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With hundreds of cards available today, building a deck from scratch inClash Royalecan be intimidating. But once you learn the basics, things become much clearer. The first thing you need to do before building a deck is figure out which play style suits you the best.
Are you an aggressive player? Or do you prefer taking a more calculated, defensive approach? Once you’ve got that part down, building a deck matching your style will be easier.
Building a Strong Clash Royale Deck
Here are a few steps to building a strong deck inClash Royalethat covers all the bases:
You can find more information about each of these steps below.
Understand Deck Archetypes
The pros use a couple of different meta-deck archetypes inClash Royale. You may have heard terms likecycle,siege, orbeatdownmentioned when players discussClash Royaledecks. Here are some of the common deck types in the game:
Understanding these deck archetypes helps set a foundation on which you can start building your own deck.
Choose a Win Condition
Now that you know the basics, the first step to building your deck would be choosing your win condition. This mostly depends on how you want to play the game. For beginners, beatdown decks are good since they don’t require as much elixir counting. For beatdown decks, Giant is the most common win condition, along with Lava Hound, Golem, Electro-Giant, etc. Cycle decks are also quite popular in the meta with win conditions like Hog Rider, Royal Hogs, Miner, and Goblin Barrel.
In some decks, double-win conditions can exist, such as Lava Hound and Ballon, Goblin Giant and Sparky, or even Giant and Graveyard. Make sure you choose a win condition with a decent level, as it will be your most important card in the deck. You can useMagic Items on your win conditioncards to give them a quick boost in levels.
Pick the Support Cards
Now that you’ve picked your win condition, the next order of business is to pick the support cards. Assuming you’re going with only one win condition card, this leaves you space for seven cards, at least four of which will be support cards.
Support cards inClash Royaleare troops that will help you build up a push or defend your opponent’s pushes. As a rule of thumb, you should pick at least one or two units that deal decent damage, at least one mini tank, and at least one card that you can cycle for cheap defense or distraction.
The Prince is a popular mini-tank choice. A Valkyrie or Mini Pekka can also be a good choice if you’re running anEvo Goblin Barrel cycleor a Giant Beatdown deck. Choose a mini tank that complements your win condition and can handle most enemy win conditions in the meta.
Some decks use very specific mini tanks as they synergize perfectly with the win condition. A Battle Healer with an Elixir Golem is a good example of this. Hog-EQ cycle decks use a Skeleton Giant as a mini tank.
As for your DPS units, you should pick at least one card that targets both air and ground. Archers are a good choice in the current meta, thanks to Evolution. Firecracker is another solid pick in specific decks. Other DPS cards include Zappies, Goblin Gang, Dart Gobling, Hunter, and Executioner.
If you think you won’t need too much air defense, add anotherground DPS or mini-tank cardto the deck. Make sure at least one of the cards in your deck deals AOE splash damage. Valkyrie, Mega Knight, Baby Dragon, Bowler, and Bomber are good examples of splash damage cards.
Finally, you need to add one cheap cycle card that you’re able to use as a distraction, DPS, or cycle. Bats are popular as cycle cards in Beatdown decks. Cycle decks often run two cycle cards, skeletons, and one of the Spirits.
Add a Defensive Building
Most decks today prefer to run a defensive building to the deck as they are the best counters to Beatdown decks. Defensive buildings inClash Royaleinclude Tesla, Bomb Tower, Cannon, Inferno Tower, etc. Take a look at the rest of the cards you have so far on your deck and pick a defensive building that complements it. For example, if you don’t have enough air defense, Tesla can be a good choice for the deck.
Choosing the Spells
MostClash Royaledecks reserve at least two slots for spells. There are currently 20 spells in the game, with more getting added as new patches drop. As a rule of thumb, you should pick a big and a small spell.
Choosing a Champion
InClash Royale, there are seven champions available: Mighty Miner, Skeleton King, Archer Queen, Little Prince, Golden Knight, and Monk. Each of these champions can add some extra dimension to the deck, but you can only have one on your deck at a time. Instead of using two DPS units, you can reserve one spot for a Champion you like. Some Champions work well in certain decks. For example, Mighty Miner champion is usually used in cycle decks, while Monk is only suitable for Royale Giant Beatdown decks.
The steps mentioned above can serve as a guideline when building a basic deck. For specific events andchallenges like the Void Challenge, players usually run a very specific meta deck inClash Royale.
