Clash Royale: All Champion Cards Ranked Worst to Best

Human Made

I've been playing video games pretty much nonstop ever since I got my first 360. I love arena shooters, MMOs, and MOBAs, but I'll pretty much try any kind of game.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Clash Royale is all about making the most powerful deck of cards you can. To do that, you’ll undoubtedly want some of the highest-tier cards in the game–Champions. Ever since their release a few years back, Champions have been common all across the Clash Royale meta, and even with evolutions out now, they’re still amongst the best cards you can use. In this article we’ll rank all 5 Champion cards from worst to best, and we’ll also cover what they are and how to get them as well!

What are Champions in Clash Royale?

Champions are technically the newest tier of Clash Royale card as of 2023 (evolutions are more powerful, but they’re not their own specific tier of card, so they don’t count). Champions were the first new tier added to the game since Legendaries way back in 2016, so there were a lot of expectations regarding what they would be. In the end, Champions have proven a worthy addition to Clash Royale, towing the line between being incredibly powerful and broken fairly well now that a couple years have passed. Where they started out horribly broken and sometimes unfair, now it doesn’t feel like any of them are truly oppressive (evolutions took over that trend, it seems).

What makes Champions so unique is the abilities they have. When in play, Champions have an ability which you can activate by clicking the yellow circle button on the bottom right of your screen. These abilities give Champions short-term bonuses or effects, but cost a bit of extra Elixir to cast.

How to Get Champions?

You can start unlocking Champions at Arena 16. However, they’re fairly hard to get. Here are a few ways you can get Champions, starting from Arena 16:

Champion Chests – these chests are very rare, but guarantee a Champion as long as you’re at the appropriate level to unlock them.
Season Pass(es) – despite recent price increases and unnecessary new tiers, the season passes are still worthwhile if you plan to play enough to unlock all the rewards. At the end of the season pass, you will sometimes find a Champion or Champion Chest. Check before you buy the pass, but it’s a very common way to get them.
Check the Shop – sometimes Champions can appear in the shop for gold or gems.
Events and Season Tokens – over on the events and season tokens tab (far right), you can sometimes find Champions in either the season tokens store (not every season, but some) or whatever event is currently happening.

All Champions in Clash Royale Ranked Worst to Best

Now that we’ve gotten all the FAQ and other stuff out of the way, let’s get right into it. Here are all 5 Champions in Clash Royale ranked!

#5 Golden Knight

Elixir Cost: 4 | Arena: Executioner’s Kitchen (16) | Release Date: October 27, 2021 | Ability: Dashing Dash (1 Elixir Cost)

All the Champions are expected to have multiple uses, and Golden Knight is a perfect example of that. The Golden Knight is essentially a normal Knight with far superior athleticism. It’s like if the normal Knight starting training for American Ninja Warrior. Thanks to his ability, Dashing Dash, he’s far more mobile than the other Knight we’re familiar with. The ability allows him to charge forward similar to the Princes and Ram Rider, and when he reaches an enemy he dashes at them and then to every other nearby enemy or targetable unit. It’s a good way to clear out some low-HP troops and quickly land on a tower, so he’s far more than just a generic tank. (No hate to the normal Knight though. He’s a reliable tank and he’s cheaper than Golden Knight, so he still has his place.)

Golden Knight has fallen off in popularity a bit since his release, but he can still be put to good use. For decks where you need a medium-cost tank, Golden Knight is a great choice. But since he isn’t quite as strong as the others, he doesn’t see as much play. And since the normal Knight just got an evolution, it seems like a lot of people are favoring it over its Golden variant. Hopefully Supercell revisits Golden Knight to give him some more purpose, but for now he’s still fairly strong if you like his ability.

#4 Monk

Elixir Cost: 5 | Arena: Silent Sanctuary (18) | Release Date: October 26, 2022 | Ability: Positive Protection (1 Elixir Cost)

The Monk both benefits and suffers from its uniqueness and high skill cap. The ability, Positive Protection, allows Monk to deflect damage back to sender, allowing him to defend himself completely and also clear out enemies and even do damage to towers. His strengths work in both defensive and offensive strategies, and he can be a great tank for certain decks. However, since this ability is so hard to time correctly, it can become an issue. You have to time it perfectly to get max value, and it’s not hard to get it wrong and get no use out of the entire ability. He also doesn’t bring much to the table outside of his ability, which makes him lackluster when used normally. If you’re good at timing the ability and find use out of his normal, tanky form, then he can be great. He just fails to impress in many situations.

