Barbarians

Barbarians
Elixir Cost	5
Rarity	Common
Type	Troop
Arena	Barbarian Bowl
Release Date	4 January 2016

“A horde of melee attackers with mean mustaches and even meaner tempers.”

The Barbarians is a Common card that is unlocked from the Barbarian Bowl (Arena 3). It spawns five single-target, ground-targeting, melee, ground troops with moderate hitpoints and damage. Their deployment is in a star formation. They wield swords and have blond hair and moustaches. They are the same as those spawned by the Barbarian Hut, Battle Ram, Barbarian Barrel, and the Barbarian Launcher. A Barbarians card costs 5 Elixir to deploy.

Strategy

For Battle Decks with this card, click here

• The Barbarians are a great option to use against enemy troops such as tanks and medium size pushes as the Barbarians have a moderate amount of hitpoints and damage, and are perfect for attacks with other tanks. Although they are very effective against single target troops like the Prince, Barbarians are susceptible to spells and troops which do area damage due to their slow move-speed. Their slow attack speed also leaves them vulnerable to swarms such as the Skeleton Army.
• Despite being a swarm unit, Barbarians are fairly effective against an Electro Giant due to their high DPS and their moderately higher hitpoints compared to other swarm units, allowing them to survive the Electro Giant's reflected damage and defeat him for a +2 Elixir trade, but they will likely die in the process or have an insignificant amount of remaining health. Note that since the Barbarians will have little health remaining, any sort of damage dealt to them besides the Electro Giant's reflected damage will often nullify their defense, so the player should account for supporting troops or accompanying the Electro Giant as well.
• Due to the amount of counters to a Barbarian and most resulting in a positive Elixir trade for the opponent, it is ineffective to deploy a group of Barbarians without support in one lane, as they can be easily countered due to their slow speed and can leave the player vulnerable to a push in the other lane. However, if the opponent is extremely low on Elixir, or their best counters are out of rotation, they can be very effective at forcing the opponent to spend Elixir poorly, as they can quickly chop down cheap troops and will completely destroy a Crown Tower by themselves.
• They are excellent for taking out low numbers of enemy troops such as the Prince or Musketeer on the player's side. The 5 Barbarians will quickly eliminate the unit if they are dropped directly on top of it, surrounding it.
  • A successful defense with Barbarians will also make for a powerful counter-push; tank for the Barbarians for a threatening push or use them to tank for a glass-cannon, which also results in a threatening push.
  • They can also defeat a splash unit if placed directly on top of the unit, but failing to surround the splasher with Barbarians will cause them to take more damage than necessary. Note that this is ineffective against a charging Dark Prince, a Valkyrie or a jumping Mega Knight, as they have 360º splash.
• The Barbarians can be effectively countered by most ranged splash troops such as the Bomber and Wizard from a distance. However, you must be careful as the opponent can use a Tornado or Freeze to immobilize or destroy the splash attacker, allowing the Barbarians to devastate the Crown Tower.
• An effective counter is the Fireball; the damage and radius of the spell is more than enough to OHKO the Barbarians. However, keep in mind that if the Fireball is at a lower level than the Barbarians, it will not OHKO them.
  • Additionally, the Barbarians can also act as a bait for these counters, allowing you to use other cards that would be weak to Fireball, such as Zappies.
  • Poison can also be an effective counter to use. Its damage over time will eliminate the Barbarians and any supporting troops. However, as with Fireball, it will not defeat Barbarians with a level higher than the Poison.
  • If the Barbarians survive, try supporting them with a tank in front to get some use out of them.
  • A Rocket can also defeat them, however it is a negative Elixir trade. It is best to be used if the Barbarians are assisted with another card.
• Rage used with Barbarians can do severe damage to a Crown Tower, as it is hard to stop because Rage increases movement and attack speed. The Barbarians together have high damage and can make short work of a tower before the opponent stops them. However, spells such as Poison still make quick work of this combo.
• They are very effective at defeating enemy tanks due to their numbers, high combined damage, and ability to tank most spells. Support troops will have trouble defeating them due to their combined hitpoints. If the combo happens to be any ground-based splash damage card + ground-based melee tank, wait for the troops to cross the river. As soon as they cross, immediately drop the Barbarians upon the splash card. They will surround and destroy it quickly before moving on to eliminate the now unsupported tank. This can result in a large positive elixir trade. However, if there is more than one splash unit, the Barbarians are likely to be taken out immediately. Note that this may be ineffective against a P.E.K.K.A as she can one-shot Barbarians up to 2 levels higher.
• They are very effective against Hog Riders and Ram Riders. Not only do they deal a lot of damage to these troops, but their high mass and slight spread forces the Hog Rider and Ram Rider to go around them, extending their distance from the Crown Tower. Because of this, the Barbarians can easily defeat these units with no damage to the Crown Tower.
• The Barbarians, if placed early enough, can surround the Crown Tower, making it less vulnerable to attacks from a Goblin Barrel. They can handle it quite well with only minimal damage done. However, this is a 5 Elixir investment so consider using it if you lack better counters.
• Splitting the Barbarians in the back can discourage the opponent from attacking either Crown Tower, due to the Barbarians' defensive presence, and spells will not have as much value. However, they are slow moving and as such, the opponent might deal some unnecessary damage before the Barbarians arrive on their target.
• Due to being 5 of them, they can act as a Lightning rod for more fragile units like a Magic Archer or a Flying Machine. 2 of them will also survive for extra protection for the guarded fragile units.

