Clash of Clans Upgrade Strategy Guide

Clash of Clans Upgrade Strategy Guide by strikeninja4787

Hello, my name is strikeninja4787 and you can find me in Reddit Omicron clan. This is my opinion, and what I believe works really well.

Sorry in advance about any grammar or spelling mistakes. Also kinda long read, but it is worth it. Hope this guide helps you, or somebody you know. By following this guide you will be a maxer (person who maxes out everything before upgrading your TH)

CONTENTS: (each section has sub sections just read through it.)
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1) Why Should I read this guide, and why are you writing a guide for this?
2) General rules of thumb3) I just upgraded to a new Town hall level what should I do?
4) What kind of base should I use?
5) Upgrade Order for buildings that use GOLD for TH1-86) Upgrade strategy for buildings that use ELIXIR
7) Upgrade Order for dark elixir
8) Laboratory upgrade order
9) Recomended upgrade order for th9
10) Upgrade Order for th10
11) Oh no I rushed my TH upgrade what do I do?
12) Questions People Ask

1) Why should I read this guide, and why are you writing a guide for this?

You should read this because, it has useful information that you may not think of. This guide will also help you for future upgrades/updates. I am writing this guide because the question people ask all the time is what should I upgrade to make my base better?

2) My general rules for this guide

2a) Level 1 anything is better then nothing
Quite simple, it distracts enemy units, provides a buffer for your better defenses.

2b) Think about the long term benefits you will have
This game is about time, so more long term you think the better you will be.

2c) Quanity vs Quality and visa versa
While it is true you get more stuff with each town hall upgrade. You need to upgrade the stuff you do have to have a good base. You do not want to be a high town hall level with low level stuff. You will get owned a ton, which is no fun.

3) I just upgraded to a new Town hall level what should I do?

My answer to this after rushing my self to th6 is this. First build EVERYTHING that requires gold and elixir. New buildings even level 1 buildings distract enemy units. After you built everything you need to get your defenses caught up to previous levels of your Town Hall. REMEMBER A LEVEL 1 ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING.

For example: You just got to TH7. You build everything you can except for barbarian king. Now for the upgrading you want to upgrade your new mortar to 4, before you upgrade your old defense. THis will make your base more well rounded and cause people to not attack you as much. (3 level 4 mortars is better then 1 level 5, 1 level 4, 1 level 1) By following this rule your base will not be weak on 1 side, and it will cause you to defend better.

4) What kind of base should I use?

4a) Farming base
A Farming base is a base with a TOWN HALL IN THE CORNER NOT, AND NOT IN RANGE OF ANY DEFENSES. This simple placement of your TH will lure a lot of lower level people to attack it, then leave. I believe farming is the best base, as it is very easy to get trophies while attacking. A farming base protects your resources the best no questions asked. This may not apply to you as you want trophies on defense. With very long build times, and real life farming base just makes sense as you get a shield every time your town hall is destroyed. (I have had people who are TH4 destroy my TH and then leave, this is just recently and I am TH8)

4b) Hybrid base
This base focuses on protecting some resources, and your town hall. This base is good if you raid a lot, have nearly maxed defenses, and a lot of spare elixir or gold. Hybrid bases can get attacked multiple times during the day, with possibility of losing a lot of resources each attack. (I love to attack people who leave their storages on the sides or outside their base. Less troops for me to use and huge profit) I would only do a hybrid base if you have maxed defenses, as this provides best defense for some storages and your TH. This base setup is by far one of the hardest to get right.

4c) Trophy Hunting Base
This base setup focuses on protecting your TH, and NOT your resources. The concept here is quite simple, I like trophies and raid enough or I use gems to not care about resources stolen. I think you should only build this kind of base if your defenses are maxed, as underleveled defenses just make your base bad. (I would think twice before attacking bases with maxed defenses at any TH level).

5) Upgrade Order for buildings that use GOLD for TH1-8

Remember build everything to level 1 first, then work on upgrading the rest.

(NOTE THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO TH9-10, They will have their own upgrade order)
Everything will be explained in detail as to why I choose each building.

