AI Overview: Graveyard Poison is a 3.4-elixir Clash Royale control deck. It uses Tornado and Poison to pull troops together, then drops Graveyard on a tower. In October 2026, RoyaleTracker’s best list, with Evo Knight, Evo Baby Dragon and Hero Tombstone, won 64.6% over 1,500 battles. All five printed lists run Poison, Tornado and Barbarian Barrel.
Last Updated: October 2026
Key Points:
- Graveyard Poison averages 3.4 elixir in all five printed lists.
- The best October 2026 list won 64.6% over 1,500 battles with Evo Knight, Evo Baby Dragon and Hero Tombstone.
- Every printed list runs Poison, Tornado and Barbarian Barrel.
- Win rates run from 54.0% to 64.6%.
- SeeMeta lists a Graveyard nerf (13 to 12 skeletons) and Hero Ice Wizard nerfs, and Hero Tombstone buffs.
Table of Contents
What Graveyard Poison Is
The short version: Graveyard Poison is a control deck. You defend cheaply, pull troops together with Tornado, and drop Graveyard on a tower while Poison covers the skeletons. The catch: it wins slowly, so patience is the whole job.
What changed: SeeMeta lists Graveyard losing one skeleton on June 1, from 13 to 12 (-7.7%). Poison’s Crown Tower damage fell the same day, from 184 to 168 (-8.7%). Hero Ice Wizard lost freeze duration on September 16, from 7 to 5 seconds, and freeze damage on October 6, from 89 to 46. Hero Tombstone was buffed on July 6 and August 4, including damage from 320 to 422. What it means: the tower damage is a little lower, and the Tombstone is a better defender.
Hero Tombstone was buffed twice this summer while Hero Ice Wizard was cut twice. If the Ice Wizard is cut again, more lists may drop the Hero and keep the plain Ice Wizard. The negative effect: a deck that leans on a Hero slot can lose its best card without any change to the main spell.
Best Graveyard Poison Builds Right Now
RoyaleTracker’s Graveyard page printed eight decks, and five are Graveyard Poison. The best, with Evo Knight, Evo Baby Dragon and Hero Tombstone, won 64.6% over 1,500 battles. The most played, with Evo Baby Dragon, Hero Ice Wizard and Hero Tombstone, won 61.5% over 2,000. The weakest, with Hero Knight, won 54.0% over 695.
The other three lists on that page are Giant Graveyard, a different deck. They won 45.9%, 46.5% and 62.1%.
| Build | Cards | Avg elixir | Needs |
| Evo Knight, Evo Baby Dragon and Hero Tombstone | 3.4 | 64.6% (1.5k battles) | |
| Evo Knight, Evo Baby Dragon and Hero Ice Wizard | 3.4 | 62.8% (1.4k battles) | |
| Evo Baby Dragon, Hero Ice Wizard and Hero Tombstone | 3.4 | 61.5% (2.0k battles) | |
| Evo Knight, Hero Ice Wizard and Hero Tombstone | 3.4 | 58.0% (1.2k battles) | |
| Evo Baby Dragon, Hero Knight and Hero Tombstone | 3.4 | 54.0% (695 battles) |
The pattern: four of the five lists run Evo Baby Dragon, and the one without it won 58.0%. What it means: the Evolution helps, but it is not the whole story, because the 54.0% list has it and still loses ground. Still unknown: the five lists share the same eight base cards, so the data compares Evolution and Hero slots, not different decks.
Try it yourself: open the Clash Royale Deck Builder with the Evo Knight, Evo Baby Dragon and Hero Tombstone build in the table above already loaded. It averages 3.4 elixir. This exact list is not in the tracker sample, so it has no win rate; it is the 64.6% list with Barbarian Barrel swapped for Giant Snowball.
How to Play Graveyard Poison
- Defend first. Tombstone and Knight stop early pushes for little elixir.
- Save Tornado. Use it to pull troops together under your tower.
- Poison the clump. Cast it when two or more troops stand together.
- Drop Graveyard last. Put it on the tower while their troops are stuck.
