Clash Royale: Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Always Keep an Eye on Your Elixir

So you got your hands on the hot, deck building RTS for mobile phones but you keep getting your butt handed to you in the arena? Well, no worries, because we have you covered with these Clash Royale tips and tricks.

When you’re out in the field, you can call upon the cards in your immediate hand using up Elixir points. These are dictated by the purple number on each of the cards. You’ll notice that you’ll start the match with five Elixir points and the bar slowly fills up. It’s really important that you don’t waste all your points so easily. Ration it intelligently to make sure you don’t have any dead time while your enemy lands all their units on the field at once.

This also means you’ll need to be smart about how you build your deck to begin with. Sure, Princes and Giants are incredibly strong, but they both cost a hefty five Elixir points to cast. This could spell disastrous if those are the only two units out on the field for you, and you’re left recuperating your Elixir from zero afterwards. Create a balance of more small units, medium, and big. For example, I like to keep a Giant (five), a Prince (five), a Goblin Hut (five), a Musketeer (four), Fireball (four), Valkyrie (four), Bomber (three), and Arrows (three).

Find the balance that suits you, but don’t forget that the smaller units are definitely useful in an Elixir crunch.

Know the Field

In the Arena, you’ll have two watchtowers and a castle on both sides. A moat separates the two lands and there are two bridges (on the left and right) for units to use to cross over. Keep in mind when you’re placing your cards that wherever you drop a unit, that is where they’ll land. So, let’s say you have a Goblin Hut out on the field. Drop someone behind it and they’ll have to go around the hut, costing some time. On the flip side, if there’s an enemy unit charging up (like the Prince), drop a random small unit in front of them to hinder their advance. Also, keep in mind that when you take over a watchtower, that plot of squares becomes yours allowing you to place units there as you please. This is good to get even more units closer to the enemy castle, adding insult to injury.

There’s a plethora of strategies you can adopt in your quest to be the best ruler in Clash Royale.

Prince Is Life, Prince Is Love

Prince is an Epic card in Clash Royale that can either make or break your day. If you have him, the world is beautiful and sunny. If your enemy has him, life sucks. He has a ton of health, costs five Elixir points to cast, and does double damage once he gets charging (and he always gets charging, trust me).

Basically, you’re going to want to keep this guy on your team. He absolutely wrecks and whoever has him will use him, so better to fight fire with fire in this case. Provided, of course, you know how to get him.

 Don’t Get Reckless

Battles in Clash Royale are fast-paced. If you run out the clock and it’s a draw with the amount of crowns earned, you go into overtime. If it’s a draw again, it’s sudden death and the winner is the one that takes the next crown. Being such a tight game, you’re going to want to act fast in your decisions. Look, it’s very fun to be a total stampede and wreck both watchtowers before going for the castle, but you don’t have to do that. Get in and get out. Take down one watchtower and then head straight for the castle. If you get that, you’ll get all the crowns anyway, even without taking down that second watchtower. However, if you go into overtime and only win by taking down another watchtower, guess what? You don’t get the crown for the castle. So always, always, always, aim for taking down the castle. Crowns are cool to earn.

Remember Your Units’ Behaviors

Every unit acts differently in Clash Royale. They may all do some damage, but they certainly work in different ways. Learn how each of your units moves and acts and you’ll be able to react accordingly to any situation in a battle. Let me run down some of the starting cards’ behaviors:

• Giant – Major damage and health but just to buildings. Ignores enemy units completely, stomping straight to whatever building is close.
• Prince – Major damage and health. Will charge after a few seconds of moving, and attacking while charging leads to double damage.
• Archers – Low damage and health but come in pairs. Can distract units for a moment as such. Good for flying units.
• Goblins – Low damage and health, but fast and come in a pack of three.
• Bomber – Low health but high damage. Perfect for a group of easily killed enemies (like skeleton clusters or packs of goblins).
• Spear Goblins – Low damage and health but fast and come in a pack of three. Can shoot from afar. Good for flying units.
• Musketeer – High damage and okay health. Good for flying units.
• Knight – Good health and damage, melee and ground only.
• Valkyrie – Good health and damage, melee and ground only. Good for a group of enemies because her attacks strike multiples.
• Goblin Hut – Spawns Spear Goblins every 4.9 seconds. Becomes another building that units can be blocked or distracted with.
• Fireball – High damage to any area you deem. But reduced damage on buildings.
• Arrows – Good damage to any area you deem. But reduced damage on buildings.

Arrows For This, Fire For That

Earlier I mentioned that I keep an Arrows card and a Fireball card in my hand for playing Clash Royale matches. This is because having a ranged attack you can place anywhere on the field can be very, very handy. Especially if said attacks can target a wide area.

Here’s my strategy; I use the volley of arrows whenever there are enemy units in a cluster of three or more heading into my land, and I use the fireball on buildings I want to chip away damage at. The fireball does a hefty sum of damage to a building, and it could really make a difference and help out my other heavy hitter units like the Prince and Giant. Don’t write these two cards off just because they’re not units.

There you have it! Some beginner tips and tricks for getting started with Clash Royale. Good luck out there and remember to upgrade your units whenever you’re able to!

More Clash Royale

• How to Play Against Friends
• How to Join and Leave a Clan
• How to Get Magical Chests, Gems, and Gold
• How to Get Prince Cards Easily