Millions of Clash Royale players opened their applications on Sunday to a new video from the development team that laid out the long-awaited April update. Featured in the upcoming patch is a revamp to the player progression system, a new card, and the two latest game modes.

For those who may have missed it, the full video can be found on the official Clash Royale Youtube channel below:

New progression system

For long-time and new players of Clash Royale alike, the progression system can be grueling. As players rise up the ladder they are met with opponents with higher level cards and towers that can prove too overwhelming at times. Losing against such foes and dropping hard-earned trophies-- and thus Arenas-- as a result is what this April update intends to remove.

With the implementation of “Trophy Gates,” once players reach a certain Arena they can no longer drop below said Arena. The development team suggests that due to these floors, players will be able to achieve new “trophy highs” and progress much quicker.

Additionally, to shrink the gap between those who have higher level cards, players can earn numerous rewards as they progress up the ladder. The rewards can range from gold to gems to cards and chests. For players who have already surpassed certain tiered rewards, they will be able to claim all of them leading up to where they are now when the update goes live. Players who have reached the Legendary Arena (4000+ trophies) will find that the season-ending Draft Chest has been removed for additional rewards.

Earthquake spell

To kick off the April update, a new card will join the numerous other gameplay changes. Earthquake, a three elixir spell, is intended to heavily damage buildings while slowing ground-troops and damaging them a little.

“We wanted to introduce more hard-counters to cards like Furnace and Elixir Collector to provide more deck-building options," said members of the development team. Earthquake is one way of doing that. A potential strategy that could employ the Earthquake spell is one that focuses on using aggressive cards such as Hog Rider, Royal Giant and Battle Ram at the bridge and is slowed down by buildings. One drop of the Earthquake could create an easier path to the opponent’s Princess or King Towers.

Time will tell how the spell fits into the meta or if one is created around it.

Three new game modes

Players will have the ability to try out the Earthquake card and new strategies in a few upcoming game modes that are coming with the April update as well. Although it hasn’t been confirmed where and how often these new game variants can be played, three were revealed in the video.

“Elixir Rush” features numerous drops of elixir across the map that players can fight over and claim to give themselves an advantage. According to the dev team, aggressive players will be rewarded in this mode.

“Mega Deck” takes the traditional Clash Royale game mode and adds 10 additional cards to player’s decks. With 18 options at a player’s disposal, unique playstyles and metas can form over time as the ability to quickly pick up what the opponent is playing will not be the case.

“Dragon Hunt,” the third game mode coming, appears similar to Elixir Rush as players can fight over a central target but the reward, opposed to elixir, is a dragon minion that comes into play for whoever frees it.

While the official release date for the April update has not been confirmed, long-time and even new Clash Royale players will soon have fresh game modes, a card and progression system to keep them entertained and engaged even longer.