Clash of Clans buildings - a guide to CoC base building

SuperCell's bestseller app is all about attacking and defending. Whoever can attack better while still defending at an effective rate, is given an opportunity to reach the top of the tops and maybe become a pro! Many people make fun of and meme about mobile gaming, but interestingly enough, Clash of Clans' official YouTube channel has more subscribers than League of Legends.

Table of content:

Defensive buildings

Traps

Resource buildings

Army buildings

Other buildings

Buildings upgrade order in Clash of Clans

Tips about buildings

Types of bases in Clash of Clans

Summary

FAQ

Defensive buildings

Cannon 

Basic, single target, ground-only firepower. High single target damage, decent range, and fire rate. Totally useless against air troops, so you may want to place them near Air Defenses and Wizard Towers. Post lvl 7, it can be geared up by Master Builder from Builder's Base, if requirements are met. Perfect for taking down Wall Breakers and distracting Giants.

Archer Tower           

Unlocked at Town Hall lvl 2. SIngle target versatile defense with excellent range. Good at taking down tanks, struggles against swarms of troops like Bats or Goblins. From level 10 onwards, it can be geared up by Master Builder, provided that requirements are met.

A good strategy is to place ground-only defenses near Archer Towers so that they protect each other, especially to cover Mortars' blind-spots. Placing Air Bomb or Wizard Tower near Archer Tower can be a single-target problem solution.

Offensively you want to abuse the single-target restriction, as they suffer against large troops of Hog Riders and Bats. Also, high HP units can keep them busy long enough for the other forces to take them down.

Mortar           

Ultimate groundmass troops nemesis, thanks to its splash damage. Limited to ground troops only. It has a blind spot four tiles around it, meaning that melee units (link Hogs) can take it out without losing single HP. It is why you want to cover this weakness with another defensive structure or traps. It is best to place them near the center of the base to utilize its range, preferably in a triangle, so that multiple Mortars can hit the same area. At higher levels, Mortars are less relevant, which is why most TH12 players place them outside of the base. It also keeps air, defense-focused troops, away from the base for a little while longer. While attacking, you want to either pull Mortars aggro with a tank or spread your forces. Depending on the farming strategy, you either want to prioritize Mortars along with Wizard Towers (with ground troops) or ignore it (with air attack). 

Air Defense            

Unlocked at TH3. The greatest counter to all air attacks with it's high DPS and air focus only, however totally useless against ground units. It suffers greatly from Hog Riders. It is why defensively, you want to protect those from ground attacks, preferably with Wizard Towers, Cannons, and traps. Also, placing Air Defense in the range of a Mortar may be the right solution. Many offensive strategies revolve around air units (especially Balloons, Dragons, and Queen Walk Healers), which makes Air Defenses valuable. Offensively you can keep those occupied with Lava Hounds and Dragons while Balloons are destroying the base. Or use Hogs and Spells - Lightning and Earthquake.

Wizard Tower          

Unlocked at TH5. Considered one of the best defensive buildings due to its versatility. It can attack both ground and air troops. Also, it has splash damage, which kills swarms of Bats and Goblins in a few shots. Its weakness is range.

Defensively you will be using them to protect the resources most of the time, as it's the perfect defense against the cheapest and most popular farming strats - BArch and Goblin Knife. Keeping it close to Air Defense is an excellent tactic. Offensively you want to be smart about approaching Wizard Tower. It's hard to overwhelm it due to splash damage, but you can distract it with a Golem or Giant and quickly shut down with Archers or Wizards. When attacking, try to spread your troops and don't deploy them all at once as eventually they will group and die within a few shots.

Air Sweeper           

It is the utility, tactical defense unlocked at TH6. 

It will literally blow away enemy air units giving the other defenses time to take down the invaders.

Its biggest weakness is targeting. It can be rotated only to blow in a cone, so approaching it from behind leaves it completely vulnerable. Also, it does no harm to ground units. Placing it near Air Defense can make them an easy target for Hog Riders, which leaves your village almost defenseless against air units. 

Defensively you can try to rotate it in a way that pushes enemies into Air Bombs. The Sweeper can hold its own against swarms of enemies and stall long enough.

Offensively you can abuse its weak spots or distract it with a single Minion. Also, spreading air units can make Sweeper fail to push all of them.

In some cases, it can make the attacking units switch aggro and turn the tides of the assault.

