MadSasins

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War Upgrade Guide

TH8.5/TH9.5 are clan wars friendly TH upgrade strategies. They are strongly suggested for all MadSasins members advancing to either TH9 or TH10. The .5 refers to being the next TH level but still being ranked on the war map as the one below (TH8.5 is a TH9 with a TH8 war map ranking and TH9.5 is a TH10 with a TH9 war map ranking).  The overall .5 concept is to try and keep you war ranking as low as possible by selectively upgrading low weighted defenses while you rapidly increase your offensive capabilities (troop levels, hero levels, army camp size, CC size). At the end of the day, it is offense that wins Clan Wars. Below is the summarized crack down of war weight and how much loot they add to your base per defense per level.

TH8.5

As with any TH upgrade, before your TH9 finishes you need to have all your buildings (defense and offense alike) maxed out, your Barbarian King to Level 10, walls to Level 8 (skull) and ALL your troop and spells labs done. There is so much to do as a new TH9, you will not have time to play catch up so take the time at TH8 to max everything, including Valkyries.  You many not use something like Valkyries now, but Clash of Clans is constantly being updated and who knows what the next update brings and which troop or defense they may make more powerful and which one they may nerf (make less effective). It is best to be prepared and not have to spend weeks or months playing catch up because you neglected some aspect of your base or a particular troop. I am going to outline how I would do TH9 if I had to do it over again with the knowledge I have now. I will break it into Stages and will be assuming you have five builders. If you do not have five builders then, naturally, each stage will take a bit longer.

Stage 1 Builders (6M Gold, 6M Elixir and, ideally, at least 70K DE saved up as TH finishes upgrade):
1) New Traps and Walls
2) Archer Queen (AQ) [40k / Instant] and roll right into Lvl 2 [22.5k/12 hrs] and push hard to Lvl 5.
3) Spell Factory (SF) 4 [1.6 M/5 days]
4) Laboratory 7 [2.5 M/5 days]
5) Clan Castle (CC) 5 [5 M/7 days]

The first 5 days will be rough as you can't war without spells. You will need to sit a war out or spend the gems to get your SF done for war. You will absolutely love that 4th spell, makes a whole world of difference. You will need to start farming hard for elixir and dark elixir. Don't sweat gold as much as you will have plenty of time to get cracking at those defensive structures. The first few Stages are all about offense.  However, if you do find yourself swimming in gold you can drop a Lego (Lvl 9) Wall or two. Teslas are very important, but make sure to prioritize AQ, SF, Lab 7, and CC, spare gold can go to teslas, but will slow down next stage builders.

After SF 4 and Lab 7 finish, your next priority is to start your lab upgrades. The choice of which to do will be a matter of preference depending on what war attacks you prefer to use. However, as a TH9 you will have to start branching out to new and more exciting strategies to take down you peers. Unfortunately, the key strategic TH9 troops are all DE troops so you will have to fight with your Queen to keep your lab rolling. Don't forget about her, but make sure you keep your lab rolling early on. The long upgrade times will give you plenty of time to keep your DE flowing. Key early TH9 lab upgrades are:
- Hog 5
- Loon 6
- Golem 3
- Giants 6
- Golem 4

It is better to keep doing your upgrades in dark elixir then elixir repeating order to be able to farm your queen efficiently, as well ass to be able to farm for your next lab upgrade. Ideal queen level is 10 to start off your Townhall 9 Career.

Stage 2 Builders:
1) Air Defenses, new one and then the other three all to Lvl 7 [4.3M/10 Days]
2,3,4,5) Army Camps [2.25M/5 Days]

After you put your first lab to bed, turn your attention to your Army Camps.  Those extra 20 army camp slots are HUGE for farming and war alike. Use the builders you had on the SF and Lab to put two camps down at a time until they are done.  By the time camps are done your first Lab should just about be done. It is natural to want to use your Archer Queen right away, but she is best served sleeping right up until Level 5.  Of course, take her out for a spin between naps, but don't keep her out all night. Get all your new traps early on. They have practically zero war weight and when strategically placed can easily rob an attacker of a star.

