Now that Clash Royale has finally been launched worldwide, it’s time to get to business and start learning how to do things the right way in order to win all our battles, unlock all cards and get the most out of this game. Because, even though it seems simple and easy when you first look at it, this is an extremely complex game where strategy and general knowledge will always make the difference.
So if you are just starting the game – or even if you are an advanced player and you want to make sure that you know everything there is to be known – read on for some Clash Royale tips, tricks and strategies that will help you unlock cards faster, level them up smartly and win your battles to go up the Arenas ASAP.
1. Try to counter instead of attacking
Even though with the past few updates Battle Royale has been turned from a defensive game into a more offensive one, it is still a good strategy to wait and see what your opponent has in mind regarding the first attack – counterattacking works usually better than attacking, because you have the advantage of your towers causing extra damage to the enemy troops. So try to wait for as long as possible (until your elixir is full) and get ready to counter.
There are many strategies to try, of course, but the ones that I found to work are: as soon as the enemy deploys a troop, if you have maxed out your elixir, drop a tank or some sort of high health unit on the other side of the direction of the attack, drop a defender to take out the incoming threat and then, as soon as you have enough elixir, drop a quick troop behind the tank – this usually does wonders and really shakes things up. However, if you have solid attacking cards and not so great defense ones, attack ASAP and force your enemy to defend. You will most likely lose your troops before causing serious damage, but on the other hand the opponent’s troops will be easier to destroy: place some defensive troops near your tower and by the time they’re done with the incoming troops, you might just have enough elixir for a new Tank that will still be in front of your troop. This is the beauty of the game: there are multiple strategies that work and you have to try them all and go with the best.
2. Watch your Clan’s replays and TV Royale
The TV Royale replays show some great battles, but there’s not a ton to learn from those unless you are really advanced and have many cards unlocked. Still, it’s a good way to learn new strategies and see cards in action – which helps you decide what to focus on and especially what cards work (and you might have some!) However, I found it extremely useful to watch replays posted by my clan mates – since they are most likely closer to your level and with a more average set of cards, you can learn more immediately useful stuff from that. Finally, watch replays of your lost battles and try to see what you did wrong and what could’ve been done for you to change that.
Want to see a nice entry-level battle? Here is one of my first battles with an extremely basic deck and a nice last-second win:
3. Upgrade your cards early on, then wait
Most people say that you shouldn’t upgrade your cards until you really know what they’re doing, but in order to level up, you need to upgrade cards, so don’t be afraid of doing so. It will be quite a while before you will have a solid deck with multiple cards to choose from, so most likely you will use the starting cards for quite a while. Plus, it’s relatively cheap to upgrade most of your starting cards – and do so freely until you reach level three and you can join a clan (because that is extremely useful).
Once you are in a clan, slow down the upgrading process and start testing the cards that you have, see which work best for you and try to focus on getting those upgraded. Once you reach level three, you will start getting better cards from unlocking the chests, from your clan mates and so on so you can start being picky. When deciding what cards to improve, have in mind potential future upgrades as well because a level 1 card will most likely be a lot worse than a level 7 one. Also, cards that you can easily get to level 7 might be more useful than one you’ll most likely have stuck at level 1 forever… In conclusion, once you reach level three, take everything into account when upgrading your cards and be smart when it comes to upgrading!
4. Join an active clan ASAP!
Being part of an active clan is vital for you: you will not only be able to level up faster by donating cards, but you will also receive a ton of donations that will help you build that perfect deck you always wanted. The good news is that there are a ton of active and really solid clans out there so if you’re unlucky the first time, try again! TIP: go for a clan whose members are in the same timezone as yours in order to make sure that you catch them online when you play!
5. How to build a perfect deck
There are players that managed to get with a basic Arena 1 deck all the way to 1,100 trophies (like this one on Reddit), so you don’t have to pay in order to get a great deck, even though playing a lot helps (since you can only open a limited number of chests per day). I am also playing with a basic deck right now and even though I’m new to the game, my stats are great and I haven’t spent a single cent on the game (although I plan to in order to rush things a bit and get in line with people who started playing earlier). These being said, here are some tips for building a perfect deck, especially useful for the early stages of Clash Royale:
– try to keep your elixir costs low. High cost cards are indeed strong, but if you only go for these types of cards, you will always lose. Try to find a balance and keep the costs low: sometimes, spawning a lot of weak, low cost troops behind a good tank will wreak havoc among the enemy troops and towers.
– find the combinations that work – like the “classic” skeleton army deployed after the Giant. I like to follow, if I have that card, with some Goblins and that works really well. Other card combinations work flawlessly as well, so keep trying and testing to find what works for you!
– try to always have one solid tank (like a Giant or Prince), one spell (like Arrows) and some ranged units (like Archers or Musketeer or the Dragon which is simply amazing). Low cost cards are a must, perfect at saving your towers when things get hard or to spam against the enemy and drive them crazy.
6. Don’t rush to the King’s Tower!
After destroying your first tower, you will most likely feel the urge to push for the win immediately. Usually, this is really difficult to do – wait to gain enough Elixir instead and wait to see what the opponent does. They will usually try to counter-attack on the other side and sometimes they might waste all their elixir on troops. That’s the moment to deploy a good unit or more to attack the King’s tower – if you still have your towers, you don’t even have to worry about the opponent destroying one of yours because you will win anyway!
7. Don’t get cocky!
I’ve won a few battles against higher level players because they got cocky – after destroying my first tower, they decided that they are too good for me and went to destroy the other instead of trying to take down the King’s tower. This gave me a breather and sometimes I had some spectacular comebacks and certainly left them with their jaws dropped and broken. So don’t get cocky – focus on getting the job done and do it right!
These would be, right now, some really good Clash Royale tips and tricks – in my opinion. There’s a lot more depth in this game than it seems to be at first and I am sure you have some tips of your own – so why not share them with us in the comment section below?