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The best 5 Clash Royale cards of April 2022

No matter how much time you’ve spent playing Clash Royale, your Clash Royale decks can probably use a few updates. This free strategy game went through a card rebalance in early April of 2022. Previously useless cards are top-tier now, and several mainstay cards aren’t quite as good anymore. If you want to stay competitive, it’s time to rethink your Clash Royale cards.

Of course, the best Clash Royale deck will depend on your play style and your personal preferences. However, we’ve noticed a few specific cards that routinely rank high in Clash Royale card tier lists.

Archer Queen

When the update was first announced, many were sad to notice that the Archer Queen has received a bit of a nerf. Despite having a slower move speed, she’s still a solid choice. For many players, the highlight of this card is that she targets Ground and Air units with high DPS.

In addition to being powerful, she’s also got some great abilities. Her main perk is that she turns invisible with her Cloaking Cape. Though the new rebalance set her movement speed to Slow while she’s cloaking, this ultimately doesn’t matter much. Since she cannot be targeted by enemy troops, the change in movement speed barely matters.

The Clash Royale Archer Queen provides high DPS.

Tombstone

Surprisingly, the Tombstone card continues to be one of the absolute best building cards in all of Clash Royale. Many people predicted it would get nerfed because it spawns a bunch of skeletons very quickly

This card is especially great for when you have strong, slow enemies to fight. The constant skeleton spawns easily distracts cards like the Prince and the Giant Skeleton. Furthermore, if you have the Skeleton King, it’s a great way to charge up your king. It’s also worth noting that this card has a fairly low elixir cost, so you can play it easily.

The Clash Royale Tombstone spawns lots of skeletons.

Valkyrie

Valkyrie is one of those cards that still cannot be beaten. With her high hit points and decent area damage, she’s a solid melee troop. Thanks to her high health, she’s very good at countering most other troops.

Despite being a favorite defense troop, Valkyrie will also work well in some offensive cases. Many users find that Valkyrie works well with Mini P.E.K.K.A. because they cover some of each other’s weaknesses. Since the balance update did slightly drop her hit points, this is likely to be a favorite strategy in the future.

The Clash Royale Valkyrie can counter most troops.

Electro Spirit

A lot of people overlook this troop because it’s common and has fairly low damage. However, that being said, Electro Spirit is still one of the best cards in the game. The big perk of this card is its low elixir cost and decent damage. For the one elixir this card costs, the amount of damage it does cannot be beaten.

Another benefit of Electro Spirit is that it strikes other nearby targets when jumping. This lets you do a chain of damage and slowly whittle down at massive enemies over time. It’s great for countering most swarms, especially if you get help from a Princess Tower.

The Clash Royale Electro spirit has a low cost and renders decent damage.

Giant

The Giant troop was already a bit of a favorite for his high health, and the rebalance has only made him better. He now has 4% higher hitpoints, so he’s even more of a tank. Starting in 2022, he will do a great job of countering splash units or the Princess Tower.

Just keep in mind that the Giant works best when paired with other cards that speed him up a bit. He is a bit slow on his own, so having a Prince or Dark Prince behind him is helpful. Some players also like to pair him with the Graveyard, because you get to use his high health to spawn more Skeletons.

The Clash Royale Giant is stronger than ever since the 2022 rebalance.

What’s the Best Clash Royale card?

Ultimately, there’s no single card that outranks all the others. All of the cards on our Clash Royale card tier list of 2022 work best when they’re in the right deck. Fortunately, Clash Royale’s rebalance has provided users with a lot of promising card options. A lot of the fun of Clash Royale decks is seeing how various cards work together. To get the most out of these newly awesome cards, you need to design a deck that highlights your best cards. How do you plan on working these cards into your game? Leave a comment to let us know, and check out our Clash Royale full review.

Clash Royale review | Manic tower fun

Clash Royale is a multiplayer online battle area (MOBA) developed and published by Supercell, released on March 6, 2016. While the game may seem old, it’s still incredibly popular, specifically with esports events. It takes characters and creatures from Clash of Clans and puts them in a tower defense environment.

