Clash Royale King Level: What Replaced It in 2026

King Level no longer exists in Clash Royale: the update of May 26, 2026 removed XP and King's Journey and split the old number into two new ones, your King Tower Level (capped at 16) and your Collection Level. Your King Tower now rises automatically when enough of your cards reach a set level, for example 14 cards at Level 15 or higher for King Tower 16. If you are searching for the old King Level because a guide, a friend or a profile still mentions it, this page explains what replaced it, how the two new numbers work as of November 2026, and how to climb them efficiently.

We checked this against Supercell's "New Collection Levels and Mastery Changes" announcement, the June Update 2026 patch notes, and the King Tower Level and Collection Level articles in the official Clash Royale help center in November 2026.

What Happened to King Level and XP

For years, Clash Royale tracked overall progress through King's Journey: you earned XP from upgrades, donations and Mastery tasks, and every so often a milestone raised your King Level and your King Tower with it. Supercell's own reasoning for dropping it was that the pace slowed down so much at high levels that big milestones felt distant and arrived as surprises. In its May 13, 2026 announcement the team wrote that King's Journey would be removed completely and that XP would leave the game too.

Here is what changed on update day:

• Card upgrades, Mastery rewards and Clan donations stopped awarding XP.
• Any unclaimed King's Journey rewards were delivered automatically through a pop-up the first time you logged in.
• Features that used to unlock at King Levels moved to Arena unlocks. Clans and Deck Slots now open at Arena 1, Clan Donations and Pass Royale at Arena 2, Clan Wars and Clan Trading at Arena 3, Card Mastery at Arena 4 and Star Points at Arena 5.
• Your King Tower Level was recalculated under the new rules, and Supercell promised it could only stay the same or go up.

So when an older video says something unlocks at "King Level 14" or that a reward appears "every other Level Up Chest past King Level 50," treat it as history. Those systems are gone.

How King Tower Level Works Now

Instead of XP, your King Tower Level now depends on how many cards you have upgraded to a certain level. Once you meet a requirement, the tower upgrades on its own, and Supercell automatically gives you a full upgrade's worth of Tower Princess cards and Gold so your Tower Troop can follow. Tower Troops and Merge Tactics Rulers do not count toward the requirements. You can check your progress in game through the King Tower Level menu in your Collection.

The table below lists every requirement next to the old King Level that used to unlock the same tower, which is handy for translating old guides.

King Tower Level requirements since May 26, 2026, with the old King's Journey equivalent (Supercell)

King Tower Level	Old King's Journey level	New requirement
2	2	9 cards at Level 1+
3	3	9 cards at Level 2+
4	5	10 cards at Level 3+
5	7	10 cards at Level 4+
6	10	10 cards at Level 5+
7	14	10 cards at Level 6+
8	18	10 cards at Level 7+
9	22	10 cards at Level 8+
10	26	10 cards at Level 9+
11	30	10 cards at Level 10+
12	34	11 cards at Level 11+
13	38	11 cards at Level 12+
14	42	12 cards at Level 13+
15	54	13 cards at Level 14+
16	75	14 cards at Level 15+

The interesting part is the top of the table. Under the old system, King Tower 16 needed King Level 75, which took most players a very long time. Now it needs 14 cards at Level 15 or above. Because a deck is only eight cards, you will need to level six more beyond your main deck, which rewards players who run two or three decks across Trophy Road, Ranked and Clan Wars.

What Your King Tower Level Actually Controls

The King Tower Level is not just a badge. According to the help center, it determines the overall power of your Crown Towers in battle, so a higher level means sturdier, harder-hitting towers. It also sets several limits elsewhere in the game:

• Tower Troops cannot be upgraded above your current King Tower Level.
• It sets your Magic Item inventory limits (except Wild Shards, Crystals and Hero Coins).
• It scales the Pass Royale gifts, including the Clan Gift of Gold, which tops out at 850 Gold depending on the buyer's King Tower Level.
• It sets the level of a Card Boost Potion, which raises one card to your King Tower Level for three hours.
• It acts as a level gate on Trophy Road: you cannot enter a new Arena until your King Tower meets that Arena's minimum, even if you have the Trophies.

That last point catches people out. If you are stuck at an Arena boundary with enough Trophies, the gate is usually your tower, and the fix is upgrading cards rather than winning more games.