Clan Castle, mortars, wizard towers, cannons, archer towers, teslas, air defense, elixir storage, elixir collectors, walls

5a) Clan Castle
This by far I believe is the most important defensive building. Many times people forget to check for clan castle troops if you are low level TH, and this can ruin your raid. Your clan mates can donate high level units, I remember when I was TH5 and 6, I had a clan castle filled with level 4-6 archers always. This stopped many raids as people could not kill them at times. This building also has one of the longest ranges in the game, and just gets better. Your clan castle can also be used on offense, it is great when you see high level units come out of it.

5b) Mortar
Mortar does splash damage and has a huge range. Only buildings that can compare to range of this is the clan castle and x-bows. Upgraded mortars 1 shot a lot of units, and do massive splash damage to others. Barbs/archers/giants/goblins AI lets them group up a ton, making them vulnerable to 1 good mortar shot. Splash damage is very key in this game as the most common army setup consists of giants/barbs/archers/gobs/wall breakers. When their units are so damaged by splash damage, it makes it easier for your other defenses to deal the final blow.

5c) Wizard Towers
This damage does splash damage, high fire rate, but low range. This tower is the best protection against mass goblins, archers, barbarians. Upgraded wizard towers will 1-2 shot archers and goblins, 2-3 barbarians. Splash damage is key here, and can cripple raids.

5d) Cannons
Cannons are great single target defenses. They have good range, fire rate, and damage. Cannons are also cheaper then everything else. Your best defense verse golems/giants/pekkas is upgraded cannons/archer towers/teslas. I do cannons now because, archer towers and teslas just have very long build times.

5e) Archer towers
This tower is great because it attacks air and ground, but has very long build times. Upgraded archer towers have the highest range between cannons and teslas. These archer towers are also one of your primary point defenses. You get many archer towers and cannons, this can be placed all around your based forcing giants to go to them instead of your wizard towers and mortars.

5f) Teslas
Upgraded teslas ruin raids, plain and simple. They have the highest fire rate, and can do more damage then cannons. People forget about teslas because they cost a lot, and take a while. There are many videos on youtube showing you how upgraded teslas just ruin raids by killing to many barbs/giants/archers/gobs. Upgraded teslas 1 shot so many units it just makes a great defense. These are near the bottom of my upgrade order because they take a long time to upgrade.

5g) Air defense
While it is true not many people use air units for regular farming, they use them highly for revenges or trophy hunting. Upgraded air defenses deter balloon raids, dragons, and giant healer. (Upgraded wizard towers deter minion raids usually) I love seeing air defenses not upgraded or on the outside. It makes the revenge I do or attack so much better. (I have used 10 archers, and 4 drags to wipe out TH8 bases with decent defenses simply because they do not care about air defense)

5h) Elixir storage
This just gives you more elixir to store. Currently I am TH8 with just 2 level 11 elixir storages. Until I am ready to upgrade my pekkas to level 3 there is no need to upgrade this third storage. I would only upgrade elixir storage before defenses when I need it for a unit upgrade or building upgrade. If your following this guide you should not need to upgrade your storages before this point if they are maxed from the previous TH level. (NOTE: THIS IS THE ONLY TIME WHERE I DO NOT FOLLOW MY RULE AT TH8 FOR UPGRADING EVERYTHING TO PREVIOUS TH LEVELS)

5i) Elixir collectors
High level elixir collectors produce 432,000 elixir every 24 hours. This means during 1, 12 hour shield you get 216,000 elixir. People under estimate these because they take a while to build, and have a point before they give you return on investment. As you get higher up in level buildings will taker longer to make. If all of your builders are busy, with them not being free for a long while, there is no point to raiding. Upgraded collectors help by giving you resources for free. Who does not like free elixir. Also when you have high level collectors people will try and see if the resources are in there, they also provide a nice distraction for goblins, and they provide a buffer for your defenses.