Hidden Tesla         

Unlocked at TH7. Partially a defensive structure, partially a trap. Its location is revealed when enemy troops are close enough, or 51% of the village is destroyed. It's a single target, both ground, and air, electric defense. Its location is pointed out during the upgrade. You might want to take it into account. What's more, Tesla does not expand the no-spawn area.

The premise of using Tesla is to deceive the enemy, thinking that nothing's there. Teslas can disrupt troops that prioritize defenses (Hogs, Giants, Balloons).

When attacking, you may want to deploy some trash troops (Barbs, Goblins) to trigger Tesla, as its location can be predicted most of the time. 

Bomb Tower          

It is unlocked at TH8. Works similarly to Wizard Tower dealing ground splash damage, but it cannot target air units. It also deals damage upon destruction, just like Balloon. It is the best placed near Mortar or/and Air defense as these three compliments each other. Work great against Hog Riders, especially combined with ground bombs.

Offensively it is best to abuse its weak spots with air units. Also, distracting it with a high HP unit is a good strategy. 

X-Bow

Defensive structure unlocked at Town Hall level 9.

It can be toggled to target ground-only units with more extended range and all units with shorter range. Has to be loaded in order to work. You can do it simply by logging in, so when you see a notification that your domain was raided, you better check on it. What's more, not loaded X-Bow is an excellent indicator for farmers that you are not an active player, and your resources are pretty much free to take.

Defensively you obviously want to have it loaded all the time (did we mention that already?). Due to the popularity of air-heavy attacks at this stage of the game, it is best to keep it toggled to target both ground and air units.

Offensively you either want to distract it with high HP unit (Golem, P.E.K.K.A.) preferably aided by Healers or overwhelm, as it is a single target defense.

X-Bows under construction act like fully built structures during Clan Wars. It is a nice thing to keep in mind.

Inferno Tower           

Unlocked at Town Hall level 10. It shoots jets of lava at both ground and air units. Can be set to:

- single-target - deals enormous damage increasing progressively in time,

- multi-target - deals the same amount of damage to up to five targets.

Needs to be reloaded after the defense. You will quickly tell the difference between loaded and depleted Inferno Tower, as the empty one is simply dark and visibly not working.

Defensively you want to place them depending on the mode you set it on. Single target Tower will struggle against swarms of enemies, while multi-target Tower will be distracted by high HP troops. Pairing it with an AoE damage defense might be a good idea. Also, keep them away from other essential defenses like Eagle Artillery.

Offensively you have to adapt yourself to the mode it's set on. Freeze spells can be helpful here. You can tell the difference by looking at the top:

- single - flames coming out of one large hole,

- multi - small pentagonal holes.

Some players are joining/creating a clan with a long name and placing Inferno Tower to the left of Clan Castle. This way, they hide the mode.

Generally, you want to send many units against single target Inferno, with Miners being exceptional at it. For multi-target Inferno, go for tanks, preferably Golems, as they’re the tankiest.

Eagle Artillery            

It is where usually the TH11 and TH12 battles are decided. If the attacker manages to funnel his troops onto Eagle Artillery, he's golden. If not, it can go all the way around.

Unlocked at Town Hall level 11. One of the most powerful defensive buildings with a huge range covering almost the whole map. It has a Mortar-like blind spot. Has to be reloaded. In defense every 10 seconds, it fires a volley of three missiles dealing colossal splash damage. It targets the areas with the highest amount of HP and can recalibrate in between each volley.

Activates when 150 housing space troops are deployed, in which:

- Archer Queen and Barbarian King abilities do not count towards it, but the heroes themselves will count,

- Skeletons spawned by Witches do not count,

- Spells will add only their own housing space - Skeleton 5 and Clone 15.

In defense, it's crucial to cover its blind spot. Leaving Eagle Artillery exposed is asking yourself for trouble. It is best placed in the center of the map, where it can be guarded well and be the most effective.

Offensively you may want to use Freeze spell on it but do it right before it shoots. Doing so in between volleys will waste the freeze duration, using it right after the shot will not prevent you from taking damage. Jump Spell can quickly transport your troops into its blind spot. Attacking with large groups is a bad idea against it. However, Bats and Hog Riders do pretty well, as they bypass walls and attack the defensive building directly. 

Giga Tesla          

Unlocked as soon as Town Hall level 12 upgrade is finished, as it's located directly in it. 

