What's the WORST Balance Change in Clash Royale History?

Its easy to blame Supercell for bad balance changes, since there's such a big audience to impress. But sometimes, its hard to defend Clash Royale when they make appalling decisions in terms of balancing cards. But have you ever wondered what is the worst balance change in Clash Royale history? In this video, I hope to truly answer that question to find out truly what is the worst buff/nerf a card has ever received in Clash Royale history.
Credits:
Yasunori Mitsuda for the music
C418 for some of the music
@orangejuice for some of the clips
@ErnieC3 for some of the clips

[@epsilonclash]

Just a couple things to note: 1. I have made a mistake with the executioner, it was so complex that I fumbled! Below are the corrections that I need to make: A: at 12:52 I made a mistake with the range buff. It was only his initial range that was increased by 1 tile. His axe range was unchanged. B: this aforementioned range buff actually made the card pretty strong. I severely underestimated how strong the executioner would be following this buff. Since I didn't mention how strong it was after this buff its a good idea that I mention it now. But since it still depended on tornado it wasn't completely gamebreaking. Sorry if I called executioner terrible tho lol. C: 13:23 was first attack time interval not attack time interval

[@EnReaper]

I find the monk nerf by increasing his elixir cost by 1 is proof of how devastating such a change is. They may have learned this from netting the 3 musketeers

[@solwail5378]

😅الله 😊😊

[@geometryemperor]

In Grand Challenges, the Witch's win rate during November of 2019 was 9%, the lowest a card ever had. This alone says how horrible that specific balance change really was.

[@epsilonclash]

Holy crap I didn’t even know that, but yeah I remember playing at the time, truly dark times for the witch

[@JohnnyCage12]

the witch herself outshined her 2019 november grand challenge winrate after little prince's release, her winrate was 4% in grand challenge with 0% use rate. It was real, I was looking on how much usage rate lp had on release and i saw the witch's winrate to 4% with 0% userate, wizard had 10% and archer queen had 23% and musketeer with 18% it was so bad...

[@epsilonclash]

yeah little prince kinda ruined a lot of cards for no apparent reason

[@s.o.k.1393]

9% winrate is wild

[@andreaspanagiotou5029]

Heal spell went from 0% usage rate to 0% usage rate omggg

[@epsilonclash]

ikr 🤯

[@MrxD-cg5xs]

I remember the EBarb buffs very well. In fact, I quit the game over them. It was such a boring and repetitive experience, pretty much just felt like you had two options: 1. play EBarbs 2. lose to someone else playing EBarbs They were way too overpowered for way too long. I got back into playing the game a little this year, but to this day when I see someone play EBarbs I get PTSD from those times and can physically feel my motivation for playing the game drop.

[@epsilonclash]

Yep. I played during the time as well. But I got lucky tho since I got good lvl ebarbs so I wasn’t bombarded as much as some players and being f2p it still sucked when some people had max level e barbs

[@peterchristensen8843]

I don't play anymore but I hated my life when that happened because as a F2P the only deck I had leveled was my lava loon deck and I had to play into Ebarbs every match.

[@lord6074]

I remember filling my deck with ebarb counters, Tombstone, Ice wizard and Dark Prince were my best friends in late 2016, i struggled against RG but it didn't matter. I don't even remember the last time i lost against ebarbs lmao.

[@koki5093]

I love how you put an image of the wizard when talking about something bad lol Also youre underrated as hell! Great video

[@epsilonclash]

lol thanks for noticing that, I knew someone would make a mention of it eventually. Glad you liked the video!

