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Clash of Clans Tips & Tricks: Steal That Gold

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Collect that gold and upgrade your walls. Clash of Clans is one of the most successful and popular mobiles games over the past 18 months, and with good reason. It is a highly addictive MMO real time strategy game developed by Supercell and played by well over 100 million players around the world. If you’re looking to get better, save up gold, and win battles we have some helpful tips and tricks.

Clash was first released on iOS, then on Android late last year and has been extremely popular ever since. Add in the cross-platform support, the newly added Clan Wars, and endless amounts of gold or elixir to steal from neighboring villages and you’ll see why it’s so fun. Think of old school MMO RTS games, but in a simple, fun, and casual system built from the ground up for mobile devices.

Read: How to Transfer Clash of Clans to a new Phone

When it comes to playing Clash of Clans there are millions of players with months of experience. Whether you’re new or even a town hall level 6, there are tons of little helpful tips and even a few tricks that will help you on your way to climbing the leaderboards, getting 3-star attacks, and winning at Clash of Clans.

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First things first, don’t rush your Town Hall. Each time you upgrade your TH you get more walls, additional defense or offense, and unlock more things to use at your disposal. At the same time, you’ll also open yourself to more attacks, and more importantly, less loot. Town Hall level 9 is where the biggest drop in loot comes, so upgrade everything else first, you’ll thank yourself later. Higher the TH means less gold and elixir you get during attacks, and more lower Town Hall bases can steal whilst attacking you.

For those that are new, Clash of Clans is all about saving up (or farming) gold and elixir resources, building and upgrading strong troops with that cash, preparing the best defense possible for your village, then attacking any base you think you can handle. This is old school Scottish warfare at its finest.

Players can move buildings, walls, defensive units and entire bases into any layout they see fit. It’s extremely customizable, and you can set traps to confuse your foes. However, like most free-to-play games you’ll end up waiting for troops to finish building, or spending days and days waiting for Mortar units or Canons to finish being built and upgraded. In the end it comes down to three things. Gold, Elixir, and Gems. Gems of course cost money, although you get 200 to start the game, but use them sparingly. Gems are what you use to get more gold when you don’t have enough, or to speed up buildings, troops, or spells.

Bases or villages are constantly mining gold and elixir, but at the same time other players are always on the lookout for a base full of loot they can steal with an attack of Archers or Goblens. It takes some thinking, time, and strategy to win at Clash of Clans, and we aim to help you a little with all of that. A little side tip, always clear the trees, mushrooms, bushes, and rocks from your base. They’ll earn you experience points, and often have 3-6 gems hidden underneath.

Walls

One of the most important aspects of Clash of Clans is how players use walls. You’ll start with wood walls, and as you progress through the game those expensive purchases turn out to be extremely valuable. Walls can protect your Mortars from attackers in the early stages, you can square off each unit to make raiding your entire base tough, and of course protect your valuable gold and elixir storage.

Upgrading walls are expensive, but they also don’t take time. It’s an instant upgrade, vs waiting, and will be one of the best things you do. If I had to start all over, I’d make sure to upgrade walls as soon as possible as I played. You’ll get to a point where each brick costs over 1 million gold or elixir, but that’s months away for new players.

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As you can see in my image above, my walls are valuable and protecting from an array of things. There’s holes in the wall to direct attackers where I want them to go, vs them just attacking at will. And I have all my important defensive units, as well as gold and elixir well protected by a line of defense. You’ll want to do something similar, and do it as soon as possible. Don’t forget to leave enough room for bombs, giant bombs, or spring traps to surprise the enemy.

New players will want to wall in the Mortar, as it causes mass damage at the beginning stages, but as you progress use walls to your advantage strategically, and to protect everything that’s important. Make enemies walk around walls and into traps, or away from your gold. It’s all about strategy.

Tip: Many new players hide all the gold and elixir storage’s in the center of their base, and protect them with every defensive unit. Don’t put all three or four in one place, as attackers will rush to that area, use rage spells, and steal all your loot in one try. I have mine spaced out in all four corners of my level. Even if I get seriously attacked, they rarely get more than two of my four storage’s, and less than half my loot.

Defense and Core

The most important aspect of not getting 3-starred, or losing all that dark elixir or gold, is a good defense and core. By “core” we mean the middle of the base, with the most protection. Personally I leave my Dark Elixir, X-Bows, Air Defense, and three of my Mortars in the center. However, my base design changes often and I’m always trying new things, or watching replays to find and correct any weak links in my design. It’s all about trial and error, and again, strategy.

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Everyone seems to have a different suggestion, different base layout, or ideas of what is the perfect base. Thing is, no base is perfect. Some will protect against certain attacks, but be vulnerable to others. Air attacks and those raiding with all hogs are two popular ones. Centering air defense to your core and adding two big bombs in the same spot help against those attacks. Air defense will kill dragons and balloons, and two giant bombs together (and upgrades) will wipe out an entire fleet of Hog Riders in one try. See my image below.

