Clash of Clans troops - get to know your party in CoC

Clash of Clans created by SuperCell is all about clashing with other players and clans, farming them, grabbing their trophies and resources. A player cannot go into the game himself, so in order to attack someone, he needs his brave army. And this is what we are going to talk about.

Table of content:

What troops are there in Clash of Clans?

Elixir troops

Dark Elixir troops

Siege Machines

Troops attack priority

Summary

FAQ

What troops are there in Clash of Clans?

Up until very high Town Hall levels in your army Elixir Troops, Dark Elixir troops, and Heroes are the core. Taking care of the upgrades, Army Buildings, correct spells selection, and tactics are mandatory. The Builder Base troops, heroes are different, but in this guide, we’ll focus on the Home Village Army Buildings creations.

Elixir troops

These are trained in Barracks at the cost of Elixir. They are basic units and the core of your attacks up until at least Town Hall 7, which is where you unlock the Dark Elixir.

Most of them remain useful until the very late stages of the game, but for different purposes, which we’ll talk about.

Barbarians

Barracks level: 1.

Type: ground.

Target: any, ground-only.

Range: melee.

Housing Space: 1. 

Movement Speed: 16.

In the very beginning, they are your only offensive power. From Barracks level 2 onwards, when you have Archers unlocked, Barbarians make for a meat shield to drag the enemy defenses focus from the DPS. Up until Town Hall level 7, they are commonly used in the cheapest and the fastest farming strategy, where you combine them with Archers and multi-finger spam-drop at the enemy.

Barbarians are simple people. They just want to smash. It is why they will immediately charge at the enemy in an attempt to take them down. What puts them above the Archers in specific scenarios is their melee attack range. Archers will not take down Mortar without being exposed.

Later on, like past Town Hall 7, they serve the purpose of straight meat shield only. Players send them into the fray to watch them clear the path from traps, bombs, mines.

Remember, Barbarians are the cheapest and the fastest to train unit in your base. It also takes only one housing space, but it triggers Spring Traps nevertheless. Spring Trap base capacity is 15, which means that it can send away three Hog Riders or three Giants in one blow. If you compare the training cost of three Hogs or total HP of three Giants, simple math will lead you to a simple conclusion, that it’s better to sacrifice one Barb. It works for Bombs and Giant Bombs as well.

What’s more, a swarm of Barbarians is a decent strategy to take out enemy Hero, like Heroes, in general, can attack only one target at the time.

Archer

Barracks Level: 2.

Type: ground.

Target: any, ground and air,

Range: 3,5 tiles.

Housing Space: 1. 

Movement Speed: 24.

The second-most basic unit in CoC. With Archers unlocked, you gain access to the most popular farming strategy in lower levels, so-called “BArch.” The premise of the strategy is to focus defenses on Barbarians who have more HP, and do damage with Archers.

These units are squishy, and they suffer significantly from AoE defenses, so deploying them in few groups can save you some time and resources. 

If you want to use Archers, make sure that there is a high HP unit tanking for them. A single Mortar shot can decimate a whole troop. Keep in mind not to deploy the tank in position, where Archers are standing, or they are about to go. Also, try to replace the dying tank with another unit before the defenses switch aggro onto Archers. Once aggroed Mortar will not rest, until the unit that aggroed it is dead. 

Later on, at higher Town Hall levels, Archers are used mostly for a cleanup, where you deploy your Lava Hounds, Balloons, do your Queen Walk with Grand Warden right behind, and so on. Then you deploy Archers to slowly but surely take out the trash buildings to secure the 3-star win. In case you left those buildings unattended, your kill squad will be forced to return to destroy them to achieve a 100% win. Usually, at TH10 - TH12, you don’t want to waste your kill squad’s time to deal with Storages, Mines, and Army Camps. 

Giant

Barracks Level: 3.

Type: ground.

Target: defenses, ground only.

Range: melee.

Housing Space: 5.

Movement Speed: 12.

Giant is the third unit unlocked in Barracks and the very first pure tank. His offensive power is mediocre, but he has more HP than equal housing space Barbarians. Their tankiness, however, is not a reason to leave Barbarians behind. As we've mentioned already, Giants are weak offensively, thus combining them with another melee unit with slightly more DPS might be a good idea in the early stages of the game.

Another strength of Giants in comparison to Barbarians is their precise focus on offense. A Giant will always go for the closest defensive structure in an eight tiles radius. If there is one, but further away, he will instead choose to go through the Wall. Although the unit has relatively low DPS, grouping a few Giants can successfully take down a defense or two.

They fall off later on, and their purpose is mostly for farming, where players match Giants with BArch (for GiBArch) or Wizards (for GiWiz). P.E.K.K.A.s, Golems outmatch them, and Ice Golems in tanking department in trophy pushing or Clan Wars later on. 

Popular Clan Castle defensive troop early on due to high HP numbers, durability and a lot of time bought 

Goblin

Barracks Level: 4. 

Type: ground.

Target: resources, ground only.

Range: melee.

Housing Space: 1.

Movement Speed: 32.

Goblins are units made for farming. They prioritize the closest building that contains Elixir, Gold, or Dark Elixir - Collectors, Mines, Storages, Clan Castle, and Town Hall. Once every resource building is down, they will change their preference to “Any.” 

They are cheap, mobile, and fast to train. Housing space for one unit is just 1, so you can have plenty of those in an assault.

