Royal Ghost

Main article File:RoyalGhostCard.png

The Royal Ghost is a Legendary card from Clash Royale that is unlocked from the Spooky Town (Arena 12) or from a Legendary Chest. He is a fast, area damage, melee troop with moderate hitpoints and moderately high damage. When he is deployed, he will spawn invisible, and will only turn visible once he attacks. If he is in his invisible state, he will not be targeted by opposing units, but can still be hit by area damage or spells. He also hovers as he moves, meaning he can cross the river like an air troop would, but is still targetable by ground-only attacks. The Royal Ghost wears a robe and sandals that are the same colour as his eyes, depending on the team he is in. A Royal Ghost card costs 3 Elixir to deploy.

## Strategy

* The Royal Ghost will always attack first thanks to his invisibility mechanic. However, spells and area damage attacks can still affect the Royal Ghost. An Electro Dragon or Electro Spirit's attack can also chain onto him.
* Due to his invisibility, the Royal Ghost is ineffective at tanking since the Tower will attack the troop behind him. This can be an advantage, though, since he will be more effective to do surprise attacks, and you can deploy other cards after he's visible.
* The Royal Ghost is a powerful offensive troop since his speed allows him to reach targets quickly without taking unnecessary damage. The ability to pick off ranged support troops like this is incredibly disruptive, sometimes forcing the opposing player to use a card that they might not have wanted to.
* The Royal Ghost is an effective way of taking out ranged support troops placed close to the river thanks to his aforementioned invisibility and his hover ability. His damage is enough to one-shot units like the Princess and Dart Goblin, two-shot units like the Archers and Firecracker, and three-shot units like the Musketeer or Wizard. This can be a powerful alternative to using a spell like Fireball, allowing the player to instead save it for another opposing troop or for their next offense as he's cheaper.
* The Royal Ghost's area damage is large enough to effectively take out small swarms like the Goblin Gang, but he will rarely be able to hit other troops if the unit he is attacking is large, like a Giant. Despite this, the defending player should take note of this and not play their counter unit too close to their Princess Tower to avoid unnecessary damage. In addition, his slow attack speed will make him very weak against cards like the Skeleton Army and will need the help of a Crown Tower to take it out.
* When the enemy deploys a Goblin Drill beside your Princess Tower, you can deploy Royal Ghost because he has area damage and can wipe out the Goblins.
* He is great at disarming enemy Spirit cards, as his stealth ensures he gets the first attack in and one shot them. This is especially useful against the Heal Spirit, as it will not heal any nearby troops this way.
* The Royal Ghost is a situational defensive troop. He is difficult to play reactively due to his invisibility making tanking for troops on reaction harder. The Royal Ghost also cannot kite troops since he spawns invisible, and whenever he's not attacking, he enters stealth again, meaning enemy troops will stop chasing him.
* The Royal Ghost will ignore an opposing Royal Ghost, a hidden Tesla, or an invisible Archer Queen and bypass them. Therefore, the player may want to deploy a cheap troop to force the opposing unit to make themselves visible, so that their own unit can get the first strike.
* If the player would like to deploy the Royal Ghost to wait for Elixir to accumulate, he should be placed at the back corner of the Arena rather than behind the King's Tower. This makes it more difficult for the opponent to kite the Royal Ghost to the center and for the opponent to activate their King's Tower by using a Tornado spell.
* The Royal Ghost has an unimpressive damage per second ratio. Because of this, units with high hitpoints like the Knight or Prince can effectively stop him on defense without taking too much damage. Make sure that they are placed close to the Tower, but not close enough that the Tower takes area damage.
* Because the Royal Ghost can move across the river, he can be used to snipe a defensive building such as a Bomb Tower. This can be helpful to be used in conjunction with a tank that would be lured by the building such as a Giant.
* You may predict the opponent's Princess at the bridge with the Royal Ghost, leading to no shots from the Princess since the Royal Ghost will kill her in just one hit.

## History

2017

* The Royal Ghost was once available in the Royal Ghost Mirror Challenge which started on 22/12/2017. In this challenge, gameplay was similar to a regular Mirror Challenge, except that the players has the Royal Ghost in their decks. If the player achieved 12 wins, they obtained the Royal Ghost early.

