Clash Royale: All Spell Cards Ranked (2024)

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Human Made

Penned by Brett Moss

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

Spells are incredibly important in Clash Royale, as they allow you to make quick, impactful plays that troops and buildings aren’t capable of. Despite being important, there are few enough that I can make them into a list without it being insanely long. Here’s all 16 spells in Clash Royale ranked from worst to best, in terms of both meta position and their overall usefulness in general!

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How to Combo Spells in Clash Royale

Before we get into the list itself, it’s important to remember just how powerful spells can be. Despite them not making up the bulk of your deck (typically), they can be the best cards you have. But if you really want to get a lot of use out of your spells, you should try to combo them when possible. While a spell like Fireball might be incredible on its own, when paired with cards like Freeze, Rage, or even Goblin Barrel, you can make some deadly pushes thanks to your spell combos.

#18 Rage

Rage empowers a section of the arena for your team, causing troops in the circle to attack and move much quicker. It’s a cheap, aggressive spell that can make a big impact, but it doesn’t last long enough to stay relevant at high levels. You can make some really strong pushes with Rage, but unless you take out the tower it’s easy to get counter-pushed right back.

#17 Clone

I’m not putting Clone in last place because it’s bad, but in reality, it’s too specific. To make Clone work, you have to base your entire deck around using it. Then, once you do, the actual clones are incredibly easy to deal with. The only real use for Clone right now is to copy troops which have on-death effects, which still activate for cloned versions. So Cloning a card like Golem, Balloon, or Giant Skeleton can have some serious power. But for everything else (and sometimes those cards), it’s far too inconsistent.

#16 Zap

Zap is one of the cheapest spells, and it also has a pretty helpful effect. In addition to a bit of damage, Zap resets the attack animation for enemies it hits. This makes it ultra effective against two types of cards. The first is any card that has to build up its damage over time, like the Inferno cards or Mighty Miner. Against these, Zap can reset their attack and cause them to have start over from the beginning. The second type of card Zap counters is any that does a charge. Prince, Ram Rider, Dark Prince, etc. all get stopped in their tracks by Zap, but even then, it’s only a momentary effect. Zap is awesome in certain situations, but horribly forgettable in many others.

#15 Royal Delivery

Royal Delivery barely counts as a spell, but it does. When it gets “delivered” (enters the battlefield) it does a nice chunk of damage and leaves a shielded Recruit on the field. This might not sound very impactful, but the damage is solid and Recruits are much stronger than you might think. Even by themselves, Recruits are great for distracting and defending. There aren’t many decks that really require the Royal Delivery, but it’s great for filling a spot.

#14 Mirror

Mirror allows you to cast the card you just cast beforehand an extra time, at the cost of 1 additional Elixir. So, if your threats that are hard to deal with or defend themselves, Mirror is great for creating multiple win cons. Or, you can use it to double down on defensive cards. The choices are endless with Mirror, so it’s pretty solid even though it is very niche and kinda hard to use.

#13 Freeze

No matter how you look at it, Freeze is a very annoying card. When you’re playing against it, Freeze always seems to come down right at the same time you place a defense troop. Watching your tower fall while your whole team is frozen beside a Hog Rider is never fun, but that’s the point. It’s one of the most impactful offensive spells when it works (although this is inconsistent), and it’s low key one of the best defensive spells as well. Just throw down Freeze whenever a big push is headed your way or when you have one lined up and you’ll be set.

#12 Arrows

If your goal is to take out a swarm of troops, just go with Arrows. Arrows has the benefit of a huge AOE, so it’s really easy to be sure you’ll hit your target(s). On the other hand, Arrows don’t do much damage, so you have to use them well. But since they have such a large AOE and the goal is only to clear swarms, that’s not really a bad thing. Arrows are incredibly good for this purpose, so there’s really nothing to complain about.

