Merge Tactics Season 9 Update – Tomb Queen, Ruler Quests, Forest & Boss Traits

Merge Tactics Season 9: Everything You Need to Know

Season 9 runs from May 26 to July 13 and is the biggest Merge Tactics update yet. A new Ruler, two new traits, four new troops, the introduction of Ruler Quests, 12 brand new modifiers, 9 equipment items, and a rework that gives every troop exactly one trait. Here is the full breakdown.

New Ruler: Tomb Queen

The Tomb Queen is the new Ruler debuting in Season 9. Her ability, Regal Revival, lets her command Skeletons from beyond the grave.

"Armies of Skeletons are dying to serve this Ruler of the afterlife, but she only summons those closest to her heart."

How Regal Revival works:

Battle start: spawns a Tombstone that summons a Skeleton every few seconds.
When the Tombstone is destroyed each round, Tomb Queen rises from it and joins the fight.
The Tombstone cannot be moved after the first round, so positioning matters.
Counts toward the Undead Trait.
Levels up after spawning 4, 8 and 16 Skeletons.

Returning Ruler

Echo Sage returns this season. Cosmetics from previous seasons remain available, and new skins can be unlocked through the Ruler Reward Track.

Tomb Queen Cosmetics

Skin	Source
Fury Queen	Starsteel Road
Noir Queen	Starsteel Road
Harrowing Haunt (confetti)	Starsteel Road
Mummy Queen	Ruler Cosmetic Shop
Hieroglyphic Heroism	Ruler Cosmetic Shop

New Feature: Ruler Quests

Season 9 introduces Ruler Quests: in-battle objectives that reward players at three different milestones. Each Ruler has a unique Quest with different objectives, and every milestone rewards a Quest Orb.

Quest Orb Contents

Orb	Troop	Elixir	Equipment Pool
Quest 1 Orb	1× 1-Star Troop (Giant, Royal Giant, Goblin Cage, Baby Dragon, Skeleton Dragon)	+5	Maiden's Shield, Prince's Lance, Fisherman's Hook, Valkyrie's Axe
Quest 2 Orb	1× 2-Star Troop (P.E.K.K.A, Mini P.E.K.K.A, Monk, Mega Knight)	+10	Assassin Blade, Juggernaut Armor, Ranger Crossbow, Superstar Ring
Quest 3 Orb	1× 3-Star Troop (P.E.K.K.A, Mini P.E.K.K.A, Monk, Mega Knight)	+20	Clan Horn, Forest Flute, Goblin Lute, Noble Trumpet, Undead Drum

All Ruler Quests by Milestone

Ruler	Milestone 1	Milestone 2	Milestone 3
Royale King	Lose 2 rounds	Lose 3 rounds	Lose 4 rounds
Spirit Empress	Merge 3 troops	Merge 15 troops	Merge 50 troops
Goblin Queen	Get 3 Goblins	Get 10 Goblins	Get 25 Goblins
Elixir Loong	Win 2 rounds in a row	Win 3 rounds in a row	Win 5 rounds in a row
Battle Machine	Buildings destroy 2 troops	Buildings destroy 8 troops	Buildings destroy 20 troops
Echo Sage	Knock out 2 troops	Knock out 6 troops	Knock out 18 troops
Dagger Duchess	Win 1 round <8s	Win 2 rounds <8s	Win 4 rounds <8s
Grand Warden	Shields affect 3 troops	Shields affect 10 troops	Shields affect 25 troops
Tomb Queen	Tombstone summons 10 troops	Tombstone summons 25 troops	Tombstone summons 80 troops

Quests reshape how each Ruler is played: you pick the Ruler whose Quest aligns with your strategy, then chase the milestones to snowball your board with high-tier troops and equipment.

New Troops

Four brand-new troops join the pool, each with exactly one trait in line with Season 9's single-trait rework.

Boss Bandit (Boss): Dashes to targets when 3 or 4 Hexes away, dealing double damage. Darts back 3 tiles every few hits.

Firecracker (Forest): Fires a projectile that explodes on impact, damaging enemies behind the target in a cone and knocking her back 1 Hex every few hits.

Goblin Cage (Goblin): When the Goblin Cage is destroyed, Goblin Brawler is unleashed into the Arena.

Magic Archer (Forest): Shoots a magic arrow that reflects to the next target in 2 Hexes every few hits.

Returning & Reworked Troops

Several troops are returning to the pool, and some are receiving major reworks.

Returning

Bomber (Undead): Throws a bomb at the nearest enemy, dealing damage in a 2-Hex Radius.
Mega Knight (Boss): Jumps and strikes the largest group of enemies every few seconds, dealing damage and stunning enemies in its Hex Radius for 2s.
Spear Goblins (Goblin): Spears that slice through wind at such a wide range that he doesn't even need armor.

Reworked

Mini P.E.K.K.A 🔄 (Boss): Cooks a pancake to level up a random ally every few hits.
Skeleton Dragon 🔄 (Undead): Deals damage in a 2-Hex Radius. Combat Start: Absorbs 10/20/40/80% of surrounding allies' HP and damage.
Skeleton King 🔄 (Undead): Deals damage to enemies in a cone radius and summons a Skeleton if target is destroyed within 2s of being hit by him.

Card Pool Overview

34 total troops in Season 9
25 troops available in the main battle pool
9 troops exclusive to Quest Orbs
All troops now have exactly one trait, with no multi-trait troops anymore

New Traits

Two brand-new Traits enter the game:

Trait	Effect
Forest	Lowest HP% Forest gains invisibility and bonus Hit Speed for 2.5s every few seconds
Boss	Orb Exclusive: Bosses gain bonus damage and HP

Reworked Traits

Four core Traits have been fundamentally reworked:

Trait	New Effect
Clan	Clans gain bonus HP and the strongest gains bonus hit speed
Royal / Noble	Nobles gain bonus damage and take less damage
Goblin	Grants an Orb containing a random Goblin, with a fully activated Trait awarding multiple Goblins per round
Undead	Each ally defeated increases all Undeads' HP and damage for the rest of the game

The Undead rework is the standout. It scales with KO count, so it gets stronger as battles go longer, and pairs perfectly with Tomb Queen.

