemy flying observers are troublesome. I often stun them if I’m unsure whether I have enough firepower to kill them before one of my units dies.

Do you see where this fight is happening? Right where the second tower used to be. This is why I pushed so hard to destroy it earlier.

Big incoming wave? Time for the petrify spell again. Notice how much control this spell gives me over the pace of a battle. You can even petrify many types of buildings. Other spells are somewhat similar, like Banish and Inverse Gravity, but Petrify is my favorite version of this type of spell. And bonus, you can use it in any deck without color limitation.

The only card I haven’t used yet is the Hail of Arrows, but its time is coming. Hail of Arrows gets more powerful for every friendly archer nearby, and I’m building up quite the wave of archers.

The final boss fight is nigh! Now that it’s clear that I will take this tower, I should have started preparing for the boss fight. This is a missed opportunity that leaves room for improvement. I usually try to borrow mana using Echoes of the Future.

The Granite Guardian is immune to status effects, so you need to use brute force to bring it down. We just need to buy time by slowly placing footmen. Let’s have a moment of silence for these fallen heroes.

I could have handled this endgame better, but once the Granite Guardian crumbled, there was nothing left to stop me. The giant enemy wave that spawns at the 7-minute mark can certainly slow things down a bit, but even that can’t stand up to a tsunami like this.

That’s the game! Please don’t think that I get such great times in every game. I’m working on my consistency, but I still make mistakes. There is also some luck at play, especially when it comes to what back-area spawners the enemy uses, as well as the order in which they activate.

Now that you know my tactics, do you think you can beat my time? Perhaps you have even better ideas to try. Please like and subscribe, then talk to me in the comments.