GENERAL TIPS

Below are some overall attack concepts that work with lots of different combinations. It is generally a good idea to be aware of these different tactics regardless of the particular army you are using.

1. Luring Clan Castle and Heroes

Unless you are just attacking collectors and can get in and out very quickly, it is ALWAYS a good idea to lure and kill the Clan Castle and Heroes.

Drop a single Barbarian or Archer within range of the Heroes first to attract their attention, then keep dropping single troops within range of the Clan Castle until they are all deployed.

Finally, drop a single troop at the edge of the map on the side you wish to attack from, preferably away from the defences. If you can anchor the troop their by attacking a building that is out of defence range then that is perfect - if not it is best to use Barbarians because they are slower and will last longer before you need to drop the next one.

The Clan Castle troops and Heroes will walk towards the troops you are dropping, so keep going until they are close by - with Heroes you need to drop the next troop before the last one dies because otherwise they will start walking back immediately and will take a lot longer to arrive.

When the Castle troops and Heroes have arrived drop 15-30 troops (depending on level etc...) to kill them away from the defences - then continue on with your attack and ignore them. Once they have finished killing the Castle Troops and Heroes they will join you as reinforcements.

Be VERY wary of Wizards, Valkyries, Dragons and to a smaller extent Wallbreakers - all these troops have Splash damage, so if you cluster your troops together they will take them all out at once. If you encounter these troops then drop your troops in a ring around them so that they can't all be targeted at once.

Heroes on defence receive a major buff - A level 1 Barbarian King can easily kill a level 5 Barbarian King if it is defending - be aware of this when deploying your own Heroes.

You can use Air troops (such as Minions) to distract and/or kill the Barbarian King easily because he can't fight them.

2. Meat Shields

The term 'Meat Shields' describes using a high Hitpoints troop (such as a Giant or Golem) to attract the enemy fire and spare your lower hit points (and generally higher damage per second) troops. Meat Shields are particularly effective at protecting Tier One troops (Barbarians, Archers and Goblins) from the splash damage of Mortars and Wizard Towers. You can also use a Meat Shield to protect Wallbreakers long enough to get them to the walls. It is important to remember that defences target troops in order of their proximity AND barracks level - so a Giant does not make a good meat shield for a wizard (because giants are a lower barracks level than wizards).

3. Using Wallbreakers

The Artificial Intelligence of the wallbreakers is to target walls that are 'trapping' buildings. They will look for the nearest building that is trapped and then target the closest and weakest wall to them that is trapping that building. They will walk longer to avoid double walls and to a smaller degree walls with more hit points (ie: less damaged or higher level). They also have a range that they look within. If a building is not trapped but the path to it is too long then the wallbreaker will act as if it is trapped. If all trapped buildings are too far away they will just attack the closest walls.

Wallbreakers also have a small delay while they set their bombs, this means that if you deploy all your wallbreakers at once they will often use 5-6 wallbreakers to blow up one wall before moving on to the next even if only 1-2 were necessary.

The most efficient Wallbreaker Strategy is to drop a Meat Shield first to protect them and then to drop them in groups of 1-3 (depending on strength required) and wait until they have blown up or are about to blow up a wall before you drop the next group. Also pay attention to where they will go and try to drop them nearest the wall they will target for less exposure and faster wall takedown. If you know they are going to walk around the section you want to destroy and target one at the side then just drop them next to the one at the side first to take it out and then drop them near the section you wish to destroy

You can also use Archers to clear a single or small group of trapped buildings to stop the Wallbreakers targeting irrelevant enclosures. This is particularly useful for highly segmented bases.

4. Using Healers

When using Healers it is very important to remember that they cannot heal a dead troop. This means that they are most effectively used with high Hitpoints troops such as Giants, Golems and PEKKAs. They are also unable to Heal flying troops and are useless with Dragons. Their healing rate with Heroes is halved so they are less effective with heroes, however they can be great at the end of a battle to stop your hero sleeping for a long time.

Healers are very easily taken out with Air Defence towers and can be hurt a lot by Air Mines. Use other troops to clear out Air Defences nearby before you deploy them, and if you have them you can use Minions to clear Air Mines and Air Bombs.

5. The PEKKA Walk around

Although PEKKAs when used effectively can be devastating they do have a peculiar problem of prioritising buildings outside walls much higher than attacking the walls themselves. All troops can do this but the problem seems particularly pronounced with the PEKKA.

Use other troops to clear outside buildings in a fairly wide radius so that the PEKKA does not walk around the base and instead will target the core of the base.

6. Using Heroes to Attack

Heroes can be an amazing addition to your attack force. If you want to throw him into the battle and don't care about sleep times the Barbarian King is best used in a similar way to a PEKKA, partially as a Meat Shield and partially for the high DPS.

The Archer Queen is particularly effective behind Meat Shield troops due to her enormous range, she also works well behind archers too because she stays much further back and doesn't get targeted as much.

Farmers will often use the Heroes at the end of a battle to clear up a few extra collectors or exposed storages - this way they sleep for a minimal amount of time and are ready for the next battle

Trophy hunters that like to have the Heroes available for every battle will use the Heroes to pick off the buildings that players often place in the corner of the maps to prevent 3 Star attacks.

7. The Clan Castle on Attack

The most obvious thing about the Clan Castle that is most commonly forgotten is to check out what is in it before you attack! There is nothing more annoying than dropping a Clan Castle on an attack and having the wrong troop mix come up (ie: dropping a single dragon right near a bunch of air defence towers). The Clan Castle troops can either be used at the start of the attack to deploy a Meat Shield (if you have them in there) or can be great as re-enforcements when the battle isn't going the way you expected. Troops deploy from the castle in in order of their barracks level and then upgrade level. Deployment is much slower than normal troops, so it is best not to deploy under heavy fire.