Want to know why the game is so addictive and how you can play it for free on PC? Perhaps you’d like to know if it’s a good game and which are the best cards to use? Read more in our detailed Clash Royale review below.

Clash Royale story

While there’s no real central plot in Clash Royale, there are a few story elements and a few aspects to look at in this regard.

A king and his land

The main premise of Clash Royale is that you’re a king who needs to protect his castle. You have an assortment of creatures and minions you can summon in the form of cards. As the round evolves, you need to attack your opponent and defend your two towers and base simultaneously.

You’ll receive a crown for each tower and the enemy’s castle that you destroy. These crowns go towards points you can use later on to compete in more challenging events. It’s all about who is top of the leaderboard at the end of the day.

Army and minions

As you play each battle in Clash Royale, you’ll start amassing a huge army. There are different creature types, and you’ll need to learn the benefits and weaknesses of each one if you want to succeed. It all boils down to the most effective strategy so you can win the match.

Each card has an information panel describing details about your minions. When you play a battle, the card slots at the bottom randomly fill with your creatures, so you’ll need to make the best of it while you can. There’s also a meter with points, and you can only use cards if you have enough score to unleash them.

A King’s Journey

One other element that can be seen as part of the story for this Clash Royale review is the King’s Journey. At the top of the screen near your profile, you can access this path to see when you’ll earn your next reward. There are chests and other prizes along the way you can unlock when you meet the requirements.

How long to play Clash Royale

How long you play Clash Royale is entirely up to you. Being a MOBA game, there’s no end to it at all. Sure, there are events and competitions you can participate in, but the fun never really ends. You’ll just play for as long as you enjoy it, which can be infinitely long as it’s quite addictive.

Clash Royale Gameplay

With a better understanding of the theme behind Clash Royale, let’s look at the gameplay elements. This section is where the game really shines, and there’s plenty for you to enjoy. All that matters is how much time you have on your hands.

Learning how to play Clash Royale

When you start playing Clash Royale, the first few missions take you through a small tutorial. You’ll learn how to launch an attack, how to defend your base, and how to combine cards to make your offense stronger. Once you’re done with that, there will be a final test before you can progress further.

You’ll notice that it has a tower defense mechanism similar to League of Legends and DOTA 2, just simpler. There are different lanes to send your minions across, and each side has two towers. You can play 1v1 or 2v2 as soon as you unlock the multiplayer section. Your main task is protecting your castle at the back.

If the round ends with no clear victor, there’s extra time to see who will win. Should there still not be a winner, sudden death goes into effect, and the next player to topple a tower obtains victory. You then receive a chest and other rewards.

Cards and levels

Your minions are cards that you’ll unlock as you progress through battles. These form part of your battle deck. There are some heroes among them, and the colors donate common and rare items. The rarer they are, the more powerful their impact is against opponents.

However, it’s essential that you level the cards up as you receive enough points for them. You’ll soon learn in the tutorial that you’ll struggle to pass the final test with just the base cards. If you want to compete against others online in Clash Royale, you’ll need to make your minions stronger. It’s pretty much the same mechanic that you’ll find in mobile games like Fishing Clash.

Strategic elements

One of the most important aspects of Clash Royale is strategy. You’ll need to save enough points during a match to unleash 2 or more cards at the same time. Sometimes, the battle becomes so intense that you don’t have time to do so.

There are also environmental attack cards you can use, such as shooting arrows from your castle or throwing a bomb. These powers can save you just in the nick of time. You should also analyze which minions are best to use in every situation. A Giant may be strong, but he offers little attack when surrounded by the enemy.

Game maps and modes

Clash Royale has about 15 arena maps you can play across, each one with a different theme. Some of the more popular ones include Bone Pit, Spell Valley, and Royal Arena. As you level up and receive trophies, these will unlock so that playing the game doesn’t become stale.

There are also a few other game modes. They play out basically the same, but you can change some of the elements. You can use various elixirs or change how the cards are drafted. It makes Clash Royale more challenging and interesting to play.

