over 5 years ago - /u/ClashRoyale - Direct link

Since June 2018 we have been performing monthly Balance Updates to cards in Clash Royale. After a year of monthly balance changes, we now feel that the game is in a very healthy state, with the exception of a few outlying cards in need of a larger rework than smaller balance tweaks.

What does this mean?

We have been steadily reducing the amount of cards we balance each month already, and we want to continue this going forward. We will instead be focusing on bigger changes to existing cards (a notable example being the Royal Giant rework from last year), which we are hoping will have a much larger impact to gameplay overall in the long run.


This Month's Balance Changes:

  • Elite Barbarians
  • Rascals
  • Arrows
  • Barbarian Barrel

  • Elite Barbarians: Damage: +18%, Hit Speed: -13% (1.5sec -> 1.7sec)

Elite Barbarians are one of the most controversial cards in the game – very popular when over-leveled on the ladder but among the lowest win-rate cards in Challenges. They needed a specific use case in competitive games but a clear counter-play option as well.

The goal with this change is to increase their power in specific uses – such as being able to 2-hit a Wizard at equal levels – while increasing their weakness to swarms. They should feel less like a jack-of-all-trades to casual players and more of a specialized counter to backline support Troops.

  • Rascals: Boy Hit Speed: -13% (1.3sec -> 1.5sec)

Rascals are among the most versatile and powerful single-card defenses in the game. They are usually over the acceptable win rate, so we wanted to do a slight nerf. The Boy's main purpose is to tank damage for the Girls, so we are reducing his damage output to make him less of a solo threat if the Girls are defeated.

  • Arrows: Projectile Speed: +37% (800 -> 1100)

The Arrows Spell does solid damage over a wide area but lacks the utility of smaller Spells. This increase in the speed of Arrows makes it more responsive and better for responding to swarms like Minion Horde when attacking.

  • Barbarian Barrel: Damage: -10%

Barbarian Barrel has remained above a fair win-rate even through the recent nerf to Barbarian Hitpoints. We are reducing its Damage to offset the value you get from the Barbarian, and separating it further from The Log.


The changes go live on Monday, June 3rd.

Let us know what you think about these changes below!

See you in the Arena,

The Clash Royale Team

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over 5 years ago - /u/Supercell-Seth - Direct link

Originally posted by sapsucker123

RumHam stated in an interview with CWA that he doesn't want Zappies to be too powerful as it's a badly designed card that is inherently unfun to play with. If that's the case, why don't they bother giving it a rework? If they acknowledge that the card design is flawed, why not fix it? Really doesn't make much sense to me.

This round of balance changes is a huge disappointment. Not because of the changes themselves (although I doubt Ebarbs will change much after this), but the changes that could have been. If they really think the game is in a near-perfect state, boy are they wrong.

As we move to rework cards more often (instead of little stat nudges), Zappies are totally the sort of card that we would look at. Zappies, like Freeze, make the game way less fun when they are 'balanced'. Zappies had something like a 12% use rate and 57% win rate, the meta was verrrrry defensive and frustrating to attack into them. I think the game is in a better state overall with them at 1%/51%.

But what's even better is reworking them to be less frustrating, then the meta can tolerate them at a higher use rate! So yeah, in short, Zappies are likely the sort of card to get reworked eventually.