Clash Royale Beginner’s Battling Tips and Guide

Clash Royale Beginner’s Battling Tips and Guide by Eternal625

Clash Royale is a real-time multiplayer head-to-head battle game with your favorite Clash of Clans characters. The game features tower defense-style battles, collecting and leveling cards as you progress through different arenas and unlock new cards! This guide will help you understand everything you need to know as a beginner to get started!
The first thing you will be doing when starting the game is completing the tutorial, which will teach you how to deploy your cards to the battlefield and win. Unfortunately, it does not get more into detail of how to advantageously deploy your cards in strategic ways. So that’s what I’ll be doing in this guide, introduce you to the many battling strategies and ultimately win!

How to win:

To win a battle you must either destroy your opponent’s King’s Tower (which will grant you an instant 3 Crown victory) OR destroy one more tower than your opponent within the given time of the battle. Both you and your opponent are given three minutes, but if within this three minutes there is still a tie, then the game will go to sudden death mode in overtime (which is an extra one minute). Within this overtime period, the first player to knock down any of their opponent’s tower will be claimed the victor. However, if neither player had succeeded in taking down a tower within this overtime period, then the battle will conclude in a draw.
A victory will reward you with trophies. You will obtain the same number of trophies whether you win with 1 Crown or 3 Crowns. A 3 Crown victory is no more special than a 1 Crown victory. In fact, most battles are won by either 1 Crown or 2 Crowns. Thus, you need to understand when to pursue attacking the opposing King’s Tower and when it’s better to just destroy one or two Arena Towers instead.

Arena Tower

1 Crown = You must destroy one of the opposing Arena Towers
2 Crowns = You must destroy two of the opposing Arena Towers
3 Crowns = You must destroy the opposing King’s Tower.

When should I attack the King’s Tower?

Sleep Mode = Defense Mode =

• The King’s Tower’s HP (Health Points) is much greater than the Arena Towers. In fact, the HP of the King’s Tower is over 60% greater than one Arena Tower!
• Usually, it is much safer to win by either destroying one or two Arena Towers and by playing good defense to prevent your opponent from destroying two of your Arena Towers.
• The King is in “sleep mode” when the battle begins, which means that he will not assist you on defense with his cannon as long as he is sleeping. In order for the King to wake, one of the following must happen:

1. One of the Arena Towers is destroyed.
2. The King’s Tower would have to be attacked. If both of the Arena Towers are still up and the King’s Tower is damage, then that will awaken the King.

Important: Avoid attacking the King’s Tower if you have not destroyed an Arena Tower! As this will awaken your opponent’s King on defense, and he will start firing at your troops with his cannon. So make sure when you’re dropping area damage cards such as Fireball or Arrows, avoid touching the King’s Tower! Inflicting damage onto the King’s Tower before taking out an Arena Tower is one of the biggest mistakes new players make and this makes a very big difference in battles.

“Efficiently using Elixir is the key to victory”

This is the secret formula to victory. Every card has an Elixir cost value. To be in an advantage, your goal is to counter your opponent by using cards or combination of cards with a lower Elixir cost than what is played by your opponent. For example, if your opponent sends out the Knight (3 Elixir) and Archers (3 Elixir) together, then you use your Fireball (4 Elixir) to take both of these troops out at once. This is a rewarding move because you spent a 4 Elixir card to take out a 6 Elixir combo. Thus, this will place you in a 2 Elixir lead. The greater you are in the Elixir race, the greater chance you have of winning (as you will begin to create stronger combinations). And so, you should always use Elixir efficiently!