Clans, competitions, and events

The main attraction of Clash Royale is the multiplayer events and battles. You can create or join clans, where you can trade cards and emotes and join in friendly matches. Each clan may have up to 50 members, and you can join one from the start.

There are also league competitions to join, while the game lists several events you can participate in. They require you to be specific levels before you can join while many have other requirements. You can expect these battles to be more intense. The only downside is that you may find the battle map grinding a bit dull after a while.

News and esports

Since CR is so popular in esports tournaments, there’s a tab holding all the latest events that you can watch. If you qualify, you can also compete in them for a chance to win epic prizes. There’s also a video section if you want to watch specific team battles.

You won’t be left wanting to know the latest Clash Royale news. You’ll find a blog in the game that gives you all the latest information and any plans for updates. It’s a great way for developers to remain in touch, which is incredible after so many years from launch.

Gameplay performance

If you’re playing Clash Royale on mobile, you’ll need OS 4.4 for Android and 9.0 for iOS as a minimum requirement. It’s recommended that you have 1 GB memory for the best performance. As far as the screen is concerned, you’ll need at least 800×480 resolution.

Should you want to play it on PC, I did my Clash Royale review on Windows 11 with Bluestacks 5. I suspect that you can also play it on Windows 10, but you’ll need to check if Bluestacks 4 can run it. To be sure, it’s better to play it on the latest updated platform version. As far as performance goes, there was no lag, and the effect and visual performed incredibly well.

Clash Royale visual and sound

For the final section of this Clash Royale review, it’s time to see how the visuals, effects, and sound are. Please note that you may experience it differently based on what system you’re running.

Overall graphics and user interface

The colors and visuals are crisp and clear in Clash Royale. It has a top-down perspective so you can see the entire map. It’s not like LoL or DOTA 2 where you need to scroll up and down to see what’s coming your way.

The developers made sure to present each tab and section with stunning colors. You can easily find the areas with icons at the top and button, while there’s a menu for everything else. You’ll also enjoy watching videos within the app.

Character, creature, and world designs

Supercell wasn’t lazy on the character and creature designs. There are several cards you can collect, each with an adorable picture to identify your minions. You’ll also be able to tell how common they are and at what level with colors and stars.

Thankfully, there are different arenas you can play so that you don’t become bored. Each one has a specific theme, and you’ll soon determine your favorite when you play through them enough. They may have some basic details, but the effort from Supercell is appreciated.

Emotes and skins

You can change skins for the game. There are some castle ones you can begin with, but you’ll unlock more over time. In this way, everyone’s towers and buildings don’t look the same.

You can also unlock emotes, much like in Fortnite and Call of Duty: Vanguard. These let you express yourself to your enemies and clan friends in a fun way. They may have limited functionality, but there are many players that enjoy them.

Animations and effects

The animations and effects are enjoyable to watch sometimes. Sure, you’ll mostly be stressing about how to overcome your enemy and not paying attention to them. However, it’s always fun to see what a new power or ability card will look like once you’ve unlocked it.

Sound elements

Most of the dialogue is done with text, so you’ll primarily hear sound effects in the battles. You can expect explosions, grunts from the Giant, arrows whistling through the air, and so much more. As with the visuals, Supercell made sure that you have as much of a pleasant gaming experience as possible.

What amazes me is how much detail they put into each creature and ability card. When you look at the information panel, there’s a small preview video with the imagery and sound you can expect during a battle. It’s not often you find so much detail in a mobile game.

Final verdict of Clash Royale

Mobile and PC gamers will love the initial casual gameplay of Clash Royale, while competitor gamists will thrive in the intense multiplayer arenas. Those who don’t like PvP battles against experienced players will probably enjoy Clash of Clans more, but there’s no denying just how entertaining this MOBA game can be.

Your engagement and involvement in the game will depend on how far you’re willing to go. If you find it too challenging, you’ll probably uninstall it within the first few weeks. If you’re into online competitions and can hold your own against the best, I suspect you may be playing it for months to come.