It has high DPS, able to hit multiple units. Emerges when 51% of the village is destroyed or when Town Hall is attacked. It is crucial because without it triggered, Town Hall will not be considered a defensive building, thus not prioritized by Balloons or Hog Riders. When upgraded to level 5 upon the destruction of Town Hall, it leaves a bomb similar to this of Bomb Tower.

Offensively you can use a damaging spell to trigger it and then engage with your defenses-focused troops. If it's level 5, you may want to save your Grand Warden's ability as a counterplay to the bomb. Long ranged units like Archer Queen can maintain a safe distance.

If the Town Hall is separated from a lot of empty space around it, it may be a good idea to attack it with single Wall Wrecker or Battle Blimp to let the rest of the army focus elsewhere. This way, the explosion will kill only Clan Castle troops.

Traps

Often overlooked by both attacking and defending players. Some of them can be game-changing, especially when a single Bomb denies one last % needed for victory. Traps remain hidden until triggered, resembling Hidden Tesla's behavior. They have one thing in common: after each defense, they need to be re-armed. You can do it simply by logging in to the game.

This rule doesn't apply to Clan Wars, where traps are loaded for all attacks.

Bomb

Basic, cheap, ground-only trap. The weakest of all traps in terms of damage and utility. The best strategy is to clump them together, as this way, they may have a chance to kill the enemy unit.

Offensively baiting them out with a Giant or Golem is not a big deal. But beware of them with Hog Riders attacks, as it can disrupt the whole assault. If not, you can use a cheap unit (like Barbarian) and sacrifice it to fish for the bomb.

Defensively try to put them near wall junctions, as Wall Breakers will target them. Single mine has a chance to stop them. However, do not put them too far away, as they may not manage to go off in time. Also, placing them between Collectors/Mines can kill the whole Goblin squads.

Spring Trap

One of the best and the most favorite traps in CoC. Instantly springs enemy troops away from the map. If you put them correctly, they can distort the whole attack. To prevent the loss, you want to have them close to the Town Hall. When farming, place them in between resource buildings, as they can spring out 15 Goblins at level 1! A common strategy is to intentionally leave a gap in the Walls layer and place Spring Trap right there. Attacking units AI will lead them directly into it. Keep in mind that it will leave a gap for following troops and can be easily baited out.

Heroes, P.E.K.K.A.'s, and Golems will not be affected by it.

Air Bomb

The air-focused counterpart of an ordinary Bomb. Extremely effective against large swarms of flying units like Minions or Bats. Protecting your Air Defenses with those is pretty much mandatory. However, they can be ignored by tanky air units like Dragons or Lava Hound.

Giant Bomb

Similar to a regular Bomb but much more powerful and useful, as it can quickly kill squishy units of equal to its level. Single Giant Bomb can wipe or severely hurt Hog Riders or Goblins in swarms. Placing in along the potential way of attacking troops is obvious, but some players tend to put it outside where most attackers spawn BArch.

Offensively you have to try to predict their location as they deal way too much damage to be ignored. You can do it with a single cheap unit or high HP one, able to withstand the explosion. When deploying and already seeing Giant Bomb to go off, stop deploying. It can save you some troops.

Seeking Air Mine

Single target counterpart of the Air Bomb. Once triggered, it follows the flying unit, dealing tons of damage. It lacks splash damage but hit harder than its multi-targeted sister. It will go after Healers, Lava Hounds, Dragons, Balloons, Battle Blimp, Stone Slammer, and Grand Warden (if in air mode). Others will be ignored. Naturally good location for them is close to ground only defenses. However, some players tend to place it next to Air Defenses for instances where these are taken down by ground units for powerful air units to go in (Dragons, Balloons). Placing them outside the base can eliminate Healers in Queen Walk or other strategies. It's not recommended to put them close together, as a single unit can trigger them all.

Skeleton Trap

Once triggered, spawns Skeletons that can attack ground or air units depending on mode its set on. The combat power of Skeletons is rather mediocre, but they provide an excellent distraction for attacking troops. A good idea is placing them near Bomb Tower so that Skeletons stall attacking forces long enough for the bomb to go off. They also work well against defenses focused troops like Giants or Hog Riders, as they will freely clap those. Also, setting them to air mode and placing near defenses does a great job against Balloons.

Tornado Trap

Once triggered, it sucks in assaulting troops dealing with slight damage over time. Its effect and efficiency are based on its level and opponents' unit housing space. It will not prevent forces from attacking if they are still in range. Pairing Air Bomb or Giant Bomb with Tornado Trap can deal considerable damage to accumulated troops. The good idea is to have them placed in the range of splash damage defenses. 

