BEFORE READING THE GUIDE:

*this guide is purely meant for F2Ps(free to play), or almost F2Ps(spent less than $30)*

Know which cards you like the most! (archetype) Doing this will help you spend money wisely more! I did not do this and look at me now, everything underleveled for the ladder, unable to push nor complete quests efficiently. I thought I was a beatdown player, but later on, I figured out that I actually prefer control. Moral of the story: try different decks when you have the chance. And for those of you who lack gold, there is an exceptional guide in CRA that shows you how to earn over 40k gold in a week! This is the guide. Totally not clickbait!

WAYS TO SPEND GOLD:

UPGRADE:

*no achievement required*

One of the first features you’ll be able to use regularly. This feature allows you to strengthen a particular card for gold and cards of the same kind. In my opinion, this feature is one of the wisest ways to spend gold, so don’t hesitate to do so! However, remember the tip above! If you spend all your money on something you rarely play, that isn’t going to help anybody. So make sure to upgrade the cards you actually USE, rather than upgrading what you think is GOOD. For example, everybody says hog rider is good, right? But let’s say you hate hog and like the giant skeleton, or whatever. Then go ahead and upgrade that giant skeleton! To show you why upgrading is good, here is an example: it only takes 60950 gold to upgrade the f2p hog deck to tourney standards(2 rares, 6 commons), which isn’t that much! Be sure to remember this, I did not follow the tip, and I am in a state of boredom, unable to play ladder.

SHOP:

*no achievement required*

This section is pretty large, so I divided it up:

• Buying cards
• Epic chest
• Legendary chest(Gems)
• Lightning, fortune, kings chest(Gems)

Since this is the gold section, we will talk about whether buying cards or epic chests are worth your precious gold.

BUYING CARDS:

Before the update that “revamped” the shop, I would have actually recommended visiting the shop daily to check new cards. Now, I’m not so sure. Before the change took place, the shop let you buy many cards as you want, with the price increase per buy(ex: first common 2 gold, second 4 gold, et cetera). But now, they offer 6 packs a day. By packs, I mean a certain number of same cards for the discounted price. For example, two bowlers used to cost 3000, but if you buy a ‘two bowler pack’, then the cost is 2000. This may sound awesome since you get a discount, but the problem is, chances are that the packs in your shop don’t match your needs(need 4 hogs, there is 10 hogs pack in the shop). Sometimes, you have to pay gems for the card offers! Sure, it is a discount, but it isn’t worth it, you know? So long story short, the shop isn’t the most efficient way to spend your resources. But after hitting 3k, things get a bit different…

LEGENDARY CARDS!!! They can be bought in the SHOP once you hit 3k trophies! Ever wanted to have legendary cards to improve your deck? Well, here it is! With just 40000 gold, you can buy any legendary you want! Of course, the legendary cards always appear randomly. This may not sound very exciting, but this means you can lay your hands on every single card in clash royale! I actually recommend buying legendary cards in the shop, because it does have value and extremely convenient as well. If you follow instructions in the guide mentioned above, it only takes 7 days in theory to get one legendary, meaning you only need 42 days to get a legendary to lvl 3, which is surprisingly quick if you think about it. Overall, a really nice feature.

EPIC CHEST:

*1100 trophies(arena 4) required*

This is a chest you can either buy or get from battle starting in arena 4. To buy, you need 3000~10000 gold depending on your arena. For that much, you’ll get 6~20 random epic cards. Long story short, you get an epic card for 500 gold. This is a discount since the packs from the shop only offer an epic for twice as much cost. But there is a catch. It is RANDOM! So you might get stuck with 16 rages and 4 epics that you can actually use. It seems bad, but from my experience(16 months of Clash Royale), it is a lot better to get the epic chest than buying a pack. Of course, it depends on your situation. If you desperately need one specific epic card, buy a pack! If you are saving up for a legendary card(I’m saving up for ghost), ignore the chest! Overall, a situational feature.

MAKING A CLAN:

*nothing required*

Although you can make a clan anytime, I recommend making one later in the game, when you are at least in arena 11. If you make one when you are underleveled, not it only drains your money but causes people to ignore your clan as well. So be sure to reach over 3400 before even thinking about it. And this feature isn’t necessary, as a lot of people have made a lot of good clans for you to simply join. I personally have never created a clan before, and I have no plans on doing so.