8. Avoiding Traps

Traps are an element of the game that can easily swing an attack against you in the blink of an eye. Look for unexplained spaces within a base to spot where a player may have deployed a trap. In particular, if one side of the base seems much more exposed than the other, then there is a high likelihood that the player has buffed the defence on that side with traps. If you suspect traps, then drop a few lower levels troop first (Barbarian for Ground and Minions for Air) to set the traps off.

If you see an empty deployment spot in the middle of an otherwise well laid out base then DO NOT DROP YOUR TROOPS IN THERE. Players do this as a way of trapping inexperienced players - the blank spot might look like an easy way of getting inside the walls, however in reality there is generally a huge amount of splash and point defence focussed on that one spot so that when you drop your troops they are wiped out before they can even attack.

9. Using Spells

Spells can be a fantastic way of boosting an attack to get that extra lot of Trophies or some extra Loot.

Rage and Heal
Generally it is best to drop these spells a few squares in front of where your troops are headed so that the troops walk into them. They work best on troops with high damage (for Rage) and high hit points (for Heal). Multiple Heal spells do stack and provide more healing, however multiple Rage spells do not provide increased damage and speed above the level of one spell.

Lightning
The primary use for lightning currently is lower townhall levels using it to attack Dark Elixir storages of higher townhall level on revenge, or when they are unable to get to the Dark Elixir using normal troops. The other use for lightning is to drop it on an Air Defence or Mortar at the start of an attack to increase the odds of winning or getting the loot.

For Farming
Due to their cost spells are only effective for farming when the extra loot they allow you to get is higher than the cost of the spells used. This is almost never the case when raiding collectors and is rarely the case when raiding storages.

10. Queuing Troops

Always queue up troops before you start searching for an attack. Troops will start being made from the moment you start searching for an attack (not just from when you start attacking). If you don't find a battle and come back to your base with full troops then no troops will be made, however if you use only a small amount of troops or are searching for a long time then you can often come back to your base and have full army camps ready to go straight away.

A good rule of thumb is to queue up a minimum of 8 minutes worth of troops, for example 20 Archers or 4 Giants/Wallbreakers per barracks. Queue up the troops that you are most likely to use in the battle or one that you don't mind having more of in the event you don't use them (usually Archers are best).

11. Barracks Distribution

Barracks distribution is a bit of an art form - the goal is to setup your troops so that they all finish at the same time and hence minimize your waiting time.

For most people the best troop to queue first (ie: before you start attacking) are Archers - they are both the most versatile and the most accepted donation, so that you are never without donation troops when a clan member requests.

You then queue up the remainder of your troops, trying to distribute them evenly between your barracks. If you are using Giants or Wallbreakers where you will often have variable numbers that you will need to adjust based on the last battle it is generally best to put them directly following the Archers and then to have Barbarians or Goblins as the last troop queued up. That way you can adjust the distribution of Barbarians or Goblins based on how many Giants/Wallbreakers you need to make. So for example if you have to make 10 Wallbreakers and 20 Barbarians you can distribute them as: 3 Wallbreakers, 2 Barbarians in 2 barracks and 2 Wallbreakers, 8 Barbarians in 2 barracks.

Quantities that are divisible by both 2, 3 and 4 are great to use because you can distribute them easily even if you are upgrading some barracks. For example 60 Archers or 12 Giants.

- 6 Barbs = 1 Giant/Wallbreaker
- 5 Archers = 1 Giant/Wallbreaker (almost)
- 4 Goblins = 1 Giant/Wallbreaker

As an example, this is what you might do if you use the Healer/Giant strategy with 4 Barracks and 220 troops.

Fill your Army Camps with 18 Giants, 80 Archers, 1 Healer and 16 Barbarians
Queue up 20 Archers in each barracks before you attack
Start looking for a battle and click next until you find someone with over 150K gold
If you have clicked next for over 30 times and still haven't found anyone worth attacking then look for a base with over 80K loot in the collectors and just use 20-80 archers to take the loot (ie: look for empty xbows, no league shield, full elixir pumps, sleeping builders, zeroes at the end of loot quantities)
When you find someone worth attacking deploy the troops you need to win and go back to your base - if you have only used archers then you will be ready to look more and you can top up the queue to 20 archers each first
If you have used more than just archers then fill up the queue with the extra troops you need. For example if you used all your troops then your queue would look like this:

- Barracks 1: 20 Archers, 1 Healer, 1 Wallbreaker, 7 Barbarians
- Barracks 2: 20 Archers, 6 Giants, 3 Wallbreakers, 3 Barbarians
- Barracks 3: 20 Archers, 6 Giants, 3 Wallbreakers, 3 Barbarians
- Barracks 4: 20 Archers, 6 Giants, 3 Wallbreakers, 3 Barbarians

If you have 4 wallbreakers and/or 4 giants left over (for example) then you can just subtract 1 from each barracks - if you have a weirder set of troops left then just balance them as best you can.
After you have filled up the queue it is also a good idea to queue up the next 20 archers in each barracks at the end - so that when your army camps are full again you can just attack straight away.
If the first batch of 20 archers in each barracks aren't finished when you come back then you can queue up the rest of the troops and then delete the archers from the front of the queue and add them on to the 20 at the end.
If you need to donate to Clan Members then donate archers and then add them on to the 20 at the end of each queue.
If the barracks are set to finish creating troops at the exact same time they will always finish in the same order - line up your barracks in that order to make it easier to know where the troops will come from. If you need to donate 5 archers you can put 21 in each barracks and 22 in the first barracks and it will work perfectly every time.