[@jorisvanperlo6008]

Royal recruits from 6 to 8 elixer is a top 3 pick for me

[@epsilonclash]

Yeah that was an honourable mention for me, in fact it was even in my script at one point. But then you start to think, was it really that bad? Leading up to CRL royal recruits were in desperate need of a nerf otherwise CRL woulda been ruined, so it makes sense that they temporarily nerfed it until they could rework it

[@jorisvanperlo6008]

That is true. They killed the card buy it was necessary

[@user-jf3ru6vq6e]

you could never play recruits for 6 Elixer. They changed it before it came out to everyone

[@civicmimiv]

Gratz if he wasn't problematic:

[@epsilonclash]

why is everyone saying that 💀

[@hondurasen3632]

​@@epsilonclashhe had a creepy story when he was younger. U can see videos about it

[@gavinaaric]

The ones right now nerfing Barb Barrel and Bowler while not even nerfing Log and Executioner which don’t even need nerfs and to most people are better options. they are just nerfing them just be so the little prince would still get buffed

[@epsilonclash]

Yeah

[@hondurasen3632]

Exe doesn't need a nerf. It's fairly balanced tbh and it isn't as used as bowler. Yea bowler tbh doesn't really need a nerf but it could kill the card

[@gavinaaric]

@@hondurasen3632 I never said exe did I just said it’s a better bowler

[@galliumn8684]

in my opinion the change with mirror increasing levels by 2 should be up there. The whole time the mirror was in this state, double e-giant, phoenix cycle(when it first came out), and earthquake cycle were ridiculous to fight against, as there was no counterplay against them. Just running mirror in any deck archetype during that time would usually just make your deck better by default.

[@epsilonclash]

Yeah I was thinking about it coz I rmbr the level 16 e giant Meta and it was devastating, but tbh the ones that made the video took so much thinking and debating that I was thinking of adding more

[@galliumn8684]

@@epsilonclash thats fair enough, i was mostly thinking because of the earthquake meta, where they literally had to emergency nerf the earthquake damage due to the fact that double eq had no counters

[@AleyAppleGaming]

@@galliumn8684haha I remember this so well, I used it for a while with archer queen

[@zestyzucc7645]

I absolutely agree, and am devastated by the mirror nerf. In a more balanced meta, with effective counter play, increasing the level by 2 could be a perfectly fair and balanced change.

[@potatoe972]

As a 7-year mirror player I miss when this was the case. Level 16 inferno drag was so fun…

[@lightningblade9117]

Magic archer and pekka will remain in the gutter, while cycle decks keep getting buffs for every evolution added.

[@epsilonclash]

That’s true for pekka but magic archer is quite balanced now

[@lightningblade9117]

@@epsilonclash Don't think so, his use and win rates plumetted for a reason.

[@epsilonclash]

oh yeah thats because of the little prince lol. It's broken the meta completely

[@hondurasen3632]

​@@epsilonclashmarcher is terrible. It's barely useable

[@epsilonclash]

Sorry if the audio quality or editing is bad, I had to edit this on my laptop since I've been on the move rn! Got way more videos coming out so sub if u enjoyed since this took agggeessss. Also, I'm thinking of changing the thumbnail, lmk if I should or nah

[@neelshanbhag4764]

unironically this is probably ur best edited video lol

[@LittleWinged]

Thought it was pretty good

[@epsilonclash]

thanks!

[@LeedootClash]

I love the editing keep it this way

[@gucciigab1206]

really cool video but the pop sound effect may be a bit too overused

[@chargegarg8234]

It has to be the executioner rework for me where they made his range like a melee card. Wtf were they thinking?

[@epsilonclash]

Yeah lmao it’s bad, tbh the top 3 could be in any order that’s how bad they are

[@hondurasen3632]

Witch is way worse of a rework than executioner. After the rework in october exe was a fairly balanced card. Yea it boxed out hunter really hard but it was a balanced card

[@ultimazilla9814]

wouldn't that basically make him a valk?

[@chargegarg8234]

How would it make him a valk? Less tanky, only attacks forward, has a throwable projectile

[@ultimazilla9814]

@@chargegarg8234 you said melee range, and I didn't exactly memorize the card.

[@mr.oofball2666]

Love the video. But some things I think u should consider is getting rid of the popping sound effect when something goes on screen like at 8:53. It gets really repetitive and I believe its not needed. Also when you start talking about a new card I don't think you should do the fade out thing where u get quieter feels forced. This isnt meant to be rude or anything just think it would increase the viewers experience lmao. Good Video Though.

