Clash Royale: Spirit Empress Guide

How Does Spirit Empress Fit Into a Deck?

Spirit Empress can fill two roles in a deck. The better one is as a support troop to back up tanks like Golem, Giant, P.E.K.K.A., etc. Even though she is a bit expensive, her dual-elixir nature allows this type of strategy to work a bit better than it would otherwise. As a support card, you can get some good value from Spirit Empress. Her damage is strong enough to clear out a lot of threats, so she’s a pretty good support.

She can also work as a more forward threat. You can play the flying Spirit Empress then back her up with cards like Firecracker, Witch, etc. I don’t think this is the best method, though, as she isn’t a very strong threat. But if you really like the way she plays, you can try and make it work.

How to Counter Spirit Empress?

Countering Spirit Empress is pretty simple. Even though she isn’t a win con so it’s unlikely you’ll have to focus specifically on countering her, you still want to have ways to deal with her anyway. In her flying mode, the best way to counter her is either swarms or long-range troops that do good damage. Spirit Empress does solid damage, so she can fight her way through something like Baby Dragon or Flying Machine which don’t out-damage her. But since she attacks fairly slowly, a swarm like Minions, Minion Horde, or even Bats can be enough to take her out. Then there are also longer-ranged troops like Dart Goblin, Executioner, or Wizard that can deal with her easily.

The problem with countering the flying version of Spirit Empress, though, is that she’s rarely making a push on her own. If she’s supporting a card like Balloon or Golem, it gets more difficult. That being said, if you position your counter troops to target her before going for whatever she’s supporting, you can still pull it off.

Countering the ground-based version is even easier. Typically people will use this cheaper version of Spirit Empress when they’re in a bad spot. The cheaper version doesn’t provide as much of a threat, so most ground troops are able to distract and often kill her. Mini P.E.K.K.A., Valkyrie, or any swarm are effective at countering the cheaper, ground-based Spirit Empress.

Is Spirit Empress Good?

It’s kind of hard to judge Spirit Empress since she’s so unique. On one hand, a troop that can be cast at multiple elixir costs for varying value is a really cool idea. It’s nice to have a card that can be played as either stronger support for more elixir or when you’re desperate for a defender. That being said, I do find it really frustrating that I can’t cast the cheaper version if I have more than 6 elixir. There have been several times when I need a ground defender but I have too much elixir to cast Spirit Empress in that role. I don’t feel like you should ever be penalized for having too much elixir, so that’s a huge frustration.

The flying version of Spirit Empress is by far the strongest version. Obviously the ability to fly is strong since it protects her from ground-only troops, but she also has really strong range and damage. You can get a lot of value out of the flying Spirit Empress. That being said, she feels like she’d be a lot better for 5 elixir. 6 elixir troops typically offer some major support or threaten to take towers, but she doesn’t really do that. She is a good support card, but for 6 elixir I think she could be better. The ground version is only really good for distracting troops when you don’t have anything else that can do it. You won’t get much value out of the cheap version except for blocking a dangerous threat to your towers.

All in all, I’d say Spirit Empress is pretty mediocre. She’s certainly not bad, but calling her “good” would feel like a bit much. Not being able to choose what version you’re casting really sucks, and I don’t feel like the flying version is really worth the full elixir cost. Hopefully a few buffs will make her a lot better, but right now I think she fits a very specific niche fairly well.