Meta Predictions – Clash Royale April Balance Update (24/4)
Hello guys,
As always, Supercell is releasing the new Balance Change update on April 24th in order to make the game fine tuned and to keep the fun throughout the updates.
This time, Supercell is taking a serious look at Dark Prince, Spear Goblins, Barbarian Barrel and more! Let’s take a look!
Clash Royale April Balance Update
Dark Prince
Shield HP -25%
Spear Goblins:
Hit Speed 1.1sec → 1.2sec (This change affects Spear Goblins, Goblin Gang, Goblin Hut)
Barbarian Barrel
Range 6.5 → 7
Knight
Hitpoints +3%
Dart Goblin
Damage +3%
Ice Spirit
Area Damage -4%; Freeze Duration 1.5sec → 1sec
Skeleton Barrel
Skeleton count 6 → 7
Lightning
Radius 3 → 3.5
Tornado
Duration 2.5sec → 2 sec; Damage per second +21% (this affects Total Damage -3%)
Magic Archer
Hits moving targets better.
Some other changes
- Spells: Can now be played on the river
- Fixed: In rare cases, Cannon Cart was not being targeted after losing its shield
- Fixed: Witch would sometimes switch targets (while being locked to a tower), if spawning skeletons pushed her target out of range
- Fixed: In rare cases, Sparky’s hit would reset if she’s knocked out of range while charging
- Fixed: Hunter can now hit targets on top of him
Meta Predictions
Decline of Tornado:
With Tornado’s duration being reduced by 0.5 sec, it will be harder to pull troops in order to activate the King Tower as you need to time it more precisely.
This will obviously increase its skill cap which will in turn promote people to shift to buildings.
With decreased duration many predict that it won’t be possible to heavy troops like Giant and Golem to the King Tower.
However, if this is indeed true, our old pal Ice spirit will help us by freezing it and enabling a quicker pull.
Viability of Ice Spirit:
Many say that Supercell went overboard with this change.
Well that may be true, there isn’t anything we can do about it. So let’s just see how it actually affects this guy.
Ice Spirit’s stun being reduced by 0.5 seconds reduces his utility and we will definitely see a decline in his usage, similar to when Zap’s stun was reduced by 0.5 secs.
However, I feel this was a much needed change as IS was created to be cycling card and there isn’t a valid reason why he should offer so much value. The damage nerf wasn’t really needed.
Overall, IS will still offer utility not enough like before but still be popular as a cycle card in many cheap decks.
Hit to the Princes:
Personally, I feel Dark Prince’s nerf wasn’t that much and it would still be a popular card but not as much as now where it fits in almost any deck.
However, major hit would be to Prince as Prince itself isn’t really strong but Dark Prince is the one that actually made it work.
With DP’s nerf, the combo would viable as much as before, but DP itself would work in many decks like for e.g. Bridge Spam.
Bait Still Meta:
Even though two cards of Classic Log Bait w/Tornado were nerfed and Spear Goblins being nerfed as well bait decks which depend on these cards definitely took a hit. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t see bait.
With Skel Barrel and Dart Gob buff, a new variety of bait decks may arrive (and Spear Gob nerf isn’t that bad, Spear Gob will still be better than they before their buff that made them popular).
Not to forget the fact that Minions, Minion Horde, Bats, Skarmy, Gob barrel and Princess are still strong options for baiting out spells.
Rise of Beatdown:
With the much need buff to Lightning finally arriving, Beatdown decks are gonna be popular once again.
And by beatdown I mean classic heavy Golem Lightning beatdown
With Tornado’s nerf and buildings not able to withstand Lightning, counter Golem will be much harder and with right support, this guy will be ruling the game.
This will also affect the viability of Siege decks which usually lose to beatdown and lightning being popular again.
Also, a major threat to Ladder players, RG lightning is gonna be popular again so get ready with better counters like Mini PEKKA and Inferno dragon for example.
Another Important fact is that PEKKA decks are gonna be popular as she can counter all tanks safely being resistant to lightning.
Lava Hound Cancer Once Again?:
Even though Hound is part of beatdown, he deserves a section of his own.
Lightning buff makes the Classic LavaLoon stronger while other LavaMiner bait decks with Skel barrel are also a good choice if you don’t like Balloon or just wanna be different.