Miners are the only troop not affected by the trap. 

Clan Castle             

At lower trophies, it doesn't matter that much, as you rarely want to push trophies at this stage. What you want to do here is a farm, upgrade and grow stronger to reach the"true game" level.

At a higher trophy level, luring Clan Castle troops is vital in attacks, especially in Clan Wars (link), where each second counts. Getting your Archer Queen distracted by some Lava Hounds may be devastating and result even in a 90+ % 2-star attack.

Why are Clan Castle troops important?

It's abusing the"Any" preferred target mechanic. Many units have a neutral attitude when attacking, meaning they will attack whatever is the closest to them or whatever attacks them. It is where Clan Castle troops step in - they provide a distraction for your defenses to deal with damage.

Fun Fact:

Defensively the Grand Warden acts as a building, as he's turning into a statue with his Life Aura ability turned on. Poison Spell will not affect him, but Earthquake will. However, we'll focus on Clash of Clans Heroes in our Heroes guide.

Resource buildings

They don't play a considerable role in offense or defense (unless we take the offense receiving end into consideration). However, their importance should not be neglected. Correct placement plays a pivotal role in farming (protecting resources), trophy pushing, and clan wars (slowing the opponent down). In farming layouts, you want to have Storages within the Walls, with Collectors, Mines, and Drills close to outside defenses. In trophy pushing, you want them outside the base to lower the opponent's chance to score a 3-star on you. 

Gold

Gold Mines are your primary, but a secondary source of gold, and you will need a lot of it. Total gold upgrades cost is multiple times higher than total Elixir upgrades cost. Reason being - the Walls. This structure is insanely expensive to invest in. 

'Why are Gold Mines a secondary source of gold in Clash of Clans?" you'd ask. Simple - you should be farming. There is no way you will supply builders with enough gold to reach an effective progress rate. However, there is no reason to ignore the Mines at all. Although they are not as productive as a single 400k gold farming attack, they still provide you with cheap valuables. The only fuel for them is time. They are also more reliable than farming. When you have no time to farm, Gold Mines are constantly working.

It is where the resources lie during the attacks. There is a limitation considering Storages, but you can loot the Mines dry. That is why you should log in from time to time to transfer collected resources to Storages.

Elixir

The "pink gold". Pumped by Elixir Collectors and stored in Elixir Storages. The leading resource used in upgrading Army Buildings - Barracks, Army Camps, Laboratory, and Spell Factory - as well as training troops. Later on, you can also upgrade Walls with it.

During farming stages, you will have plenty of it most of the time, as defenses take relatively more time and resources to build. Farming troops usually cost less than a single farming attack should bring. And it's all about net profit.

It is trophy pushing, where you have more Gold than Elixir. Constant army training without much return other than league bonus usually is not enough. 

Dark Elixir 

The most precious one, if we didn't count the Gems. It serves the purpose of upgrading heroes, as well as training and upgrading Dark Elixir Troops. Collecting it from Dark Elixir Drills is slow compared to the other two. Same for farming it. Usually, active players will not leave their Dark Elixir Storage out in the open. You will need to work harder for it. 

Remember, when farming the Dark Elixir, don't use Dark Elixir troops. You will lower your efficiency, and trust us - waiting for your Drills until they fund your next 30 Hog Riders escapade, might take a while. Also, Dark Elixir troops have longer training times than their Elixir counterparts.

Army buildings 

Often overlooked in most layouts and gameplay due to their low-impact role during attacks. But Army Buildings are as crucial as any other. It's their level that determines your power. Let's quickly break them down.

Army Camps

Their importance lies in their "troop capacity" stat. Each level of subsequent Army Camp means more troops available in an assault. 

You can have a maximum of 280 troops in Army Camps if you upgrade them to the max level (4 x 70). If you add another 40 in fully upgraded Clan Castle, it makes a total of 320 troops available for an attack. You should upgrade them whenever possible.

Barracks

It is where your Elixir troops are trained. Each additional Barracks level unlocks another unit, while subsequent Barracks lower the training time of those units.

In defense, they serve mostly as a distraction for attacking troops and a placeholder for drop pushing the drop zone further away. 

Some units may not be recruited, while the Barracks are under construction. Let's say that you have one level 10 Barracks, allowing you to train Baby Dragons, while other Barracks are level 9 and lower. Upgrading those level 10 Barracks will disable Baby Dragons recruitment.

