Guards

“Three ruthless bone brothers with shields. Knock off their shields and all that's left are three ruthless bone brothers.”

The Guards is an Epic card that is unlocked from the P.E.K.K.A's Playhouse (Arena 6). It spawns three fast single-target, ground-targeting, melee, ground troops with low hitpoints and low damage with shields in addition to their normal hitpoints. Their deployment is in a triangle formation. They appear to be somewhat taller than Skeletons and wear black helmets with team-colored feathers, and carry spears and wooden shields. A Guards card costs 3 Elixir to deploy.

Strategy

For Battle Decks with this card, click here.

The Guards function similar to Skeletons with triple the cost, but are more reliable defensively thanks to their shields improving their resistance against enemy spells or any other powerful attack, as any excess damage is negated.
Guards are best used as a defensive card, then used in a counterpush with something that can tank for them, such as a Miner.
Their defensive potential marks them as a low-risk, high-reward option. They can eliminate ground troops like groups of Skeletons and can distract air troops like Minions, making them a good pick against an incoming enemy push for gaining positive Elixir trades. They don't have much damage or pushing power for 3 Elixir, so they should be rarely used on offense; they could even fail to take out tanky troops like the Royal Giant quickly.
The Guards can be used effectively to counter a lone Sparky. With their shield, they can withstand a blow from the Sparky and destroy her before she shoots a second time. For better results, surround her by spawning them directly on her so only one Guard gets hit with the blast. They will quickly destroy Sparky with the help of a Crown Tower, leaving the player two Guards with shields and one without.
The vast majority of single-target troops or those with slow attacks can be easily countered by Guards, including Prince, P.E.K.K.A and Mini P.E.K.K.A. Conversely they can be demolished with splash cards as well as aerial units like Wizard, Ice Wizard, Bowler, Witch, Executioner, Bomber, and Baby Dragon.
The Guards can be countered with area damage troops or buildings. Cards like Fire Spirit, Bomber, Royal Ghost, Ice Wizard, and Barbarian Barrel are most effective, while the Wizard, Valkyrie, Executioner, Dark Prince, Witch, Bowler, Mega Knight, or Bomb Tower are also good, though expensive, alternative options.
- Ice Spirit can be used to counter them, freezing them and allowing your Crown Tower to finish them off.
- The Log can make short work of the Guards since it knocks off the Guards' shields, making them weak enough for the Crown Tower to finish them off.
- Should Guards be used against a push, Poison can be used to completely take them out, due to the 8 ticks of Poison being more than capable of taking their shield out first and finishing them off second.
Guards cannot target air units, so cheap air troops like Bats or Minions can quickly defeat them.
The Fire Spirit, Ice Spirit, Heal Spirit, and Electro Spirit do not deal enough damage to take out the Guards' shields but they do deal enough damage to finish off the Guards themselves. Knowing this, you can combine either of them with The Log to fully counter the Guards for a neutral Elixir trade, however that requires precise timing.
The Guards are a good alternative to Barbarians if the player needs to keep their deck cheap as they cost 2 less Elixir. The trade-off is that the Guards have all-around lower statistics except for speed.
Guards' shields can survive a Zap up to 2 levels higher.
Guards are great for defending against the Graveyard, since they are more durable than regular Skeletons and have a longer range. For similar reasons, they are also effective at countering the Miner, capable of tanking multiple hits from him.
When the Three Musketeers are coming to a Crown Tower without support, once the player's Crown Tower targets the Three Musketeers, they can do a quick drop of Guards and then Ice Spirit. The first Guard can negate three simultaneous hits and then the Ice Spirit will freeze them for 1.2 seconds which is enough time for the 2 remaining Guards and Crown Tower to finish off the Musketeers.
Guards are actually able to slightly outrange some troops because of their spears, similar to the Prince. Because of this, they can poke at a distracted Valkyrie without taking any damage, setting you up for a counterpush.
The Guards' shields allows them to be a great meatshield against an Inferno Tower, Inferno Dragon, or a Mighty Miner. These three cards will reset their charge after they destroy a shield, being distracted for longer.
Due to the Guards' shields having higher hitpoints than the shields of Royal Recruits and Dark Prince, the Guards can survive equal level Arrows with the shield being knocked off in the process.

Statistics

Cost	Hit Speed	First Hit Speed	Speed	Deploy Time	Range	Target	Count	Transport	Type	Rarity
3	1 sec	0.4 sec	Fast (90)	1 sec	Melee: Long (1.6)	Ground	x3	Ground	Troop	Epic

Level	Hitpoints	Shield Hitpoints	Damage	Damage per second
6	51	160	76?	76
7	56	176	84?	84
8	61	193	92?	92
9	67	212	101?	101
10	74	233	111?	111
11	81	256	117	117
12	89	281	129	129
13	98	309	148	148
14	108	339	162?	162
15	119	372	178?	178

Card Mastery

Type	Level/Tier	Objective	Reward
Damage Dealer	1	Deal a total of 105,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings	20 Guards cards 75
	2	Deal a total of 310,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings	6,000 75
	3	Deal a total of 520,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings	150 75
Pain's An Old Friend	1	Receive a total of 495,000 Damage from enemy Troops or buildings	9,000 125
	2	Receive a total of 1,420,000 Damage from enemy Troops or buildings	20 125
	3	Receive a total of 2,480,000 Damage from enemy Troops or buildings	15,000 125

History

2016

The Guards card was added to the game on 3/5/2016, in the May 2016 Update.
On 18/5/2016, a Balance Update, increased the Guards' hitpoints and damage by 8%.
On 21/6/2016, a Balance Update, removed the pushback when their shields break.

