Clash Royale July 2026 Update: Ronin and Season 85 Balance Changes

New Card: Ronin

Ronin is a 5 Elixir Legendary troop and the first brand new card of 2026, arriving almost a year after Vines. His signature mechanic, Parry Damage, blocks one incoming ground melee attack every 3.5 seconds and reflects the blocked damage back at the attacker for more than he would have taken. He has no answer for ranged damage, air damage, deploy damage, death damage, spells or area attacks, so the counterplay is straightforward even if the matchup feels unfair the first few times you lose a tank to him.

Our first impression: Ronin looks built to solve a specific problem, heavy melee tanks like P.E.K.K.A, Mega Knight and Boss Bandit that currently punish ground-only defenses. A single Ronin can flip a losing 1v1 into a win, which makes him a plausible answer in decks that struggle against beatdown but don't want to commit a full counter-push card. Whether he's worth the deck slot over an existing answer comes down to how badly swarms and spells punish him in practice, something we can measure now that he's live and ladder data is coming in.

How to unlock Ronin: add him to your Collection through the Road to Ronin unlock event, or pick him as a reward on the Upgraded Pass Royale track. Since he will not appear in any chests this season, the Ronin Cards from the Wandering Warrior Album Event below unlock him too, just more slowly. See our full Ronin guide for his complete kit and matchups.

Season 85 Balance Changes

Confirmed by Supercell, live from July 6. Cards are scaled at Level 11 above; base-form changes also affect a card's Evolution and Hero forms most of the time.

Card	Change Type	What Changed
Hero Balloon	Nerf	Skeletrooper damage 256 to 204 (-20%), hit speed 0.9s to 1.1s (-22%)
Hero Goblins	Nerf	Deploy time 1s to 1.3s (+30%)
Hero Knight	Nerf	Shield hitpoints 768 to 512 (-33%)
Hero Magic Archer	Nerf	Dummy hitpoints 627 to 271 (-57%), teleport range 5 to 3.5 tiles (-30%), triple shot range 15.5 to 13.5 tiles (-13%)
Evo Executioner	Nerf	Close quarters damage 268 to 240 (-10%), close quarters range 3.5 to 2.5 tiles (-29%)
Miner	Nerf	Crown tower damage 48 to 39 (-16%)
Hero Tombstone	Buff	Ability cost 6 to 5 elixir, continuously spawned skeletons 2 to 0, hitpoints 3379 to 4044 (+20%)
Baby Dragon	Buff	Damage 161 to 168 (+5%)
Electro Giant	Buff	Hitpoints 3855 to 3952 (+3%)
P.E.K.K.A	Buff	Damage 816 to 842 (+3%)
Ram Rider	Buff	Hitpoints 1697 to 1766 (+4%)

Hero Balloon

Nerf

Skeletrooper damage 256 to 204 (-20%), hit speed 0.9s to 1.1s (-22%)

Hero Goblins

Nerf

Deploy time 1s to 1.3s (+30%)

Hero Knight

Nerf

Shield hitpoints 768 to 512 (-33%)

Hero Magic Archer

Nerf

Dummy hitpoints 627 to 271 (-57%), teleport range 5 to 3.5 tiles (-30%), triple shot range 15.5 to 13.5 tiles (-13%)

Evo Executioner

Nerf

Close quarters damage 268 to 240 (-10%), close quarters range 3.5 to 2.5 tiles (-29%)

Miner

Nerf

Crown tower damage 48 to 39 (-16%)

Hero Tombstone

Buff

Ability cost 6 to 5 elixir, continuously spawned skeletons 2 to 0, hitpoints 3379 to 4044 (+20%)

Baby Dragon

Buff

Damage 161 to 168 (+5%)

Electro Giant

Buff

Hitpoints 3855 to 3952 (+3%)

P.E.K.K.A

Buff

Damage 816 to 842 (+3%)

Ram Rider

Buff

Hitpoints 1697 to 1766 (+4%)

What These Changes Mean for the Meta

The hero pullback is bigger than it first looked. Four Hero cards took hits this patch, Hero Balloon, Hero Goblins, Hero Knight and Hero Magic Archer, and Magic Archer got the roughest treatment of the four: cutting his dummy's hitpoints by more than half and his teleport range by nearly a third guts the escape tool that made him so hard to punish. Hero Goblins' nerf is different in kind, a slower deploy time doesn't reduce his power level so much as it gives opponents a fraction more time to react, which mostly matters in the bait and swarm decks he anchors.

