Clash Royale best strategy - how go to war prepared

Clash Royale since its release in 2016 remains among the most popular apps ever since. It is a strategy game, which is really easy to tell. Although some minor mechanical skills like timing, placing cards carefully, and precision can come in handy, it’s the tactical genius that leads us to high trophies levels from 2016 on. Sure, the game offers tons of fun, but it can also stretch your brains a little bit. 

In today’s guide, we’ll try to answer the question, what is Clash Royale best strategy.  

How to play Clash Royale?

If you took Clash of Clans and League of Legends, mixed it with one another, and converted onto the mobile platform, you’d get Clash Royale. It’s a simple MOBA game with a time limit so that your games won’t last forever. The premise is simple, and it makes the game so great. Your goal is to destroy enemy Towers - two Princess Towers on each side of the arena, and the King’s Tower in the middle back. The King’s Tower remains inactive unless you hit it, or take Princess Tower. 

Destroying a Tower gives the attacker a Crown with King’s Tower destruction giving three Crowns automatically. Troops in Clash Royale are divided into ground and flying, melee and ranged, buildings-focused, and with “Any” preference. Understanding these traits and playing to its fullest is key in succeeding in Clash Royale. Each Clash Royale card has a cost, from 1 Elixir to 9. The total capacity of this resource is 10. There is no reason for staying at max bar. Make it work for you! Once it’s full, the generation will stop, and you don’t want it ever to happen. Managing the Elixir, creating a complete battle deck, and managing to figure the enemy out are things to look after each match. It is why having a gameplan is so vital in Clash Royale. Beginners might struggle, but if people knew everything from the get go, no guide would be needed.

Clash Royale Fundamentals

It is where the Clash Royale game begins. We’re not going to talk about the Tutorial, since usually in most games it’s a no-brainer, and you will only learn the obvious fundamentals. It’s the true game where you learn how to play.

The first thing that you have to learn is that you will face a defeat. Currently, there is no way, no meta, no deck and no super idea that would guarantee a 100% win rate in Clash Royale. Even if you had all Legendary Cards, the whole deck max level, even if you thought that you know everything about the game, and you’ve seen every possible scenario - you will lose. You need to learn it quick. It is said, that playing long (even a few hours) makes you go on the streak, and you'll start losing more, so when you keep on losing, you should consider taking a break.

The second thing you must know is to have an answer. There are a couple of possible scenarios and win conditions in the game of Clash Royale, and you have to be prepared for each one of them. Keep asking yourself questions, and if the answers are satisfying, you’re on the right track to clash people. What if the enemy sends a tank like Giant or Golem? I can drop a Mini P.E.K.K.A. to kill it. What if he responds with a Skeleton Army? I can use a Baby Dragon to clear the swarm and form a counter push. What if he has a Minion Horde? I can wipe it quickly with Arrows or Fireball. Now we both wait for Elixir, and I already know that he has the Giant, the Skeleton Army, and a Minion Horde. I may try to force him to use both swarm cards, and wipe them with a single Arrows use for a positive trade. What if he has a Hog Rider on top of that? I can place a Tombstone to distract it or use Tornado to make him hit the King Tower.

The third thing is patience. There is no good strategy without patience and self-discipline. No strategy will ever work if you can’t stick to it. Don’t deploy a random unit just because. In the beginning, you both wait for the bar to fill. The player who drops the opening card first puts himself at a disadvantage because it’s his opponent that gets the opportunity to answer. Don’t panic, whatever happens. It’s ok if your Tower takes a little damage if you can set a nice push afterward. Don’t rush, but don’t hesitate. Be aware of what you’re doing. Think about the possible outcome. Remember, your enemy is also asking himself questions, trying to come up with a satisfying answer. Keep him guessing. Try to trick him. Make him believe you’re going one way and go the other way. 

That is the beginning on the lower arenas. Later on at 3,000+ Trophies range, you will slowly start to see patterns and relations, and you’ll learn to play around them. However, no matter how high you climb, keep in mind these simple rules, we’ve put down - you won’t win every time, have an answer, be patient. This way, you will reach high ladder ranks easily.

Clash Royale Deck

The game begins before the game. As peculiar as it may sound, it’s true for games like Clash of Clans or Clash Royale, where you are going into the battle with a preset setup. In some scenarios, like CoC Clan War or CWL, you can prepare for the attack, as you can see the target. However, in Clash Royale, it will not be possible. You’re facing an enemy, wondering what’s up their sleeve. It is the time where you ask yourself the most questions.

