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Clash Royale Tips, Tricks & Strategy Guide for All In-Game Situations

Clash Royale was recently released for iOS devices by Supercell, and while it isn’t available for Android devices just yet, we believe that an Android version may be coming soon. The game comes from the same company that gave us the massively popular Clash of Clans, and it’s also a real-time multiplayer game. This title features the “Royales, your favorite Clash characters and much, much more,” and in terms of mechanics, this is a trading card game twist on Clash of Clans. You can collect and upgrade tons of cards featuring CoC troops, spells, and defenses, and also the Royales, who are Princes, Knights, and a whole lot more. There’s also a MOBA element as you can win trophies and crowns in Arena mode, and you can also form a Clan to “share cards and build your very own battle community.”

We’ve already given you more than our fair share of Clash of Clans tips and tricks listings, but right now, we’re going to focus on Supercell’s latest. This Clash Royale strategy guide should be your be-all and end-all when it comes to the different aspects of this game, so go join us as we offer you our best tips.

1. Have A Well-Balanced Deck

Before you start off a round, you’ll want to ensure that you’ve got a well-balanced deck, with ground attacks, aerial attacks, high to low Elixir attacks, you name it. Have all bases covered, so to say, especially as you progress on in the game and unlock more characters and cards.

2. Don’t Ignore Your Defense

Attacking is fun – let’s admit it, it’s great to be on the offensive and firing away against your opponents. But then again, defense isn’t just equally important, but arguably more important – it’s pretty much like it is in sports, where the old adage tells you that the best offense is a good defense. Make sure you’ve got your defense down while you’re attacking; don’t make the mistake of focusing solely on their towers, because protecting yours is even more important.

3. Make Sure Your Top Characters Are Protected

In Clash Royale, there’s a considerable gap between your top heroes and conventional, regular, everyday troops. One example would be the awesome damage that your Giant, Prince, and Baby Dragon can deal out, provided that they’re capable of wasting enemy buildings. Try this simple tip if you want to protect your top characters.

You can dispatch your heroes out against the enemy, with a bunch of Barbarians or Goblins perhaps serving as backup, or as “bodyguards” for your heroes. Use these troops to clear the way, though you can also use other troops such as the Valkyrie and Musketeer, who are oftentimes more effective as tanks against opposing troops.

4. Let The Opponents Make The First Move

Why should you content yourself to defending and letting the opponent attack you first? It’s simply because counter-attacking works great in this game as you load up on your Elixir. One example would be playing the Skeleton Army if the opponent’s Knight attacks first. If your opponent goes for the Goblin Barrel, you can counter by playing the Arrows card. Those are just two common examples, and there are a lot more where you can make the tactical decision to counter-attack.

5. Feel Free To Experiment

You can collect lots and lots of cards, but you will only be allowed to bring eight cards with you to battles. Don’t know which cards to bring along with you? Wondering what the best combination of eight would be? Aside from following the above tip to have a balanced lineup, the main thing in this game is to try different combinations. It’s all about the trial and error process here, throwing stuff to the wall and seeing what sticks; not really the most tactical thing to do, but there is no one best way to send a dynamite team of eight characters/cards off to battle.

6. How To Get More Cards (Part 1)

Of course, you will want to play Clash Royale with the goal of building up your army as one of the more important objectives. In order to do this, you need more cards. There are many ways to do this, but the most simple way would be to unlock chests, which will serve as your reward for winning matches. Simple as this method may be, it can be quite time-consuming. Alternately, you can head over to the shop to buy a certain card; the game refreshes each day to make three cards of different quality available per day. You can always check again some other day if the card you want isn’t currently on sale.

As a bonus tip for the chests you unlock, there are some treasure chests that take 12 hours to unlock; generally, they come with upgrades and new cards, so if you can’t wait half a day before they unlock, we suggest starting the unlocking process before you leave for work or school, or before going to bed.

7. How To Get More Cards (Part 2)

Everybody’s saying it – the best way to get the cards you want and to add to your army is to join a clan. They don’t call the original game Clash of Clans for nothing, right? As long as you follow proper etiquette when dealing with your clan-mates, you should have no problem trading cards with these new (online) friends, and requesting that they donate specific cards, provided you aren’t in the hunt for something ultra-rare. And always, always be ready and willing to fulfill your part of the bargain and donate some cards of your own if your clan-mates need them!

8. Tips On Using Your Elixir

Do not use your Elixir recklessly – use it wisely and don’t let it go to waste! For example, you shouldn’t use your Elixir all in one turn; if you’re planning to use your Elixir in one go to take down one tower, your opponent will see that as a chance to destroy your whole base. You should also wait some time to cook your best card before attacking your opponent’s base; this is best done when all your troops are fully cooked, and once you do, “sacrifice” your lesser troops and let them “distract” your opponent while your big guns fire away.

9. Don’t Underestimate The Skeleton Army

They may look like walking bags of bones and they may crumple when besieged by arrow attacks. But the Skeleton Army can help you on both ends – on attack and on defense – especially when you use them against Giants. If you see that the opponent has a Giant or any super-strong character, dispatch your Skeleton Army to block off their paths.

10. Do Not Upgrade Troops For The Heck Of It

It sounds very tempting to go crazy with your upgrades, but you should also keep in mind that upgrades cost gold. You shouldn’t go for an upgrade and spend some gold if you’re not going to use it right away. The cards won’t disappear at any time, so what you would want to do is to wait it out until you really need to upgrade.

Don’t get swayed either by the fact that this game is only a few weeks old; at this point in Clash Royale’s existence, there are a lot of players spending real money to perform upgrades and level up their troops, so it would be in your best interest NOT to keep up with the Joneses. The time will come when you’ll have some rare and epic cards in your deck even if you play the game for free.

11. Redeem Your Free Chests

This is something very easy to forget, but if you play the game every day, you can get free chests for your troubles – and take note we said chests, in plural form. However, these chests typically become available in increments of four hours; that means you should play the game at least every four hours or so, even if just for a few moments to make sure you can redeem the free chests for yourself.

12. Check The Replays Of Higher-Ranked Players

You may not be getting the results you desire, and that could possibly mean your lineup of troops isn’t where it should be. Aside from the tip above where we suggested you experiment with different combinations, you can also check the replays of higher-ranked players. At this point, it’s still very common for top-ranked Clash Royale players to be using a common-dominated lineup, with only a couple of rares or epics in their lineup. Try to see what they’re doing right, and if you agree with their strategy – and chances are you will – make the necessary adjustments.

13. Losing Isn’t The End Of The World

Sometimes, or should we say oftentimes, it’s easy to feel unmotivated and go on a long losing streak mainly borne out of frustration. Again, this is a very new game, so patience is key here – going back to the above tip, see what the higher-ranked players are doing right and you may soon have a lineup that’s solid enough to break your losing streak.

Hope you enjoyed our tips and tricks for Clash Royale and learned something new that could help you progressing in the game. We will update this guide once we come up with additional hints, so be sure to check back from time to time!