Clash Royale Royal Recruits Guide

Type	Level/Tier	Objective	Reward
Damage Dealer	1	Deal a total of 165,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings	200 Royal Recruits cards 25
	2	Deal a total of 495,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings	2,000 25
	3	Deal a total of 830,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings	150 25
Tower Tapper	1	Hit enemy Crown Towers a total of 700 times	3,000 100
	2	Hit enemy Crown Towers a total of 2,000 times	200 100
	3	Hit enemy Crown Towers a total of 3,500 times	5,000 100

Strengths of Royal Recruits

The Royal Recruits are a powerful defensive card, thanks to their unique horizontal deployment across the entire Arena. This deployment allows them to effectively defend against troops coming from both lanes, making them a great counter to split lane pushes. Each Royal Recruit has decent health and damage, and they also possess shields in addition to their regular health. This shield mechanic makes them more resilient, as excess damage from breaking their shield does not affect their true hitpoints, offering increased spell resistance.

Royal Recruits are versatile, as they can be used for a strong counter-attack after defending, with their formation allowing for dynamic offensive pushes. Their deployment can be altered to create a 4-2 or 2-4 split, providing additional tactical flexibility. They are also effective at stalling high-damage, slow-hitting units like P.E.K.K.A., Prince, and Sparky, thanks to their shield and sheer numbers. Their horizontal formation makes them less vulnerable to splash damage, making it harder for opponents to gain a positive elixir trade when dealing with them.

Royal Recruits force two-lane gameplay, which creates unpredictable situations that require players to think on their feet. Their slightly higher range than other melee troops allows them to safely engage splash damage units like the Valkyrie without taking damage. They are also effective against splash units like Mega Knight, as their spread minimizes the number of Recruits hit by a single attack. With a total health of 4632 at tournament standard, including their shields, they can be difficult to handle without splash damage counters, making them a formidable pick in draft formats.

Royal Recruits can be particularly effective when paired with cards like Zappies and Flying Machine, as they provide both defense and offense, allowing for simultaneous pressure and support. This combination can be great for newer players, as it simplifies some aspects of deck-building while still offering a strong presence in battle. They also serve as an excellent counter to bait decks and can dominate tank decks, providing great value at high levels of play. The evolved Royal Recruits even gained additional strengths, including higher health, damage, and a charging ability that adds a layer of strategy.

Despite occasional balance changes, including nerfs, the Royal Recruits have remained a solid choice in many decks, with some players finding them “easy to use.” Their ability to force two-lane play and resist spells also makes them a strong, skill-based card for players looking to apply pressure in a dynamic way.

Weaknesses of Royal Recruits

The Royal Recruits have several weaknesses that can limit their effectiveness in battle. Despite their shields, they are not entirely invulnerable to spells, with Poison and Arrows being notably effective, although less so than against unshielded units. They can also be easily countered by low-cost splash damage troops such as the Wizard, Bomber, Bowler, and Executioner, due to their spread formation. The Mega Knight’s spawn damage can also be devastating if the Recruits are grouped together.

At a hefty cost of 7 Elixir, the Royal Recruits are the most expensive Common card, and if countered with lower Elixir investments, they can lead to a significant Elixir disadvantage. This high cost has fluctuated in the past, initially at 6, then briefly 8, before settling at 7.

Another major weakness is their inability to attack air troops, meaning that decks utilizing Royal Recruits must include air-targeting units to prevent counter-pushes from air units. Some players view the Royal Recruits as a “low skill” card due to their limited placement options, which reduces the card’s skill ceiling and strategic depth. While their evolved form gains a charging ability, it only activates once their shield is depleted, meaning they move at normal speed until their shield is broken. The effectiveness of Royal Recruits can be highly dependent on the opponent’s deck composition. If the opponent has effective splash damage units or spells, the Royal Recruits can be easily neutralized, leading to a poor Elixir trade.

