Last week the popular Clash Royale Android and iOS mobile game released internationally. If you’re just getting started playing the game, chances are you might be feeling a bit frustrated by your lack of wins and difficulty understanding the game’s strategy . After playing the game ourselves for a couple days, we’re finally beginning to get a grip on how to build a good deck, play decent defense and offense, manage our gold and elixir resources and start kicking some medieval ass. If you’re a beginner looking for tips and strategies to help you start winning battles, we’ve put together this guide just for you. As we continue to progress through the game, we’ll add more strategy guides for later arenas, resource management and deck building. Be sure to check back for those soon.
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Clash Royale Beginner Strategy Guide: On Deck Building, Resource Management And Offensive/Defensive Playing
Tip #1: To Build A Good Deck Get To Know Your Cards – getting to know your cards is one of the most important parts of building a good deck. Pay attention to how much elixir each card costs and the damage they can do. Also, try them out in combination with other cards to see which work best together. For example, I found the Giant and the Musketeer work nicely as a team. The more you become familiar with the types of damage different cards can do, the attacks they can withstand and the card combos that work, the better your deck will be.
Tip #2: Make Small Changes To Decks And Analyze Results – This really goes with the earlier tip, but to figure out the best cards that work together you should make very small changes to your deck. You can trade out one or two cards and play a few battles and see how you are impacted. If you drastically change your deck every battle, it becomes too difficult to see what works and what doesn’t.
Tip #3: Good Decks Are Balanced – You might be tempted to fill your deck with nothing but heavy hitters, but the more damage a card does, the more elixir it costs to deploy it. If you fill your deck with cards that are mostly 4 or 5 elixir, you won’t be able to move out as quickly or as often. Some of the lighter cards like Archers and Goblins really come in handy as back-ups and they move quickly so definitely balance your deck with both heavy and light cards. You can check the average amount of elixir your deck costs by tapping on the deck and looking at the average elixir stat listed in purple. It’s best to keep that number between 3.5 - 4.5 to remain balanced.
Tip #4: If The First Hand You’re Dealt Is Weak, Play Defensively – Your hand of cards is randomly dealt so you have no choice which cards end up in your initial lineup. If you find your lineup is pretty weak and contains mostly lightweight cards, hold back and let your opponent attack first. This way you not only build up more elixir, you also can see which Tower he/she is coming after and can properly defend it. If any of your troops survive that initial battle they’ll be perfectly positioned to support an offensive attack when you get some stronger cards in your hand.
Tip #5: Use The Kill Zone – the longer I play the more I realize good defense can make you or break you. One good defensive strategy for beginners is to practice is using the kill zone. The kill zone is basically the middle area on your side of the field. When you have attackers coming at you, don’t meet them at the bridge, instead, hold off for a couple seconds, and then slap some goblins or any other card you choose (preferably quicker troops), down in the center of your kill zone. This will distract most attackers from the tower they are headed for. As they come toward your troops in the kill zone, they are being struck by the arrows and cannon balls from the towers. This will help to quickly weaken the attacker and stop the attack from happening or weaken its impact.
Tip #6: Manage Your Elixir Resources By Holding Back – A mistake I made a lot when first playing the game was going too aggressively and throwing anyone on an attack I could. This strategy works about as well as trying to sprint through a marathon. Every second during battle you get one point of elixir built up. If you are planning an attack, it’s usually good to wait until you’ve saved up enough elixir to deploy a couple of cards in combination. For example, we all know how powerful the Giant is, but making sure he has a backup troop makes the Giant last longer and deal more damage. You might be tempted to throw three or four cards on one attack, but it’s better to hold back and see what your combo does first. By deploying every card you have on a target you leave yourself no elixir for defending against the attacks your opponent will send your way. While it may look like you are winning at first, if you ignore your defense, you’ll ultimately lose.
Tip #7: Manage Your Gold Wisely By Being Choosy About Upgrades - It’s very tempting at first to upgrade every card you possibly can, but it’s far more effective to be choosy about your upgrades. Generally, I’d stick to upgrading mostly common cards since they are cheaper. Also, only use your gold to upgrade cards you know you use frequently and like. Free chests are given to you at regular intervals and you get a chest when you win a battle so you will be able to upgrade other cards along the way from the goodies you get in those chests. Gold is really hard to come by in the game, so being careful about how you spend it will make a difference for your deck and the number of battles you win.
