Player
Clan
Guide / Deck / Card
Player
Clan
Guide / Deck / Card
By the RoyaleTracker Team@RoyaleTrackerGGUpdated July 15, 2026
115 normal cards ranked by real win rate from millions of ladder battles, not opinion. The two most-used cards in the entire game are both just average, and the actual best performer is barely played at all.
Category
Normal Cards
Cards Tracked
115
Baseline Win Rate
49.67%
Top Tier
S · 56% WR
TL;DR
Cannon Cart posts the highest win rate of any normal card this patch at 56%, despite only 4% usage, the single best performer in the whole 115-card ranking. The Log and Arrows, the two most-played cards in the entire game at 27% and 26% usage, both sit at exactly average, C-tier, 49% win rate. Ronin, the newest card in Clash Royale, has exploded in usage (+13.9, the largest usage swing of any card tracked) but is currently the worst-performing new-card debut in recent memory, D-tier at 45% and still falling.
Every card here needs a minimum usage rate to qualify. Of the 126 tracked normal-category entries, 4 are tower troops (Tower Princess, Dagger Duchess, Royal Chef, Cannoneer) excluded entirely since they're a single mandatory pick tied to your king tower, not a card you choose to run in your 8-card deck. Tower Princess alone is used in 92% of matches and shows the largest CWR gap in the whole dataset, exactly the kind of distortion that exclusion is meant to prevent.
Of the remaining 122, 7 more (Royal Giant, Electro Dragon, Mortar, Goblin Giant, Rune Giant, Goblin Machine, Barbarian Hut) fell under the usage floor this patch and are excluded as insufficient data, leaving 115 cards ranked below.
Tiers are set relative to the category average, currently 49.67% win rate, not fixed numbers. Each tier is a band around that average:
We also track Clean Win Rate (CWR), a card's win rate specifically against decks that don't run that same card. It strips out any inflation from mirror matchups. This patch, CWR tracks within a point of regular win rate across nearly every normal card, so it's shown as a reference stat rather than a separate ranking signal.
Cannon Cart
56%
Zappies
54%
Rascals
54%
Bowler
54%
Lava Hound
54%
Barbarian Barrel
53%Cannon Cart is the standout of the entire ranking, not just this tier. At 56% win rate it's the single highest of any card across all 115 Normal Cards tracked, and it's doing it at just 4% usage, most of the ladder isn't even playing it. Barbarian Barrel is the tier's true meta staple by contrast, the highest-usage card here at 16% (next closest is Tornado at 13%) while still winning at 53%, proof it's genuinely strong rather than just spammed out of habit.
Fireball
51%
Skeletons
51%
Electro Spirit
51%
Earthquake
51%
Bandit
51%
Vines
51%Fireball is the tier's headline card: 25% usage, the third-highest of any card in the entire game behind only The Log and Arrows, while still posting an above-average 51% win rate. That combination, extremely popular and still winning, is rare in this dataset and makes Fireball the closest thing to a true must-include in the Normal Cards category. Bandit is the one to watch in the other direction, usage down 1.8 points this patch (the steepest drop in the tier) while its win rate has barely moved, a card quietly falling out of favor despite still performing when picked.
Lightning
50%
Electro Wizard
50%
Poison
50%
Miner
50%
Golden Knight
50%
Fire Spirit
50%Lightning is the tier's most-used card at 11% and climbing (usage up a full point this patch) without any matching improvement in win rate, popularity growing faster than performance. Electro Wizard is the opposite story, falling in both win rate and usage at once, a card sliding out of the meta rather than settling into it.
The Log
49%
Arrows
49%
Ice Spirit
49%
Zap
49%
Goblin Gang
49%
Rocket
49%
Bats
47%
Skeleton Army
47%
Clone
47%
Magic Archer
47%
Little Prince
47%
Tesla
46%This is the most important section in the whole list. The Log (27% usage) and Arrows (26%) are the two most-played cards in all of Clash Royale, and both are sitting at exactly 49% win rate, C-tier. Hog Rider isn't far behind at 18% usage, also C-tier at 48%. Three of the most common cards in the game are, right now, just average or slightly below.
Ronin is the card to watch at the bottom. It's brand new, and usage has jumped 13.9 points this patch alone, by far the largest swing of any card tracked, but its win rate has fallen 2.6 points to 45%, D-tier. A lot of players are trying it out and it isn't working yet, worth revisiting once the sample matures.
Mirror is the single worst performer in the entire 115-card ranking at 42% win rate, down 3.1 points this patch, the steepest drop of any card tracked. If Mirror is sitting in your deck for the value, the data says it isn't paying off right now.
A few cards are quietly performing well without the usage numbers to match, meaning most of the ladder hasn't caught on yet.
Giant
Goblin Demolisher
Goblin Cage
Want to see exactly which decks are getting the most out of these cards? Browse current meta decks ranked by real win rate, or check the specific deck pages for cards covered in this list, including Hog Cycle and Log Bait.
Win rate is the best single signal available, but it's not the whole picture. A card's win rate reflects the decks it's typically played in as much as the card itself. A card sitting in B or C tier isn't necessarily bad, it might just need a better deck built around it.
If you want a second opinion on a deck built around any card on this list, run it through our free deck rater for a full breakdown of win condition, elixir curve, and synergy.
Cannon Cart posts the highest win rate of any tracked normal card this patch at 56%, S-tier, despite modest 4% usage. It’s the single best-performing card in the entire 115-card Normal Cards ranking.
Both sit at C-tier with a 49% win rate this patch, despite being the two most-used cards in the entire game at 27% and 26% usage. They’re both popular staples, not currently above-average performers.
Each card is ranked by real win rate from tracked ladder battles, then placed into a tier based on how far its win rate sits from the average across all qualifying normal cards that patch, currently 49.67%. Tiers are relative, not fixed thresholds.
Tower troops (Tower Princess, Dagger Duchess, Royal Chef, Cannoneer) are a single mandatory pick tied to your king tower, not an optional card you choose to run in your 8-card deck, so comparing their stats against normal cards would distort both. Tower Princess alone is used in 92% of matches, which would otherwise skew the whole ranking.
This list is updated at each mid-season point and after major balance patches, using the same win rate and usage data that powers the rest of RoyaleTracker.
The headline from this patch is simple: the game's most-used cards, The Log, Arrows, and Hog Rider, are all merely average right now, while the actual best performer, Cannon Cart, is barely played. Popularity and power keep splitting apart across every category we track. This tier list updates every mid-season and after every balance patch using the same methodology, so bookmark this page rather than a static list. Browse the full card database for live win rates on every card.
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