Paired with Giants and Wizards, they make excellent farming strategy, known as the Goblin Knife. The premise of the strat is to use Giants as a meat shield, Wizard (or Archers) to provide the funnel, and Jump Spell to go through Walls. Then you multi-finger drop a swarm of greedy, green creatures to wipe somebody’s precious goods. It is an extremely relaxing experience to know that your units during farming will go for actual farm instead of whopping Builder’s Hut as if World’s fate depended on it.

Although they pay the price for such remarkable traits, being squishy, and suffering from Mortars, Wizard Towers, and bombs. You need to deploy them carefully and smart because the deployment and timing make the difference between 400k loot and 100k loss. Definitely, don’t deploy them all at once. Sometimes the swarm attack works, but not in the case of Goblins. After taking down a few initial structures, they will eventually clump up together, and die from a couple of Wizard Tower shots. 

Sometimes used as the clean-up crew for high HP Storages, Mines, and Collectors purposely left outside the base to slow the assault. Their power in Clan Castle is low, so when someone in your clan requests troops, don’t give him Goblins unless you want to make him angry. 

Use this knowledge to counter Goblins defensively. Smart bombs placement in the most obvious paths to Storages, as well as protecting them with Wizard Towers, can be crucial. Always place Wizard Tower over Mortar in defense against Goblins, as these little creatures can easily outrun a Mortar shot, but they cannot outrun a Wizard’s fireball. 

Wall Breaker

Barracks Level: 5.

Type: ground.

Target: Walls only (but their splash damage affects other buildings).

Range: melee.

Housing Space: 2.

Movement Speed: 24.

It's your first unit designed to deal with the Walls. It is basically the only purpose of Wall Breakers. Using them any other way is a waste of resources, and they are relatively expensive in juxtaposition to the housing space they require. 

One level 1 Wall Breaker is enough to break a level 1 Wall, one level 2 Wall Breaker is enough to break level 2 Wall, and so on, up until Wall level 9. The troops do not scale beyond that, and for breaking Wall level 10, at least two Wall Breakers are needed. It is always recommended to have them more, cause their path sometimes may be unpredictable, as well as enemy defenses aggro. 

Wall Breakers are very squishy, and it takes just a couple of shots from Cannon or Archer Tower to take him down. It is why you should send Barbarians, Giants, or other tanking units first. Most players leave their bombs and traps just outside the Walls in a place where Wall Breaker is most likely to go. Be careful not to deploy Wall Breakers behind tanking units, as incoming Mortar shot can kill them on the spot and ruin the whole attack. You have to time it very well and be patient. 

They deal splash damage, so multi-layered Walls are not a problem. You can use these base design flaws to your advantage. 

Balloon

Barracks Level: 6.

Type: flying.

Target: defenses, ground only.

Range: ground splash (drops bombs).

Housing Space: 5.

Movement Speed: 10.

One of the most successful offensive, and sometimes defensive, units in Clash of Clans. It’s the first flying troop unlocked in the game. Their attacking power is immense and much appreciated throughout the community. Once unlocked, they are vast firepower for the enemies not having Air Defenses yet.

As the first flying unit out there for you to unlock, Balloons can become your primary wall-ignoring troop. Among troops with “defenses” attack preference, Balloons offer the most DPS until Town Hall level 7, where you can have Hog Riders.

In comparison to Hog Riders, Balloons’ advantage is that fewer defenses are able to attack them, they ignore ground traps, and they require Elixir to train, which is more common and easier to obtain than Dark Elixir.

Hog Riders, however, gain the upper hand when it comes to single target DPS and speed, but they suffer from ground troops and AoE defenses.

Balloons have two significant drawbacks.

The first one is their speed or rather lack of speed. Their movement speed is 10, which is the lowest value in the game, even lower than Siege Machines and Golems! It is the reason why having a Haste or Rage spell when attacking with Balloons is mandatory. Without it, they will not be able to do enough damage, to call it worth. What’s more, during the attack, time is ticking. It is why the troops' speed makes the difference.

The second one is their vulnerability to Air Defenses. If you fail to disable or distract "the Fireworks" during the attack, you might as well surrender, as Balloons will fall quickly. Of course, Balloons deal splash explosion damage upon destruction, but it's not the trait you want to utilize. 

It is why one of the most used assault strategy - LavaLoon - contains Lava Hounds paired with Balloons. These beefy flying juggernauts can take a hit or two for their flying, bomb-dropping colleagues. The tactic is excellent because it leaves all the ground defenses completely useless. The defender can have all the Cannons in the world - they will not fire a single shot. 

Another common strategy is adding a few Dragons to Loons. The strategy provides more damage, but less survivability. It is recommended to use when you are sure you can quickly shut down high DPS defenses. 

Wizard

Barracks Level: 7.

Type: ground.

Target: any, ground, and air.

Range: 3 tiles. 

Housing Space: 4.

Movement Speed: 16.

Barracks level 7 is when Wizards from Wizard Tower come down to fight for you. They are powerful, offensive troops capable of attacking both ground and flying units. They offer splash damage, so dealing with a swarm of Clan Castle Archers, Barbarians, or Skeletons from Skeleton Trap is not a problem. Putting them into your own Clan Castle is not a bad idea either, especially in situations where your enemy is using a mass attack. 

They offer the most DPS per housing space at 57.5 (if we don’t count Wall Breakers’ 40x damage vs. Walls). An excellent farming troop paired with a tanky unit like Giant, P.E.K.K.A., or Golem. Usually, it takes a few Wizard shots to take down a building.

