Balance Update Live! (10/9) and My Thoughts On It

The way we approach card balance in Clash Royale is a combination of playtesting, listening to the community and looking at the stats. You can expect regular balance updates to keep gameplay fine tuned and as fun as possible.

In this balance update we’re taking a look at Sparky(!!!), Tesla, Electro Wizard and more!

Sparky: Hit speed to 4sec (from 5sec), damage -15%
– Sparky will no longer one-shot another Sparky.

My Thoughts and The Impact on the Current Meta

To me this is basically a quality of life change and makes the game a little less RNG.  Having sparkies not one shot each other will allow for each of them to get at least a shot off uninterrupted.  No longer will one sparky target the other a little bit slower for no reason what so ever and lose out on a ton of damage.  Because this is more of a utility ish change instead of a direct buff or nerf I think the Sparky will still be hidden from the meta.  Only a few select people will use the sparky as it is still expensive if you are not running an elixir collector in your deck.
Tesla: Damage +41%, hit speed to 1sec (from 0.8sec)
– Tesla will one-shot Minions and Goblins.

My Thoughts and The Impact on the Current Meta

This buff is extremely useful for those running the tesla.  The tesla being able to one shot goblins and minions means that it will quickly clean up those swarm or zerg type troops.  Your enemy’s army shouldn’t be able to just rush down the bridge and overwhelm your defenses with pure numbers anymore.  That being said, the hit speed was decreased to 1 send instead of 0.8 seconds.  This means that although attacking slower, it will do more damage per hit.  This change is still definitely a buff than a nerf though.  Because the tesla is a defensive card with no offensive options, I think that this card will still be hidden from top play.  It will be seen more in lower elos however.

Electro Wizard: Damage -4%, first attack comes 0.2sec slower
– No major interaction changes.

My Thoughts and The Impact on the Current Meta

This is a straight nerf.  This nerf lowers the damage the ice wizard does but that can be overlooked.  People use the ice wizard for its utility attack speed slow and movement speed slow, not for its damage.  The damage will be neglible but the first attack speed will hurt on both the offensive and defensive capabilities because of of the ice wizard’s slow response in changing targets.  This nerf was bound to happen as the ice wizard can stop many strong pushed wand gain a huge elixir advantage.  The ice wizard, although rarely used because it is a legendary, will seldom be seen on the battle field.  In additon, other slowing troops have been introduced like the Ice Spirit and the Ice Golem.

Graveyard: Duration to 10sec (from 9sec), radius to 4 (from 5), first Skeleton spawns 0.5sec slower, Skeletons spawn less randomly
– No major interaction changes.

My Thoughts and The Impact on the Current Meta

This again is a straight nerf.  The duration is slightly affected but now skeletons spawn a whole half second slower.  This nerf is huge for the players who like to do the hut spamming strategy as a big portion of cheap troops is now gone.  However, people who use the grave yard in a reactionary defensive manor will hardly notice a difference.  They can redirect hog riders still.  Overall I think this nerf is good as I’m not a hut spammer and those decks annoy me a ton.  The less strategic hut spammers may have to adopt a new strategy because of this nerf but I think the majority of them will be able to adapt and overcome this obstacle.

Cannon Cart: Hitpoints +5%, shield hitpoints +5%
– Cannon Cart’s shield will survive a Mega Knight jump and hit.

My Thoughts and The Impact on the Current Meta

This will make the cannon cart more viable for the players that decide to use this card.  This buff to the cannon cart is major when you are vs an enemyp player that does have a Mega Knight in their deck but otherwise this buff will probably go hugely unnoticed.  Because of its bugg really only affecting one troop, this card should stay at its current position in the meta.
Lightning: Damage -3%, radius to 3 (from 3.5)
– No major interaction changes.

My Thoughts and The Impact on the Current Meta

Unlike the grave yard nerf, this nerf will help the hut spammers.  They are now able to place their buildings closer to each other on one side of the map and be less threatened by a lightning spell taking out all of their buildings.  However, the lightning spell is pretty expensive and is thus not used very often.  In my opinion, the lightning spell will not be revelant in any deck except ones that rely on defensive buildings and using spell damage to destroy their opponent’s tower.

Spear Goblins: Hit speed to 1.1sec (from 1.3sec)
– No major interaction changes.

My Thoughts and The Impact on the Current Meta

Not much to say here.  A slight buff to spear goblins with an increased attack speed.  They are still useful trading and poke damage troops.  They will stay pretty much where they are now.

Valkyrie: Damage +5%
– Valkyrie will one-shot Princesses and Dart Goblins, and take down Barbarians in three attacks.

My Thoughts and The Impact on the Current Meta

This is a good buff for the Valkyrie maybe in low elo but the higher up the ladder someone goes, the more likely the enemy will have some sort of flying troop in their base.  Because of this I think the Valkyrie will be a lot stronger in lower elo when the Valkyrie is first unlocked but in high elo this troop is still pointless and pretty much useless.

FIXES:
– Bandit, Mega Knight – FIXED: Bandit and Mega Knight dashing/jumping a shorter distance than they should. BUFF
– Cannon Cart – FIXED: Troops occasionally stopped targeting the Cannon Cart and very occasionally get stuck behind a broken Cannon Cart. NERF
– Inferno Dragon, Inferno Tower – FIXED: Damage not resetting after breaking through a shield (e.g. Guards, Dark Prince, Cannon Cart).  BUFF
– Troop Pathfinding – FIXED: Troops steering towards an unexpected lane. Behaviour should be more as expected now. QUALITY OF LIFE BUFF