Kingdom Wars: No Cheat Game Guide (Part 1)

The Basics and the Bosses

this is my no cheat, no hack, no expense guide for playing Kingdom Wars using an Android phone..
Kingdom Wars is like a side-scrolling, tower defense game app..
i'll explain the game from what i think is the most important...

all images which are featured in this particular post are screenshots from my actual game..
i do not own any copyright for the characters and any other design featured in Kingdom Wars, and i'm just using the images for visual support...


Online & Offline

i like this game because you can play it whether you are online or offline...

if you hate advertisements, then going offline will solve that for you..
players do not need internet connection in order to play in the Battle menu...

going online on the other hand is required in order to play PvP and the Weekly Event..
you need to be online to be able to watch advertisements in exchange for FREE Jewels and in enabling the Reward Multiplier..
i believe it is also a requirement to access the Daily Reward...

TIP: whenever i'm online, i try to finish as much level as i can in the Battle menu..
it doesn't matter whether i get a Treasure Item or not, the only goal is to unlock as many levels as i can..
then when i go offline, that's the time when i repeat the levels which i have previously beaten..
i do that in order to hunt for Gold and Legend Treasure Item..
my advice is, don't play the levels with Treasure Chest reward when you are offline, especially if you only have limited amount of Jewels and Golds..
being online will allow you to use the Reward Multiplier so you can get more items from the Treasure Chest...


Save & Load (Gamble or Reload)

these options are located within the gear icon..
in my case, i'm only given 1 chance to save my game and also 1 chance to load my game within the same day..
internet connection is required in order for players to save their game..
i think this is the most helpful feature of this game, because it allows players to choose their preferred progress..
for me, it is useful in conserving the very important Jewels and also in properly utilizing the Powerstones...

what i do is Save the game before i perform something which can greatly affect my overall progress..
like i said, i'm particularly concerned with my use of the Jewels and the Powerstones...

TIP: if the Daily Reward is still active..
always get it first before saving your game..
if ever you choose to Load your saved file after that, it will trigger the Daily Reward once again, making you claim 2 rewards in a single day...

the Jewels most important purpose is for doing Special Summon..
most of the time, i'd only go after the scheduled Super Legend or Legend character for the week..
if i get what i want, then i'll proceed with my game..
but if not, then i'll just Load my previously saved game file...

the same goes for using Powerstones on my characters..
if i get my desired result, then i'll proceed with that enhancement..
but if the value goes below my target, then i'll just Load my previously saved game file...


Jewels

they are useful in doing Special Summon in order to obtain rare characters, and to make your main characters grow stronger..
but they can also be used in purchasing other stuff within the game..
the good news here is that they can be obtained for FREE..
you can perform some tasks outside of Kingdom Wars and they will give you Jewels in exchange (i never tried this method though)..
or you can just watch advertisements in exchange for 20 Jewels..
plus, you can also get them as reward while playing the game...

TIP: in my case, whenever i'm online, i always watch an advertisement before playing a level in the Battle menu..
and i don't really mind playing (you are not necessarily required to watch) commercials..
in my area, i have encountered advertisements which are as quick as 5 seconds only and others which are as long as a music video (but you can manually end those)..
it seems 15 to 30 seconds is the standard watching time for most of them..
but the game is FREE, so why not let the developers earn from it...


Character Summon

you do this in order to acquire a new character or to upgrade previously obtained characters..
in addition, the Castle upgrade is also available through this method...

TIP: in performing summon, always choose the multiple (x10) method..
it provides a greater chance of obtaining what you need..
and you can always exchange what you have summoned for Gold, in case you think you'll no longer need it...

Special Summon

the Special Summon (x10) costs 3,900 Jewels..
utmost, you can acquire Super Legend or Legend characters through this (depending on what is scheduled for that particular week)..

i believe the 100% guarantee of getting at least 1 Legend character needs online connectivity..

and you can get Rare characters from this method at least (some may also be dependent on the weekly schedule)..

based on my experience, it is possible to get a combination of a Super Legend and a Legend, or 2 Legend(s) when doing a Special Summon (x10)..
i think that is made possible since the cheap Legend(s), Odin Spear and Critical Grace, are not dependent on the weekly schedule and are always available...


Normal Summon

the Normal Summon (x10) costs 800,000 Gold..
you can no longer get a Super Legend or a Legend from this method..
but what is exclusive from this is the Castle upgrade, which is used to improve your Castle related skills..
it is also possible to get Rare characters through this process (even the weekly scheduled Rare characters), although having many of this type of rarity can make the chances of summoning a specific Rare character go lower..
the least that you can obtain from Normal Summon(s) are the Common characters...


Gold & Silver Tickets

these are substitute items that you can use to perform summon(s)..
1 Gold Ticket will allow you to do a Special Summon..
while 1 Silver Ticket will allow you to do a Normal Summon..
the Weekly Event provides an easy way to earn Silver Tickets, while the Gold Tickets are hard to earn for FREE...


Characters

they are the units that you can use to engage in battle(s)..
a lot of them have scheduled release, which changes on a weekly basis, i believe it's a rotation format..
in my area, usually the change happens during Monday evening...

currently, there are 61 different characters:

• 9 Common
• 12 Rare (from the Jewel section, with 3 requiring you to complete certain achievements)
• 5 Rare (also from the Jewel section, but only obtainable from Weekly Events)
• 18 Rare (from the Summon section, most of which have scheduled release, and 1 special which they say is only obtainable by doing the summon when you're offline)
• 7 Legend (5 which have scheduled release, and 2 which are always available)
• 9 Super Legend (all of which have scheduled release)
• 1 Ultra Super Legend (which can only be acquired by summoning 3 recipe Super Legend characters during battle)

TIP: for beginners, inside the Upgrade menu and under the Jewel section, a player is offered with the option to unlock some Rare characters by paying Jewels..
NEVER use your Jewels to unlock those..
just gamble using the Special Summon (x10), that way you'll acquire more powerful characters and all Rare characters will all be eventually unlocked...