New Modifiers

Twelve fresh modifiers land in Season 9 across every league:

Modifier	League	Effect
Last Survivor	Bronze II	Combat Start: More tiles become gradually covered with poison, dealing DOT to troops on these tiles
Orb Galore	Bronze III	Start with 1 Orb. Every time a player is eliminated, all other players gain 1 Orb
Abyss Tile	Bronze III	Combat Start: Troop that steps on this tile is instantly destroyed and the tile disappears
Cursed Tile	Silver I	Combat Start: Tiled troop loses HP over time and explodes on KO, dealing AoE damage based on its max HP
Mine Tile	Silver I	Combat Start: Mine Tile explodes after 5s, dealing AoE damage to nearby troops
Goblin's Treasure	Silver II	Combat Start: Goblin's Treasure appears on both sides. Destroy the enemies to gain an Orb!
Wormhole Tile	Silver II	Combat Start: Tiled troop teleports to the enemy's Wormhole Tile
One Life to Live	Silver III	Gain +2 Elixir per round. Troops retain their HP between rounds and will disappear once defeated
Invisibility Tile	Silver III	Combat Start: Tiled troop becomes invisible for 5s
Long Live the King	Gold I	Protect the King Dummy! If it's defeated you lose the round
Equalization	Gold II	All troops cost 3 Elixir
Battle Royale	Gold III	Deploy Phase: More tiles will become poisonous from round to round, dealing DOT to troops on these tiles

Equalization flattens the cost curve: every troop is 3 Elixir, so the meta shifts hard toward 4-cost and 5-cost troops that suddenly become much cheaper. One Life to Live rewards careful positioning across rounds.

New Equipment

Nine new equipment items debut, five of which can grant Traits to the equipped troop and open previously impossible synergies.

Combat Equipment (Quest 2 Orb)

Equipment	Effect
Assassin Blade	Combat Start: Equipped troop jumps to the opponent's backline and gains bonus Hit Speed on KO
Juggernaut Armor	Combat Start: Equipped troop grants a control immunity shield to self and troops behind them
Ranger Crossbow	Combat Start: Equipped troop gains bonus Hit Speed after each hit, stacking up to 20x
Superstar Ring	Combat Start: Equipped troop gains maxed ability bar and has a 50% chance to recast its ability, stacking up to 4x

Trait-Granting Equipment (Quest 3 Orb)

Equipment	Effect
Clan Horn	Equipped troop gains Clan Trait
Forest Flute	Equipped troop gains Forest Trait
Goblin Lute	Equipped troop gains Goblin Trait
Noble Trumpet	Equipped troop gains Noble Trait
Undead Drum	Equipped troop gains Undead Trait

Trait-granting equipment is the most flexible mechanic added this season. You can activate a 2- or 4-troop Trait synergy without owning the right tribe of troops, which changes deckbuilding around comp flexibility.

New Game Mechanic: Spectate

Knocked out of a match early? You can now spectate the remaining battles instead of waiting on the lobby screen. This is the first quality-of-life upgrade for eliminated players and makes scouting tier-list compositions much easier.

Single-Trait Rework: why it matters

The biggest mechanical change in Season 9 is that every troop now has exactly one trait (previously most troops had two). This affects every level of play:

Composition variety: harder to stack two synergies at once, so comps lean more strategic.
Equipment value: trait-granting equipment (Clan Horn, Forest Flute, Goblin Lute, Noble Trumpet, Undead Drum) is now essential to bridge missing synergies.
Quest Orbs: the 9 orb-exclusive troops bring multi-trait power into the mid-game without flooding the shop.
Boss trait: Bosses (Boss Bandit, Mega Knight, Mini P.E.K.K.A) only come from Quest Orbs, so they are the powerhouse payoffs.

Trophy Reset & Season Rewards

As with every new season, trophies have been reset. Climb the ladder to unlock the new modifiers, the Tomb Queen Reward Track skins, and the Echo Sage returning cosmetics.

TL;DR

Tomb Queen: new Ruler with Regal Revival. Spawns a Tombstone summoning Skeletons, revives from it, counts as Undead.
Ruler Quests: 3 milestone-based in-battle objectives per Ruler, reward Quest Orbs with troops, elixir and equipment.
4 new troops: Boss Bandit (Boss), Firecracker (Forest), Goblin Cage (Goblin), Magic Archer (Forest).
3 reworked troops: Mini P.E.K.K.A, Skeleton Dragon, Skeleton King.
2 new traits: Forest (invisibility plus Hit Speed) and Boss (orb-exclusive bonus damage and HP).
4 reworked traits: Clan, Noble, Goblin and Undead, all redesigned around the single-trait economy.
12 new modifiers across every league, including tile-based effects, Orb Galore, Equalization and Long Live the King.
9 new equipment items: 4 combat-focused, 5 trait-granting.
Single-trait rework: every troop now has exactly one trait.
Spectate feature for eliminated players.
34 total troops: 25 in main pool, 9 exclusive to Quest Orbs.

Season 8: Grand Warden Update: previous big update.
Troops Wiki: updated card stats and traits.
Traits Wiki: Forest and Boss breakpoints.
Modifiers Wiki: all Season 9 modifiers indexed.
Rulers Wiki: Tomb Queen and all Ruler abilities.
Tier List: current card rankings.