Summary

 The Hog Rider is a fast ground troop with medium hit points, low

damage, and the ability to jump over enemy Walls. He is unlocked at
level 2 Dark Barracks.
 The Hog Rider (person) is a bare-chested dark-skinned man holding a
hammer. He has a Mohawk, wears a brown leather loincloth, a red
belt, and a pair of leather sandals, as well as two large golden
wristbands and a gold earring.
 His ride is a large hog, about half his height. It has a brown leather
bridle looped around its tusks, which in turn is held by the Hog Rider.
 Hog Riders prioritize defensive structures above all other targets, and
will bypass all other types of enemy buildings and troops while any
defenses remain on the battlefield. This is true even if they are under
attack by enemy Clan Castle troops, heroes or Skeleton
Trap skeletons. Note that like all troops that prioritize defenses, Hog
Riders do not consider the Clan Castle to be a defense regardless of
whether or not it contains enemy troops, but do consider the
defending Grand Warden and the activated Town Hall weapon (if any)
to be defensive buildings.
Once all defenses are destroyed, Hog Riders become like any other
troop with no preferred target; they will attack the nearest building to
them regardless of type, and will turn and attack enemy units if they
become aware of any nearby.
Strategy
Offensive
 He can be used to jump over any level Walls, rendering them
ineffective against Hog Riders. Note that while this allows Hog Riders
free access to what lies behind the Walls, it does not open up gaps for
other troops to move through. If the Hog Riders need the support of
other ground troops, you will still need to deploy Wall Breakers,
a Jump Spell, or Earthquake Spells in order to assist them.
 Hog Riders can be used en masse, i.e. a "Hog Rider Rush", without
requiring any Wall Breakers to break Walls. However, such a strategy
sports weaknesses against defending Clan
Castle troops, Heroes, Giant Bombs, and Skeleton Traps, a problem
which only becomes more prominent at higher levels.
 At Town Hall 10 and above, Hog Riders can be combined
with Miners in a strategy known as Hog Miner or Hybrid. Both troops
are able to bypass Walls innately, but Miners do not have a
preferential target, allowing them to cover for Hog Riders by dealing
with defending Heroes and Skeleton Traps. The combination also has
weaknesses against flying Clan Castle troops, as neither are able to
target air.
 At lower levels, Hog Riders are quite capable of acting as distracting
troops like Giants; they have nearly as much health as a similar-level
Giant, move twice as fast, and do considerably more damage.
 They work well with the Healing Spell when you group several of them
together.
  A good tactic for using Healing Spells is to place them
strategically on a cluster of defenses (at least about 3 or
more) and also deploy them shortly before the Hog Riders
arrive in the area, deploy them in front of the Hog Riders.
This is so that the Hog Riders get the most value out of
the Healing Spell, and destroy the defenses without losing
too much HP.
 Spots where Giant Bombs or Bomb Towers are/may be
should be given special attention when deploying Healing
Spells. Hogs of the same level as the Giant Bomb will
survive a single Giant Bomb, but they're helpless against a
pair of Giant Bombs even with a Healing Spell. Heal them
after they've gone through a Giant Bomb blast.
 The Hog Rider is one of the best troop types for drawing out Clan
Castle troops, as it can avoid Walls to penetrate deep enough to reach
centrally-placed Clan Castles (and enough health to not die before it
gets there). Deploy one or a few to trigger the Clan Castle troops,
then lure the reinforcement troops to the corner side, and deploy
multiple Archers or Wizards to slaughter them, and then deploy the
remainder of your Hog Riders. This strategy is especially effective
during Clan War raids. However, Skeletons from the Skeleton Trap and
Heroes can also easily kill the Hog Riders, as they can only target
defenses, so make sure to have some troops that target anything,
such as Wizards, which can swipe out the Skeletons.
 Hog Riders don't target air so flying Clan Castle troops,
especially Dragons, can be a big threat. Most mass Hog Rider
strategies in Clan Wars require that the Clan Castle troops be killed
first by luring. Bring other troops in addition to Hog Riders, such as
Wizards, to deal with enemy Clan Castle troops and clean up the base.