Also, as subsequent Barracks levels are lowering the training time of the troops, upgrading them will disable this feature as well.

If you want to know what units are unlocked on what exact level of Barracks, we list them below:

Level 1 - Barbarian

Level 2 - Archer

Level 3 - Giant

Level 4 - Goblin

Level 5 - Wall Breaker

Level 6 - Balloon

Level 7 - Wizard

Level 8 - Healer

Level 9 - Dragon

Level 10 - P.E.K.K.A.

Level 11 - Baby Dragon

Level 12 - Miner

Level 13 - Electro Dragon.

Upgrading subsequent Barracks buildings to these levels lowers the training time for the units, the level unlocks.

As Barracks are disabled during the upgrade, you want to avoid upgrading more than one building at once. 

Dark Barracks

Dark Elixir counterpart of normal Barracks.

The main difference is that you can build it from Town Hall level 7 onwards.

Upgrading Dark Barracks will have their features disabled, just like in Barracks. Be aware of it, when planning farming or during Clan Wars preparations.

Units unlocked:

Level 1 - Minion

Level 2 - Hog Rider

Level 3 - Valkyrie

Level 4 - Golem

Level 5 - Witch

Level 6 - Lava Hound

Level 7 - Bowler

Level 8 - Ice Golem

You want new Barracks and Dark Barracks built right away, as soon as they become available after the Town Hall upgrade is finished. Upgrading both of these costs Elixir, so you may want to be careful around it, as you can find yourself in a situation where you don't have enough resources to train your farming troops. Should this happen, you will be forced to wait for Elixir Collectors to do their job.

Laboratory

The laboratory does not provide you with additional troops or spells, but upgrades grant them strength. The difference between level 1 and level 6 Wizards is significant. Units have more DPS, more HP, and other stats increased (like spawns from Witches), but also their training cost increased. Spells are also enhanced - they last longer, heal more, hurt more, and so on. Upgrading a unit does not disable its training, so there is no reason not to queue upgrades up. 

Also, if you have enough resources, you may save yourself some time by queueing an upgrade and then upgrading the Laboratory. Make sure that Laboratory upgrading time does not exceed the unit upgrade time, as you will have unnecessary downtime if this happens. What's more, an upgrade queued before the Laboratory building upgrade will not be finished until the Laboratory is upgraded. Also, hold up with Dark Elixir troops upgrades. Their initial cost is relatively high, and you want to upgrade your heroes first. It is because heroes upgrades will take far more time than unit upgrades. Barbarian King and Archer Queen max levels are 65, and Grand Warden max level is 40, while troops have less than 10 levels (Minion level 8 is maximum for Dark Elixir troops). 

There is another reason to have your Laboratory at the highest level possible for your Town Hall level. If you use the Power Potion, it will boost your troops to the max level allowed by the level of the Lab. Power Potion works in both Villages, so using it during Builder Base loot fights, and Clan Wars can give you a significant edge.

We haven't found one, ultimate upgrades order, you should go for in your Laboratory. The order is strictly individual, in our opinion. If you have some Elixir overhangs, and you need to dump it as soon as possible, you will want to go for the most expensive one. If your key farming troops combination is Giants + Archers + Goblins, go for them. If you're pushing trophies with Lava Hounds + Balloons, they will be your choice to go. And when you have your Archer Queen maxed out, upgrading Healers for unstoppable Queen Walk is your way to go.

Spell Factory

It is the place where your Elixir Spells are brewed. In some scenarios, Spells are mandatory to have (especially in trophy pushing and Clan Wars, where you need every piece of advantage). 

Some people don't use them while farming, some do. For the first group, brewing spells for farming is a waste of resources. The second group believes that well-placed Jump Spell can bring you far more resources than Elixir needed for it to be brewed. The decision is entirely up to you. If you are a lazy type of a player or your playing time is limited, then you may want a quick"Jump in, Rage, take resources, die" action. In case, that you have long downtimes in your daily routines, like traveling time, waiting, or boring classes in college, and your time is unlimited (in a reasonable way), then you can look for the juicy, dead village with full collectors and mines outside the Walls.

Not using them in trophy pushing and Clan Wars is lowering your potential. It's as if you were to cut off your foot while playing soccer.

Having your Spell Factory at the max level is a must-have. It not only unlocks new spells but also works exceptionally well with Power Potion we've mentioned above. Each Spell will be boosted to the max level allowed by your Lab. And sometimes it's game-changing. What's more, max spell housing capacity is based on a Spell Factory level.

