Season 87 "Minion Academy" went live on September 7, 2026, and its headline card is the Minion Giant — the first brand-new win condition Clash Royale has added since the start of the year. It is a Rare, 4-Elixir flying troop that only attacks buildings and Crown Towers, spitting toxin at them from range while floating across the Arena untouched by ground defences. That combination — a flying, building-targeting win condition at just 4 Elixir — does not exist anywhere else in the game, which is exactly why it is worth understanding before you burn cards levelling it.
This guide covers what Minion Giant actually does, how it differs from the cards people keep comparing it to (it is not a mini Lava Hound), how to get it during Season 87 and after, whether it is worth the investment, and the deck shells it slots into. Every mechanic below is checked against Supercell's official Season 87 release notes; where a hard stat comes from community data ahead of the official card page, it is labelled.
Quick answer: what is the Minion Giant in Clash Royale?
Minion Giant is a Rare, 4-Elixir flying win condition added in Season 87 (September 7, 2026). It flies, targets only buildings and towers, and attacks from range with a toxin spit. It cannot be knocked back, and unlike the Lava Hound it does not spawn smaller minions when it dies. You get it free during the Season 87 Album Event (up to 1,750 copies), and after the season it unlocks on Trophy Road at Arena 5 (1,300 trophies).
Three things make it unusual, and they are the three things to remember:
- It flies but hits buildings. Almost every flying troop in Clash Royale targets other troops or everything. A flyer that ignores your units and beelines your tower is a genuinely new defensive problem.
- It attacks from range. It does not need to sit on top of your tower like a Giant. It parks at a distance and spits, which makes it awkward for melee defenders to reach.
- It cannot be knocked back. Knockback tools that reset a normal push — a Giant Snowball, a Bandit dash, a Fisherman hook on the tank — do not shove the Minion Giant off its line.
Minion Giant stats and card details
Here is what Supercell confirmed in the official Season 87 notes, plus the pre-release numbers the community has measured. Treat the raw stat line as provisional until the official card page is published.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Rarity | Rare |
| Elixir cost | 4 |
| Type | Flying win condition (troop) |
| Targets | Buildings and Crown Towers only |
| Attack | Ranged (toxin spit) |
| Special | Cannot be knocked back; no death spawn |
| Hitpoints (Lvl 11) | ~1,817 (community pre-release data) |
| Damage (Lvl 11) | ~189 (community pre-release data) |
| DPS (Lvl 11) | ~126 (community pre-release data) |
For context on that damage: 126 DPS is respectable but not a bruiser's number. Minion Giant is not going to solo a tower quickly — its value is that it forces a specific answer while being nearly immune to the knockback and ground-lure tricks players lean on. As one r/ClashRoyale player summed the card up on reveal, it plays like "a mega minion that targets buildings and is a bit more beefy." That is a fair first read, and it tells you how to build around it: pair it with support, don't expect it to carry alone.
How is Minion Giant different from the Lava Hound?
This is the single most common comparison — and it is wrong in the way that matters. On the reveal thread, one player called it "a weaker lavahound minus the pups for 3 less elixir," and plenty of others assumed it spawns minions on death.
It does not. The Lava Hound's entire identity is that it dies into a swarm of Lava Pups that finish the tower. The Minion Giant has no death spawn — when it dies, it is simply gone. So the mental model is not "cheap Lava Hound." It is closer to a flying, building-only Mega Minion with a win-condition's job: a 4-Elixir air threat you cycle to and support, not an 7-Elixir beatdown anchor you build your whole deck around.
The practical differences:
- Lava Hound (7 Elixir): tanky, slow, dies into pups, anchors a beatdown deck. You commit big and push once.
- Minion Giant (4 Elixir): cheap enough to cycle, dies into nothing, applies steady pressure. You can throw it out more often and rebuild faster if it is answered.
How to get Minion Giant in Clash Royale
There are two paths, and which one applies depends on when you are reading this.
During Season 87 (September 7 – October 5, 2026) — the Album Event. The season's "Academy Antics" Album Event is the intended free source. You collect Snippets (Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary) as daily battle rewards — up to 3 per day — plus from events and the Shop, then complete album scenes to unlock rewards. Finishing the full album grants 1,750 Minion Giant cards, an exclusive emote, and a Minion Academy tower skin. Duplicate Snippets can be exchanged 4-for-1 for a guaranteed new "Unique" Snippet, and in the event's final week every daily Snippet becomes Unique to help you finish. The Album Event is available from Arena 3.
After the release season — Trophy Road. Once the launch season ends, Minion Giant settles into its permanent home: it unlocks on Trophy Road at Arena 5, which is 1,300 trophies. If you are past Arena 5, it will simply appear in your card collection to start levelling with copies and Gold like any other Rare.
That is the whole story — there is no purchase-only wall and no separate currency. Which leads to the question every code-and-currency post has to answer for Clash Royale:
You cannot buy Minion Giant levels with real money directly, and there is no legitimate way to trade for it. Clash Royale has no player-to-player market and no card cash-out; card upgrades come from copies plus Gold, and Trade Tokens only ever allowed clan-only, card-for-card swaps (and Supercell cut off the supply of new Trade Tokens back around October 2025). Gems buy Gold and Wild Cards indirectly, but the fastest free route to a stack of Minion Giants this month is simply finishing the Album.
Is Minion Giant worth levelling up?