 Poison Spells can be used to kill almost any enemy Clan
Castle troop, but beware as the troops will attempt to flee
the poison. If the Poison Spells are decently leveled, and
you effectively keep the Clan Castle troops from escaping
the Poison Spell with distracting troops, they can
eliminate almost any troop. They can also be used to
dispense of those pesky Skeletons risen from the Skeleton
Traps.
 Time is also a factor to consider. With only 3 minutes in an
attack, it is essential to make sure that this whole process
and the remainder of the attack is done as quickly as
possible to avoid running out of time.
Defensive
 Defending against Hog Riders is tricky, as their ability to
bypass Walls renders them irrelevant. However, the fact that they can
jump over Walls and attack defenses means that they may leave
behind their ground support (such as Barbarians, etc.), as they will
not be able to follow. This will allow your interior defenses to
concentrate on the Hog Riders.
  Another way to defend against Hog Riders is to exploit the
fact that they will attack the closest defensive building.
You can arrange your base in such a way so that you have
high-powered defenses on the inside and lower-powered
defense on the outside, with a layer of resources in
between. That way, the Hogs will (in theory) complete a
loop around your base before being able to attack your
interior defenses (Inferno Towers, X-Bows, etc.), by which
time they should have all been killed by the interior
defenses.
 You can place Spring Traps and Giant Bombs in between
defensive buildings to take out a few Hog Riders at a time;
good usage of multiple Spring Traps and Giant Bombs can
severely hinder a Hog Rider rush.
 Hog Riders can be easily killed using "forced pathing". Forced pathing
is a strategy that manipulates the Hog Rider AI and makes them go to
at least 2 defenses that cannot be prevented by surgical dropping or
side clearing. Placing a set of Giant Bombs in between the two can
most certainly hinder the attacker progress. They would not be able
to heal the Hog Riders in time.
 Clan Castle troops, Heroes, and Skeleton Traps set to Ground Mode
can be an annoyance to mass Hog Rider raids, as Hog Riders will not
attack them unless all defenses have been destroyed. Make sure to
centralize them if you want to beat Hog Riders.
 In Clan Wars, Dragons are excellent troops to place in Clan
Castles against Hog Riders, especially for Town Halls 8 and
9. They have high HP, meaning they won't die easily and
can kill mass quantities of Hog Riders swiftly if not
properly lured. Most mass Hog Rider strategies require
that the enemy Clan Castle troops be killed first, so if the
attacker lures out a Dragon, but fails to kill it, then a 3-star
win is next to impossible, much less a 1-star win via
destroying 50% of the buildings.
 Multi-target Inferno Towers can be a severe hindrance to Hog Riders,
having high HP to take several hits from Hog Riders, while hitting
large groups of them.
 Although the Hog Rider is certainly not a liability on defense, the fact
that all defensive troops are unimpeded by Walls negates the primary
advantage of the Hog Rider. Still, for the space they take they are
faster and more damaging compared to Giants.
Upgrade Differences
 The Hog Rider undergoes significant visual changes at levels 3, 5, 6, 7,
8, 9, and 10.
 Initially, the Hog Rider is a dark-skinned man with a black
mohawk and beard. He also has a gold earring in his right
ear and sports two heavy golden wristbands, a red belt,
and a brown loincloth. The Hog Rider's hammer has two
brass bands.
 At level 3, his hammer increases in size and turns black.
The brass bands on the hammer's head disappear, and the
hammerhead goes further down onto the stick, creating a
button looking object on the top of the hammerhead.
 At level 5, his mohawk turns from black to orange, making
it similar to that of a level 5 Goblin.
 At level 6, his hammer gains three large, golden spikes and
a bronze plating.
 At level 7, the edges of his hammer start to glow red, and
he gains a brown headband but reverts to a black
mohawk.
 At level 8, his hammer is now mostly golden. His hog also
gains a headband.
 At level 9, the gold on his hammer is much thicker. His
headband also lightens in color.
 At level 10, his hammer turns a bright light blue color that
resembles the look of ice. This matches the theme of
Town Hall 13. It also gains a small same-colored glow.
 At level 11, his hammer turns a light greenish color. This
matches the theme of Town Hall 14. His hog gains gold
armour on its face and muzzle.