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Card Evolution - 2023 Summer Update
An in-depth look at what card evolution is, with evolved Barbarians stats and more.
update new card client update
One of the most important features in the upcoming June update (2023 Q2 update) is Card Evolution. It will completely change how Clash Royale is played.
In this post, we’ll go through what Card Evolution is, how you can unlock it, and show you how it works ingame using one of the evolved cards — Barbarians.
Tomorrow and throughout the week, we will talk about the other cards in detail, so you’ll understand how all the evolved cards behave. We’ll conclude at the end of the week with an in-depth look at other features and improvements in the game, e.g. details about Elite Levels and more. Come back everyday if you want to know the inside scoop about everything!
Table of Contents
- Card Evolution
- What are Card Evolutions?
- Evolution Slots
- How do you unlock evolutions? Evolution Shards
- Wild Shards
- Where to unlock shards
- Shard Overflow
- Which game modes can use Evolutions?
- Dark Elixir
- Evolved Barbarians
- Barbarians Card Art Update
- New App Icon
- Feedback
Card Evolution
Clash Royale cards are evolving to become more powerful. When the update is released, 4 cards can unlock their evolutions and learn special abilities.
The first evolutions have been teased during the past weeks, and they are:
- Barbarians
- Skeletons
- Firecracker
- Royal Giant
Every season, a new evolution will be released, so we’ll have around 10 by the end of the year. Over the next few days, we’ll share more details of these first 4 evolutions, but for now, lets focus on this new mechanic.
What are Card Evolutions?
This new mechanic allows some cards of your deck to evolve during a battle. To evolve a card, you’ll have to use it several times during a battle.
That amount of deployments needed to trigger an evolution will change for each card. For example, Barbarians need to be used twice to evolve. Once the evolved card is used, it goes back to its normal form, so you’ll be alternating between forms during each battle.
The amount of times you have to use a card to enable the evolution is known as cycles, so going back to our example, Barbarians evolve with 1 Cycle. Cheaper cards will usually need more cycles to evolve than ones with higher elixir cost.
Unlike Champions, evolution abilities don’t have to be triggered with a button. You can think of evolutions as being different cards: they’ll behave differently as soon as they are deployed.
Evolution Slots
Players unlock the evolution slot once they have reached King Level 7. This slot will be in the first position of your deck, and it’s where you’ll need to place the card that you want to evolve.
A card that has an evolution will not evolve if it isn’t placed in the evolution slot.
This means that you can only select up to one card from your deck to evolve. Over time, when more evolutions are released, more evolution slots will be added.
How do you unlock evolutions? Evolution Shards
To unlock each card evolution, you’ll need to collect 6 Evolution Shards. Shards are specific for each card. For example, you’ll need 6 Barbarian shards to unlock the Evolved Barbarians.
Wild Shards
There are also Wild Shards, which are type of Wild Card that can be converted into shards of any card, regardless of the rarity.
Where to unlock shards
Having to collect these shards to unlock card evolutions will make them feel more rewarding. This also introduces another strategy element to your card collection, as you’ll have to decide which evolution you want to unlock first. Evolution shards will available in:
- Season Shop (1 per season)
- Special Challenges
- Pass Royale (6 per season)
- Shop Offers
- Level Up chests (10)
Shard Overflow
Once you have unlocked an evolution, any additional shards you earn will be converted into cards. Depending on the rarity of the cards, the conversion amounts will be:
| Rarity | Overflow Value (Cards) | Overflow Value (Gold) |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 1,000 | 5,000 |
| Rare | 250 | 12,500 |
| Epic | 40 | 20,000 |
| Legendary | 4 | 80,000 |
| Champion | 4 | 160,000 |
In the beginning, all evolutions will be common cards, so shards will seem to be cheap items. But for higher rarities, these shards could become some of the most valuable items after Magic Books.
After the update is released, you’ll be able to earn several Wild Shards through special challenges, enough to unlock your favorite evolution.
Which game modes can use Evolutions?
Evolved cards can be used in most game modes that use your card collection, including 2v2, Duels, Clan Wars, Trophy Road, Path of Legends...
It might be easier to know which don’t:
- Classic Challenges
- Grand Challenges
- Draft modes
Dark Elixir
As we mentioned earlier, each card will need a specific number of cycles to evolve. During battles, you’ll be able to track this with the dark elixir diamonds that are displayed after evolvable cards are deployed.
You’ll see these indicators for your troops and the ones of your opponent. This will help you keep track of the evolution progress and know which cards are able to evolve.
Dark Elixir diamonds aren’t earned or collected during a battle, it’s simply a way to visualize evolution cycles.
Evolved Barbarians
These barbarians might seem like the others at first, but once they start hitting something, the difference will be obvious. With each hit they become angrier, resulting in 150% boosts to their Hit Speed and Movement Speed.
These boosts only last for 2 seconds, but given that barbarians attack every 1.3 seconds, this anger effect can stack up over time, making them much more effective against beefy tanks and swarms.
Evolved Barbarians also have 30% more Hit Points (HP) than the normal ones, so your opponents won’t be able to kill them with a single Fireball. Their attacks are also stronger, as they deal 9% more damage per hit than normal barbarians.
Barbarians need 1 Cycle to evolve, so during battles, you’ll be alternating between 1 normal deployment and 1 evolved.
Barbarians Card Art Update
Coinciding with the launch of the Card Evolution, the Barbarians card art will get a fresh coat of paint also. Here’s a before and after view, together with the evolved version. By far one of the best card art update ever! This makes the older version feels really dated. What do you think?
New App Icon
Update 2023-06-19: New app icon just for the launch!
Feedback
Are you excited about these new features? Share your feedback with us in the comment section below. Ask any questions you have!
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