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These changes will go LIVE on Tuesday 3rd March!
This Season we take a look at Miner, Golem, Earthquake, Cannon and Cannon Cart!
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MINER
Crown Tower Damage reduced 40% > 35%
WHY?
Miner is perhaps the most versatile Troop in the entire game, providing a primary or secondary win condition while also removing defenders. The biggest issue we saw with Miner is that the higher skill you got, the more necessary Miner became. Miner was the single most played card in top end Challenge battles or Ultimate Champion league, with an eye-popping 42% usage while maintaining a high win rate. The second place card, Zap, clocks in at 32%.
Miner has a damage reduction against Crown Towers very similar to Spells. A while back, Spells were nerfed to deal 35% damage to Towers instead of 40%. For Miner now, we are matching that amount for consistency and to reduce Miner’s effectiveness as a win condition. His massive use rate and versatility will keep Miner in the meta, but hopefully reduce him from a must-play at high levels to a more balanced choice within the meta.
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EARTHQUAKE
Affects Hidden Tesla
WHY?
When Tesla is underground, Earthquake will now damage it. The idea of an underground Tesla is that it would be protected from damage. For some Spells, like Lightning or Poison this feels intuitively correct. But it always felt wrong that Earthquake wouldn’t hit something underground. Freeze affects an underground Tesla (by preventing it popping up), so it feels like Earthquake should work intuitively as well.
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GOLEM
Golemite Damage -22.5%
Golemite Death Damage +55%
WHY?
Golemites have two annoying factors – they do quite a bit of damage if ignored, and don’t kill Skeletons when they explode. We have shifted Golemite’s damage towards the explosion, meaning they do less damage over time but have a bit more upfront damage for clearing swarms when they explode.
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CANNON
+5% Damage
CANNON CART
+5% Damage
WHY?
Bomb Tower is currently the most popular building in the game by a large margin. We considered nerfing it, but wanted to follow our process of buffing possible alternatives. Cannon has been sitting at around a 42-45% win rate, and while Cannon Cart does slightly better, it’s still down at a 1% use rate. This mutual buff increases DPS against ground tanks.
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WATCHLIST
Cards that are the most likely candidates for balance changes
- Magic Archer
- Wall Breakers
- Bomb Tower
- Electro Wizard
Magic Archer and Wall Breakers form the core of a very popular and fast-cycling deck. We are rolling out the Miner nerf in Season 9 to see how it will impact the high level metagame, but if both cards remain dominant at high ladder and challenges, one (or both) will likely be nerfed.
Bomb Tower is a notch above the other buildings in power level, but we wanted to see how Cannon / Cannon Cart buffs would balance out the building options instead of just directly nerfing the best building.
Electro Wizard, like Magic Archer and Bandit, are incredibly powerful Legendaries that fit in nearly any deck for positive value. While we don't want to nerf cards just because they are strong, Electro Wizard seems to be solidly above the other ranged attackers in nearly every meta. It's a card we are always keeping an eye on, one that may receive a small nerf eventually.
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What do you think of these balance changes? Let us know below!
The Clash Royale Team
Edit: removed incorrect 'allows them to defeat overleveled Goblins' text from Cannon & Cannon Cart buff
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