Clash Royale Deck Building Guide

Synergy above all

Every time we talk about deck building in this game, synergy is the most remarkable ingredient. We all want every card to work alongside each othere, right?
Unfortunately If you are using Epic cards solely, they can’t be an excellent Deck in Clash Royale. Building a deck is not about rarity. It is about Synergy!

Defense is as important as offense

Of course you need offense to destroy the Crown Tower and win the battle but If you don’t know how to defend your Tower, you can’t win any battle. Your Deck needs a balance of offense and defense to be useful in any situation.

The Balance of Point and Splash Damage Cards

As we can see, there are 2 types of damage-inflicting cards in Clash Royale.

• Point damage: Cards that deal damage to only one enemy (Musketeer, Barbarian,…). Because they can only target 1 unit at a time, they are the highest damage-inflicting units in game. They are indispensable in order to take down high HP troops (Tankers).
• Splash damage: Cards that deal damage to multiple units (Witch, Baby Dragon,…). Because they have the advantage of dealing damage to multiple opposing units, they are the lowest damage-inflicting units in game. These cards are necessary for dealing with hordes of low HP units.

Melee and Range Units

We need a balance of ranged and melee troops on your Deck in Clash Royale. Ranged troops usually have high damage per second but low HP. It is very important to combine them with melee troops. We need to use the melee troops as the meat-shield for high damage ranged troops. Having too many melee troops is such a bad idea because that will make them very susceptible to splash damage. You can see how easy it is for a Valkyrie to take down all melee troops nearby, right?

Average Elixir Cost

The Average Elixir Cost is very important. You don’t want to wait 10 seconds in order to drop Card, right?
The better a Card is, the more Elixir it costs. Your Decks should have these ingredients to be a well balanced Decks in Clash Royale:

‘Average Elixir Cost’ should be between 3.7 and 4.5

After weeks, I have found it’s a good idea to have the Average that is between 3.7 and 4.5. If your AEC is higher than this, you are always struggling to constantly deploy your cards (for defending of course). If your AEC is below 3.7, although you can deploy many cards quickly but they are all low HP troops and can be wiped out by splash-damaging threats quickly.

Having at least 2 point damage-inflicting Cards

Although groups of low HP units can quickly destroy high HP cards and buildings, they can be eradicated by splash damaging Cards. Because of that, you always need to have at least 2 point damage-inflicting Cards as the backup.

Here are some examples:

• Musketeer (range)
• Prince (melee)
• Spear Goblins (range)
• Knight (melee)
• Archers (range)
• P.E.K.K.A or Mini P.E.K.K.A (melee)
• Minions/Minion Horde (flying range)
• Barbarians (melee)
• Cannon
• Tesla
• X-bow
• Inferno Tower

Having at least 3 splash damage-inflicting Cards

Splash damage-inflicting Cards are important for dealing with large hordes of troops (most players like this strategy):

• Giant Skeleton
• Bomb Tower
• Bomber
• Rocket
• Baby Dragon
• Arrows
• Witch
• Fireball
• Valkyrie
• Zap
• Wizard
• Mortar
• Lightning

Having at least 2 high HP cards

High HP cards can be either a troop or defense with at least 1000 HP. They are necessary to take damage and protect backup troops:

1. X-Bow
2. Golem
3. Prince
4. P.E.K.K.A
5. Barbarian Hut
6. Goblin Hut
7. Giant Skeleton
8. Cannon
9. Bomb Tower
10. Inferno Tower
11. Giant

Having at least 2 air-targeting Cards

If you are at a high level Arena, you usually can face aerial attackers. Most new players don’t have a solution for dealing with aerial troops. Make sure that there are at least 2 air-targeting Cards on your Desk:

• Tesla
• Inferno Tower
• Baby Dragon
• Wizard
• Musketeer
• Archers
• Minions / Minion Horde
• Spear Goblins
• Witch
• X-Bow

Having at least 1 Spell Card that deals splash damage

Yes, splash damaging troops can deal with a large group of troops but their coverage, range and movement speed are limited. It is extremely important to have a splash-damaging Spell Card such as Lightning, Arrows, Rocket, Fireball or Zap.

For example, your Bomber can deal splash damage from behind your Giant but If the opponent deploys a Goblin Barrels onto your Weakened Tower, a card like Arrows is very important in this situation to quickly remove those Goblins.

Damage-inflicting spell cards are also very useful for taking down weakened Towers.

Having at least 1 defensive structure Card

Tombstone, Goblin Hut, Hidden Tesla, Bomb Tower, Cannon, X-Bow and Mortar are excellent for slowing down the speed of the game, give you more time to load up Elixir.

