As someone who has been playing Clash Royale for over 5 years, one of the most exciting things for me to look forward to is balance changes. Of course, now that balance changes are coming less often, it is even more important than ever that they shake up the meta without ruining it. Because of this, I have compiled a list of cards that I believe should be balanced and how I would change them. This list of cards was made based on the statistics on royaleapi.com as well as from my own experience playing the game. Of course, I am not a developer and cannot playtest my ideas, so keep that in mind when weighing the merit of my suggestions.
With that out of the way, here are my balance ideas:
Card Changes:
Goblin Drill: Hitpoints -6% (1197 -> 1125). (Use: 19%; Win: 54%)
Despite the emergency nerf, Goblin Drill is still a very powerful card. With a respectable hitpoint nerf, the drill can be taken down a little more easily, making it less likely to spawn that second or third Goblin, or tank for the existing Goblins.
Barbarian Barrel: Barbarian deploy time slowed by ~0.15 seconds. (Use: 21%; Win: 55%)
The Barbarian Barrel is one of the most widely used spells in the game, and it has an impressive win rate to boot. However, this strong card has been untouched for over a year while other cheap spells have mediocre win rates. This change will make the Barbarian slightly less threatening, allowing only one hit on the Princess Tower if ignored, which is still a lot of damage for a 2 elixir spell.
Guards: Count increased from 3 to 4; Hit speed slowed from 1s to 1.2s. (Use: 1%; Win: 41%)
Right now, I would say Guards are the game's more forgettable card. Their main purpose is to take hits, which is something cards like Goblin Gang and even Skeleton Army do better for the same cost. Because of this, I think a fourth guard would help them better deal with cards like Knight and Bandit. The extra 11% damage per second from having 4 (slightly nerfed) Guards will also help them out a lot.
Mother Witch: Now spawns three different variants of Cursed Hog depending on the unit she defeats. (Use: 22%; Win: 56%)
Ever since she was buffed, Mother Witch has been a dominant part of the meta. She also happens to be one of the most RPS (rock-paper-scissors) cards out there. I say that she should summon three types of Cursed Hog based on what troop she defeats. Any units Mother Witch kills with health at or lower than Goblins will now convert to Cursed Piglets instead, which are weaker than Cursed Hogs. Inversely, any troop that's immune to knockback will now turn into a stronger Cursed Boar. This will make Mother Witch much easier to deal with while using swarms while giving her a little more of a use in matches without them.
Cannon: First attack speed sped up from 1s to 0.8s. (Use: 3%; Win: 33%)
Cannon Cart: First attack speed slowed from 0.6s to 0.8s. (Use: 6%; Win: 58%)
Cannon and Cannon Cart were reworked a couple years ago to have identical stats, but that leaves Cannon much weaker than Cannon Cart. This may be in part because they did not standardize one stat: First attack speed. Making Cannon's first hit faster and Cannon Cart's slower will bring both cards more in line in terms of each other and their place in the meta.
Wizard: Range decreased from 5.5 to 5 tiles; Hitpoints increased by 16% (598 -> 696). (Use: 3%; Win: 21%)
Wizard is a tough card to balance since he is so dominant on midladder, but virtually nonexistent in more competitive play. That is why I game him a rework similar to the one the Royal Giant received to fix his similar issues. A range nerf will make him easier to reach without a spell, while the extra health will make him resistant to Poison and Mini P.E.K.K.A, letting him be a little more consistent for the 5 elixir investment. (Side note: Many people want Wizard to become 4 elixir, but I do not. There are already plenty of 4 elixir ranged cards, so I wanted Wizard to stand out from the crowd more, especially compared to Musketeer.)
Mirror: Cost decreased by 1; Mirrored card level reduced by 1; Added a 1s deploy time in addition to the Mirrored card's deploy time; Mirror animation will now show on your King Tower for certain cards. (Use: 1%; Win: 29%)
Mirror is a cool card that is unfortunately very weak thanks to its +1 mechanic. For this reason (and consistency purposes), I think this mechanic should be removed. However, to give the Mirror some handicap, it will now have its own deploy time. For example, if you place a Musketeer, the Mirror animation will show for 1 second, then the Musketeer will appear with its own deploy timer of 1 second (where it can now be interacted with) before attacking or moving. (Note: If this proves to be too long, it can easily be adjusted.) Finally, I address the issue of the Mirror animation revealing the arrival location of cards like Miner and Goblin Barrel by having the Mirror animation for any card originating from the King Tower (like Fireball or Goblin Drill) appear there instead of where the card ends up. All of this should make the Mirror a more consistent and fair card.
