A Beginner’s Guide to Clash Royale:

Clash Royale is a strategy card placement game. Where each of you and your opponent has 3 towers, 2 are usually the “Princess tower” but the 3rd is the “King tower”, which is the most important tower and if lost will lose you the game. You have only 3 to 5 minutes to play, and in that time, you have to use the deck you have made to try and win (by getting more towers down). That is the most basic way to understand a clash. Try and play for your very first time, and you will understand a bit more as you play more.

This will be a beginner’s guide to playing Clash Royale. But take what I tell you with a grain of salt, as there is more than one way to play Clash Royale. Just try and have as much fun as you can, as that is the best way to learn the game and to actually play and enjoy it. The game is very simple, but when explained in depth, it sounds more complicated. I will explain what each card does or how they work, how to make a proper deck, what “Meta” decks mean, when and where cards are to be played, how to know what deck your opponents have, what youtubers or players you should watch to improve your play and as well as some tips from Lamphere students on how to play clash.

WHAT EACH CARD CATEGORY DOES:

• A win condition goes for any buildings or towers closest to where they are played. Ex: Hog Rider
• A tank is a card with a lot of health and does a good amount of decent damage. Ex: Mega Knight
• A mini tank is a card with less health than a tank but more damage. Ex: Mini Pekka
• An air unit is a card that can fly. Ex: Baby Dragon.
• An Air Defense or a certain ranged unit that can hit an air unit of any kind. Ex: Musketeer.
• A building is a card that you can place to distract from win conditions and help add defense; some are more just used for utility purposes. Ex: Tombstone.
• A spell is a card that can be played almost anywhere and is used to stop certain pushes. Ex: Fireball
• A splash card, which is a card that can hit multiple cards at once. Ex: Witch.
• A cycle card is a very low elixir card that can be used to get back to your important cards. Ex: Ice spirit
• A swarm card is a card that spawns a lot of different units when placed. Ex: Skeleton Army.

*Some cards will be more than one category*

HOW TO BUILD A DECK:

There are 8 slots in a deck for you to work with, but the most important thing is getting a Tank, and a Win Condition that synergizes together. For example: a Giant and a Witch, or a Hog Rider and a Golden Knight. Then, after you get a Tank and a Win Condition, you still need to make sure you add one or 2 spells depending on your liking. Like Fireball, Arrows, or Log. Next, after you get your spells, make sure to have enough room for a mini tank of some kind, such as Valkyrie, Mini Pekka, or Prince. After you put a Mini Tank in your deck make sure to add Air defense, so minions, archers, or even spear goblins are great picks. After you have your deck you should at most 3 slots open, consider adding a building like Cannon, Goblin cage, and goblin hut. Then add some form of Cycle card, as you wanna not use a lot of elixir all the time, such as a skeleton, fire spirit or an ice spirit. Then from there you have one slot to work with and add whatever card you like to use, or you think would work in this deck. Now after this you should have a pretty solid deck, but once you improve. Consider finding a deck that is either “Homemade” or “Meta”. Just make sure you don’t follow this rubric to a tee, just follow as much as you think will help you actually win. Another thing to consider is evolutions, as there are many different cards that have evolutions, and when or if you get them you should try and add them to the deck if you think they work. The best way to find if they work is to try them for a few games and see what happens and if you can use them well enough.

WHAT DOES “META” DECKS MEAN?:

To be honest, “Meta” just means what is played the most in the game or is the best deck in the current format of Clash, as it gets updated more and more every season. You will learn more as you play and progress that people who run nothing but “Meta”, can get very annoying to play, and you can get very upset when you play them constantly. But just find a way to counter them, try to keep playing even when it seems difficult, make sure to always have fun. There will always be a current “Meta” in Clash, as new cards get buffed and nerfed, and as new evolutions get added. The forever “Meta” decks will be, Hog 2.6, Log bait, and Lumberloon are the most basic “Meta” and most played decks in the game. In my opinion, find a deck that YOU like to use, don’t just follow “Meta”. But do try and rework a “Meta deck” to your liking and just do whatever you feel comfortable with, and will help yourself win more games. As that is what I did with my deck. There are so many different options to work with, maybe you don’t like cannon in 2.6 or you don’t like goblin barrel and princess in logbait. But just find that good compromise that you can feel happy with using.

WHEN AND WHERE TO PLAY CARDS:

Placement of cards is one of the most important things in the game, and you will notice this more and more as you play. You should try and place a tank in front of a support card that you wanna keep alive like a Hog in front of a Firecracker or a Giant in front of a witch, or even a wizard. These pushes can make or break your game and help you change the tide of a very close game. The biggest and best thing you can do is wait for your opponent to make the very first move, and then play accordingly. I would recommend trying to remember the cards they have and remember when and where they played them so they don’t surprise you or take your tower. You can try and count cards, or even elixir but it isn’t always the easiest. Watch out for bad elixir trades. For example if they place down minions and you place down musketeers, instead of spear goblins, you lose the elixir trade instead of win it. Just be smart with making sure you don’t waste elixir, and as much as you can try and count the elixir you use, and vice versa with your opponent. Another thing is playing cards near the king tower so that you can get something called a “King tower activation”, making it so when cards come near your towers you have 3 different things shooting the troops being placed. This usually happens when a splash damage card is played, and when someone plays troops in front of the king tower to help activate it.