At the very beginning, you don’t have much to play around. All you have is that few cards from the Tutorial, and whatever you landed in a couple of initial chests. You have Giant, Goblins, Minions, and Archers. Maybe you’ve gotten a Prince or a Baby Dragon since every player receives a guaranteed Epic after the Tutorial. Now let’s get to the questions:

- Which card will I use to damage the enemy Towers? - It is the Main Win Condition. At this point in the game, you may treat the Giant as one. Later on, all cards capable of damaging the enemy Tower may become your win condition,

- Which troop will I drop if my main win condition fails? - You need to have a backup plan, as most players already have counters for more popular strategies. If the enemy kills your Giant with a Skeleton Army, it's a sign of disaster,

- What will I use versus a swarm? - For cards like Skeleton Army or Minion Horde, Goblin Gang, generally squishy but group units, you want a splash damage card to counter it, 

- How will I stop a powerful single unit? - Let’s say that your enemy landed Prince after the Tutorial. If you leave Prince alone for a long time, he will charge and deal a lot of damage. You need a swarm or a unit of equal power in order to stop his assault,

- What will I do in the meantime? - Now your win conditions are on cooldown, and your enemy is not pushing, but you’re nearing the Elixir cap. You don’t want the bar to be full. Thus, you need a card to deploy in the meantime. You may need a low cost, cycle card on the field like Skeletons or Ice Spirit, or a runner like Knight or Lumberjack.

That is five already, three cards to go. Fill the deck slots with whatever cards you have left and test it. The gameplay will provide you with an answer. You’ve lost to swarms? Improve your defense with splash damage. You’ve lost to a tank? Get swarms. You’ve lost to air units like Balloon or Lava Hound? Hire some ranged ones to shoot them down. Also, keep in mind the strategies. For example, a Hog Rider with a Wizard or Balloon with a Freeze is a pretty devastating combo when in action. It can take down half a Tower before your enemy read your strategy.

It’s trial and error from now on until you build a perfect Clash Royale deck. Once you figure out the perfect set up, don't hesitate to go to the clan chat tab and share it with friends. Multiple people can benefit from your final result.

Alternatively, you may want to copy the latest deck from Clash Royale giants and pros. Each update and app version brings new meta picks, and these guys stay in front of everybody for a reason. However, keep in mind that a well-designed deck is only a half of a deal. You need card levels too. Otherwise, you're at risk of losing easily. There are lots of web pages and YouTube videos that you can copy a good deck from. That'll make your life easier. Stay up to date, though. Decks from 2019 meta may not be strong anymore.

Types of decks in Clash Royale

Depending on the win condition and the card that is supporting it, there are several decks that are used in the meta. 

Beatdown - it revolves around the buildings-focused tank like Golem or Giant, with strong support, that create heavy pushes. The premise is pushing relentlessly to kill the Tower fast,

Control - it’s more about defending effectively than attacking. Instead of focusing the Elixir expenses on push, you’re trying to gain an Elixir advantage minimizing the Elixir input while keeping the enemy at bay. Eventually you want to open up a possibility to chip the Tower down,

Bait - it relies on forcing the enemy to use a card that is a direct counter to your main win condition. For example, you want to bait out the splash damage spells before using the Goblin Barrel,

Siege - this deck has buildings as win conditions. Mortar and X-Bow can reach Arena Towers if placed close to the River, and your goal is to use it. Such decks are hard to deal with, as they provide cheap, safe damage to opponent`s building from afar,

Cycle - it consists of cheap, fast-reloading cards that you spam your enemies with. You will catch a lot of opponents with their pants down using such a deck.

You may ask: “Which deck is the best in Clash Royale app?” The answer is simple - the one that you’re the best at. Throughout your stint with Clash Royale, you will test countless different cards and combinations. Some of them will fit, some not. The ones that fit your playstyle and mentality are the best decks for you. Using quasi-meta decks copied from random web pages, guides, and videos is not the way to go. When someone tells you: “It will work,” it doesn’t mean it will indeed. It works for him, or it worked in that particular situation. It may not work for you. 

Which cards should I upgrade in Clash Royale?

There is no direct answer to that question, as many players have been asking it throughout time. The cards that you receive from chests, events, rewards, and otherwise are mostly random, and if you are not given a choice or requesting, you can’t do much about it. In games like this, the cards’ level is more important than the card itself. It’s better to have a maxed Common, than first level Legendary. And since you can’t choose around 80% of your cards, you must play with what you’ve got.

Saying that some cards are good, and some cards are bad is a hell of a truism, but it is the reality. You can make use of a Hog Rider at any level virtually, while Wall Breakers are… meh. First, you need to decide which cards do you like playing with, and which you don’t. Ignore the ones you don’t. Who knows, maybe these are the ones that your clanmates need? Don’t think twice about giving them away. Second, don’t upgrade all cards. Focus on the ones that you are using the most. If you never had Spear Goblins in your deck, don’t waste any Gold on them. You will need it for the core. Third, don’t greed for a Legendary deck. If you are a free-to-play type of Clasher, upgrading Legendaries to a proper level will take you years. Of course, it’s very satisfying to have a high-level Miner or Lava Hound available, but as a non-paying user, you should focus on free-friendly decks. The probability that you will have a lot of luck to complete the high-rarity deck is meager. Trying just to earn the right amount of gold is a real pain in the neck.