Statistics

Cost	Hit Speed	Speed	Deploy Time	Range	Target	Count	Transport	Type	Rarity
5	1.3 sec	Medium (60)	1 sec	Melee: Short (0.7)	Ground	x5	Ground	Troop	Common

Level	Hitpoints	Damage	Damage per second
1	262	75	57
2	288	82	63
3	317	90	69
4	348	99	76
5	382	109	83
6	419	120	92
7	461	132	101
8	505	144	110
9	555	159	122
10	610	174	133
11	670	192	147
12	736	210	161
13	809	231	177
14	888	254	195
15	974	279	214

Card Mastery

Type	Level/Tier	Objective	Rewards
Damage Dealer	1	Deal a total of 110,000 damage to enemy Troops or buildings	200 Barbarians cards 25
	2	Deal a total of 330,000 damage to enemy Troops or buildings	2,000 25
	3	Deal a total of 550,000 damage to enemy Troops or buildings	150 25
Troop Destroyer	1	Destroy 350 enemy Troops	3,000 100
	2	Destroy 1,000 enemy Troops	200 100
	3	Destroy 1,750 enemy Troops	300 100

History

2016

• The Barbarians card was added with Clash Royale's game launch on 4/1/2016.
• On 2/2/2016, the February 2016 Update, decreased the Barbarians' hitpoints by 3%.
• On 29/2/2016, the March 2016 Update, decreased the Barbarians' sight range to 5.5 tiles (from 6 tiles).
• On 3/5/2016, the May 2016 Update, increased the Common card Level cap to 13 (from 12). The update also fixed the “range bug”, which decreased the Barbarians' range to 0.7 tiles (from 1.2 tiles), but their effective range was unchanged.

2018

• On 4/6/2018, a Balance Update, decreased the Barbarians‘ attack time interval to 1.4 seconds (from 1.5 seconds). It also increased the distance between the Barbarians upon deployment.

2019

• On 28/1/2019, the January 2019 Update, fixed an issue where the Barbarians' Star Level used the sound effects of the Elite Barbarians.
• On 4/3/2019, a Balance Update, decreased the Barbarians' hitpoints by 13%. It also increased the Barbarians' count to 5 (from 4) and gave the Barbarians a new 0.15 second deploy stagger from each other.
• On 26/11/2019, the End of November 2019 Update, added a card render to the Barbarians' card info screen.

2020

• On 2/6/2020, a Balance Update, decreased the deploy stagger for each Barbarian to 0.1 seconds (from 0.15 seconds).

2021

• On 27/10/2021, the Champions Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 14 (from 13).

2022

• On 7/6/2022, a Balance Update, decreased the Barbarians‘ attack time interval to 1.3 seconds (from 1.4 seconds).
• On 1/8/2022, the August 2022 Update, changed the Barbarians' card image and card render, by making them look pixilated.
• On 2/9/2022, a maintenance break, reverted the Barbarians' card image and card render to their state before 1/8/2022.

2023

• On 19/6/2023, the Card Evolution Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 15 (from 14), and added the Barbarians' Evolution. It also changed the Barbarians' card image and card render.

Gallery

Barbarians' card image between 1/8/2022 and 2/9/2022.

Barbarians' card image before 19/6/2023.

Barbarians' card render between 1/8/2022 and 2/9/2022.

Barbarians' card render before 19/6/2023.

Current card render.

Rock Barbarian.

