Clash Royale: Best X-Bow Decks

Image Credit: Supercell

Author XP

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

I’ve been looking forward to writing this article for a while now. X-Bow decks are my favorite ones to play in Clash Royale, and there are quite a few strong variants of the deck. In this article I’ll take a look at three strong X-Bow decks, but first let’s take a look at how to play X-Bow in general.

How to Play X-Bow

There are two main ways X-Bow decks tend to win games. The first is the standard option of placing X-Bow near the river and letting it damage enemy towers while defending it with cards like Tesla, Archers, Fireball, etc. You can also use X-Bow more as a defensive card, instead focusing on spells like Rocket to do damage. The second version would also still use X-Bow to damage towers, but it has other ways to win as well. These two forms of X-Bow deck both function similarly, and they overlap in a lot of ways.

X-Bow is unique in that it is one of few ways to damage towers without sending troops to the other side. Obviously there are spell-based methods, but X-Bow is a bigger threat than that. The best way to play X-Bow, in my opinion, is to place it on the river and use Tesla near it. Then a cheap tank like Knight is great for distracting any counters or troops your opponents my play. Other spells and troops also help with this, but you don’t have to make a huge push every time you play X-Bow.

X-Bow Deck 1 – Tesla/Archers

X-Bow + Tesla/Archers Deck — *Brett Moss / Supercell*

Cards:

Archers (Evo)
Tesla (Evo)
X-Bow
Fireball
Knight
Skeletons
Electro Spirit
The Log

One common theme you’ll see across X-Bow decks is evolved Tesla. Since Tesla is in almost every meta X-Bow deck already, it’s an easy choice as one of the evolutions. And it’s quite good as well, since it allows Tesla to deal with swarms. Tesla pairs perfectly with X-Bow, as both together are really hard to get past. Tesla’s constant damage deals with lots of threats to X-Bow, and the evolution just makes it stronger overall, so there’s no reason not to use it. The second evolution, Archers, is just for good defense. Whether you’re defending against enemy pushes or your own X-Bow, evolved Archers’ DPS is excellent for the low elixir cost.

Knight is my favorite cheap tank in Clash Royale, so I love using him in X-Bow decks. It’s usually easy to predict how an opponent will react when you play X-Bow, so putting Knight right in front of it is a great way to make sure it doesn’t get blown up immediately. Knight blocks cards like Valkyrie, Mega Knight, etc. from getting to X-Bow, so he’s invaluable. Skeletons and Electro Spirit are both just cheap cards you can cycle through, and The Log and Fireball are great spells for countering almost everything. The Log is perfect for clearing out swarms that are sent against X-Bow, and Fireball takes out cards like Firecracker and Witch. You can also use Fireball for tower damage if you can’t get X-Bow past your opponent’s defenses.

I would call this one of the most standard X-Bow decks you can play. It’s really consistent and doesn’t have any major weaknesses compared to other ones, so it’s a solid starting point and could carry you high up the ladder if you get good with it.

X-Bow Deck 2 – Tesla/Valkyrie

Cards:

Valkyrie (Evo)
Tesla (Evo)
X-Bow
Rocket
Ice Wizard
Electro Spirit
Skeletons
The Log

The strength of evolved Valkyrie is really hard to match, so it’s no surprise that she’s started showing up in X-Bow decks. I’ve seen a handful of sites showing Valkyrie-based X-Bow decks as really popular, and it seems like she’s kind of taken the role that evolved Knight used to have in a lot of them. I think it’s a good change, as even though I love the Knight, his evolution is very underwhelming. Valkyrie’s evo allows her to counter swarms of any kind and also makes it really difficult for enemy troops to even reach X-Bow in the first place. Then you pair this with other AOE spells like Ice Wizard and Rocket and you can get even more out of Valkyrie’s tornado effect (or just use actual Tornado when the evolution isn’t ready).

The rest of this deck is classic X-Bow stuff. Rocket is mostly used for damaging towers while playing defense otherwise. This deck is able to use X-Bow for defense more than most because of Rocket’s damage, but I’d still recommend trying to connect with towers as much as possible. You might even want to hold Rocket until the end to surprise them if you can get a tower down to low HP with X-Bow. Ice Wizard takes advantage of Tornado and Valkyrie’s evo, and you can also get Rocket to benefit from this as well. However, Rocket is so hard to aim/time properly that this can be risky. Rocket is just one of those spells you really have to use a lot to figure out.

This is a more defensive X-Bow deck than most. Rocket gives you a reliable secondary source of tower damage, so you can use X-Bow closer towards your towers purely for defense if you want. I like doing this once I have a tower within Rocket range (or double Rocket range), as X-Bow is far better on defense than many think. X-Bow is just a great card all around.

X-Bow Deck 3 – Archers/Wizard

X-Bow+ Archers/Wizard Deck — *Brett Moss / Supercell*

Cards:

Archers (Evo)
Wizard (Evo)
X-Bow
Tesla
Knight
Skeletons
Vines
The Log

This is the X-Bow deck that I’ve been playing some myself lately, and I think it’s a lot of fun. Evolved Archers is pretty typical, but I really love evolved Wizard instead of Tesla in this deck. Wizard is really good at clearing waves or even mid-HP troops, and the evolution makes him harder to kill. He’s essentially immune to one-shot spells like Fireball and Rocket thanks to the shield his evo gives him, and it makes him better against melee troops who get too close as well. Plus since it only requires one cycle to get an evo, it’s easy to have ready when you need it.

Other than evolved Wizard, this deck is standard X-Bow. Knight as the cheap tank to cover for X-Bow, Tesla to help defend it or to defend against Hog Rider and similar threats, and Skeletons to counter cards like Mini P.E.K.K.A. or even the full-size version. I also have Vines in this deck, even though it just got nerfed. I think it still has value for stopping rushing cards like Battle Ram or Hog Rider, as well as giving support troops valuable extra seconds to win fights. The Log is also here as a generic spell for clearing a path for X-Bow.

I’d call this a more aggressive X-Bow deck. Wizard allows you to push the pace more than evolved Tesla since it can hit towers at least a couple times if left unchecked. Vines also lets you defend better in situations where Tesla is not available, so you don’t have to be as constantly ready with this one.