# Clash Royale

Clash Royale is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Supercell. The game combines elements from collectible card games, tower defense, and multiplayer online battle arena. The game was released globally on March 2, 2016. Clash Royale reached $1 billion in revenue in less than a year on the market. In three years, Clash Royale made $2.5 billion in revenue according to market intelligence company Sensor Tower. It is the first spinoff of Clash of Clans.

## Gameplay
### Premise

Clash Royale is a tower rush video game which puts players in games featuring two or four players (1v1 or 2v2) in which the objective is to destroy more towers than their opponent(s), with each destroyed tower being represented as a "crown". Destruction of the opponent's "King's Tower" results in an instantaneous "three-crown" victory. Matches last three minutes, and if both of the players/teams have an equal number of crowns (or none at all) at that point, the match continues into a two-minute overtime period. Here, the player who destroys an opposing tower wins instantaneously. If no towers are destroyed during overtime, there is a tiebreaker, where the tower/s with the lowest amount of health points are destroyed. If both players have a tower with the same least amount of health points, a draw is declared. In rare instances, if the King's Tower is destroyed at the same time by both players, this will also result in a draw.
In Clash Royale, players were ranked by their number of trophies which are won or lost through multiplayer battles until a new system (Path of Legends) was added. Players level up their accounts and King Towers by gaining Experience points through donating and upgrading cards. King Tower levels can reach level 15, and player levels can reach level 70; these factor into the competitive match-making system.
There are twenty-three playing arenas in total (excluding the Training Camp tutorial area): Goblin Stadium, Bone Pit, Barbarian Bowl, Spell Valley, Builder's Workshop, P.E.K.K.A's Playhouse, Royal Arena, Frozen Peak, Jungle Arena, Hog Mountain, Electro Valley, Spooky Town, Rascal's Hideout, Serenity Peak, Miner's Mine, Executioner's Kitchen, Royal Crypt, Silent Sanctuary, Dragon Spa, Boot Camp, Clash Fest, PANCAKES!, and Legendary Arena. Each arena corresponds to a certain trophy range.
The original Legendary Arena represented the final arena following Serenity Peak, and it consisted of "Leagues", which were added to the game in March 2017. In the League system, players played through nine different leagues above 5000 trophies ranging from Challenger I to Ultimate Champion. At the end of each season, the player was reset to half of the trophies they gained above 5000 trophies. In the October 2022 update, this reset system was done away with in favor of a longer trophy road with more arenas, as well as a separate competitive gameplay mode (called Path of Legends) that would follow a similar model as the Legendary Arena.
In June 2024, a limited time game mode was added introducing the Goblin Queen, replacing the central King Tower. As goblin-themed cards are played, the Queen's ability charges up, culminating with the release of several Goblin Babies across the opponent's side of the arena. Progression in this game mode follows a similar trophy climb as the primary game mode. It has since been removed.
In November 2024, another limited time ranked 2v2 game mode was added, allowing players to team up and play competitively against other teams. Players needed to win 30 games to be placed into the competitive ranking, where they would start with a medal count decided by their trophy road trophies. It was removed, but Supercell hinted at a potential return based on its successful performance. In February 2025, Supercell re-added the 2v2 game mode for a limited amount of time.

### Cards

Playable troops, buildings, and spells are represented as cards. Many cards are directly based on troops and buildings from Supercell's previous game Clash of Clans, such as Giants and Cannons, which the game uses a similar art style. Prior to each battle, players construct a deck of eight cards which they use to attack and defend against their opponent's cards. At the start of each battle, both players begin with four randomly chosen cards from their deck of eight. Each card costs a certain elixir cost. In standard gameplay, players start the battle with five elixir points, and one elixir point is replenished every 2.8 seconds to a maximum of ten elixir. Once a card is played, a new card is automatically drawn. Elixir generation rate is doubled in the last 60 seconds of regular play and is tripled during the last 60 seconds of overtime.
Clash Royale first launched with 42 cards, consisting of 14 cards for each of three levels of rarity: Common, Rare, and Epic. The February 2016 update added two new cards under a new rarity level: Legendary. In October 2021, a new Champion card rarity was added to the game, with three new cards being added. These cards differentiate from other cards as a player is limited to one Champion in a deck and each Champion has a special ability that can be activated by spending additional elixir (for example, the Golden Knight's Dash ability costs 1 additional elixir). Subsequent updates have added cards to all the aforementioned rarity levels. As of February 2025, there are a total of 118 cards in the game.
All cards have a maximum level of 15 with cards with Common rarity starting at level 1, Rare cards starting at level 3, Epic cards starting at level 6, Legendary cards starting at level 9, and Champion cards starting at level 11. All cards and crown tower levels are level 11 for all tournaments, except private tournaments, where card and crown towers are capped at a certain level.
The December 2018 update added Star Points to unlock special golden cosmetics for level 14 cards. In the October 2021 update, this was changed to be available from Level 7. Players also receive Star Points when gaining experience, which can be used to give their cards an updated visual appearance, usually gold in color. There are up to three Star Levels for most cards, which are unlocked when the card is levelled up to level 7 (for Star Level 1), level 10 (for Star Level 2) and level 13 (for Star Level 3).
In the March 2022 update, Card Masteries were launched, which provided rewards for reaching specific milestones with cards in competitive matches. Statistics range from damage done, to troops destroyed, to towers tapped. Badges display a player's progress. Other badges could be gained for other milestones such as number of wins in different game modes.
In the June 2023 update, Card Evolutions and Elite Levels were launched. Card Evolutions added a new cyclical ability: once a card is played a certain number of times, the next time the card is played deploys an "evolved" version of itself, consisting of more powerful properties or mechanisms, and the cycle resets. In addition, Elite Levels added level 15 and Elite Wild Cards to the game. This upgrade is not tied to gold; instead, 50,000 Elite Wild Cards are required to upgrade a single card from level 14 to 15. Elite Wild Cards are accumulated by collecting excess copies of level 14 cards.
In the December 2023 update, Tower Troops were announced. These allow for differences in strategy regarding the two smaller towers defending the primary King Tower. Previously, these were guarded by a princess archer archetype; this was converted to the Tower Princess, the first Tower Troop. New Tower Troops were periodically released starting with the January 2024 season. Currently, four unique Tower Troops are available, with another (Baby Goblins) existing only alongside the retired Goblin Queen mode.

