Hey Clashers,

Back in May, we said we'd keep a close eye on Dragon Duke and the air meta - this is that follow-up. Consider it a quick intermission between bigger updates: no major system reveals, just a focused look at where the TH18 meta stands today, what's changing in July, and why.

Right now, Dragon armies are showing up more often than we'd like at TH18, usually led by Dragon Duke and Dragon Riders. They're the single most popular TH18-vs-TH18 war army in the data we reviewed, appearing in roughly 20% of attacks.

The broader issue is that the war meta is also more concentrated than we'd like. When you add the second-most-popular army, Throwers backed by Healers, just two army types account for roughly 40% of TH18-vs-TH18 war attacks. We're happy to see a ground-based army competing near the top too, but when that much of the meta is built around only a couple of answers, both attacking and base building can start to feel narrower than we want.

At the same time, the meta hasn't opened up evenly across all strategies. Electro Dragons are struggling among popular war armies, while Meteor Golem has fallen much further than intended after its earlier nerfs.

So the goal of this round is simple: trim the clearest outliers, bring a few underused options back into consideration, and avoid making attacking stronger overall.

We're also being careful because a new Crafting Season is starting soon. That will naturally shift base building, army choices, and how players approach attacks, so we don't want to make too many changes right before the meta is about to move again. This update is intentionally targeted: address the clearest issues now, then keep watching how everything settles once the new season begins.

What’s Changing

• Dragon Duke - Another cut to his trap damage reduction. His rage stays untouched - we like the skill expression of isolating him and unlocking full power, but traps need to matter more as counterplay against a lone flying hero.

• Dragon Rider - A small HP and damage reduction at the top level. Dragon-based armies are being hit from several directions at once, so we're taking a careful step here rather than overcorrecting.

• Logger (Town Hall Guardian) - Rolling range cut by two tiles, with a stronger close-range push. Logger should make ground attacks respect it, but it's been controlling too much space from too far away.

• Electro Dragon - A small HP and damage boost at the top two levels. We're being careful here since Electro Dragons are already popular and familiar, but their current performance is lower than we'd like.

• Meteor Golem and Meteormites -The biggest buff of this round. Meteor Golem needed a fast nerf after TH18 launched, but we pushed it too far - this change should make its split-and-merge gameplay worth exploring again without bringing back the launch version.

• Druid - A modest healing bump at the top levels - a small nudge for a troop that can work well but isn't picked very often.

With this round of balance changes, we're continuing our focus on explaining the intent behind the changes rather than turning the whole post into a stats breakdown.

For anyone looking for a deeper dive on the numbers, we also asked creators what kind of stats they'd like to see around these changes and shared gameplay data with them, including troop hitrates and other gameplay stats, to help break down how these changes play out. So if that sounds interesting to you, this is a great time to check out your favorite creators.

What We’re Watching

A few things came close but aren't changing in this update.

Totem Spell is still high on our watch list. Sneezy was also a close call, but with Dragon armies already taking multiple hits and a new Crafting Season about to begin, we want to see where things settle first. Ruin Witch and Angry Spell are still very new, so we're giving players more time to experiment before making a call. Sky Wagon is also still being monitored after the last changes.

Not changing something doesn't mean we missed it. Sometimes it means we want to see how the rest of the update, and the next season, changes the meta before pulling another lever.

Flame Blower and Rocket Backpack

The previous change to how Flame Blower pushes Dragon Duke introduced a bug where Rocket Backpack sometimes doesn't trigger.

A proper fix requires an update, so for now we're temporarily reverting to the previous behavior: Flame Blower will once again push in Rocket Backpack's direction.

This isn't the final behavior we want long term, but a predictable interaction is better than a broken one. The full fix, along with lifting the related competitive restrictions, is planned for the next update.

Looking Ahead

That's it for this round. A bite-sized balance update all about making the current TH18 meta a little healthier: less concentrated at the top, a bit more room for underused options, and better counterplay for base builders.

Keep sending us your feedback, replays, war results, and honest reactions. They continue to shape how we approach these updates.

Clash On! 

The Clash of Clans Design Team