Pros

Intense MOBA action
Several cards to unlock
Creature level advancement
Visuals and sounds are superb
Ideal for mobile gameplay
Online events and esports competitions
Unlimited game time

Cons

Not for casual gamers
Packs become harder to unlock

Developer & Publisher: Supercell

Game Modes: Multiplayer

Platform reviewed: Windows 11 – Bluestacks 5

The best free Clash Royale alternatives

If you love Clash Royale but want to try something different, these are all the best alternatives you can play on your Android mobile right now.

Tower Defense and card-based strategy games represent the most popular genres of mobile games there is. The best games like Plants vs Zombies have millions of fans spread out across the globe and new clone versions of the games are popping up on the App Store and Google Play Store all the time. One of the biggest games of the genre though, if not the biggest, is Clash Royale.

Clash Royale has amassed well over 100,000,000 downloads on Android alone and has seen over 28,000,000 of those players leave extremely positive reviews. Clash Royale is extremely popular and has made developer Supercell an absolute fortune through its popularity. If you’ve had enough of what might just be the biggest mobile game, however, or if you like to do things a bit differently to how most other people do things, you might be looking for Clash Royale alternatives. If that’s the case, then we’re here to help you. We’ve put together a list of fantastic alternative games to Clash Royale that we think you might like. Let’s go through them now.

The best alternatives to the Clash Royale

Hearthstone

Just like Clash Royale, Hearthstone is a card-based strategy game that acks and entertaining and addictive punch. With Hearthstone the table is your battlefield and your mission is to build up a mean collection of battle cards representing heroes, spells, and magical enchantments that will help you get the better of your opponent. What’s really great about Hearthstone is that it is based on the World of Warcraft, meaning anybody familiar with what is one of the biggest games ever, will feel at home wielding Hearthstone cards. Heroes such as the Lich King are here, and you’ll recognize a lot more cards than you’d expect to.

Hearthstone is a built on adaptive PvP dynamic but there’s also a lot here for anybody who wants to play on their own. The game, which is available on both Android smartphones and iOS iPhones already has a cult following of its own and is incredibly popular.

Hearthstone Download Hearthstone

Clash of Clans

Clash Royale is like the card game sibling of Clash of Clans. Both games offer very similar stylistic experiences and even some gameplay elements are similar too. Whereas Clash Royale is about building decks of cards though, Clash of Clans is about building up your defenses and fighting off hordes of enemies as they try to overrun and ultimately defeat you.

For a free game, Clash of Clans offers a very rich experience and there is no doubt that developer Supercell has done a really great job creating a game that will get you hooked. This is why Clash of Clans is one of the most popular mobile games ever created. If you haven’t already played it, you should try it now.

Clash of Clans Download now

Titanfall: Assault

Titanfall and Titanfall 2 are pretty epic games. Titanfall 2, in particular, has one of the best single-player campaigns we’ve played for years. The mix of first-person shooter action and giant mech warrior style Titan battles proves a lot of fun. Titanfall: Assault takes the huge action of the two games and shrinks it down into your mobile by producing a card-based strategy game that feels like a mix between Clash Royale and Clash of Clans.

The action here is frantic and loud but requires a deft strategic mind to master. There’s multiplayer action offering the chance to battle against your friends or strangers online as well as an excellent single-player offering for all you loners. What sets this game apart though is the graphics, with a futuristic sci-fi aesthetic bringing the action to life and drawing you into the battle.

Titanfall: Assault Download now

Kingdom Rush

Kingdom Rush for Android smartphones is an excellent tower defense game that proves to be a fantastic alternative to Clash Royale. The premise behind Kingdom Rush is simple. You’re responsible for a kingdom in an epic fantasy land filled with forest, mountains, wastelands, and more. Your kingdom will come under attack from vicious hordes of orcs, wizards, trolls, and all other manners of ghastly baddy set on your destruction. That being the case you need to fight them off by strategically building your defenses and placing your troops where they need to be.

There is a lot here for Tower Defense game lovers. There are rich strategic elements you need to master, and the game looks great too. It almost feels like you’re playing in a much more fun version of the world of Warcraft. The game, however, is definitely challenging enough to stand on its own feet without the need to copy or imitate anything else. This is one of the better tower defense games you’ll get to play on mobile and shouldn’t be missed.