Having at least 1 defensive building to protect your Towers is important because you only need to destroy 1 enemy Crown Tower to win the Battle.

My Current Clash Royale Deck

This is my current Deck:

• The Average Elixir Cost of my current Deck is 4.3, which is pretty good.
• There are 2 high point damaging troops: Prince and Muskeeter. They also have decent HP, I can deal with any high HP unit without worrying about the enemy spell cards taking them out.
• Baby Dragon, Fireball and Arrows can deal splash damage. I always can control a group of enemy troops.
• Giant, Prince and the inferno Tower have decent HP. I can couple them with the Muskeeter and Baby Dragon anytime.
• Inferno Tower, Muskeeter and Baby Dragon can deal both splash and point damage to air troops.
• Arrows and Fireball are always ready to eradicate group of troops anywhere on the field, they are also very useful to finish off a weakened Tower.
• Inferno Tower to defend the Crown Towers from any high HP and damage troops.
• The Skeleton Army is always ready to slow down and distract enemy troops as well as eat away. They are very useful for both defense and offense.

And here is the recent battle logs of my deck in Clash Royale:

Hopefully you find this guide helpful. Don’t hesitate to comment If you need any help!

Welcome to the first round of balance changes since global launch! The way we approach card balance in Clash Royale is a combination of playtesting and looking at the stats - in particular, card use rates and win rates across all levels of play. You can expect monthly balance changes to keep gameplay fine tuned and as fun as possible.

One of our core design principles is "offense over defense", which you'll no doubt hear us reference many times. We're not entirely there yet, but we'll be vigilantly tweaking and tuning cards in that general direction.

In this batch of changes we're primarily looking to address a few frustrating defensive combinations and some underused cards:

X-Bow: Range decreased to 12 (from 13)

• We want to open the X-Bow up to a little bit more counterplay. A range reduction will mean you can no longer position it behind a Tesla, as well as across the river, and still hit your opponent's tower!

Tesla: Hit speed decreased to 0.8sec (from 0.7sec), lifetime decreased to 40sec (from 60sec)

• The Tesla's use rates and win rates don't show it as being overpowered; however, another of core design principles is that all cards should have weaknesses and counters, whereas the Tesla doesn't clearly have any. A lower hit speed will reduce its DPS versus bigger targets significantly, and also make it more vulnerable to groups of troops.

Cannon: Lifetime decreased to 30sec (from 40sec)

• The Cannon offers a bit too much defensive power and value for 3 Elixir. A lower lifetime will reduce its staying power.

Princess: Hitpoints decreased by 10%

• When playing with Tournament Rule card levels, as a baseline we think Arrows should be able take out the Princess for an even Elixir trade. This hitpoint reduction ensures that’s the case. Additionally, the Princess has a very high use rate and could do with some added vulnerability overall.

Ice Wizard: Damage increased by 5%

• The Ice Wizard's main strength is control, but he could do with a little bit of extra damage to increase his value and make him more of a threat.

Prince: Charge speed decreased by 13%

• The Prince is currently the most used card in the game, but despite very popular opinion, he isn't overpowered when looking at his win rates. However, his ability to take down a tower on his own when left unchecked can be quite startling. Slowing down his charge speed a notch will give more time to react and counter.

Dark Prince: Charge speed decreased by 13%

• Both Princes ride the same breed of horse, and therefore it makes perfect sense that they move at the same speed!

Valkyrie: Hitpoints and damage increased by 10%

• The Valkyrie's use rates are quite low, as she still needs to find her place in the world. More damage and health should help her get there.

Royal Giant: Damage increased by 20%

• The Royal Giant's use rates and win rates are very low, showing that he is clearly underpowered. We wanted to give him significantly more damage, instead of boosting his hitpoints, so he could fulfill his dreams of becoming a wrecking ball.

Giant: Damage increased by 5%

• Giving the Giant a bit more damage, instead of hitpoints, will make him a more compelling choice overall, without making him any more potent on defense.

Rage: Gives 40% movement and attack speed boost (from 35%), duration decreased by 20%

• Rage can be an exciting and surprising card to see in action, but it's currently not quite strong enough to make the cut in most decks. By increasing the boost to 40% and lowering the duration, Rage will be a more intense and stronger offensive tool overall.

Poison: Damage increased by 5%

• Poison has fairly low use rates. A bit of damage over time will make it a more interesting choice next to Fireball and the other damage spells.