Battle Menu

this is the story mode of the game..
you can claim various rewards by beating levels..
currently, each Stage of Kingdom Wars has 75 levels, equally divided into 5 different territories..
with every level 75 being the Boss level...

TIP: always use characters that can do damage to multiple enemies if you have already acquired such..
those with the penetration type of attack are the best...

a funny note here is, every time a character or enemy dies, their funny-looking soul will rise above before they disappear..
and yes, both your characters and the enemies have the same soul appearance...


Event (Weekly Event)

it's a special stage which provides an easy way to earn Rare characters, Jewels, and Silver Tickets..
it requires internet connection..
in my area, it usually starts during Friday evening and ends during Monday, before evening i think..
it's a pretty easy stage once you have powerful characters, especially the long range type...

NOTE: some of the enemies tend to grow stronger as you repeatedly beat the levels there...

Game Speed

this option is available in the actual Battle area, and it is simple but quite useful..
like you may lower the Game Speed if you are having a hard time with a certain level..
and my favorite is setting it to maximum when you already find it easy to beat a specific level..
it makes grinding for Gold and Treasure Item a lot faster...


Spawn Glitch

i have experienced this with the later Stages, starting from Stage 5..
sometimes when you start your game and enter a Stage, you'll notice that the enemy castle is not dispatching any enemy..
it makes the battle a lot easier because in this case you only have to destroy the enemy castle..
this glitch may only be fixed if you move to another Stage and then you go back..
my advice is, if you are new to a Stage and you want to experience how tough the enemies are, then don't make use of that Spawn Glitch and just restart that Stage..
but if you have already conquered that Stage previously, and you're only there to grind, then there's no reason for you to not abuse the situation...


HP Gauge

a feature that was only added this July 2020..
it helps you keep track of both your characters' and enemies' HP..
previously, they were only providing the HP Gauge for the Bosses...

Treasure Chests

it's a form of reward within the game, where you are given the chance to pick 1 among 3 chests..
when you use the Reward Multiplier, there's a pattern by which the rewards within the chests are shuffled...

there are 3 sources of Treasure Chests:

• Battle menu (limited number only)
• Weekly Event
• PvP

TIP: always use the Reward Multiplier option to gain more from these Treasure Chests...

reward patterns:

• Battle menu - in most cases, the rewards just shift to the left or to the right, what you need to do is mark the position of the chest with the lowest reward (in my case, that's the Gold, since it's the easiest to earn), so during your second chance to open a chest, just choose the spot where the lowest reward was previously placed, and that will give you a high chance to obtain any of the other 2 remaining rewards (the pattern is not a 100% though)
• Weekly Event - this is the easiest to determine, what you need to do is memorize what the shuffling pattern is starting from opening your first sets of Treasure Chests, because that pattern will usually recur while you are inside the Event, always use your first try to determine what pattern is being used, then use your second try to get the reward that you are really after
• PvP - no exact pattern because the content of the 3 chests changes when you use the Reward Multiplier, but a lot of times you may find the Jewels (may differ in quantity) from the same chest spot during your second try

Gold

i'm not saying that it's not very important..
but it just happened that it's easier to get this kind of reward while you're playing the game...

Gold is used to purchase or gamble for characters or Castle skills..
it is used to level them up too..
and another very important purpose of it is to pay for the extension of the Reinforcement Limit of a character, which has something to do with the Powerstones..
and you should note that it can be really expensive...

TIP: some character or Castle upgrade may seem pricey..
remember that under Normal Summon, a character or a Castle skill would only be equivalent to 80,000 Gold..
so instead of going beyond that budget, i suggest that you just gamble using the Normal Summon (x10)..
you may not immediately get the upgrade that you want, but you get a chance to acquire Rare characters...

TIP: for the source of Gold..
i grind in Stage 3 - Level 71..
the reward is exactly 41,674 Gold (with all my skills maxed out already)..
i like to farm there because i can beat the level even before my Arrow Cannon's gauge gets full..
i don't even need to use the Reward Multiplier since it is quicker to beat the level compared to watching an advertisement...


Reward Multiplier

this is an online feature of the game..
it allows the player to claim the reward for the second time, whether it is the same item or something that is randomly chosen..
in exchange, the player just have to watch an advertisement..
i usually use this feature to be able to collect more Jewels...

NOTE: in the Weekly Event, you are no longer allowed to use the Reward Multiplier if you get the featured Rare character during your first try...


Upgrade

aside from unlocking and upgrading, you can use this menu to check out your characters' stats..
you won't see the exact stats of your Castle though..
and another very important (advance) function of this menu is for farming and infusing Powerstones...


Limit Break

although both characters and Castle skills have a maximum level (which is 10)..
this game allows them to still go beyond that level so that they can further improve their stats..
currently they can still move up to level 30 or 35, depending on their rarity...

the big Limit Break button doesn't do anything useful, except to give a clue on how the process works..
once your character already reached its maximum level, you will no longer be able to upgrade it by using Gold..
instead, you have to be able to summon that kind of character, then you are given the option to proceed with the upgrade or just trade it for Gold...


Rebirth (Powerstone Farming)

this is the process of downgrading your characters back to level 1..
but in exchange for that, you get to produce Powerstones which you can infuse to your select characters to make them grow even stronger (beyond Limit Break)..
there are 6 types of Powerstones, and the program decides on what type it will produce at random..
a character can undergo effective Rebirth starting from level 11..
the higher the rarity, the more Powerstones it can produce..
under the menu, there's the guide on how many Powerstones can be produced based on the level and rarity of a character...

TIP: only choose the characters that you no longer use in battle..
for the Common characters, Rebirth them once they reach level 30..
remember that going beyond level 30 for Common characters won't produce any additional Powerstone..
for Rare characters, i usually Rebirth only those who are not dependent on a scheduled release once they reach level 11, in exchange for 4 Powerstones..
and for Legend and Super Legend characters, i only Rebirth Odin Spear and Critical Grace since they are the only ones who are regularly available..
i immediately Rebirth them upon reaching level 11, in exchange for 22 Powerstones..
those 2 are the best sources of Powerstones..

don't use Gold to upgrade your Common and Rare characters and just rely on your Normal and Special Summon (x10) to do that job..

alternatively, you can upgrade your characters by using Gold but no need to go beyond the 80,000 Gold budget for each character..

