Merge Tactics October 2025 Patch Notes – Complete Balance Changes Breakdown

October 2025 Balance Updates: Three Major Patches

October brings a triple wave of balance changes across three maintenance windows (October 15th, October 2nd, and September 19th). These updates focus on reducing modifier dominance, buffing underperforming traits, and fine-tuning unit identities.

Maintenance: October 15th

Nerfs – Taming the Meta Dominators

Assassin

4/4 Critical Chance: 50% → 45% (–10%)
4/4 Critical Damage: 50% → 45% (–10%)

Assassin's critical attacks were putting too much pressure on enemy backlines. This nerf makes engagements more fair and balanced.

Coaching

HP Buff: 100% → 50% (–50%)
Damage Buff: 50% → 30% (–40%)

Buffed benched troops were too strong, encouraging players to keep units out of battle rather than deploying them.

Master Arena

HP Buff: 100% → 50% (–50%)
Damage Buff: 50% → 30% (–40%)

Some troops became overly powerful when buffed, creating frustration when players needed to move or sell them.

Monster Drink

HP Buff: 200% → 100% (–50%)
Damage Buff: 100% → 50% (–50%)

Buffed high-cost units were becoming extremely powerful. This reduction keeps things balanced.

Buffs – Rising Stars

Electro Giant

Cooldown: 9/9/9/9 → 9/7/5/3 (–0/22/44/66%)

Electro Giant should tank using his special ability instead of just HP, but he was taking too long to charge up.

Skeleton Dragons

Ability HP Cost: 50% → 30% (–40%)

Splitting should be a strength for Skeleton Dragons, but their reduced HP left them too fragile over time.

Royal Ghost

Hit Speed: 0.9s → 0.83s (+8.4%)

After adding a cooldown to his invisibility last season, Royal Ghost wasn't packing enough punch for his Elixir cost. He's back!

Electric

2/2 Damage: 15% → 20% (+33%)

Electric's stun bonus was tricky to trigger, so we're adding more power to make it feel better.

Ranger

Max Stacks: 15 → 25 (+67%)

Rangers were slow to ramp up and struggled against heavy tanks. This gives them more late-game power while keeping early appeal.

Ace

2/4 Heal from Damage Dealt: 0% → 40%
4/4 Captain Bonus Damage: 60% → 70% (+13%)
4/4 Heal from Damage Dealt: 50% → 70% (+40%)

Ace is a costly trait that depends heavily on the Captain, so we're giving it extra survivability to make it more reliable.

Noble

2/6 Buff Percentage: 20% → 25% (+20%)
4/6 Buff Percentage: 30% → 40% (+33%)
6/6 Buff Percentage: 45% → 60% (+33%)

Since Noble stopped buffing the whole team, it's felt weak. These buffs help it stand up to Clan and Goblin traits.

Goblin

2/4 Gain: 2-Elixir Goblin → 2 or 3-Elixir Goblin
4/4 Drop 3 or 4-Elixir Goblin: 60% → 100% (+67%)

Goblin Trait felt too random when aiming for 4-Elixir Goblins but getting 2-Elixir ones. This makes it more consistent.

Maintenance: October 2nd

Nerfs – Cooling Down the Hot Picks

Baby Dragon

Attack Range: 4 → 3 (–25%)
HP: 690 → 650 (–5.8%)

Baby Dragon's massive AoE damage and Fire Trait scaling made it too dominant. These nerfs allow better counterplay while maintaining damage output.

Fire

2/2 Bonus Damage: 40% → 30% (–25%)

Fire units have strong AoE scaling, but once a troop is KO'd, they become unstoppable. This brings them back to earth.

Mage

2/2 Rabbit Duration: 7s → 6s (–14%)

Everyone loves harmless rabbits, but they don't like being helpless for too long. For the good of all rabbit-kind!

Blaster

4/4 Bonus Damage per Hex: 20% → 15% (–25%)

Blasters were doing too well with additional range and built-in AoE. Even close-range troops struggled to counter them.

Juggernaut

Shield Duration: 12s → 11s (–8.3%)
4/4 Shield Percent of Max HP: 60% → 50% (–17%)

Juggernauts offer great utility and survival, but we're tuning them down to make room for other tanks like Brawlers.

Buffs – Power Ups

Spear Goblin

Attack Damage: 130 → 150 (+15%)

Since Blasters were nerfed, Spear Goblin gets some of his power back.

Witch

Skeleton Summon: 1/2/3/4 → 1/2/4/8 (0/0/+33%/+100%)

Skeletons took too long to summon and weren't strong enough for the Elixir investment. More skeletons = more value!

Avenger

2/2 Bonus Damage: 20% → 30% (+50%)
4/4 Bonus Damage: 40% → 60% (+50%)

We over-nerfed Avengers previously. Now they're once again ready to take on fearsome foes!

Clan

2/2 Heal and Bonus Hit Speed: 30% → 35% (+17%)
4/4 Heal and Bonus Hit Speed: 60% → 70% (+17%)

Clan troops lost core carry potential recently, so we're adding power back to the trait. Clan bonds run thick!

Maintenance: September 19th

Buffs – Early Season Boosts

royaleking_mt

Hitpoints: 10 → 12 (+20%)

Royale King couldn't keep up with Spirit Empress as players learned to merge. +2 HP helps him maintain his kingly status!

Dart Goblin

Attack Range: 4 → 5 (+25%)

With more ranged troops being added, Dart Goblin was losing his place. This range buff makes him stand out strategically.

Giant Skeleton

Bomb Damage: 200/400/800/1600 → 300/600/1200/2400 (+50%)

Melee tanks are getting tougher from traits, making the bomb feel weak. This damage boost keeps his confidence booming!

Adjustments – Identity Refinement

Prince

Damage: 100 → 136 (+36%)
Hit Speed: 1.25s → 1.42s (–12.5%)

Prince had little impact after his initial charge. Now he contributes more to each victory, though survival depends on player skill.

Meta Insights

What's Hot

Electro Giant becomes a much stronger tank with massively reduced cooldown at higher star levels
Ranger now scales into late game with 67% more max stacks
Witch can flood the board with up to 8 skeletons at max level
Avenger returns to relevance with a massive 50% damage buff

What's Cooling Down

Assassin loses some of its backline deletion power
Coaching, Master Arena, and Monster Drink all see significant nerfs to bench-buffing strategies
Baby Dragon requires closer positioning with reduced range
Juggernaut makes room for other tank options

Frequently Asked Questions

When were the October patches released?

The October updates came in three waves: September 19th, October 2nd, and October 15th, 2025.

Which unit received the biggest buff?

Giant Skeleton received a massive +50% bomb damage increase, and Avenger got a +50% damage boost at all tiers.

Why were so many modifiers nerfed?

Coaching, Master Arena, and Monster Drink were encouraging players to keep units benched rather than deployed, which wasn't the intended gameplay.

Is Assassin still viable after the nerf?

Yes! The 5% reduction in critical chance and damage is noticeable but doesn't completely remove Assassin from the meta:just makes it more balanced.

What are the biggest meta changes?

The shift away from modifier-buffing benched units, the rise of Ranger and Avenger comps, and the increased viability of Electro Giant as a tank.

How to Win Always - Merge Tactics Clash Royale - Strategy
How to Play Merge Tactics Clash Royale - Tutorial
Merge Tactics Troops Complete Guide - Guide