Rogue Defenders Crystal Clash Deck Guide: War Bands

A Rogue Defenders Crystal Clash deck, your War Band, is 8 of the 28 unit cards. Slots open as you level up during the match, and a card only fits a slot at or above its tier, so the giants arrive mid-fight. Bring one Champion and two heavy cards at most, and build around counters: magic, shooters and splash.

The real fun of Crystal Clash happens before the first unit walks out: you see your friend's band, spot the hole in it, and send exactly the wrong thing their way. This page teaches you to build a band that hits hard and answers back. Crystal Clash here is the lane battle mode inside Rogue Defenders, not the separate Steam game by Crunchy Leaf Games. New to the game? The complete Rogue Defenders guide shows where the mode fits. Or open the deck builder in the game from the Crystal Clash menu and build along.

How do War Band slots and tiers work?

Your battle bar has 8 slots. You level up during the match from time and kills, and slots open as you go:

Every card has a tier from 1 to 6 and only fits a slot whose level is at least its tier. That gives you four rules to build by:

• At least three tier-1 cards. Only slots 1 to 3 are open at the start, and only tier 1 fits there, so your opening is always cheap and quick.
• At most two cards of tier 5 or higher, since only slots 7 and 8 take them, and only one tier-6 card, in slot 8.
• The limits: one Champion (all four are tier 6), two heavy cards, no card twice. Your Champion can only be on the field once at a time.
• Order matters. Card one goes in slot one, so list your band from the lowest tier up. The builder won't let a card sit in a slot that opens too early.

Level 2 comes fast; level 6 takes a good few minutes. So the opening is a scrappy fight of small units, and the Champions crash in once the match has warmed up.

Why should you never stall in the opening?

Because the game punishes it hard. If you send no unit card in the first 10 seconds, your income stops and your gold starts draining every second until something goes out, and sending your hero doesn't count. You start with enough gold for a few cheap cards and earn more every second, faster as the match goes on, so open with a tier-1 card right away and keep the gold flowing.

The 28 cards by tier

Cost is in gold. "Beaten by" is what the card itself says counters it.

What beats what in Crystal Clash?

Five rules decide most fights:

1. Magic cuts armour and smoke. Only magic gets through the Black Knight's armour at full strength and hits the Cutthroat in its smoke. The magic units are the Mage, Shaman, Cultist, Cleric, Hexer and Lich, plus every spell.
2. Magic stops regrowth. Any magic hit stops the Cave Troll healing for a few seconds, so hit it with magic and keep hitting.
3. Fliers need shooters. Swords can't reach Bat Swarms or Wraiths; Archers, Goblin Archers, heroes and towers can. Towers hit Wraiths twice as hard.
4. Splash beats packs. Slimes, Skeleton Packs and Hound Packs melt under Mages and Meteors.
5. Pikemen beat big units. Double damage to Knights, Ogres, Trolls, Shieldbearers and Black Knights, though not Champions.

Every band you build should cover the first three. No magic and a Black Knight walks through you; no shooters and a cloud of Bats eats your towers while your swordsmen swing at the air.

The five ready-made War Bands

Kingdom is a great first band. It has shooters, a Mage for splash and armour, a Cleric to heal and two tower breakers in the Ogre and the Engineer. Notice it has no Champion: the heavy Engineer card sits in the last slot instead.

Three War Bands to try

Each of these follows the slot rules (three tier-1 cards, one tier-6, at most two of tier 5 and up). None is a proven best; they're starting points built on the counters above, so tweak them.

Spellbreaker (eats armour and Trolls): Footman, Archer, Skeleton Pack, Mage, Cultist, Cleric, Black Knight, Lich. Four magic cards, so Black Knights, Trolls and Cutthroats are handled. Lead it with the Mage commander, who makes spells stronger and starts with a free Meteor, or the Cleric, who powers up your Clerics and Mages.

Siege Line (knocks towers down): Footman, Goblin Archer, Knight, Bomber, Pikeman, Shieldbearer, Ogre, Stone Golem. The Shieldbearer drags enemy units off your Bombers and Ogre, the Pikeman deals with their big units, and the Golem flattens towers. Grab Siege Craft and Forward Camp when they show up, and lead it with the Engineer commander if you have the Pass, for more damage to buildings and a cheaper Ogre. The weak spot is fliers: apart from your towers, only the Goblin Archer and your hero can hit them.

Swarm (buries them in bodies): Hound Pack, Bat Swarm, Skeleton Pack, Slime, Shaman, Cutthroat, Hexer, Warlord. Loads of cheap units, then the Warlord's roar to send them charging. Take Swarm Doctrine, Twin Banners and Second Wave. It folds to splash, so save it for a rival with no Mage.

Which level-up powers change a band?

Each level-up offers three of 36 powers. These are worth building around:

• Rally Horn: new units arrive already raging for a few seconds.
• Second Wave: every 30 seconds, a free copy of the last unit you sent (not a Champion).
• Raider's Pay: gold for every bit of damage you do to towers and the Crystal.
• Scorched Earth: when one of your towers falls, it blows up in the attackers' faces.
• Last Stand: once, when your Crystal drops under a third of its health, your army fights faster and heals and the Crystal mends a little. Comebacks start here.

Your commander matters as much as your band; the Rogue Defenders heroes guide lists every perk. Playing with a friend? The 2v2 lane battle strategy guide shows how two bands cover each other. And if you came here from Clash Royale, our Clash Royale alternatives for PC and browser shows how this mode compares.