You should definitely unlock all cards. Sometimes there are events that will boost a certain card to your King's level. At level 7 it may not be impressive, but having a level 13 Golem or Electric Giant without even upgrading it once is a thing of value. It means, that you can end up immediately improving your trophy count by winning multiple battles. We'd say it's worth it. Your alternative is trying to collect these cards and upgrade them which is slow, expensive, and can make you fall behind.

The Battle

A good deck will not win the game by itself. Some cards are powerful, yes, but it’s the placement and the timing, that makes them so strong, not their traits. If you use an amazing, legendary card in a bad time, it will do nothing. Using even a weak card in the perfect moment will tip the scales towards your side. 

During the battle, you will be given four cards to your hand with one card waiting. Some decks include a so-called “cycler” - a cheap card that is not great, but not terrible, used sometimes only to cycle the deck to reach that waiting card faster. 

A round lasts three minutes. When the time runs out, whoever has more Crowns, wins. If there is a draw, overtime will be played. If there is still no winner, sudden death will happen. All remaining towers will start losing health until one of them falls. That's how the winner is determined. 

The mathematics

If you’re not good with maths, you may struggle in Clash Royale as well, as a massive part of battling is actually counting. Each card has an Elixir cost. Each player has 10 Elixir max capacity. Managing this resource is a crucial piece of the game. With time, comes knowledge. Later on, at the higher levels, it will be your Elixir management, not the rarity or levels of the cards, that will win you the game. Or lose, if you mess it up.

Let’s make it as simple as we can.

Say that your enemy deployed a Golem. He spent eight Elixir. You answer with a Skeleton Army and a Tombstone to lure the Golem away from Tower. It costs you a total of six Elixir. Now you’re 2 Elixir ahead. Theoretically, now you have four Elixir, and your enemy has just two. You can, for example, deploy the Hog Rider, and there aren’t many two-Elixir cards that can stop him. Maybe Goblins will kill him fast enough before he can clash the Tower down. 

Let’s have another example. Your enemy deployed Skeleton Army, Goblins, and Minions, and you responded with well-timed Arrows. For a cost of merely three Elixir, you made your enemy lose eight Elixir. It’s like having a 5 Elixir Giant for free. 

Small things matter. Countering enemy Giant Skeleton or Royal Giant with an Inferno Tower gives you 1 Elixir advantage. The Log is very effective against ground swarms like Barbarians or Goblin Gang, and also versus low HP cards like The Princess or Dart Goblin. It is especially useful against the Goblin Barrel. This card costs 3 Elixir and you need to react fast, otherwise, the Goblins will take down your Tower in less than 60 seconds. There are also cards like Fireball or Poison, but these place you in the negative Elixir balance (4 vs 3). 

It will also require you to memorize the most widespread Elixir costs. You have to be able to tell how much Elixir did your enemy spend in the last rotation, and how much does he have left. Combine it with the broader knowledge, and you may be able to predict what does he have left and whether he can use it or not. If you are aware that he has three Elixir left, you’re quite confident that his next card won't be a Witch or an Executioner. 

The clash royale game plan

Aside from mathematics, there are a couple of equations that need to be done for winning in Clash Royale.

One of the Clash Royale tactics is a counterpush. A counterpush happens when your defensive troops can transition into the offense after dealing with the enemy push. For example, if you defend the Giant with a P.E.K.K.A., there will still be quite a lot of P.E.K.K.A. left on the board to attack. Not only does your opponent lose a five Elixir troop basically for nothing, but also he has to deal with a giant, armored demon heading straight to clash his Towers. Don’t get us wrong, P.E.K.K.A. is an insanely expensive unit, but it’s hard to deal with at the same time. 

Another tactic in Clash Royale is the bait, which we’ve briefly mentioned in the Deck chapter. Let’s assume that your main win condition is dropping that Goblin Barrel straight onto the enemy Tower. We all know that Goblin Barrel, if unanswered, deals massive damage to the structures. Two or three attacks like this can take the Tower down. Now there are two options:

• the opponent has no area damage whatsoever,
• the opponent has Zap, Arrows, Bowler, or a Valkyrie to clear Goblins fast.

The first scenario is the dream. If your enemy, for some reason, has no splash damage, he’s cooked. You will take his Towers for free, and your only worry will be to defend your structures. However, later on, you shouldn’t expect your opponent to be a newbie, so let’s jump to the second scenario.