Legend Characters are the only ones which i fully upgrade to level 10 using Gold, since they can only be acquired by spending Jewels...

Setup Army

this option allows you to organize the characters that you can use for battle..
a player is only allowed to dispatch 10 kinds of characters, that is regardless of their rarity..
the positioning will determine who shall be immediately available for summoning during battle(s)..
your 10 characters are divided into the first 5 and the second 5, but you can always switch between them by swiping up or down..
the special property of this menu is that it easily keeps track of the total number of characters that you have already acquired...

there's a limit on how many characters you can summon during battle (you may summon the same kind of character multiple times)..
i am not a 100% sure, but i tried counting and it seems the limit is 30...


Castle (Castle Skills)

these are passive skills which are helpful in battle..
currently the maximum level for each of them is 35...


Treasure Skills

these are further upgrades mostly associated with the Castle Skills..
i actually find this game feature very interesting, because it provides a great variety of boost depending on what you have already collected..
it requires a certain set of Treasure Items to be completed before the corresponding skill is activated..
a specific kind of Treasure Item can be obtained as a reward by beating their corresponding level..
but the item may vary in terms of rarity; Common (if i'm not mistaken), Rare, and Legend..
the lower the rarity, the lower the boost that the skill can provide..
so in order to unlock the 100% boost, the player is required to get the Legend version of all the Treasure Items that are required for a Treasure Skill...

in addition, each stage of Kingdom Wars allows the player to collect a new set of Treasure Items..
that means players are given multiple opportunities to boost the same type of Castle Skills, as well as other skills...

in my own estimate, the drop rate for Treasure Items is like:

• 40% None
• 30% Common
• 20% Rare
• 10% Legend

as you can see, they are not too hard to collect, coz the drop rate is still generous as compared to other games..
players are not strictly required to acquire a Treasure Item starting from Common, to Rare, and then to Legend..
you can actually get an item with higher rarity without the need to obtain the lesser versions..
once you already obtained an item of a certain level of rarity, its drop rate seems to be added to that of None..
also, once you managed to get a Treasure Item with higher rarity, you will no longer encounter its lesser version..
so for example, you initially acquire a level's Rare Treasure Item, then there will be no more Common item from that level..
and if you manage to initially get the Legend Treasure Item, then that's great news coz you no longer have to grind in that level...

TIP: in my case, i don't continuously grind to get a Legend Treasure Item, because it's useless if the other slots are still empty..
what i do is just play each level until i get any version of the Treasure Item..
i initially go through all 75 levels just to activate all the Treasure Skills..
after that, i'll repeat the task to try to upgrade all my Treasure Items into Rare at least..
and then another round to finally upgrade them all to Legend...

TIP: while fighting each Boss level, always evaluate if you can already beat that level with ease..
once you are sure about that, retry that level and use the Treasure Hunter support skill so you can easily obtain its Legend Treasure Item...

here's my personal ranking of the Treasure Skills:

Legendary Sword of God..
this is my favorite since the damage is the most noticeable change to a character..
the higher the damage, the faster you can beat a level...

Armor of the Brave..
initially, the HP is your characters best form of defense in this game..
and this is the way to improve it..
high damage will mean nothing if your characters will only die easily...

Special Arrow Cannon..
the Arrow Cannon is an active support skill during battle..
it damages all enemy characters that are present in the battlefield once activated, but it has a cooldown time..
in my case, i always go for reducing that cooldown time since i am more interested in the Arrow Cannon's knock back property...

Alloy Arrowhead..
it increases the Arrow Cannon's damage, and that is very useful in the PvP arena...

Pocket of Merchant..
honestly, this is something which i failed to observe properly..
i went for it because i was grinding for Gold..
but something i noticed when i was already done with all the stages is, if you try to grind in some levels, it will initially reward you with great amount of Gold, but as you repeat the process the reward will be reduced each time you beat that level..
i noticed it, because i have marked some easy levels where i initially got 50,000 to 60,000 plus Gold..
but it didn't last long, and their rewards got reduced to as low as 30,000 plus only..
and that's how i ended up with Stage 3 - Level 71 method...

Refined Warehouse..
Food is the requirement in order to be able to summon characters during battle, but it is produced automatically..
this skill will allow you to accommodate high level characters who consume a lot of Food, as well as to keep up with the speed when you enhance your Food production..
in addition, the Food storage capacity can be upgraded during battle...

Authentic Agriculture Manual..
this is the skill that speeds up the Food production process...

Ledger of Millionare (or should it be Millionaire?)..
another Food-related skill..
it seems to increase the Food that you can loot from your fallen enemies..
you can clearly see its effect once you already have powerful characters on your side...

Authentic Strategy Manual..
it reduces the cooldown time, or maybe it speeds it up, so you can summon the same kind of character quicker..
it's not my priority coz i can always summon a different character while waiting for the cooldown timer...

Holy Shield..
this improves your Castle's HP, which is equivalent to its defense..
this is the last on my list (for the initial batch) since my characters are enough to defend the Castle..
and if my characters are not yet strong enough, then that means that my Castle will also die anyway...

Reinforcement Book for the Holy Shield..
a Treasure Skill found in the later stages (replacing a skill from earlier stages)..
this is a very useful skill in the PvP arena..
what it does is to increase the damage that the consumable Holy Shield support skill can withstand, and that's my favorite support skill for PvP...

Magic Book for the Tornado..
a Treasure Skill found in the later stages (replacing a skill from earlier stages)..
it extends the duration of the consumable Tornado support skill...

Reinforcement Book for the Thor's Hammer..
a Treasure Skill found in the later stages (replacing a skill from earlier stages)..
it increases the consumable Thor's Hammer support skill's damage...