Historically, the Royal Recruits have gone through periods of being underpowered and underused after nerfs aimed at toning down their overpowered state upon release. A 2020 balance update introduced a 0.1-second deploy stagger, which slows their initial impact and gives opponents more time to react. The stagger causes the recruit on the left to move first, with the one on the right moving last, a timing issue that skilled opponents can exploit. Additionally, there is a unique placement restriction, as the Royal Recruits cannot be placed in the opponent’s territory unless both Crown Towers have been destroyed.

Their medium movement speed makes them susceptible to being kited by faster, cheaper units like Skeletons, which can mitigate damage to Crown Towers. Even their evolved form, which is supposed to have enhanced abilities, has been nerfed over time, diminishing their power in the meta. The Royal Recruits’ viability is often tied to specific deck archetypes, such as Royal Hogs decks. When these archetypes are weakened or the meta shifts, the effectiveness of the Royal Recruits in other deck types can drop significantly.

In addition, the tendency for the Royal Recruits to spread across both lanes can be a liability, as opponents can pull them to the center of the battlefield with cheap distraction units, making them vulnerable to area damage. Finally, the evolved Royal Recruits’ reliance on losing their shield before charging can be a disadvantage, as they remain vulnerable to damage before they gain their enhanced movement and attack abilities.

Deck Building with Royal Recruits

Royal Recruits, costing 7 Elixir, are a versatile card that can serve as both a strong defensive presence and a powerful counter-attacking unit. When building a deck around Royal Recruits, it’s essential to consider several factors and synergies to maximize their potential.

Common Win Conditions:

Royal Hogs: This is one of the most popular combinations, where Royal Recruits defend a push and then transition into a simultaneous attack with Royal Hogs in the opposite lane. This pairing often works well with Earthquake for additional tower damage.

Flying Machine and Zappies: These cards work well with Royal Recruits, offering both secondary win conditions and defensive support. The Flying Machine excels at taking out distant defenses, while Zappies stun enemy troops, helping to control the battlefield. This combination is effective and accessible for players looking for a friendly strategy.

Lumberjack and Balloon: Though less common, this combination can be powerful when paired with Royal Recruits, offering a strong offensive push alongside their defensive capabilities.

Miner: The Miner can be used to apply chip damage or target backline troops while Royal Recruits focus on defending and pressuring the opponent.

Ram Rider: This win condition works well with Royal Recruits, enabling bridge spam opportunities while applying pressure in both lanes.

Wall Breakers: When used in decks featuring evolved Royal Recruits, Wall Breakers add an additional layer of offensive pressure, creating a more diverse threat for the opponent to handle.

Essential Support Cards:

Goblin Cage	Electro Spirit	Barbarian Barrel
Arrows	Fireball	Elixir Collector

Goblin Cage: This building serves as a solid defensive tool, pulling and distracting enemy troops, and synergizes well with Royal Recruits, who can handle defense in the opposite lane. The evolved Goblin Cage can enhance both defensive and offensive strategies.

Electro Spirit: This inexpensive card provides valuable support, disrupting enemy pushes, resetting charging troops, and contributing to the overall defense.

Barbarian Barrel: A versatile spell that can support both offensive and defensive strategies, complementing the Royal Recruits’ push.

Arrows: This spell is useful for clearing out swarm units that can counter Royal Recruits or support enemy pushes.

Fireball: A powerful spell for eliminating groups of supporting troops or dealing significant tower damage, making it an effective counter to swarm units.

Elixir Collector: Because of the high Elixir cost of Royal Recruits, an Elixir Collector can be included in some decks to generate an Elixir advantage, particularly in slower-paced matchups that focus on building counter-pushes.

Air-Targeting Troops: Since Royal Recruits cannot attack air units, it’s essential to include air-targeting troops like Flying Machine, Baby Dragon, or Minions to counter air-based attacks.

Gameplay Strategies:

Defensive First Play: In many matchups, it’s beneficial to play Royal Recruits defensively first, responding to the opponent’s initial push. This can lead to a strong counter-push in both lanes.