TROPHY STRATEGIES

The following strategies ignore the cost or need for loot and focus solely on gaining trophies. Trophy hunting is a very different game to farming and in the higher trophy levels you will begin to encounter much stronger bases, until near the top you will see many bases that are completely maxed or close to it.

There are two primary strategies for trophy hunting. The first is to focus on a high quantity of 1-2 Star wins that provide you with a small amount of trophies at a high frequency of attack - the strength of this is the lower cost of troops, however you do need a lot more time available to use it and a single loss can set you back a long time.

The second strategy is to build stronger and higher cost armies and attempt to 2-3 star every attack at a much lower attach frequency. The advantage is that you achieve more trophies per battle and require less game time, however the cost can be very high and you won't necessarily make enough loot per battle to keep building troops and spells unless you use Gems. Another advantage is that miscalculating a battle will often lead to getting 1 star instead of a complete loss so it can be less risky.

1. GoWiPe

The GoWiPe army is a high cost 2-3 star attack army. It has a very long build time, particularly due to the wizards which take up a huge amount of time per space. Often people will use variations of GoWiPe that do not include the Golems (WiPe) or the PEKKAs (GoWiz). Generally people will add in a few wallbreakers too for good measure.

The overall strategy is to use the very high hit points of the Golems and Pekkas to attract the enemy fire and the wizards to add the high Damage per Second to take down the towers fast.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The obvious strength of the army is the overall high hit points and high DPS - these enable you to often 3 Star bases and get lots more trophies. However the long build times and high cost (particularly of DE for the Golems) discourages many players from using it. It is a great overnight build because then time is not an issue.

Bases to Target
If possible, look for bases without inferno towers, and obviously the lower level of splash damage towers the better! PEKKAs have a nasty habit of walking around bases that have lots of buildings on the outside, so either avoid those or take them out with wizards before you deploy the PEKKAs.

Attack Tactics
Drop your Golems first to attract fire and then deploy your wizards behind them in a line. Optionally drop wallbreakers to get through the first few line of walls. Once distracting buildings have been cleared, drop your PEKKAs for some extra DPS. Try to focus your attack on one side and attack at the point with the highest concentration of splash damage or very exposed Mortars and/or Wizard Towers.

Watch out for!
Inferno Towers are the Nemeses of the GoWiPe army. They will very quickly take down a Golem or Pekka and leave you without a meat shield. If you must attack Inferno Towers try to take them out as fast as possible. To a somewhat lesser extent, high level Teslas can wreak havoc with your Pekkas as they 2x damage. As with the Healer/Giant strategy, bases with well spread out and high level splash towers are harder to take down.

2. Dragons+

For a long time (before the 4th Air Defence) the All Dragon Army was a central feature of the game. An attack with all high level dragons can still be very deadly and although it has a high cost and long build time it is still a very popular army. Many people supplement their dragon army with a handful of Archers and/or Giants to take out exposed Air Defence towers before deploying the Dragons

Strengths and Weaknesses
The major strength of the Dragons+ Army is that they cannot be targeted by many towers (ie: Canons, Mortars and Ground targeting X-Bows) and hence they can last longer and do more damage. They also have a great balance between high damage and high hit points and there is no need for meat shielding or tricky deployment strategies. However they do have a major weakness in that high level Air Defence towers will take dragons down really fast

Bases to Target
The only thing you need to look for are bases with low level or exposed Air Defence towers. However watch out for Inferno Towers as well as they will take dragons down at a reasonable speed too. Even high level X-Bows set on air targeting don't take dragons down particularly fast - however combined with Air Defence or Inferno towers they can cause a problem.

Attack Tactics
If you have additional Archers and/or Giants then use these to take out exposed Air Defence towers first and then drop your dragons closest to the highest concentration of Air Defence to try and take them out fast. Use Rage or Heal spells to make your dragons last longer. Some people like to spread their dragons out to protect them from High Level Wizard splash damage, however personally I find they are better clustered together because they take down the air defences faster and are easier to use spells on.

Watch out for!
The major problems for the Dragons+ army are high level, well spaced Air Defence towers and Inferno towers. Air Mines can hurt the Dragons but due to their high cost you generally won't encounter these until the much higher trophy ranges

3. Witch Wipe-out

A relatively recent addition to the game is the new Witch unit. This has spawned a new attack strategy that consists almost entirely of witches with the occasional meat shield troop thrown in (such as Giants or Golems).

The idea behind the attack is to utterly overwhelm the enemy's defences with a huge quantity of skeletons created by the witches. The meat shields when used are there to keep the witches back from the action and make them last longer and hence spawn more skeletons.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The strength of the attack is the unending supply of skeletons that simply swamp the defences and take them down with sheer quantity. However it has two big weaknesses - the first being that it is incredibly expensive (5000 Dark Elixir for 20 Level 1 Witches and 7000 Dark Elixir for 20 Level 2 Witches) and the second being that you can often run out of time before the skeletons finish wiping out a base - leading to a 1-2 star instead of 3 star attack (which isn't great when you have spent 7000 DE!)

Bases to Target
Bases that have defences that are very concentrated in one area are good to attack because you can keep the witches away from the action for longer and hence create more skeletons.

Watch out for!
The biggest enemies of the Witch Wipe-out Army are well placed high level Wizard Towers (because they take out Skeletons faster than they are created) and long range point defence towers - particularly X-Bows set to ground defence (because they target and kill the witches from afar before the skeletons can get in the way

4. Trophy Barb/Arch & BAM

It is actually possible to use the BAM or Barb/Arch Armies for Trophy Hunting up to a moderately high level of trophies. The concept behind it is to use a low cost and high frequency of attack to 1 star bases for a small amount of trophies each time.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Because of its low cost and fast build time, if you have the free time to employ this strategy you can quickly jump up the trophies by attacking weaker bases and going for a 50% win (or taking out exposed townhalls at the lower levels). The weakness is that if you fail to get the 50% it can be a huge setback in trophies, so you want to make sure you really know you can win before you attack!