- Keep the Barrel. Barbarian Barrel clears skeleton swarms and small troops.
Graveyard lost a skeleton in June, and Poison was cut the same day. If either is trimmed again, the deck’s tower damage drops. The negative effect: a control deck that already wins slowly can become too slow to finish games.
How to Counter Graveyard Poison
- Fast pressure: Hog Rider, Battle Ram or Miner force the deck to defend instead of build a push.
- Big splash: Fireball, Arrows or Zap kill the skeletons in one cast.
- Hold a counter: keep one spell ready for the Graveyard drop.
- Do not stack troops: Tornado is only dangerous if your troops stand together.
The catch: a Graveyard drop on an empty tower still does damage, so do not wait too long.
Is Graveyard Poison Worth Using Now?
Is it worth it? Yes, for a patient player. All five printed Graveyard Poison lists won 54% or more, and four won 58% or more. The catch: the deck wins slowly.
Evo Baby Dragon is in four of the five lists, and the base Baby Dragon was buffed on July 6, from 161 to 168 damage. If the next patch buffs the Evolution too, the deck kills defenders faster. The negative effect: a stronger Baby Dragon becomes the first target for every spell on the other side.
Go deeper: For the heavier version with a Giant, read our Giant Graveyard guide. For the cards in the best list, see the Graveyard guide, the Tornado guide and the Baby Dragon guide. To test swaps, load the cards into the Clash Royale Deck Builder and read the average cost it reports.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Graveyard Poison in Clash Royale?
A control deck that uses Tornado and Poison to set up a Graveyard drop on a tower.
Is Graveyard Poison good in 2026?
Yes. All five printed October 2026 lists won 54.0% or more, and the best won 64.6%.
What cards are in Graveyard Poison?
Graveyard, Poison, Tornado and Barbarian Barrel, plus Tombstone, Baby Dragon, Knight and Ice Wizard in the printed lists.
What is the best Graveyard Poison deck?
RoyaleTracker’s best October 2026 list had Evo Knight, Evo Baby Dragon and Hero Tombstone at 64.6% over 1,500 battles.
How much elixir does Graveyard Poison average?
3.4 in all five printed lists.
What counters Graveyard Poison?
Fast pressure, a big splash spell, and keeping your troops spread out.
Original Guide, Kept in Full
The text below is the original guide, kept in full. Its stats and win rates are older than the 2026 data above.
Heya guys Lolman here back again with my new Graveyard deck for Challenges featuring the Royal Ghost.
This deck counters the popular Skeleton Barrel Mega Knight or Skeleton Barrel cycle decks, and does well vs most beatdown as well.
| Deck | Cards | Avg elixir | Needs |
| Deck in this guide | 3.5 | Arena 15 (Tornado) |
The Royal Ghost Graveyard Deck
Cannon Cart – Talk about off meta!
Cannon Cart is this splashyard deck’s *Bowler* of sorts.
A huge threat and fast moving so it’s more of an offensive card.
Great when paired up with your Graveyard if your opponent is low on Elixir and only has say Minions. Your opponent will have to choose if he wants to play Minions on the tank and let Skeletons stack up and your Cannon Cart will still get damage.
Cannon Cart is what you need to save vs opponents tanks. It’s very tanky at about the same HP as a Bowler so use that wisely!
Once shield is broken it can distract troops like Golem etc, however I tend to try to save this for the counterpush, fun fact! Cannon Cart can completely shut down a Mega Knight ((however no counterpush))
Graveyard
Went from a luck based card to a rather consistent win-con.
Now depending on placement, you will get more or less damage within a relatively small+ consistent margin allowing you to not suffer from RNG working against you.
Placements for Graveyard have been discussed before so not going into any of that right now!
Now like all Graveyard decks you ideally want to defend and counterpush. Try not to Graveyard unless it’s a punish. Ie- They Golem opposite lane or they Pump up.
Ice Golem
Very versatile and primary tank for your Graveyard.
Ice Golem also can be used on defense vs Golbin Gang etc, to kite your opponents tanks ie- P.E.K.K.A or Mega Knight to the other side and a lot of other uses!
