We've all been Clashin' up a storm in the last two weeks. Our forums are still buzzing about climbing through the ranks and I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about how you can get pretty far in this game without even dropping a penny. I'd like to ask you guys to take a moment and also consider contributing to the Touch Arcade Patreon, it is support like this that lets us stream, podcast and write about the games that we like and that we spend time playing. While you won't be able to quickly reach legendary Arena 9 status on the cheap, there are some realistic goals you can set for yourself before deciding to take the plunge on Clash Royale[Free].

Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel

Before I open up the throttle on how you can get to Arena 5 for free, it's important to remember some of the key points of our previous strategy articles From Tasos' Beginner Guide:
-build a deck with cost variety

-Swarm high cost cards

-Don't burn Elixir unless you have a specific plan or you are completely full
From Carter's Improvement Guide:
-Join a Guild

-Donate and Request Cards

-Look for Counters

-Build an Elixir Lead
And a Few Quick Tip Additions:
-Watch Clash TV matches

-Use your free gems to save up 2000 gold for an epic card

-Almost always donate, even rare cards

Clash TV is where you go to see the high ranking players do their thing. I would know much less about the capability of my cards if I had not seen them in action at high levels of play. Save up yo...