Bases to Target
Look for bases with lower level Mortars and Wizard towers. You can often do really well against people who have upgraded their Townhall just to get the X-Bows or Inferno towers and haven't maxed out their Splash Defence. The Inferno towers in particular are very ineffective against the BAM and Barb/Arch Armies. Also be on the lookout for farmers who have exposed Townhalls that you can snipe with very few troops.

Attack Tactics
Use the same strategies as farming, however target defences instead of collectors where possible.

Watch out for!
As with farming, look out for high level Mortars and Wizard towers and make sure you know you can win before you attack. Traps can often be a huge problem because they can kill enough troops to prevent the 50% win.

FARMING STRATEGIES

'Farming' at its core is the tactic of ignoring the quest to gain trophies and focussing on gaining loot instead. Generally most farmers will focus on gaining gold, however it is also possible to farm for Elixir or Dark Elixir depending on your needs. Trophy level are not completely irrelevant however as different levels will (on average) hold different strengths of bases and quantities of loot depending on your townhall level. Farming strategies will be covered in more depth in a later guide.

1. Barb/Arch (Barbarians, Archers)

As indicated by the name the army composition is primarily Barbarians and Archers with possible a few wallbreakers thrown in depending on taste. The primary goal of a Barb/Arch army is to produce a fast and cheap army that allows you to attack very frequently at low cost.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The major strength of the Barb/Arch army is its very low cost and fast production speed. This make it ideal for farming for Elixir as the cost to produce the troops is so low. It is also a great strategy to employ when you have a fair amount of free time and can attack very frequently.

However, its greatness strength also leads to its weakness, which is that as a low cost and fast army it is also moderately weak on attack and can be wiped out by bases with strong splash damage.

A common strategy with the Barb/Arch army is to take out the main splash defence (usually Mortars) with Lightning Spells before attacking. If you are going to employ this strategy it is best to decide to do this straight away, as generally if you leave it until halfway through the battle it is too late and half your troops are already gone.

Bases to Target
The Barb/Arch army excels at attacking just collectors for loot. If the collectors are on the outside you can drop a few barbs, or if they are behind walls you can use some archers. Generally it takes about 5-10 archers to take out a collector (depending on levels) and it is a good idea to drop them in an arc around each collector so that a mortar or wizard tower doesn't take them out all at once. The best bases are ones where all the collectors are in a line on the outside - you can actually drop less troops per collector because the defence fire will be split between the entire line of troops and will take them down slower.

You can also, however use the Barb/Arch army to attack medium strength bases with full storages. The tactic is to drop a line of barbarians first and then follow up with a line of archers behind them. You spread all the troops out to make them less susceptible to splash damage (from Mortars and Wizard Towers) as these are their biggest threat. Don't drop all your troops at once, release them in waves of Barbarians and then Archers behind so that they don't cluster up.

It is generally a good idea to focus on one side of the base only, as splitting up your attack strength will actually expose you to more fire at once and will reduce your overall effectiveness.

Remember the primary goal of Barb/Arch is speed and efficiency - so if you don't need all your troops, or if dropping more will not get your much more loot then save them for the next attack!

Watch out for!
The main thing to watch out for with Barb/Arch is splash damage. Avoid any bases with well placed high level mortars or wizard towers. If you do have to attack these towers make sure you drop troops in an arc around them so that the towers can't target all your troops at once. Mortars also have a small radius at their base where they can't attack, so if you can get barbarians into this radius you can take them down without retaliation. Also, now that big bombs are cheaper many players have started using them - if there are empty spaces within a base that look like they might have traps try to deploy a small amount of troops there first to set them off.

2. BAM! (Barbarian, Archer, Minion)

The BAM Army is a variation of the Barb/Arch where you add Minions in to speed up troop creation time by utilizing the extra Dark Barracks. BAM does cost some Dark Elixir to produce so it isn't ideal for farming Dark Elixir, however it can be great for speeding up attack frequency and getting you more Gold and Elixir. As with the Barb/Arch army, it is often used in combination with Lightning Spells.

Strengths and Weaknesses
As with the Barb/Arch army the primary strength is the low cost and fast production time, however the addition of the flying Minions also makes the combination great for attacking bases with poor Air Defence or low level Wizard Towers. The two biggest weaknesses are the overall susceptibility to splash damage and in particular with BAM some people are not a fan of the Dark Elixir cost.

Bases to Target
As with Barb/Arch the BAM Army is great for attacking just collectors - in particular the flying minions provide a way to easily take out collectors that are only protected by Canons, Mortars or Ground Targeted X-Bows. Sometimes you can even just use 1 minion to take out a collector.

The tactics for attacking storages is similar to the Barb/Arch combo, however with the addition of minions it is possible to attack on the side with the Air Defence and/or Wizard Towers on the edge and take them out fast so that the Minions last longer and can decimate the rest of the base unopposed.

Attacking from one side is also a good idea with the BAM Army - however sometimes if there are exposed Air Defence on the other side of the base it can enhance the attack if you take them out too.

Look for bases with low level and/or exposed Air Defence and Wizard Towers - low level Mortars helps too

Watch out for!
Avoid bases with high level Wizard Towers and internal high level Air Defence towers as they can decimate a BAM Army before you can take them down. Also be careful of Air Bombs and always drop a few Minions first to set them off - One air bomb can wipe out a whole army of Minions.

