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"These fiery beasts can't resist chasing after Air Defenses, providing excellent protection for other troops. Once destroyed, they erupt into many smaller, weaker menaces."
The Lava Hound is like a flying fiery Golem, except its favorite target is specifically Air Defenses.
The Lava Hound is a pyrotechnic (volcanic) hound-like creature with wings.
Like the Golem, the Lava Hound deals additional splash damage when it dies, before splitting into Lava Pups.
When the Lava Hound attack buildings, it bounces up and down slightly while shooting little fireballs at it like a Minion.
The Lava Hound will first attack Air Defenses, then any other Defensive Buildings, and once those are destroyed it will go after the closest building regardless of type.
They can distract Air Defenses, which prevents the Air Defenses from destroying a group of Dragons or Balloons.
Be sure to keep it away from a single targeting Inferno Tower which can kill it with ease.
It's a good idea to send Lava Hounds in pairs so it can soak up twice the amount of damage and to longer distract defenses from other air troops. However, don't use too many, as they are extremely weak offensive units and will be destroyed before they do too much damage to your enemy, even given their prodigious hitpoints.
Lava Hounds may make high-level Giant-Healer strategies more viable, as one of the major reasons it previously failed at high levels was Air Defense damage. A Lava Hound may be able to keep the Healer alive substantially longer, giving the Giants enough time to clear a path for the damage dealers.
Defensive Strategy
Spreading your Air Defenses out is a good idea. This forces attackers to keep their air troops near the Lava Hounds for protection, making Air Bombs and Wizard Towers more effective. Also have Seeking Air Mines and Air Bombs close by.
Their weaknesses include Seeking Air Mines, which do significant damage against air troops.
Be sure to use at least one single-targeting Inferno Tower, which will destroy a Lava Hound with ease.
Lava Hounds are not very good Clan Castle troops considering they require a level 5 Clan Castle. They also do very little damage. However, they can be used to keep the attackers at bay as they can soak up a lot of damage.
Lava Hounds in the Clan Castle are most effective against air raids, most notably the Mass Dragon raid, provided you have enough Clan Castle space and high level Air Defenses. The Lava Hound's niche against Mass Dragon raids is its ability to spawn Lava Pups. Even though they are weak, the spawned Lava Pups are spawned spread out, so the Dragon's splash damage can't take them out quickly. The spawned Lava Pups can effectively distract the Dragons for some time, giving Air Defenses a chance to take them out.
Upgrade Differences
At level 1 and 2, the Lava Hound has a small amount of lava underneath its skin.
At level 3, the spikes on its back turn into lava. Its eyes also become larger and more red. The lava under the skin of the forearms also disappear, and its wings grow in size.
Trivia
The Lava Hound was added in the 16 September 2014 update.
The Sneak Peek picture of the Lava Hound features its head, bearing the words "I smell fireworks..."
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The Lava Hound bears a strong resemblance to the Lava Dragon from DragonVale, another popular iOS game.
The Lava Hound is often compared to the Golem due to its similar statistics and concept (e.g. once defeated, mini-troops will continue to fight).
When clicking on an Army Camp, the Lava Hound turns away from the screen.
Some refer the Lava Hound as the offspring of a Golem, Minion, or possibly an Inferno Tower because of the lava similarities.
The level 3 Lava Hound has the highest hitpoints among all troops; however, it has lower DPS per housing space (0.47) than any other troop, even lower than the level 1 Golem at 1.27 DPS per housing space.
At close inspection, the Lava Hound looks like a Minion, only "lavafied" and bulkier.
The Lava Hound takes up the most space of any troop in the Army Camp, along with the Golem (30 housing spaces).
The Lava Hound is currently the final troop unlocked in the Dark Barracks.
Lava Hounds are the only troops that have no shadow in the Army Camps.
