What is the best Dragon Duke equipment in Clash of Clans after the Fire Heart nerf?

Best pairs

Three-star rates of the 15 test armies with each pair on the Duke, on 240 fresh bases per army (3,600 attacks per pair), with the new Fire Heart. Differences under about 2 points are a toss-up. With ground armies Fire Heart + Revenge Deck leads by 3 points; with air armies Rocket Backpack + Revenge Deck leads by 2.1.

What the Fire Heart nerf changed

The 17 October 2026 post took away Fire Heart’s bonus damage, about 8% of its bonus HP (5,600 to 5,150 at max level) and some healing (150 to 140 per second); it went live in the 20 October maintenance break. On the same bases and dice:

That is a 1.4-point loss. Before, Fire Heart and Revenge Deck were level as the Duke’s best item; now Revenge Deck leads by about a point. Fire Heart still keeps the Duke alive 12 s longer than an empty slot, more than any other Duke item, which is why it stays the best ground partner.

Every item ranked

Each number compares the item with leaving that slot empty: three-star points with each kind of army, the share of the base’s building HP destroyed by the Duke and by everything else, and the seconds he lasts. With both slots empty the army 3-stars 43% of the time, and the Duke destroys 5% of the base and lasts 50 s.

Rocket Backpack is the clearest case of hero damage that doesn’t help: the Duke destroys 9.6% more of the base with it and the rest of the army 6.8% less, so ground armies gain almost nothing. With air armies, which spread along the base edge, the extra reach is worth about 7 points.

Every pair

Data for the chart: Fire Heart + Revenge Deck still leads the Duke's 15 pairs

Item	Value (Three-star rate (%))
Fire Heart + Revenge Deck	59.0
Flame Blower + Revenge Deck	58.4
Rocket Backpack + Revenge Deck	58.2
Electro Fangs + Revenge Deck	57.0
Fire Heart + Rocket Backpack	56.1
Fire Heart + Electro Fangs	56.0
Fire Heart + Flame Blower	55.9
Stun Blaster + Revenge Deck	55.9
Fire Heart + Stun Blaster	55.7
Stun Blaster + Electro Fangs	55.5
Flame Blower + Electro Fangs	54.6
Rocket Backpack + Electro Fangs	54.2
Rocket Backpack + Stun Blaster	51.5
Stun Blaster + Flame Blower	51.3
Rocket Backpack + Flame Blower	51.1

Revenge Deck is in the top four pairs and five of the top six on fresh bases.

What the guides pick

Of six tier lists published from August to early October 2026, five name Fire Heart as the Duke’s anchor, and three pair it with Stun Blaster (ClashOS, Webhat, SkyCoach). AllClash and GamsGo rate Revenge Deck at the top, and TrophyCoach suggests testing Revenge Deck against Fire Heart’s partners before spending Starry Ore on it. All six predate the nerf. The measurement backs the Revenge Deck side: it is the Duke’s best item now, with Fire Heart beside it for ground armies and Rocket Backpack for air.

Version and platform notes

Max TH18 levels (Rocket Backpack and Revenge Deck are Epic items at 27; Fire Heart, Electro Fangs, Flame Blower and Stun Blaster are Common items at 18), with the new Fire Heart from the October 2026 changes. Everything here applies the same on iOS and Android.

How we counted

• The armies: the 13 army families used most in ranked (TrophyCoach tracker, 30 days to 5 October 2026), weighted by use, plus the best ground and air armies. The King, Queen and Warden keep the kits top players run.
• The sweep: every pair of Duke items, and every item next to an empty slot (old and new Fire Heart both), on the same 120 generated max TH18 bases with the same dice, 1,800 attacks per pair. Item values are fitted across every pair they appear in.
• The check: the leading pairs played again on 240 fresh bases per army, 3,600 attacks per pair: the Best pairs table.
• The guides: six tier lists in Sources, read on 6 October 2026, before the nerf.
• The full method and every hero’s list: best hero equipment at TH18.

Limits

• Simple ability timing. The Duke uses his ability once, by simple rules. A player who times Stun Blaster or Flame Blower well gets more from them than these numbers show.
• Ground pairs are noisier. Ground armies carry less of the test weight, so the ground column is less precise: about ±4 points per pair in the sweep.
• Max level and generated bases only, with the other three heroes fixed on one kit each.