Clash Royale is a 1v1 game that is fun to play. It needs very strategic skills to play because you need to know what card counters and where to place your card. There is much more to the game instead of just putting cards and seeing who wins. To win you have to have the most crowns to win. To get crowns you have to allow the card to get to the other side of the arena and try to lower the tower’s health. If no one has more crowns than another there will be sudden death when someone gets another crown first wins. If nothing happens during sudden death there is the final stage when the health of all towers drops at the 1 health every second until 1 person tower dies first. All cards are unique and have different abilities, but something that all cards have in common is that each card to be placed needs elixirs (which are like energy points to the cards). A player can hold a max of 10 elixirs. Not all cards have the same amount of elixir that is needed to place. Cards then have to be placed in a deck. A deck can hold up to 8 cards. These cards will then have to be able to make you win depending on how you play. We won’t focus on the best type of decks, but instead on the best cards in the games and why.

• Mega Knight

Mega Knight is a legendary card that is an evolved version of the common card Knight. The Mega Knight is seen as a card that takes a little out of every other card, making it a loved and hated card in the Clash Royale community. The Mega Knight (when dropped) does damage to cards in its circular drop radius. This damage depends on the level the card is at but this is usually enough to take down troops like Witches to half health and completely wipe out Skeletons and other low-HP cards. Furthermore, the Mega Knight itself does splash damage. This means that it can attack multiple troops at once. Its regular attacks aren’t very strong compared to other tanks (like the P.E.K.K.A.), but because it could attack multiple troops at once and because of its high HP, the Mega Knight is seen as a fierce card played with different variations of cycle decks. The card itself is seven elixir and can attack any land card but cannot attack any air troops. Because of all of its power and versatility, the Mega Knight is a very popular card (when you are the one placing him down). On the other hand, if a person is playing against a deck that has Mega Knight, the player is seen as being “trash” because they have to rely on such an overwhelming troop to win the game. Nonetheless, this card comes out on top of this list because of its versatility and power.

• P.E.K.K.A.

Similar to the Mega Knight, the P.E.K.K.A. is a very overwhelming card. While being seven elixir, this card packs a mean bunch (and deals the most damage any single troop ever deals in this game). The P.E.K.K.A. is not an easy card to play because of how easy it is to counter said card. The P.E.K.K.A. can only attack ground troops and can only attack one troop at a time. Thus, by just placing a spawning troop (like the Witch), the P.E.K.K.A could easily be countered. On the other hand, if the P.E.K.K.A. is placed in the back of the arena and more troops are spawned to assist the P.E.K.K.A., then the P.E.K.K.A. could potentially make it to the tower. Once that happens, even one swing from the mighty P.E.K.K.A. is enough to severely wound the tower. Two swings places the tower in a terrible position and three swings guarantees that the tower will fall. While powerful, this card is easily counterable. Nonetheless, because of all the power that this card possesses and because troops can be placed to assist the P.E.K.K.A., this card is placed at number two on this list.

• Mini P.E.K.K.A.

The Mini P.E.K.K.A. is seen as the child of the P.E.K.K.A. This little guy, while playful and a little funny-looking can hurt you more than you would expect. The Mini P.E.K.K.A. can pack a serious punch that deals around half of the P.E.K.K.A.’s overall damage. The Mini P.E.K.K.A. is effective when going against strong troops (like the Mega Knight and the Prince which are troops that do damage over time but do not one-shot troops). The Mini P.E.K.K.A. is essential to decks because it can be played as a defensive and offensive measure. For only four elixirs, you get this killing machine that will defend the tower while shouting “PANCAKES!” Because of the cost and because of the power that the Mini P.E.K.K.A. packs, this little guy is placed at number three on the list.

• Minions

The Minions are not an appreciated card in Clash Royale. Many see the Minions as a waste of elixir and not strong enough to do any real damage. What many fail to consider, though, is how these little fruit-fly-looking troops could be taken down. The only way to take these troops down is to either let the trio of fruit flies get a few hits on the tower or to use a card that is either the same amount or more elixir to take these Minions down. Thus, in either scenario, the player who placed down the Minions doesn’t lose anything. Furthermore, when placed with other troops (one that is a tank or one that deals damage fast), the Minions can keep hitting the tower with small but fast attacks that chip away at the tower’s health. Thus, because of the three-elixir cost and because of the attack speed, this card is fourth on the list.

• Balloon

The Balloon is a card that takes a lot of skill to play. This card cannot be placed without a plan. The player who uses Balloon has to first understand the opponent’s deck and understand the different cards that could stop the Balloon (such as the Inferno Tower which easily burns through the Balloon’s HP and draws the troop away from the tower). By understanding that the deck has counters to the balloon, you can act accordingly and place different cards that bait out the counters. When placed correctly, though, the Balloon does massive amounts of damage and drops a bomb that attacks both air troops and ground troops. Because of the amount of damage that the Balloon does, but the amount of skill needed to master the use of the Balloon, this card is ranked five on this list.

• Bandit

The bandit is a very strong card because it can reach a tower in seconds. Also, the bandit can do so much damage in such a short amount of time. In my opinion, I (Samuel) think the bandit is a very balanced card because it can be defeated easily, but is good for its dash and its ability to hit very fast and walk in the arena (the place where you play in). Also, its dash is very strong and does so much damage.

• Inferno Dragon 

Inferno Dragon is such a good defense card and it depends if it reaches the tower with full health who knows you might even get a tower, but this card is such a good card because it can defend any push that your opponent plays for example if my opponent plays Mega Knight or P.E.K.K.A and a place Inferno Dragon you would have their tank destroyed in a matter of seconds. The reason for this is that every time Inferno dragon attacks he locks on to the enemy and every time he locks on the stronger his attack becomes, but he is balanced because if there is know back it cancels the attack and he has to target the enemy again and he is not good against swarms and if you face a card that can stun it is pretty much useless because inferno dragon needs no stun or knockback to work.

• Guards

The Guards is such a good card because it has a shield that gives it extra health and also needs a lot of damage to kill their shield and then you have to deal with the second health of them. They are not only good for their health but can deal a lot of damage on defense and if they reach the tower they can also do so much damage. They are good but make sure to not place them when your opponent places a splash card because it can be destroyed easily. Splash cards are like cards that do damage around them as well.

• Electro Giant

Electro Giant is such a good card because it can defend again swarms which destroy any tank in seconds also if someone places Inferno Dragon it gets countered because Electro Giant has a whole area around him which is when you place a card in that area it gets stunned a damaged from the electricity so when Inferno Dragon is put it is bad because it gets stunned and has to restart the process again. Also, he has very huge health making him impossible to kill if your opponent does nothing.

• Giant Skeleton

Giant Skeleton is such a good card because of its great amount of health and how it can last so long and damage so much to the tower. Not only that after its death right away he places a bomb and the bomb explodes almost making the tower have half health left. This is so much for only six elixirs. Not only that unlike some tanks that only go for towers he also attacks cards and towers making him very strong. He can defend against swarms after dying with his bomb exploding doing area damage.