You can brew:

- Lightning - strikes a targeted zone with lightning beams, dealing damage to units and structures; Storages are immune to this spell,

- Heal - creates an aura healing all units within,

- Rage - similarly to Heal creates an aura enraging units, boosting their movement speed and damage output; these two work well combined,

- Jump - allows ground units to jump over Walls much like Hog Riders; does not affect flying units, Hog Riders, and Miners,

- Freeze - covers buildings and units within its radius in ice, disabling defenses,

- Clone - replicates targeted troop, putting units of the same kind onto the battlefield.

Dark Spell Factory

It is similar to Spell Factory, but it uses Dark Elixir as fuel for brewing.

The same principles apply to Dark Spell Factory - disabled during upgrading, high upgrading priority, etc.

Both Spell Factories are a kind of double-edged sword. You want them upgraded, but you cannot use them while they're upgrading. Unlike Barracks or Dark Barracks, you can't have more than one Spell and Dark Spell Factory. It often forces you to opt-out of Clan Wars because you are not able to prepare the desired set of Spells. 

Some Spells can be used interchangeably "in a way." Four Earthquakes will bring the Wall piece down, relieving you of pressure to have Jump Spell, but they cost more, and they take more housing space. You can kind of "cheat" the Rage Spell with Haste Spell when using units with already high damage that only need some speed (like Balloons or P.E.K.K.A.'s). Poison Spell will slow down and damage Clan Castle troops and Heroes, but it will not work like Freeze. You need to be very careful and plan your upgrades wisely. Otherwise, you may find yourself in a sticky situation, where the whole raid is ruined.

Workshop

The Workshop is a very special building. You will unlock it, once your Town Hall 12 upgrade is completed. It will allow you to build Siege Machines. Subsequent upgrades of Workshop unlock each Siege Machine. Level 1 gives access to Wall Wrecker, level 2 unlocks Battle Blimp, and level 3 - Stone Slammer.

Siege Machines are devices that carry your Clan Castle troops during the attack. They cost Gold to build, but Elixir to upgrade. There is no reason not to have them on the battlefield, as they provide some additional firepower.

There are also Heroes Altars classified as Army Buildings, but we will talk about them in Clash of Clans Heroes guide.

Other buildings

These buildings deserve an additional category, as they serve all purposes - army, resources, and defense.

Town Hall stores resources (20% of each kind), magic items that enhance your Builders, troops, resources buildings, as well as at level 12, there is a Giga Tesla built-in.

Clan Castle stores resources collected via star bonus and looted during Clan Wars in Treasury houses Clan Castle troops for defense, and its level determines your offensive CC troops' strength.

Town Hall

The core of your base. Its level determines how high you can go with trophies and in Clan Wars. Each Town Hall level unlocks additional buildings and allows you to upgrade the existing ones. These upgrades eventually enable recruiting more advanced units, 

Defensively it comes online at level 12 when built-in Giga Tesla can emerge, but it provides no support offensively whatsoever. 

Town Hall is storage for Magic Items - potions, books, rings, etc. Whenever you grab or buy one of these, it will be kept safe in the Town Hall. Make sure you’re not wasting your Magic Items space. For example, you may already have gathered 5 Power Potions, and during an event, you’ve won another one. You will not be able to collect it. Using it for offensive purposes might be an excellent idea. 

Taking down the Town Hall is critical in trophy pushing and Clan Wars. Destroying it grants you one star immediately. You can’t have a 2-star win without TH demolished. 

In the highest level of Clan Wars, where Giga Bomb and Siege Machines are a common thing, the Town Hall is more of a distraction and slowing bump for the enemy troops. Most of the time, the defender can only hope that the attacker will make a mistake, mistime the Eternal Tome ability, and the Giga Bomb will wipe the kill squad. Seasoned players know, that Town Hall will fall no matter what. The trick is to place it in a spot, in which it will deny a three-star win.

Clan Castle

Arguably the most critical defensive building. At the highest level of play, it is often a deciding factor. If the attacker manages to lure the Clan Castle troops successfully, he’s good to go. If he fails, the whole raid is over. Having your CC filled with useful and strong units is vital in both - offense and defense.

Keeping your Clan Castle at the max level is crucial, as each level gives you more troops capacity, eventually adding spells and Siege Machines spots. You want to have every piece of power available, and CC is a source of it. 