It’s only 2 Elixir so saving up for Graveyard and Poison is a piece of cake afterwards!
Just something I always keep in mind is early game try to keep either the Ice Golem or my Cannon Cart in cycle in case I need a tank on defense. Later on cycling back isn’t a huge deal.
Poison
Self explanatory, used with Graveyard, ideally if you can get some good value.
I’d rather not Poison lone Bats early on if I Ice Golem + Graveyard unless I did so in order to maybe get a Pump or something.
Aggressive plays like that early on before you know their deck isn’t the best idea.
Guards
Very good in this meta, hard counters Royal Ghost. Just surround the Royal Ghost and you will be all good!
Try not to clump them so the RG + maybe a Zap will shut them down!
With shield great vs P.E.K.K.A etc.
You can also surround the Mega Knight before he jumps for massive value! As it will take Mega Knight 6 hits to kill the Guards.
Surrounding Mega Knight
Tornado
Surprised this wasn’t hit with the nerf hammer but all the same used ideally in combination with ice wiz on defense.
Can be used to pull a Valk from the Graveyard but depending on your placement Valkyrie isn’t as great at countering Graveyard after it’s RNG got fixed.
Can be used on offence, ideally when you have an ice wiz behind a Knight and you climb up both what they use on your Knight + Ice Wiz and on the Graveyard.
Ice Wizard
His slow is great!
With buff kills Skeletons of equal level and also unlike E-wiz only dies to a Fireball of +2 level! Which if you get your ice wiz to level 3 which is not killed by anything below a max Fireball.
Albeit his defensive capabilities are astounding! So he’s a worthy addition to most decks.
Royal Ghost
He’s just an offensive threat. Can be replaced by Knight.
If someone say Golems on one lane rather than overcommiting with an easy to defend Ice Golem+ Graveyard push and have to Poison, I might use Royal Ghost on the other lane.
The cool thing is there is NO way you can counter a Royal Ghost for positive trades in the game without losing tower HP.
You can use Bats or Skeletons behind Royal Ghost once he locks on but that’s like 1 Mega Knight swing per Royal Ghost swing on Tower, which is insane. Plus he is very tanky too, for his cost will get a few hits in.
It might draw out say a Knight Witch etc, making push very easy to defend!
Great at drawing out cards like Mega Knight etc as well.
Defensively can be a bit niche as Knight is better on defense because Knight will tank, just have to get used to 1v1 interactions on defense.
General Gameplan
Early game (3:00-2:00)
Get to know your opponents deck early on!
It’s not necessary to Graveyard in the first minute.
Early on in 1x Elixir you really only want to Graveyard in 2 situations.
- You have a counterpush going, say they used a Giant and pushed.
You maybe have an IceWiz, decently healthy Cannon Cart? Then by all means Graveyard provided you almost/ have enough Elixir for the Poison afterwards. - You are punishing a Pump or a Golem in the back like that screenshot above.
Some good starting plays:
- Ice Golem at the back
- Royal Ghost at the back
- Ice Wizard at the back
- Guards split
Other than this I’d rather not play the Cannon Cart in the back etc.
If they Pump up, try to punish with Graveyard then Poison rather than just poisoning the Tower + Pump.
Mid game (2:00-1:00)
You should have a good sense of opponents cycle, along with the deck. Keep a general idea of if you are ahead or behind in Elixir as well! If so try to make several positive trades along the way to even it out.. Same mentality as before, only Graveyard on counter push or punish with sufficient Elixir to Poison on offense.
Early on unless it’s to punish a very big overcommitment by your opponent I will only ever use Cannon Cart on offence, it’s like a Bowler or an Executioner. Never really want to cycle this card because it’s very very good on defense and you need to save it for just that. Ice Golem should be your primary Graveyard tank here.
Late game (1:00 – end of OT)
Ice Golem+ Graveyard + Poison is the name of the game.
Rinse and repeat.
If you get Tower HP down to below maybe 500-600 then poisoncycling will suffice as well provided you get value!!
