This page is about what cards are in general. To read more about the individual cards in Clash Royale, click here.
Cards are the only method of deploying troops, spells, and buildings onto the battlefield. Deploying cards costs Elixir, which is gradually gained during battle. Cards can be obtained through buying them with Gold in the Shop or finding them in assorted Chests. Duplicate cards obtained will fill up an upgrade meter. Once the meter is full, you can upgrade the card with Gold. All health and damage statistics are increased by roughly 10% per level. Cards that are able to spawn troops, such as the Goblin Hut and Witch, will have their spawned troop level increased by 1 per level.
Types of Cards
There are three main types of cards: troops, spells, and buildings. Generally, spells are temporary and can be cast anywhere in the battlefield, while buildings (which are stationary), troops (which can move) can only be spawned on your territory. There are also 4 card rarities: Common (signified by grey or pale blue), Rare (signified by orange), Epic (signified by purple) and Legendary (signified by a rainbow). Each rarity has a different number of levels.
Rare cards have 11 different levels, ranging from level 3 to level 13.
Epic cards have 8 different levels, ranging from level 6 to level 13.
Legendary cards have 5 different levels, ranging from level 9 to level 13.
Card Comparison
Click a column header to sort a table. The levels of the cards in the tables below are those of the Tournament Standard Rules so that the statistics of the cards are comparable.
Please note that some cards have been omitted from these tables due to their unique abilities that would make it difficult to compare them to other cards.
History
The January 4, 2016 soft launch originally had 42 cards, with 14 Common cards, 14 Rare cards and 14 Epic cards.
The update also changed the maximum levels for King's Tower and Cards: King's Tower: 13 (from 12); Common - 13 (from 12); Rare - 11 (from 10); Epic - 8 (unchanged); Legendary - 5 (from 6)
This means that there are new level caps for friendly battles and Tournaments: King's Tower - 9 (from 8); Common - 9 (from 8); Rare - 7 (from 6); Epic - 4 (from 3); Legendary - 1 (unchanged)
All the players that had already collected their Epics or Legendaries past the post-upgrade cap received Gem refunds for every card over the cap.
On March 13, 2017, the March 2017 Update added four new cards over time. They are Bandit, Heal, Night Witch, and Bats. After this set of cards was announced, Supercell announced that it would no longer follow the two-week release scheme that was in place from September 2016.
On September 3, 2018, a Balance Update increased the number of cards players can hold after maxing it out (or collecting enough to max it out) in anticipation of the Trade Tokens that will be added with the following September update.
On September 5, 2018, the September 2018 Update added the Goblin Giant card immediately. The update also changed how cards' levels were numbered, such that all cards of equal level have similar levels of strength: Rares, Epics and Legendaries are now unlocked at level 3, 6 and 9 respectively, and all three max out at level 13 just like Common cards.
Trivia
You are guaranteed to get 1 Epic during the tutorial.
The chest you get is based on the arena in which you battle in, not your current one. You will always fight in the higher arena (Example: if a player from Arena 5 is matched with a player from Arena 4, then they will fight in Spell Valley, which is Arena 5). This means that you can get cards from an Arena that you have not reached yet.
Epics can only be requested once every Sunday; Legendary Cards cannot be donated or requested.
If your card has reached the max level, each card received will give you a certain amount of Gold. This also holds true if you have enough cards to upgrade to the max level but haven't upgraded it yet. For example, when the upgrade meter of a level 12 Common card reaches "5000/5000", each additional card will be converted to 5 Gold.
Every Common over the maximum gives 5 Gold.
Every Rare gives 50 Gold.
Every Epic gives 500 Gold.
Every Legendary gives 20,000 Gold.
In the Japanese language setting, Epic Cards are called Super Rare Cards while Legendary Cards are called Ultra Rare Cards, the terms often used in card collection games. In the Korean language setting, Epic Cards are called Heroic Cards.
^ The Total count of cards does not count the Unlock cards as they can be used to upgrade a card to the next level. You can even donate or trade away the only non-Legendary card to unlock it and still be able to use the card at the lowest level.