Buildings upgrade order in Clash of Clans

When your storages are brimming, you need to make a quick call - what do I upgrade first? 

Generally, you want to have your heroes upgraded first. Grand Warden is a little bit tolerant in this department, as he requires Elixir to level up. The pink resource is pretty easy to obtain, as, at this level of play, people leave their collectors and Storages in the open to protect the Dark Elixir Storage.

Now that is the problem… Since the Dark Elixir is usually heavily protected, you may find it challenging to upgrade Barbarian King and Archer Queen. Target selection, correct farming army, and execution will be key here. The most popular strategy - Goblin Knife - is not very expensive, but a couple of failures for 150k pink Elixir each might hurt eventually. As it is the hardest upgrade to pull off, it should be your primary focus.

You don’t want to push for Elixir upgrades, leaving Gold upgrades behind. Sooner or later, you will have tons of Elixir, full Storages, and very few ways to burn through it. Gold upgrades, in general, cost more overall than Elixir upgrades. Up until Town Hall level 9, you can’t upgrade your Walls with Elixir. Upgrading one piece of Wall from level 1 to level 10 (max for TH9) costs a total of 1,941,050. At Town Hall level 9, you can have a maximum of 250 Wall pieces. 1,941,050 x 250 = 485,262,500. That’s a lot. 

Also, rushing a Town Hall upgrade is not recommended. Higher TH level doesn’t give you all that much advantage. What’s more, it puts you at a disadvantage. It means that higher level players can farm you. And they will. You don’t want to be farmed for free. Make sure to upgrade all your defensive buildings to a reasonable level before putting your Town Hall under construction. 

So what is the buildings' upgrade order in Clash of Clans? It goes like this:

1. Heroes.

2. Storages.

3. Laboratory.

4. Army buildings - Army Camps, Barracks, Dark Barracks, Clan Castle.

5. New defenses.

6. Collectors, Mines, Drills.

7. Existing defenses (splash damage first, single target damage second).

8. Town Hall.

9. Traps and Walls.

Tips about buildings

When searching for a farming target, look for defenses being upgraded. They are disabled by then. However, it also means that the village is active, and an assault may be sketchy. 

You want to have your Wizard Towers near Storages to counter the Goblin Knife tactic. These greedy little green creatures may sometimes outrun Mortar's shots, plunder Storage, and run to the next target before Mortar shoots again.

Sometimes if you look closely, you can see people waving at an empty spot in the enemy base. Most likely, there is a Hidden Tesla right there. 

Although it's the Elixir buildings that have a priority in upgrading queue, focusing entirely on Elixir upgrades will quickly lead you to a colossal Gold/Elixir discrepancy, and most likely Elixir deficit. Also, by the time you finish all Elixir upgrades for your Town Hall level, the situation will turn upside down, and you will start to involuntarily amass tons of Elixir, with a deficit of the Gold. You don't want to exceed the Storages capacity, as it will lead you to inefficient farming, where you loot more than you can store. It will eventually cause the loss of a resource, and you want to avoid it all the time.

It is not recommended to upgrade Town Hall before finishing upgrading all defenses and major buildings. However, its upgrading time can be long enough for you to upgrade the last remaining defenses in the meantime. Otherwise, if you finish all upgrades and then queue your Town Hall, it will leave your Builders unemployed. And it's time inefficient. Your goal should be keeping your builders busy and planning upgrades in a way that most of the upgrade time passes during the night. 

Types of bases in Clash of Clans

There are a couple of layouts used in Clash of Clans, depending on the purpose they serve. 

Three primary purposes of the village are:

- Farming Base - aims to protect resources for the price of defenses; defensive buildings placement is adjusted to maximize Storages protection,

- Trophy Base - the opposite of farming base; its goal is to make it hard for your opponent to win a battle and take a lot of trophies. It has more centralized defenses, and uses Storages and other defensively useless buildings as a distraction,

- War Base - designed to deny as many stars as possible, as stars are what counts in Clan Wars.   

We’ll give them more attention in our CoC Layouts guide. 

Farming base

In the farming base, the placement of the buildings is all about preserving resources from being stolen. However, correct building placement is one thing, but farming effectively is something different. After all, it’s the net profit that matters. If you have an excellent base, but you are a poor farmer, you will be on the losing end. Be sure to read our Farming Guide.  

