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The best and worst cards in Clash Royale
These top cards will help you rise through the arenas in no time, but be weary of these duds too, as they can cost you a game when you really need the win.
Clash Royale continues to be as successful as its predecessor, Clash of Clans, and is one of the most popular multiplayer mobile games out there right now. In the year and a half of its life the game has changed considerably. Sure the core gameplay is still exactly the same, but continuous card additions means that there are now more factors to consider whenever you’re about to make a play.
As things continue to change so do the best Clash Royale cards – not to mention those that you should probably avoid. There’s a lot of difference between the cards that they very top players use and those that are more common in arena one and two, but there are a small subset of cards that work well at every level, and also a few that you should avoid unless you have a very specific plan for a deck. Let’s break them down:
The best cards
Make sure to factor these into your decks.
Skeleton Army
The Skeleton Army is a divisive card but one used by a lot of players at all levels of play. It’s a good counter to many cards, especially the big tanks, and it has a low, low elixir cost at just three. You can almost always guarantee a positive elixir trade if you drop this at the right time and as a defensive tool it’s always a safe bet. Its offensive potential is limited, but it’s still a great way to bait out some higher cost cards to set up for a positive push.
The Log
One of the key pillars of any deck at any level is some kind of card that can clear out a large wave of weaker foes. For a while arrows were favoured, then lightning, but now things seemed to have settled on the Log. It may not be able to take out all of the smaller minions, but it has many more advantages. It can injure the bigger foes quite significantly, it will knock them back, delaying any big pushes that come through, and if placed well it can take out all an opponent's minions in one go. It’s building damage is also great and at just two elixir it’s a no brainer to include.
Elixir Collector
Providing that you learn how to defend it reasonably well the Elixir collector is a great card to have in almost every deck. One of the biggest parts of the game is managing your elixir and trying to guess what your opponent has before unleashing an unstoppable assault. The Collector makes this a lot easier, as it will give you more elixir to use with a big push. With one of these you can get a near unstoppable push going, so it really can be a game winning card.
Night Witch
In terms of offensive minions right now the Night Witch is up there with the best of them. She’s pretty tanky, can deal with all types of foes that are thrown her way, and if left unattended can take down a tower in a matter of seconds. While the basic Witch is a pretty good card there isn’t all that much reason to use it over the Night Witch, as her bats are a little more useful in most situations.
Bandit
You either love the Bandit or hate it, but there’s no denying that in a lot of situations it’s one of the best cards out there for making an impact. Being able to dash at an opponent to deal significant damage is a skill that you underestimate at your peril. While dashing she is invulnerable and this means that she can bypass a lot of the cards you lay down to try and counter her. She has her weaknesses, but right now she is one of the best cards for cutting through bigger foes and will destroy your defences if left unattended.
The worst cards
The ones you need to avoid at all costs.
Barbarian Hut
Hut decks just don’t work these days, at any level. They have such a high cost for very little rewards and the Barbarian Hut is up there with the worst of them. With a cost of seven elixir this will pretty much clean you out and leaves you wide open to counter attacks. All the while it is almost impossible to defend these as you just dropped seven elixir on a hut that sends out barbarians every few seconds in one lane. The risk is just too great here and it will rarely fit in a deck unless you really want to hut spam.
Goblin Hut
Much like the Barbarian Hut, the Goblin Hut just doesn't feel effective these days. While it does apply constant pressure to one lane it doesn’t do enough damage alone to ever feel like a threat. For the most part you can just ignore it and pressure the other lane, forcing your opponent to defend that instead of pushing with the hut. Add in its very low health and it just seems like a very difficult card to use. In the current meta hut decks just aren't really a thing and the Goblin Hut really only feels useful in one.
Bomb Tower
Buildings are certainly not going away anytime soon but the Bomb Tower certainly needs some kind of rework. It’s slow, its damage potential is limited and it can’t attack air units, which are a big part of any match these days. The truth is that there is almost always a better option and there is almost no reason not to pick up the Inferno Tower instead of this. It feels like the Bomb Tower is the card that needs the biggest rework, as it has no place in any deck right now.
Mirror
The Mirror is such an interesting card, and in the right situation can be great, but the problem is that it is too situational. Being able to effectively drop a card twice means that you can have some big pushes, but the cards that you would really want to use this with are pretty small. Add in the fact that if you opponent has an easy counter for the card you mirrored you just wasted a lot of elixir and it becomes difficult to use, especially at higher levels. The risk versus reward just isn't that great of a trade-off.
Giant Skeleton
The Giant Skeleton is still a solid card, but it falls down when you look at the other tanks on offer and how they almost always do something better than this guy. The Skeleton’s selling point is the on death explosion that can clear out all of the foes that were attacking him, but smart players will place their minions behind the skeleton so that when he blows up they will already be long gone, taking no damage. Unless you are in the very low arenas where people haven’t figured that out then the normal giant is almost always a better choice.
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