If you’ve spent any time playing Clash Royale lately, you’ve definitely seen how game-changing champions can be. Units like the Skeleton King, Golden Knight, and Archer Queen can turn losing matches around in seconds, and they open up entirely new deck archetypes for every playstyle. I still remember the frustration of facing off against opponents with champions when I had none, and spending weeks wondering how to get champions in Clash Royale without dropping a bunch of real money on the game. This guide breaks down every working method, plus tips to speed up your unlock and avoid common mistakes that waste your time and resources.
How to Get Champions in Clash Royale: Proven Unlock Methods
Before we dive into specific methods, there’s one non-negotiable rule you need to know first. King Level 14 is the absolute minimum requirement to unlock champions, no matter how many chests you open or how much money you spend. If you’re still below that level, your first priority should be leveling up your King Tower by upgrading common and rare cards, since that will get you to the eligibility threshold faster than anything else. Once you hit King Level 14, you can unlock champions through any of the following methods:
A lot of new players assume you have to spend money to get these units, but that’s not true at all. You don’t have to spend a single cent to unlock champions if you’re willing to put in consistent play time over a few weeks. I unlocked my first three champions entirely for free just by playing a few matches every day and claiming all my daily rewards, so I can confirm this works even for casual players who only log in for 30 minutes a day.
Tips to Speed Up Your Champion Unlock Process
Even if you stick to free methods, there are plenty of small tweaks you can make to cut your unlock time almost in half. Prioritize completing daily and weekly quests first to maximize chest drop rates, since these quests give you bonus chests and crowns that you wouldn’t get just from playing random ladder matches. For example, if you have a quest that requires you to win three matches with a spell-heavy deck, focus on that first instead of grinding ladder with your main deck, because the quest reward will give you extra progression.
Joining an active, high-ranked clan is another huge win for faster progression. Clan war chests have a much higher drop rate for rare items, including champion shards, if your clan finishes in the top three tiers of their war bracket. You also get access to clan trades, which let you swap unused cards for ones you need to level up faster, so you can hit King Level 14 sooner if you’re still working toward that threshold. Just make sure to pick a clan that requires regular participation, because inactive clans won’t hit the higher war reward tiers.
If you have extra gems saved up, save them for special event entries that offer champion shards as rewards, instead of spending them on cosmetic items or chest speed ups. These events usually only cost 50 to 100 gems to enter, and even if you don’t get the top prize, you’ll almost always walk away with more shards than you would get from opening regular chests with the same amount of gems.
Common Mistakes That Slow Down Champion Unlocks
Even if you’re playing regularly, a lot of small, common mistakes can add weeks to your champion unlock timeline without you even noticing. Never waste your hard-earned gems on speeding up regular silver or gold chests, because that gives you almost no progression value compared to saving those gems for special champion offers in the shop or extra challenge entries. I made this mistake when I first started playing, and I wasted hundreds of gems speeding up chests that only gave me common cards I didn’t even need.
Another big mistake is leaving crown chests and daily rewards unclaimed every day. These free rewards add up fast, and missing even a few days a month means you’re losing out on dozens of potential champion shards. Quitting challenge events early before you hit the minimum reward tiers is also a waste, because even if you don’t hit the top prize, most challenges give you at least a few champion shards for winning 3 or 4 matches. So even if you’re struggling to get wins, it’s worth playing until you hit that minimum reward tier before you quit.
Don’t waste your champion shards on random chests or low-value rewards either. It can be tempting to spend 50 shards on a random legendary chest, but you’re far better off saving all your shards until you hit 500 so you can pick exactly the champion you want, instead of hoping you get lucky with a random drop.
What to Do After You Unlock Your First Champion
Unlocking your first champion is a huge milestone, but a lot of players make the mistake of wasting resources upgrading every champion they unlock right away. Start with one champion to focus your upgrade resources instead of spreading them thin across multiple units, because upgrading a champion to level 2 or 3 will give you way more value than having three champions all stuck at level 1. Pick the champion that fits your existing playstyle first: if you like aggressive beatdown decks, go for the Golden Knight first, if you prefer control decks, the Skeleton King is a better pick.
Test your new champion in friendly battles against clan mates first before you take them to ladder, so you can learn how their ability works without risking your trophy count. Most champions have unique abilities that take a few matches to get used to, and jumping straight into ranked play with a champion you don’t know how to use will just lead to frustrating losses. Once you’re comfortable with their kit, you can tweak your existing deck to fit them in, or try out one of the many popular meta decks built around that specific champion.
Keep earning champion shards even after you unlock all available champions, because you’ll need them to upgrade your champions to higher levels. Higher level champions have much stronger abilities and higher stats, so they’re far more effective in higher trophy ranges where most players have at least one champion in their deck.
Unlocking champions doesn’t have to be a complicated or expensive process. All it takes is consistent play, a few small tweaks to your daily routine, and avoiding the common mistakes that waste your time and resources. Whether you’re a casual player just looking to have fun with new units or a competitive player climbing the top ladder ranks, knowing how to get champions in Clash Royale is the first step to building more dynamic, powerful decks that fit your unique playstyle. If you stick to the methods we outlined here, you’ll have your first champion in your collection before you know it.
