This is what I've been running to climb, not sure how my comp is. I'm currently running barb hut/gob hot/skarmy/giant/witch/arrows/fireball/spear gobs and it has been serving me pretty well, been climbing consistently and almost always am facing higher leveled opponents now that I have arena 6 unlocked. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them, I've been fairly successful baiting out aoes then dropping hut supported skarmys but I'm not sure how long that'll be a viable strat. Aerial units are an issue, especially baby dragon, but no counter unit I've subbed in has been worth the loss in power I receive in other matchups.
I know it was mentioned that I should be cautious about spending my gold, but I'm not sure how I'd level otherwise. As a level 5 I've been facing opponents up to level 9 and the pure difference in tower strengths can be staggering, especially given my build.
The problem with that deck is that it will
absolutely get demolished by aerial decks. A witch just isn't enough to take down a Balloon, and your spear gobs will get zapped to death. Fireball/Poison will also wreck your deck.
I'm currently at 4000. I've got two versions of a hut decks, but I use the same 4 cards: Barb Hut, Goblin Hut, Ice Wizard, Musketeer.
Deck 1: Giant Skeleton, Arrows, Guards, Cannon (offense oriented)
Deck 2: Barbs, Lumberjack, Fireball, Zap/Log (defense oriented)
The usual tactic I do is to focus on gaining elixir advantage in the first ~90 seconds. Huts are essentially like Elixir Pumps, except that that instead of creating elixir, it creates a steady pressure. Barb Hut is placed in front of the castle (1 tile spaced vertically), Goblin Hut on the lower left/right of the tower. With 30-60 seconds left, you can start stopping hut placements and focus on your win condition cards.
Playing against:
Hogs: Use Cannon/Barb Hut/Barb/LJ/Guard + Support
Aerial decks: Ice Wiz + Musket will demolish them. Zap/Arrow Lava Pups. Use Barb Hut to distract Lavahounds. For non-Lava decks, you can start with Goblin Hut.
Lightning Decks: Bad matchup. Make sure 2 huts can't be hit by 1 lightning. What I do is to place a Goblin Hut as distraction on one lane, then put all my eggs to the other lane. People tend to ignore a Goblin Hut pressuring a lane by itself because spears deals 50 damage, but this adds up to 650 damage per hut. This is more than a Rocket.
Rocket Decks: You can place the Barb Hut in a way that they can't rocket both hut and tower. Once you get a feel for his deck and you built up enough elixir advantage, you can be ballsy and place huts next to the river.
Golem Decks: Freaking easy. Barb Hut will take care of a Golem on its own. Kill the support with other cards.
Graveyard/Goblin Barrel/Miner: You can use Guards/LJ/Barb/Cannon/Musketeer/Log/Arrows/Zap.
Royal Guard decks: Barb Hut can tank a Royal Guard, but you really want Ice Wiz to support it.