Clash Royale: Best Evolutions, Ranked

What are Evolutions in Clash Royale?

Evolutions were added to Clash Royale in early 2023 and have had a major impact on the game. Unlike Legendary or Champion cards, evolutions exist in their own bubble since they aren’t actual cards.

Instead, Evolutions are “upgrades” to the base version of the card they’re tied to. So, for example, the Firecracker evolution is not a new card; it’s an upgrade to the pre-existing Firecracker card that gives it seriously improved abilities.

The catch to this is that you have to “cycle” the card before activating the evolution in-game. That means that during each match, you’ll need to play the card a set amount of times (the cycle cost) before you get the evolved version.

For example, again, let’s look at Firecracker. Firecracker has a cycle cost of 2, so you’ll need to play it twice before you get an evolved one. Then after you cast it, you’ll have to do the cycle cost again. It’s a good way of keeping the evolved cards’ power in check, and it’s not too annoying once you get used to it.

Evolutions can take normal cards and make them much, much stronger, but they’re not easy to get. Let’s next take a look at how to get card evolutions in Clash Royale.

How to Get Evolution Shards & Cards

The process to unlock evolutions has been a source of controversy for Clash Royale for years. Since they’re so powerful, the price quickly becomes a point of contention. Evolutions have undeniably pushed Clash Royale more into the “pay 2 win” direction than I’d personally like, but it was already going that way before that anyway. If you want to unlock evolution cards, you’re usually going to have to spend money on either the Diamond Pass or purchase them from the shop.

Generally speaking, you have two methods to acquire an evolution (one at a time). The first is to buy the season pass during that evolution’s season. You’ll almost always get an evolution as a part of any season’s pass, so that’s the quickest and easiest way to go about it. If you don’t get it the first season, though, you can still buy evolution shards (or earn them on rare occasions for free). You’ll need 6 evolution shards to make an evolution, and you can get them in the shop fairly often for around $10-15 USD total (they often sell them 3 at a time to make this process even more annoying).

How to Get Evolutions as F2P

If you don’t want to spend money, you can take a longer route to get a free evolution. Wild Shards are a currency which you can exchange for a single Evolution Shard. However, this isn’t exactly a quick process as Supercell isn’t fond of giving things away for free. You’ll get a free evo shard from time to time, but I wouldn’t expect to get many.

Ranking Every Evolution in Clash Royale (Tier List)

Just like with everything in these games, we’re here to rank each evolution! Most evolutions are at least decent, as it’s hard for any bonus feature to be “bad.” However, some come pretty close.

Including the newly released Baby Dragon evo, here are all the evolutions in Clash Royale in classic tier list form.

Note: This list isn’t necessarily ranking these cards from best to worst, but instead how good their evolution is. For example, I really love Royal Recruits (even in evo form), but the evo itself isn’t really that important so I don’t rate it highly, even if the card itself is good.

• S-Tier: Firecracker, Witch, Furnace, Mega Knight
• A-Tier: Valkyrie, Wall Breakers, Goblin Cage, Goblin Giant, Inferno Dragon, Dart Goblin, Archers, Knight, Musketeer, Bomber
• B-Tier: Wizard, Royal Giant, Battle Ram, Executioner, Hunter, P.E.K.K.A., Snowball, Baby Dragon, Tesla, Zap, Lumberjack, Goblin Barrel, Electro Dragon
• C-Tier: Cannon, Skeletons, Ice Spirit, Goblin Drill, Barbarians, Royal Recruits
• D-Tier: Mortar, Skeleton Barrel, Bats

The Worst (D-Tier)

Before we get into the best evolutions, I want to quickly take a look at the worst and what makes them so bad. Mortar‘s evolution simply makes it leave behind a goblin when a mortar lands, which I just find pretty mediocre. It’s not bad, as the goblins do help from time to time, but it just doesn’t feel that relevant or game-changing to me. The same could be said for Skeleton Barrel. It’s evolution gives it two balloons full of skeletons instead of one. A barrel can drop early if they take enough damage, though, so it remains difficult to utilize. I just find Skeleton Barrel, with or without the evo, to be too easy to counter. Then we have Bats, which i just don’t find helpful. The evo just gives them life steal capabilities and some extra health, but doesn’t give them enough to survive much longer anyway.