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You’ll want your strongest defense and most important resources all protected in the core. Or, if you’re trying to get a lot of trophies, put your Town Hall in the center and spread everything else out.

Tip: I leave my Town Hall in the open all the time. It’s never protected. Those looking to quickly get trophies attack only it, and this gives me a shield so others can’t attack for hours on end. If I need more trophies, I just add some defense or put it back into my core.

If you didn’t know it already, you can’t be attacked while you’re online, or if you have an active shield. Some buy shields with Gems, I prefer to just let others take my TH (and trophies) and give me a free shield so I have time to save money and upgrade my village.

Troops & Spells

Spells can be deadly, and are one of the most important aspects of attacking. Upgrade spells at the same pace as walls, and defensive units, as they’re very helpful. A few shots from Lightning can take out a Mortar for your raid, or clear one Air Defense and make room for your mass dragon attack.

However, after a few upgrades Spells can cost over 30,000 Elixir each, which means you’ll need to get a lot from an attack to break even. Only use them when needed, and upgrade those healing spells, as they’ll come in handy for Clan Wars.

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With Clash Of Clans there are tons of troops, and the combinations are limitless. I mainly use Giants, Archers, and some wall breakers, but in the early stages my highly upgraded goblins and a few giants could clean an entire base of gold and elixir in 90 seconds. Upgrade everything equally, rather than rushing offense vs defense, as this will be best in the long run. I see so many bases with nothing but upgraded troops, and I revenge these attacks and often steal double that of what they got from my base. You need to be even on both sides of the ball.

The secret is that good defense is good offense, and vice versa. Someone won’t attack your defense if you have a stellar offense with highly upgraded troops, and if you have a good defense that who cares, attack any base at will and have faith that you’ll withstand the revenge attack.

Tip: At night I’ll load up all my Barracks with the most expensive troops I have available. This will drain the elixir or dark elixir from your storage, but if camps are full they won’t be built. If you get attacked this money isn’t available, and when you wake up simply cancel all those troops and you get a full refund. It’s like hiding money from the enemy.

Clan Castle

Once you have enough money to build your broken Clan Castle, do it as soon as possible. For early gamers this is crucial. Upgrade your castle and join a clan. This way more experienced clan-mates can donate troops to your castle, which will help defend against attacks. I love watching my level 5 wizards take down 15 Giants in 10 seconds when someone attacks one of our lower clan members. The castle is great for defense, and can be the difference between winning and losing an attack during raids, or Clan Wars. Also, donate to your clan mates, it will help you gain experience and level up quicker.

This all said, DRAW OUT THE CASTLE. The biggest mistake rookies make while trying to raid a base or attack a village is they don’t take into account the Clan Castle, or the Hero’s. Use one or two troops to lure the castle, kill all the troops, then start your attack. Otherwise they’ll sit back and kill all your troops before you even get 50%, and you’ll waste time, money, and that attack.

In Clan Wars this is extremely important, but the same rule applies at all times. I use two hog riders (one isn’t enough if they have over 20 troops in the castle) and they jump walls, lure the castle, and a single Archer in a corner is where I draw them out, and take them down. Then proceed to drop my entire Army for cleanup duty.

The Clan Castle also holds gold, elixir, and dark elixir won in Clan Wars, and sometimes you can win over 1 million of each, so keep upgrading that Castle as much as you can.

Hero’s (King & Queen)

A somewhat new edition to Clash of Clans are the hero’s. I’m taking about the Archer Queen and Barbarian King. These are deadly weapons for attacks, and can save your entire village from an attack. They too, can be drawn out, so place them strategically, behind walls, or in the core to help protect your entire base.

Upgrading the Hero’s is extremely expensive, but at level 5 they get a special power to summon extra troops and heal themselves. The Queen also becomes invisible for a few moments which can mean life and death for her. Use this to your advantage, and if you’re debating upgrading your Valkryie or Golem, upgrade your Hero’s first. They serve multiple purposes, and are a better investment in the long run.

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I see many attackers use the level 5 hero ability right away the moment they’re dropped on the battlefield. This is a waste. The ability summons additional archers or barbarians, heals your King or Queen, and also gives them more power for a short “rage spell” moment. Saving this until they’re almost dead, or close to an enemy to quickly take down a target is ideal. Don’t waste it out of the gate.

Traps

Traps, traps, traps. If placed strategically (and masked to confuse attackers) traps, bombs, and hidden Tesla’s can wreck an attack. Spring traps will wipe out the enemies troops, bombs will make them weak, and big bombs as mentioned above, can wipe out an entire pack of hogs.