Many other combos like LavaLoonMiner or LavaDoubleDragon will also be seen as in this game, even if a card gains popularity due to another card being buffed, decks which don’t contain this buffed card but containing the first card will be popular.
Overall, Lava Hound is gonna be and A tier card for both Ladder and Challenges.
Popularity of Miner:
With Tornado nerf, Miner deck will be stronger as Tornado is the worst nightmare of any Miner player as Miner dies rather quickly with King Tower being active.
Also, as I said PEKKA is gonna be a good choice and we all know about the strong PEKKA Miner combo.
He is also good choice in the new variety of bait decks because of his synergy with Skel barrel and other bait cards.
3M Ram Domination:
Lightning buff a threat to 3M?? Nah, don’t forget that 3M has been the meta since a long time, even when Golem Lightning was also the meta.
With DP nerf and Lightning buff, the strongest choice for a rusher in 3M decks would be Battle Ram.
It nullifies lightning as the ram and the barbarians act as Lightning rods, protecting your 3M for a Positive Elixir Trade #OJ.
Less Amount of Siege:
As discussed above, with rise of Beatdown and Lightning, Siege decks are going to have a hard time.
Major threat would be to X-bow but Mortar would still be viable and may be even strong on Ladder due to over levelling and the Bait meta.
Remember the Miner Mortar Skel Barrel bait deck?? Don’t forget Hog Mortar Bait for the same reason.
Hog Back Into The Meta:
With Tornado nerf, one of Hog’s major counter is gonna be less popular.
Buildings were never much a threat to Hog anyway and Lightning buff will make this sure that Hog can safely reach towers.
As said above, Hog Mortar will still be used and may be since, Classic Log Bait is steadily being nerfed and losing popularity, Hog Bait decks that were popular during the days of the First CRA Tournament.
The Best Decks for the new meta?
Here, I will be listing the decks which I think are gonna be popular.
Note: Again, this speculation. Other popular decks are definitely gonna arrive and I will be only including decks which already existed in past metas.
3M Miner Ram Swarm
P.E.K.K.A Miner Zappies:
Golem Lightning BabyDrag Beatdown
2.6 Hog Cycle
Miner Mortar SB Bait
That’s all folks!
Hope you guys enjoyed reading this post and have fun and success after this New Update #ClanWarsHype.
Hey guys I’m bacc! Awesome trip. Japan.
new poll : what do you think about the changes?
Finally a rg nerf! I like the zappies one, so it gets one shot by fireball but still good. Overall, like it a lot.
it is a buff BOI and also Japan is nice
Edit: is it a nerf?
It is a buff for RG
That was actually a huge buff to Rg, not to mention this is probably a prank
Dudes, is 1 April today, this probable is a prank
could be, could be.
*next year*
Supercell: “you are in for a treat players, we have decided to lower the cost of elite barbarians to 4! those obviously aren’t ruining the game for everybody, so it would be splendid to buff them all”
OMG supercell why did you have to nerf horde, I spent 20k upgrading them today….
Oof
It’s a prank
whew I KNEW there was something fishy about it
uhh tesla replaced cannon and tombstone, even inferno tower. probably the best defense building rn
lol
Lol
what are you talking about
why balloon lol
ewiz is overshadowed by zappies kinda
EDIT: sorry didn’t see the date
Can you give us a link to let me believe this awesome update
APRIL FOOLS
RIP RG NOW SHOOTS ABOUT AS FAST A A MUSKETEER.
Musketeer hit speed: 1.1 sec
RG new hit speed: 1.3 sec
“rg shoots ABOUT(very important) as fast a a musketeer”(don’t know what the other a is for)
A…a musketeer, he is scared
srry it was a typo
1st after repost
skeleton barrel is a pic of goblin barre.please fix it
and zap for zappies..the editors are drunk
hahaha i agree men
wow I’m shocked that the author(s) would do such a thing
oh no cancer is making a HUGE COMEBACK THAT WILL KILL POOR CR USERS!!! EBARBS RG WILL SKY ROCKET WYF!!!!
FOCUS ON BUILDINGS SUPERCELL BUFF BUILDINGS
and still no nerf to hog rider. they need a 30% health reduction.
Hog isn’t THAT annoying rn except the fact that supercell should add level caps to different arenas and leagues
He just has WAY too much health for his speed and damage given his cost. a musketeer does roughly the same damage, costs the same, is WAY slower, and she can be taken out with a 1 level higher fireball. A hog rider (of the same level) can’t even be taken out with a rocket. That’s too much damn health. Now if they raised his cost to 6 elixir, I’d be ok with that too. Hell even EBs that ARE 6 elixir can actually be taken out with rocket for an even elixir exchange.
Bear in mind that hog is a melee unit and musketeer is a ranged unit, and since the musketeer is ranged, she’ll be way too op if she had hogs stats and if hog had musketeers stats, it’ll be too weak as musketeer has the range advantage
2nd, hog actually has a hard time getting to the tower anyway and has to rely on punishing hard in order to even have a chance (at least with my experiences with hog)
3rd, ebarbs have to have less hp than hog because there are 2 of them, whereas there is only 1 hog rider spawned (other than mirror or clone ofc) and ebarbs do more damage than hog
Last thing, it’s not exactly the hog itself that’s the problem, it’s overleveling that’s the true problem
People are overlevelled because they lack the skill to progress to the appropriate arena. In other words, you should be able to beat them because you are a stronger player than they are(unless they are trolling)
I agree, I also cannot understand why people keep calling for one of the very few viable, free to play win conditions to be nerfed.
Hog Rider along with Royal giant are the two most viable, free to play win conditions in the game, (battle ram would be, but they already nerfed that too much long ago, and ththr musketeers doesn’t count because they’re a nine elixir card that can be instantly wrecked by a four elixir fireball or poison spell).
Leave hog Rider alone! Let him continue be a good win conditions that anyone can level up and play. There are plenty of hard counters for hog, such as tornado and virtually every single swarm card, as well as every building.
You’re kidding, right?? Tornado is NOT A hard counter to hog. Sure if you get it JUST right, you can pull him to king tower, but not everyone can pull that off. Swarms can be countered with a quick zap (or even a tornado itself). There are tons of win conditions in this game that are common or rare. Even if he was the “main” win condition for f2p players, are you saying you WANT everyone to use the same win condition??
If you have trouble with countering hog with tornado, then watch orange juices videos and/or practice with clanmates
Minion horde is not a hard counter to balloon too because someone might try and place it on the other lane and expect it to defend. Not everyone can pull it off right? Counters have to be used properly in order to be able to do the job
By now, 90% players can use tornado to pull it to king tower.
*places elixir collector to counter hog* You said EVERY building right?
YES
True ur right
You are nuts!!! 30% it will die!!!
My reactions:
Lava hound: hm… might think about using it
Skeleton Barrel: that last nerf destroyed it, now it’ll be balanced cuz of mega knight nerf
Knight: kinda expected, hp was pretty high for 3 elixir
Zappies: this makes it more viable
Minion horde: I figured this will happen
Prince: reworking the dps I see?
Royal giant: oh shit…
april fools?
It’s a joke tho
nice cussing on clash royale arena… and as a mod…
how to ban self from website
step 1…
Lel I have banned myself b4… accidentally
… ok…
lol i remember when that happened xDDD
it dont matter he did not REALLY say it like rlly?
Well cussing here is bannable, and a mod cusses…
People it’s a repost of last year’s april fools update prank
this comment will probably get taken down
It’s not a very good april fool’s joke then. should be like “RG speed increased from 1.7 to .5” or some such. it’s not really a prank if it’s reasonable. That would be like if instead of pranking a coworker saying “hey man your car is getting towed”, i said “hey man, a bird pooped on your car”. who cares? again, not a good joke if it’s supposed to be one
true
WTheck is this prank? This is just so recycled.
Will +5% and -1% health change anything about zappies because there are still to weak to fireballs from wizard and normal
Tesla’s actually pretty good
Check the date on that comment lol
It tricked me that year old comment of yours. I din’t claim, but I was first.
Yeah I realized that too late
It’s not on cr website anyway
Yea yea, happy april’s fools
lol I got pranked hard by this website, and everybody probably knows this but if you add up the first letter of the prizes in april fools challenge, it spells APRIL FOOLS
I just realized that lol
don’t worry I didn’t realize it either
I’m praying this is an April Fools prank!
it is
Oh hallelujah! I got so scared for a second, then I realized that if the balance change info was here, then Supercell would’ve put it out on News Royale too, but they didn’t so I was a bit worried. Good prank, gg.
yep I got tricked too
i looked @ cr website right away
DONT NERF THE MINION HORDE LIKE THAT AND BUFF THE RG LIKE THAT PLEASE AND THE SKELLY BARREL THING… PLEEEEEZ NOOOO
Poor minion horde
it is
APRIL FOOLS GUYS! and
https://www.pointsprizes.com/ref/9020089/48/clash-royale-free-gems
here you go, anyone looking for more gems for free use this website, do some surveys and offers to get google play card! you can get other cards too, such as steam, netflix, psn, etc. you need 3750 points to get 25 dollars, and to help you with that I’ll give you code for coupons:
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good luck and clash on! (sorry for sounding like a bot but this isn’t a scam, google the website)
is dis a prank?
nope look up google for payment proof, actually works
Our plan worked lol
lol pretty sure you pulled the same prank last year
It was april fool
APRIL FOOLS BOI!(don’t worry I got tricked too)
Noooo i wanted to use lava hound because of the Death damage
me too, the balance changes were kinda realistic
I didn’t because I had just checked news Royale
hahaha nice try guys
IT”S ALL A PRANK/.
new poll : what old card do you like best (like one of the first).
Me : Giant L or Witch
Prince FTW
Pekka
same
peeeekkaaaa
PRINCEEEEEE
Royal Ghost for the win. Best Legendary.
This is from 18 days ago, the poll is old
i tried what HS(aka derpyboy) thing but coupon did not work
oh really? it worked for me at least, tell me how you are stuck
Yessssssss! Down with minion horde, down with prince. Boo-Yaa!!!
1. thats actually a prince buff
2. this an April Fool’s joke
Bruh
That’s harsh. First you put the picture of zap and say damage increased. Then i see it’s zappies. Then I realise its first April.
You dashed my hopes CRA.
lol
https://goo.gl/wDav8k&jwugu
https://goo.gl/m4DpFq&njmok
hahaha very funny
These are obviously very realistic balance changes
true
I actually first kinda believed in it BUT who tf thought putting an RG buff in first place was a good idea? Like that made me sad, not happy ;-;
Seriously people really want to see RG making a comeback
REALLY??? no wae. dat is not da wae
EWWW
Rip x-bow buff royal gigante stupid supercell
It’s fake
lol rip this dude
Lol just realized it was fake. Thanks for trolling me. I mean wtf would they buff RG, or buff Skelly barrel to 10 when they just put it from 8-6
You fool lol
Aww. I was actually feeling quite satisfied with the balances
Same here 🙁
oh lol
Little meme I made. Might put it up again if there’s a new post coming. Not meant to offense will. I wouldn’t really somebody like that out of my free will. (Hehe)
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b811a8d0f525dd5d6b7711e3c2bdbf4bf4abb1c6cdd57ff69b58d6aa85964666.png
Hehe
gotta put the smoke weed dude on will’s face
https://media.giphy.com/media/l0IxZpEsbQYba4h6E/giphy.gif
The Lava Hound buff would actually be awesome.
When i first saw the RG buff i was WHYYYYYYYYYYY JUST WHYYYYYYYYY
THen i saw that is was a april fools joke
they pranked us last year to
That is not a skeleton barrel
when i saw the zappies -1 health i new this was a joke
where is update?
Lol this was an April fools joke and it is fake
clap first
whut?
they should’ve nerfed goblin hut, not spear goblins. it has too much hp
Yup
Agreed
Bait here we go
🙁
Yup…
It’s me
you’re looking for…
…
…comedy
I can see it in your eyes
yay the balance changes finally came out
my god why u nerf dark prince
it needed a nerf but not this much (Prince too)
yeah prince needed nerf see this is what happens when Supercell decided to do balance changes “whenever they feel like it”
Now we can log and rocket Double Prince for 1 elixir advantage
And I’d like to see MA being given some love, he was bad dealing with spawners
Lightning, Knight and Spear Goblins were taken to where they were, I don’t know what they are thinking about, maybe meta will be the same with a year ago’s one
Double Trouble bubble gum? Surprising. What’s not surprising? How much money you can save with Geico.