### Clans

Players can join or form clans with other players. Joining or forming a clan enables the player to engage in friendly battles and clan wars. It also unlocks the feature of requesting and donating cards when a player is experience level 3. Clan trading with the use of trade tokens unlocks when a player reaches level 8. There are four different types of trade tokens: Common, Rare, Epic and Legendary, corresponding to those card levels. Trade tokens can be obtained by gaining trophies, through challenges, and from the in-game shop. Each can be used to trade a certain amount of cards with other players, depending on the rarity of the trade token.

#### Clan Wars I

On April 25, 2018, Clan Wars were added. Initially, a given war would be separated into two days: "Collection Day" and "War Day." Collection Day saw players battling in a variety of game modes which would rotate every month. Winning awarded cards to add to the Clan collection. If a minimum of ten players played one battle each, the Clan could progress to War Day, where a Clan was matched with four other Clans with a similar number of participants and Clan Trophies. Each participant would build a battle deck using only the cards unlocked on Collection Day. After the battles, each clan was ranked from 1st to 5th based on the number of Crowns awarded by wins. At the end of the War Day, all participating players received a War Bounty containing Gold or other items. Based on their war rank, Clans would then gain or lose a certain number of Trophies. Clans would progress through Clan Leagues by gaining Clan Trophies, with higher leagues granting better rewards. Clan Seasons lasted two weeks, and at the end of each season, a chest is awarded to every participating player based on the highest war rank and league the Clan had reached during the season.

#### Clan Wars II

On August 31, 2020, Clan Wars II was added as a reworked version of its predecessor. Each week consists of three "Training Days", lasting from Monday to Wednesday, and four "Battle Days", lasting from Thursday to Sunday. During Training Days, participants can add troops to their respective Clan Boat, which mark the progress in the week's war and add movement bonuses based on surviving troops. Boat battles are fought with 32 total cards from the player's collection being used to make four unique war-decks with no overlapping cards. War decks can be play-tested during these Training Days, though enemy Boats cannot be attacked until Battle Days. On Battle Days, players have the option of several battle variations, with medals awarded based on wins and participation. Like the original Clan Wars, Clan Trophies are still awarded for the clan's placement in the War, determined by which Clan Boat makes it the farthest in the River Race. After the week ends, the cycle will reset to Training Days. Every fifth week, the clan's boat stops at the Colosseum as the final round of battles before a new cycle begins against a new set of rival Clans.

## Release

The game was soft-launched in Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, and New Zealand for iOS platforms on January 4, 2016. The game was soft-launched on Android for those same countries on February 16, 2016, in the form of an Android application package. Both platforms received a global release on March 2, 2016. In correspondence with Google Play Games' PC beta launch, the game would soft-launch for PC on Canada, Chile and Singapore on October 10, 2023.
Upon its release, Clash Royale became the most downloaded and top-grossing app on the U.S. iOS App Store.

## Reception

Aggregate score :
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | 86/100 |
Review score :
| Publication | Score |
| TouchArcade | |
At the time of its release, Clash Royale mainly received positive reviews, with TouchArcade's Eli Hodapp calling it "absolutely phenomenal" in his five-star review. Pocket Gamer's Harry Slater gave the game a score of 9/10, summing up "It's an incredible amount of rewarding fun, it's nail-biting at times, and there's content here that will keep you busy for weeks if not months." Writing for Geek.com, James Plafke criticized "Clash Royale for being genuinely fun—more so than Clash of Clans—while the developer chronically interrupts the player from enjoying it." Clash Royale has received a positive response from its players, with an average score of 4.2 out of 5 on the Google Play Store and an average score of 4.6 out of 5 on the Apple App Store.

