Merge Tactics Balance Changes: Hog Rider and Clan Nerfs Explained

Testing The New Balance Changes

The new Merge Tactics balance changes are live, and the headline hit lands exactly where the community wanted it: the Hog Rider can no longer delete both towers by himself or wipe your whole board. The Clan Trait took a hit too, and Troops in general simply do not hit as hard as they did before the patch, which changes what a losing matchup even looks like.

This guide is based on Ricky Royale's video, where he drops into three live games to feel out the patch instead of just reading the notes. It covers what the Hog Rider nerf changes in a real fight, how Clan and the Spirit Empress hold up now, why Forest with a three-star Boss Bandit was the standout board, whether Undead is still worth playing, and how to draft while the meta is still unsettled.

What The Patch Actually Changed

This is a broad power reduction rather than one targeted fix. Ricky Royale keeps returning to the same observation across all three games: units are weaker, so rounds play out instead of ending in the first few seconds.

Hog Rider nerf: the big one. He can no longer solo both towers, and he no longer deletes an entire board on his own.
Clan nerf: the trait everyone was defaulting to got toned down, though most of the lobby is still running it.
Undead nerf: the change hits the 6/6 breakpoint specifically, not the smaller breakpoints most boards actually reach.
Spirit Empress nerf: her orb now needs extra Merges to come online, so her ramp is noticeably slower.
General troop damage: as Ricky Royale puts it, troops just are not as strong as before, which flips matchups that used to be automatic losses.

Key insight: this patch is about pacing. Boards now survive the opening seconds, so star level, positioning and items get time to matter.

The Hog Rider Nerf In Practice

The clearest read on the patch comes from watching a Hog Rider round and comparing it to how those fights used to go. Ricky Royale calls it out mid-fight: by the point where his entire board would previously have been dead and his towers gone, almost everything was still standing.

Your board survives: a Hog Rider hit is no longer a reset button on your whole team.
Tower safety: he cannot take both towers alone, so one unanswered Hog is not an instant health disaster.
Less panic drafting: you do not have to warp your early comp around stopping a single unit.
Frontline matters again: with the burst dialled back, a real frontline actually gets to buy time for your backline.

Ricky Royale closes the video on exactly this point: the balance changes feel good mainly because the Hog Rider is no longer obnoxious.

Clan And Spirit Empress After The Nerfs

In game one Ricky Royale deliberately forces Clan to see how much worse it feels, and the honest answer is: less than expected. With the Queen sat on the heal tile the board still put up strong rounds, picking up a three-star Barbarian and a Dark Prince along the way.

Still functional, not dominant: Clan feels strong in a vacuum, but Ricky Royale flags the caveat that he was not facing another Spirit Empress in that game.
Everyone is still on it: in game two most of the lobby was running Clan as well, so contested shops may cost you more than the nerf does.
Slower Empress ramp: hitting 20 Merges no longer gets the orb online. You need a few more Merges before the payoff lands, and Ricky Royale says he feels the nerf there.
Blocking is a real tool: buying and holding a Queen purely to deny it from an opposing Clan or Spirit Empress player can be worth the Elixir, even parked on your bench.

Pro tip: if you commit to Clan or Spirit Empress now, plan around a slower power curve and bank the Merges you need for the orb before spending on luxury units.

Forest And The Boss Bandit Carry

The standout game was the Forest board in game two, which Ricky Royale flatly calls broken after it deleted the enemy team in seconds. The engine was a three-star Boss Bandit.

Boss Bandit is a must-buy: Ricky Royale reminds himself over and over that she has to be bought on sight. Skipping her copies while broke was his biggest tempo loss of the game.
Invisibility tile placement: the invisibility tile let the Boss Bandit get in and land stuns before taking damage.
Legendary axe: with the axe on her and the enemy units bunched up, the stun chain turned into enormous burst damage.
Supporting cast: a three-star Dark Prince up front, with Giant Skeleton and Magic Archer behind. Ricky Royale swaps the Firecracker out for the Magic Archer and says he thinks the Magic Archer is the better piece.
Flexible pairing: the board ended up running Clan alongside Forest almost by default, which shows how easily the two overlap while you are still finding your final shape.

Pro tip: if the Forest units are not contested, take them. Ricky Royale's complaint in game three was that he could not find a strong enough Forest unit to anchor the trait.