xD
50% of car insurance
Just out of curiosity I checked how’s the page doing and what’s happening to the game
First thoughs were “what the heck is Barbarian Barrel”, “how can they buff knight” and “how can they nerf dp”
Yeah well, a lot has happened since you were gone
Since you where gone, I got three guides posted!XD
Barb barrel is worst card ever released, Knight buff wasn’t ry necessary needed but I guess they did it as an indirect nerf to ice golem as most people will shift to knight again and ig’s usage will be lowered even though it would still be as good. Dark Prince was DOMINATING the game….extremely OP and it was really annoying bcuz it gave the game a YOLO feeling as one mistake = gg.
1st after repost (I think)
I think that the tornado buff/nerf (Duration 2.5sec → 2 sec; Damage per second +21%) was more of a nerf then a buff.
it was a nerf all around it does less damage now too
(this affects Total Damage -3%)
It was a total nerf. It’s damage and time was decreased
Lightning got it’s range back.
Shit.
Love the other changes, but Ice Spirit damage nerf imo wasn’t necessary.
Dark prince need was really needed. Though I am not happy with tornado balancing. Good thing lightning got old range again.
Hi, I wrote a guide on my triple tank graveyard deck but not sure if it’s gonna be posted. BTW 900 words.
Triple tank… good idea, it’s going to work really well at 3800+ with that possibly 4.6 elixir average
the sarcasm 😀
No, wait. I think you misunderstood my post. I actually think it’s a really good idea, and I’ve actually seen one of the most pro people I know, a p2w, get into Legendary Arena with a mostly maxed triple tank graveyard deck. Plus, he only had level 4 Graveyard, and most people up there have level 5+ skeleton army!
Lvl 4 graveyard spawns lvl 12 skeletons…
No, since graveyard is obviously an epic because all legendaries are just rarer epics, a level 4 graveyard is tourney standard so it spawns level 9 skeletons. Duh. I’m so much better than you at the game, I got to Frozen Peak using a meta deck, and I only had 13/10/7/4 cards! *seems legit*
triple tank??? btw 900 words isn’t much nowadays. most guides r usually over 1500 words on CRA if u read em. However if it does get posted I’m interested!
Noooo, ice spirit got nerfed 🙁
Well that was to be expected
My reactions:
Dank Prince: i do agree, this card was a very common card to encounter, especially in bridge spam
Spear Goblins: same deal as dark prince, except, they were a good cycle card that could fit in any deck
Barbarian Barrel: isnt gonna affect me much as my barb barrel is lvl 1 while i have a lvl 2 log
Knight: interesting… hes still popular
Dart Goblin, I think he’ll replace spear gobs in a few decks with this buff
Ice Spirit: noooooooo…..
Skeleton Barrel: due to me switching to MK (got mk from shop) miner skeleton barrel, this will help me
Lightning: still annoyed it wont 1-shot overleveled witches, but will help tremendously
Tornado: see ice spirit
Magic Archer: good change
1 flaw: why no 1 elixir skeletons buff
Here’s my opinions:
Dark Prince: FINALLY! I have been waiting for this day!
Spear Gobs: Not gonna affect them very much (or Gang or Hut either).
Barbarian Barrel: Honestly I would like to see more of this card in the future, either in Miner or Hog Decks. Seems pretty good at the moment!
Knight: Gives him a better chance versus Elite Retards and Mini P.E.K.K.A, but overall shouldn’t affect his userate too much.
Dart Goblin: Indirect nerf to Magic Archer and Princess.
Ice Spirit: Screw you Supercell for nerfing him. Honestly he was fine as is. However, will this open the door for Lightning to make a comeback?
Skeleton Barrel: Shouldn’t affect its userate too much.
Lightning: It’s good to see Lightning back in tip-top shape!
Tornado: Honestly, I don’t know the fate of ExeNado anymore. Will it be more or less prominent?
Magic Archer: Hooray! He can finally counter Tombstone!
Skeletons: NOBODY CARES
THE KNIGHT IS ALREADY GOOD ENOUGH!!