At higher Town Hall levels, they are often used as a clean-up crew, taking down trash buildings while the kill squad is busy destroying the core, or for funneling.

Although they are relatively strong, make sure you have a unit tanking for them. Otherwise, they will fall fairly quickly.

Healer

Barracks Level: 8. 

Type: flying. 

Target: wounded units (ground only).

Range: 5 tiles.

Housing Space: 14.

Movement Speed: 16.

Upon deployment, they will heal your unit, which lost HP. They will select the closest one to them and will stay on it until it’s dead or fully healed. Healers will follow the wounded unit wherever it goes. It is crucial in planning your attack, since allowing your Healers to get into the range of Air Defenses, can end their lives in a matter of seconds. 

Be aware that Healers heal only ground units. Let it not be a surprise for you when you send your Dragon or Lava Hound to tank for them, and they will float around as if they were unemployed. Many players ended up wiped, wondering what happened.

Also, keep in mind that their heals are only 50% as effective on heroes, as they would be on regular troops. It is due to the Queen Walk and Queen Charge strategies abuse, which we will talk about later.

Healers are priceless in some strats in trophy pushing and Clan Wars, and not that good in farming. As for farming purposes, they take way too much housing space in comparison to the contribution they provide. Thus, they are lowering the resources per hour ratio. 

Dragon

Barracks Level: 9. 

Type: flying.

Target: any, ground, and air.

Range: splash attacks.

Housing Space: 20.

Movement Speed: 16.

A mighty flying creature, medium expensive troop in terms of both resources and housing space. Since the update in 2013, it offers a splash damage, short-ranged (but not melee) attack. Extremely useful in dealing with swarms of troops, especially Clan Castle defenders. Suffers only to Air Defenses and Seeking Air Mines, like pretty much every flying unit. It has quite a high HP number combined with lots of damage. It is slightly less tanky than Lava Hound, for instance, but provides far more destruction and takes less housing space. It’s trendy in attacks around Town Hall 8 to Town Hall 10, as well as in Clan Castle defenses.

The main problem when attacking with mass Dragons is their target preference. Dragons will attack whatever is closest to them. Thus sometimes it may be hard to have them going in the correct direction. It is why you may want to pair them with some defenses-focused troops like Balloons. Also, they are rather slow, so aiding them with a Haste or Rage Spell is not a bad idea.

They have a slight edge over other splash damage troops:

- Valkyries - ground troops suffering from ground traps, which Dragons will ignore,

- Balloons - the slowest unit in the game, quite squishy,

- Wizards - ground units with relatively low HP value,

- Electro Dragon - very slow and expensive unit, available at the very end of the base development,

- Stone Slammer - available at Town Hall 12, so it can take a while, brings in tankiness and utility (delivering Clan Castle troops).

As flying units, they cannot be healed by Healers, so keep it in mind.

Despite their power, Dragons are rarely used in the pro scene and top Clan Wars. After all, they are outmatched in both damage and tankiness departments. Still, they are handy in a casual trophy pushing, and sometimes even farming.

P.E.K.K.A.

Barracks Level: 10.

Type: ground.

Target: any, ground only.

Range: melee.

Housing Space: 25.

Movement Speed: 16.

No one knows what it is, except that it’s female. She costs a couple of thousands of Elixir, has a ton of HP, plate armor, and hits like a truck. Having a tanky unit dealing so much damage would be unfair, so to compensate for her overpowered stats, she’s rather slow. 

P.E.K.K.A. makes an excellent tanking unit, as she brings a considerable amount of damage to the equation, unlike Golem or Lava Hound. Plus, it costs Elixir, which is much easier to get than Dark Elixir. Although P.E.K.K.A. has fewer hit points than five Giants (equal housing space), she offers way more offensively. She has the highest damage per attack stat in the game among all troops (not counting heroes).

Since its housing space is 25, Spring Traps do not affect it. Thus, if you see an open drop spot in a troll base, where such a trap probably is, dropping P.E.K.K.A. can make it useless. The same thing goes for Wall gaps. Funneling P.E.K.K.A.’s into such a corridor can clear the way for other ground troops (e. g. Wall Breakers). Also, P.E.K.K.A. doesn’t care about small mines. Only the Giant Bomb can make something happen.

The only defense that hurts a P.E.K.K.A. is single-target Inferno Tower with its scaling damage. It shreds through even the beefiest units in the game, so be prepared to Zap-Quake it or Freeze. You can also use a Rage spell. Maxed P.E.K.K.A. with maxed Rage Spell can pretty much one hit an Inferno Tower. What’s more, you don’t want your P.E.K.K.A.’s bashing the Wall, so have some Wall Breakers or a Jump Spell to let them inside. It is recommended to send them in pairs, as most buildings should not withstand a double hit. 

P.E.K.K.A., due to its high HP value, damage, and utility is often used at the very top of play. Strategies like “P.E.K.K.A. smash” or “P.E.K.K.A. BoBat” are still beneficial and can guarantee a 3-star win if executed correctly. However, to do this, you may want to have them maxed in the Laboratory. It will require some farming and even more time, as completing those upgrades can take a while.

Baby Dragon

Barracks Level: 11.

Type: flying.

Target: any, ground, and air.

Range: 2,75

Housing Space: 10.

Movement Speed: 20.

