Merge Tactics Best Builds in 2026

Merge Tactics is a relatively recent game mode added to Clash Royale, and it has become popular quickly. It’s an autochess battler that focuses on short burst matches. No items, special interactions, or 40-minute fights to figure out who’s going to take second place. You’re queued with the other 3 players, and you start building your team. You don’t need to have any of the cards that you play with in this mode, as they’re separate entities with different balancing and changed abilities. This mode allows you to quickly gain copies of the cards for their upgrade and unlock legendary cards long before you hit Arena 11. It’s one of the best modes to play as a newcomer, but if you’re an already established veteran, this mode will be fun for you as well. With all that said, let’s talk about the best builds for Merge Tactics.

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Read our other Clash Royale guides:

• Best Decks for Every Arena
• Best Decks
• Evo Tier List

Meta Builds Merge Tactics 2026

There are two ways you can build your team: tall or wide. Tall means you prioritize one trait over the others. This works well with certain rulers, like Loong, Empress, or Goblin Queen. Building wide means that you try to get as many traits as possible to get multiple bonuses from them. This works well with Loong and Machine. Loong can do that thanks to an increased team size, and Machine has only 5 unit slots and has to build around his gadgets. There are six rulers in the game currently:

1. King: Extra health for your ruler.
2. Empress: Lets you gain +1 Elixir for each merge.
3. Goblin Queen: Has a chance to spawn a goblin troop upon merge.
4. Loong: Has a +1 team size.
5. Machine: Has 4 gadgets that spawn in random order with an increasing star level. Also, -1 team size.
6. Sage: Summons The Echo, which knocks out the nearest enemies after charging.

Most meta builds in Merge Tactics 2026 center around two rulers: Loong and Empress. They’re the strongest and allow you to consistently build strong teams that have an upper hand over the others. Ultimately, you'd want to learn how to build your own strong comps, and for that, we have a Merge Tactics cards tier list. It'll help you identify the core of your build. But if you feel like you aren't knowledgeable enough, or just don't want to bother with team building, check out these builds we've prepared for you. Below, you'll find four of the best team comps in Merge Tactics that will help you win the game. We start from the strongest one, which some would even call OP, and then move on to the least reliable one. There are no weak team comps here, so don’t be discouraged from trying them all. 

Clan Undead Rangers

Clan trait in this season is extremely strong and is nearly unbeatable. They have the thickest tanks in forms of Barbarian and Valkyrie, strong DPS in Archer Queen, and Wizard as a support DPS. Their secondary traits allow you to further diversify your team composition, creating additional ways to dominate. They also use Empress, who’s one of the strongest rulers in the game. She allows you to gain 1 additional Elixir per merge, making this build snowball heavy. Take a look at the best build to use in Merge Tactics:

• Ruler: Empress
• Barbarian: Clan, Brawler. 2 Elixir
• Wizard: Clan, Blaster. 2 Elixir
• Skeleton Dragons: Undead, Ranger. 2 Elixir
• Valkyrie: Clan, Brutalist. 3 Elixir
• Archer Queen: Clan, Ranger. 5 Elixir
• Skeleton King: Undead, Brutalist. 5 Elixir

This build prioritises building tall rather than wide. With 4 Clans, you have insane +70% Max HP and attack speed buff. In addition, they heal like crazy, which adds to their survivability. The strongest carry card here is Archer Queen, as her Invisibility makes her practically invincible once you 3-star her. With Empress, this task becomes much simpler. Another strong card is Valkyrie, who deals damage to all units around her. With additional hit speed from the Brutalist trait and extra HP damage dealt as a percentage, she becomes really dangerous.