[@epsilonclash]

Thanks for the feedback, that helps me out! I will try to improve that for the next vid

[@xVaoz]

Definitely the witch buff that gave it +220% damage

[@epsilonclash]

Yeah that was so bad. Got no clue what the devs were thinking lol

[@handheadz944]

Yo this is underrated asf you need to make more your gonna blow up fr frr

[@epsilonclash]

thanks lol, dw tho i got way more planned! 2024 gonna be crazy

[@Yusufoh8]

Personally would have added Night Witch. She has been redone and refucked so many times. I personaly would have gave her more health, slightly less DMG, removed death bats and gave lifesteal.

[@epsilonclash]

Her death bats are what made her legendary though. It’s tough to balance the night witch to be honest since she wasn’t even meant to be a legendary

[@marcorodriguez8792]

I remember the EBarbs buddy very well because I enjoyed it. I used EBarbs on release even though they weren't good but I knew they would get a buff eventually and sure enough they did. I can understand why they were hated but I definitely enjoyed using them

[@pipysnipy5929]

To be fair they really did try to fix the exy and witch but it was proven so ineffective that they cancelled the wizard rework

[@utopek]

yo man love the editing style (and the type of script like yk) how did you do that like do you have tips?? (hope you get what i mean)

[@epsilonclash]

it took me probs around 24 hours for the whole vid. A general rule thats been following for me is each minute takes an hour to edit, but thats just coz im slow lol, hopefully i can get faster. Tbh it takes a lot of time which is why I'm guessing not a lot of people do it. And you also need to know a lot about the game, and I've been playing this game since it launched so I've seen the highs and lows of every card (from what i can rmbr at least lol).

[@CMA17]

Royal recruits elixir cost from 6 to 8 shouldve been mentioned atleast

[@Sugarist0]

The 2019 Halloween patch might go down as the worst patch in the history of the game. Witch obviously happened, and it was also the season that introduced e golem at its completely broken state. The buffs to night witch and wall breakers also ended up having major impacts to the meta in the long run, and would end up needing major nerfs in the future. (Also I thought there was an exe buff that month which made him absolutely broken for a season but it turns out it was the season after)

[@MrIrrelevant58]

19:30 I would argue that the Royal Recruits nerf of 6 to 8 elixir with no other stat changes is harsher than the Witch nerfs in November 2019.

[@sztrlb123]

You forgot about Goblin Giant buffs, that is still going for 6 months now in 2023 :p Its being used everywhere usage rate of 50+%, which is higher than any of the card you showed in the video.

[@Tatnotsusgiri]

you make good videos despite your small channel I hope you get big some day🙏

[@epsilonclash]

thank you for the support!! I appreciate it

[@danever159]

You over use 1 sound effect I'm your editing and you got to many visuals on screen for to little time to read them or take them in much.

[@epsilonclash]

Oh ok, thanks for the feedback

[@Sans_The_Skeleton]

I feel like the Mighty Miner speed buff was just a joke buff a dev made for the dev build that accidentally made it to the release build

[@epsilonclash]

Yeah lol

[@GatlingGuy5064]

My least favorite has to be the prince's distance for charge being increased from 2.5 to 3.5 tiles in 2018. There STILL hesitant to revert this change to this day.

[@epsilonclash]

yeah but it wasnt as game breaking as the ones on this list, but i see where ur coming from since 1 tile is a major difference

[@bedirhandalgc507]

Nothing beats the mega knight when he first released... By nothing i mean literaly NOTHING. he got massive hp equal to pekka and sometines more, and area dmg with extreme damage. And also his targeting were just straight from hell. Like when he targeted one enemy, he wont change the targeting until he kills the enemy or getting zapped unlike today. Today he change target when you deploy something near to him. If he aimed at your princess tower, congrulations. Your 1.5k hp just gone no matter what you do to him.

[@epsilonclash]

Maybe you are right about that, but I didn’t include it in this video since it wasn’t made strong due to a balance change. But I agree with you on the fact the mega knight was very strong when released

[@bedirhandalgc507]

@@epsilonclash i understand that u didnt add him. Cards mentioned in video are either op and still usable after every change, or horrible and not useful at all. But mega knight either of them, cuz after all changes hes still in some of decks. Thanks for replying tho ❤️

[@pigmacpig]

new fun drinking game! take a shot any time you hear the pop sound effect in this video!!!