5j) Walls
I do walls when ever I have spare gold, or have no more gold upgrades to do. For example a building costs 100,000 gold to make, and I have 150,000 gold. I would put that extra 50,000 gold into walls. By doing this your base will have less resources to steal and you will not get raided as much. The goal for walls is to get every wall to at least level 6. Level 6 because it takes 2 level 5 wall breakers to break through. It will take 2 level 5 wall breakers to break through level 7, and 8 walls also.

Upgrading your walls also prevents units enemy units from breaking in. (You would not believe how many people do not carry wall breakers with them)

Certain level wall breakers can 1 shot walls.

Level 5 wall breakers can 1 shot walls up to level 5 (gold walls)
Level 4 wall breakers can 1 shot walls up to level 4 (dark grey)
Level 3 wall breakers can 1 shot walls up to level 4 (dark grey)
Level 2 wall breakers can 1 shot walls up to level 2 (light grey stone)
Level 1 wall breakers can 1 shot walls up to level 1 (brown)

6) Upgrade strategy for buildings that use ELIXIR (NOTE TH9 and 10 have their own order)

Remember build everything to level 1 first, then work on upgrading the rest.

Laboratory, spell factory, dark elixir drill, 1 barracks, army camps, dark elixir storage, dark barracks, gold storage, Other 3 barracks.

6a) Laboratory
This unlocks new troop upgrades, and should be your first priority when ever you reach a new town hall level, even before clan castle. New troop upgrades mean better raids, which means better loot. this provides the highest long term benefit of any town hall level. Its to bad we can only have 1.

6b) Spell factory
This building gives you new spells to unlock in lab, and gives you an extra space in spell factory. By upgrading this early, this gives you more tools to help you with your raids. 2 lighting spells can take out a mortar, 3 lighting spells can take out a air defense. There are so many combinations, it is just worth it.

6c) Dark Elixir drill
This is your only means of passive dark elixir income. At TH8 I get 450 dark elixir every 10 hours, which is less than shield.

6d) Army camps
This is quite simple. More troops equal more loot which equals better bases you can attack. Army camps also have a ton of hp and distract enemy units quite well.

6e) 1 Barracks
I say upgrade 1 barracks because it unlocks new troops in your lab. This will allow you to upgrade new things before you want to use them.

For example if you upgrade 1 barracks to 9 at th7 this unlocks dragons in the lab. While your farming and upgrading other things you can upgrade your dragons. You can also start to build a dragons now.

6f) Dark Elixir Storage
This stores your dark elixir. This also is required for higher levels of dark troops, barbarian king, archer queen. People will go for this a lot, so upgrading it with most hp gives you best chance to keep it.

6g) Dark barracks
This unlocks new units. People think you should not upgrade this but minions and golems are good. Minions are at level 1 and barracks are at level 4 dark barracks. So this just needs to be upgraded if you want to use golems. THis is also a nice spot to burn your excess elixir.

6h) Gold storage
This just gives you more gold to store. Currently I am TH8 with just 2 level 11 gold storages. I would only upgrade elixir storage before defenses when I need it building upgrade. If your following this guide you should not need to upgrade your storages before this point if they are maxed from the previous TH level. (NOTE: THIS IS THE ONLY TIME WHERE I DO NOT FOLLOW MY RULE AT TH8 FOR UPGRADING EVERYTHING TO PREVIOUS TH LEVELS)

6i) Last 3 barracks
Upgrading your barracks is a pain, but it should be done. It provides lower training times, for the high level armies. For example with 4 barracks level 9, a 8 dragon army and 60 archers will take 1 hour 12ish minutes. If you only had 1 barracks level 9 it takes 4 hours minimum for the same army, and rechecking your 1 barracks every 1 hour 30 minutes.

6j) Gold Mines
High level gold mines produce 432,000 elixir every 24 hours. This means during 1, 12 hour shield you get 216,000 gold. People under estimate these because they take a while to build, and have a point before they give you return on investment. As you get higher up in level buildings will taker longer to make. If all of your builders are busy, with them not being free for a long while, there is no point to raiding. Upgraded collectors help by giving you resources for free. Who does not like free gold. Also when you have high level mines people will try and see if the resources are in there, they also provide a nice distraction for goblins, and they provide a buffer for your defenses.