Mirror: Legendary Cards mirrored 1 level lower

• The Mirror is creating Legendary Cards at a disproportionately high level (slightly). After this change a level 5 Mirror will make a level 2 Legendary Card, and so on.

Three Musketeers: Cost decreased to 9 (from 10)

• Three Musketeers have a very low use rate. 9 Elixir will make them better value and less risk, hopefully increasing their allure.

Archers: Quicker initial attack (like Spear Goblins)

• The Archers' use rate falls off after the early game, while the Spear Goblins remain popular across all levels. We’re making their initial attack quicker, so they'll feel more responsive and effective.

Balloon: Hitpoints increased by 5%

• The Balloon has low use rates at the top, and many enemies (buildings!). More hitpoints should help it get to those towers!

Witch: Damage increased by 5%

• The Witch has very low use rates at the top. She needs a bit more damage to become relevant again.

The Basics

• Free Chests and Crown Chests are based on your current Arena
• Chests won from battle are based on the Arena you fought in
• Chests from higher Arenas contain more cards and Gold
• Higher Arena chests can still contain all the cards from lower Arenas
• Any chest can contain an Epic Card
• Any chest from Arena 5 upwards can contain a Legendary Card

Free Chests

• You get one Free Chest every four hours and you can store two of them

Crown Chests

• Every 24 hours you can collect 10 Crowns to unlock the Crown Chest

Magical Chests

• Arena 1 contains 1 Epic Card
• Arena 2 contains 1 Epic Card (with a 37% chance of giving 2)
• Arena 3 contains 1 Epic Card (with a 70% chance of giving 2)
• Arena 4 contains 2 Epic Cards
• Arena 5 contains 2 Epic Cards (with a 30% chance of giving 3)
• Arena 6 contains 2 Epic Cards (with a 60% chance of giving 3)
• Arena 7 contains 2 Epic Cards (with a 90% chance of giving 3)
• Arena 8 contains 3 Epic Cards (with a 80% chance of giving 4)

Super Magical Chests

• Arena 1 contains 6 Epic Cards
• Arena 2 contains 8 Epic Cards (with a 10% chance of giving 9)
• Arena 3 contains 10 Epic Card (with a 20% chance of giving 11)
• Arena 4 contains 12 Epic Cards
• Arena 5 contains 13 Epic Cards (with a 80% chance of giving 14)
• Arena 6 contains 15 Epic Cards (with a 60% chance of giving 16)
• Arena 7 contains 17 Epic Cards (with a 40% chance of giving 18)
• Arena 8 contains 22 Epic Cards (with a 80% chance of giving 23)

Shop Chests

• Higher Arena chests cost more to purchase because they give bigger and better rewards!

Card Rarity

• Rare Cards are 10 times rarer than Common Cards
• Epic Cards are 20 times rarer than Rare Cards
• Legendary Cards are 20 times rarer than Epic Cards

Hello guys, this will be an extremely long guide about how to play and counterplay every single card in Clash Royale. I’m not the best player so everything I shared in this guide could be not really right. However, I would share with all you guys how I play and counter every card in Clash Royale. This guide is based on vm88’s tips (thank you man).

How to play and counter Clash Royale Cards

THE TRAINING CAMP CARDS

Archers

Archers are quite slow in Clash Royale, they deal a decent amount of damage and are pretty beefy for a ranged unit with only 3 Elixir cost. A single Fireball can take them down but It’s not worth it If you can’t take down them and some other troops (or deal damage to the opponent tower) at the same time.
Most of the time, you don’t want to use the Fireball on Archers by themselves unless it’s extremely necessary.
Baby Dragon, Wizard and Bomber (troops which deal splash damage) can take Archers down quickly and survive with some HP.

Arrows

Arrows is one of the most popular cards in Clash Royale as it can 1 hit a lot of swarm troops such as Goblins, Spear Goblins, Minions, Goblin Barrel and Skeletons (from Skeleton Army, Tombstone, Skeletons and Witch).
In most cases, you can get an Elixir advantage when you use the Arrows on those swarms.
If you want to effectively counter the Arrows, the only way is to try to bait it out before deploying your main swarms. One of my favorite trick is to throw the Goblin Barrel towards the enemy tower, most of the time, my opponent will immediately use the Arrows, after that, I just simply plop down my cheap swarms (Goblins, Minions,…).

