---
title: "King of the Mound: how to take the hill and keep it · Clash Karts"
description: "Tactics for King of the Mound in Clash Karts: where on the hill you can score, why a shared hill scores nobody, which items reach the top, and when to leave."
image: "https://clashkarts.com/og.jpg"
---

# King of the Mound: how to take the hill and keep it

Source: https://clashkarts.com/king-of-the-mound-tactics

King of the Mound pays for time alone on top of the Sandcastle Mound, and three points for a knockout. This is how the hill works up close, and how to hold it.

Published 12 October 2026.

## The hill is a ring, not a circle

The scoring zone reaches 6.2 metres out from the middle of the Sandcastle Mound, but the sandcastle keep, 3.4 metres across, stands in the middle of it, and a kart measures almost a metre from its centre to its bumper. So the only places a kart can score are on a lane of flat sand round the keep, between about 2.7 and 6.2 metres from the middle: a few kart lengths wide, and the whole of the fight.

Both item boxes on the hill sit in that lane, on opposite sides of the keep. Whoever holds the hill can rearm without leaving it, as long as they use what they are holding first: a box will not open for a kart that already has an item. An emptied box is back five seconds later.

## Only time alone scores

On the hill by yourself, you earn a point for every half second, and the time adds up across visits. Driving off a quarter of a second short of a point loses nothing: that quarter is still yours when you come back.

With two or more karts on top, nobody earns anything. A shared hill is the worst place on the beach for the karts on it and a gift to everyone else: while two rivals shove each other round the keep, neither scores, and both of them are targets.

A kart in the air neither holds the hill nor stops anyone else holding it, and a wrecked kart is off the beach for three seconds. A kart in its three-second spawn shield does count, though: you cannot hurt it or blast it away, but it still stops you scoring until it leaves or its shield runs out.

A knockout is worth three points, the same as a second and a half alone on top. Wrecking the kart that holds the hill pays twice: three points for you, and the hill open again.

## Getting up there

There are no ramps to queue for. The sand rises on every side, 1.4 metres over the mound's last few metres, so come up from whichever side is quietest, and keep an eye on the sand: whoopee cushions on the slope catch karts on their way up.

Slow down at the top. The flat top is only 13 metres across, and a kart arriving at full speed is over it and down the far side in under a second. The computer racers ease right off when they reach the top, for the same reason.

Hot Sauce gets you up fastest and keeps you there worst: it drives flat out whatever you press, and it gives no push while your wheels are off the sand. Where it earns its place is clearing the top. Ram a kart that is not on hot sauce and it takes 25 damage and is thrown up and away from you, and while it is in the air it holds nothing.

## What reaches the top

Rockets, ducks and gumballs leave a kart a little under a metre above the sand and fly level when you fire from flat ground. The top of the mound is higher than that, so shots fired from the beach below run into its sandy side. A rocket that bursts on the slope can still catch a kart right at the edge of the top in its blast, but a kart in the middle of the lane is out of their reach.

Two items do reach it from below. The Seagull climbs to the height of its target as it flies, and the Grand Piano comes down from above, landing about 27 metres ahead of a standing kart and about 35 metres ahead of one at full speed.

From the top itself, everything works again, and the keep is the only cover up there. Keep it between you and whoever has a rocket on their nose: a blast on the far side of the keep reaches you at a quarter of its strength.

## Holding it

- Circle the keep rather than parking. A moving kart is harder to hit, and circling lets you keep the keep between you and whoever is coming up the slope.
- The Mega Burp is the item to own up there. Its blast reaches 9 metres, which covers most of the top, and spins out every kart within about 7 metres of you. Karts behind the keep are sheltered from it, so burp when you can see them, not when the keep is in the way.
- Drop whoopee cushions on the slope as you come round. Anyone driving up to contest you has to cross sand you have mined, and you can have four down at once for 45 seconds each.
- A Bubble Bath keeps you scoring through a barrage: five seconds in which nothing can hurt you or blast you off. It does not stop another kart bumping you, and it does not stop a rival on the hill from contesting it.
- The computer racers head for the hill whenever they hold an item, and they go for whoever is near it. Expect them armed.

## When to leave

Leave when you cannot win the fight up there. A hurt kart that steps off for six seconds without being hit starts mending at 8 health a second, and the time it banked on top is still there when it comes back.

When two rivals are fighting over the hill, let them. Neither of them scores while they share it, and each knockout you take from the slope or the beach below is worth three points.

In the last half minute, count. A knockout is worth a second and a half alone on the hill, so a hunter two points behind the holder passes them with one well-timed wreck.

For the rules of all four modes, see the [modes guide](https://clashkarts.com/modes); for every item in detail, the [items guide](https://clashkarts.com/items); and for the ground you fight on, [the map guide to Big Wave Beach](https://clashkarts.com/big-wave-beach-guide). More strategy is on the [articles page](https://clashkarts.com/articles).

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