HOW TO PREDICT DECKS YOUR OPPONENTS MAY HAVE:

Predicting decks early on can be hard, but most people in lower arenas will usually have the same cards as you. But when you get more and more up you will have the same kind of decks, like Log Bait, which will usually have a princess, inferno tower, and a goblin barrel. But for a deck like 2.6 hog they will have Cannon, ice golem and hog rider. A lumberloon is another easy one, as it will be a lumber jack and a balloon. But if this is too hard or they aren’t using one of the main decks. Then just see what cards they have and play to their weakness and whatever card hard counters one of theirs. These are the very basics of identifying weakness or other decks that a player might be using. I would say the very best thing to learn decks is to look at “Meta” decks or see what different decks youtubers or pros use.

WHO TO WATCH TO IMPROVE:

One of the biggest things any Clash Royale player will tell you is how big the competitive and YouTube scene is, and how so many different people upload content with new and improved decks almost every day. Some good YouTubers that I personally watch are Ken, a YouTube content creator who is a former Clash Royale pro, but still shows off “Meta” decks and makes some fun content to help others out. Jynxsi is easily the biggest Clash creator and makes a lot of good and fun content. If you wanna stay free to play, then you should watch his F2P series (Free to Play), or vice versa if you wanna spend money, then you should watch his P2P series (Pay to Play). I also watch some Clash Royale Pros, like Ian77, who is one of the best players in the world, and one of the biggest pros. I also watch Ryley, another really good pro player, who shows off a lot of different styles of play. These 2 will easily help you improve your play and understand it more and more. These guys are all personal favorites and will help you improve your play. Just try and find your own Clash Youtuber or use some of mine, as they can all explain certain things and help you watch some good content! There is also the world finals for Clash Royale this weekend, and if you wanna see some of the strategies that people who are really advanced and good use. So if you have free time and are curious about what might happen I recommend it.

HELPFUL TIPS AND TRICKS FROM LHS CLASH ROYALE PLAYERS:

Jacob Lang:

How many trophies do you have on Clash Royale?

“15k, Champion/league 4 in ranked as well.”

How long have you been playing?

“I have a 5-year badge. So around 5 years”

Do you use any “Meta” decks?

“I use Hog earthquake and Logbait” (Insert image)

What are your best tips for new players?

“Placement is more important than anything else in the game.”

Michael Aramouni:

How many trophies do you have on Clash Royale?

“A little above 10k”

How long have you been playing?

“I have the 3-year badge in Clash. So around 3 years”

Do you use any “Meta” decks?

“No, but I run a Skeleton Barrel bait deck.”

What are your best tips for new players?

“Be smart with elixir, don’t play cards till you are at zero because you can be punished.”

Kameron Gooden:

How many trophies do you have on Clash Royale?

“Around 10k if not higher.”

How long have you been playing?

“My account is 3 years old, so around 3 years in total.”

Do you use any “Meta” decks?

“No, but I use my homemade deck, Evo Megaknight, witch deck.”

What are your best tips for new players?

“Use a ‘Meta’ deck, or no ‘skill’ deck. Try to be free to play as long as possible.”

Henry Morales-Kramer:

How many trophies do you have on Clash Royale?

“A little above 9k”

How long have you been playing?

“I have only been playing for 3 years, but I played longer on my mom’s phone before that for around 6 years. So technically 9.”

Do you use any “Meta” decks?

“No, but I use my own bush and boss bandit cycle deck.” (Insert image here)

What are your best tips for new players?

“Focus on leveling up your cards as much as possible, and learning how to play each one.”

Emmanuel Bynog:

How many trophies do you have on Clash Royale?

“Around 8k”

How long have you been playing?

“7-8 years give or take.”

Do you use any “Meta” decks?

“I use Logbait, and I use hog earthquakes.”

What are your best tips for new players?

“Focus on having fun, as skill comes along with it.”

Ondra Karlik:

How many trophies do you have on Clash Royale?

“A bit more than 7k”

How long have you been playing?

“I started in 2016/2017. I even have a cringeworthy old review on the App Store to prove it.”

Do you use any “Meta” decks?

“Sometimes, log bait, and then hog 2.6 but modified.”

What are your best tips for new players?

“Watch more YouTubers as it shows how good players play, and how to model your game off it. Even try to practice a lot, make sure you have fun.”

LAST INFORMATION: Now that you are a borderline Clash pro, you should be ready. But keep a couple things in mind, don’t stop having fun no matter what, keep consistently playing or even just play like every day one game and you will get better and it will be more and more. Please don’t make this the only guide you listen to; just have fun with it. Look up many other questions, keep doing research, and keep improving! This game is confusing but you just gotta find what will make it fun for you. If you think after all this you’re finally ready then go ahead and download the game and start playing… maybe even reach some of the higher clash players on this list. After all Clash Royale is just a  card placement game.