Reinforcement Book for the Mister Mortar..
a Treasure Skill found in the later stages (replacing a skill from earlier stages)..
it increases the attack of the artillery support named Mister Mortar..
but he is currently useless for PvP...


Support Skills

these are consumable passive skills which a player can use in the Battle menu, with some also being enabled within the Weekly Event..
they have human icons..
although being passive, you need to activate them before you start a certain level for them to take effect..
there are 3 types; 1 that gives 100% drop rate for Legend Treasure Item, 1 that let's you start a level with maximum food storage, and 1 that provides artillery support named Mister Mortar...

but among the 3, i think the Treasure Hunter is the only one who is very useful..
i mean, you can survive any level in the game without using the other 2 support skills..
but using the Treasure Hunter is a good way to immediately acquire a Legend Treasure Item from Boss levels..
remember that you can only activate a specific Treasure Skill, if you have already gained at least a Common Treasure Item for each of its slots..
and for the later Boss levels, starting from Stage 5, you should know that it takes a lot of time to beat them..
so what more if you're gonna repeat that process..?
so by using the aid of the Treasure Hunter, you are guaranteed to receive a Treasure Item if you beat the Boss level, and it just happened that it's already in the Legend form...


Bosses

lastly (for now), here are some hints regarding the bosses...

Stage 1 (Flashare, i believe)..
he's not much of a threat...

Stage 2 (i just call them The Vikings)..
the trio is quite sturdy for this stage of the game..
better upgrade all your Castle skills, Treasure Skills, and primary characters to their maximum before facing them...

Stage 3 A (a black dragon)..
he is just one of the bosses in this stage...

Stage 3 B (the main antagonist of the story)..
he will appear after you have beaten the black dragon..
as you can see, there is a glitch when i replayed this level, and i had to fight against 2 or 3 copies of this big dragon...

Stage 4 (Yeti)..
a Yeti but without his ice property yet..
he can do splash damage, so never waste Food on summoning melee attackers..
what you need to do is just use 1 HP type melee character to prevent him from advancing, and use long range characters as your main attackers..
take note of the proper timing of when to summon a replacement HP type character before the other one dies..
the enemies started to have their own version of Mister Mortar starting from this stage (i call it the Goblin Mortar)...

Stage 5 (my favorite enemy Boss' design)..
what you'll notice here is the significant increase in the Boss' HP..
strong long range characters are good against him...

Stage 6 (The Monk)..
this is a tricky Boss level, coz he hates flying or floating type of characters..
i actually had to read a guide to figure out what's behind his insane Castle-killing laser skill..
just remember that you shouldn't summon any character that floats above the ground, and that includes Ares...

Stage 7 (bigger Yeti)..
the entire stage has a special effect for slowing down your characters because of the snow..
just use the same strategy from Stage 4...

i actually got lucky when i first encountered this Boss level..
coincidentally, the Spawn Glitch was activated that time, so i only had to deal with Yeti and the Goblin Mortar..
but Critical Grace was my only long range character in the team during that moment, so it took a long while to finish the level..
because of that, i was able to immediately proceed to Stage 8...

Stage 8 (Mecha Dragon)..
i believe he is the main antagonist, just mechanized this time..

the entire stage also has a special effect, the Famine, so the production of Food is decreased and i believe it can also slow down your characters..

i don't remember him being a problem for me though...

Clash Royale: I'm Retiring

it was May 2016 when i first wrote a guide about this game..
so i've played it for like 3 months (until August)..
then i gave myself a limit and a condition..
and since i failed to accomplish it, i decided to finally retire...

it was fun in the beginning..
but later in the game, i noticed that i'm always battling against players with Legendary Cards - especially that f*cking Sparky..
well, it was not really impossible to stop a Sparky attack, in fact i've won some matches against Sparky-users..
but with the right deck - a Sparky can become a god of war in Clash Royale..
i thought that it was unfair, and i couldn't get my hands on a Legendary Card without using dollars..
using my 2 accounts, i only got one Super Magical Chest each, but no Legendary Card... :(

now, here's the list of my Cards before i say goodbye:

that's my main deck (i don't have any substitute deck by the way)..
Rare Cards should be at Level 7, at least..
Common Cards should be at least Level 9..
and Epic Cards must be at Level 4 at least (the easier way to do that is to buy the card from the Shop, and that's 2,000 Gold for every first copy of the Epic card)...

the weaknesses of my deck are:

• Sparky decks with strong support for Sparky
• semi-quick offense decks with Inferno Tower or Cannon for defense
• full quick offense decks (usually with the Hog Rider as the main tower destroyer)
• and sometimes, horde decks when their timing is perfect

and here are my other cards..
arranged according to Arena..
the Giant (at least at Level 6 or 7) is a good substitute for the Royal Giant if your Royal Giant is still at a low level, with HP below 2,000...

in here, the Hog Rider (at least at Level 6 or 7) is a very efficient tower destroyer if teamed up with other quick attackers..
the Cannon is a quick and great lure for almost anything who wants to touch your Crown Towers..
Minion Horde on the other hand will only be effective if your enemy doesn't have a counter for swarm (like the Wizard or the Witch or the Poison, and even Fireball and Arrows), but it's very useful when your enemy lacks counter-attack for flying types...

and in here..
the Inferno Tower (at least at Level 5) is a very popular defensive choice for players, with the right timing, it can protect your Crown Towers from any non-horde invaders (but still, it's not perfect)..
Zap is good way to easily eliminate low HP enemies, or at least distract them in order for them to change their target..
Golem is another durable and reliable tower destroyer, especially with it's exploding property, but it'll require good timing and backup...

i guess that would be all from me..
bye, Clash Royale!

Clash Royale: No Cheat Game Guide (Part 2)

this is a (sort of) more advanced guide for non-cheaters..
sorry, but i won't be providing images for this particular post... :(

but first, here's more information about some basics of the game...

