Clash Royale Managing Your Resources Guide

Clash Royale Managing Your Resources Guide by supyonamesjosh

What is this guide about?

• In this guide we are going to be talking all about resources, and mostly about managing your cards. What to do with them, when to buy, when to upgrade. Everything involving cards outside of actual battle.
• There are plenty of battle guides already written by people better at it then I am. Instead of regurgitating that information, this is a guide about the most tactical part of Clash Royale. Resource Management
• DISCLAIMER: As a baseline, this guide is going to assume you, and everyone else playing is F2P. I know that isn’t true. I know that you or your opponents may have dropped tons of money on the game. However, unless you are an oil baron you are still going to have to manage your resources. Real world money speeds up everything. It is known. But dwelling on that point isn’t very helpful.

The Three Resources of Clash Royale: Cards, Gold, Time

Before we can start talking about upgrading cards, we need to take a step back. Let’s talk about what is constraining you from instantly having a max level army:

• Cards: You must have an increasing number of cards before you can upgrade
• Gold: You must have an increasing amount of gold before you can upgrade
• Time: Chests require time to open and you can only request cards every 8 hours. In the same vein, you only earn so many gems that can speed up the other two constraints.

Now this may seem extremely obvious, but I see people often make poor (often impulsive) decisions that hamper their ability to progress in the game by squandering one of these three resources. Understand that building a stronger team requires all 3.

Using Your Resources:

Choosing which cards to upgrade:

STOP

I saw you were just about to upgrade your Wizard.

Let me ask a question that seems obvious but is actually much tougher then it appears:

• Why are you upgrading that card?
• Why are you upgrading ANY card?

Consider two points:

1. Overall, gold is going to be a limiting factor more then number of cards for your overall collection. I personally have 25 cards that are capable of being upgraded at this point. I can upgrade some of them, but nowhere close to all of them.
2. Gold costs are identical for identical rarity/level upgrades, yet some upgrades are much more valuable then others. (For more examples of this check out my previous guide on exploiting Supercell balancing linked at the top)

Lets list some basic rules for helping decide what to spend gold on:

1. If you aren’t using a card don’t upgrade it.

Gold is so precious that you don’t want to ever waste it. If you are upgrading your rage spell for no reason then you are wasting resources. Don’t do that. You can wait until you actually need to upgrade either for regular play or for a tournament.

Hold on, I just got a question from the future.

Q: I am about to hit the next crown level. Can I upgrade cards I’m not using to get there faster?

A: Are you below level 9 and about to play in a tournament?

Q: No

A: No

Q: But I really want to

A: No

Q: But it will make me happy

A: Fine Whatever

2 days later

Q: Princess is in my shop but it costs 40,000! That’s stupid. Nobody can save that much.

A: That is not a question

2. Not all upgrades are equal

The number one factor in deciding what cards you should upgrade is how it will compare to your opponents counters. I talked extensively about that in my previous guide so feel free to look there for more information.

Q2: None of the cards I am considering have counters I am trying to beat. What should I upgrade now?

Great question.

Let’s use a real world example and look at some of the upgrades I currently have available. Let’s assume that all of these cards would go into a battle deck I am building

Seem Obvious?

Spoilers: It’s not

While RG seems like the slam dunk upgrade, consider this:

1. The numbers that supercell provides are misleading: The numbers provided are per Spear Goblin and Spear Goblins spawn in packs of 3’s. In real life you aren’t getting a +3 DPS boost. You are getting a +9 DPS boost.
2. While Royal Giants go in relatively few decks, Spear Goblins can go practically anywhere. If you aren’t sticking with Royal Giant you might be wasting gold if you switch.
3. While Royal Giant may be nerfed in the future, it’s unlikely Spear Goblins will share the same fate. Upgrading Royal Giant is a riskier play.

If I were building a RG deck I would still probably upgrade RG over Spear Goblins. But it isn’t as one sided as you may think.

3.Which cards in my battle deck should I upgrade?

All of them.

If you are doing this correctly and only upgrading cards you are using you should have a deck of fully upgraded cards.

• Don’t constantly switch decks and cards. For example, a level 2 epic or level 4 rare is terrible at high Arena 7. Don’t use it no matter how “OP” people say it is. Upgraded cards are more important then what card it is.
• Find some cards you like, upgrade them, and stick with them. You should never be playing a card that isn’t fully upgraded because you shouldn’t be switching around that much.

4. A request template to follow:

Now that you have a deck you are happy with, here’s a sample template of the order in which cards you should request cards.

1. Pick a card to constantly request to try to beat counters. In my last guide I suggested goblins but other cards such as zap which can one shot minion hoards at two levels above can also work. Refer to the previous guide for more information.
2. Upgrade the rest of the deck to tournament levels. Tournaments are said to be in the works so whenever that happens I want to be ready with a deck that is tournament competitive. (with a possible exception to elixer collector which doesn’t gain a huge amount)
3. Pick a second card to request above counters. Possibly a spell such as Zap to kill minions or Arrows to kill princesses of higher levels.
4. Request a versatile card, or a card that is pivotal for your deck. For example request spear goblins or skeletons that can be put in any deck, or request hogs or RG’s that are the main damage focus point of your deck.

Purchasing Legendaries: A difficult decision

Should you purchase legendaries?

The answer is a very firm….

Maybe

In order to explain, let’s talk about the worst case scenario:

• You just saved up 40,000 to buy the princess. The princess comes up in the shop and you buy her! You are so happy. Later that day you open a chest and the princess pops out. You now have a level 2 princess but are missing all of the other legendaries. A big tournament is coming up and you wish you had an ice wizard to add to your deck…

How bad of a situation is this? It probably depends on how you have been managing your resources up to this point. If your normal deck is fully upgraded and you already have high level cards because you didn’t waste money on upgrading cards you aren’t using you are probably fine. It’s disappointing but you’ll get over it. if you bought a princess instead of upgrading your cards you may be in trouble.

Two rules for buying legendaries

Because buying legendaries is a difficult decision, let me outline two rules that I think you should follow (In order). If you don’t fit in one of the two rules then I think its up to you!

1. ALWAYS buy a legendary if you can’t stay in legend without one. If you went on a super hot streak and know that you are just two battles from falling out of Arena 8, by all means buy a legendary and stay there. They are really good, and will help you a ton.

2. NEVER buy a legendary if your main deck isn’t fully upgraded to tournament levels (or possibly even a level over). If you are using one deck then upgrade your deck! Because punting on buying a legendary is a fine decision there is no reason to rush it! put the gold into something you know will help!

Hope you enjoyed learning about card upgrades!