Key fundamentals:

• Do not waste Elixir! Your Elixir is always loading more Elixir every second, but it will cap out when it reaches 10! This is very important because when it reaches 10, your Elixir bar will not generate any more Elixir. Thus, you should always keep your Elixir bar loading and avoid allowing it to hit 10.
• Do not recklessly deploy multiple cards all at once as this will make it easy for your opponent to counter your combination of cards with a small usage Elixir. For example, take the Fireball example we used earlier. If you deploy your Knight (3 Elixir) and Barbarians (5 Elixir) and Spear Goblins (2 Elixir) all at once, then you have spent all your 10 Elixir. However, your opponent can simply deploy a single Fireball (4 Elixir) and all your troops will quickly vanish, which will place you in a 6 Elixir deficit and also render you helpless against any attack your opponent can form with his 6 Elixir lead. Thus, it is very important to start slow, make good “trade-offs” with Elixir, and counter with a good Elixir lead.
• Oftentimes, it is a better idea to allow your opponent to deal a small amount of damage to your towers, and in return, take the Elixir lead. For example, say your bar is at 5 Elixir and your opponent sends Spear Goblins onto one of your Towers and you only have the Barbarian or the Arrow card to counter. However, in this case, is it better not to use either card to counter the Spear Goblins. Why?

1. Arrows cost 3 Elixir. Using a 3 Elixir card to solely destroy a 2 Elixir card (Spear Goblin), is a poor trade-off.
2. Barbarians cost 5 Elixir and your bar is at 5. If you use the Barbarian card, then you will run out of Elixir, which means you’re allowing your opponent to then create stronger combo to both counter and target your tower.
3. Your Arena Towers are protected by Archers sitting atop them, which means that they will attack and destroy the weak Spear Goblins with a few hits while the Spear Goblins deal some damage onto your Tower. Even though your Tower took some damage, it is still a great trade-off because in return you have taken a 2 Elixir lead. This gives you the opportunity to form a stronger combination of cards than your opponent to deal even heavier damage.

Attacking and Defending Fundamentals:

• When starting your battle, you should first allow your Elixir bar to fill. You should not recklessly deploy your cards without first loading up on a full Elixir bar as this will only give your opponent the advantage. For example, say you deploy your Prince card when battle just started and you have 6 Elixir. Your opponent can simply place a Tombstone, which costs 2 less Elixir and quickly counter your Prince and take a 2 Elixir lead. Another example is playing a defense such as the Inferno Tower right away. This is a bad idea as your opponent can just wait a few seconds to load up on full Elixir, plan out a good counter, and also weaken your Inferno Tower without even touching it because of the Inferno Tower’s 40 second lifetime. Thus, it is important to first allow your bar to load up.
• Usually, you will face opponents who will also wait to deploy until they have a full Elixir bar. In this case, you have two options:

1. Deploy your card first – If you reach 10 Elixir and deploy you deploy your card first, then you will be given a greater Elixir lead for every second your opponent remains at full Elixir.
2. Deploy your card second – If you reach 10 Elixir and decide to wait and deploy your card right after your opponent to play a better counter, then that will give your opponent an extra 1 Elixir lead.