3. WAGG (Wallbreakers, Goblins, Giants)

The WAGG army is one of the most common farming armies for lower townhalls (it isn't anywhere near as effective from townhall 9 and up). Goblins are the main force behind this army, however they can be supplemented with Giants (as Meat Shields) and Wallbreakers (to assist in looting harder to reach storages).

The essence of the WAGG army is to get to the collectors and storages as fast as possible and loot them before the defences can take down your goblins. Giants can be used to distract the Mortars and Wizard towers long enough for the Goblins to do their thing. If Mortars are far enough away from the Goblins then often the Goblins will move fast enough to be missed by the Mortar shots.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The strength of the WAGG army is its ability to just target loot, it is a fast build, low cost army where you can use minimal troops to achieve maximum loot. However the weakness is that it is harder to maintain a certain trophy level with the army because you will rarely be able to win battles with it. In addition High level Wizard towers will decimate Goblins easily so they need to be distracted with Giants.

Bases to Target
The best targets are ones with full collectors outside the walls, or storages that are all grouped together - even better if the splash damage coverage from the Mortars and Wizard towers are poorly placed or low level.

Watch out for!
High level Mortars and Wizard towers will eat your Goblins for breakfast. High level walls will also be hard to crack unless you Rage your Goblins or pack a few wallbreakers

4. Healer/Giant

The Healer/Giant strategy is based around using the Giant's high hit points to attract all the fire, using the Healers to make the Giants last longer and using the Giant's Defence targeting to take out Mortars and Wizard towers before they destroy your lower level troops.

The general army composition is to use 8-20 Giants, 1-2 Healers, 0-12 Wallbreakers and the rest a combination of Archers, Goblins and/or Barbarians.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The Healer/Giant Army is a bit slower and a lot more expensive to make than the previous combinations, however it is very versatile in that it can target a wider variety of bases and has more capability to take down stronger bases with better protected storages. It is not a good combination for hunting for Elixir due to its high cost.

The biggest weakness of the Healer/Giant army is its susceptibility to well placed spring traps as they will fling your giants away and leaves you with nothing to 'Heal'. Apart from this, the only other real weakness is the cost and time to make, however bases with medium to high level splash defences that are well segmented will be much harder to take out.

Bases to Target
One of the huge advantages of the Healer/Giant combo is its versatility. You can use it for collector raiding by just dropping the Archers, Goblins or Barbarians as in the Barb/Archer army, or you can target more heavily defended bases. You can also drop just a few giants and/or wallbreakers as in the WAGG strategy for medium level strength bases.

When raiding entire bases (ie: storages and collectors) it is best to look for bases with all their splash defence in one wall enclosure - the more spread out the splash defence are the harder it is for your giants to attract all the fire.

Attack Tactics
Lure and kill Clan Castle troops and Heroes (more about that in the general tips)
Drop 1-2 Giants as a meat shield to attract fire - focus on the fastest path to the most dangerous or highest concentration of splash defence - or attack an area with exposed Air Defence to make your healers last longer
If you have them drop 1-3 wallbreakers to get past the first wall
Deploy the rest of your giants (if you have lots, save 2-6 for later)
Drop your healer(s) behind the giants - if there are Air Defence towers close by then wait until the giants take them down first
Quickly drop a few lines of Archers/Barbs behind the giants to provide them with faster tower takedown (if you can then save 20-30 archers for later)
If you have them drop more wallbreakers in groups of 1-3 to direct your giants through the walls (more about this in the tips at the end)
If a group of your archers/barbs/goblins are approaching a splash defence tower that will not target the original group of giants you can drop your extra 2-6 nearby to protect them
Use your extra 20-30 archers to target any extra storages or collectors that have lots of loot and have been missed by the main group - alternatively use them as backup for the giants if your main group is destroyed.
Once your other troops have taken out the main defence you can use some goblins to target the storages and/or collectors specifically

Watch out for!
Watch out for bases with tricky walls that funnel your giants and/or other troops into areas where they will be exposed to traps or heavy splash damage. If you see bases with maze-like wall configurations then chances are there are a bunch of traps within the maze. Use wallbreakers to create a different path and avoid the maze at all costs.

Also be careful of bases with unlurable (ie: centralized) Clan Castles. A Clan Castle full or archers can absolutely decimate a group of giants because the giants are so slow and have low DPS.

How to Scout a War Base in Clash of Clans

In war, knowing your enemy before you attack is a must. Even during Clan Wars in Clash of Clans, it’s highly recommended that you learn some about the village you’re going to attack first before you go on an all-out battle. Scouting allows you to see the base of an enemy and make necessary plans before you attack.

Part 1
Starting a War

1. Ask your leader to start a clan war. Only leaders and co-leaders have the right to start clan wars. If you’re just a member or an elder, ask your leaders to start looking for opponents.
- Tap the arrow on the left-hand corner of the game screen (device’s screen) to open the Chat panel.
- Select the “Clan” tab and start typing your request to start a war in the chat box.

2. Look for opponents. If you are the leader of your clan, you can start a new war by tapping the “War” button (sword icon) on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen to open the War Map.
- Here, tap the “Start War” button to begin looking for opponents.

3. Wait for the war to start. The war search will take a couple of minutes to complete. Once an opposing clan has been found, an exclamation point will appear on top of the “War” button.

Part 2
Scouting a War Base

1. Open the War Map. Tap the “War” button on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen to open the War Map. Tap the arrow icon on the right-hand side of the screen to view to enemy clan’s bases.

2. Choose an enemy base. Scroll up or down the map to and look for the base that you want to open and scout.

3. Scout the base. Tap the base that you want to open on from the War Map and tap the “Scout” button. You’ll be immediately taken inside the War Base of the opposing clan.
- Note that while scouting, you cannot deploy any troops on the enemy’s base.

