The latest articles on DEV Community by Max179 (@max179). https://dev.to/max179 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4071442%2F4ce72971-be32-4253-8ed5-505205518aa3.png https://dev.to/max179 en Max179 Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:00:32 +0000 https://dev.to/max179/building-a-data-driven-clash-royale-site-honest-stats-at-small-scale-3bfm https://dev.to/max179/building-a-data-driven-clash-royale-site-honest-stats-at-small-scale-3bfm <p>I run <a href="https://royalecards.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Royale Cards</a>, a Clash Royale guide site. It's a small static site (Cloudflare Pages, generated from JSON + templates) with a simple promise: <strong>every stat shown is real and labeled with its sample size</strong>.</p> <p>Here's what I learned building it, in case it helps anyone working on niche data sites.</p> <h2> The problem with small data </h2> <p>Clash Royale players constantly ask: <em>what deck is good right now?</em> Existing sites show win rates, but most don't tell you how many battles the number is based on. On a quiet day, a card can have 12 recorded uses — a 75% win rate on 12 samples is noise, not a signal.</p> <p>So the site has one hard rule: <strong>if fewer than 30 samples exist, no win rate is displayed.</strong> Instead you get a "sample too small" note. It costs a bit of polish but earns a lot of trust, and it makes the data story defensible.</p> <h2> Pages that earn their keep </h2> <p>Instead of one giant "all decks" page, every card gets its own URL: stats at all 14 levels, arena unlock, and the decks that best use it. That's ~133 card pages plus deck and guide pages — the whole sitemap is around 186 URLs. Each page is small and focused, which is what search engines (and tired players on mobile) actually want.</p> <h2> Season guides as content engines </h2> <p>When a new season lands, players flood search with the same questions. The current <a href="https://royalecards.com/guides/khaos-season-2026/" rel="noopener noreferrer">K.H.A.O.S season guide</a> covers the new Hero Valkyrie and Hero Berserker: what Supercell officially confirmed vs. what's editorial analysis, plus counterplay notes. We deliberately separate "official facts" from "our read" — readers can tell the difference.</p> <h2> What I'd do differently </h2> <ul> <li>Ship the sitemap + GSC submission on day one (we did, but later than I'd like)</li> <li>Start collecting battle samples earlier; the sample-size gate is only useful once you have volume</li> <li>Write the "why" for every stat, not just the number</li> </ul> <p>If you build niche data sites, the honest-stats angle is a real differentiator. Happy to answer questions about the stack.</p> webdev