[@rianzoks8748]

great video. I remember that 2019 had a lot of questionable balance, a strange time...

[@Car-rp8dg]

Greta video! However I do want to say that your voice gets way to quiet at some times (mainly at the start and end of a segment) but other than that no real flaws

[@jessehickman668]

There is only 1 game Ive rage quit 2 maybe 3 times….for a whole year once. I’ve probably thrown a remote controller a couple times but only this game has gotten me so pissed I’ve said F it I’m out

[@epsilonclash]

lol was it to ebarbs or royal giant?

[@Boberson770]

Royal recruits elixir nerf from 6 to 8 exists.

[@user-ox2vf3fo9u]

this isn't a balance change so much as a lack of one but poison needs a nerf and has done for over a year currently

[@w69b]

Your choice of music is always my fav soundtracks from minecraft lol thats great

[@epsilonclash]

Looking out for you 🫡

[@niku.1591]

Yoo,you deserve a like and sub!Keep up with that type of content it s preety interesting

[@epsilonclash]

thanks!!

[@rennsnt]

i think instead of having transitions to new paragraphs, you should just do clean cuts and start playing a different background song to make the viewer know that its a new topic. very well created tho, i was entertained all through

[@neelshanbhag4764]

u legit never miss 😭

[@epsilonclash]

thanks lol

[@indominusrex2859]

Casual being on the toilet is the realestthing ever

[@ILostToRadiance]

Gratz vibes from this channel

[@epsilonclash]

I try my best to be unique 🤷‍♂️

[@user-io8tj2xn2u]

Accurate 0:09

[@epsilonclash]

lol

[@slippy9251]

Your video style reminded me of a different CR youtuber 💀, I liked and subbed though cause great vid.

[@epsilonclash]

lol thanks for that!

[@jkndunijj2njn922]

🌲🌲🌲🪓👨‍🦲

[@epsilonclash]

Yeah 🫡

[@gavinaaric]

Also one thing you put miner in the monk section

[@epsilonclash]

Lol no it was meant to be a minor nerf which is why I used miner

[@gavinaaric]

@@epsilonclashoh

[@epsilonclash]

yeah lol

[@veer1200]

Bro, I love your videos.❤

[@epsilonclash]

Thank you so much! Dw tho I got so many more videos in the works!

[@veer1200]

Bro, I'm waiting for those❤️‍🔥

[@lavasticgaming2651]

Love how you put your effort by replying to every comment, love the vid btw

[@epsilonclash]

Thank you for the support! I mean it would be rude not to reply tho lol

[@lavasticgaming2651]

@@epsilonclash nah chill many big you tubers don't reply

[@epsilonclash]

Yeah that’s true

[@AbstractVen0m]

@@lavasticgaming2651they also have thousands of comments to respond to, it’s just easier and less time consuming to ignore most of them.

[@epsilonclash]

Yeah I try to respond to every comment since I’m not a huge KZbinr

[@natsuki4271]

These popping sounds are braaking my brain

[@epsilonclash]

mb lol

[@iwuvweirdness]

Goblin Hut nerfed to one Spear Goblin on death

[@Hazeiss]

I think supercel killed the witch because they wanted to soft remove her before buffing her later

[@royalheadquarters8449]

I mean... Nerfing the health of the elixer collector to 50 would have been sufficient at the time too, I think.

[@andy-cc4cn]

ur channel is so underrated wtf

[@viplove6270]

I miss og clash royale

[@epsilonclash]

Me too

[@calibconnery6608]

Great video man.

[@epsilonclash]

Glad you enjoyed it! I got more planned!

[@SassyOrangeGaming]

I think this is overedited, I can hardly see what you put on the screen before it goes away, also the popping sounds are kind of annoying. Other than that, good video

[@hivebean]

Now we got LP....

[@Dot.Dot.Dot...]

