AI Overview: These Clash Royale glitches include river crossing, backdooring, Clone Spell bugs, back stacking in 2v2 and the 2016 Giant Tombstone prank. The page is a fan write-up of how each bug worked and why players loved or hated it. The old write-up is kept below, so you can trust each point and skip the guesswork.
Last Updated: October 2026
Key Points:
- The original covers five glitches, from River Crossing to the Giant Tombstone.
- Back Stacking only worked in 2v2 and came out in 2019.
- The Giant Tombstone was an April Fool’s prank in 2016 for some YouTubers.
- Backdooring was a direct win in Touchdown mode.
- No glitch status was retested for this page.
The Countdown: Five Glitches
How to read this. Each glitch has a short story and a status. The statuses are from the original and were not retested.
Short on time? Read the table. Then read the story of the glitch you care about.
Quick recap. A river, a corner, a clone, a stack and a prank.
Good to know. The Backdooring trick used Royal Recruits because they need many tiles. They cost 7 elixir today.
Plain talk. Five bugs, five different rule breaks.
| Glitch | Where it worked | Status (original) |
| River Crossing | Any mode | One way fixed, a newer way later |
| Backdooring | Any mode, worst in Touchdown | Not stated |
| Clone Spell Bugs | Any mode | Two bugs, a few months old at the time |
| Back Stacking | 2v2 only | Came out in 2019 |
| Giant Tombstone | April Fool prank | 2016, YouTubers only |
5. River Crossing
What happened. A troop crossed the river without a bridge. The old way pulled an enemy P.E.K.K.A across with an Ice Golem, then pushed it back with The Log. The newer way used an Ice Golem and Clone to shove a troop over the river.
Why it mattered. It broke the one rule of the arena.
4. Backdooring
What happened. You fill your own side so a new card lands in the enemy’s top left corner. Royal Recruits are the easy case, since they need many tiles. In Touchdown it meant a direct win.
Zoom out. Glitches that bend placement rules get patched fast, but they teach players to look for gaps. If a new mode adds a new rule, expect someone to find its loophole in the first week, and expect a trophy-farming video the day after.
3. Clone Spell Bugs
What happened. A cloned Skeleton Barrel did not pop until it was damaged. A cursed piggy kept spawning from a cloned troop hit by the Mother Witch, and clones only take one hit.
2. Back Stacking
What happened. In 2v2, a spawner building at the back of the double King Tower trapped a Golem. You could stack troops behind it until the building died.
1. The Giant Tombstone
What happened. A 2016 April Fool’s prank turned the Tombstone into a Giant Tombstone that spawned Giant Skeletons for 3 elixir. Only some YouTubers got it.
Zoom in. Prank features can leak into real games. If a joke build ever ships by mistake, expect a rollback and a pile of angry posts about lost trophies.
The Cards Behind the Glitches, Today
Clone. Best list 54.3% over 1,500.
Final word. Bugs come and go. Card pages stay.
Next step. For the cards in the stacking bugs, see Golem and Skeleton Barrel.
Reality check. A glitch is a bug, not a strategy. Do not build a deck around one.
Mother Witch. Best list 69.6% over 1,200. No 2026 change.
Skeleton Barrel. Best list 55.6% over 829.
Golem. Best list 68.7%. Royal Recruits cost 7 elixir (official list).
Claims, rechecked. The page says the old river crossing glitch was fixed. This page cannot retest it, so the current status of every glitch is unknown. Treat every figure as a starting point, not a rule.
Worth knowing. For more bugs, see the second glitch file, and for the cards, Clone and Mother Witch.
Zoom out again. If players keep farming glitches, honest players lose trust in the ladder. The risk is a ranking that looks fair on paper and feels rigged in practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the top Clash Royale glitches?
The original lists River Crossing, Backdooring, Clone Spell bugs, Back Stacking and the Giant Tombstone. Use it as a guide, and check the linked pages for the current details.
What was the Backdooring glitch?