Baby Dragon

The Baby Dragon is one of the best cards in Clash Royale for sure. He is a flying tanker which deals splash damage and kills plenty of troops in just 1-2 attacks. He is extremely versatile on both offense and defense.
Definitely the Musketeer is the best single card you may want to trade with the Baby Dragon. If not, don’t simply drop your Spear Goblins or Minions, you should wait until he is locked on a high HP troop/tower and then use them as he can kill them in just 1-2 hits.
Tesla and Inferno Tower works pretty well against Baby Dragon (but I think it’s not worth it to drop down a defensive building card in order to deal with only one Baby Dragon.
The downside of Baby Dragon is that he can’t deal much damage to the Tower. That’s why sometime you should just sacrifice some HP of your Tower to save Elixir.

Bomber

Like the Arrows, in Clash Royale, Bomber can be effectively used to get positive Elixir trades Vs. swarms, Barbarians,… especially when you play him behind a building/tower or a high HP tanker.
If your opponent drops Bomber behind a Tower, it’s worth it to Fireball him and also deal damage to the Tower at the same time. That’s a great trade!
If your opponent plays Bomber after a tanker and pushing onto your side, drop a single troop which has decent damage (Knight for example) behind him to easily take him out.
If Bomber is attacking your Tower, he can deal a lot of damage. However, you should let your Tower deals with him If it is locked onto him as well.

Fireball

The Fireball is pretty similar to the Arrows above but it deals a bit more damage in a smaller radius.
Obviously Fireball can 1-hit every troop the Arrows can.
You can also use it to 1-hit Bomber, low level Wizards, Musketeers. It can also be able to bring Wizards, Barbarians Musketeers and Witches to the red HP bar.
The easiest way to bait out the Fireball is to drop your Barbarians.

Giant

Giant is a handsome tanker (as known as a massive meat shield). He targets only buildings.
Although he can deal a good amount of damage to the Towers, he is often used to soak damage and protect small ranged troops behind.
Sometimes I use him on defense to distract the enemy troops away from your Towers and defensive troops.
In order to counter the Giant, you can simply use high damage swarms such as Minion Horde, Barbarians… on top of Giant. Use defensive building card such as Tesla, Cannon,… If you have to buy more time. You can easily stop him from attacking your Tower and also deal a decent amount of damage to him with these cards.
When you face a Giant push, I strongly recommend you use Arrows/Fireball on the supporting troops behind him and use other cards to deal with him. If they are not available, you should wait until they push to your side then drop your troops on the top of those supporting troops. Be careful when you drop swarm troops such as Spear Goblins or Minion Horde onto splash damaging troops such as Wizards, Baby Dragon or Bomber.

Knight

Knight is a pretty cheap card which has decent HP, nice damage and is a ground melee troop.
It’s pretty easy to counter the Knight but he can deal a decent amount of damage to your Tower If he gets left unchecked.
You can effectively use air troops to deal with him without getting hit as he is melee troop and targets only ground units.
If you have to use a ranged troop to deal with him, make sure you place it far enough so he can’t attack your troop before taking a lot of damage.

Mini P.E.K.K.A

Mini P.E.K.K.A is a glass cannon melee troop which has pretty low HP but a lot of damage. “She” is a melee troop, which can targets only ground units.
You should use her when you have another high HP troop to tank damage otherwise she will die quickly.
To deal with Mini P.E.K.K.A, you can use cheap ground swarms such as Goblins, Skeletons,…

Musketeer

She is a ranged troop who can deal a lot of damage when protected or left alone.
You should protect your Musketeer with a high HP troop/tower to soak damage for her.
If the opponent drops a Cannon, just simply use your Musketeer since her can outrange it without getting a single hit.
To counter the Musketeer in Clash Royale, you can either use a Fireball or Lightning Spell on her and the Tower. Otherwise, you can wait until she crosses over to your side and drop cheap cards right onto her (Goblins, Knight, Barbarians,… are the great choices for this).

Prince

Here you go, one of the best cards in Clash Royale. Obviously he has brought a lot of more difficulty to new players than all other cards. However, you can easily counter him. He has a pretty nice HP, fast movement speed. He has a special ability which helps him run faster and gain 2x the damage on the targeted unit.
On defense, once he is dropped, you need to react quickly because of his incredible movement speed. The key to deal with him is to use cheap ground swarms such as Goblins, Spear Goblins, Skeletons,… And these troops can deal a decent amount of damage to him and buy more time so your Towers can hit him longer. You should also drop your troops in the middle of your arena in order to lure him there, he will take a lot of damage while running and also getting attacked by both Towers. Never use a single troop to stop him since he can 1-hit most of them.