I KNOW!!! WHYYYY
https://goo.gl/bNp9bW&awox
https://goo.gl/HRBzUe&ocinj
finally exnado is gone
Meta prediction post coming soon!
It’s here!
Yeah!
Yesss lavaloon will be easier again no more lightning fails!
with tornado nerf executioner is useless and hog raider became OP and number 1 win condition in the next update. thanks stupid supercell
No way hog rider is bad.
next meta = lava golem and hog raider decks with lightning . its too bad
YES!!! LAVALOON MAY COME BACK Y’ALL!!! 😀
Bridge spam will still be popular
MY COMPLETELY BIASED OPINIONS:
Dark Prince: A good, needed nerf that will not kill the card. Good job Supercell
Spear Goblins: Same deal as DP, good minor change to balance the game
Barbarian Barrel: Still won’t be used because it’s pretty bad
Knight: Actually WTF Knight is already borderline OP. Seems it can counter any push single-handedly, and the buffed it, supposedly to help counter the (in Supermarine’s words) Elite Retards and counteract the popularity of Ice Golem. HERE’S AN IDEA SUPERCELL: Nerf ERetards and Ice Golem instead of buffing a popular borderline OP card in Knight
Dart Goblin: YASS I love the DG and hope he is seen more now
Ice Spirit: About f*cking time they nerfed it
Skeleton Barrel: Bringing it back a little at a time, which is good because I didn’t like when SB was meta
Lightning: woopdeedoo now it can hit my Sparky even easier 🙁
Tornado: I use Tornado in all of my decks, and I think this was a very well thought-out change by Supercell. I applaud their choice to keep Nado strong while making it a little harder to use properly, which can help end the obnoxious Exenado users.
Magic Archer: Seriously? This wasn’t fixed already? Ah well, at least it is now
defending with dark prince is gonna be harder nooo i have started running dark prince in my new golem hunter deck nooooo why u do dis
I hope that it will not be the rise of beatdown domination because I started using mortar this month. As a f2p player, it’s hard to invest gold in a card for quit her in less than 15 days.
And I think about the trouble of stopping a (well done) golem lightning push with a weakened tornado or an inferno tower susceptible to lightning.
Hard days are coming.
What you guys think is that gob hut was nerfed. However, the damn gobbies will still do the same damage on the tower…
I really liked my dark prince w/ guards and baby dragon combo….dunno what my fix is going to be.
i see balance changes as an opportunity to try out new decks
im using a nw mirror clone deck because tornado is being nerfed
maybe i’ll use golem lightning again
A rise of golem beatdown plays right into my hands because I am currently running Pekka Sparknado lol
I am running lumberloon now lol
I like it
hehe…i miss the good ol’ beatdown days…
I miss the days of arena 1, where I had no idea what every card was, and where I could throw a fireball at the king tower and not care….
*nostalgia*
finally hunter fixed!!!
I like the dart goblin one and the knight one. Always liked those cards. Overall, pretty good. I also like the dark prince one, as I always disliked that card.
Great guide !
Ty!
YES LAVA HOUND IS BACK Y’ALL!!! 😀
Dank Prince: Completely disagree
Why tf is he getting nerfed? What harm did the dank prince ever do to this game? His shield already breaks before getting to the tower…
Spear Gobs: Ok…?
Not going to make much of a difference…
Barb Barrel: Who even cares about this card?
I just cant be asked anymore…
Night: Why, just why?
Does Supersell actually know what “balance” is? Sure go ahead and buff the most used card in the game…
Dart Gob: Sure, why not?
Not going to make much of a difference but hey, its something.
Ice spirit: ffs…
Really? you’re going to nerf the ice spirit? The least cancerous card in the game? What’s next? Allowing the ewiz to die in one hit from a fireball?
Skeleton Barrel:…
How does this change anything?
Lightning: It’s about f***ing time.
The only good change in this pile of garbage.
Nado: Alright…
Not to sure how this is going to affect exenado or even the card itself, we will have to see.
Overall apreciation: A pile of garbage with one redeeming quality.
The Knight Health buff was completely unnecessary
Lavaloon is my bane
NOOO!!! SIEGE!!!!!
Nice, nothing in the balance update affects my main deck (:
Follow the link to get free gems: http://bit.ly/2vY96qq
Ugh…