Short version: yes, get the free Album copies — they cost you nothing but daily play — but don't rush to over-invest Gold until the meta settles.
The honest case for caution comes from the community itself. The reveal was met with a shrug from a lot of veterans ("kinda mid," "probably gonna be trash when it releases"), and that skepticism is reasonable: a 4-Elixir win condition with ~126 DPS and no death spawn is not obviously oppressive. New cards also frequently release deliberately weak and get buffed later, or arrive strong and get nerfed within a patch or two.
The case for grabbing it anyway:
- The free copies are nearly free. 1,750 cards from the Album is a huge head start on a Rare — that alone can push a fresh card several levels without touching your Gold.
- Its niche is genuinely new. A knockback-immune flyer that ignores your troops and hits the tower forces defensive adjustments most decks aren't built for. Cards with a unique job tend to find a home even when their raw stats are average.
- Levelling a Rare is cheap relative to Legendaries or Champions. If it does break out, you'd rather already have the copies.
Verdict: complete the Album for the free stack, play it in casual and 2v2 to learn its timing, and hold heavy Gold investment until the first balance pass tells you where it lands.
Which decks does Minion Giant fit?
With the card only hours old, treat every list as a starting shell, not a solved meta deck — live win-rate data from sites like RoyaleAPI won't stabilise for a week or two. But its traits point clearly at a few directions:
- Air-cycle pressure. Because it is cheap and flies, it wants light support that punishes the ground troops your opponent drops to distract their tower's fire — think Minions, Mega Minion, or a Bat swarm behind it. Season 87 even boosts Minions, Minion Horde, Mega Minion, and Ice Wizard, so a mono-air identity is being nudged hard this month.
- Chip-and-spell. A 4-Elixir flyer that forces a specific answer pairs naturally with a cheap cycle and spells (Zap, Arrows, a Log) to clear the small air-defence that counters it, letting the Minion Giant connect again.
- Second win condition. In a deck that already runs a ground threat, Minion Giant is a cheap air alternative that pulls defences the opposite way — useful for splitting attention in double-lane pushes.
What counters it, so you can plan around that too: anything that shreds air quickly. Minions and Minion Horde, Mega Minion, Musketeer, Archers, Tesla, and Inferno Tower/Inferno Dragon all handle a lone Minion Giant well. Its whole game is arriving with support so those answers get distracted or killed first.
The rest of Season 87 at a glance
Minion Giant did not launch alone. Season 87 "Minion Academy" also brought:
- Hero Ice Wizard, whose ability Frosty Fella costs 2 Elixir and spawns a Snowman that freezes nearby enemies for its 7-second lifetime while dealing area damage on arrival. Remember the August 26 rule: all Hero and Champion abilities are single-use per deployment now (Boss Bandit excepted), so Frosty Fella fires once, not on a cooldown. You can pick Hero Ice Wizard from the first Premium Pass Royale milestone or unlock it for 200 Hero Coins.
- A 2v2 Competitive League running September 7–21, 2026. Unlike the casual 2v2 ladder where trophies only go up, in the Competitive League you lose league trophies on a loss. Complete the trail or finish in the top 10,000 for an exclusive badge (top 1,000 get their placement marked on it), with extra Season Shop rewards including 2v2 emotes.
- The Princess Gambit Global Tournament and the limited-time Royale Shuffle mode (September 21 – October 5).
If you want the deep dive on any of those, our other Clash Royale guides cover the season systems in detail.
FAQ
Is Minion Giant a Legendary or a Champion? Neither — it is a Rare card. That is good news for your Gold, because Rares are far cheaper to level than Legendaries or Champions, and the Season 87 Album Event hands out up to 1,750 copies for free.
Does Minion Giant spawn minions when it dies, like the Lava Hound? No. This is the biggest misconception about the card. Minion Giant has no death spawn — when it is destroyed, nothing appears. The Lava Hound dies into Lava Pups; Minion Giant simply dies. Do not build around a swarm that isn't there.
How much Elixir does Minion Giant cost? 4 Elixir. That is cheap for a win condition, which is the whole point — it is designed to be cycled and pressured with, not committed to like a 7-Elixir Lava Hound.
Can you knock back or pull the Minion Giant? It cannot be knocked back — Giant Snowball, Bandit dashes, and similar knockback effects won't shove it off its line. It targets buildings, so a defensive building can pull its aim, but you can't reposition it with knockback the way you can many other pushes.
What's the fastest way to get Minion Giant right now? Complete the "Academy Antics" Album Event during Season 87 (September 7 – October 5, 2026). It is available from Arena 3, drops up to 3 Snippets a day, and awards 1,750 Minion Giant cards plus an emote and tower skin when the album is finished. After the launch season, it unlocks normally on Trophy Road at Arena 5 (1,300 trophies).
Is Minion Giant good? Early community reaction is lukewarm — a 4-Elixir flyer with roughly 126 DPS and no death spawn isn't obviously overpowered, and several players expect balance tweaks. But its niche (a knockback-immune, building-only flyer) is genuinely new, and the free Album copies make it low-risk to pick up. Grab it, learn it, and hold big Gold investment until the first balance pass.
Everything above reflects Season 87 "Minion Academy," live September 7, 2026. Card mechanics are from Supercell's official Season 87 release notes; the hitpoint/damage/DPS figures are community pre-release measurements and will be confirmed against the official card page once it publishes. For more strategy, browse our other Clash Royale guides.
More free Clash Royale guides:
