Clash Royale: Best War Decks

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Human Made

I've been playing video games pretty much nonstop ever since I got my first 360. I love racing games, MMOs, and shooters, but I'll play just about anything.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Clan wars are a key part of the clan system in Clash Royale. If you want to get the most out of your clan, you’ll want to be in one that focuses heavily on wars. Placing high in the clan war guarantees the best rewards, so it’s definitely worth doing. Are clan wars as fun as they used to be? No, they’re not. But the rewards are still worth seeking anyway. Plus, the actual war battles are really fun–it’s just the system itself that lacks a bit. In this article, I’ll discuss four good war decks, but first let’s look at how war battles work in the first place.

How Do War Battles Work?

Clan wars in Clash Royale require you to make four decks before competing. You’re not allowed to reuse any cards across the decks, so you can’t just play the top meta decks from ladder and challenges. This forces you to get creative, and since the cards used aren’t set to challenge level, you’ll also want to pick cards that you have leveled up. The battles themselves take several forms, but the most popular is the Duel format. This format is a best of three where you pick one deck for each battle. Once you use a deck, you’ll have to wait before using it again. Then there are some fun modes like Touchdown that you can use for your remaining decks after a Duel.

What Cards are Best for War Battles?

If you’re optimizing for the Duels game mode, the games play out the same as they would in any standard game mode. The most important thing to remember is that cards use their actual level that you’ve gotten them to. And since you have to have four completely unique decks, it can be hard to maintain four well-leveled decks. The suggestions I make below are based on balancing out strong cards that synergize, as well as some top meta picks. But if you don’t have the key cards in these decks leveled up, they probably won’t work for you. You might end up having to get really creative, or even sacrifice one of the decks to make sure you have three strong ones instead of all four.

Also remember that the weirder game modes might benefit weirder decks. For example, Touchdown rewards using cards which charge forward like Prince, Ram Rider, etc. I won’t be making decks for those since they switch around a lot, but it’s worth remembering.

Deck 1 – Goblin Attack

Cards:

Dart Goblin (Evolution)
Goblin Barrel (Evolution)
Goblin Hut
Goblin Demolisher
Skeletons
Goblin Machine
Berserker
Arrows

I’m a huge fan of this deck. The cards featured here aren’t required for any other ones (other than Barrel) so it’s great for war decks since it doesn’t take much from other decks. It works by spamming various Goblin cards to make heavy pushes and snipe towers with Barrel. Dart Goblin’s evolution is great for defending against tanks with swarms or low-HP troops supporting them, and evolved Goblin Barrel is one of the strongest win cons in the game. Then Goblin Demolisher also helps target buildings and towers, while Goblin Machine is a good tank which takes out troops trying to defend against it by itself.

With this deck you should be able to get a win in a clan war Duel, especially if you use it when your opponent doesn’t have the Log or Arrows left. For that reason, I think it’s better in round 2 or 3 of a Duel, as it’s hard to counter without the right spells. It also gets to use Berserker, which I think is a very underrated card. She’s great for fighting random lower-HP troops, and she contributes well to defending any push.

Deck 2 – Royal Recruits Swarm

Cards:

Firecracker (Evolution)
Royal Recruits (Evolution)
Golden Knight
Flying Machine
Goblin Gang
The Log
Tombstone
Heal Spirit

I like this deck a lot since it gets to use two of the strongest evolutions right now–Firecracker and Royal Recruits. There isn’t a specific win con for this deck, so it relies more on creating counter pushes after using the evolutions to counter their troops. Golden Knight is perfect for fighting large swarms, and does a ton of tower damage if you can get him through their push. Flying Machine and Goblin Gang are both decent for general defense against ground and air troops, and they contribute to the counter push with the Recruits. Heal Spirit also has a strong role here, as we have a ton of troops that can be helped with its healing powers.

This deck has answers for everything and is really hard to push through. It’s a good pick for round 1, as it has a viable counter for just about everything. The major weaknesses of this deck are cards like Poison or Wizard who can clear out the Recruits, so you’ll want to watch out for them. There’s nothing you can do about poison, but Wizard can be handled effectively with either Golden Knight or Flying Machine. It might lose to a Tank + Wizard push, but even then Golden Knight can push past the tank and distract cards like Wizard so the swarms can handle the tank.

Deck 3 – Lumberjack Golem

Cards:

Lumberjack (Evolution)
Valkyrie (Evolution)
Golem
Electro Wizard
Tornado
Skeleton Army
Bomber
Electro Spirit

This is the first deck I’ve included that’s really all-in on one card–Golem. Golem decks really require a lot of support to work, especially if your opponent is playing multiple buildings. Lumberjack’s evolution is really strong since it gives the standard Lumberjack bonus of the rage pool, but also stays around to help clear out defending troops which threaten the Golem. Evolved Valkyrie is also strong at both defending and supporting, and when paired with Tornado it’s even more effective. I also like the two electro cards to help counter Inferno Tower/Dragon, which can end a Golem push by themselves.

I would recommend using this deck in round 3, hopefully after your opponent has used their Inferno cards. There’s nothing new here when compared to typical Golem decks, but that’s not a bad thing. Golem is a difficult card to get to an opponent’s tower, but when it gets there it’s essentially a guaranteed tower killer. This is also one of the better decks for getting a 3-crown win, so it rewards heavily committing to one lane and trying to make an unstoppable push with Golem, Lumberjack, Valkyrie, and Electro Wizard or Bomber.

Deck 4 – Royal Giant

Cards:

Royal Giant (Evolution)
Witch (Evolution)
Lightning
Archers
Cannon
Barbarian Barrel
Ice Spirit
Guards

And for the final deck, I’ve chosen a pretty standard Royal Giant one. Evolved Royal Giant is great for taking out a tower with ease, and with a Witch (either evolved or not) behind it, very few things can counter it. The strongest cards against this one are Mini P.E.K.K.A. who can easily counter Royal Giant and Inferno Tower/Dragon which can do the same. Evolved Witch is just generally strong right now, so it’s a great pick for supporting Royal Giant against any kind of defense.

The rest of the deck is focused entirely on defense. Cannon, Guards, and Archers can handle almost any troop, and Barbarian Barrel is a replacement for the Log since I used it in an earlier deck.