Skeleton Army

Skeleton Army is mostly used on defense. Skeleton Army is extremely useful at dealing with big threats as they can quickly surround them and deal a lot of damage.
This card can be easily countered by Arrows, Fireball, Wizard, Baby Dragon, Bomber,… (all cards that deal splash damage), that’s why we rarely use them on offense.
Before using the Skeleton Army, make sure your opponent doesn’t have the Arrow or any other splash damaging spell card on his hand otherwise it will be a big waste.

Witch

The Witch summons a certain amount of Skeletons, she deals a relatively low amount of splash damage. Also, her HP is pretty low, that’s why she can be killed by Lightning and some other spell cards.
My favorite way to counter the Witch is to use Lightning to deal damage to both her and the Tower. She will be killed by the Lightning regardless. Also, you can use Fireball and leave her with a small amount of HP. Otherwise, you can simply drop a card (Knight for example) right onto her when she crosses over your arena.
As I said above, If you has a Witch, never place her next to your Tower in order to prevent the opponent from damaging both of her and your Tower.

THE GOBLIN STADIUM CARDS

Goblins –

This card summons 3 small Goblins that have nice damage but low HP. However, If you leave them unchecked, they will definitely a decent amount of damage to your troops and towers.

You can Fireball, Arrows,.. to 1 hit them but I recommend doing this If you can also other troops at the same time. Otherwise, most troops can be used to deal with them.

Spear Goblins

Definitely Spear Goblins is one of the most useful cards in Clash Royale.
This card spawns 3 fast ranged Goblins that can deal nice damage but has pretty low HP.
You shouldn’t use only Spear Goblins since lots of troops can 1 hit them, unless you want to use them at starting, when the Elixir bar hits 10 (You can place them on the bridge so they can deal hundreds damage to the enemy Towers). It’s recommended to have a tanky protecting them.
If your opponent groups them with other swarm troops such as Goblins, Minions, Skeletons,… It’s worth it to throw an Arrows card on them, or maybe even a Fireball If there are some Archers and Barbarians.
Wizard and Baby Dragon are extremely effective at dealing with them since they can 1 hit them anytime.
If the opponent use only Spear Goblins to deal some damage to your Tower, it’s better to just do nothing and let your Tower dealing with them.

Goblin Hut

The Goblin Hut spawns a Spear Goblin after a decent time. This card is usually used to apply constant pressure to a lane and launch a massive push later.
If your opponent drops the Goblin Hut on one lane and starts attacking on the other one, it’s better to just ignore the Goblin Huts since it can’t do much damage to your Tower (just a few hundred damage).
If the opponent places some Huts on 1 side and try to launch a big push, you can use either Fireball, Rocket or Lightning on those Hut and also try to deal damage to the enemy Tower at the same time.
Poison is also very great to deal with Hut Deck.

Goblin Barrel

This is another pretty popular card in Clash Royale. Not only new players but also many top players are using Goblin Barrel a lot as his card can deal a ton of damage to tower If left unchecked.
Most of the time, players throw this card onto the enemy tower. You can easily drop the Arrows on top of your Tower when the Barrel has crossed the river. But you should take care about this. Sometimes the opponent wants to bait your Arrows out with Goblin Barrel. Make sure you opponent doesn’t have any swarm before using your Arrows.
As I said above, one of my favorite strategy to bait out the Arrows is to drop Goblin Barrel right on top of the opponent. Non-Experienced players usually immediately drop the Arrows and I can start launching my massive push with no worry.

Lightning

This is one of my favorite cards in Clash Royale. Lightning is the anti-building card which works extremely wells against X-Bow decks, Hut decks, defensive decks,…
Sometimes, you can use Lightning to deal with slow pushes which have high DPS troop such as Musketeer, Wizard.
If your opponent has a Witch, simply drop Lightning onto her and also the Tower to take her down within seconds.
The downside of this card is that it is quite expensive. Before using it, make sure you have enough Elixir to deal with any sneaky push.One of my favorite combos I usually use in low leagues is to drop the Barbarians right on the bridge at starting and then drop Lightning when once the opponent drops a big cards to deal with the Barbarians.

Valkyrie

Valkyrie is rare used in Clash Royale. I haven’t seen many decent Valkyrie Decks yet.
She has nice HP and does splash damage in a circle around her.
If you want to kill her, don’t use group swarm troops such as Barbarians, Skeleton Army, Goblins,… as she can kill them all in just 1 second.
The best way to deal with her is to use either air troops or ground troops which can deal damage to single target (Knight, Musketeer,…).

Updating…

Don’t worry guys! This guide is being updated! I am going to finish it soon!

Also, please comment If you have any idea and suggestion! I wand to read your comments!