Building Around Win Conditions

When constructing your deck in Clash Royale, one of the most crucial elements is to build it around a powerful win condition. A standard win condition refers to the card or strategy that becomes the focal point of your gameplay, enabling you to deal substantial damage to your opponent's towers and secure victory. Crafting a deck that revolves around a robust win condition is vital for a successful and effective strategy. To paint the bigger picture, we are going to list all of the current win conditions in the game and how each of them can excel in a deck.

Tanky Win Conditions

These kinds of win conditions are usually affiliated with the Beatdown archetype due to most of these cards being used as a way to protect supporting cards to build up a huge push. They can easily be stopped by cards with high damage output so adding another meatshield card to the deck is too redundant.

1) Giant: A basic meatshield that has a fair cost for its HP so it is optimally used to protect a counterpush or to punish heavily without draining all your elixir. Easily overwhelmed on its own. Dominant in lighter Beatdown decks.

2) Goblin Giant: A faster version of the Giant that can attack ground and air troops. Is more capable in offenses but more fragile. Dominant in lighter Beatdown decks.

3) Royal Giant: Is able to hit enemy towers from a distance so it is usually played aggressively and is supported by defensive cards to neutralize counterpushes. Dominant in Control and Cycle decks.

4) Electro Giant: Is a heavier version of Giant that reflects and stuns enemies when attacked within a certain radius. Is able to deal significant damage against defenses when close enough which weakens counterpushes especially when accompanied with high damaging spells. Dominant in Beatdown decks.

5) Golem: Is a heavier and pricier version of Giant that can deal death damage and split into two Golemites when killed. It allows bigger and heavier pushes to be made due to its slow movement speed. Dominant in heavy Beatdown decks.

6) Lava Hound: It is a flying version of the Golem that spawns Lava Pups when eliminated. It still allows ground troops to get hit by ground-hitting cards so it synergizes more with flying troops. Dominant in heavy Beatdown decks.

7) Elixir Golem: Similar to Golem, but cheaper and deals more damage allowing it to easily punish opponents. The downside is once it is eliminated, it will give more elixir to the opponent making it a negative elixir trade so it is usually paired with Battle Healer and other supporting troops to maximize its elixir value. Dominant in lighter Beatdown decks.

Aggressive Win Conditions

These kinds of win conditions are usually affiliated with the Control or Cycle archetype due to these cards' capability to pressure and punish enemies swiftly. They are easier to stop than tanky win conditions but they can deal a ton of damage if left unanswered so it will be beneficial to play them immediately and repetitively when enemy counters are unavailable.

1) Hog Rider: A quick melee card that deals consistent damage to enemy towers when left alone. Due to its balanced stats of having fast movement speed, moderate HP, and attack, it is usually played on its own and is supported by spells that help him get to the enemy tower. Dominant in Control decks.

2) Royal Hogs: A glass cannon variant of Hog Rider, it can deal more damage to enemy towers but is more fragile to spells and splash cards. it can punish opponents on one lane or both depending on the enemy's answers to the card. Dominant in Control decks.

3) Battle Ram: More limited with its mobility than Hog Rider before it charges, but it can absorb more damage with its Ram state and the Barbarians it contains; allowing players to be more passive. With this in mind, it is the perfect card for decks that create explosive counterpushes. Dominant in Bridge Spam decks.

4) Ram Rider: A costlier version of Battle Ram, but it is able to snare opponents immobile which can hinder enemy movement temporarily. Due to its cost, it is more beneficial to play this passively along with aggressive spam cards. Dominant in Bridge Spam decks.

5) Balloon: This slow moving air card deals a ton of damage per hit. But it can easily be stopped with buildings and anti-air cards so pairing it with a tank or cycling it allows it to bypass counters more easily. Dominant in Beatdown and Control decks.

6) Miner: This versatile win condition serves various roles in multiple decks with its ability to spawn anywhere in the arena. Its purposes are as follows: deal immediate damage, eliminate glass cannons, and distract enemy troops. Dominant in multiple Cycle and Control decks.

Spellbait Win Conditions

These kinds of win conditions are usually affiliated with the Cycle or Spellbait archetype due to most of these cards being able to punish immediately while excelling aggressively with cards that bait spells. They deal a ton of damage despite their corresponding elixir costs, but they are easier to neutralize (especially with activated King Towers) compared to other win conditions. Additionally, they are not fit for defensive capabilities so they are mostly paired with defensive cards.

1) Graveyard: Considered as a spell, it can be placed anywhere in the arena as it spawns multiple skeletons to overwhelm enemy towers. Its medium elixir cost is a huge investment on its own so playing it more passively along with tanky support troops allows it to shine more on counterpushes. Dominant in Control decks.