When using the Monk, you’ll need heavy backup and some strong strong win cons. Since Monk is a tank troop, you can use any of the standard support troops (Archers, Ice Wizard, Baby Dragon, etc.) along with it. You could also go for offensive cards like Goblin Barrel, Miner, or Balloon to take advantage of how long Monk can tank the towers for.

#3 Skeleton King

Elixir Cost: 4 | Arena: Executioner’s Kitchen (16) | Release Date: October 27, 2021 | Ability: Soul Summoning (2 Elixir Cost)

As with all Champions, the ability is a major point of focus here. Skeleton King, luckily, has one of the best Champion abilities. Soul Summoning allows the King to summon an army of skeletons which spawn steadily in the area around him. This turns him from a generic tank into a tank that provides its own backup. And to make it even better, it discourages your enemies from using swarms. Each enemy that dies helps charge up the Skeleton King’s ability, and the more charged it is when he uses his ability, the more skeletons that spawn.

Skeleton King fits nicely into decks that need a tank that can also clear out ground troops like Barbarians, Skeletons, or Goblins. It’s also a great counter for other tanks, especially if you can fully charge his ability before casting it. His versatility makes the him one of the strongest Champions by far, as even though he isn’t the best one, he has a strong ability that makes him a viable card to base a deck around.

#2 Mighty Miner

Elixir Cost: 4 | Arena: Royal Crypt (17) | Release Date: March 30, 2022 | Ability: Explosive Escape (1 Elixir Cost)

Mighty Miner’s strength lies almost entirely in how annoying he is to deal with. His ability, Explosive Escape, allows him the unique ability to switch lanes. Whenever you activate the ability, he mines underground and comes back up in the other lane, leaving a bomb behind where he left from. This allows him to either escape a dangerous situation when used offensively, or quickly do a bit of damage before escaping and using the bomb damage to defend. The bomb’s damage can be enough to take out low-HP troops, especially swarms like Skeletons or Goblins. Then the Miner himself can make for a great counter push, since he can do so much damage. No matter what, your opponents are always going to need at least two answers to Mighty Miner, and maybe even more if they let him charge up his ability a second time.

Mighty Miner falls into a weird zone when it comes to placing him in a deck. He isn’t really fit to be the only win con of a deck, and he’s also not the strongest for pure defense. He’s somewhere in the middle, where he’s best used as a hard counter pushing troop. Don’t forget that Mighty Miner is similar to Inferno Dragon in that his damage increases the longer he’s locked onto a target. That means he’s perfect for defeating massive tanks or towers alike, as long as he has time to do so.

#1 Archer Queen

Elixir Cost: 4 | Arena: Royal Crypt (17) | Release Date: October 27, 2021 | Ability: Cloaking Cape (1 Elixir Cost)

Archer Queen was the strongest Champion when the first three released, and she still is. Archer Queen is the best Champion for a reason–her ability. Cloaking Cape turns the Queen invisible (meaning she can’t be targeted by troops or buildings) and gives her a massive damage boost. During the 3 second duration of this ability, the Archer Queen is easily the strongest troop in the game. She can obliterate any low- or mid-HP troop instantly, and she can even chip through an entire tank before this ability ends. She’s unbelievably strong, and if you manage to get her locked on to a tower with the ability active, it’s game over for your opponents.

Despite her high damage potential, Archer Queen is still mostly a support troop. You can’t forget that the ability won’t always be active, and you’ll probably end up using it more for defense than anything else. Sure, every now and then you’ll get to shred through a tower with her ability, but usually you’ll be fighting off Golems or Balloons until your opponent wastes all their spells to take her out. She fits into any deck that can benefit from high-damage support troops, or you could base your whole deck around her as long as she isn’t your main source of damage. She’s strong enough to carry a deck, but she’ll need other win cons to help her out.

Join the High Ground

Thanks for checking out this article ranking all the Champions in Clash Royale! Hopefully this guide helps you figure out which are the best champions to spend your time collecting, and as always, make sure to keep the high ground!