If you’ve ever spent hours scrolling through your Clash Royale emote wheel mid-battle, you’ve probably seen a weird, flashy emote pop up from an opponent and immediately wondered what it is, and how you can get it. For diehard players and casual collectors alike, tracking down limited-edition cosmetics is half the fun of logging in every day, and one question comes up more than almost any other in community spaces: what is the rarest emote in Clash Royale. We’ve dug through official release records, community polls, and years of update notes to give you a definitive answer, plus context on what makes an emote rare in the first place, and how you can avoid falling for scams when hunting for rare cosmetics.
What Makes a Clash Royale Emote Rare, Anyway?
If you’ve ever asked what is the rarest emote in Clash Royale, the answer starts with understanding how Supercell designs and releases these limited cosmetics. Not all limited-time emotes are equally rare, and a handful of specific factors determine how many players end up with a given emote long term. The four biggest factors are release window length, acquisition requirements, player base size at release, and re-release history.
For example, an emote only available for 24 hours will always be rarer than one available for two weeks in the in-game shop. An emote you have to hit top 100 in a global tournament to earn will have far fewer owners than one you can buy for $4.99 with no extra requirements. Emotes released in the game’s first couple of years are also rarer by default, because Clash Royale had a fraction of its current active player base back in 2016 and 2017.
The biggest factor of all, though, is re-release history. Supercell has a strict policy of never re-releasing certain very early exclusive emotes, to preserve their value for the players who originally earned them. Any emote that has never been re-released will always be rarer than one that shows up in the seasonal shop once a year.
What Is the Rarest Emote in Clash Royale, and How Did Players Get It?
The undisputed rarest emote in the game is the Clash Royale Beta Tester King Thumbs Up Emote. It features the default King character doing a slow, exaggerated thumbs up, with a tiny faded beta badge in the bottom right corner of the emote frame that most players don’t even notice at first glance. Community trackers estimate less than 0.01% of active Clash Royale accounts have this emote, which is a far lower ownership rate than any other released cosmetic.
This emote was only awarded to players who participated in the closed Clash Royale beta test that ran from late 2015 to March 2016, and who played at least 10 matches during the test period. The beta was only available to a small, invited group of players in select regions, mostly in Scandinavia and parts of North America, so even at the time, very few people had access to it.
Supercell has explicitly stated multiple times that they will never re-release this emote, to honor the original beta testers who helped shape the game before its global launch. I’ve played Clash Royale consistently since 2017, and I’ve only ever seen this emote pop up in 3 matches total, all against players with account levels over 50 and tens of thousands of wins under their belt. You’re more likely to run into a pro player in a random ladder match than you are to see this emote in the wild.
Other Ultra-Rare Clash Royale Emotes Worth Collecting
You’ll often see these emotes pop up in Reddit threads asking what is the rarest emote in Clash Royale, as many players have never seen the original beta exclusive and mistake these for the top spot. While none of them come close to the beta emote’s rarity, they are all owned by fewer than 1% of active players, and are highly sought after by collectors:
- 2017 Clash Royale League World Finals Top 50 Emote: Awarded only to the top 50 players in the first official global CRL tournament, fewer than 1000 accounts have this emote, which features a King holding a glistening golden trophy.
- 1st Anniversary Cake Emote: Released for 24 hours only during the game's first anniversary in 2017, it was available for free to anyone who logged in that day, but very few active players today were around to claim it.
- Supercell Creator Exclusive Pig Emote: Given only to official Supercell content creators who hit 100k subscribers and participated in the 2020 creator program, it’s never been available to regular players, and only a few hundred copies exist.
- COVID-19 Charity Event Emote: Sold for $10 during a 2020 charity drive where 100% of proceeds went to global relief efforts, it was only available for 48 hours, and fewer than 10,000 copies were sold worldwide.
Many of these emotes show up in high-level ladder matches more often than the beta emote, because most of them were awarded to competitive players who are still active in the community. If you ever see any of these pop up during a match, you’re playing against someone who’s been part of the Clash Royale community for a very long time, or who has dedicated hundreds of hours to competing in official events.
Important Tips for Hunting Rare Clash Royale Emotes
If you want to build your own rare emote collection, there are a few hard rules you should follow to avoid wasting money or getting scammed. First, never buy accounts from third-party sellers. Supercell explicitly bans account selling, and you will lose access to the account permanently if they detect it’s been transferred, no matter how much you paid for it. There’s no way to transfer emotes between accounts, so the only legitimate way to get rare emotes is to earn them on your own account when they are released.
Second, keep an eye on official Supercell announcements for limited-time events. Supercell does re-release some older emotes every few months, usually as part of seasonal passes or special event challenges, so you might get lucky and pick up an older emote you missed if you check the news tab regularly. They usually tease re-releases a week or two in advance, so you’ll have time to save up gold or gems if you want to grab one.
Third, don’t fall for fake links or "free emote" scams that pop up in community Discord servers or comment sections. These links almost always lead to phishing sites that will steal your account information. The only place you can earn or buy emotes is directly in the official Clash Royale app, so any offer that asks you to click an external link to get an emote is a scam, no matter how legitimate it looks.
Also, remember that not all rare emotes are worth chasing just for the clout. I’ve spent $10 on a limited emote before that I barely ever use, so make sure you actually like the emote before you spend money or hours grinding a challenge to earn it. There’s no point wasting resources on an emote that will just sit unused in the back of your emote wheel.
At the end of the day, rare emotes are just a fun bonus for long-time players, not something you need to stress over to enjoy the game. Knowing what is the rarest emote in Clash Royale is a fun bit of trivia for community fans, but even if you never get your hands on the beta tester king emote, there are dozens of other fun, limited-edition emotes released every year that you can collect to make your emote wheel feel unique. If you keep up with events, avoid scams, and only pick up emotes you actually like, you’ll build a collection you’re happy with in no time.