I really like this video! But please, less pop sound effects

[@epsilonclash]

Glad you liked it! Sorry about the sound effects tho! I’ll improve it for next the next vid

[@ChaoOnYoutube]

i love how people start to call cards useless the moment they're actually skilled. It's also stupid how y'all complain and THEN cry that the card isn't op anymore. smh.

[@epsilonclash]

Well I find myself doing that sometimes! But yeah it’s probs a bad habit lol

[@kevin3132]

Royal Recruits left the chat. No joke that was the biggest nerf in history just +2 Elixier and you didnt even mention it

[@epsilonclash]

Yeah it was on my script I was gonna include it in honourable mentions but the nerf itself, yeah it was huge but sc did it so that they could work on it without them influencing CRL

[@carlosemilio385]

I'd say the worst balance change was ignoring the wizard and not giving him the rightful balance change he deserves.

[@jimmyv5494]

Lmao royal delivery is useless is nowadays? It does fireball levels of damage for 1 less elixir and the shielded troop spamming makes it such a monster card in defense (along with the fairly generous radius). It was straight up busted before, not just “a good card”. Before little prince, pigs deck with royal delivery was one of the strongest and most consistent decks, and now, royal delivery is still used with pigs and little prince. Or delivery in any defensive chip deck. I’m not sure what you’re judging some of these cards on…

[@epsilonclash]

Yes I was talking about how in 2020 it became useless due to its nerf. Even by todays standards while it’s massively underrated it’s still a below average card. I see where your coming from though

[@jimmyv5494]

@@epsilonclash hmm, I think I understand what you mean. I don’t think royal delivery was that necessary back in 2020 for the damage like it is nowadays (it massively chips Lp and pigs). The stats you showed are interesting too since that was the perception back then too. It dropped so low in usage. It’s very weird people thought the pushback was the only good things. Very interesting that supercell knew delivery was a very strong card even tho it’d usage rate was fairly normal. Sorry for my attitude, I think I understand your point better!

[@epsilonclash]

thats all good! If its ur favourite card then im sorry I talked bad about it 😭

[@ptsdmoment]

Gratz. The non predator version

[@epsilonclash]

💀💀

[@Holenpense]

Like the video and appreciate the efforts that went into it, but the constant annoying pop sfxs and the every line of caption being slapped on with a popping animation made me feel like an adhd kid watching those attention span reducing videos on TikTok 💀💀

[@DatHoodBooger69]

Got this on my reccomended

[@epsilonclash]

Did u enjoy it?

[@DatHoodBooger69]

@@epsilonclash yessir, it felt high quality. Watched until the end

[@zisischartampilas6601]

im sorry DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT ....MIGHTY MINER HAD A FAST SPEED WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTtt

[@epsilonclash]

Yep, it’s true

[@deleted-something]

Poor heal spell

[@d00mie32]

Elite Barbs should been 7 Elixir even nowadays it should.

[@epsilonclash]

Nowadays since it’s slower it’s not as bad as the older ones, older ones gave me nightmares

[@DemiCape]

elite barbs at 7 elixir would absolutely kill the card and right now it isn’t even that good, it is very much an average card, not that op, maybe even below average if you compare them to other cards, especially with the evolution meta so far.

[@gamerzzone7343]

Hmm These Cards seems Balanced enough I think they should Nerf Miner

[@epsilonclash]

Yeah miner needs a nerf

[@joemama5400]

This is such a great video! You’re like Gratz but you make better videos and you aren’t a kid toucher

[@epsilonclash]

Wow, thanks!

[@edjfan123]

The worst balance change of all time is not changing the wizard at all

[@CatmunistCom]

can someone make a tally of every time he uses the POP sound effect in this video? jesus christ dude

[@andrzejk3075]

how on earth does a great vid like this get only 300 likes?