• ​Usually, it is best to deploy your first card at the moment or right before you have a full Elixir bar.
• Start slow. I have stated in this guide numerous times that you should start your battle with a slow tempo, and this is a key fundamental to winning. When starting your battle, it is often a good idea to start with a low Elixir cost card. For example, say you have the Prince and Archer card in your starting hand. Do you start with the Archers or your Prince? It is often better to start with the Archers due to their significantly less Elixir cost (3 Elixir compared to Prince’s 5 Elixir cost). Why is this important? This is important as starting with a high Elixir-costing card is often dangerous. If your opponent simply places a Tombstone card (3 Elixir cost), then you are quickly in losing the Elixir race by 2. While playing a low Elixir-costing card such as the Archer comes with less risk of that and will also allow you to scout your opponent’s first move without having to waste Elixir on a full bar. If your opponent decides to send out his Giant and Musketeer at the same time, then you are prepared to make a good counter with the 7 remaining Elixir. While if you had deployed your Prince, then the Giant + Musketeer combination will quickly take out your Prince.
• A good idea is to load up on Elixir to create a stronger combination of cards is to deploy your troop card at the very end of the battlefield (behind your Towers). As your troop(s) take a longer time to travel to the opposite side, you allow yourself to load up on greater Elixir. Thus, if you wish to create a deadly combination such as a Giant + Musketeer + Witch, then this requires 14 Elixir to do so. To accomplish this, you can place your Giant at the far end behind one of your Towers and by the time he travels to the crossing bridge, you will have the additional 9 Elixir to complete your combination.
• Which Arena Tower should I attack first? When starting your battle, you may choose to attack either of your opponent’s Arena Towers first. However, if your opponent chooses to attack first, then you should prepare a counter to his threat to protect your tower rather than ignore the threat and attack the other tower. For example, if your opponent sends out Archers against your left Arena Tower, ignoring the Archers and going for the right Arena Tower with your Prince card is a bad idea because the Archers will deal significant damage to your left Arena Tower while there is no guarantee that your Prince will make it to right Arena Tower as your opponent can simply place a Tombstone or Skeleton Army to stomp your Prince. And so, ignoring the threat and making a reckless play like that can cost you the battle right from turn one.
• Focus on destroying one Arena Tower at a time. A big mistake I see new players often make is that they keep switching towers. You should focus on destroying the tower with the lowest HP first, and then move onto attacking the second tower while also playing defense if you’re in the lead (to let the clock run out).
• Try to shift the momentum of the battle towards the direction of your healthiest Arena Tower. For example, say that your left Arena Tower has 1000 HP and your right Arena Tower has 2000 HP (and both your opponent’s Arena Towers are at full health). In this scenario, your opponent will try to constantly target your left Arena Tower since it is obviously weakened. However, it is still very possible for you to win even if you’re trailing. What you should do to make a comeback is try to force your opponent to attack right Arena Tower rather than your weakened left Tower. In order to do this, you should load up on Elixir, and play a little defense on your left Arena Tower (remember Arena Towers have Archers atop them to assist you on defense so take advantage of that) and then make the first move in attacking your opponent’s right Arena Tower with a good combo (i.e. Giant + Musketeer). This will make it difficult for your opponent to ignore the big threat and will have him shift his offense towards to protect his Arena Tower. With his offense shifted towards the right side, you can now focus on repeatedly placing pressure towards this side (preventing your opponent from spending Elixir to target your left side).
• The most powerful attacks are attacks that are played in combinations. For example, a card such as the Giant is not much of a threat alone as he is a very slow troop. However, when combined with a ranged attacker such as the Archer or Musketeer card, it becomes a much bigger task to stop this threat. A Giant alone can be taken down by a 3 Elixir Minion card, but with the assistance of Archers, the Minions will not be able to take out the Giant (as he makes his way to your opponent’s tower). Thus, you should constantly try to load up on Elixir (and also win Elixir trade-offs) and attack in combinations!
• There are many distinct ways of classifying a troop card and its specialties:
  1. Ground troop = A troop that attacks on land.
  2. Air troop = A troop that can fly and attack from above. Air troops can avoid being targeted by Ground troops that cannot target flying units (such as Bomber, Prince, Knight, Valkyrie, etc.).
  3. Melee troop = A troop that fights mano a mano (hand-to-hand combat).
  4. Range troop = A troop that can attack from a distance. Range troops such as Archers are able to attack from afar and so they are best utilized behind melee troops as the melee troops are able to shield your ranged attacker.
• There are two types of damage inflicting cards. Cards that deal “point damage” (damage to a single troop or building) and cards that deal “area or splash damage” (damage to multiple troops or buildings). Point damage cards include Musketeer, Prince, Archer, Mini Pekka, etc. Area damage cards include Bomber, Valkyrie, Witch, Baby Dragon, Arrow, Fireball, etc. While it may sound like area-damaging cards are the better option, they are among the weakest cards in the game. Thus, these two types of cards have different roles. With the ability to damage multiple units, area damage cards are best utilized for defeating hordes or swarms of low HP troops such as Skeletons, Goblins, Barbarians, etc. While point-damaging cards tend to have the greatest DPS (Damage Per Second) among all cards and so they can best utilized for destroying high HP units. For example, a Mini Pekka can be used to quickly take down a Giant. While an area attacker like the Valkyrie will struggle to deal decent damage onto the Giant.