Sudden Death
here's a more accurate detail about the Sudden Death during Battle..
rivals are initially given three (3) minutes to do the battling..
during the last minute, the Elixir regeneration rate is doubled (x2), so players must use that chance to gain the advantage, or make it a tie in order to go for a Sudden Death, or at least try to get a Crown if you're working on the Crown Chest..
if the 3-minute battle ends with a tie, a Sudden Death match is initiated..
during the Sudden Death, the battle is provided with a 1-minute extension, with the Elixir regeneration rate still at (x2)..
who ever gets the advantage (destroy a Crown Tower) first wins the match..
but if the extension time still ends with a tie, then the result of the match is declared as a Draw...


Crown Chest
i'm not sure if it's a glitch or not..
but the Crown Chest mission can be stacked up to 2 times..
like if you have missed completing it for 2 or more days, then you will be able to play it twice in a row..
once you have filled the Crown Chest gauge and opened the Crown Chest for the first time, after opening that Chest you will see that the Crown Chest gauge is active for the second time...

---o0o---

now here are some (might be) useful strategies...

Enter Arena & Wait:
there are Cards which you can only obtain from specific Arenas..
the good news is that, all the cards which you have previously unlocked can still be obtained from higher level Arenas..
but higher level Arenas require a specific amount or number of Trophies before you can access them - and that's the problem (there is a fix value but it's not very strict, like sometimes you need 1,400+ Trophies to enter a certain Arena but you may stay there even if you lose a few times and your Trophy count drops to only 1,350+)..
sometimes you may find yourself fighting inside a new Arena to which you still don't have access yet, because your ranking matches someone inside that Arena (winning such battle will reward you with a Treasure Chest from that Arena level, but you will not automatically gain access to that Arena until you reach the desired number of Trophies)...

since sometimes you'll find it hard maintaining your ranking upon entering a new Arena, it might be better or wiser for you to just make use of the bonus Chests, Request & Donate function, and the Shop in order to build a better Deck (rather than battling and getting kicked out of that Arena)..
upgrading your key Common Cards up to Level 7 and your Rare Cards up to Level 4 might be a good preparation for future battles...

in addition, since entering higher level Arenas gives you access to new sets of cards, it lessens the probability of obtaining each type of Card that you have already unlocked coz more choices are added to the pool..
if you want to stick with leveling up certain Cards, you may consider staying within the Arena level where such Cards can be obtained..
this gives you more chances of obtaining your desired Cards...


Connect-Battle-Reconnect:
i noticed that every time i Battle continuously, the first match usually seems to be easier compared to the succeeding matches..
i'm not sure, but the game system seems to match you up with better players every time you initiate a new Battle..
it is as if the system wants to make it hard for you to climb the rankings...

this is why i suggest that you only do the first Battle every time you open the game app..
it will not be a sure win, but it will (usually) somehow give you a fair match up..
after each Battle, get whatever rewards you have acquired (if ever you won), and when you're back to the Battle Page just close the app, then open it again if you still have to Battle...


Show No Mercy:
there are times when you would notice that your opponent is not fighting normally (like he's not deploying Troops at all, having internet connection issues, or just making faces using the Battle's conversation tool while you're busy destroying his territory)...

there are some players who give away Battles (i'm not sure why, but maybe they just want to go lower in the rankings to limit their Card access)..
there are cases when you would notice that your opponent is not playing at all (probably got busy suddenly)..
also, there are times when you may experience that your opponent will leave the match coz he's been disconnected to the internet..
during such time, all you have to do is unleash your full force, summon every Card that you have straight to a Crown Tower and then to the King's Tower and win that match - that simple..
climbing the rankings is a tough task, so you better grab every opportunity to win a Battle and earn Trophies...


Good Defense Equals Great Offense:
most players don't bother whether their Elixir Gauge gets full at the start of a Battle (i'm the opposite :p)..
they do this to prepare for a defensive strategy..
what they do is wait for the opponent to deploy his Troops, take note of his Elixir usage and Cards on hand, then they provide defense to their Crown Tower (something which can annihilate the attacking forces and do a counter-attack)..
if your defense is really good, not only will you be able to put the Elixir expenditure of your opponent go to waste, but your defensive Troop might also be powerful enough to take down a Crown Tower during that exchange...


Know the Eight (8) Cards of your Opponent & the Elixir Cost:
knowing the Deck of your opponent will give you an idea on how you can counter his Troops and also an idea of what Cards he can use to counter yours..
knowing the Elixir cost of each of your opponent's Cards on the other hand can give you an idea on how long it will take before he can deploy another Troop (example, if your opponent consecutively summoned a Giant and a Witch which already cost 10 Elixir in total and his cheapest Card costs 4 Elixir, then he will have to wait for sometime before he can summon a Card again)...

remember that each player can't summon the same type of Card consecutively..
currently, this is ONLY possible if he has the Mirror Card (but technically, that is still a different Card which costs +1 more Elixir compared to what it is copying)...


Troop Placement:
troop placement is a part of the strategy..
the type of Target and the Range are factors which a character use in order to decide who it will attack first or which way will it go..
usually, characters attack who ever gets inside their Range first, and they will stick to attacking that target until it dies..
and you can use this information in order to give your troops better attack-assignments rather than making them decide on their own..
for example, you can put a melee-attacker directly beside a ranged-attacker (since ranged-attackers usually have less Hit Points compared to melee-attackers)..
or if you want to get rid of supporting troops at the back of another enemy character, then you should place your own troop where they can hit those enemies at the back...

troop placement should also be defensive, or else the enemy can just wipe your troops out just by using Arrows, Fireball, or Rocket before they can even cross the bridge..
i guess the #1 rule here (though not always, coz it really depends on your enemy's deck) is to try to avoid making your troops move near your Crown Towers because this will give an opportunity for a 2-in-1 attack if the enemy has Fireball or Rocket..
rivals can also use Freeze in order to stop troops which are defending near the Crown Tower..
for example, players usually ambush the Witch and groups or combination of low Hit Points troops while they are moving around a Crown Tower - because it will not only annihilate or give those troops heavy damage before they can even cross the bridge, but it will also damage the Crown Tower..
that is a sample where Elixir is wasted, because your enemy can easily counter your attacking troops (worse, no troop at all) and even push forward to destroy your Crown Tower...

