The Graveyard Freeze combination has long been a source of frustration and despair for many competitive players in Clash Royale. The strategy, which relies on placing the Graveyard spell and instantly following up with Freeze to prevent defensive units from eliminating the rapidly spawning Skeletons, often resulted in quick, high-damage Tower losses that felt impossible to prevent.

In the latest targeted balance update, Supercell addressed this by hitting the core component of the combo: the Skeleton unit itself. This subtle change drastically improves the defensive viability of many decks.

The Nerf: A Hit to Skeleton Durability

The primary issue with the Graveyard Freeze combo was the sheer health of the Skeletons. Even under Freeze, they survived just long enough to deal critical damage. The change addresses this directly:

  • Base Health Reduction: The health of the individual Skeletons spawned by the Graveyard (and all other sources, like the Skeleton Barrel or Skeleton Army) has been slightly reduced.
  • Weaker to Splash: This reduction is critical because Skeletons are now significantly weaker against Area of Effect (AoE) damage. While under the effect of Freeze, defensive units that deal splash damage (like a Bomber, Wizard, or Valkyrie) will now eliminate the Skeletons faster.

This means that as soon as the Freeze effect wears off, the defensive player’s troops have a far higher chance of clearing the remaining Skeletons before they can lock onto the Tower.

Meta Impact: Counterplay Restored

This targeted nerf accomplishes exactly what the community needed: it does not kill the Graveyard card, but it makes the highly toxic Freeze combination much riskier:

  1. More Defensive Options: Players can now rely on a wider array of defensive units to counter the push. Previously, only units with extremely high burst damage could cope. Now, standard splash damage units are more viable.
  2. Elixir Advantage Shift: The Freeze combo costs a massive 8 Elixir. If the opponent commits that much Elixir, the defender should be able to gain a clear advantage by preventing the Tower damage. This change ensures that if the defender responds correctly, they will now be able to win the Elixir trade.
  3. Strategic Freeze Usage: Graveyard players must now be much more judicious with their Freeze spell. If their opponent has a splash damage unit ready, the Freeze might not be enough to secure the damage, making the 4 Elixir cost of the spell a major liability.

The adjustment successfully injected much-needed counterplay back into a strategy that had become too reliable and too punishing, forcing Graveyard players to adopt more creative and less guaranteed attack patterns.