Trivia

• The word "Barbarian" comes from "barbaros", which is the Greek word for uncivilized. Dating back to the ancient Greek times, the Greeks referred to non-Greek people as barbarians because the language they spoke sounded to Greeks like gibberish represented by the sounds "bar..bar..;".
  • According to a Clash-A-Rama comic strip, the Barbarians follow a career path, with the Barbarians being the second highest ranking ones.
• The Barbarians are 1 of 19 troops which first existed in Clash of Clans, the others being Minions, Archers, Goblins, Skeletons, Giant, Valkyrie, Wizard, Hog Rider, Witch, P.E.K.K.A, Balloon, Golem, Wall Breakers, Bowler, Cannon Cart, Phoenix, Lava Hound, and the Archer Queen.
  • The Barbarians resemble the Level 1 Barbarian from Clash of Clans.
• The Barbarians are 1 of 3 troops which can be spawned by a troop (Barbarians/Battle Ram), a spell (Barbarian Barrel), and a building (Barbarian Hut). The others are Goblins and Skeletons.
• The Barbarians are one of the first troop cards to receive a card render, alongside the Archers, Knight, Goblins, Bomber, Skeletons, Bats, Royal Recruits, Skeleton Barrel, Rascals, Musketeer, Giant, Valkyrie, Wizard, Flying Machine, Hog Rider, Royal Hogs, Dart Goblin, Zappies, Elixir Golem, Baby Dragon, Skeleton Army, Witch, P.E.K.K.A, Prince, Balloon, Giant Skeleton, Goblin Giant, Hunter, Electro Dragon, Wall Breakers, Bowler, Cannon Cart, Mega Knight, Ram Rider, Miner, Royal Ghost, Ice Wizard, Magic Archer, Bandit, Lava Hound, Night Witch, and Fisherman.
• The Barbarians are 1 of 2 troops that has been featured in the Obstacle Course game mode, the other being Fisherman.
  • The Barbarian in the Obstacle Course game mode looked like a rock guitarist player that would boost the speed of incoming troops for a few seconds.
• The Barbarians are 1 of 6 troops to have their own Hero versions, the others being the Archers, Knight, Goblins, Skeletons, and the Miner. In their case, it is the Barbarian King.
• Even though the card spawns 5 Barbarians, the card render displays only 1 Barbarian.
• The Barbarian bears more than a passing resemblance to Hulk Hogan and Abraham Ford from The Walking Dead TV series.
• From the Knight's description, it is implied that Knight and the Barbarians are distant cousins, due to their physical similarities, especially their mustaches and hair color. Coincidentally, both the Knight and Barbarians are voice acted by John Mondelli.
  • The Electro Wizard and the Lumberjack are also voice acted by John Mondelli.
• The Elite Barbarians share the same sound effects as Barbarians, only at a lower pitch. This is evident when they are under a slowdown effect (for example, due to being hit with a Giant Snowball or by an Ice Wizard), where Barbarians will make the Elite Barbarians' sounds. Similarly, Elite Barbarians under a Rage will make the Barbarians' sounds.
• The Barbarians are featured in non-Clash games. More specifically:
  • The Barbarians are featured as a pin in Brawl Stars after Clash of Clans' 10th anniversary.
  • The Barbarians, along with the Archers, Goblins, Elite Barbarians, and P.E.K.K.A, were featured as a monster in Puzzles and Dragons, in a dungeon called Clash of Clans Dungeon.
  • The Barbarians, along with the Goblins, Giant, Valkyrie, Wizard, Hog Rider, Witch, P.E.K.K.A, and the Archer Queen, are featured as a non-playable opponent in Chess.
  • While not available as a character, the Barbarian's sounds, along with the Knight, Wizard, and Dark Prince, are featured in the Clash Royale Theme song in Beatstar.
• The Barbarian is featured on the card renders of the Zap, Earthquake, Clone, and Mirror.
• In Fisherman's Float and Shipwreck Island, Barbarians can be seen sitting in the audience.
• It is said that Barbarians cannot function without their swords. This is referenced a few times:
  • The Duelist Decoration saying "Swords. Barbarians don't enter the Arena without them!"
  • The Raged Barbarian's description in Clash of Clans which says "Why is he so angry, speedy, and vicious? Nobody's brave enough to ask. Maybe it's because he can't find his sword?"
  • In the Clash-A-Rama episode "Ballad of the Barbarian", a Barbarian was depressed because he lost his sword.
• There is a Loading Screen Hint that says: "Don't feed Barbarian after midnight." This is a reference to Gremlins.
• The Barbarians are the subject of a few Emotes.
  • The Barbarian Pixel Frenzy Emote is a reference to Donkey Kong.
• The Barbarians were featured in the winning deck of the Clash Royale Helsinki Tournament, by a player called Jason.
  • In the Training Camp, Trainer Jason uses the same deck as a reference to this player.
• Before the Barbarians' card release, the Barbarians' hitpoints were increased by 24%, and their damage was decreased by 12%.