How do I counter xbows in Royale?
I've thus far failed to create a strategy or card setup that does very well against xbows. It seems like they all bring zap or arrows in order to kill all of the small minions I throw in front of it.
Its' range is insane so no other building can hit it, and it always takes down my giants before they arrive!
What is considered the counterplay to xbows, or what are its' "weaknesses"?
I think that you can use the following strategies:
Attack the crossbow before it deploys. Stationary crossbows have a long deploying time, in which you can deploy a Mini P.E.K.K.A, Prince, a Musketeer, a Giant or any other fast/ranged/high-hitpoints unit to have enough time to get close and to destroy it.
Use a long-ranged spell. You can use a Rocket, Poison, Ligtning or a Goblin Barrel to cause a lot of damage to it from a big range. Fireballs may work too. You can also use Freeze to freeze the Crossbow for your troops to have more time to get close.
Let it destroy itself. (BUT ONLY it it's away enough from your towers) Buildings, including the Crossbows, slowly take damage over time and they destroy themselves at a certain point.
John's first two strategies are solid for handling X-Bows - taking it down (or at least doing some damage to it) before it deploys is excellent, and spells can knock some duration off them as well (especially Goblin Barrels, since the goblins can keep hitting it until it deploys and shoots them). But I strongly disagree with simply ignoring it - the amount of damage an X-Bow can do to a tower without the tower being able to counterattack is massive.
In place of that strategy, I recommend having a unit-producing card (Tombstone, Goblin Hut, or Barbarian Hut come to mind first) set out of range of the X-Bow, preferably BEFORE it finishes deploying (so that the "free" units can get the X-Bow's aggro before it focuses on your tower). The produced units can keep distracting the thing to take pressure off your other attempts to shut it down and minimize the damage to your tower. A Giant or other "tank" will work against it much better with swarm support, and the constant units-over-time is much more resistant against Arrows and other area denial than a Skeleton Horde or similar card would be.
Of special note, if you have one, a Witch is an excellent building-breaker, producing her own swarm over time and having a ranged area attack to help clear any support the opponent gives the X-Bow.