Filling your side so a card landed in the enemy’s top left corner.
What was the Giant Tombstone?
A 2016 April Fool’s prank where the Tombstone spawned Giant Skeletons.
Which glitches are still active?
Unknown. The statuses come from the original and were not retested.
Is the Clone Spell good in 2026?
Its best list wins 54.3% over 1,500 battles.
Original Guide, Kept in Full
The text below is the original page, kept in full. It was written between 2016 and 2024, so some details are out of date. The tips and numbers above use 2026 sources.
Hey there! It’s MindgameR here. In today’s Clash Royale article, we’re going to take a look at some of the most interesting bugs and Clash Royale glitches that have occurred in Clash Royale. So without any further ado, let’s go!
5. River Crossing Glitch
This particular glitch had two ways to execute. Out of which one way was an OG way which already got fixed. We could perform this glitch by pulling any unit like an enemy Pekka with an Ice Golem to the opposite lane and then when the Pekka starts to walk towards the Ice Golem and comes near the river pushing it with The Log would result in the Pekka getting pushed back to the other side of the arena. The second and the latest way to do this is using any troop that you want to directly cross the river without jumping or floating over it, a little tanky card like an Ice Golem and Clone Spell. You need to place the main card in the front of the Ice Golem at the edge of the river and then immediately clone both of them so that the two clones push the main card in the front and force it to break the rule.
4. Backdooring Glitch
In this glitch, what we do is that we simply fill up our side of the arena such that there is no place for another card to be placed there and hence, that card is directly placed at the top left corner of the enemy’s side of the arena.
It is especially easy to do with the Royal Recruits as they need a lot of tiles in the arena to be able to get deployed. This was also performed with other cards like X-Bow etc. This glitch was broken in the touchdown mode, as there when the Recruits spawn on the top left of the arena, it was a direct win. Another variation of this glitch was in a way where all 6 men will spawn in one side of your arena and help you create a strong push.
3. Clone Spell Bugs
There were 2 different Clash royale glitches with the Clone Spell a few months back.
The first one was with the Skeleton barrel. It was executed when the Skeleton barrel was cloned and it wouldn’t pop unless it got damaged. The second was a total game-changing glitch. It was performed with the help of the Mother Witch. Even when the Mother Witch would attack the cloned units, it would still spawn the cursed piggies. After this, it was so easy to create an army of cursed piggies as the cloned units only take one hit.
2. Back Stacking Glitch
This glitch originally came out in 2019. This was only applicable in the 2v2 mode. In this glitch, we basically need to place a spawner building at the very back and side of the Double King Tower and place a Golem at the very back of it.
This would result in the Golem being stuck there and we could stack as many units behind the Golem as much as we want. The Golem would only move forward when that Building gets destroyed. This was very useful for the Golem Beatdown decks as it helped it to create very big and strong pushes by stacking everything behind the Double King Tower. Even if the enemy tried to directly kill units there itself, he/she would end up activating the King Towers.
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Giant Tombstone Bug
This Clash Royale glitch came out as an April Fool’s prank back in 2016 and was only given to some Youtubers.
What happened in this was that the 3-elixir Tombstone turned into a Giant Tombstone and it spawned the same number of Giant Skeletons as it would have spawned skeletons normally! Just for the cost of 3 elixir one would get so many 6-elixir Giant Skeletons. The arena was filled with explosions. Boom!
That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed reading about the top Clash royale glitches in the game. Stay tuned for more!
Test any deck from this guide in the Clash Royale Deck Builder: it shows elixir cost, cycle speed and patch risk before you spend a single card level.
Sources
Researched from the following (no links, listed for transparency):
- CryptoAIMeta card guides for these cards, built from RoyaleTracker October 2026 samples and SeeMeta 2026 balance changes
- SeeMeta, Clash Royale balance changes 2026 (page updated October 2026), read through search summaries
- Supercell official Clash Royale API, card list (elixir cost, rarity, unlock arena)
- The original clash.world page (2016 to 2022), kept in full below