Merge Tactics: The 3 Best Ranged Troops To Play Every Game

The Three Best Ranged Troops

In the current Merge Tactics meta the Boss units soak up all the attention, but Ricky Royale's damage charts tell a different story: it is the backline that deletes enemy boards. Three ranged Troops keep showing up at the top of his damage breakdowns, and as he puts it, the Boss units are there to help out the ranged units rather than the other way around.

This guide is based on Ricky Royale's video on the three best ranged cards in Merge Tactics, covering why Frenzy Time pushes ranged DPS over the top, which three Troops to prioritise, the supporting Traits and Ruler that hold the comp together, a stage-by-stage game plan, and an honest look at where the plan falls apart.

Why Ranged Carries Dominate

The reasoning Ricky Royale gives is simple and repeatable: games almost always run through Frenzy Time, and ranged units benefit the most from the Frenzy Time bonuses. When attack speed goes up, a unit parked safely in the backline and firing non-stop turns into a damage machine, while melee units are still walking into trades.

Boss units are support, not the carry. In the video Ricky Royale builds toward four and even five Boss troops, but when he opens the damage stats the ranged units are usually on top. The Boss line exists to buy them time.
Frenzy Time scaling. Faster attacks on a protected backline carry are worth far more than faster attacks on a frontline unit that may already be dead.
Damage proof, not theory. A single Magic Archer is shown doing around 5,000 damage in one round, far ahead of everything else on the board, and a four-star Magic Archer later posts roughly 2,400 damage as the top ranged scorer.

Key insight: build a frontline that survives, then let the ranged carry do the work. Ricky Royale says he uses these cards every single game.

The Three Must-Have Troops

These are the three ranged Troops the whole video is built around. All three slot neatly into a Goblin or Clan opening and all three scale hard with star level.

Magic Archer: the standout. Ricky Royale calls it "on the craziest comeback arc of all time" after it posts around 5,000 damage in a round and helps knock out the enemy king almost instantly. Push it to three-star or better as fast as possible.
Musketeer: the reliable single-target sniper. A three-star Musketeer is treated as a priority upgrade, and in one game the board is flipped specifically so the Musketeer can snipe the enemy Goblin Machine. Switching sides to line up a Musketeer target is a legitimate play.
Dart Goblin: the Goblin trait enabler that also deals real damage. Ricky Royale wants to "get the max Dart Goblin going" whenever the shop allows, takes a three-star copy happily even in a losing game, and hunts the bench for it late when the rest of the comp is already stable.

Pro tip: these three are not a package you need all at once. Take whichever two show up early, open with Goblin or Clan around them, and add the third when the shop offers it.

Support Troops And Traits

The ranged core needs a body in front and a Trait package that boosts attack speed. Across all three games Ricky Royale leans on the same short list.

Baby Dragon: explicitly called "also really good", and in one game it ends up doing most of the heavy lifting alongside the Magic Archer. A three-star Baby Dragon is a strong backline addition.
Mini Pekka: the frontline damage unit. Getting it to three-star early is described as "super important", and missing a copy is treated as a real setback.
Monk: picked up as a Boss filler, but Ricky Royale is blunt that he is "the worst" Boss and sells him the moment better options arrive.

Traits That Matter

Forest: the key support Trait, because everything attacks faster, including the Mini Pekka. Two Forest alongside the Musketeer is called "definitely GGs".
Goblin: the usual round-one pick and the natural home for the Dart Goblin.
Clan: the safe alternative opener, described as "always a very solid starting synergy".
Boss: the frontline shell. Four Boss troops is the target, and a mid-game sell of the Boss units for a "boss reset" is used to re-roll into better ones.

Pro tip: place your items and trait tokens deliberately. Ricky Royale openly regrets leaving the Pekka Sword unassigned in one game and sticking the Boss trait on a Firecracker in another, while a lucky Legendary Axe pickup is treated as a big swing.

Game Plan By Stage

Early Rounds

Open Goblin or Clan depending on what the shop gives, and bank as much HP as possible.
Pick up a Musketeer or Magic Archer the moment one appears. Ricky Royale says he will "never say no" to a Magic Archer.
Spirit Empress is the Ruler of choice because the Elixir generation keeps the comp flexible and lets you merge and reroll far more freely.

Mid Game

Cycle the shop aggressively. The stated goal is to chain merges toward the 60 merge milestone so you reach max team size as quickly as possible, which can also unlock another Boss unit.
Prioritise three-star on the ranged core and on Mini Pekka over adding extra bodies.
Recycle units you expect to see again rather than sitting on them, and watch which copies opponents have already taken before committing to an upgrade path.