Hero Tombstone is filed as a buff, but the removal of his continuously spawned skeletons changes what the card is more than the elixir cost cut or hitpoint increase do. He no longer passively chips towers with a skeleton stream, he is instead a cheaper, tankier standalone threat that leans entirely on Tomb Queen's ability. Anyone running Hero Tombstone decks should expect the win rate data on that page to move as the deck adjusts to playing him more like a win condition and less like a defensive skeleton generator.

The Miner and Evo Executioner nerfs both target chip and close-range value rather than a card's core kit. Miner's crown tower damage cut follows an earlier blanket nerf to spell tower damage and leaves his troop interactions untouched, so he stays a strong cycle and chip piece, just a slower one. Evo Executioner's range and damage cut is scoped to his close quarters hit only, which should stop him from out-ranging dragons without touching his normal axe throw.

None of the five buffs look meta-defining on their own. Baby Dragon, Electro Giant, P.E.K.K.A and Ram Rider all get modest 3 to 5 percent bumps, the kind of change that nudges a borderline card into playable rather than turning it into a must-run. Ram Rider is the one worth watching since it has been squeezed out by other Ram and Rider cards recently, a small hitpoint buff can matter more for a card that was already close to viable. Expect real movement in our meta decks hub over the next few days as ladder data catches up to the patch.

Choice Chests

Season 85 introduces the Choice Chest, a new reward type that lets you pick what you get instead of opening a fixed pool. Choice Chests come in five rarities, 2-Star through 5-Star, and appear as the first reward in your Daily Battle Rewards for the season.

2-Star chests choose between Common, Rare and Epic cards, Epic Tower Troops, Gold, Gems and Battle Banners. 3-Star chests add cards of every rarity plus Epic and Legendary Tower Troops and Emotes. 4-Star and 5-Star chests open the pool further to Wild Cards of all rarities, Evolution Shards and Tower Skins.

Choice Chests are exclusive to this season for now, though Supercell has left the door open for them to return in future seasons or events. See our Choice Chest guide for the full reward pool breakdown by rarity.

Chaos Mode Season 2 and the Competitive League

C.H.A.O.S returns for a second run from July 6 to August 3 with new visuals, 15 troops joining the modifier pool for the first time, including Ronin, Electro Giant and Three Musketeers, and others rotating out to keep the pool at 50 cards. Cards rotate every Monday for the first three weeks of the season, and some returning troops have new modifiers instead of their originals. The season closes with a Competitive League, and there is another secret badge hidden in the mode for anyone who finds it.

See the top decks for the new Crazy Arena card pool.

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The Wandering Warrior: Ronin's Album Event

Ronin gets his own Album Event, The Wandering Warrior, telling the story of his path to becoming the Arena's greatest swordsman. Like previous Album Events, you collect Snippets, complete Scenes and unlock rewards along the way. Finishing the full album awards 15 Ronin Cards plus two themed cosmetics, and any Snippets you collect after completing it convert into bonus rewards instead.

Snippets come in Common, Rare, Epic and Legendary rarities, earned as daily battle rewards (up to three per day), through events, or in the Shop. Getting a Snippet you already own counts as a Duplicate, and six Duplicates can be exchanged for a Unique Snippet, guaranteeing you a new one.

The Wandering Warrior is available from Arena 3. See our Wandering Warrior guide for every Scene and its reward, or our Snippets guide for the full Duplicate exchange breakdown.

Bare Bones Global Tournament

The Bare Bones Global Tournament strips the game back to basics: no Evolutions, no Heroes, no Champions, just your deck and your skill. Finishing well earns this exclusive badge, and the top 10,000 players globally also earn a Leaderboard Finisher Badge.