The specific trait of Baby Dragons is their rage - when isolated from other troops, they have double damage, and it is precisely what you want from them. Otherwise, they lose their potential. Interestingly enough, Baby Dragons provide more HP per housing space than their adult cousins. 

As a flying unit, they suffer from Air Defenses and air traps, but since they bring in a reasonable amount of HP per housing space, they can be used as a meat shield for Balloons and Healers. 

Relatively high movement speed and damage buff make them a decent choice for a cleanup. Because of them being an air unit, they ignore Walls, which can be game-changing by the end of the attack. 

At the highest level of play, these are used mostly as clean up after kill squad enters the core thanks to their enhanced damage when isolated. Sometimes it is also deployed to bait out the Seeking Air Mines or distract Air Defenses during Queen Walk/Queen Charge.

There is, however, a strategy that utilizes 24 maxed Baby Dragons mixed with level 7 Bat Spells, and a Stone Slammer. It has a chance of succeeding, but it is rarely seen at the moment.

Miner

Barracks Level: 12.

Type: ground/underground.

Target: any, ground only.

Range: melee.

Housing Space: 6. 

Movement Speed: 32.

Second to last Elixir troop in Clash of Clans. 

Their most significant advantage is that offensively they go underground, becoming invincible. They bypass the Walls and attack the closest structure. It is an excellent unit against single-target Inferno Tower, as each time Miner goes underground, the Tower has to heat up again. They work wonders in the core, so make sure you cleared the trash building in their path. In large numbers, they can wipe the entire base in a blink of an eye. It is why you want to open up with something like Queen Walk to make sure Miners will go precisely where you want them to go. The funny thing is that even if they are underground, untargetable for enemy defenses, they still get affected by your spell.

They are not the best option to have in Clan Castle, though. First of all, their housing space is 6, which gives us 6 of them in the max level Clan Castle (with 40 housing space). You need to fill it up with something else, like four Archers or a Wizard. Second of all, they don’t burrow while defending, thus losing their core ability. It is why they are used mostly offensively for both farming and trophy pushing. 

To counter them defensively, you have to be really on point with your traps. Miners do not trigger traps when underground, so placing them in potential pop-up locations is crucial. Also, Miners have "Any" type preference in the offense, which means they will attack Clan Castle troops and Skeletons from the Skeleton trap once they become aware of them. It can hold them up on the surface for long enough to allow your defenses to take them down. Placing Skeleton traps near Wizard Towers may be a key here, as Wizard Towers deal splash damage, and they would be able to hit multiple Miners at the same time. 

Electro Dragon

Barracks Level: 13.

Type: flying.

Target: any, ground, and air.

Range: AoE chain lightning breath.

Housing Space: 30.

Movement Speed: 12.

Electro Dragon is the last Elixir troop available at the moment. It’s unlocked at Barracks level 13, and stands as a representative for the whole Town Hall “electro theme.” It’s tanky, does tons of damage, and, most importantly, upon dying, it behaves just like a Lightning Spell.

This unit can fit greatly into the Clan Castle defenses, as it is tanky, offers a lot of multi-unit damage, and a Lightning after dying. However, the 30 housing space value causes some trouble in this department, as you will not be able to fit in much more. Thus, you would have to go with troops that are not that effective.

Also, there are few other drawbacks typical for a high-end troop - huge costs, long training time, slow movement, and attack.

E-drag is the definition of saying: “Hit once, but hit hard.” Its attack speed and movement speed values are deficient, and sometimes you feel like it’s not moving at all. But once the Dragon approaches the enemy building, it can shatter it effortlessly, along with some buildings behind it.

In the “mass E-drag” strategy, if deployed and funneled into the core correctly, they can one-shot a couple of buildings in a single blow. You want to go for “Sui Heroes” along with some funneling troops to create a straight pathway for Dragons to the core. Use Balloons or Minions to bait out any air traps on the way. Then you can deploy a couple of Lava Hounds for a distraction and tanking purposes. Finally, you go in with E-Dragons. The strategy is tremendous vs. bases with buildings stacked together. In bases where buildings are a little bit spread out, the chain lightning might not work, and the whole raid goes down the drain.

Dark Elixir troops

You have them available from Town Hall 7 onwards, once you construct the Dark Barracks. There is a discussion about whether Elixir or Dark Elixir troops are better overall, but it’s pointless. Each unit has its advantages and disadvantages, and one cannot simply neglect a troop because of the resources used for training.

The true meaning of Elixir vs. Dark Elixir is farming. If you are going for Elixir, you don’t want to use a heavy Elixir army. The same goes for Dark Elixir. Going for DE with an army full of Lava Hounds, Minions, and Valkyries is without a sense. 

The differences do not apply to trophy pushing and Clan Wars. It is where you want the maximum power available. It often means training Lava Hounds to tank for Balloons, or Golems to tank for P.E.K.K.A. and Wizards. 

Minion

Dark Barracks Level: 1.

Type: flying. 

Target: any, ground, and air.

Range: 2,75 tiles.

Housing Space: 2.

Movement Speed: 32.

Basic Dark Elixir unit, cheap and strong. Minions are powerful in swarms. They are kind of flying Archers. When paired with Lava Hounds, who’d tank for them, they make an excellent pink Elixir farming troop. Although it can work wonders, we do not recommending using this setup before finishing your Heroes upgrades. 

