Understanding Card Roles

In the intricate dance of Clash Royale battles, every card has a distinct role to play. Understanding these roles and how they interact with each other is essential for crafting effective strategies and gaining the upper hand on the battlefield. Each type of deck may define these roles in different ways, but the balance of each role can be observed when playing a cohesive deck.

Card Roles In a Deck

Each competitive deck is comprised of eight cards that all have a role to play when it comes to attacking and defending. When building your deck, it can be observed what role the card can hold based on what they dominate and struggle against.

Win Conditions

Win condition cards are the focal points of your deck. They are the cards you mainly rely on to deal damage to your opponent's towers since they are capable of directly attacking the enemy tower in order to secure victory. Your deck's synergy should revolve around supporting and protecting your chosen win condition. A normal deck usually has one to two win conditions; if none which will lack offensive capabilities, too much being problematic for defending.

Ex.

Goblin Barrel

Hog Rider

Electro Giant

X-Bow

Secondary Win Conditions

Secondary win conditions are cards that do not directly target the enemy tower, but are threatening enough to be considered as a win condition. Additionally, high damage utility spells (different from win condition spells) can also be considered as secondary win conditions since these cards can become a threat when ending a match. A normal deck can also have one to two secondary win conditions which serves as a substitute for the main win conditions when struggling to deal tower damage.

Ex.

Mega Knight

Lightning

Sparky

Fireball

Tank/Meatshield

Tank or Meatshield cards have a lot of HP considering their elixir costs which are contained in the deck to play a role where they either absorb enemy damage or distract troops in order for other supporting troops behind them to stay safe in battle. They either appear as a high health single unit, a moderate health squad of troops, or a swarm of low health units, in the end they are still capable of delaying the opponent?s attacks by absorbing them.

Ex.

Giant

Barbarians

Knight

Skeleton Army

Ranged

Ranged cards have low to average HP that deal consistent damage towards the enemy while staying in the back ranks. This card role contains cards that bring distinguishable benefits to the user. Some ranged cards only target enemies one at a time, while some deal AoE damage from a safe distance. It is important to have a ranged unit in your deck even if they are more fragile compared to melee cards. Not covering distance in the arena prohibits you from controlling the pace of the match against other players? cards.

Ex.

Musketeer

Archers

Magic Archer

Wizard

DPS/Tank Killer

DPS (damage per second) or Tank Killer cards inflict high damage against units when left unanswered. These cards play the role of demolishing units or mainly countering Tank cards through various means. Some Tank Killers only attack within close or melee ranges, some are ranged and fragile, some are swarms that can be countered easily, while others are cards that deal inferno damage that ramp up continuously as time passes. It is important to choose what kind of DPS card can synergize well with your deck, since leaving this card behind allows you to be susceptible by Tank cards.

Ex.

Musketeer

Inferno Tower

Skeleton Army

PEKKA

Splash/Swarm Killer

Splash or Swarm Killer cards usually deal low to moderate damage but are capable of dealing with numerous units such as swarms. Compared to DPS cards, Splash cards are capable of attacking multiple troops at once within a limited radius, or are able to deal consecutive attacks against multiple targets. They are often placed in the deck for support or for defense due to their lower damage output, but are able to build up massive elixir advantages each time they eliminate swarm cards.

Ex.

Executioner

Baby Dragon

Bomb Tower

Arrows

Anti-Air

Anti-Air cards are capable of dealing with flying cards unlike those who only target ground cards. Most of the cards that belong here can be affiliated with Ranged cards since most cards that deal damage from afar are also the ones who are capable of attacking on air. Flying cards that target troops also belong in this category and are mainly used as support for troops that struggle against flying troops. Although there are only a few flying cards that exist in the game, it is important to deal with them as soon as possible before they deal massive damage to your cards and towers.

Ex.

Baby Dragon

Inferno Tower

Musketeer

Minion Horde

Spellbait

Bait or Spellbait cards are any type of card that can be easily eliminated by troops or spell damage but are capable of dealing massive damage when ignored. These kinds of cards are an integral part of spellbait decks and fill half of the card slots in order to increase the bait element of the deck. Spellbait cards are usually split into more diverse categories depending on their HP which should supposedly match the elixir and damage of the spell that counters it. The major role of these kinds of cards is to bait out the spells and counters the opponent has in order to increase the threat your win condition has to offer.

Ex.

Goblins

Princess

Elixir Collector

Barbarians

Spell

Spell cards are your cards that can be placed anywhere in the arena which can serve numerous purposes such as supporting your troops, as crowd control against enemy units, and as a secondary win condition to assist in dealing tower damage. Some spells can also be considered as main win conditions especially those that are capable of summoning units directly around the tower. It is important to save Spells in your card slot since it can be a game changer for those who are at a disadvantage. It is still possible to not mainly rely on Spell cards, however not bringing one leaves you vulnerable against ranged troops and clumped up pushes, but bringing too many allows you to be overwhelmed by tanks and melee cards.

Ex.

Log

Fireball

Miner

Clone

Defender

Defender cards are the ones that efficiently deal with attacking win conditions everytime they are deployed by the enemy. These kinds of cards can either eliminate pushes quickly such as DPS cards, can absorb damage from aggressive attacks such as Tank cards, or are capable of pulling ordinary units and win conditions alike which are the Cycle and Building cards. While it is important to have a few Defenders contained in your deck, having too many defensive options leaves you incapable of creating a threatening and meaningful attack.

Ex.

Bomb Tower

Inferno Tower

Skeletons

Knight

To clarify, we can use the displayed Mortar Bait deck as an example and completely categorize each card depending on their respective roles for the deck.

Win Condition - Mortar (Evolved), Skeleton Barrel

Secondary Win Condition - Fireball, Firecracker

Tank/Meatshield - Knight, Skeleton Barrel

Ranged - Firecracker, Spear Goblins, Goblin Gang

DPS/Tank Killer - Firecracker, Knight, Goblin Gang

Splash/Swarm Killer - Firecracker, Fireball, Barbarian Barrel

Anti-Air - Firecracker, Spear Goblins, Goblin Gang, Mortar (Evolved)

Spellbait - Firecracker, Spear Goblins, Goblin Gang. Skeleton Barrel, Mortar (Evolved)

Spell - Fireball, Barbarian Barrel

Defender - Knight, Mortar (Evolved)

As observed, the cards are indeed versatile and can be used to respond against a variety of situations due to their interchangeable roles.

Kashman's video also mentioned how the roles of Win Condition, Ground-Targetting Card, Air-Targetting Card, and Spell are important in every match.

Every card has a role to play, and success hinges on understanding these roles in order to bring out their potential in benefitting you as a player. It is important to learn how cards play a role in Clash Royale when interacting against or alongside other cards. Each role can shine as long as the card is strategically placed at the right time.