## Championships
### Clash Royale League

The Clash Royale League was the official team esports world championship on a league format, developed by Supercell. It consisted of 5 leagues: North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and China. Season 1 started on August 20, 2018. After fifteen games per team during the regular season, playoffs were held in each region, after which the World Finals were held in Tokyo, Japan. The finalists in 2018 consisted of Nova Esports (China), KingZone Dragon-X (Asia), Vivo Keyd (Latin America), Team Queso (Europe), Immortals (North America), and Ponos Sports from Japan. Ponos achieved second in Asia and qualified for the World Finals due to Japan's host status. A seeding tournament ranked the teams. The top two teams from the seeding tournament received a bye and automatically qualified for the semifinals. The 2018 World Champions were Nova Esports.
The second edition saw Team Liquid defeat SK Gaming by 1 HP in the semifinals, widely regarded as the best Clash Royale match. Team Liquid then went on to defeat W.EDGM to claim the world title.
In 2020, the pandemic forced all but two Chinese teams to play from home.
After the 2020 season, the format was changed from team competition to individual competition. The 2021 World Finals was held online.
The 2022-2024 World Finals were held in conjunction with the Clash of Clans World Championship in Helsinki, Finland, the location of Supercell headquarters. In 2024, Supercell held Superfest, an event encompassing the beforementioned tournaments with the addition of the Brawl Stars World Finals.
| Edition | Date | Venue | Champions | Runners-up | Prize pool money | Ref |
| 1 | December 1, 2018 | Makuhari Messe Hall 6, Tokyo, Japan | Nova Esports | Vivo Keyd | $1,000,000 | [38] [39][40] |
| 2 | December 7, 2019 | The Shrine Expo Hall, Los Angeles, California | Team Liquid | W.EDGM | $400,000 | |
| 3 | December 5-6, 2020 | Baoshan Sports Center, Shanghai, China | Team Queso | SK Gaming | $380,000 | |
| 4 | December 3-5, 2021 | Online | Mugi | Mohammed Light | $1,020,000 | |
| 5 | September 23-25, 2022 | Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Center, Helsinki, Finland | Mohammed Light | Morten | $900,000 | |
| 6 | November 24-26, 2023 | Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Center, Helsinki, Finland | Mugi | Pedro | $900,000 | |
| 7 | November 11-13, 2024 | Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Center, Helsinki, Finland | Mohammed Light | Ryley | $500,000 | |
| 8 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | |

### Crown Royale Crown Championship

The Clash Royale Crown Championship was the official esports world championship of the game in 2017, developed by Supercell. The tournament saw the best players all over the world from North America, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and more compete. The first edition had over 28 million participants all over the world, becoming the world's largest Clash Royale event. The first world champion was Sergio Ramos who beat MusicMaster by three games to one on the Crown Championship World Finals. The 2017 Crown Championship in London, top 16 players in the world competed for a $400,000 prize pool. The Clash Royale Crown Championship was discontinued and replaced by the Clash Royale League in 2018.
| Edition | Date | Venue | Champion | Runner-up | Prize money | Ref |
| 1 | December 3, 2017 | Copper Box Arena, London, England | Sergioramos | MusicMaster | $400,000 | [53] [57] |

### Asian Games

Clash Royale was part of an esport demonstration event during the 2018 Asian Games held in Indonesia. Eight countries are able to participate after having qualified from their respective regional qualification with Indonesia automatically qualified as host.
| Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 2018 | Indonesia Ridel Yesaya Sumarandak (Benzer Ridel) | China Huang Chenghui (Lciop) | Vietnam Huỳnh Đức Huy (Legend) |

## Awards and nominations

| Date | Awards | Category | Result |
| May 19, 2016 | Google Play Awards | Best Game | Won |
| December 1, 2016 | The Game Awards | Best Mobile/Handheld game | Nominated |
| April 6, 2017 | British Academy Games Awards | AMD eSports Audience Award | Won |
| March 15, 2016 | International Mobile Gaming Awards | Best Upcoming Game | Won |
| February 28, 2017 | International Mobile Gaming Awards | Best Multiplayer Game | Won |
| February 23, 2017 | D.I.C.E. Awards | Mobile Game of the Year | Nominated |
| March 1, 2017 | Game Developer Choice Awards | Best Mobile/Handheld Game | Nominated |
| March 16–18, 2017 | SXSW Gaming Awards | Mobile Game of the Year | Nominated |
| April 27, 2017 | Finnish Game Awards | The Small Screen Game of the Year 2016 | Won |
| April 27, 2017 | Finnish Game Awards | The Main Award – The Finnish Game of the Year 2016 | Won |
| May 17–19, 2017 | Nordic Game Awards | Nordic Game of the Year – Small Screen | Nominated |
| May 17–19, 2017 | Nordic Game Awards | Nordic Game of the Year | Nominated |
| April 12, 2018 | British Academy Games Awards | Evolving Game | Nominated |
| April 4, 2019 | British Academy Games Awards | EE Mobile Game of the Year | Nominated |
| January 21, 2020 | Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards | Best Mobile eSport | Won |