the Type of Card, Target, and the Range can also be used to counter your opponent's attack..
for example, you may summon a troop-producing building (near the enemy Range) in order to distract a Card which only attacks buildings so it will not attack your Crown Tower first..
you may also summon troops behind your enemy (within their Range but closer compared to other more important targets such as the Crown Tower), so they will be forced to backtrack and fight your troop first (provided that the enemy can Target the troop that you just summoned)..
luring enemies to move back (or get out of their usual route) and fight a stronger character is a good strategy in order to weaken your opponent's offense and give more time for your Elixir to regenerate, and it also helps you prepare for your next big attack...

also, consider the movement Speed of your troops when you're deploying them in pairs or groups...


here are some Cards which are quite easy to acquire and are very useful in Battles:

• Giant (Rare)
costs 5 Elixir, Targets: Buildings..
it has a very high Hit Points, and can act as a defensive character (you can lure the enemies to attack it while your other troops eliminate the defending enemies or try to break a Crown Tower)..
his Target being limited to buildings is both a weakness and an advantage..
it is a weakness because he can't defend himself despite his high Damage rate, plus he can be lured or distracted by other buildings..
but sometimes i can also consider it as an advantage because he just attacks whatever he can..
since he is a Rare Card, it is also easier to upgrade him compared to other high Hit Points characters..
the Skeleton Army can kill him in a few seconds..
he should always be backed up by at least a Bomber, better if a Witch, or a Baby Dragon for Area Damage plus other troops...

• Skeleton Giant (Epic)
costs 6 Elixir, Targets: Ground..
another high Hit Points character, but is quite hard to upgrade since he is an Epic Card..
he is better than the Giant in the sense that he can defend himself and kill enemies along the way..
but that can also be a weakness since he can be lured by any troops or buildings..
because he can fight ground troops, a better and fast way to eliminate him is to use Minion Horde..
a plus for him is that he leaves a big bomb in place once he dies, but a good way to negate its effect is to summon your troops behind him so that they will not cross where the bomb is when the Skeleton Giant is already dead..
like the Giant, he should always be backed up by at least a Bomber, better if a Witch, or a Baby Dragon for Area Damage plus other troops...

• Valkyrie (Rare)
costs 4 Elixir, Targets: Ground..
she's an anti-ground-swarm trooper..
she does Area Damage around her, so she's very effective against the Skeleton Army and other low Hit Points swarm (even against average-level Barbarians)..
you can also place her beside ranged-attackers like the Witch or the Musketeer in order to get rid of them immediately..
a good way to eliminate her is to deploy Minion Horde just above her...

• Witch (Epic)
costs 5 Elixir, Targets: Air & Ground..
she's a semi-anti-swarm for both air and ground..
just a semi- because she's weak against melee-attackers..
a big plus about her is that she can summon 3 Skeletons over some period of time (like when you summon her from the King's Tower, she will immediately summon 3 Skeletons, and by the time she reaches the bridge she can again summon 3 more Skeletons, so you already have 6 supporting Skeletons when you cross the bridge)..
a good way to eliminate her is to use Fireball or Rocket when she's walking beside their own Crown Tower, that way your Crown Tower alone can defend itself from her once she crosses the bridge..
to defend a Witch, you may deploy a Valkyrie or Barbarians in front of her...

• Bomber (Common)
costs 3 Elixir, Targets: Ground..
he's a low-cost anti-ground-swarm trooper because he does high Area Damage..
his weakness is that he has quite a low Hit Points, so both melee- and ranged-attackers can easily take him down..
you should always summon him where he is safe or covered (like at the back of the Crown Tower or a Giant)...

• Musketeer (Rare)
costs 4 Elixir, Targets: Air & Ground..
she's a long ranged trooper (that is her advantage), and does high damage as well..
an average trooper that can provide cover for both ground and air..
another advantage is that her Range is better compared to some Defensive Buildings, so she can destroy them without taking a hit..
she's weak against high Hit Points melee-attackers..

• Fireball (Rare)
costs 4 Elixir, Targets: Air & Ground..
it's a good way to eliminate enemy swarm..
but it's a lot better if you can use it near the enemy's Crown Tower, so you can damage your opponent's tower while killing or weakening his troops..
for me, it has also been very effective in deciding battles or Sudden Death matches when one of the enemy's Crown Tower is already below 100 in Hit Points...

• Baby Dragon (Epic)
costs 4 Elixir, Targets: Air & Ground..
an anti-swarm character..
he can do Area Damage and is safe against ground-attackers..
also a good way to directly attack Defensive Towers summoned by the opponent, since he can just fly over the border..
his flight speed can be a disadvantage sometimes because he can easily leave behind a troop formation..
best way to get rid of him is to deploy high level Minion Horde around him...


here are some additional Cards...

• Skeleton Army (Epic)
costs 4 Elixir, Targets: Ground..
well, they are good in killing high Hit Points enemies like the Giant, Skeleton Giant, Hog Rider, and the basic Crown Towers..
but they can be easily eliminated using Arrows or Fireball, or a Baby Dragon or even a perfectly placed Bomber...

• Minion Horde (Common)
costs 5 Elixir, Targets: Air & Ground..
they are pretty advantageous in dealing with ground-attackers of any number..
they can even kill a Witch or destroy a Crown Tower if placed perfectly..
they can be easily eliminated using Arrows or Fireball...

• Balloon (Epic)
costs 5 Elixir, Targets: Buildings..
it's fast, probably a little faster compared to a Baby Dragon..
plus it can deal very high damage against Crown Towers..
its weaknesses are; it is defenseless against air-attackers, and it can be distracted using Defensive Towers which can attack air troops..
the fastest way to eliminate a Balloon is by deploying Minion Horde in front of it..
you may back it up with a Baby Dragon for its defense...