How to Upgrade Correctly in Clash of Clans

Clash of Clans is a game where you need to know what to upgrade when. Do not go in a rush to upgrade your town hall! At first upgrade everything maximum and equal. For example, if your Cannon is of level 6, upgrade it to level 7 which is maximum for level 6 town hall. When you had upgraded everything, then upgrade your Town Hall.

Method 1
Upgrading Offenses

1. Extend your army camp. This will help you to have more troops for attacking. Whether you do not have all kinds of troops, it is always best to have more of them in numbers. This, not only will help you how much you destroy a village but also how quickly you destroy it.

2. Unlock new troops in the barracks. More troops will be available for your army camp. Also you can use different troops from the barracks.

3. Unlock more spells in spell factories. Spells play very important roles when you are attacking other villages. They are essential for getting further into the game.

4. Upgrade your laboratory. It will help you to upgrade your troops higher. You have to upgrade your troops in the laboratory in an arranged way:
- Archers
- Barbarians
- Giants
- Wizards
- Goblins
- Wall-breakers
- The rest you can upgrade as you like.

Method 2
Upgrading Defenses

1. Inferno towers are said to be upgraded first for only those who have a town hall level 10. This is because it is only available for the last town hall level of the game.

2. Upgrade your X-bows. Just like inferno towers, you can build them when you reach Town Hall level 9.

3. Work on your air defenses first. They are very important because people mostly attack with air troops and air defenses can finish them very easily. They can be built when your town hall is on level 4.

4. Upgrade your wizard towers. They are splash defenses which can take down huge group of troops. Same as air defenses, they are available after you reach town hall level 5.

5. Mortars are required to upgrade next. They are also splash defenses which are very dangerous for troops such as archers, barbarians and goblins. They are built when you reach town hall level 4.

6. Archer towers and canons are single targeted. So they are less important and are asked to upgrade later on.

7. Walls are also very useful for defense. They slow down the enemy's troops.

How to Rearrange Your War Base in Clash of Clans

The layout of your base can greatly affect the outcome of any war in Clash of Clans. Properly laid bases are very hard to destroy and can stop opposing clan members from getting three stars from you. Rearranging your war base in Clash of Clans is a very easy thing to do and will prove very effective in defending your camp from enemy attacks during a war.

Method 1
Rearranging a War Base

1. Go to the Layout Editor. During gameplay, select the button with a hand icon you see on the right-hand side of the screen to enter the Layout Editor. The Layout Editor allows you to rearrange your camp based on your preference.

2. Go to the War Base Editor. Inside the Layout Editor, select the “War Base” tab from the menu and pick the war base layout you want to edit. Once you’ve made your choice, select the “Edit Layout” button to begin.

3. Rearrange your war base. Select the structure you want to move and drag it to the location where you want to place it. Drop the structure on its new location to place it there. You can move any building anywhere within the boundaries of your war base.

4. Remove a structure. If you want to temporarily remove a structure from the map, select the “Erase Mode” button on the lower right corner of the game screen and switch it to “On.” Once Erase Mode has been enabled, select the structure you want to remove, and it will be temporarily placed on the item slots at the bottom of the game screen.
- To bring back the structure you removed, simply select it from the item slot and drag it back to where you want to put it on the map.

5. Remove all items. If you want to temporarily remove every structure from the map all at once, just select “Remove All” from the lower right corner of the screen, just above the “Erase Mode” button. This will put all structures on the map into the item slots at the bottom of the screen. Remember though that you have to put all these structures back on your map one by one after you’ve removed them all.

6. Save your changes and exit. Once you’re done, tap the “Save Village” button on the lower left corner of the screen to save the rearrangements you made on to your Clash of Clans account. Afterwards, select the “Exit” button to go back to the Layout Editor menu.
- Note that you cannot save your changes unless you’ve put all the structures from the item slot back on the map.

7. Set the rearranged layout as your default base. If the war base you edited isn’t the one you’re using, select the “Set as Active” button on the Layout Editor Menu button to use it as your current war base layout.

Method 2
Copying a War Base

1. Go to the Layout Editor. During gameplay, select the button with a hand icon you see on the right-hand side of the screen to enter the Layout Editor. The Layout Editor allows you to rearrange your camp based on your preference.

2. Copy a war base editor. Inside the Layout Editor, select the “War Base” tab from the menu and pick the war base layout you want to copy. Once you’ve made your choice, select the “Copy Layout” button to duplicate the selected war base.

3. Duplicate the war base. There are three slots that you can use to save your war base layout. Pick one of the slots you see on the Layout Editor and press the “Okay” button on the confirmation pop-up to instantly duplicate the selected war base. All the changes will be automatically saved once you’ve selected a slot.

4. Set the duplicated layout as your default base. If you want to use the duplicated war base as your default, select the “Set as Active” button on the Layout Editor Menu button to use it as your current war base layout.

How to Save Resources on Clash of Clans

This article will show you how to save resources on Clash of Clans.

Method 1
Upgrading

1. Upgrade your troops. You know how upgraded troops cost more? Well, you can save elixir by this easy tip! For example, you're almost finished upgrading your Archers to level 3. Fill up your Army Camps with level 2 Archers, maximum. When the laboratory finishes upgrading, your Archers will auto-upgrade at no extra cost.

Method 2
Defending

1. Defend your resources. Save up as much of your resources as you can. Put the collectors/mines/drillers on the outside of your village. They have less value and contain less resources. Put the storage on the inside of your village to ensure maximum protection from your enemies.

2. Place your defenses in the right spot. Cannons and mortars can't fire at air targets, so if balloons attack them, they'll be destroyed. Put them within an attack radius of an air defense or Archer Towers. Wizard Towers are vulnerable to clusters of Barbarians or giants/any troops with very high health, so cover it with an air defense or Archer Towers. Add any Air Bombs if available.