7) Upgrade Order for dark elixir

From my experience so far and what I have seen I have made this my order. I know people don’t agree with it, but this has worked me and others so far. I have not had so much experience with dark elixir as I like, but this will be my order.

build barbarian king, build archer queen, upgrade minions, upgrade golems, upgrade barbarian king, upgrade archer queen, upgrade valks, upgrade hog riders.

7a) Build barbarian king
Quite simply the best use of dark of elixir for a th7 or 8 is to build your barbarian king. Heros will help on offense and defense, and regenerate.

7b) Build archer queen
This is best use of dark elixir for a th9 as she is just like the barbarian king.

7c) Upgrading minions
Minions are the cheapest unit in the game. They fly, can be used in so many ways. In mass or in small amounts. (I have had minions take out bunched up defenses/storages because there was nothing that defended against air near them)

7d) Upgrading golems
Biggest meat shield in the game, and is proven unit that does well.

7e) Upgrading Valks
I believe in upgrading all units before heros. As they provide a better benefit then just upgrading heros. This is because You get more per upgrade of units then you do for heros.

7f) Upgrading hog riders
same as valks

7h) Upgrading barbarian king
Good way to burn dark elixir and help get your heros higher. This comes after upgrading units because until higher levels your barb king and archer queen are easily defeated.

7i) Upgrading archer queen
same as barbarian king.

8) Laboratory upgrade order

(Note: This is my order which has worked for me, and others. This may not be right for you)

8a) Farming units
These are the units I use the most of during my time getting the resources needed. Here is my order for upgrades
archers/barbs/goblins/wall breakers/giants. I would upgrade all of these before any below.

8b) Fun units/armies
These units I don’t not use as much, or I only use them when I have long gaps between raids. Like when sleeping or at work.

Here is my order Balloons/Healers/Wizards. I would upgrade all of these before any below.

8c) Spells
I upgrade the ones I use the most and which will provide the greatest benefit for my style

Lighting/Rage/Heal/Jump/Freeze spell. Taking out defenses with lighting or just mowing threw them is still better then disabling them for a lil bit. I would upgrade all of these before any below.

8d) Trophy Hunting Troops
When I am pushing for dark elixir or just want to increase my trophies.
Dragons/Pekkas, these take the most elixir and take the longest to upgrade. I would upgrade all of these before any below.

8e) Dark elixir troops (note for this part I would only do them if I had the dark elixir avaiable, OR if all other regular elixir upgrades have finished.

Minions/Golems/Valks/Hog Riders

9) Recomended upgrade order for th9

Now here is where it gets tricky as you need certain things to really advance your base. I won’t go into much detail here as I have zero experience with this. This is a Recomended order posted by others.

Gold

Elixir storages, x-bows, wizard towers, mortars, clan castle, cannons, archer tower, tesla, air defense.

(Note: Elixir storages take priority and must be upgraded to 11 to get level 6 troops)
(note: level 7 wizard towers will 1 shot level 5 gobs/level 6 archers, and will be better to protect all 9 of your storages)

Elixir

Lab, army camps, gold storages, spell factory, dark elixir storage

(Note: Gold Storages take more priority now because x-bows, and clan castle require a lot more gold)

10) Upgrade Order for th10

This part will be less detailed, but have the same concepts. This is my predicted order

Gold

inferno tower, x bow, cannons

Elixir

army camps, dragons

11) Oh no I rushed my TH upgrade what do I do?
First take a breath, it is only a game. Second follow this guide, as it will provide you with the best long term benefits you can get. It will not be easy as you may have under leveled troops/defenes, but it can be done. I rushed to th6 from th2. The game has a learning curve, and once you learn you will be better.

12) Questions People Ask

Q: What should I upgrade if I have the dark elixir to spare barb king or a dark elixir unit?

A: I would upgrade minions over barb king as barb king requires a builder. Builders are important because th8 has so many defenses to max out, and they can take a 3-14 days depending on the defense. For the dark elixir units I would do minions then golems then hog riders then valks.

I will try and keep this to up to date as much as I can. But Real life comes first.