• Hog Rider (Rare)
costs 4 Elixir, Targets: Buildings..
he is like a Prince who only attacks buildings, plus he can jump across the river (but i think only when he sees a target building near the river)..
he's fast and inflicts high damage..
but unlike the Balloon, any air- or ground-attackers can dispose of him..
you can easily eliminate him by deploying Skeleton Army or Minion Horde in front of him..
it's quite hard to defend or support him from his back since he moves very fast and his Hit Points is just average, but you may use Baby Dragon to back him up...


Card Upgrade:
upgrading your cards is a key in winning battles..
for non-dollar users, it may take a while before you can improve your Deck, since it costs Gold to upgrade your cards (and even when buying additional cards from the Shop)..
it is really an advantage to use dollars if you want to get a strong Deck quickly (or anything or any means that can get you Gold or Gems)...


here's Part 1 of this Game Guide:
Clash Royale: No Cheat Game Guide (Part 1)

Clash Royale: No Cheat Game Guide (Part 1)

Clash Royale
so here's an Android App which i have been playing recently..
it's a strategy game..
it is based on the game Clash of Clans (i believe it was created by the same developer - sorry i'm not doing my research regarding that)..
i never played Clash of Clans because i assumed that it has the same concept like that game called Backyard Monsters which was accessible through Facebook before..
i really don't like games where other players can ruin your town or base when you are NOT online because it will require the player to regularly check or upgrade or rebuild his base..
but Clash Royale offers a more relaxing game experience, especially since there are no base to guard..
rival players are both required to be online before they can engage in a battle..
and although there are time-based activities (like opening Chests, collecting Crowns, and Requesting/Donating Cards), you can pretty much play the game just anytime and anyway you want to...

and here's my Guide (plus some Tips) in playing Clash Royale... :)

Battle Page 
found at the center tab..
i believe this is the most commonly used page within the game since this is where most of the time-based activities and battles can be accessed..

• Arena - displays the current Arena where you can participate in battles (except for the Training Arena, the game program decides in which Arena you can participate based on your number of Trophies)
• Chest Slot - each player has a maximum number of four (4) Chest Slots where Treasure Chests which he obtains by winning battles are placed, the player can open each Chest instantly by using Gems or he can also choose to unlock them using Time (each type of Treasure Chest has different Unlock Time; the more rare it gets - the longer the waiting time), unfortunately unlocking of Chest using Time can ONLY be done one Chest at a time, once all Chest Slots are occupied you won't be able to receive a new Treasure Chest until a slot becomes vacant again

TIP 1 - if you do not wish to spend dollars for this game, then i suggest you just make use of the Unlock Time, NEVER use your Gems for unlocking Treasure Chests...

TIP 2 - since each type of Chest has different Unlock Time, i suggest you make a good schedule for opening each of your Chest (like open the 1 hour or 3 hour Chests during daytime, and just open the 8 hours or more Chests when you're about to sleep or if you want to take a break from the game)...

King Level
the blue sun-like icon in the image above tells a player's current King Level..
experience (EXP) points are needed to level up and it can be obtained by; upgrading Cards, accomplishing Achievements, and donating Cards..
each level up strengthens the King and his Towers, so it really is a must for every player to work on their EXP points...

Gold
the Gold coin is a key item used to purchase Cards and for performing Card upgrades..
maximum limit of Gold is 1,000,000...

Gems 
the green Gem is a key item used to purchase Treasure Chests, Gold, and for instantly opening Chests...

Trophies
it's a key item in the game used to determine in which Arena a player can participate in..
winning battles will reward you with Trophies, but losing battles will also cause you to lose some of your Trophies..
the higher the level of the Arena - the more rewards and the more rare the reward Cards will be...

TIP: make a good strategy before participating in battles, upgrade your Deck and wait for the right time if necessary...

Treasure Chests
the content depends on how rare the Chest is..
it always contains Gold coins and Cards, and sometimes Gems too..
the current Chest list are (arranged according to the image above, left-to-right and up-down):

• Wooden Chest
• Crown Chest
• Silver Chest
• Gold Chest
• Magical Chest
• Giant Chest
• Super Magical Chest

according to some sources, there's a fix order by which a player receives his Chest reward, and that cycle repeats once that player has already finished the preprogrammed pattern...

Free Chest
these are free Wooden Chest/s (based on the icon above, i believe a player can stock up to 2 at max), it has a waiting time of 4 hours per Chest...

Crown Chest
a free Chest which requires Crowns to open, it has a waiting time of 24 hours...

Crown Chest Requirements
once the Crown Chest quest is active, you will be asked to collect 10 Crowns..
you can earn Crowns by destroying Crown Towers during battle..
a player does not necessarily have to win a battle in order to fill the gauge (as shown above), he just needs to destroy as much Crown Towers as he can, and all those which he destroyed during the time of the quest will automatically be counted on the gauge until it becomes full..
destroying an opponent's King's Tower will automatically earn the player three (3) Crowns..
once full, the player can then open the Crown Chest to redeem his rewards, and he will have to wait for another 24 hours before the quest can be activated again...

Achievements
also accessible via the Battle Page, through a ribbon icon on the right then middle part of the screen..
here is a list of tasks which you can perform to earn some extra EXP points and Gems...

---o0o---

Cards Page
this is where you can view your Card collection, form your Deck/s, and upgrade your Cards...

Cards
the basic battle instrument for this game..
there are (currently) 4 types of Card based on their rarity namely:

• Common - no outline
• Rare - with orange outline (as shown in the sample image)
• Epic - with the purple outline
• Legendary - i haven't seen one yet, but according to sample images it is a hexagonal-shaped card

Cards may be that of a character, a structure, or a skill..
the usual stats of a Card are the Hitpoints and the Damage (though not for all)..
other parameters depending on the characteristic/s of a Card are: Range, Targets, Lifetime, Count, Hit Speed, Speed, etc...