Split Lane Pressure: The unique horizontal deployment of Royal Recruits makes them ideal for split-lane pressure. After defending or in some cases as an initial play, deploying them across both lanes forces the opponent to split their resources and attention. Adjusting the split into formations like 4-2 or 2-4 can create additional tactical options.

Counter-Push Focus: Royal Recruits shine in counter-push scenarios. After defending, the surviving recruits can transition into a powerful push, often requiring a significant response from the opponent. Supporting these counter-pushes with units like Royal Hogs or Flying Machine can be particularly effective.

Exploiting Weaknesses: Be mindful that Royal Recruits are vulnerable to splash damage troops. Identifying when your opponent lacks effective splash counters provides opportunities to overwhelm them with large numbers of recruits. Conversely, be prepared to support Royal Recruits with defensive tools against splash-heavy decks.

Triple Elixir Power Plays: In the later stages of the game, particularly during triple Elixir, Royal Recruits can be cycled quickly, overwhelming opponents who struggle to deal with the pressure from both lanes.

Deck Archetypes:

Royal Hogs Recruits decks: Often featuring Goblin Cage, Zappies, and spells like Fireball or Arrows, this deck focuses on split-lane pressure with a strong defensive backbone.

Recruits Flying Machine Zappies decks: Emphasizing both defense and offense, this deck uses these key cards to apply pressure while defending against a wide range of enemy pushes.

Bridge Spam decks: Royal Recruits’ ability to apply pressure in both lanes quickly makes them ideal for bridge spam strategies, often combined with cards like Ram Rider or Royal Hogs.

Bait decks: The spread of Royal Recruits can serve as an effective way to bait out spells like Fireball or Arrows, opening up opportunities for other bait cards to be more effective.

The viability and composition of Royal Recruits decks can shift with balance updates and changes in the meta, but their core strength lies in their unique deployment and ability to create multi-lane engagements that force opponents to manage threats in both lanes simultaneously.

Conclusion

The story of Royal Recruits in Clash Royale is one of rapid ascension, followed by significant adjustments, and an ongoing discussion within the community about their role in the game. Upon their release, Royal Recruits were initially deemed overpowered, prompting Supercell to acknowledge this as a mistake. The response was swift, with their Elixir cost increased from 6 to 8 in a balance update on March 12, 2018. This change was met with backlash, as many felt it made the card “practically useless,” with some suggesting that a cost of 7 Elixir would have been a more fitting adjustment.

Following this, additional balance updates were introduced, including an increase in hit speed and damage, along with a “0.1 second deploy stagger” that impacted their initial effectiveness. As a result, the community has been divided on the skill level associated with the Royal Recruits. Some players see them as a “low skill” card due to their deployment across the Arena, while others view them as part of a “high skill deck archetype.”

Despite these changes, Royal Recruits have managed to carve out a niche in the meta, particularly in decks that focus on split-lane pressure, often paired with win conditions like Royal Hogs. Their ability to defend one lane while applying pressure in another remains a key strength. However, their high Elixir cost of 7 means that being effectively countered can lead to a significant Elixir disadvantage. Moreover, their inability to target air units requires the inclusion of air-targeting support in decks to handle air threats effectively.

The introduction of Evolutions has played a major role in the card’s evolution, with the evolved Royal Recruits becoming a more balanced option that no longer feels overly oppressive or difficult to counter. Before this, they were on a trajectory of being nerfed to the point of irrelevance, but the Evolution system has allowed them to find a more stable place within the game.

In the end, the Royal Recruits have undergone a balancing journey from overpowered to underpowered and then back to a more stable position with further tweaks and the introduction of their Evolution. While opinions on the card still vary within the community, Supercell has managed to strike a reasonable balance. However, the meta remains unpredictable, and the effectiveness of the Royal Recruits continues to depend heavily on deck composition and the opponent’s counters.

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q)