Your first job will be to check what spells does he have. If it’s only one, you’re golden, as you should have another swarm card in the deck. If he has two of them, it leaves him slightly more vulnerable against single troops, and this might be your way to go. You should have something like Mini P.E.K.K.A., Prince, or a Hog Rider in your deck just in case. In some situations, the enemy will use their spells somewhere else, e. g. to deliver the killing blow to the Hog Rider charging. That’s also a window of opportunity for you. Pay attention to the cards your rival is using, as he won’t have them for some time.

The execution

By that, we don’t mean deploying the Executioner, although at least in some cases, it might help.

Now, as you have your Clash Royale deck completed and the game plan set up, it’s time to bring it live. The first seconds are crucial. You all begin with the same amount of Elixir, and the bar fills. No one wants to go first. It’s like showing your hand in a Texas Hold ’em game before your opponents call it. At the same time, no one wants to sit on 10 Elixir. Someone has to go next. It doesn’t matter that much if it’s you or your enemy. The first rotation is always about testing the ground and your enemy, planning the next move, not winning the game. It doesn’t mean, though, that you can’t deal a lot of damage in your first rotation. If you manage to do so, treat it like a bonus. 

Once the game begins, and the first rotation is gone, your next move is to force your strategy. Depending on both of your win conditions, defenses, supports, and spells, you want to use your cards wisely and at the right moment. You may feel tempted to rush something or to pop the Arrows onto the Hog Rider, but if your opponent’s win conditions rely on you wasting that spell, hold onto it no matter what. It is your win condition. 

clash royale mechanics

Unless you are playing a turn-based card game with limitless time to think, there will always be mechanics. Even in a turn-based strategy game like Heroes of Might and Magic III, that you could think about your next move forever, you could have miss clicked and lose the battle off of it. Thus, it’s no surprise that you have mechanics in Clash Royale as well.

The arena is divided into tiles, and in some cases, the correct placement of a troop is crucial. One tile too far - the Prince won’t get pulled. One tile too close - you won’t stop his charge. Half a second too early on your Arrows, and it will miss the Goblins spawning from a Barrel. Half a second too late, and they will land a blow. Timing and precision are less impactful than the decision making and a proper deck, but it can give you an edge in a close battle. One mechanical mistake can give you a window of opportunity to punish your enemy, and turn the tides of a fight. 

We won’t give you much advice here. Practice makes perfect, that’s all. Playing a lot, making mistakes, and working on them will ultimately raise your skill cap with time.

Clash royale Quality content

Written guides will not tell you everything, just like video guides will not show you everything. You need to diversify your sources of knowledge to become an all-rounded, prepared for everything Clash Royale player. And trust us, versatility, and being ready for anything is the most critical asset in Clash Royale. One good battle deck will net you a couple of hundreds of trophies, but one good counter will ruin it all. A wise man said: “Be prepared for whatever you can predict, but be ready for everything.” Make sure you follow this wisdom. Understanding the principles of this guide gives you a big chance to join pros on TV Royale or at least see the Victory screen more often.

Summary

SuperCell blessed players with many new entertaining games like Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Boom Beach, or Hay Day. They’re simple, funny, not much demanding, but still engaging. With every update, they bring something new and cool. There are huge eSports communities built around Clash of Clans and Clash Royale with prize pools matching or even exceeding some mainstream games. These titles are the ultimate gap-filler for waiting time, killing the boredom, and giving you joy. We can’t do much more other than recommend playing it. 

If you have any Clash Royale tips and tricks that you could share with us, or you simply enjoyed the article, please, leave a comment and help others clash enemies. No go hit that "Battle" button!

FAQ

What is Clash Royale?

It’s a simple MOBA game for smartphones.

What is the best Clash Royale strategy?

There are a few decks that work well, but none of them stands out. It’s a lot about execution, understanding the situation, and adjusting accordingly. You will often watch your Wizard die for nothing if you send him in the wrong moment, which is a common beginners' mistake.

How do you always win Clash Royale?

You will not win all matches, that's for sure. First, you will be losing vs. players with stronger cards than yours. Then you will be losing with yourself and your mistakes or not punishing the opponent’s mistake hard enough.

What are the best cards to use in Clash Royale?

The battle deck has to be mixed, all-rounded with an answer on whatever happens. Some cards like Hog Rider, Witch, or Miner will always find their use. Some people often use Wall Breakers, Knight, or Heal. With patches and updates things change, and cards become weaker or stronger. Following the news and adjusting to changes is crucial in gaming.

What is Bridge Spam strategy?

It's one of Clash Royale strategies, that revolve around dropping your cards straight onto the Bridge to make them reach opponent`s towers effectively faster.

is it worth to buy Fortune Chest for Gems?

In most cases - no. It's a waste of money.