Average Elixir Cost
Elixir is like the energy needed to summon Card/s during battle..
another parameter which can be viewed in the Cards Page is the Deck's average Elixir cost..
it gives the player an idea about his Deck's Elixir consumption..
the lesser the value - the faster he can do the summoning, the higher the value - the more time he'll need to deploy his Cards...

---o0o---

Clan Page
the page's content will ONLY be accessible for a player upon reaching King Level 3..
in here, you can Create your own Clan or Search an existing Clan for you to join, view Clan & Members information, do Friendly Battle, and the most important feature - Request and Donate Cards..
the Clan is an important feature of the game for leveling up, doing Card upgrades, and for players (if they don't want to spend dollars on this game) around the globe to interact and socialize (a system which encourages group effort)..

• Create Clan - creating a Clan costs 1,000 Gold
• Friendly Battle - if you want to test your Cards or Deck in actual 'fair' battle without sacrificing your precious Trophies, you can practice with your clan-mates using this Clan option
• Request/Donate Cards - helpful in stocking and upgrading each member's existing Cards

Request/Donate Cards
this is the very helpful purpose of the Clan Page..
for now, players are only allowed to request for Common and Rare Cards..
once used, the function will require 8 hours of waiting time before it can be used again..

• Request Cards - a player can use this function to ask his clan-mates to donate Card/s which he aims to stock and upgrade (NOTE: you can ONLY request for Cards which you have already unlocked)
• Donate Cards - the number of Cards which can be donated to a player depends on the rarity of the requested Card, a player can benefit from donating cards because he can earn EXP and Gold by doing so (as shown on the sample image above) and the amount of reward depends on the rarity of the Card being donated

LEVEL UP TIP - if you are using two or multiple android devices (each with unique Google account) or if you have a friend or clan-mate who is close to you..
you can help each other and use the Request Card function to gain easy EXP by continuously exchanging Rare Cards..
since you don't necessarily have to upgrade all the Cards in your collection (unless you have a lot of Gold), you can just continuously Request and Donate those Cards which you do not really need in battle..
in fact, you can just repeatedly use a single Rare Card for this trick...

---o0o---

Shop Page
found in the leftmost tab..
here is where you can purchase Cards, Treasure Chests, Gems, and Golds..

• Gold - can be used to purchase Cards (there are only 3 available unique Cards in the Shop per day, and the list changes every 24 hours), and (also used for upgrading Cards)

• Gems - the most useful key item in the game, Gems can be used to purchase Treasure Chests, Gold, and (you can also use Gems to instantly Open Treasure Chest)

• Money (Real World Dollars) - well, if you have money to spend, then you can purchase Gems to make your Clash Royale gaming experience a lot more easier

TIP: if you do not plan to buy Gems using dollars, then i suggest you stock your Gems and just STRICTLY use them to buy Gold...

 ---o0o---

Battle
again, this is accessible through the Battle Page..
two competing players need to be online in order to battle..
in actual battles, the player cannot choose his opponent, instead the game system chooses his rival based on the Trophies stats (to make it fair somehow)...

aside from the Cards which the player will have to summon in order to perform the attack against his opponent, he initially has 3 Towers in his side of the field..
these are called the Crown Towers; the King's Tower at the center and two (2) guard Towers located on both sides of the King's Tower..
each of this Tower has high Hitpoints and can attack enemies within their Range..
Crowns are earned for every Crown Tower you destroy, but destroying your rival's King's Tower will automatically give you three (3) Crowns (you can see the Crown counter on the right then middle side of the screen)..
the main objective of the battle is to destroy the King's Tower of the opponent (so you can automatically win the battle), or at least have the most number of Crowns...

for the Cards (refer to the bottom of the screen)..
a player can only choose among four (4) unique Cards at a given time (remember that each player has 8 Cards at max on his Deck)..
a fifth Card (the Next Card) is revealed on the left side of the Elixir Gauge, and it will automatically replace any Card which you decide to summon..
since all the displayed Cards are unique, considering that a player has 8 Cards on his Deck, then each of his remaining unused/undisplayed Card has a 20% chance of being the Next Card (Note that any Card which you summon has a chance of being the Next Card)..
as for the Elixir Gauge at the very bottom part of the screen, it periodically regenerates but ONLY has a maximum amount of 10...

in addition, the battle has a Timer (as shown in the top-right corner of the image above)..
the Timer is necessary to avoid prolonged battles..
and because of this, battles can have different outcomes:

• Sudden Death - this mode of the battle is activated when the initial time limit ends without a clear winner yet, an extension is given plus the Elixir regeneration rate is doubled in order to see who can really make an advantage
• Win - a winner is declared once a player completely destroys the King's Tower of his opponent, or whoever gets more Crown at the end of the battle, the winner gets his Trophies and Treasure Chest (if still applicable) and the loser loses some of his Trophies
• Draw - because of the Timer, there is a tendency that the battle will end up in a draw, no Trophies nor Treasure Chest is given away to players in case of a draw

i'm not really sure if there's a limit to the number of battles per day..
there's something written in the Arena's information which says (x20 per day), but i'm not sure what it refers to..
but for me, i only do battles whenever i have a vacant Chest Slot or whenever the Crown Chest quest is already active...

TIP: create a strategy based on your available Cards or Deck and NEVER let the Elixir Gauge stay full for a long time..
the proper positioning of units (who goes as the frontman and who provides support from behind), how fast they move, knowing their attack range (melee or ranged), knowing who they can target (ground units, air units, or just Towers), using the advantages of certain units over enemy units (who can beat who while only getting less or no damage at most), proper use of skills, etc., can be very helpful for a player's success in battle...


here's a direct link to the App via Google Play: Clash Royale


Disclaimer: i do not own any of the image featured in this particular blog post..
the power button of my tablet was once damaged due to Screenshot Apps, so i no longer make use of Screenshot App/s on all my Android devices..
all of the images here are products of random Google search, and i only edited some of them to fit my own presentation..
so the credit goes to whoever really owns them...


i guess that's all for now..
i hope this helps... :)