Late Game

Lock in four Boss troops as the frontline, drop filler like the Monk, and get the Forest attack speed bonus online.
Push the Magic Archer or Musketeer toward four-star. A four-star Magic Archer is reached in the final game shown.
Switch sides and reposition so the Musketeer can snipe a priority target, and feel free to use the front rows if the opponent has no Inferno threat.

Pro tip: do not stop cycling once a round looks won. Ricky Royale keeps rolling purely to keep his merge and orb progress moving.

Strengths And Weaknesses

Strengths

✅ Top damage output on the board. The ranged trio heads the damage stats in most rounds shown.
✅ Scales with Frenzy Time. The bonus games funnel into is exactly what ranged DPS wants.
✅ Flexible. All three fit Goblin, Clan, Forest and Boss shells, so you are never locked into one comp.
✅ Commitable from round one. You can start building the core immediately and still pivot traits later.

Weaknesses

❌ Not a comeback button. Ricky Royale is explicit: "they're definitely good, but they're not broken good. They can't completely clutch you from a game like this."
❌ Punished by a bad opening. In game two an opponent with a very early Mini Pekka and a Queen's Cloak upgrades everything and runs away with the lobby.
❌ Fragile without a frontline. Lose the Boss wall and the backline gets deleted before Frenzy Time matters.
❌ Shop dependent. Missed Mini Pekka or Musketeer copies, or units already claimed by opponents, can stall your upgrade path.

How Strong Is This Really

Across three games Ricky Royale wins two convincingly and still salvages top two in the game where the start goes badly, playing from around the top 500 range. That is the honest picture: this is a consistency plan rather than a trick. The ranged core raises your floor because it reliably produces damage, but it will not rescue a run where an opponent hits an early three-star spike and snowballs.

The clearest signal is the damage breakdown at the end of each round, where Magic Archer, Musketeer and Baby Dragon keep appearing near the top while the Boss units absorb hits.
It is not a clean sweep: in the final round shown the Mini Pekka actually posts the most damage, with the four-star Magic Archer right behind on roughly 2,400, so a real frontline still matters.
The failure case is just as clear: when Mini Pekka copies are missed and the Boss wall never comes online, the comp loses the race.

Bottom line from the video: "do not sleep on these cards". Ricky Royale runs them every single game.

Key Units & Traits

Magic Archer: The headline ranged carry: posts the highest damage numbers in the video and should reach three-star or four-star.
Musketeer: Reliable single-target sniper, worth repositioning to pick off key enemy units like the Goblin Machine.
Dart Goblin: Goblin trait enabler with real damage output: push it to max star level when the shop allows.
Baby Dragon: Strong extra backline damage that can end up doing most of the heavy lifting at three-star.
Mini Pekka: Frontline damage unit: getting it to three-star early is called super important.
Monk: Boss filler only: called the worst Boss in the video and sold once better Boss options appear.
Spirit Empress: Preferred Ruler for the extra Elixir, which keeps the comp flexible and the merges flowing.
Forest: Key support Trait: everything attacks faster, which multiplies ranged DPS during Frenzy Time.

TL;DR

✅ Prioritise Magic Archer, Musketeer and Dart Goblin in every Merge Tactics game: they top the damage charts.
✅ Frenzy Time bonuses favour ranged DPS, so your backline is the real carry.
✅ Use Boss units as a four-troop frontline whose job is to protect the ranged units.
✅ Add Baby Dragon as extra backline damage and get Mini Pekka to three-star early.
✅ Turn on Forest for the attack speed boost and open with Goblin or Clan depending on the shop.
✅ Run Spirit Empress for the Elixir, and cycle hard toward 60 merges and max team size.
⚠️ This is a consistency plan, not a comeback button: a bad start against an early three-star spike can still end your run.

The three-ranged-Troop core is about as safe a default as Merge Tactics offers right now. Magic Archer, Musketeer and Dart Goblin can be started from round one, fit every common Trait shell, and scale perfectly with the Frenzy Time bonuses games funnel into, which is why Ricky Royale runs them every single game and still lands a top-two finish in the one game he loses. Just be realistic about the ceiling: he says it himself, these cards are good but not broken, and they will not drag you back from a terrible opening. If you want a reliable damage plan you can commit to early without overthinking the meta, build around these three, keep Mini Pekka and the Boss units in front, and let the backline do the killing.