Collection Level: The Number That Took Over From XP

The other half of the old King Level is the Collection Level, which is now the main "how far along am I" number on your profile. The formula is simple: add up the level of every card you own, then add five for each Evolution and each Hero form. New cards join at a level that depends on rarity, so a Rare such as Valkyrie adds three when you unlock it, while every later upgrade adds exactly one, whatever the rarity. Tower Troops count; Merge Tactics Rulers do not.

Collection Level milestones replaced King's Journey rewards. Your first reward arrives at Collection Level 20, then one every 10 levels, and once you pass Collection Level 1,500 they come every 5 levels. Supercell listed the totals across the whole track as 14,955 Gems, 28,920 Common, 7,850 Rare, 1,327 Epic, 58 Legendary and 19 Champion Wild Cards, plus 28 5-Star Magic Lucky Chests, one 4-Star Magic Lucky Chest, 13 Evolution Boxes, 6 banners and a tower skin. The milestones are the same for every player regardless of Arena.

Existing players also got a one-off thank-you when the switch happened. On the first login after the update, Supercell granted celebration rewards based on your Collection Level that day: 500 Gems for the 20 to 200 bracket, rising in steps to 5,000 Gems for Collection Level 2,001 and above, with 5-Star Magic Lucky Chests, banners and a tower skin added in the higher brackets. That was a one-time transition reward, so a new account today simply works toward the regular milestones, starting with the first one at Collection Level 20.

When Supercell made the switch, it said there were 125 cards in the game, and it has added more since, so the ceiling keeps moving. That is why account listings and profiles now show numbers in the thousands next to a King Tower of 15 or 16: the big number is the Collection Level, not a King Level. For more on where those levels top out, see our guide to every max level in the game.

Reading Old Guides and Profiles in 2026

Because the change is recent, a lot of content online still speaks the old language. A few translations help:

• "King Level 54" in a 2024 or 2025 guide meant King Tower 15. Today that is 13 cards at Level 14 or higher.
• "King Level 30 for the second Evolution slot" no longer applies. Since March 2026, special slots unlock by Arena: Evolution at Arena 3, Hero at Arena 5 and Wild at Arena 10.
• "Pass Royale unlocks at King Level 7" is outdated. It unlocks at Arena 2.
• Elite Wild Cards, Books and Magic Coins were removed in November 2025, before the King Level change, so any upgrade route that relies on them is obsolete too.

If you track your progress with a third-party site, check that it has updated to Collection Levels. Supercell's in-game Collection screen is the reliable reference.

How to Raise Your King Tower Level Efficiently

Since the tower now follows your cards, the strategy is about where you spend Gold and Wild Cards. A practical approach:

1. Count your cards at the target level. For King Tower 16 you need 14 at Level 15 or higher; the King Tower Level menu shows how many you already have.
2. Upgrade the cards you play first. Your main deck reaches the threshold anyway, and each upgrade also adds a Collection Level toward the next milestone reward.
3. Choose your extra cards by cost. Commons need far more copies but are easy to collect; Legendary and Champion upgrades need only a handful of copies at high levels. Supercell's upgrade tables show, for example, 5,500 Commons or 14 Legendaries to reach Level 15, and 90,000 Gold per card at that step.
4. Use Mastery for Gold. Since the May 2026 rework, Mastery tasks pay only Gold, but more of it: 4,000 per task in the first set, 6,000 in the second and 15,000 in the third, and the targets were cut sharply (Hog Rider's first damage task fell from 85,000 to 37,000).
5. Spend Wild Cards on bottlenecks, not on cards you can farm through Clan requests and the Trader.

A free source of rewards that also helps here is covered in our guide to legit free gems, since Gems can buy missing cards or Gold for an upgrade. If you are also working toward an Evolution, our breakdown of Evolution Shard sources shows how Collection milestones feed Evolution Boxes.

If You Would Rather Start Higher Up the Road

Reaching King Tower 16 under the new rules still means maxing a lot of cards, and some players prefer to begin with that work done. The store's Clash Royale hub shows account listings from marketplace sellers, each one stating details such as King Tower level, trophies, card count and Evolutions. Supercell's Terms of Service say a player shall not purchase, sell, rent or give away their account, so weigh that before buying.

Frequently Asked Questions