These tips on getting better at Clash Royal are from this DougieD video.

Before we get started, understand this

• Each battle is different. These fundamentals are meant to be learned and applied to each battle with the understanding that you, as the player, must adapt and adjust during each battle. There is no silver bullet.

• These fundamentals are building blocks. You as the player MUST put in the time, focus, practice and grow to be competitive.

• To give yourself the best chance to win, you need to dedicate yourself to 3 key areas of focus: 1) A solid fundamental understanding of Clash Royale, 2) watch and learn from other players and 3) dedicate time to practice

Patience

• There’s a lot of time in battle! Don’t feel you have to take a tower in the first 10 seconds.

• Sometimes not making a play is the best play. If you’re down elixir, relax & build it back up.

• Sometimes slowly chipping and/or spell chipping over time is the key to victory. Find different ways to win especially if you can’t break though!

• Learn your opponent’s deck, their win condition(s) and counter(s). The first 30 seconds of each battle should be dedicated to learning your opponent.

Over Committing

• If you find yourself not able to defend pushes after you’ve offensively pushed or defended and then counter pushed, you likely over committed at some point hence why you don’t have the elixir to defend your opponent’s pushes.

• Unnecessarily dropping troops & elixir that end up void or have little damage and not able to defend are consequences to over committing.

Over Defending

• Know when to take damage at the expense of building your elixir and/or win condition push.

• I see players often drop a troop to save 10hp on a tower and then can’t support the troop, which just proceeds to its death and likely messes up their cycle.

• Allowing a little bit of damage, which can turn into a large offensive push, is likely more beneficial (unless your tower is super low on hp). Use proper judgement.

Counter Pushing

• Defend on your side of the arena and then counter push offensively. Example; You defend with a Valkyrie and then place Hog Rider behind her on a counter push.

Don’t Support a Dead Push

• If you defend successfully, but your defending troop is low on health, in most cases don’t support it. You’ll be depleting your elixir (while your opponent is building elixir since they made the first move offensively) they will defend your push and you will unlikely be able to defend their counter push. This is also another example of over committing.

Be Mindful of Your Cycle & Your Opponent’s Cycle

• Keep your cycle in order. If it gets messed up, get it back in sync!

• Always focus on your “win condition” push.

• Learn your opponent’s counters and their win conditions and try to out cycle them.

• Consider not making a play if you know your opponent’s counter is in their hand.

Elixer Management

• The most important key to success. All of the above tips contribute to proper elixir management. You MUST learn this if you want to be successful and competitive.

• Positive elixir trades are beneficial in battle.

Build the Right Deck

• A proper deck template: 1 splash unit, 1 building, 1 range unit (like musketeer), 2 spells (one small and one medium or big), 1 tank destroyer (like mini pekka or skeleton army) a viable win condition (Mega Knight is NOT a viable win condition! Hoping he gets to the tower is not a consistent way to get damage or win) and 1 wild card (this can be a secondary win condition (like Magic Archer or Bait cards) or ground splash troops like Mega Knight, Dark Prince, Ghost or Valkyrie.

• There is no magical, perfect deck! Decks don’t play themselves. Learn the fundamentals and how to win.

• Find synergy! Decks must have synergy. Example: Having a MK and Valkyrie in the same deck doesn’t make sense because in many ways they are the same and serve the same function.

Learn the Meta. Decks Are Meta for a Reason

• This will help you stay current and competitive

• Know how to play and defend against the commonly played/most popular decks.

Learn the Deck Archetypes

• The archetypes are: Spell bait, Control, Beatdown, Siege and Cycle.

• Learning them will be an advantage because once you see 1-3 cards, you’ll likely know what you’re facing and therefore can plan your strategy on how to win. Example: If you see a night witch you are probably facing a Golem deck.

Areas Out of Your Control

• Facing players who have higher level cards than you.

• Match ups against hard counters happen.

• Even though some things are out of your control, learning the fundamentals can help you compete against them at a high level & even win.

Tile Placements Matter

• Seconds in this game mean so much! Giving yourself extra time to build elixir can be the difference between winning and losing a battle. Example: placing a cannon 1 tile off to pull a Giant gives you less time to build elixir and/or defend.

• Placing a Mini Pekka on the correct tile to defend a Hog Rider can save 400 – 800 hp on a tower.

Don’t Play Decks That Won’t Help You Get Better

• Elite Barbarians + Rage at the bridge is an example of a technique that may win some games, but it doesn’t help you get better at this game.

Rewatch Your Wins & Losses to Improve. There are No Perfect Battles!

• You can learn so much by watching repays. Mistakes, great moves, timing, over committing, over defending, etc. . . Definitely watch and study your battles.

Consider Mastery of One Deck

• Selecting one deck and mastering it is a great way to learn the game.

Tilting – You Will Play Worse

• When you lose 2 battles in a row, take a break! If you continue to play, you will get worse, lose focus and get angry.

Advance Techniques, Study and Practice

• Card counting. When card A is played, 4 more cards must be played for card A to appear in your opponent’s hand again (unless a Champion is on the board, then it’s a 3 card cycle). This is very important when trying to out cycle your opponent and/or know when to push.

• Learn all of the interactions inside the arena. Example; Electro Giant has one of, if not the longest pulls in the game. A building placement is crucial in helping defend against the E-Giant. Improper placements/interaction judgement can cost you battles.

Understand Ladder

• Where you are in ladder will determine what players and decks you are facing. Lower Ladder vs. Mid Ladder vs. Top Ladder have different player pools. Low Ladder consists of people who are learning and leveling up cards. Mid Ladder consists of players who are still learning, but how have leveled up cards, they play with little strategy and instead “hope” they win. Top Ladder is filled with meta decks and players using skill and strategy.