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A well placed Spring Trap between two defensive units will take out three giants in one go, and I often have more than one in a row to wipe out entire waves of incoming troops. Hidden Tesla’s are also extremely important. They’re weak at first, but after 6-7 upgrades can wipe out entire raids in seconds. The enemy doesn’t see them until it’s too late and they spring up, so use them strategically and somewhere they can’t be easily sprung.

On the flipside, I usually have a few goblins or barbarians to seek out any and all traps before I launch a full attack. This prevents you from getting surprised, losing half your army to a wall of traps, and keeps you in the game. Hogs are my favorite for this, but also cost more than a goblin or a few barbarians.

Clan Wars

The newest edition is Clan Wars, offering an entirely new take on Clash of Clans. This is where 10 vs 10, or 15 v 15 (and so on) fight head to head as a clan, a single unit, vs just one on one. Clan Wars are important in earning extra money on the side, they don’t effect your regular base layout, cash, or shield, and it’s extremely fun.

Clan Wars are simply. You have 24 hours to prepare, design, and scout out the enemy, and another 24 hours to launch two attacks. Gold and Elixir don’t matter, it’s all about getting 3-stars and wiping out your opponent. 50% gets you a star, the Town Hall gets you another, and 100% awards you three stars. The clan with the most wins.

Most Clans will specify how often they do wars, and will require you to participate or you’ll get kicked from the clan, so choose wisely. Clan Wars will help you become a better attacker, teach you different tricks and open your eyes to excellent base designs, and much more. I use bases I fail to attack as my own on occasion, and it pays off.

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With Clan Wars use the 24 hour period to scout out your enemy. See if he has better air or ground defense, and attack based on that. Built air units if he has weak air defense, and vice versa. I attack in single player with usually the same loadout and troop count, but in wars, I brew specific troops for each and every battle. Don’t just go in with the same setup and mindset every time.

Choose your enemy, study the base and look for spaces for giant bombs or traps, figure out the easiest way to draw out the clan castle, and built troops accordingly. Again, I’ll use two hogs to draw out the castle, Archers to take that out, then launch my full approach. It’s all about thinking ahead, thinking what you’d do or where you’d put traps, figuring it out, and attacking with the best troops for that scenario. Every base and war is different, so treat each attack different too.

Tip: Even in my own clan, I have members that drop 15 wizards or 40 archers in ONE spot. Please, don’t do this. One or two Mortar shells and one nicely placed giant bomb will wipe them all out. This will absolutely kill your attack, and often times result in a 40% attack and zero stars. Don’t be that guy.

Final Thoughts

We could go on and on about base designs, attack strategies (GoWipe) and more, but in the end it all comes down to you, the player. How you want to fight, what you want to upgrade first, and if you’re more of an attacker, or a sit back and revenge type player. Build a strong base, upgrade everything across the board at the same speed to keep both sides of the field up to par, and donate often. No one likes the guy who always asks for troops but never donates.

This was just a quick rundown on a few important things I’ve learned after playing Clash of Clans for far too long, but figured it would be helpful for many fellow clashers. There’s plenty of information floating around about what works best, base layouts and more, but just give your own ideas a try and learn from trial and error. That’s the best way.

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. Mike

    12/10/2014 at 10:25 am

    Your experience shows. Well written and some very good tips….thank you

  2. Windalyn

    01/02/2015 at 7:13 am

    Thankyou!! I’m new to COC and you really just have me a ton of tips and answered a lot of my questions.

  3. MG

    01/02/2015 at 9:08 am

    I recently started playing (TH is level 5 only) and my nephew is a die hard player so he is helping me… but the tip about training troops with a full army camp and then just refunding myself is PRICELESS! We both thank you for that!

  4. Zahoor

    01/10/2015 at 1:55 am

    In clan war the enemy gets two loots.
    One is thr war win bonus and the other is a simple loot you get from the opponent so my question is that when the loot from me that simple loot which he gets by destroying my resources does it effects my gold and elexir. Plx answer ASAP.

    • clashersareawesomepeople

      01/10/2016 at 12:12 pm

      No it does not

  5. Isrrael

    02/12/2015 at 10:05 pm

    Thanks for the advice , I still have a lil trouble on my attacking. My defense is pretty alright for a town hall 4. But yha ks for the tips!

  6. e

    03/13/2015 at 2:04 am

    Zahoor the simple elixir and gold is taken out of your storage.

  7. patti

    02/18/2016 at 5:46 pm

    Im fairly new myself I was told to upgrade my town hall so now I’m at Town Hall 8 I haven’t upgraded my defenses as much which I regret I really suck at plan Ward I never 3 star 2 star 1 star can you help me with this problem I really would appreciate it thanks so much your information is really great compared to what I have read before

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