#7 Goblin Cage

• Evo Effect: The Cage pulls in a nearby enemy and holds them inside until they either die or the cage expires.

Goblin Cage is one of the best evolutions for defensive purposes. Its ability to pull an enemy into the cage allows you to effectively counter any troop, as long as you have the evolved cage ready to go. It’s really strong against tanks and fast threats like Hog Rider or Battle Ram. While not as flashy as some other evolutions, Goblin Cage is perfect for defending and making a strong counter push afterwards.

#6 Wall Breakers

• Evo Effect: Wall Breakers continue running towards their target if their barrel is destroyed.

The evolved Wall Breakers are essentially just an entirely better version of them. With the evolution, it’s much harder to stop the Wall Breakers before they reach a tower. They have the ability to drop their barrels and continue sprinting forward after taking damage, so they’re more resilient to spells then before. They still lose to other buildings which can distract them or most troops, but Logs, Arrows, etc. will be no problem with this evolution.

#5 Valkyrie

• Evo Effect: Valkyrie’s attacks pull enemies toward her.

Valkyrie’s evolution makes her much more capable of taking on huge waves by herself. Whenever she attacks, she pulls all nearby enemies towards her with a Tornado-like effect. This does damage, but most importantly, sets up enemies perfectly for spells or other attacks. Pairing evolved Valkyrie with a spell like Poison, Arrows, or even the Log is a deadly combo. You can also utilize troops with AOE attacks like Bowler, Wizard, Baby Dragon, etc. to maximize the AOE combos.

#4 Mega Knight

• Evo Effect: Mega Knight’s attacks knock enemies backwards.

Mega Knight is one of the most frustrating tanks to counter since he does AOE damage and jumps around from target to target dealing extra damage. The evolution simply makes him even more annoying. Whenever evolved Mega Knight attacks an enemy, he throws them backwards towards their nearest friendly tower. This resets their attacks and makes them take longer to take him out. Evolved Mega Knight is an absolute menace in every way.

#3 Furnace

• Evo Effect: Fire spirits spawn more quickly.

One of the newer evolutions, Furnace’s evolution came along with an entire rework for the whole card. The new Furnace is an actual troop instead of a building, but it still spawns Fire Spirits just the same. It’s a great support troop with good wave clearing capabilities thanks to all the Fire Spirits. The evolution just increases the rate at which it spawns Fire Spirits, so it’s an objective improvement.

#2 Witch

• Evo Effect: Witch’s skeletons heal her upon death.

Evolved Witch is easily one of the new hardest cards to deal with. While an over-leveled spell or an expensive one like Rocket or Lightning can take her out, she remains a nightmare to kill. Her evolution makes her skeletons heal her whenever they die, which they tend to do often. This evolution doesn’t change Witch’s ability to support much, but it does give her new abilities to fight. Since she can heal herself, she’s able to survive much longer and thrive in fights she never would have before.

#1 Firecracker

• Evo Effect: Firecracker’s attacks leave an AOE zone and do damage for a longer time.

I wrote the original version of this list a while back when there were only about 7 or 8 evolutions. Now there are almost five times that many, but the best one remains the same. Firecracker’s evolution makes her attacks do damage over time in the area where the initial attack hit. Her evolved version is likely the best troop in the game for clearing swarms, and she does enough damage to fight even higher-HP troops. Plus, the range is strong enough that she’s often able to hit towers while fighting near the bridge, which is a solid bonus.

Join the High Ground

That concludes our ranking of every evolution in Clash Royale. Evolutions have changed Clash Royale in a significant way, so it pays off to be aware of which ones are worth seeking out.

Let us know which evolutions are your favorite in the comments below, and make sure to subscribe to the High Ground for the latest on all of your favorite games!

Happy gaming!