Swarm troops are the best to counter single target defenses. Since most of the anti-flying defenses are single target, a vast horde of air troops can not only overwhelm them, but it also leaves all the ground-only defenses completely useless. All you really need to care about, when using this strategy, are Wizard Towers, Air Bombs, and multi-target Inferno Towers. Also, you want to make sure first that there is no Dragon or Electro Dragon in Clan Castle, as these can wipe your Minions in an instant. However, this is a farming attack, so sacrificing a couple of low-cost units to lure CC troops away is not a big deal.

Adding few Bat spells into the fray synergizes well with the attack, as Lava Hounds are tanking Air Defenses, Bats are taking care of other defenses, and Minions are clearing trash buildings. You only need to use your heroes first to at least destroy some Wizard Towers beforehand.

At the higher level of play, people are rarely using Minions for any other purpose than baiting out the traps or doing some cleanup. As we’ve mentioned, you want to have a flying troop or a Miner to do the cleanup once all defenses are down. A little herd of Minions can do it just fine since they can enter the battlefield when ground-only defenses are still standing, saving you some time. 

Hog Rider

Dark Barracks Level: 2.

Type: ground.

Target: defenses.

Range: melee.

Housing Space: 5.

Movement Speed: 24.

One of the most popular and abused units in the whole game at every level of play above Town Hall 7. Actually, you don’t want to use “Mass Hog Riders” earlier than TH9-ish, because of their relatively high cost.

Also, you want to avoid farming with Hog Riders. Firstly, they will always go for the defenses first. If they fail to take them all down, they will leave resources buildings untouched. Secondly, they are too expensive for you to abuse the strategy for casual farming. You have your heroes that you want to level up ASAP, and spending tons of Dark Elixir on Hog Riders is a waste, no matter how good they are. You always want to have your heroes upgraded.

The first essential trait of Hogs is their ability to jump over the Walls. This skill, combined with high movement speed, decent HP, and DPS, makes them a deadly force in most assaults. The second vital trait is their target preference. Hog Riders will always go for defensive buildings, provided that there are such on the battlefield left. Combined with Golem or P.E.K.K.A. for tanking duty, they will run over defensive structures like a bulldozer. It is why you should place your traps in between defenses, where Hog Riders are most likely to the path. Nothing hurts Hogs like Spring Traps and Giant Bombs. Keep an eye on every empty spot in the enemy base, as there is a risk of trap or Hidden Tesla being placed.

The Hog Riders' biggest value - defenses focus - is a drawback at the same time. When your attack is nearly done, and there are trash buildings in the one corner of the map and a defensive structure in the other one, they will all go for the defense. Most of the time, they will not be able to make it back to finish the cleanup duty. It is why you should bring some Archers, Wizards, or Minions to do it, and hold onto these units until the very end of the raid.

Valkyrie

Dark Barracks Level: 3. 

Type: ground.

Target: any, ground only (splash damage).

Range: melee.

Housing Space: 8.

Movement Speed: 24.

These redhead Viking-like ladies are a troop with relatively high HP and DPS. Their most important trait is their AoE whirling attack capable of hitting multiple troops and buildings. Their clear speed can be matched, maybe by Electro Dragons. Maybe. 

Valkyries' preference is “Any,” however, they will always try to place themselves between buildings, where they can hit multiple structures simultaneously. Giving them some units to tank, as well as Wall Breakers or Jump Spell for entry, is an excellent farming strategy. When you add a Rage Spell into the setup, there will be not much left for the defender other than watching his based axed to splinter. Valkyries are kind of expensive and take a lot of time to train, but if you don’t have to farm Dark Elixir or you need a fast, spam-deploy assault - they will do. 

Valks are also tremendous defenders versus ground troops, especially something that comes in hordes, like Hog Riders or Goblins. A couple of Valkyries will wipe the whole squad with their AoE swirl attack. Still, they will do nothing against flying troops, maybe stall them for a while.

Although their clear speed is probably unmatched, they do not get much traction in the higher level of play. It is due to their target preference mostly, which at the highest Clan Wars and trophies is too unpredictable to rely on. In War bases, buildings are usually spread out to delay the attacking troops, which lowers the Valkyries potential. Also, funneling them into the desired direction can sometimes be kind of problematic.

Still, if you find a base with buildings stacked close together, you may want to give them a try. 

Golem

Dark Barracks Level: 4.

Type: ground. 

Target: defenses, ground only.

Range: melee.

Housing Space: 30.

Movement Speed: 12.

If you expected the Golem to be anything else than an enormous, beefy, slow, and cumbersome rock unit that takes ages to kill, you might be a little disappointed. It is exactly how SuperCell designed its fourth Dark Barracks unit. If it wasn’t enough tankiness, upon destruction, Golem deals splash damage and splits into two Golemites, who have 20% of his hitpoints each. What’s even more ridiculous - once upgraded to level 8 and 9, Golem splits into three Golemites. He has 7500 hitpoints, and his “children” have 1500 HP each, combining for a total of 12,000 hitpoints. Next close is max level Lava Hound with all of his 16 Lava Pups with… 8,400.

Well, 3,600 HP can make a huge difference, and the only real downside of the Golem is that he can’t tank Air Defenses. And he’s only one mph faster than a crippled sloth while the animal is asleep.

However, the purpose of Golem is not racing around the base and destroying buildings. He was made with tanking services in mind, and that’s precisely what it is - a tank. Nothing even maxed out Barbarian King, can’t take as much damage as maxed Golem. Period.

