Prince

“Don't let the little pony fool you. Once the Prince gets a running start, you WILL be trampled. Deals double damage once he gets charging.”

The Prince card is unlocked from the Training Camp (Tutorial). He is a single-target, melee troop with high hitpoints and damage. He has a special ability: if he walks 3 tiles uninterrupted, he will begin to charge, gaining a movement speed and damage boost. Upon hitting a troop or building, he will deal double his normal damage and stop charging. A Prince card costs 5 Elixir to deploy. He resembles a Knight in golden armor, wields a striped lance, has a brown beard, and rides on a pony.

Strategy

The Prince is best used as an offensive troop — with his ability, the Prince can destroy enemy Crown Towers with ease.
- Due to the Prince's speed when he is charging, he is effective for early offensive attacks.
- He is a great card to deploy when the opponent has little Elixir left to counter him, as he will quickly get to the opposing Crown Tower. However, during the double Elixir period, the opponent will likely be able to counter him due to the rapid Elixir generation rate.
The Prince can be effectively paired with a splash unit. The splash unit and the Prince can cover each other's weaknesses. This can be a very difficult combo to defeat without using a lot of Elixir.
- Be careful if the enemy has a strong spell like the Rocket. If aimed accurately, it could potentially cripple the Prince and take out the splash unit at the same time for a positive Elixir trade.
If the player has a push going on one lane, they can drop a Prince in the opposite lane. The opponent will have to counter both the push and the Prince, which can sometimes be hard to do. If the opponent ignores one lane and works on countering the other, one of their Towers will be destroyed or significantly damaged.
The Prince can be paired with high hitpoint troops such as the Giant. The Giant will soak up the hits while the Prince inflicts damage. However, without support from air targeting splash damage troops or spells, this combo can easily be taken down by large swarms or air troops.
Pairing the Dark Prince with the Prince is a deadly strategy. The Prince can take out more powerful single troops while the Dark Prince takes out weaker units that come in large numbers. This is a strategy known as the Double Prince combo.
- This strategy cannot be defeated by surrounding the group. When charging, the Dark Prince has a 360° splash attack, similar to a Valkyrie, and can therefore kill most, if not all of a swarm in one charge attack. His regular attack also deals splash damage, so swarms have nearly no effect on this combo.
- The P.E.K.K.A. is a hard counter to this strategy. She counters the Prince for a positive Elixir trade, and can be used in a counter push after.
- A very simple method to defeat the Double Prince push is to place a Minion Horde. This could result in a massive 4 Elixir advantage if the enemy does not retaliate. However, it is very likely that the Minion Horde itself will be countered with cards such as Fire Spirits or Arrows, but it is also very likely that the Minions will have defeated at least one of the two Princes by then.
- Luring the two Princes away from the Tower with a cheap moderately high health troop such as the Ice Golem can work. The Princes will stop charging once they hit the Ice Golem and will be distracted by it, giving the player enough time to drop a swarm or another unit behind the Princes to take them out.
Pairing the Double Prince push with the P.E.K.K.A. is a devastating strategy. The P.E.K.K.A. can tank hits for the Princes and can help them defeat the opponent's troops. The P.E.K.K.A.'s immense health can also give the player time to get a spell ready in case the opponent tries to use a card which all three of the troops are weak to.
- Due to the lack of anti-air units and the amount of Elixir that this strategy costs, an Inferno Dragon paired with a tank to distract the three units is more than capable of destroying this push. Its rather high health also makes it resistant to any spells the opponent would be able to cast before at least one of their units dies. However, a surprise Electro Wizard or Freeze could easily catch you off-guard, resulting in the Inferno Dragon rendered useless while the tank gets slaughtered and then the towers.
- A Minion Horde is also a powerful counter and results in a massive 11 Elixir advantage. . However, it is very likely that the Minion Horde itself will be countered with cards such as Fire Spirits or Arrows, but it is also very likely that the Minions will have defeated at least one of the two Princes or the P.E.K.K.A. by then. Then again though, due to the fast movement speed, very high damage and the huge combined health of the entire push, the Arena Tower will still suffer massive damage and it is likely that even with a Minion Horde attacking the push, one of the towers will be destroyed.
If deployed correctly, the Prince is able to push other allied troops while charging. This allows a player to deploy a troop directly in front of the Prince as he is charging. They will both reach the Crown Towers faster and can be used as mutual shields for each other.
- This works best when used with bulky melee troops, especially the Valkyrie. The Valkyrie can tank hits for the Prince while also removing swarms which are often the bane of the Prince.
- However, this trick does not work as effectively with very large troops, like the Giant or P.E.K.K.A., as they are very hard to push and will end up blocking the Prince more often than not.
- The combo becomes more effective if the player deploys an air-targeting troop such as the Wizard or Musketeer behind the Prince in case the opponent deploys air troops.
The Prince, being a single target troop, is most often countered with swarms like the Skeleton Army or Barbarians, as it is simple and cost-effective to do so.
Strong, durable troops such as the P.E.K.K.A., Sparky, or Giant Skeleton are powerful and effective in eliminating the Prince. Do not use weaker, single-unit glass cannons, as they will quickly be killed, resulting in a waste of Elixir.
If the Prince is unable to charge, a Mini P.E.K.K.A. can take him out for a positive Elixir trade.
Using Skeletons or Goblins can lure the Prince away from other units and distract him, giving other units time to take him out.
The Tombstone and Guards are great counters to the Prince. They can withstand multiple Prince attacks and are a positive Elixir trade against him.
The Freeze can also be used to counter the Prince, as the Prince will be frozen and allow the player to deploy units to eliminate him without having the Prince's backup troops attacking said units. This also resets his charge attack.
Cards like The Log, Zap, Lightning, or the Ice Spirit can be useful since they all can reset his charge ability.

History

The Prince was released with Clash Royale's soft launch on 4/1/16.
On 11/1/16, a Balance Update decreased the Prince's health by 4%.
On 23/3/16 a Balance Update decreased the Prince's charge speed by 13%.
On 3/5/16, the May 2016 Update fixed the "range bug" and decreased the Prince's range to melee (from 2.5), but his effective range remained unchanged.
On 21/6/16, a Balance Update increased the Prince's damage by 9%.
On 24/8/16, a Balance Update increased the Prince's damage by 2%. This means that a level 8 Prince will now be able to kill level 13 Barbarians in 2 hits or 1 charge strike.
On 12/12/17, a Balance Update increased the Prince’s health by 5% and his hit speed to 1.4 seconds (from 1.5 seconds).
On 20/6/18, the Summer Update increased the distance required for charging to 3.5 tiles (from 2.5).

Trivia

The Prince and the Dark Prince ride the same breed of pony, as stated on Clash Royale's Official Website.
Even though he has a very long lance, he has a melee range.
- The Prince still has a little bit of effective range, however. When he is attacking the King's Tower, the other Princess Tower normally can't target him. Also, he can still attack a target even when he's directly behind a friendly unit.
- His range was shown as 2.5 before the May 2016 Update as mentioned above.
- The Prince can attack a troop directly across the river, but no further.