3. Deal with Wall Breakers. We know we hate them. Remember the days when we would put walls around our village and place any extra walls to thwart Wall Breakers? New update makes sure Wall Breakers are more intelligent and pass through unused / miscellaneous walls. Add cannons and Archer Towers around your village because they can target Wall Breakers faster than other defenses.

4. Deal with Giants. Archer Towers are more effective in killing Giants than cannons or mortars. If you have at least 10 Giants surrounding any defenses, they're screwed. Spring Traps are more effective at killing Giants. 1 Spring Trap can throw up to 3 Giants at a time. A Giant Bomb can damage every Giant in the surrounding area. Bombs aren't that effective.

5. Look for hidden Teslas. If you have more than 5 Giants, you can successfully destroy a Tesla. The most obvious places to find a Tesla is an unusual collection of walls around a village. The Walls protect the Tesla, so don't spawn there. Also P.E.K.K.A's are very weak against teslas.

6. Look out for clan castle troops. Put down one troop in the clan castle radius and if there are any troops inside they will target your troop. Then drop a troop at a time and lure them away from the enemy defenses and bring them to the side. Then drop the amount of troops needed to finish up job without any defenses bothering you. Then you don't need to worry about that.

Method 3
Spawning

1. Look for tombstones. If there is an unusually large amount of tombstones in an area, that means there were deactivated traps there. Other players have used up the traps, which means you can spawn your troops there without fear of traps. Another tip: If you can spawn troops inside of a village, be careful. They can place a spring trap there or a Giant Bomb, so place a single troop to activate it, then throw in everything.

How to Protect Your Village in Clash of Clans

If your goal in Clash of Clans is to fend off attacks and create a powerful defense, focus on building a variety of defensive buildings and keeping your most valuable resources in the center of your village. A well-structured village with a strong perimeter, and several layers of defense will place you in higher leagues, award you more trophies, and bring you victory.

Method 1
Defending at Lower Levels

1. Build walls effectively. The first aspect to a great defense base in Clash of Clans using all of your walls, and using the walls effectively. At lower levels you won’t have a lot of wall to build so you want to put your most valuable resources inside your walls.
- At the beginning of your village your three biggest resources are your elixir and gold storages, and your Town Hall.
- For defense minded players, the Town Hall is your most valued asset. If your attacker cannot destroy your town hall, the most the attacker can get is one star. Town Halls also have the highest hit points of any building, except walls.
- Focus on building walls around your Town Hall and other defense weapons to protect it.
- If you leave any gaps in your walls, enemy troops will walk through the broken area.
- Don’t place all of your defenses and resources inside your walls. Aim to eventually build several layers of walls around your most important buildings and resources.

2. Use other structures as defense. Archers, Wizards, Hog Riders, and flying creatures are capable of shooting or flying over walls. Use less important buildings to create a buffer for these attacks, delaying your enemies’ progress.
- Use your cannons, Archer towers, and mortars as a buffer. Place these units inside your walls if you can. If you don’t have enough walls, use these defense buildings to complete your outer defense.
- Your Archers and cannons should be on the front lines of your defenses. These units are capable of firing quickly and will draw attackers in.
- Keep your mortars and Air Defense units in the center of your base. These units deal splash damage, meaning the attack targets an area of troops, not individual units.

3. Join a Clan. Build a Clan Castle and join a clan for extra defenses. The Clan Castle is extremely helpful when defending your village as you can request troops from your clanmates to fight in your village when it’s being attacked.[1]
- Keep your Clan Castle near your Town Hall if you are playing defensively. This will allow your troops to start close to the action and add an extra defense against your most important resources.
- Keep your Clan Castle Upgrade priority high as you gain levels.

4. Place your defenses within range of one another. Think of your defenses like a chain. Enemies like Archers, Wizards, and Barbarians have no preferred target and will attack the closest building. Therefore, create a chain to deal consistent damage from the front to back.[2]
- These troops will attack your walls, Archer towers, and cannons first if these buildings are at the outside of your village. Place your cannons near your Archer towers so the cannons can attack along with your towers as troops invade.
- Place your mortars more in the center of your village, but within range of your Archer towers and cannons. The mortars can deal splash damage while invading troops are busy attacking walls and outlying structures.

5. Leave unnecessary buildings outside your walls. Army camps, barracks, spell factory, laboratory, and even gold and elixir mines should stay outside of your walls. At lower levels, you won’t have the quantity of walls to encase every building; most of these buildings don’t offer any resources worth protecting.
- While gold mines and elixir collectors will house some resources, it isn’t usually enough to concern yourself with, especially if you play often enough and frequently empty these buildings.
- Use these exterior buildings as another layer of defense. Enemies like Archers, Wizards, and Barbarians will attack the closest target. Place a cannon or mortar within range of these buildings to get some early attacks in before your enemy destroys the outer building and sets in on the walls.

6. Protect your gold and elixir stores. Like your Town Hall, your gold and elixir stores house a large number of your resources. Put these buildings close to your Town Hall and near mortars.
- It’s also a good idea to place bombs near your stores to get a quick attack in when enemy troops move to attack your stores.

