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Meta Predictions – Clash Royale April Balance Update (24/4)

April 22, 2018

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Hello guys,

As always, Supercell is releasing the new Balance Change update on April 24th in order to make the game fine tuned and to keep the fun throughout the updates.

This time, Supercell is taking a serious look at Dark Prince, Spear Goblins, Barbarian Barrel and more! Let’s take a look!

Clash Royale April Balance Update

Dark Prince

Shield HP -25%

Spear Goblins:

Hit Speed 1.1sec → 1.2sec (This change affects Spear Goblins, Goblin Gang, Goblin Hut)

Barbarian Barrel

Range 6.5 → 7

Knight

Hitpoints +3%

Dart Goblin

Damage +3%

Ice Spirit

Area Damage -4%; Freeze Duration 1.5sec → 1sec

Skeleton Barrel

Skeleton count 6 → 7

Lightning

Radius 3 → 3.5

Tornado

Duration 2.5sec → 2 sec; Damage per second +21% (this affects Total Damage -3%)

Magic Archer

Hits moving targets better.

Some other changes

Spells: Can now be played on the river
Fixed: In rare cases, Cannon Cart was not being targeted after losing its shield
Fixed: Witch would sometimes switch targets (while being locked to a tower), if spawning skeletons pushed her target out of range
Fixed: In rare cases, Sparky’s hit would reset if she’s knocked out of range while charging
Fixed: Hunter can now hit targets on top of him

Meta Predictions

Decline of Tornado:

With Tornado’s duration being reduced by 0.5 sec, it will be harder to pull troops in order to activate the King Tower as you need to time it more precisely.

This will obviously increase its skill cap which will in turn promote people to shift to buildings.

With decreased duration many predict that it won’t be possible to heavy troops like Giant and Golem to the King Tower.

However, if this is indeed true, our old pal Ice spirit will help us by freezing it and enabling a quicker pull.

Viability of Ice Spirit:

Many say that Supercell went overboard with this change.

Well that may be true, there isn’t anything we can do about it. So let’s just see how it actually affects this guy.

Ice Spirit’s stun being reduced by 0.5 seconds reduces his utility and we will definitely see a decline in his usage, similar to when Zap’s stun was reduced by 0.5 secs.

However, I feel this was a much needed change as IS was created to be cycling card and there isn’t a valid reason why he should offer so much value. The damage nerf wasn’t really needed.

Overall, IS will still offer utility not enough like before but still be popular as a cycle card in many cheap decks.

Hit to the Princes:

Personally, I feel Dark Prince’s nerf wasn’t that much and it would still be a popular card but not as much as now where it fits in almost any deck.

However, major hit would be to Prince as Prince itself isn’t really strong but Dark Prince is the one that actually made it work.

With DP’s nerf, the combo would viable as much as before, but DP itself would work in many decks like for e.g. Bridge Spam.

Bait Still Meta:

Even though two cards of Classic Log Bait w/Tornado were nerfed and Spear Goblins being nerfed as well bait decks which depend on these cards definitely took a hit. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t see bait.

With Skel Barrel and Dart Gob buff, a new variety of bait decks may arrive (and Spear Gob nerf isn’t that bad, Spear Gob will still be better than they before their buff that made them popular).

Not to forget the fact that Minions, Minion Horde, Bats, Skarmy, Gob barrel and Princess are still strong options for baiting out spells.

Rise of Beatdown:

With the much need buff to Lightning finally arriving, Beatdown decks are gonna be popular once again.

And by beatdown I mean classic heavy Golem Lightning beatdown

With Tornado’s nerf and buildings not able to withstand Lightning, counter Golem will be much harder and with right support, this guy will be ruling the game.

This will also affect the viability of Siege decks which usually lose to beatdown and lightning being popular again.

Also, a major threat to Ladder players, RG lightning is gonna be popular again so get ready with better counters like Mini PEKKA and Inferno dragon for example.

Another Important fact is that PEKKA decks are gonna be popular as she can counter all tanks safely being resistant to lightning.

Lava Hound Cancer Once Again?:

Even though Hound is part of beatdown, he deserves a section of his own.

Lightning buff makes the Classic LavaLoon stronger while other LavaMiner bait decks with Skel barrel are also a good choice if you don’t like Balloon or just wanna be different.

Many other combos like LavaLoonMiner or LavaDoubleDragon will also be seen as in this game, even if a card gains popularity due to another card being buffed, decks which don’t contain this buffed card but containing the first card will be popular.

Overall, Lava Hound is gonna be and A tier card for both Ladder and Challenges.

Popularity of Miner:

With Tornado nerf, Miner deck will be stronger as Tornado is the worst nightmare of any Miner player as Miner dies rather quickly with King Tower being active.

Also, as I said PEKKA is gonna be a good choice and we all know about the strong PEKKA Miner combo.

He is also good choice in the new variety of bait decks because of his synergy with Skel barrel and other bait cards.

3M Ram Domination:

Lightning buff a threat to 3M?? Nah, don’t forget that 3M has been the meta since a long time, even when Golem Lightning was also the meta.

With DP nerf and Lightning buff, the strongest choice for a rusher in 3M decks would be Battle Ram.

It nullifies lightning as the ram and the barbarians act as Lightning rods, protecting your 3M for a Positive Elixir Trade #OJ.

Less Amount of Siege:

As discussed above, with rise of Beatdown and Lightning, Siege decks are going to have a hard time.

Major threat would be to X-bow but Mortar would still be viable and may be even strong on Ladder due to over levelling and the Bait meta.

Remember the Miner Mortar Skel Barrel bait deck?? Don’t forget Hog Mortar Bait for the same reason.

Hog Back Into The Meta:

With Tornado nerf, one of Hog’s major counter is gonna be less popular.

Buildings were never much a threat to Hog anyway and Lightning buff will make this sure that Hog can safely reach towers.

As said above, Hog Mortar will still be used and may be since, Classic Log Bait is steadily being nerfed and losing popularity, Hog Bait decks that were popular during the days of the First Clash.World Tournament.

The Best Decks for the new meta?

Here, I will be listing the decks which I think are gonna be popular.

Note: Again, this speculation. Other popular decks are definitely gonna arrive and I will be only including decks which already existed in past metas.

3M Miner Ram Swarm