Ice Wizard: Hitpoints increased by 3% (569 -> 590). (Use: 3%; Win; 34%)
Tornado: Radius decreased from 5.5 to 5. (Use: 21%; Win: 52%)
I feel bad for the Ice Wizard. He got hit with the nerf hammer when he was performing well, but his success was not his own doing, but the Tornado's. Ice Wizard is not the first victim, either, with troops like Executioner and Giant Skeleton left for dead thanks to their overwhelming power with Tornado when otherwise balanced. By bringing the Ice Wizard back to his old stats he can once again be viable, but to keep him from becoming oppressive again, the Tornado will have its radius decreased, making the dreaded IceNado combo (among other irritating Tornado-based strategies) a bit easier to deal with. (Note: Ideally, the buff to Ice Wizard should be enough to keep the win rate of Tornado balanced after it is nerfed.)
Archers: Damage increased by 5% (89 -> 93). (Use: 3%; Win: 37%)
Despite having a small niche in the meta, Archers have been a chronically weak card. I view Archers as a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none card, and while most of their stats fit that role, their damage output is lacking. With a little more oomph in their attacks, they can more quickly deal with cards like Giant and Barbarians and hopefully fill a more prevalent role in the game for such an iconic troop.
Dark Prince: Hit speed slowed from 1.3s to 1.4s. (Use: 30%; Win: 56%)
The Dark Prince is a strong card that has slipped into many meta decks. By making him hit a little more slowly, he should get a bit less value before being defeated, and his presence in the game should be toned down to more normal levels.
Knight: Hitpoints increased by 2% (1380 -> 1408). (Use: 7%; Win: 34%)
The Knight doesn't seem quite strong enough for his noble stature, so making him a little tougher should help him find a place in the game worthy of his role.
Other Changes:
Princess Tower: Projectile speed increased.
While changing the stats on the Arena Towers would usually be a bad idea, I believe one exception should be made. Whenever the Princess Tower fires an arrow, it flies so slowly that it can take well over half of a second for the arrow to reach its target, often causing nearby troops to walk away and allowing the enemy unit to get an extra attack off before dying. Increasing the speed of these arrows makes these interactions more intuitive while also reducing the sharp contrast in speed between the Princess Tower's arrows and the King Tower's cannonballs.
Troops placed on the opponent's side of the Arena after their Princess Tower is destroyed are now repelled by the red off-limits zone.
This one may be a bit more confusing, so I will include images to explain. When a swarm troop, such as Skeleton Army, is placed at the river, the off-limits area will actually force the troops to spawn outside of it, distorting their spawning shape to react, as shown below:
Skeletons placed on your side of the Arena are repelled by the red area
However, when being placed on the opponent's side of the Arena, this does not happen. Instead, the troops will actually spawn inside of the normally off-limits spawning area, as shown here:
Troops placed on your opponent's side of the Arena can spawn in the red area
Skeleton Army is an extreme example, but it also applies to any card with more than 1 troop, including Goblin Gang and Barbarians. This consistency fix will make using this area more logical while slightly nerfing certain pocket-spam strategies.
Honorable Mentions:
Witch (Use: 2%; Win: 23%): Witch is another Wizard situation, being very annoying on midladder but ultimately weak. She needs a rework, but I couldn't say what it should be. Maybe a toned-down version of her old rework?
Goblin Cage (Use: 16%; Win: 56%): A very popular building sitting at the top of its class right now. A small nerf may be in order, either to the building's hitpoints or the Brawler's damage.
Executioner (Use: 2%; Win: 36%): Like Ice Wizard, Executioner has been kept down by the Tornado and should be buffed. But this should only happen if his synergy with Tornado is not oppressive like it once was.
Tesla (Use: 22%; Win: 49%): Also a very strong building that is commonly called top tier, and while it has high use rates, its win rate is average. A small nerf to its damage wouldn't go unappreciated, though.
And with that, those are my suggestions for the next set of balance changes in Clash Royale. Are my ideas ones that would improve the meta, or might these suggestions ruin everything? Let me know what you think and why with a comment down below. As always, if you read this far I thank you for reading and I wish you good luck in the Arena!
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