#11 Barbarian Barrel

Barbarian Barrel is great for both taking out swarms near the bridge and distracting troops via the Barbarian left behind. It’s very similar to The Log (which we’ll cover later), but is slightly lower range and damage. There aren’t a ton of reasons to use the Barrel over the Log if I’m being honest, but the one advantage it does have is the Barbarian. It’s great for distracting mid-level troops, so it has more versatility than the Log at least.

#10 Snowball

Snowball is a spell all about displacing or slowing down troops. It does really low damage so it’s not worth using for that purpose (other than clearing some cheap troops), but the knockback it has is serious. Against a card like Goblin Barrel, the knockback can make a huge difference and keep your tower alive. Snowball isn’t going to carry you to a higher arena, but it’s a really effective counter when used properly.

#9 Earthquake

If you’re playing a win con that just targets buildings/towers, Earthquake is your best friend. It does huge damage to any building it hits, which makes it the best counter for buildings in the entire game. It keeps your win cons alive, defends against X-Bow/Mortar, and even does damage to ground troops who pass by it. It’s the perfect companion card for many win cons like Hog Rider, Ram Rider, and more.

#8 Tornado

Tornado is able to move enemy troops around the arena towards its center, so it’s great for decks where enemy positioning is really important. That means Tornado is best when paired with cards like Giant Skeleton, Bowler, Balloon, etc., which do damage depending on location. The best Tornado decks combine several of those types of cards, then use the Tornado to line up enemies for huge AOE attacks.

#7 Rocket

The Rocket is very difficult to use correctly, but it’s worth it when you can. It does more damage to towers than any other spell, so you can absolutely just use it for that alone if you want. It’s also an S-tier counter for cards like Elite Barbarians, if you can time the Rocket correctly. It moves very slowly, though, so be careful before launching.

#6 Graveyard

Graveyard is the highest-rarity spell in Clash Royale. As a Legendary card, it would be expected to do something more significant than most, which it does! You can place Graveyard anywhere you want in the arena and it’ll spawn a continuous stream of Skeletons. These Skeletons are great for doing tower damage, as they quickly build up enough steam to overwhelm them in seconds. It is fairly easy to counter, but many great decks are based entirely around it.

#5 Lightning

For countering high-HP troops, Lightning is your best bet. It auto targets enemies (as long as they’re within its AOE), so you don’t have to worry about missing quite as much. Then, it does a very large amount of damage to the three troops in that AOE with the most HP. You can clear out a full 10-Elixir push with Lightning, so it’s definitely worth using.

#4 Poison

Poison covers a similar amount of area as Arrows, but does so more effectively and without as much chance of failure. It also does more damage over time and allows more troops to enter its AOE before expiring, which makes it the best spell for taking out swarms that aren’t just on the ground. Poison is a great spell for almost any deck, as long as you don’t mind the slightly high 4-Elixir cost.

#3 Goblin Barrel

Goblin Barrel is the only spell that is also a win con first-and-foremost. Wherever it lands in the arena (probably on top of a tower), three Goblins spawn and start doing tons of damage. Goblin Barrel is easily the best spell for doing damage consistently to towers, and it’s honestly not even anywhere near close. You can even combine them with other spells like Freeze or Poison for even more damage.

#2 Fireball

Fireball is likely the most popular spell from Clash Royale, as it’s the jack of all trades. It excels when taking out mid-HP troops or more powerful groups like Barbarians, but it can do anything. Whether you need to protect your win con or chip away at enemy towers, you can absolutely always get some value out of a Fireball.

#1 The Log

The Log is the best spell in Clash Royale. It’s a very simple card, but that’s a part of what makes it so good. All the Log does is roll down the arena in a straight line, pushing enemies back and dealing a ton of damage. It’ll clear out any ground swarm (with low HP), and the knockback is significantly better than expected. You can put the Log in any deck and it’ll pretty much always be just as good as in any other. If you’re looking for the best combination of consistency, defense, and offense for a spell at a low cost, The Log is perfect.