Merge Tactics (Clash Royale): which leader to play after the mid-Season 10 balance update on August 4

Supercell released the mid-season balance notes for Merge Tactics, the auto-battler built into Clash Royale, on August 5, 2026. The changes, applied the day before, on August 4, touch only one category: leader quest objectives. Five leaders are affected, two eased, three toughened. No troop, no trait, no equipment moved that day.

Season 10 runs from July 13 to September 1. That leaves a little over three weeks to turn these adjustments into progress along the starred steel path, and the choice of leader now weighs more heavily than the choice of starting troops.

The same note also catches up on a batch of changes applied on July 2 and never published until now: six troops, one trait, two pieces of equipment and an equipment rework. Supercell explicitly acknowledges the publishing delay. In practical terms, this means the meta has been running for five weeks on numbers no one had been able to verify.

The five leaders adjusted on August 4

A useful reminder before the numbers: each leader has their own leader quest, with three tiers. Clearing each tier unlocks a quest orb. Lowering an objective means offering resources earlier in the match; raising it means delaying the snowball effect.

Supercell's justifications are clear. The Spirit Empress is named as the arena benchmark, and the studio says it hopes the other leaders can finally catch up to her: her second tier goes from 15 to 20 merges (+33%) and the third from 50 to 60 (+20%). Guardian Colossus and Royal King are each paying for a previous buff deemed too generous, with first tiers becoming demanding again (+50% and +100%).

In the other direction, the Goblin Queen loses the default-pick status she had gained, but gains more accessible tiers: Supercell admits it overestimated the contribution of her bonus 2 hit points. The Graveyard Queen, meanwhile, relied too heavily on having a witch in the first two rounds to kick off her quest; her second tier drops from 20 to 15 summons (-25%) and the third from 60 to 50 (-16.7%).

Why a quest objective is worth more than a stat buff

This is the point many players underestimate. In season 10, Supercell overhauled the contents of the orbs, and the gap between tiers is huge:

• Quest orb 1: 6 elixir units or a piece of equipment.
• Quest orb 2: 2 one-star troops (baby dragon, giant, goblin cage, royal giant, skeleton dragon) or 12 elixir units.
• Quest orb 3: 1 three-star troop (archer queen, dagger duchess, electro giant, electro wizard, golden knight, mini P.E.K.K.A, mega knight, monk, P.E.K.K.A, skeleton king) or 24 elixir units.

A three-star troop obtained for free is the equivalent of nine merged copies. Pushing this third tier back by two or three rounds, as the nerf to the phoenix empress does, often makes it unreachable in a match that ends early. Conversely, hitting the first tier as early as round two grants an elixir tempo that the opponent can no longer catch up to.

This is also why the Royal King takes the harshest-looking nerf. His quest is about losing rounds: with the first tier pushed from 1 to 2 defeats, players now have to accept two setbacks before the first reward, on top of the health points that had already been reduced back in May. The leader remains playable, but he is no longer the obvious pick for a comfortable start to a match.

The July 2nd changes, finally quantified

The most useful part of the patch notes is probably the one that isn't from August. Here's what's actually been running in your matches since July 2nd.

Troops

• Golden Knight: HP 1,200 → 1,000 (-17%), attack speed 1 → 0.8 (-20%). Supercell considered him too dominant and wants to refocus interest on his dash attack rather than his raw DPS.
• Skeleton Dragon: HP 800 → 400, attack speed 1 → 0.8, damage 80 → 50. This is the harshest nerf of the batch. The stated goal is to make him counterable at low merge levels while preserving his power at levels 3 and 4. Note: the percentages shown in the French patch notes appear to be swapped between attack speed and damage, so only the raw values should be trusted.
• Dagger Duchess: HP 900 → 1,200 (+33%), HP gain per level 1.4% → 1.6%. She is explicitly repositioned as a direct melee rival to the Golden Knight.
• Bomber: damage 80 → 100 (+25%).
• Magic Archer: damage 70 → 80 (+14%).
• Baby Dragon: HP 800 → 900 (+12.5%).

Forest Trait

This is the structural change. The Forest trait previously granted no bonus to allies, even at maximum tier. It now grants an attack speed bonus to allies: 15% at 2/6, 30% at 4/6, and 60% at 6/6. A once-decorative trait suddenly becomes a viable composition axis, which is convenient since the Ronin, the new leader of the season, belongs to the Forest Gang.

Equipment

• Fisherman's Hook: slow duration 0 s → 3 s. The item goes from a repositioning gadget to a genuine control tool.
• Protector's Shield: durability 6 → 5 (-16.7%), deemed too stifling during the early rounds, when teams are still small.
• Valkyrie's Axe (rework): radius 1 → 2, durability 10 → 3, damage split 50% → 100%. It goes from an attrition item to a burst area-damage item, with only three triggers.

Which leader to bring between now and September 1st

If your goal is to climb the starred steel path, the trade-off comes down to three cases.

You're looking for consistency: the Goblin Queen once again becomes the best compromise. Her thresholds at 2/8/20 goblins fill up passively as soon as the composition contains two or three Goblin units, and the Goblin Lute lets you force one more onto any troop. The nerf to her bonus health mostly costs you against aggressive compositions; the quest, meanwhile, remains very easy to complete.

You're playing for the late game: the Sepulchral Queen becomes serious. Her tombstone summons a skeleton every few seconds, leveling up at 4, 8, then 16 summons, and it counts toward the Necromancy trait. With a third threshold brought down to 50 summons, a game that goes to the final rounds now unlocks the richest orb, meaning a 3-star troop.

You've been sticking with the Spirit Empress: don't drop her just yet. Supercell still considers her the most competitive, and the nerf only affects the pace of her rewards, not her ability. That said, you now need to build toward merging: prioritize cheap units bought in duplicate rather than an early upgrade, otherwise the 20-merge threshold arrives too late.

The Ronin, meanwhile, remains a choice of personal expression more than efficiency. His Double Blade ability requires designating a hex before the round and guessing the opponent's path; his quest, defeating 1/3/5 troops with Double Blade, severely punishes a bad read. He can only be unlocked via the starred steel path this season, with no associated purchasable skin in the leaders' cosmetics shop.

What to do this week

Two concrete priorities. First, go back over your Forest compositions: the trait could be ignored before July 2nd, it no longer can be, and many opponents still haven't factored in the attack speed bonus at 6/6. Second, stop investing in the Skeleton Dragon early in the game: at 400 HP, it can no longer hold the front line and only becomes worthwhile again once leveled up to 3 or 4.

On the equipment side, the item pool has increased to 16 items since July 31st. The Fisherman's Hook and its 3-second slow deserve a priority test on a melee unit that needs to survive the first wave; the Valkyrie's Axe, with only three charges now, should be reserved for a troop that's guaranteed to reach the enemy pack.