Method 2
Defending at the Middle Levels

1. Upgrade everything you can before you upgrade your Town Hall. Once you get into the middle levels, having a Town Hall of level 4-7, you want to maximize your defenses before trying to upgrade your Town Hall. For a defensive minded player, focus your resources on your Clan Castle, towers, walls, storage, and mining structures before your army.
Focus on upgrading your walls first. Walls are the most expensive buildings to upgrade, but will provide the best defense against all ground troops. However, don’t focus on maxing out your walls as this won’t allow you to upgrade anything else.
Upgrade your mortars and air defenses. Once you get to higher Town Hall levels, you’ll be attacked by airborne creatures like dragons. Additionally, your enemies will send flying healers to aid troops on the battlefield. By upgrading your air and splash damage defenses you can counterbalance new enemy troops from breaking through your walls.
Upgrade your Wizard and Archer towers next. Wizard towers have a relatively short range, but are powerful and can be hard to take out at higher levels. Put your Wizard towers near your Town Hall, storages, and mortars to develop a powerful back line of defense.

2. Create room for advanced defense buildings. As you level up your Town Hall, you’ll gain access to more versatile and powerful defense buildings. Air defense towers, the Hidden Tesla, and the X-Bow are more defensive buildings that can provide your village with a lot of defensive power. Make sure to edit your base when you can buy these items.
- The Air Defense tower becomes available at level 4, and exclusively attacks air units like Dragons and Healers. Place your Air Defense towers towards the center of your base to combat incoming airborne attacks. Be sure to protect your Air Defense with walls and other defensive buildings.[3]
- The Hidden Tesla becomes available at level 7 of your Town Hall. It has a fast attack speed which is effective against light units like Archers and Barbarians. It’s also hidden which means your enemy cannot see it when attacking. Place your Hidden Tesla on the perimeter of your base to pick off Wall Breakers and Archers before these units can deal a lot of damage and open an attack path.[4]

3. Redesign your village as needed. As you get to higher Town Hall levels, you’ll not only have more options for buildings, but you’ll be able to build multiple buildings of the same kind. You’ll also be able to build more walls.
- Take advantage of building more walls as soon as you have access. There are several strategies to building your base as you gain levels and resources. A standard base puts defensive and storage units inside the walls. It also has only one large wall, which allows you to place a lot inside, but is vulnerable once Wall Breakers, Giants, and Goblins enter.
- A pocketed base surrounds each individual defense building with its own wall. During the mid-range levels this strategy will protect your Town Hall, Clan Castle, gold and elixir stores, and a few defensive buildings. Consider opting for larger pockets of wall that you can place several buildings inside. This will create several layers of defense, while still ensuring that you can protect your most valuable assets.
- Remember as a rule of thumb, to place your splash damage buildings like your mortar and Wizard towers towards the middle while your Archer towers hold the front lines.

Method 3
Defending at Higher Levels

1. Get as many defensive buildings as you can. Once your Town Hall is at level 8 and higher, you’ll have a lot of options for a variety of defense buildings. Spend your resources on upgrading your current defenses, especially your Clan Castle, but save enough to start adding a few new buildings as well.[5]
- Don’t neglect to upgrade your walls which are still your best source of stopping power.
- It’s also a great idea to focus on your dark elixir. Dark elixir is rare to win in battle and almost just as hard to mine. By adding and upgrading your dark elixir drills you can quickly produce enough to get the Barbarian King. The Barbarian King can be used to guard your village and attack enemy troops. This unit is great for defending your gold and elixir stores.
- Build at least one more of each tower once you reach level 8. Keep your Town Hall and Clan Castle in the center surrounded by your strongest walls. Place your new towers in a square or circular formation as close to your Town Hall as possible, with the exception of your Archer towers, which should be lining your perimeter.
- Keep your Air defense and Hidden Teslas relatively close to one another.
- Get the Air Sweeper when it becomes available to blast airborne enemies back. Position your air sweepers away from other anti-air defenses. If you place your Air Sweeper too close to anti-air defense, it will blow the enemies out of range. Instead, try and place so it blows your enemies into an attack range.

2. Upgrade your new towers. Once you’ve attended your existing defense building upgrades, upgrade the new towers you’ve added to provide better protection.
- Upgrade these towers one at a time, and keep upgrading each one until it will take more than a day for the next upgrade.
- Focus on upgrades that won’t keep your Builders busy for several days on one project. If you try to upgrade two Air Defense towers at once, you’ll use up your Builder’s time and won’t have time to attend to your other buildings before being attacked several times.
- The same strategy applies to your mortars and Wizard towers. In addition, if too many of your defenses are being upgraded at once, you’ll have less defense units when you are being attacked.
- Once you have tackled the larger projects, focus on upgrading your traps such as your bombs, balloons, and skeletons.

3. Build the Archer Queen Altar. Once you upgrade your Town Hall to level 9 you can get the Archer Queen. This unit is similar to the Barbarian King and will defend your village.[6]
- You can place your Archer Queen next to your Barbarian King and have the two fight together, or spread the two units out to cover more ground.

4. Continue to upgrade current defenses and build new ones. As you reach level 9 of your Town Hall you’ll also have access to a new X-Bow and more walls. Have one builder begin building new walls while another builder constructs the X-Bow.
- Add any other defensive buildings that are available next. If you’ve been diligent about upgrading your existing defenses, you should be able to focus on adding new ones without much of an added attack threat to your existing structures.

5. Add new gold and elixir storage. In order to hold enough resources for upgrading your new defenses, you may need to increase your resource storages. Before spending more resources on upgrading these new defenses, attend to your storage capacity.
- As you continue to make upgrades you’ll need to be able to produce more gold, elixir, and dark elixir quickly.
- Place your largest stores closer to the center of your village to protect your resources.

6. Rearrange your base as needed and continue to upgrade Heroes and walls. As you slowly build all of your defenses and make upgrades on the new ones, you’ll need to make sure that your Barbarian King and Archer Queen are powerful enough to defend your village during upgrades.
- You’ll also have to make more room for your new buildings following your previous strategy. Remember to keep mortars, Hidden Teslas, and Wizard towers to the center of your village. Place Archer towers, traps, and cannons closer to the perimeter.