Merge Tactics Balance Changes: Hog Rider Gutted, Clan Nerfed

New Season Balance Changes Breakdown

The new Merge Tactics season brings one of the heaviest balance patches yet, and it lands almost entirely on the units and Traits that have been warping the meta. The Super Hog Rider takes a brutal hit to both hit points and earthquake damage, the Baby Dragon loses a big chunk of its hit speed and movement speed buff, and three of the strongest Traits in the game get pulled back into line. Meanwhile two of the weaker Rulers finally get quest requirements that newer players can actually complete.

This guide is based on Ricky Royale's video walking through the full patch list, which surfaced on mergetactics.gg before it appeared in the in-game news tab. Below you will find every Ruler change, every Troop buff and nerf, the Clan, Undead and Rider Retreat trait adjustments, and what all of it means for how you should build your comp at the start of the season.

Ruler Changes Explained

Three Rulers are touched in this patch: two buffs and one nerf. The theme is clear, quest requirements are being tuned so that lower-tier Rulers can actually finish their quest lines in a normal game.

Grand Warden: the quest requirement for how many Troops his shields must affect is reduced, with the third step asking for four fewer units than before. Ricky Royale calls this a significant buff.
Royale King: his quest now asks you to lose 1, 2 and 4 rounds in one game. The first step pays out after a single lost round instead of two, the second step is also easier, and the third step is unchanged.
Spirit Empress: her second quest step now requires 25 merges instead of 20 merges. This is the only Ruler nerf in the patch.

Key insight: Ricky Royale notes that Grand Warden had fallen behind in current Ruler lineups, and that Royale King needed this specifically for brand new players who have no other Rulers unlocked. The old "lose two rounds" first step was overkill.

The Spirit Empress change is not expected to swing whole games, but it does matter in micro situations. If you needed your second quest orb to survive a round and you are now one Merge short, that is a round you lose instead of scraping through. Ricky Royale, a self-described Spirit Empress main, still calls the nerf justified.

Troop Buffs And Nerfs

The Troop list is where this patch gets loud. One group of underused units gets a quality of life buff, while the season's biggest offenders get cut down.

The buffs

Archer, Barbarian, Dark Goblin and Valkyrie: all four get a reduction to the number of hits required to trigger their supers, dropping from 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 to 6 / 5 / 4 / 3.

That is a meaningful cut, but Ricky Royale is cautious about it: these Troops are weak to begin with, and essentially every unit took a hit to its baseline balancing this season. Faster supers help, but they may not be enough on their own to drag these cards into the meta.

The nerfs

Baby Dragon: his hit speed and movement speed buff drops from 10% / 20% / 30% at one, two and three stars to 6% / 12% / 25%, and the four-star value takes a roughly 10% cut as well.
Super Dark Prince: loses 15% hit points. He was simply too tanky, and Ricky Royale would have been happy to see a 5% damage nerf stapled on top.

Pro tip: the Baby Dragon was effectively a walking Trait buff. Stacking his aura on top of Forest produced numbers Ricky Royale describes as disgusting, so expect speed-scaling boards to feel noticeably slower from day one.

The Hog Rider Gets Gutted

The headline change is the Super Hog Rider, and it is not close. He gets hit on two axes at once.

Hit points: down by 20%.
Earthquake damage: unchanged at one star (50), but slashed at every level above that.
Two star earthquake damage falls from 90 to 60.
Three star falls from 162 to 72.
Four star falls from 292 to 86.

Those are not tuning numbers, they are a rebuild. A four-star Super Hog Rider was previously doing more than three times the earthquake damage he will do after the patch, on top of a much larger health pool.

Bottom line: Ricky Royale is blunt about it, the Hog Rider was ruining the game, and this is the change players have been praying for. Comps that existed purely to survive an enemy Hog Rider no longer need to.

Clan, Undead And Rider Trait Cuts

Three Traits get adjusted, and Ricky Royale agrees with all three.

Clan

HP recovery drops from 30% / 50% / 100% at one, two and three stars to 15% / 30% / 60%.
The hit speed portion of the Trait is untouched, which Ricky Royale flags as the real threat since it is effectively the DPS of your entire board. He would have accepted around a 5% hit speed cut too.

Undead

Only the 6/6 breakpoint is changed, dropping to 4%.
The 2/6 and 4/6 breakpoints stay the same at 1% and 2%.
Ricky Royale argues this should have arrived two seasons ago: Undead at 6/6 has been absolutely insane for a long time.

Rider Retreat

The Rider trait grants a hit speed and movement speed buff to units that step on the tiles the riders leave behind.
The buff falls from 30% / 60% / 120% at the 1/4, 2/4 and 3/4 breakpoints to 15% / 30% / 100%.
The 4/4 breakpoint is unchanged at 400%, which is fine because reaching four Rider units through normal play is close to impossible.