Undead, Tiles And Draft Decisions

The Undead nerf only touched the 6/6 breakpoint, so at the numbers most boards actually hit, the trait plays much like it did before. Ricky Royale notes the community is split: several people have told him Undead feels lackluster, while he personally rates it and begs to differ.

Key pieces: Witch for skeleton pressure, Giant Skeleton for the death bomb, and a three-star Skeleton King as an anchor.
Tile play: the wormhole tile is a good home for the Giant Skeleton, and the heal tile suited the Queen in game one.
Poor test conditions: the game three Undead attempt ran into a round with no Elixir income and then a 6/6 Noble board, which Ricky Royale admits is very hard to beat and not a fair showcase.

Drafting Habits That Held Up

Keep your super early if it saves health: hold it when there is no cheap synergy worth forcing, then sell it once you want to start cycling.
Aim for kills, not wins, early: chasing maximum damage and one or two kills sometimes turns into a free round win anyway.
Sell into your cycle: dumping an already merged unit or a spare Valkyrie keeps the bench clear and the cycle rolling.
Always have a plan B: Ricky Royale aimed for Forest while openly ready to fall back on Noble if the units did not show.
Do not chase bad three-stars: he sold a three-star Firecracker on the spot because it did not fit the plan.
Watch your merge count: the 16, 20 and 60 Merge marks are the checkpoints he tracks all game, since the orb arrives off Merges.

⚠️ Do not force Undead blind. Ricky Royale dropped the plan early in game three because no Undead units were appearing, and pivoted to Forest instead.

Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Patch

Strengths

✅ The Hog Rider no longer deletes boards or both towers, which is the healthiest change in the patch.

✅ Lower troop damage makes old auto-losses winnable: a Dagger Duchess stacking her dagger on a spear goblin is a matchup Ricky Royale says he now wins.

✅ Forest with a three-star Boss Bandit looks genuinely explosive and is worth learning first.

✅ Undead is only nerfed at 6/6, so the trait is still live at realistic breakpoints.

Weaknesses

❌ Clan is nerfed but still everywhere, so its units stay heavily contested.

❌ The Spirit Empress orb ramp is slower and you feel the delay mid game.

❌ Longer fights punish a dead Elixir round harder, since you cannot burst your way back into tempo.

⚠️ The meta is unsettled. Ricky Royale says he is spending the day studying comps before forming firm opinions, with a best comps video to follow.

Key Units & Traits

Hog Rider: Heavily nerfed: he can no longer take both towers or wipe your entire board on his own.
Boss Bandit: Standout carry of the video. Buy every copy on sight and push her to three-star.
Dark Prince: Reliable frontline body that held the Forest and Clan boards together at three-star.
Giant Skeleton: Undead payoff unit. Ricky Royale parks it on the wormhole tile so the death bomb lands where it matters.
Magic Archer: Swapped in over the Firecracker as the backline damage slot in the Forest board.
Witch: Top scouting priority when building Undead, and a strong three-star target.
Spirit Empress: Nerfed ruler: her orb needs extra merges, so plan for a slower ramp.
Clan (Trait): Nerfed but still the most contested trait in the lobby. Playable, no longer auto-pilot.

TL;DR

✅ The Hog Rider nerf is the headline: your board and both towers now survive him.
✅ Clan is weaker but still strong and still played by most of the lobby, so expect contested shops.
✅ Forest with a three-star Boss Bandit on the invisibility tile plus the legendary axe was the most explosive board of the video.
✅ Undead was only nerfed at the 6/6 breakpoint, so Witch, Giant Skeleton and Skeleton King are still worth playing.
✅ Track your Merge count at 16, 20 and 60: your orb timing runs off merges, not rounds.
⚠️ The Spirit Empress orb needs more Merges now, so her spike arrives later than you are used to.
⚠️ Do not force a trait blind. Set a plan and a backup, and pivot if the units are not showing.

These balance changes read as a clear net positive for Merge Tactics. Reining in the Hog Rider removes the most frustrating swing in the game, and the wider damage reduction means fights actually play out instead of ending on the first hit. Clan is still perfectly playable and Undead is barely touched at realistic breakpoints, so nothing has been deleted from the meta: it has just been slowed down. For the most upside right now, learn the Forest package built around a three-star Boss Bandit and keep a pivot into Clan or Noble ready for when the shop refuses to cooperate. As Ricky Royale says, the meta is still being mapped out, so stay flexible and expect the best comps list to keep shifting.