There is not much more talk about this topic, as the main strategy with Golem is to deploy him and watch him taking blows, while the rest of our army cleans up the base. He is rather expensive and slow to train, but you are well aware of what you are paying for. 

Witch

Dark Barracks Level: 5. 

Type: ground.

Target: any, ground, and air.

Range: 4 tiles.

Housing Space: 12.

Movement Speed: 12.

The Witches are the necromancer-like troops in Clash of Clans, as once deployed, they will start summoning Skeletons. The higher the level of the Witch, the more units it can spawn and hold. 

The number of Skeletons that Witch can spawn is limited. Also, Witches are quite squishy on their own, so they require some tanky assistance. Most of the time, it will be two Golems. 

Witches will spam-spawn Skeletons onto the Battlefield, which works great against any ground traps in front of the parent troops. In time, there will be enough Skeletons to overpower almost every base. If you manage to focus splash defenses - Wizard Towers and Mortars - onto the tanks, you’re golden. Summoned Skellies are great against defending Queen and King, as they suffer against swarms of enemies due to the single target damage. It is also great versus multi-target Inferno Towers. There will be more than enough Skeletons to keep it distracted for a long time, while the kill squad is clearing the buildings. 

On offense, you can go two ways. The first way is funneling Witches, and more importantly, the Skellies, directly into the base. To do that, you want to bring Golems with Wizards and Wall Breakers. You deploy the Golems with Wall Breakers behind them to crack the base open. Make sure that Golems don’t go for the same target, as it will lower their utility. Then you drop 3-4 Wizards behind each Golem for damage and funneling. Behind them, you spam-spawn Witches and use spells accordingly. You may want to take a Heal and Rage to keep the tanks alive, and a Jump to let Skeletons go all over the base. One or two Freeze Spells will not do you any harm as well.

The other way is to spawn Witches in two groups and make them walk around the base with Healers keeping them alive. For this type of attack, you will need a kill squad, most likely Golems and Bowlers, aided by heroes. Both strategies are incredibly effective if executed well. 

You want to use Witch attack versus bases with spread out buildings. This way, Skeletons will take down most of the traps placed between the structures allowing them to run around freely and overwhelm the defenses. For close stacked bases, it’s not that good, because if Skellies are stuck too long in one place, they will quickly get taken down by Mortars, which will then reaggro onto Witches.

Defensively you want to have splash damage flying units in Clan Castle, like Dragons or Balloons. Skeletons summoned by Witches are ground-only troops, so they will get splashed down in no time. Dragons will be a little better here because they are faster than Balloons. Another recommended troop are Valkyries. With their AoE damage, they will wipe the spawns and move onto the Witches. The Witches themselves are not tanky at all, and they will not be able to withstand a lot of damage. Remember, that Clan Castle troops always go for enemy units, no matter what preference they have offensively.

Fun fact is that although the Witch is floating in the air, it is still considered a ground unit.

Lava Hound

Dark Barracks Level: 6.

Type: flying.

Target: air defenses, ground only.

Range: 2,75 tiles.

Housing Space: 30.

Movement Speed: 20.

Lava Hound is one of the beefiest units in the game, with 6100 hit points at level 1. In comparison to Golem using the HP/housing space ratio, Lava Hound has more than 200 HP per housing space, while Golem (without Golemites) has 170 HP/HS. If you count it with Golemites, then the Lava Hound is the second tankiest unit in the whole game. It also has one major advantage over his rocky rival.

Golems don’t fly.

Lava Hound is the ultimate answer for Air Defenses, a SuperCell gift for CoC players. Most of the time, you can’t go airborne army without it and hope for success. The reason being is that Lava Hound will always go for Air Defenses if there are any left on the battlefield, ignoring everything else. His large health pool will keep the Air Defenses occupied long enough for your Balloons or Dragons to clear the whole village. 

Another crucial thing about this unit is that upon dying, it explodes into a swarm of Lava Pups. There are 12 to 16 Pups depending on the level. Each has 50 HP and deals with damage similar to Minion. It is exactly why this troop is very popular Clan Castle Defense at the highest level of play. The reason is that it will keep Archer Queen busy long enough to delay her Queen Charge, and if it prevents her from killing the defending Archer Queen, the raid is pretty much donezo. Also, it deals with damage when killed, much like Golems and Balloons.

A hard, but rewarding trick, including Lava Hounds and Balloons, is to deploy the Balloons first, and a Hound after them. Hounds are significantly faster than Loons, and if you time it correctly, they will get aggro from defenses before Balloons. This trick can buy you a couple of seconds, which can be game-changing sometimes.

You can use Lava Hound for farming, but only if you have your heroes maxed already, and you are farming pink Elixir or Gold only. Otherwise, spamming the most expensive Dark Elixir unit is a waste. You can consider adding a Hound or two into your army during events when their training cost is lowered. In any other case, stick with a Dragon or a Golem.

Bowler

Dark Barracks Level: 7.

Type: ground.

Target: any, ground only.

Range: 3 tiles (first strike).

Housing Space: 6.

Movement Speed: 14.

Second to the last unit in the Dark Barracks and one of the most popular at this point in the game. The primary advantage of Bowlers is that they are throwing giant rocks into the buildings, which bounce and hit the buildings behind. In large groups supported by Rage and Heal spells, they can tear through the core of pretty much any base. It is exactly why they’ve earned so much recognition in the highest levels of play. 

They’re not as tanky as they seem, so you have to add some Giants or Golems into the mix. They will struggle against bases with spread out defenses, which is why pairing them with Witches gives an attacker a great synergy on the battlefield.