Pro tip: the Rider tiles still matter. In his showcase game Ricky Royale repositions specifically so his Queen picks up the rider buff, even at the reduced values.

What This Means For Your Comp

After running a game with the patch context in mind, Ricky Royale lands on one clear conclusion: Clan is still the best synergy in the game right now, even after the HP recovery nerf.

Play slower and cycle the shop to hunt your Clan pieces rather than forcing an early board.
The Queen is the piece worth waiting for, and she is a natural fit for a Rider tile.
The Super Dark Prince and Boss Bandit are strong Clan additions, and the free copies handed out mid-game made a three-star Boss Bandit trivial for him.
Hitting 4/6 Clan gives you enough sustain to out-heal earthquake chip damage, which is exactly how Ricky Royale steals a round against a Hog Rider board in the showcase game.
Recycle spare units off the bench when you are short on Elixir rather than sitting broke with a stalled board.

⚠️ Do not clump your board. Ricky Royale loses around seven units to a single Legendary Lance hit after stacking his units together, and calls it the one thing that dodged this balance pass and still needs a nerf.

Key insight: a shielded enemy Hog Rider is still a nightmare even after the damage cut. In his game the enemy Grand Warden kept the hog alive far longer than it should have, so scout the enemy Ruler before committing to a tight formation.

How Good Is This Patch

Taken as a whole, this is a strong, well-aimed patch that targets the exact problems players have been complaining about.

Strengths

✅ The Super Hog Rider nerf is enormous and directly fixes the single most oppressive unit in the game.

✅ The Undead 6/6 cut finally addresses a Trait that has dominated for multiple seasons.

✅ Grand Warden and Royale King quest buffs make weaker Rulers viable, especially for new players with a small Ruler pool.

✅ The Baby Dragon and Super Dark Prince nerfs are proportionate rather than deletions.

Weaknesses

❌ The Archer, Barbarian, Dark Goblin and Valkyrie super buffs may not be enough given how weak those Troops already are.

❌ Clan keeps its hit speed bonus untouched, so the Trait may still be the best in the game after the HP recovery cut.

❌ The Legendary Lance item was left completely alone despite being a board-wiping problem.

⚠️ The Spirit Empress merge requirement change is small enough that its real impact will only show up in close, marginal rounds.

Key Units & Traits

Grand Warden: Ruler: quest shield requirement reduced, with the third step needing four fewer troops.
Royale King: Ruler: quest now pays out after losing 1, 2 and 4 rounds, a big consistency buff for new players.
Spirit Empress: Ruler: second quest step now needs 25 merges instead of 20, a small but real nerf.
Super Hog Rider: Troop: loses 20% hit points and has earthquake damage slashed at two, three and four stars.
Baby Dragon: Troop: hit speed and movement speed aura cut to 6% / 12% / 25%, with a four-star reduction too.
Super Dark Prince: Troop: down 15% hit points, still a strong Clan frontline piece.
Clan: Trait: HP recovery cut to 15% / 30% / 60%, but hit speed is untouched and it is still the best synergy.
Undead: Trait: only the 6/6 breakpoint is nerfed, dropping to 4%. The 2/6 and 4/6 tiers stay at 1% and 2%.

TL;DR

✅ Super Hog Rider loses 20% hit points and sees earthquake damage fall from 292 to 86 at four stars.
✅ Baby Dragon speed aura drops to 6% / 12% / 25%, with a four-star cut as well.
✅ Grand Warden and Royale King get easier quest steps, with Royale King paying out after a single lost round.
✅ Clan HP recovery is cut to 15% / 30% / 60%, and Undead 6/6 drops to 4%.
✅ Rider Retreat falls to 15% / 30% / 100%, but the 4/4 breakpoint stays at 400%.
✅ Archer, Barbarian, Dark Goblin and Valkyrie now trigger supers after 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 hits.
⚠️ The Legendary Lance item was not touched: never clump your board or you can lose most of it in one hit.

This is one of the better balance patches Merge Tactics has seen, and Ricky Royale likes the direction the season is heading. The Super Hog Rider gutting alone changes how every lobby plays, the Undead 6/6 nerf is roughly two seasons late but welcome, and the Grand Warden and Royale King quest buffs give newer players real options instead of dead Rulers. The open questions are whether the small Troop super buffs are enough to matter, whether Clan stays the best Trait in the game with its hit speed untouched, and how long the Legendary Lance survives without a nerf. If you were dodging Hog Rider lobbies or forcing Undead every game, it is time to rebuild your habits: Clan built around the Queen, Super Dark Prince and Boss Bandit is the comp Ricky Royale is backing going into the new season.