You have an example of a farming base down below:

You can see there are Storages placed in the center of the base, heavily guarded by Wizard Towers and in range of the Mortars. Robust and single-target defenses will focus any ranged troop that would like to come up to the Walls and take Mortars down. Just inside the core, you can see a Tesla farm, which can prove to be a big surprise for unprepared Dark Elixir hunter. There are no useless buildings inside the base - just defenses, Storages, and traps. Everything else is outside, as it should be. 

Trophy Base

As we’ve mentioned, a push for trophies has its own rules, vastly different than farming. Look at the example base:

In the picture, you can see Storages close to Walls, but still inside. These buildings serve as defenses in a way, as they will be focused by troops that have no preference while attacking. Usually, good players will have them upgraded, hence they will have a ton of hit points to go through. The defense is all about time. An attacker has three minutes to clap your base. Your defensive buildings have to withstand the same amount of time. The faster he takes down your defenses, the more likely you lose. It is why baiting him into attacking your juicy storages can work, as it will give your defenses some time much needed in the siege.

The Clan Castle is right in the center of the base. Its defending troops cannot be easily lured outside and taken down. Moreover, CC troops will be attacking enemies while they are busy hitting your Storages. Then, they will distract raiders, hopefully, long enough for your defenses to take them down.

Let’s face it - your base will be taken down a time or two. Or more. The key to climbing is to earn more trophies than you lose, period.

War base 

Clan Wars are the bread and butter of the whole SuperCell best-selling app. Two clans clash each other to see who’s better, stronger, organized. In a war, stars from attack are basically the only thing that matters.

On rare occasions, where there is a draw, the overall destruction is taken into account. So there is a difference between a 55% 2-star and a 95% 2-star. Always attack with all your might.

Here you have an example of the war base:

It’s different than a regular trophy base, more spread out. In Clan Wars, time plays a huge part. One look at the World Championship or Qualifiers is enough. There are many 99% 2-star attacks, where the only Builder Hut or Tesla in a corner is left standing. And at such a high level, a 2-star is a loss, hurting greater the more percentage you get. It is why buildings placement must be precise and not random. Even trash buildings serve the purpose of delaying your opponent.

There are also:

Hybrid base - something between Farming and Trophy base. It contains elements of both, but as we all know - if something is for everything, it's for nothing.

Troll base - the name is pretty much self-explanatory. The design is focused on fooling your opponent, leading him into an obvious trap. Sometimes they have a drop space in the middle of the base, sometimes a gap in the Walls. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

Shield Grabber - this one is trendy among players who have little spare time for playing. The base design is focused on getting a shield every time that an enemy attacks. Usually, they have Town Hall outside of Walls and most of the buildings exposed. 

Summary

We have all of the Clash of Clans buildings listed in this guide. We hope you liked it and you agree with our point of view. If not, be invited to post a comment either here or on our Facebook and Twitter. We’ll gladly get to know your opinion.

FAQ

What buildings are in CoC?

There are three main types of buildings in Clash of Clans: Defenses, Army Buildings, and Resources Buildings. Defenses are defending your village during attacks. Army Buildings determine your offensive power. Resources Buildings are taking care of your goods.

You have Town Hall and Clan Castle on top of that.

When do I upgrade Town Hall?

When there are only Traps and Walls left to upgrade.

What are the best defensive buildings in Clash of Clans?

Hard to say, cause it depends on your Town Hall level and attack strategy. Air Defenses are unmatched vs. air units, while Mortars are useful vs. ground units. Against large troops you want your Wizard Tower to do the work, and focus Archer Towers and Cannons on single, high HP tanks.

Overall in our opinion, Wizard Tower is the most all-rounded defense as it has decent splash damage, good range and can target air and ground units as well. At higher levels, it's Eagle Artillery and Inferno Towers that gain the most attention from the attackers.

What order should I upgrade in Clash of Clans?

Heroes go first. Storages second. Then you go for army buildings. Then - research and new defenses. Don't upgrade Town Hall when defenses aren't yet maxed. You want to put into the queue Elixir and Gold upgrade at the same time. Otherwise, you'll have one type of resource piling up.

When upgrading defenses, focus on AoE defenses first with single target defenses second.

How many levels are in CoC?

Town Hall has 12 levels, but there is level 13 in preparation.

What is the longest build time in Clash of Clans?

Currently, there are multiple structures in the game with a building time of 14 days. It is the longest building time of all.

How many buildings are in Clash of Clans?

As of now, there are 41 different types of buildings if we count traps and exclude things like decorations or a Boat.