Royal Ghost

Royal Ghost is a 3-elixir Legendary troop who spends most of the match unseen. He deploys invisible, stays untargetable until the exact moment he swings, and fades back out of sight two seconds after he stops fighting. Enemy troops and towers cannot lock onto him while he is hidden, which guarantees him the first hit of every fight he picks - but invisibility is not invulnerability, and splash damage, spells and any projectile already in flight still connect. He hits hard and slowly for 261 area damage every 1.8 seconds at tournament level, moves at Fast speed, attacks ground targets only, and hovers rather than walks, so he drifts straight across the river instead of using a bridge. His Evolution, live since October 2025, turns every reveal into an ambush. Each time he becomes visible, two ghostly Souldiers are summoned beside him, bursting for area damage as they materialise and then fighting on as full melee units with their own invisibility. They never time out on their own, so because the Ghost keeps dipping back into stealth between fights, a single Evolved Royal Ghost can stack up pair after pair of them across a long defence. Supercell has reined that in repeatedly - three separate patches across late 2025 and into 2026 cut the Souldiers' own damage, most recently an April 2026 update that cut their summoning burst by 60% - and a March 2026 update separately slowed how quickly both forms slip back into invisibility, narrowing the stacking window itself.

• Royal Ghost is a 3-elixir Legendary troop unlocked in Spooky Town (Arena 12), released on 4 January 2018. At tournament standard (level 11) he carries 1,210 hitpoints and lands 261 area damage every 1.8 seconds - about 145 damage per second - moving at Fast speed with a short melee reach, roughly a 1-tile splash radius, and ground-only targeting.

• His entire identity is stealth. He deploys invisible, stays invisible until the instant he attacks, and slips back out of sight two seconds after he stops fighting - so he is guaranteed the first hit of any fight he starts. Invisibility is not invulnerability, though: splash damage, spells, Electro Dragon and Electro Spirit chains, and any projectile already in the air toward him all still land. He also stays visible to you, the player - only the units on the field lose track of him.

• A March 2026 balance update made him easier to pin down, stretching the delay before he re-enters stealth from 1.8 to 2 seconds, an 11% increase. Supercell's stated reason was that he had been 'spooking out the Arena in both his Evolved and base forms,' and the extra fraction of a second is meant to give defenders a wider window to answer him before he vanishes again.

• That 261-damage swing is tuned almost exactly to erase ranged support. At matched level, Princess and Dart Goblin both sit at precisely 261 hitpoints, so one hit deletes either of them outright; Firecracker (304) needs two swings and even a Musketeer (721) falls in three. Paired with the guaranteed first strike from stealth, that frequently makes him a cheaper answer to a support troop than spending a Fireball or Poison on it.

• Invisibility cuts both ways. He cannot tank, because towers and troops simply shoot past him at whatever is behind him, and he cannot kite, because enemies stop chasing the moment he fades out. His slow 1.8-second swing and small splash also mean swarms bury him - a Skeleton Army, Guards or Goblins surround him and he can only clip one or two at a time. Strangest of all, a purely air-based defence cannot finish him off: he cannot attack air, so he never breaks stealth, and while he is stealthed they cannot target him either, leaving a stalemate until you add a ground distraction.

• He hovers instead of walking, which is why he crosses the river anywhere rather than funnelling over a bridge, and why he bumps into air units instead of ground ones - even though defenders still target him as a ground troop. He picked that up in an October 2020 update, and a November 2020 follow-up tightened it so he no longer drifts through buildings, shoves air troops around, or skips off the river when knocked back. That same hover also made him immune to Earthquake damage for four years and to Evolved Royal Giant's recoil for about a year and a half after that card existed, until an October 2024 update took both immunities away.

• EvolutionEvolved Royal Ghost went live on 17 October 2025, costs the same 3 elixir, and charges after 2 cycles of the base card. Every time he turns visible, two ghostly Souldiers are summoned to guard him and deal area damage in the act of appearing - and like their leader they fade back into invisibility once they have gone long enough without a fight.

• EvolutionThe evolved Ghost's own body is unchanged - the same 1,210 hitpoints, 261 area damage, 1.8-second swing and 2-second stealth delay as the base card. The Souldiers are the entire addition: at tournament standard each one has 81 hitpoints and hits for 81 area damage every 1.8 seconds (45 damage per second), touches down about 0.2 seconds after the reveal, moves at the same Fast speed, and inherits the invisibility trick. Because they never time out on their own and the Ghost keeps dipping back into stealth between fights, one Evolved Royal Ghost can stack several pairs of them over a long defence.

• EvolutionThe Souldiers hit far harder at launch than they do now. An April 2026 balance update cut their summoning burst from 204 to 81 damage - a 60% reduction - and trimmed their melee hit from 102 to 81. Supercell's note was that the Evolution had 'a little too much backup from the other side,' with Souldiers versatile enough to slot into any deck. It followed two earlier trims in November and December 2025, making this one of the most heavily walked-back Evolutions of its year.