2017

On 9/10/2017, the Epic Quests Update, fixed a bug where the Inferno Tower's and Inferno Dragon's damage did not reset after breaking the Guards' shield. This change was reverted on 11/10/2017, in a maintenance break.
On 12/12/2017, the Electrifying Update, increased the Guards’ hitpoints and damage by 5% and decreased their attack time interval to 1.1 seconds (from 1.2 seconds). It also made it so that the Inferno Tower's and Inferno Dragon's would now reset after breaking the Guards' shield.

2018

On 5/9/2018, the September 2018 Update, changed it so that Epic cards start at Level 6 and end at Level 13 (from 1 to 8).

2020

On 2/6/2020, a Balance Update, gave the Guards a new 0.1 seconds deploy stagger from each other.
On 9/12/2020, a Balance Update, decreased the Guards' attack time interval to 1 second (from 1.1 seconds) and decreased their hitpoints by 26%.

2021

On 7/6/2021, the Summer 2021 Update, moved the Arena to unlock the Guards from Royal Arena to Spooky Town.
On 2/9/2021, a maintenance break, added a card render to the Guards' card info screen.
On 6/9/2021, the 2021 Quarter 3 Update, increased the Guards' damage by 12%.
On 27/10/2021, the Champions Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 14 (from 13).

2022

On 26/10/2022, the 2022 Quarter 3 Update, moved the Arena to unlock the Guards from Spooky Town to P.E.K.K.A's Playhouse.

2023

On 19/6/2023, the Card Evolution Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 15 (from 14).

2024

On 3/1/2024, a Balance Update, increased the Guards' shield hitpoints by 7%.

2025

On 31/3/2025, the 2025 Quarter 1 Update, increased the Guards' damage by 0.82%.
On 5/5/2025, a Balance Update, decreased the Guards' damage by 4%.

Gallery

Trivia

The Guards is 1 of 15 cards associated with Skeletons, with the others being Bomber, Skeleton Dragons, Skeleton Barrel, Tombstone, Bomb Tower, Skeleton Army, Witch, Balloon, Giant Skeleton, Wall Breakers, Super Witch, Graveyard, Skeleton King, and of course, Skeletons.
- In the Dutch and Russian language settings of the game, the Guards' name translates to "Guardians". In the Turkish, Japanese, Chinese, and Malaysian language settings of the game, the Guards' name translates to "Protectors", "Shield Warriors", "Skeleton Guards", and "Controllers" respectively.
The Guards are tied with Skeletons, Bats, and Suspicious Bush for the lowest hitpoints in the game, with 118 hitpoints at level 15. However, unlike the other two, they also come with a shield.
The Guards are 1 of 4 troops to have a shield, along with the Royal Recruits, Dark Prince, and Cannon Cart.
- The Guards are the only troop to have more shield hitpoints than their own hitpoints.
- The Guards are 1 of 2 troops with more damage than hitpoints, the other being Wall Breakers.
The Guards have been featured in multiple special game modes outside of the card. More specifically:
- The Guards are 1 of 22 troops that have been featured in the Troop Rush game mode, the others being Skeletons, Skeleton Dragons, Fire Spirit, Bats, Elite Barbarians, Firecracker, Rascal Girls, Royal Hogs, Heal Spirit, Elixir Golem, Prince, Balloon, Golem, Wall Breakers, Ram Rider, Sparky, Phoenix, Royal Ghost, Bandit, Lumberjack, and the Monk.
  - Along with Skeleton Dragons, the Guards in the Troop Rush game mode would spawn in random positions instead of behind the Crown Towers.
- The Guards are 1 of 14 troops that has been featured with a Rage buff, the others being Electro Spirit, Giant, Zappies, Giant Skeleton, Goblin Giant, Electro Dragon, Wall Breakers, Electro Giant, Mega Knight, Ram Rider, Electro Wizard, Sparky, and Royal Ghost.
They appear to have an underbite, similar to the Minions, Giant Skeleton, Lava Hound, and Super Lava Hound.
The Guards, along with the Minions, Bomber, Skeletons, Skeleton Dragons, Ice Spirit, Mini P.E.K.K.A, Mega Minion, Ice Golem, Dart Goblin, Elixir Golem, Goblin Brawler, Baby Dragon, P.E.K.K.A, Giant Skeleton, Golem, Wall Breakers, Bowler, Executioner, Mega Knight, Inferno Dragon, Royal Ghost, and Lava Hound, are featured as a monster in Squad Busters.
- An ice variant and a lava variant for the Guard are also featured as a monster in Squad Buster.
- According to their description in Squad Busters, the Guards are the King's bodyguards
The Card Mastery task "Pain's An Old Friend" is a reference to a quote mentioned by Dr. Strange.
The Guards are the subject of an Emote.
- The Guard Crown Emote is a reference to the Clash of Clans Lost & Crowned commercial.
The Guards were featured in the winning deck of the Clash Royale League 2022 Tournament, by a player called Mohamed Light.