[@epsilonclash]

Thanks for the support! I appreciate it

[@user-vw1zh4pf3m]

Ermm... actually the rg buff was from 6-6.5 tiles NOT 5.5-6 tiles

[@epsilonclash]

Well, it was true for both! 5.5-6 tiles was it’s true range, 6-6.5 was it’s range from the centre of its hit box. I should have probably made that clearer

[@user-vw1zh4pf3m]

@@epsilonclash ohhhh ok

[@eliot6836]

Nerf credit card

[@supermannygamer2003]

Epsilion > Gr@@&×! Gratz

[@epsilonclash]

Does it always have to be a rivalry lol

[@supermannygamer2003]

@@epsilonclash you clearly show your smarts over bias, and I have nothing but respect for it

[@epsilonclash]

thanks for the compliment! trying my best lol

[@Alec_von]

#buffminer

[@exlord699]

Gratz but not 445

[@epicxld8527]

Ong bros a copy cat

[@joemama5400]

@@epicxld8527nah he’s Gratz but not a pedo

[@champion1859]

What? The executioner was actually very overpowered during his rework idk why you're saying he sucks

[@epsilonclash]

He was overpowered but only in very specific scenarios. And to set up those specific scenarios it depended on tornado

[@champion1859]

@@epsilonclash I see well you say he had a 1% use rate during it but I've seen some say he had like up to 35% so it definitely didn't kill the card

[@epsilonclash]

Perhaps the 35% may have came from his usage in lower or mid ladder since cards like the exe or wizard do well in those scenarios due to their ease of use, but in competitive play executioner isn’t really used since it is easier to countrr

[@champion1859]

@@epsilonclash oh well I got that info from gratz or something

[@champion1859]

@@epsilonclash yeah I saw that he actually had a 37% use rate in gc in November of 2019

[@fa_say_hi_to_me]

good video

[@Smeg1]

3:49 after this moment i cant tell if this dude is bullshiting or not

[@epsilonclash]

what do you mean?

[@Smeg1]

@@epsilonclash I cant tell if your joking or not about the monk and royal delivery

[@epsilonclash]

why would i be joking? The nerfs were bad? They didn't even balance either card, they just straight up killed both of them. To this day both the royal delivery and monk have been left in a terrible position

[@Smeg1]

@@epsilonclash too me a casual player I don't see what's so bad about 1 extra elixir and I didn't even know that people used the royal delivery

[@epsilonclash]

1 elixir kind of means a lot lol, think about if hog rider was made to be 5 elixir. It would ruin it since he’s used as a cycle pressure cars

[@DADDITAbifireD]

The worst nerf is the little prince nerft 2day,not only the gardienne HP is needed,his DMG was so low he needed 3 hits to kill a goblin

[@forbes0708]

Too bad for you

[@Xi4V]

f

[@epsilonclash]

wdym

[@Xi4V]

@@epsilonclash i just leave random comments on every video i watch on KZbin and when i come back to these videos after some time i see that i watched it

[@aymandop]

Bro my comments are your video keep getting deleted😭. But I remember exe being way better than what you were saying.

[@aymandop]

btw great video seems very well made

[@epsilonclash]

lol really? Why tho? Did you swear or something? Idk how to turn down the yt comment flagging coz it’s so harsh but somehow bots get through 😒

[@epsilonclash]

Also I played when exe was reworked and he was actually really bad since he was a easy positive elixir trade

[@epsilonclash]

Thanks lol

[@aymandop]

​@@epsilonclash From what I remember (being a long time ago), the card itself was warping the meta. I think this video explains it better than I could. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWm4poaOnr6nerM

[@manudem]

for a moment I thought this was a Gratz video and was gonna comment #kidgroomer

[@imaok10]

Dude some advice... you were straight up yapping repeating the same words over and over from 0:45-2:00 without adding anything new. Would be better for retention if you were more concise with your words

[@drqgoss4361]

20 minutes of yapping

[@epicxld8527]

Copy such a hard copy of other KZbinrs literally same editing sound what a weirdo

[@Insertnamehere913]

3 minutes ago🤑🤑🤑

[@epsilonclash]

lmao yeah

[@axelshmontes14]

So for every card he keeps saying it's the worst nerf in CR history, wtf you're voice is annoying too

[@epsilonclash]

Yo chill bro, first of all I didn’t say each is the worst and I got no control over my voice 🤷‍♂️

[@LOL_MANN]

I hate how you are trying to 1:1 copy the editing style of the guy from Epstein island

[@GrizzSkinnerCR]

pls get rid of the popping noise you over use it so much