2) Goblin Barrel: A spell that spawns goblins that deal tons of damage for its cheap elixir cost. Its ability to punish players immediately also allows it to become predictable and easy to counter. So skilled players will usually put cheap spellbait cards that allows this win condition to bypass every counter. Dominant in Spellbait (Logbait) decks.

3) Goblin Drill: A costlier version of Goblin Barrel that appears as a building but can also appear everywhere in the Arena. Despite its predictable, easy-to-counter, and slow spawn mechanic, it compensates by inflicting enormous damage when left alone and is decent when used defensively. Dominant in Control and Cycle decks.

4) Skeleton Barrel: This win condition is a cheaper, weaker, and quicker version of a Balloon that instead drops skeletons when reaching a building or destroyed. Unlike the other spellbait win conditions, it is slower and easier to stop. Its strengths lies on its versatility to distract and bait out cards. Dominant in Spellbait decks.

5) Wall Breakers: This cheap win condition, not only is fast but is able to inflict enormous damage when it connects to enemy towers. It may be easy to stop, but its ability to pressure or punish enemies swiftly allows enemies to mess up more when paired with other aggressive win conditions. Dominant in Cycle decks.

6) Suspicious Bush: This win condition is a slower and cheaper variant of Battle Ram, but it contains Bush Goblins and is indefinitely invisible during its Bush state making it untargetable by Troops while it crawls towards enemy Buildings. This requires most opponents to invest a few elixir in order to remove it from its Bush state and eliminate the Goblins popping out. Dominant in Spellbait decks.

Siege Win Conditions

These kinds of win conditions define the entire Siege archetype due to their ability to inflict damage towards the enemy tower while staying on the user's side of the arena. Compared to other win conditions, these buildings typically deal damage slowly and are easy to distract so they are played to perfection by executing a defensive playstyle that is usually accompanied by medium to big spells, low elixir cards, and defensive troops in order to slowly but surely beat the opponent.

1) Mortar: For a cheap cost, it is able to attack everything from a distance, and deal moderate splash damage per hit. It is usually able to initiate a transition from defense to offense due to its tanky HP and unique attack radius that allows it to focus on further targets. Dominant in Spellbait and Cycle decks.

2) X-Bow: Continuously firing shots once placed, this win condition is a formidable foe once its counters are out of cycle. Due to its high elixir cost, it is usually played with cheaper cards alongside cards that help protect X-Bow in order to create a solid counterpush from across the bridge. Dominant in Cycle decks.

Secondary Win Conditions

Secondary win conditions are cards that do not pose a threat when it comes to directly inflicting tower damage and are only considered thereof once they are accompanied by other win conditions. Supposedly, every card can become a win condition once the player struggles to use the main win condition as it is unable to consistently deal tower damage. But in this list, there are notable secondary win conditions that define entire sub-archetypes of decks which are usually paired with other primary win conditions.

1) Three Musketeers: The most expensive card to date, this high DPS support is capable of neutralizing troops in an instant while simultaneously building up a push to decimate the enemy's defenses when paired with the right cards. Usually this card shines when paired with cards that bait its counters like Bridge Spam cards that bait swarms and tanks, or supporting cards that bait out spells. Dominant in Bridge Spam and Beatdown decks.

2) Sparky: This ranged machine has the capability to decimate groups of ground troops due to its high damage output that also splashes. Despite its high baseline of stats, it is really easy to distract for its elixir cost and is always played with tanky win conditions or supports in order to protect it while it charges its attack. Dominant in Beatdown.

3) PEKKA: A slow moving tank that has a high elixir cost but decimates troops in defense. However, its weaknesses to swarms and any other cards that hinder its movement makes it really vulnerable in offense. It is usually paired with cards that bait out its counters like Bridge Spam cards and other medium cost cards that eliminate counters immediately. Dominant in Bridge Spam.

4) Mega Knight: Costs the same as a PEKKA but lacks the damage output. It is more capable of eliminating clumped up troops like swarms by jumping towards them. This allows the card to be more aggressive especially when paired with spam or bait cards. Dominant in Bridge Spam or Spellbait.

Abdod's video was able to explain clearly the basic concept of each Win Condition and how they are usually played.

When talking about which Win Condition is the best. Each win condition has its own strengths and weaknesses, but the way they dominate will be solely based on the decks that counter them and whether they are currently strong and prevalent. Boss at the time ranked all the primary win conditions based on its effectiveness on the meta during the video's release (2023):

Legendaray's video has also managed to cover additional details on how each win condition (2021) can synergize with various decks, archetypes, and playstyles.

Always remember to build your deck around a Win Condition or cards that guarantee tower damage. It is also important that the Win Condition cards synergize very well with the supporting cards it is placed with.