Bowlers are rather expensive as for their housing space, and you use Dark Elixir to train them, so you don’t want to farm with them. They have no preferred target, so leading them in the right direction might be problematic sometimes. You should use them only in Clan Wars and trophy pushing, as most of the strategies involving Bowlers are incredibly efficient. 

Ice Golem

Dark Barracks Level: 8.

Type: ground.

Target: defenses, ground only.

Range: melee.

Housing Space: 15.

Movement Speed: 12.

He’s not as tanky as his stone counterpart, which is understandable as ice is generally lighter and less sturdy than a rock.

His attacks are slowing the defenses and troops' attack rate by 50%. It is why you don’t want to deploy him before the Walls are breached. You will not get much value from Ice Golem whopping the bricks. For pure pre-breach tanking purposes, you should go with a regular Golem. The Dark Elixir cost is higher per housing space for the rocky guy, but the HP values make up for it. 

The same thing goes for his second ability. An Ice Golem will act like a Freeze Spell upon dying. You don’t want him to fall outside of the base and freeze the grass around. What you want to do is bringing him inside. Filling a Siege Machine with Ice Golems might be a good idea, as Machines are relatively tanky, and most of the time, they will reach the core if deployed correctly.

Ice Golem is perfect to counter a single-target Inferno Tower. When killed, he will freeze it, allowing your troops to take it down quickly. Make sure you have support for your frosty tank.

Siege Machines

As soon as your Town Hall 12 upgrade is finished, you are allowed to build a Workshop. It is an Army building that provides you with Siege Machines. The role of each Siege Machine is to carry you Clan Castle troops around the battlefield. CC troops will automatically get into the machine and stay there until you re-use the machine, the destination is reached, or the machine is destroyed. 

Keep that in mind when planning the attack. Although very powerful, useful, and quite tanky, using them will deny you the possibility to deploy your Clan Castle troops wherever you wish. However, most of the time, the utility that the Siege Machine brings is way too much to sneeze on. Nine out of ten times, you will want to use it.

What differs Siege Machines from barracks troops is that their construction costs Gold, not an elixir of any kind. Currently, it’s 100,000 Gold/each. Siege Machines are “stored” in the Workshop just like Spells are stored in respective Factories. You can start using the machines from Town Hall level 10 once you have adequately upgraded Clan Castle.

Hereby we’ll look at each specific Siege Machine available in the game at the moment.

Wall Wrecker

The first siege device unlocked at the moment that Workshop construction is finished. As the name suggests - it wrecks the Walls. It is basically a sort of medieval, heavy-armored ram bashing at the fortifications. At level 1, it takes down max level Walls in 4 hits. It will always charge through Walls going for the Town Hall. Once it reaches its destination, it opens up revealing Clan Castle troops. If the Town Hall is already taken down, it will open nevertheless.

Wall Wreckers provide an excellent alternative for Wall Breakers and Quad-quake. Not only it does not take an additional housing space (machines are stored in the Workshop), but it also has a ton of HP. It is an excellent way of bringing the kill squad into the center of the base, especially troops like Ice Golem, who would usually take ages to break in. Also, delivering a pack of Bowlers supported by a Heal and Rage spells can tear down the core in no time. 

Mind the base design. At this level of play, many trophy bases and war bases will have their Town Hall left in the open. It is a sign that a well placed Wall Wrecker can go through the base, or specific compartments exposing key defenses.

Wall Wrecker is best paired with ground troops strategies like Mass Hogs, Mass Valkyries, P.E.K.K.A. BoBat, or BoWitch. As a ground unit, it will not provide much tanking for the air troops.

Battle Blimp

The only siege machines, that name does not tell us what it does. Battle Blimp is an airborne bus for you, Clan Castle troops, that works like a B-52 bomber, dropping explosives on its way. It targets the Town Hall, much like Wall Wrecker. However, it has a little easier time reaching its destination, cause it’s flying. It’s hitpoints allow you to deliver your kill squad pretty much everywhere.

The decent idea is to place high damage troops inside it in an attempt to deliver them straight to the Town Hall. However, at the higher levels of play, going for the TH is somewhat a side quest. In most cases, the Town Hall will be taken either way on the fly.

As both Town Hall-targeted Siege Machines, Battle Blimp is best used when the Town Hall is left in the open. Otherwise, it may be a little waste to use it. 

Stone Slammer

As the name would suggest, it slams the buildings with stones. It has colossal DPS with slow movement speed and attack speed. Its attack has two areas of effect - the main one with 1 tile radius and more damage, and the secondary with up to 3 tiles radius and lower damage, but 25x damage modifier against Walls. It also does damage upon destruction. 

Stone Slammer prioritizes defenses. Considering this trait, along with floppiness and high DPS and appearance, it resembles a Balloon. This machine is excellent in air-focused assaults, as it provides additional HP for tanking for Balloons. However, its pathing is less predictable than the other two.  

Troops attack priority

Different troops have different priority system, with Clan Castle troops being an exception, as they will always attack the enemy troops.

Any

These troops will focus on the closest target no matter of its nature or whether it’s a structure or not. The only limitation is that some troops are available to attack only ground units. Troops with this kind of preference will leave their current target once attacked by enemy troops, or they become aware of an ally attacked by an enemy. As soon as hostile troops are downed, they will proceed to attack the closest structure.