Kingdom Rush Download now

Star Wars: Commander

Our final game is a big hitter because it is based in a galaxy far far away. The action is here is strategy-based battles that are full of all the iconic vehicles, ships, soldiers, and weapons from the Star Wars universe. Disney has done a great job with this game creating a compelling experience that stands up against other strategy-based Tower Defense games like Clash of Clans.

There are multiplayer elements to Star Wars: Commander with the ability to link your games to your social accounts and drag your friends and enemies into the action with you. As you’d imagine with a Star Wars game though, there’s also plenty here for anybody who simply wants to play on their own and play through their own adventure. There’s also plenty of bonus content available too with Disney tying in promotions for Star Wars movies and matching the action on your mobile to that going on the big screen. This game is lots of fun for all Star Wars fans and is worth a download for anybody looking for an alternative game to Clash Royale.

Star Wars: Commander Download now

The three best free strategy card games – courtesy of Clash Royale

Clash Royale has me absolutely hooked at the moment. It’s a fantastic little competitive experience that has reignited my interest in strategy card games. Because of this, I have been diving back into some recent classics in the genre. Here are my three picks of the best.

Hearthstone (Window|Mac|iOS|Android)

Hearthstone belongs on any list of card games. Taking the formula popularized by the physical collectible card game (CCG) Magic the Gathering, developer Blizzard perfectly translated the action into a streamlined digital format using their popular World of Warcraft (WoW) universe for inspiration.

The aim is to attack your opponent with various minions and spells that you summon using mana. Before entering the arena you must build your deck, this is then drawn randomly to create your hand as the battle unfurls. This means you must balance weaker cards with a low mana cost, like Murloc Raider, with more powerful but costly ones, such as the Molten Giant, to ensure you always have cards to play.

But perhaps Hearthstone’s greatest victory is in using the WoW license rather than building a new lore. This provides a shorthand for their huge fan base to enter an entirely new genre, by giving them a clear foundation for cards’ abilities without the need of extensive explanation.

With more cards, multiplayer, and single player content constantly being added through downloadable content, Hearthstone is sure to remain on any list of CCGs for years.

Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes (iOS|Android)

It may not look like a card game, but to unlock new characters and abilities in Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes you need Data Cards, so it is making this list – plus it’s great. The action in Galaxy of Heroes is similar to Final Fantasy’s classic combat system. After picking the squad you want to take into a mission or multiplayer arena, you enter into turn-based combat. Your characters determine your abilities, such as Count Dooku’s skill of attacking multiple enemies at once and Chewbacca ability to absorb huge amounts of damage. Characters take it in turns to act.

A simple interface, enables you to easily select who to target next and which ability to use. Here is where the game’s strategy comes into play. Powers take time to recharge, so you must use special techniques carefully or you may find yourself without them at a crucial moment. What makes Galaxy of Heroes moreish is that it offers plenty of missions and daily challenges to help you constantly unlock classic Star Wars characters to add to your roster – all without having to pay.

Clash Royale (iOS|Android)

Finally, the game that inspired this article, Clash Royale. This new Supercell app is an interesting blend of tower defense and card game, that has you warring against an opposing king across a river.

You do this with a hand of cards that are dealt to you at regular intervals while the action unfurls. These can be area attacks that can deal large amounts of damage to structures, or units that march across the arena’s bridges to attack anything in sight.

Cards draw on Clash of Clans (iOS|Android) characters. Ranging between Archers to Giants, everyone has their own unique skills that must be considered when building your deck.

Playing cards costs Elixir – an energy that refills during combat. This keeps the action balanced as cards cost a varying amounts of this to use. As a result, if you build a powerful deck, you could be left constantly waiting for your Elixir to recharge while your opponent floods the field with cheaper units.

Clash Royale is very deserving of its popularity and I recommend downloading today to make sure you are refining your strategies and deck starting day one.

I know, I say this every time, but this week more than ever I know I’ve missed dozens of amazing card games. If your favorite is not here, let me know what it is and why you love it in the comments.

I’ll be back with another Click-Swipe-Play next week, until then remember to like, share, and subscribe.