Summary
Champions are referred to as the highest rarity cards inClash Royale, all of which come with an active ability aside from their passive skills. Since the introduction of Champions, Supercell has added at least a few cards of this rarity to the game per year, but only a handful of Champions truly live up to their potential.
Some of the Champions were released in a significantly overpowered state but then nerfed harshly, which made them almost useless. Nowadays,Clash Royaleplayers can put Champions aside from the decks completely and still achieve victory, but the addition of Champions gives more flexibility in the variety of strategies that can be executed.
Updated on July 15, 2025, by Mehrdad Khayyat:The latest update for Clash Royale introduces Boss Bandit as a brand-new champion. Similar to most other champions, Boss Bandit is quite overpowered at launch, and she seems to be a good fit for most of the decks.
That being said, things are not expected to remain this way for a long time. This list will be updated if Boss Bandit ever receives a harsh nerf, but for now, she’s the best available Champion in the game, though she’s a little bit costly.
8Mighty Miner
Strong Against Tanky Units
When Mighty Miner was announced, mostClash Royalefans believed it would be the new meta, regarding how powerful Miner is. That being said, Mighty Miner was never considered a must-have card in the game, considering how easily it can be countered.
Mighty Miner works almost like an Inferno Dragon. His damage to the opponent increases exponentially as it is sustained. When the ability is activated, Mighty Miner changes his lane and goes to the opposite side of the battlefield almost instantly, leaving a bomb where it was before.
While the ability is good for confusing the opponents, the time that it takes Mighty Miner to ramp up the damage is usually long enough to allow the opponent to spawn some spams and get rid of the Champion.
DPS (Stage 1-3)
11
2,250
(40 - 204 - 409)
(100 - 510 - 1,022)
332
15
3,269
(59 - 297 - 595)
(147 - 742 - 1,487)
483
7Monk
Powerful Against Ranged Damage Dealers
Released along with Phoenix, Monk is arelatively tankyChampion inClash Royale, and his ability makes him even more difficult to deal with for a limited duration.
When Monk activates his ability, he gains an extra shield that allows only 20% of melee damage to be dealt to him. However, the important part of the ability is that Monk throws back every projectile aimed at him to its shooter, whether it’s the crown tower or a troop. While the ability is active, Monk will not move and will not deal any damage.
While the ability is unique and creative, it is usually effective when the opponent has already spawned a ranged damage dealer. And even if they do it once, they will learn the pattern and avoid deploying ranged troops when Monk is on the battlefield.
2,150
140
175
4s
80%
3,124
204
255
6Skeleton King
Best For Countering Spam Units
Skeleton King is one of the three original Champions inClash Royale, and he has been fairly balanced since launch after receiving small nerfs and buffs multiple times. Skeleton King can easily deal with spam troops on the ground. Any unit that he kills will turn into a ghost to fulfill his ability bar.
The ability can be activated at any time, but when the bar is full it will work much better. Once activated, the ability spawns up to 16 Skeletons around Skeleton King.
This Champion is quite useful against tanky units or overwhelming the crown towers, but knowing that Skeletons can be destroyed with a spell as simple as Zap or The Log, it takes only a Mini Pekka, Knight, or Valkyrie to deal with Skeleton King himself without getting out-Elixired.
2,298
81
127
6-16
3,340
297
119
185
5Archer Queen
Best Support Champion
The best way to benefit from Archer Queen is to hide her behind a series of troops running forward. In other words, she is a great support unit, but she comes with a small amount of hitpoints.
The main ability of Archer Queen is invisibility along with powered shots. When activated, she becomes invisible for 3.5 seconds and each shot deals 180% more damage. This is an excessive amount of damage that can melt a big chunk of a crown tower’s health.
That being said, Archer Queen can be easily distracted bylow-cost units, which absorb its powerful shots and take the risk away from the crown tower.
1,000
187
525
3.5s
1,454
272
765
4Golden Knight
Great Crowd-Control Capability
While he is not frequently used now compared to his launch days.Golden Knightis still a fairly balanced Champion inClash Royale. His ability is remarkable for crowd-controlling, especially when it is activated in the opponent’s half of the battlefield.
Using Golden Knight’s ability activates an automatic chained attack. Golden Knight will run towards the closest enemy or structure and hit it, but if he finds another enemy presence within proximity, he will hit that too. This chained move can consist of up to 10 attacks on 10 targets. During the chained move, Golden Knight is immune to damage.
While this is a good move to deal damage to the crown tower while hitting troops with low or medium-level hitpoints, Golden Knight is quite weak against tanky units, and the damage he deals to them is minimal.
1,799
161
178
335
10
2,615
234
260
487
3Little Prince
Powerful Against Aerial And Ground Threats
Even after all the nerfs applied,Little Princeis still the best Champion inClash Royale, as it is able to target both aerial and ground units. The ability of Little Prince spawns a new unit on the battlefield.
Once activated, Guardian rushes in front of Little Prince, knocking back enemies and instantly killing spam units. This makes Little Prince a support unit for Guardian that will keep the aerial units away from him. All these capabilities for 6 Elixir are great.
Currently, the best counter for Little Prince is Fireball along with another spell or a Fire Spirit. Still, this will out-Elixir the player who wants to counter it if Guardian has not been deployed. Valkyrie is also an ideal option counter both units, but only if they are close enough to each other.
698
99
(82 - 123 - 247)
1,600
199
165
207
1,015
145
(120 - 181 - 362)
2,325
290
241
301
2Goblinstein
Best For Targeting Crown Towers
The latest Champion does come with a creative ability that enables a lot ofinteresting decksaround him. Goblinstein might be slightly overpowered at the moment, but he delivers a good combination of capabilities all around to deal with spam units while targeting the crown tower.
Deploying this card spawns Goblinstein and Doctor at the same time. Goblinstein only targets structures, while Doctor will respond to any units. There is an antenna attached to Goblinstein, and when the ability is activated, a surge of electricity lights up between the antenna and the Doctor damaging anyone around it and almost instantly killing aerial or ground spam units. Even ifGoblinsteindies, the antenna will drop onto the ground, which still allows the surge to be activated.
If Goblinstein is deployed right behind theKing Tower, Doctor and Goblinstein will move towards separate lanes. This enables more complex strategies, as the Surge will span over a longer range.
Goblinstein can be used as a tanky distraction unit while other troops try to deal damage to the crown tower. Or it can be the main rusher while gaining support from cards like Firecracker, Mini Pekka, or Prince.
721
92
51
2,598
128
85
107
46
1,049
133
74
3,775
186
124
156
66
1Boss Bandit
A Quick Damage Dealer To Counter Semi-Tanky Units
When it comes to dealing with mid-size tanky units, Boss Bandit is the best option. Her attack type is almost identical to that of Bandit, but she deals more damage with her regular and dash hits. Aside from that, Boss Bandit has an ability that literally lets her repeat the dash hit.
When the ability is used, Boss Bandit goes invisible and quickly retraces back by 6 tiles. When Boss Bandit reappears, she is distant enough from the target to perform another dash hit, which helps a lot with wiping out any units like Valkyrie, Prince, Knight, or Mini Pekka.
As such, Boss Bandit is a one-person army against the low-cost tanky units. But this is only her defensive use case. If she manages to make her way to the crown tower, she can use the ability on the tower for two consecutive devastating hits.
2,803
268
537
223
4,073
390
781
325