GEMS:

In this section, I will talk about all the ways to spend your gems.

CHESTS:

Disclaimer: this section only includes the lightning, fortune, king’s/legendary king’s chest.

*nothing required*

You probably know what I will say here, just like any guide on resources. JUST DON’T. Their value is pretty terrible. Let’s see here, the lightning chest offers 2.52 gold and 0.5 cards per gem, guarantees 20 rares and 2 epics, and can replace a card stack five times in arena 12.

The fortune chest offers 2.4 gold for a gem, a card for 3 gems, 50 guaranteed rares and 8 epics, and tells you what might be inside it in arena 12.

The legendary king’s chest offers 1.68 gold, 0.14 card per gem, guarantees 70 rares, 23 epics, a whopping LEGENDARY, and you can choose which card stack you receive, just like in regular draft challenges. Those look pretty cool at first glance, right? But don’t be fooled by their glamour, they are just worthless! Even buying gold with gems are way better than those chests!

LEGENDARY CHEST:

*2000 trophies required*

Unlike other chests, this one is worth your 500 gems, in my opinion(especially for those who is looking for a legendary card). This chest has 4 times more value than buying a legendary card from the shop(a legendary for 10k gold!). Now, I never bought this chest from the shop before, but I tell you, this is the BEST option for people in lower arenas(arena 1 to 8). That one legendary you get will push you up to higher arenas really quick. For example, I was stuck in frozen peak, then BAM. I got a lumberjack, which pushed me up to arena 10. This will also help you greatly during challenges, so I can proudly say this is the way to go.

BUYING GOLD FROM THE SHOP:

*nothing required*

 Remember how I said chests are worse than buying gold? Well, turns out this option isn’t much better. You can easily get gold with the method stated above, and you will end up wasting your gems on something you can get easily. If you look at the gold per gem ratio, just getting 2 wins in a grand challenge has better value than buying a wagon of gold. So on this one, you’d rather want to go with the conventional wisdom and just grind challenges.

OPENING CHESTS:

Personally, I think this is the worst one for casual players who don’t play Clash Royale every minute, including myself. You can just do homework or some other things to pass time pretty quickly, and gems don’t affect the contents of the chest anyway. Unless you have absolute confidence that you can collect over 20 chests a day, I would never go for this one.

CHALLENGES:

Finally, the most important(or not) section of this entire guide. CHALLENGES! (classic and grand, not special ones) This option is by far the best option for SKILLED players. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. I just said SKILLED players, didn’t I? Listen closely, because I’m going to say something unexpected. Challenges don’t have VALUE! At least, for people in lower arenas. Of course, if you are skilled enough(at least in the legendary arena), the challenges are the best option for you. But for those who lack the skill, buying legendary chests or even buying gold is better than wasting your gems on a grand challenge(or classic)! I have seen countless players in arena 7 enter a grand challenge in hopes of getting the best prize(22k gold and 1k cards), only to contribute a win to some better player. This does go the same for the classic. Classic challenges are way easier, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard for low-leveled players. I had trouble getting even 3 wins in a classic when I was in arena 7! In my opinion, opponents who see low-level cards(yours) is more likely to try to 3- crown you than those who face tourney standards. At least, I always rush and attempt to 3- crown lvl 8 players. So to make it quick and short, don’t attempt to enter ANY challenge before getting all of your cards to tourney standards. If you have done that, go ahead and enter a classic. DON’T play grand.

CONCLUSION:

GOLD OPTION RANK LIST:

1. Upgrade
2. Legendary cards from the shop
3. Epic chests
4. Buying packs from the shop
5. Making a clan

GEM OPTION RANK LIST:

1. Legendary chest(should be challenging if you are above arena 11)
2. challenges(should be legendary chest if you are above arena 11)
3. Gold from the shop(there are some gold packs in the shop, too)
4. Buying chests
5. Opening chests

I think I covered everything, but I can make mistakes, just like all of you. Don’t forget to mention things that I missed. Questions are always welcome(recently, my computer sometimes won’t let me see the comments, so don’t be too worried if I don’t answer back). Also, please give me new ideas for the next guide. Happy holiday and new year everybody!