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 double the blocked damage back at the attacker. 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 only measure once he's live and we have real ladder data.

Season 85 Balance Changes (Work in Progress)

These are the changes confirmed in Supercell's early Season 85 WIP notes. Exact magnitudes are marked TBC below until the finalized patch lands.

What These Changes Mean for the Meta

Four hero and evolution cards getting nerfed in the same patch, Evo Executioner, Hero Magic Archer, Hero Balloon and Hero Knight, is not a coincidence. Heroes have been the strongest power spike in the game since they launched, and a coordinated pullback like this usually means Supercell is worried heroes are crowding out non-hero decks rather than reacting to one specific card. Expect the early Season 85 meta to open up slightly for decks that lean on evolutions and normal cards instead of heroes, at least until the exact numbers land and we know how hard the nerfs actually bite.

The Hero Tombstone rework is the one to watch closely. A rework of the Regal Revival ability is a bigger deal than a stat tweak, it can change what the card is for, not just how strong it is. Anyone currently running Hero Tombstone decks should expect the win rate data on that page to move once the rework goes live, possibly in either direction depending on what the rework actually changes, so treat current numbers as pre-patch until we refresh them.

Ram Rider getting a buff is notable mostly because of how far the card has fallen off. If the buff is substantial, it's plausible Ram Rider becomes a real bridge-spam and bait tool again rather than a niche pick, but a small buff on an underused card often just makes it playable rather than meta-defining. Cards worth watching alongside it include Evo Executioner, Hero Magic Archer and Hero Balloon, all of which will show real movement in our meta decks hub once Season 85 goes live and ladder data starts coming in.

Events This Season

Season 85's giveaway event is expected alongside the update, giving players a run of free rewards through the season (exact contents and dates TBC until Supercell confirms them). We'll add the full event schedule here once it's locked in.