2018

* The Royal Ghost card was generally released on 4/1/2018.
* On 24/1/2018, a Balance Update, decreased the Royal Ghost's damage by 6%, increased his attack time interval to 1.8 seconds (from 1.7 seconds), increased his first attack time interval to 0.6 seconds (from 0.5 seconds), and increased the time required for turning invisible to 1.2 seconds (from 0.7 seconds). There was also an unannounced change to the Royal Ghost, an increase to its sight range to 5.5 tiles (from 5 tiles).
* On 25/4/2018, the Clan Wars Update, added the Royal Ghost to Touchdown Draft.
* On 4/6/2018, a Balance Update, increased the time required for turning invisible to 1.6 seconds (from 1.2 seconds).
* On 20/6/2018, the Summer 2018 Update, moved the Arena to unlock the Royal Ghost from Hog Mountain to Royal Arena.
* On 5/9/2018, the September 2018 Update, changed it so that Template:Rarity cards start at Level 9 and end at Level 13 (from 1 to 5).
* On 5/11/2018, a Balance Update, decreased the Royal Ghost's hitpoints by 9%.

2019

* On 28/1/2019, the January 2019 Update, moved the Arena to unlock the Royal Ghost from Royal Arena to Spooky Town.
* On 2/9/2019, a Balance Update, increased the Royal Ghost's area radius to 1 tile (from 0.8 tiles).
* On 26/11/2019, the End of November 2019 Update, added a card render to the Royal Ghost's card info screen.

2020

* On 6/10/2020, a Balance Update, allowed the Royal Ghost to hover, meaning it can cross the river and will collide with air troops instead of ground troops.
* On 3/11/2020, a Balance Update, changed the Royal Ghost's card render.
* On 18/11/2020, the Clan Wars Improvement Update, changed the hover mechanic. The Royal Ghost would no longer pass through buildings, push back air troops, or bounce off the river when knocked back.

2021

* On 27/10/2021, the Champions Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 14 (from 13).

2022

* On 8/4/2022, a maintenance break, fixed an issue where an invisible Royal Ghost was not receiving splash damage.
* On 7/6/2022, a Balance Update, increased the time required for turning invisible to 1.8 seconds (from 1.6 seconds).

## Trivia

* The Royal Ghost may be inspired by the ghost of Hamlet's father from the theatrical play *"Hamlet"* by William Shakespeare.
* The Royal Ghost is 1 of 19 troops that originated from Clash Royale and reappear in Clash Mini, the others being Knight, Spear Goblins, Mini P.E.K.K.A., Musketeer, Battle Healer, Dart Goblin, Guards, Prince, Giant Skeleton, Mega Knight, Electro Wizard, Miner, Ice Wizard, Magic Archer, Bandit, Lumberjack, Fisherman, and the Skeleton King.
* The Royal Ghost is 1 of 15 troops that inspired a troop in Clash of Clans, the others being Bomber, Bats, Skeleton Barrel, Minion Horde, Battle Ram, Ice Golem, Zappies, Baby Dragon, Giant Skeleton, Ram Rider, Inferno Dragon, Miner, Ice Wizard, and Night Witch.
	+ Unlike his counterpart in Clash of Clans, the Royal Ghost in Clash Royale is always invisible until he breaks stealth and can enter it again after some inactivity, deals medium amounts of area damage with moderate health, but never slows its targets.
* The Royal Ghost is 1 of 2 troops that can turn invisible and not distract other enemies, the other being the Archer Queen.
* The Royal Ghost is 1 of 22 troops that has been featured in the Troop Rush game mode, the others being Skeletons, Skeleton Dragons, Fire Spirit, Bats, Elite Barbarians, Firecracker, Rascal Girls, Royal Hogs, Heal Spirit, Elixir Golem, Guards, Prince, Balloon, Golem, Wall Breakers, Ram Rider, Sparky, Phoenix, Bandit, Lumberjack, and the Monk.
* The Royal Ghost is the subject of 3 Emotes.
* A cloned Royal Ghost does not fall from the sky when deployed.
* In the 5/11/2018 Balance changes reveal video, the text on screen incorrectly states the Royal Ghost's 9% hitpoints decrease as a 6% hitpoints decrease.