This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://royaleapi.com/blog/season-67-balance-final-january-2025
Really like the addition of the evo edrag nerf and no recruits buff
Duchess does need a small buff as it is the most underused tower troop so not sure why the one dagger buff was removed, it is not even that big a buff
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Spear Goblin haters going crazy with that change
Idk why spear goblins got nerfed by ok, they were pretty mid anyways
I expected these changes to be bad for Giant Skeleton. I wasn’t prepared for giant skeleton to be practically unplayable both competitively and casually.
When looking at grand challenge data from the past day, it shows giant skelly as having the sixth worst win percent in the game, a staggering NINETEEN PERCENT. Non-evo versions of cards usually have really bad win rate, and if we take those out of consideration, he has the THIRD WORST WIN % IN THE GAME. The only two cards that are worse are the furnace and goblin hut, which inherently need to be bad anyways.
Today, clone spell (a card that has been unviable since the big bang) has a 28% win rate in grand challenges. This means that a deck with giant skeleton deck will win 2 games for every 3 games a clone spell deck wins. Yes, it really is that bad.
The reasons are as follows:
- Aq gs hog decks were some of the only decks giant skeleton was good in. Archer queen gets nerfed, taking it away.
- The evo pekka change made him even stronger against giant skeleton.
- Previously, giant skeleton barely beat a mini-pekka, already a super bad matchup. Now mini-pekka straight up beats him, and is way more common.
- Witch doesn’t die to giant skelly’s bomb+log, which is unfortunate seeing as the witch was just buffed.
- Buildings make gs useless on offense, and they buffed evo cannon.
- And then, finally, the mighty miner buff. He can now melt gs even harder, and is WAY more common.
And while the evo skeletons buff does benefit gs, it doesn’t change the interaction at all. It just makes it less common to see them.
This card has been bad for a LONG time. Ever since his rework, he has been consistently mediocre AT BEST, and awful at worst (aka right now). Supercell has not given him the attention he needs whatsoever. He received a very tiny health buff a year ago, which was nice before pekka was mega-buffed soon after.
I want to play Giant Skeleton. He has been my favorite card for a while now. But he is unplayable at this point. If your opponent has pekka (evo or not), any building (ESPECIALLY EVO BUILDINGS), evo skellies, evo ice spirit, or mighty miner, giant skeleton will get zero value on offense. Full stop. Even if he can get to an enemy tower, his bomb can still be nullified by tornado. Evo valk can sometimes move him as well, which is quite frustrating. A full health giant skeleton is worth FAR less than 6 elixir on offense, and he will never get value unless your opponent either makes a mistake or is playing a bad deck.
This would be okay if he is good on defense, but he just cannot get anything done right now. Cards that he used to be able deal with, like mega knight, wall breakers, and goblin drill, now have evos that make gs a complete waste. His hit speed is too slow to deal with even minor swarms. His dps is awful, so most tower-targeting tanks beat him unless gs body-blocks (and did I mention bomber is still broken?). In order to get any value out of gs on defense, you have to give him support despite the fact that you won’t get any of it back on offense.
Buffing giant skeleton’s death bomb would make the most sense, seeing as it is incredibly underwhelming atm. I would give it a bigger range and make it do double damage against buildings, since it already does double damage against the tower. Alternatively, increase his hit speed by a bit.