Clan Ranger Blasters

Another build utilising the full Clan trait bonus. This time, you’re using Loong instead of Empress. An additional unit allows you to further strengthen your team composition, instead of relying on making all your units 3-star, as in the previous build. This build also relies on a strong carry potential from Archer Queen, but this time, your damage-dealing potential shifts from AQ and Valk to AQ and Wiz. This works because we proc his Blaster trait with Spear Goblin. AQ procs her Ranger trait thanks to the Dart Goblin, whom we add here to activate both Goblin and Ranger traits. We substitute Skeleton King with P.E.K.K.A, who allows Barbarian to utilise the Brawler Trait, making him potentially the tankiest Brawler out of the bunch. Here’s one of the strong Merge Tactics builds:

• Ruler: Loong
• Barbarian: Clan, Brawler. 2 Elixir
• Wizard: Clan, Blaster. 2 Elixir
• Spear Goblin: Goblin, Blaster. 2 Elixir
• Dart Goblin: Goblin, Ranger. 3 Elixir
• Valkyrie: Clan, Brutalist. 3 Elixir
• P.E.K.K.A: Brawler, P.E.K.K.A. 3 Elixir.
• Archer Queen: Clan, Ranger. 5 Elixir.

This composition lets you dominate at every stage of the match. Remember that the primary tactic to win as Loong is to gather as many troops as possible early on. Overwhelming your opponent is more reliable in the early stage than trait bonuses. Even if you see purchasable Archer Queen in the first round, don’t go for her if you can get Barbarian or a Wizard. BLOG20

Brawler Ace Clan Blasters

This build prioritises getting all four brawlers and just outliving your opponent while Wizard and Executioner do the AoE damage. This build might require you to move your troops around, depending on the enemy’s comp and their main carry position. Most people don’t really work with their positioning until higher ranks, but it’s really strong and can easily win you games if you master it, even if you’re playing against a build that counters yours. We have all 4 Brawler troops in the build. Put them all on the front row and move them around depending on your enemy. Smart Prince positioning can basically turn off one enemy unit until it’s too late for them. Mini P.E.K.K.A is here to proc the P.E.K.K.A trait of the grown version. Check out one of the Merge Tactics best team comps:

• Ruler: Loong
• Barbarian: Clan, Brawler. 2 Elixir
• Wizard: Clan, Blaster. 2 Elixir
• Mini P.E.K.K.A: Brutalist, P.E.K.K.A. 2 Elixir
• Prince: Noble, Brawler. 3 Elixir
• Executioner: Ace, Blaster. 3 Elixir
• P.E.K.K.A: Brawler, P.E.K.K.A. 3 Elixir
• Mega Knight: Ace, Brawler. 4 Elixir

If you feel like either of your Blasters isn’t doing enough in this particular comp, switch them for Princess. It is recommended to do that if your opponent stacks the majority of their units in the back, or if they’re playing a Machine as a ruler.

Ace Assassin Blasters

Final in our list of Merge Tactics top builds is a team composition utilising two of the strongest Assassins in the game and relying on a powerful Ace trait bonus. Aces aren’t really that popular, as their trait makes it hard to realise their potential reliably, especially when they’re all equal star level. With the Empress as the ruler, it becomes much easier. The Ace trait is a bit complicated. Here’s how it works: your highest-merged Ace becomes a Captain. If you have multiple Aces who have a 2-star merge level, that means that each round, they’ll become a Captain randomly. That’s why your main priority is to 3-star one of your Aces. Here’s how to build this team comp:

• Ruler: Empress
• Executioner: Ace, Blaster. 3 Elixir
• Bandit: Ace, Assassin. 4 Elixir
• Princess: Noble, Blaster. 4 Elixir
• Mega Knight: Ace, Brawler. 4 Elixir
• Golden Knight: Noble, Assassin. 5 Elixir
• Monk: Ace, Superstar. 5 Elixir

On paper, your main carries are the Bandit or Executioner. Golden Knight and Princess are there to be a safety cushion, dealing tons of damage before you 3-star one of your Aces. It is preferable to get an Aced Bandit or Aced Exec. Aced Monk can be good if your opponent has a lot of squishy DPS. We don’t recommend Acing a Mega Knight.

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