It is why Clan Castle troops are so clutch in defense. Every enemy unit with this type of preference will focus them instead of defenses, while constantly being hit. It is crucial to have high Hit Points troops in Clan Castle, as they will take longer to take down, and thus buy more time for defenses.

A thing worth noting: troops with “Any” priority will not attack Walls. Instead, they will tend to bypass them should they find an opportunity. Beware of it, as it is a common strategy of luring attackers onto the traps. If you see a gap in the Wall, most likely, it doesn’t mean a base-building mistake, but a Spring Trap. 

Defenses/Air defenses

These troops will head straight for the closest defensive building, and in the case of Lava Hound, it will be the closest Air Defense. Once destroyed, they will go for another nearest defensive structure.

Troops prioritizing defenses are crucial when planning an assault. First of all, they will stay on the target until they destroy it, unlike “Any” troops that will leave the target to fight. Also, it is less likely for them to go off course. Planning their movement throughout the enemy base is far easier than “Any” ones. 

Resources

Here we have only Goblins, who will rush straight for the closest resource building no matter what. The only thing stopping them is Wall. 

And a well placed Mortar. 

Resources focused troops are excellent for farming purposes, but they are also a double-edged sword. If you manage to direct them straight onto Storages, you’re golden. But if something goes wrong, you come up empty-handed. The so-called “Goblin Knife” strategy is very useful but needs perfect execution. A troop of 100 Goblins can wipe all resources in a blink of an eye. However, a Mortar, a Wizard Tower, or a Giant bomb can wipe those Goblins even faster.

Walls

In Home Village, there is only one troop that will prioritize Walls in attacking, and it’s a Wall Breaker.

The troop is unlocked once you upgrade your Barracks to level 5. Subsequent level 5 Barracks will lower their training time. 

The important thing to know, both offensively and defensively, is that Wall Breakers will not target just any walls, not the closest or the highest level. Their aggro mechanics are quite complex. Wall Breakers will go for a Wall, where is a building behind them. 

What are the best troops in CoC?

It’s not clear-cut, what is the best troop in the SuperCell bestseller. The only answer coming to our mind is that the best unit is the one you like the most. Nobody will ever force you to go for GoWiPe or BoWitch if you don’t like it. If you find success playing your own game, go for it. The choice is individual.

Just listen to pro players from the best clans in the world. The answer is virtually never the same. 

In the paragraphs above, we’ve mentioned each troops' strengths and weaknesses. Playing towards them is the key. Despite your best intentions and dreams, you will not make a tank out of Archer, or damage powerhouse out of Lava Hound. The purpose of every unit is rather clear. Wizard is for damage, Hog Rider is for defenses taking, and Goblin is for farming. Focusing on utilizing it to its fullest is what makes the best players in Clash of Clans.

Troops are one thing, but recognizing the target base weaknesses and playing around it is also crucial. There will be bases suitable for LavaLoon, where Air Defenses are close to each other and easy to take down. There will be villages with buildings close to one another for Valkyries to clear in less than a minute. Finally, there will be bases that you will fail to break. It happens. The game is way too complicated by now, to make something a clear-cut. 

To sum things up, there are no best troops in CoC. There are only the favorite ones.

Summary

That’s it for Clash of Clans troops. Sadly we didn’t manage to fit heroes in it, so we cover the topic in the CoC Heroes Guide.  

Be sure to check out our cool Clash of Clans guides, as well as other games content. We provide you with the latest news, patch notes, guides, builds, and many more. 

FAQ

What troops are in Clash of Clans?

There are:

- Elixir troops: Barbarians, Archers, Giants, Goblins, Wall Breakers, Balloons, Wizards, Dragons, Healers, P.E.K.K.A.’s, Baby Dragons, Miners, and Electro Dragons,

- Dark Elixir troops: Minions, Hog Riders, Valkyries, Golems, Witches, Lava Hounds, Bowlers, and Ice Golems.

Spells - Elixir Spells, Dark Spells - are also used in the battle, but you can hardly count spells as troops.

What are the best troops in CoC?

The single best troop in Clash of Clans is the Archer Queen. It’s the only that stands out. Other pieces of your army - Elixir Troops, Dark Elixir troops are different and serve different purposes. Play accordingly, and you will find the best for you.

How to attack in Clash of Clan?

Having a good maxed out the army is one thing, but sending them into the battle correctly is something entirely different. First of all, you have to look for the base design flaws, which you can abuse. Second of all, you must be able to predict how your troops will path. The last thing would be predicting where the traps can be placed. Anticipating a Giant Bomb or Spring Traps can make a difference between wiping the enemy base and losing the whole raid.

Which troop has the most HP in Clash of Clans?

If we count Golem with Golemites, it is the tankiest, hands down. It can reach 12,000 hit points. As for flying units, it’s Lava Hound. No discussion.

How to defend in CoC?

Each unit has its weakness, and to counter it, you must build accordingly. You can’t counter everything at once, and building towards one specific strategy will surely leave you exposed to something else. Spam attack units like Barbarians or Goblins will struggle against splash damage. Hog Riders’ bane is ground traps. Well placed Air Sweeper can reposition and reaggro flying troops. Air Defenses are unmatched vs. flying units, etc.

What are the max levels for Clash of Clans troops?

Currently, it goes like this:

Barbarian King and Archer Queen can go up to level 65, while Grand Warden levels to 40.

Some things may change, though, when SuperCell decides to implement some Clash of Clans updates.