Just be aware of the nerfed interactions as you will need more of each spell to really take the Tower and play it safe. Do your best to try to get value in your spells too!
For a reference Poison does – 216 Tower damage post nerf.
So in a nutshell, keep spamming out Ice Golem+ Graveyard with Poisons.
Your opponent will undoubtedly keep pushing too so you will need to make sure you defend really well vs this.
This deck is excellent at defense so with some good placements you should be able to do so very easily.
Matchups
Log bait
Post nerf this archetype has been on the decline, Rocket, Log, Goblin Barrel and Goblin Gang.
4 cards in this deck got nerfed and this is rather rough but all the same it is quite consistently used through!
Good news for those who decide to play this deck is, this hard counters Log bait! Woo hoo!
With Poison for Princess, nado for Barrel Ice Golem, Royal Ghost etc for Gang there really is no way they crack through.
Poison off their Princess defense and you are golden! The rest you will play depending on how they attack, activate your king early and life will be easy.
If they Princess in the back something I really like doing is dropping a Graveyard on top then Poison the Princess and Tower. You will draw out either a Knight or a Gang and that’s guaranteed several hundred damage plus no Princess on the map!
Hog riiiidddaaahhh
Finally the long awaited nerf has knocked him off of his high horse. *Cough* I meant Hog.
No longer a top tier win con, he certainly like Giant is still viable and as easy to level up and play win con.
However! You hard counter Hog too! Woo hoo! Tornado!
Ideally activate king with the first push of the game and the rest of the game will be in the bag! Just don’t overcommit is all I am saying
Beatdown
Assuming they tank in back:
Vs Golem punish other lane.
Vs Giant I’d advice defend because Giants are very easy to kill. You want a Knight + Ice Wiz+ Tornado defense ready for their push! Then counterpushing.
Don’t always Graveyard, if you know you are significantly ahead and can almost save for a Poison that’s when I’d Graveyard,
You will do bulk of your damage in 2x Elixir.
Plus its’ good to not give away your win con early. 2x Elixir getting multiple Ice Wiz’s on the map will be an easy task too!
If they just spell him off which will always be a negative trade for them.
Siege
Cannon Cart OP against siege!
Just drop it on top of their X-Bow or Mortar.
Poison+ X-Bow or their Mortar u with something tanking and you should be fine.
I wouldn’t Graveyard early on unless you know counters are out of hand.
Try to get that Poison damage on Tower by poisoning their stuff. Cannon Cart is amazing as this tank as it has a LOT of HP and 1v1 will always beat the building.
You have 2 tanks you can use, Ice Golem or Cannon Cart really, Guards split is effective in stalling X-Bow and Mortar as well, shouldn’t give you too much trouble.
Miner Decks
Early on don’t try to Tornado the Miner to the King’s Tower, chances are if a good player they’d drop in anti nado spot.
If not, then use your Tornado to get it to the king Tower and that’s almost GG.
Once King is active their main source of damage will be Poisons so don’t give them Poison value!
Try to catch them when Poison is out of cycle, if they keep just poisoning your gy, catch them when they’re low on Elixir then launch maybe a Cannon Cart with your Graveyard!
Poisoning Graveyard won’t do much when Cannon Cart will do over 1000 solid damage to the Tower!
This deck is quite solid, I think Vulkan used this deck or a variant of it, been seeing it around in some GCs.
It’s very good defensively and a bit on the non F2P side but cards aren’t too level dependent!
Give it a try to wish you all the best.
Sources
Researched from the following (no links, listed for transparency):
- RoyaleTracker, best decks with Graveyard (October 2026 tracker samples)
- RoyaleTracker, best decks with Tornado (October 2026 tracker samples)
- RoyaleTracker, best decks right now, normal battles (data from October 9, 2026)
- SeeMeta, Clash Royale balance changes 2026 (page updated October 8, 2026)
- Supercell, Clash Royale October balance changes 2026 (October 6, 2026)
- Clash Royale card data used by the Deck Builder (elixir costs and card types)
- Supercell official Clash Royale API, card list (elixir cost, rarity, Evolution and Hero flags)