Clash of Clans and Clash Royale are the most played mobile games and there's a reason for that: They're super awesome. Now, don't  just play them. Get really good at them. Why not? You will want to play anyways. Ready? Clash it. But Clash it good.

Clash Royale

Join a club, really

It's the best. You can request cards from your fellow clan members and level up your favorite cards a bit quicker than waiting for them to appear in your Victory Chests. You're also able to gain gold and King level points faster by donating extra cards to your other clan mates. Leveling up your King Level increases your tower's HP, and you need gold to upgrade your cards. Join up early and be an active member in your clan. Trust us!

Two is company: attack in pairs

Drop at least two troops at one time to maximize your effectiveness, oh and wait for your elixir to charge up. Like, say you want to send in a Giant. If you pair him with a flying troop, your opponent's troops will lock on and attack the Giant, allowing your air troops to offer support and pick off the ground troops. Cool, uh?

Figure out your opponent’s battle deck

Try to make a note of the cards in your opponent's battle deck, and make note if any patterns emerge. For example, if you see them use a Fireball and arrow attack early on, you should note the risk to amass a large group of ground melee troops. Especially if you haven't seen one of those cards played in a while.  Sit on those swarm cards until your opponent plays that long-ranged card with the massive area damage. Time it right, and you'll drop your troops at the perfect moment when your opponent is least-prepared to defend against them. Knowing this, it's important to use those valuable counter cards at the right time.

Aptoide taught me

A cool but underrated Clash Royale feature is TV Royale. You can watch replays of matches between the best players in the world. What makes this super useful is that you get to see how to use and counter cards you may not have encountered yet. Or card combinations that you may have never considered. Also, check YouTubers. Some are creating fantastic content around Clash Royale.

Building your deck

Once you've played through the game for a while - unlocking and leveling up cards - you will find your own strategies and combinations. But you'll want every deck to include: 1 low Elixir cost ground troop, 1 ranged troop, 1 high-hitpoint troop, 1 flying troop, 1 damage-causing Spell and 1 troop for countering.

Take it slow

It's a good strategy to wait for full Elixir before making that first move. Don't rush, stay calm.

Use a chest tracker app

Want to play without spending a dime? But also plan out when you're getting gold, giant, magical or super magical chests? There's an app for that!

Clash of Clans

Just be patient

Don't cave and spend your gems on speeding up production. Save them for something important that you get to keep. Make a point to complete achievements and clear natural obstacles to build your gem count. Above all else, gems should be spent on builders huts. After that, there's a wide range of discretion on gem spending.

Offence is the best defense

First build up your town hall, then get your elixir production up and running so you can start stockpiling resources right away. Then get your barracks and camps upgraded so you can get started on building an army. Neither of those structures provide resources to raiders, so feel free to plant them outside your walls. After that, flesh out your defenses with walls and cannons.

Shields up!

Getting attacked sucks, but luckily if 30% of your town is destroyed or your Town Hall comes crumbling down, you'll have a 12-hour shield. If 90% of your base is wiped out, you'll get an extra four hours. But don't go out and start attacking right away! That will cancel out your shield immediately. This safety time is valuable, so use it to your advantage. Take some time to figure out how you can improve your economy, build up your army, upgrade towers (since they don't fire when upgrading). Or simply stockpile and spend resources before the pain train comes rolling around again. Keep tabs on your shield timer.

Master your land

Have as many walls between your resources and the outside as possible. To do this, you'll want to make sure there are no gaps in your perimeter, make sure that there are no spawnable tiles within your base. You'll want to make sure that structures are tight together, so cannons and other defensive structures can cover as many of them as possible. Put your buildings into small compartments formed by upgraded walls. Put your most powerful defenses more closely to the center of your base; provide as much of a buffer zone with other buildings and walls as possible, so attacking troops have to take longer chewing on other stuff to get to the guns.

Pick your fights

First, look at their Town Hall level - if it's far lower than yours, you'll be getting a smaller cut of the spoils. You'll get to see exactly how many resources are available for plundering. At the very least, you want to be able to earn back the resources you spend on troops. If resources are all you're after, it's often more profitable to send in a handful of goblins and ultimately lose the battle than winning a full-blown assault that costs a lot of resources.

Make friends

Get into organized clan play. These are great ways to socialize in the game and coordinated attacks can help you bring in some pretty good loot hauls, too. Keep in mind that although you can use clans to call in back-up both for attacks and defense, you'll be expected to contribute troops too. Team work! Communicate, get advice from senior members when you're trying to figure out what to do next. Your clan may have aspirations for competitive league play, which can get pretty intense and cool.

Go to war

You've got a whole day to prepare before war kicks off. Use the scout function for your target enemy encampment to get a lay of the land, and build your army around defeating it. If the walls are low level, go land. If the air defense isn't upgraded, get balloons. Make specific requests in your clan chat for the types of troops you want to send in. Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of who you are attacking will help you build the best army to take it on.