Stage 3 Builders:  
1) Air Defenses and rolling into 2nd Air Sweeper
2) New Gold and Elixir Storages pushing right to Max
3) Dark Spell Factory Lvl 3 and then Dark Elixir Drills Lvl 4, 5, 6
4) Dark Barracks 5 & 6
5) Archer Queen to Lvl 10

Now that your camps are done and you have Clan Castle 5 you are enjoying an extra 25 troops per attack (including the ability to carry a Max Golem to war in your CC).  By now you should also have at least two labs (probably Hog 5 and Loon 6) done and your AQ to at least Lvl 5 and your war attacks should be starting to climb to the next level.  It's kind of boring, but keep working on those Air Defenses to nip those pesky air attacks in the butt. Once they are all max go ahead and drop the 2nd Air Sweeper and push it to Lvl 5 and then Max the Lvl 4 one you had from TH8. You want to drop those new Storages not so much for the extra loot storage but really for those extra monster HPs to slow down attacking armies during war. Dedicate one builder to leapfrogging your Dark Barracks to unlock Witches and Hounds. Getting your DE Drills to Lvl 6 is a great way to mitigate losses of DE when your base gets hit.  Two Lvl 6 Drills can pump out 2400 DE in the usual 12 hour shield period after you get hit and can cover your losses for the most part. It is better not to drop xbows untill your heros are 25/25, to give you the biggest advantage. In terms of Gold upgrades, you want to focus on the following:
1) Air Defenses
2) Teslas
3) Traps
4) Wiz Towers
5) Mortars
6) Point Defense
Don't forget to sprinkle wall upgrades in between, your goal is to get all at least level 9 walls.

TH9.5 and higher

You have now gone through TH8.5, congratulations. Now what? It is the same kind of mechanics of upgrading that you are going to lean forward to. By reading the guide above for TH8.5, you should have gained the mentality of what to focus on. In case you did not catch the drift, it is Upgrading your offense before defense, and only placing defenses on your village, if you can consistently 3 star an enemy with it in war. In case that you are completely puzzled, I will give you the direction to the right path below:
1) New Traps and Walls
2) Spell Factory
3) Laboratory
4) Clan Castle
5) Camps

Engineered Bases

An Engineered Base is a base specifically built for war, it is sometimes called a defenseless base. The base overwhelmingly promotes offenses over defense. The objective of an Engineered Base is to provide a matchmaking advantage in war.

In war clans are matched on the overall strength of its members. Strength is based on each member’s attacking power (troops, army camp capacity, spells and heroes) and defensive strength (defense buildings, walls, traps and heroes).

Matchmaking will prioritize defensive capabilities in pairing Clans. Powerful, late-game defenses and troops like Inferno Towers, Eagle Artillery and Grand Warden will have much greater matchmaking impact. A full guide to matchmaking can be found above.

As the Clash of Clans algorithm in matchmaking favours defense, many clans build their bases to exploit match-ups in their favour, to do this they favour developing offensive troops and maintain a very low level of defense.

Engineered bases can look very similar to rushed bases. You are advised that an Engineered Base should not be you primary account. Many clans would refuse you clan entry as they appear rushed.

Building them is easy, upgrade your Town Hall to any level and ensure that the defenses are 2 or 3 levels below. These bases should only be considered for those active in war as farming with these bases are troublesome due to their poor defense.

Mainstream Upgrades

- Laboratory, Spell Factory and Dark Spell Factory:

I think we all know why we should upgrade these 3 buildings at first. Upgrading our current troops to their new max levels should always be the highest priority. By upgrading 2 Spell Factories, you can bring more and new spells into the attacks, especially very essential for Clan Wars, where just one more Spell can change everything. At Town Hall 8, you can get the Poison Spell, which helps you deal with the Clan troops much easier, and the Earthquake Spell, which helps you finish off most Town Hall 8 war base with the Zapquake Combo.

- Upgrading Heroes to level 5 (TH7/9):
Who doesn’t like new impressive weapon for both farming and Clan Wars? Get the level 5 Queen If you are at TH9 and the level 5 Barbarian King If you are at TH7 as soon as possible.

- Army Camps
The more troops you have, the much stronger your army is. Get them done as soon as possible.

- Clan Castle
Undoubtable, Clan Castle is the strongest defensive building in Clash of Clans. Moreover, with high level Clan Castle, you can bring more strong units for raiding, especially the troops you haven’t owned yet.

- Heroes
After upgrading all those above, I think you should start working on your Heroes. Because this is a long term job so just do it whenever you have the opportunity. Lots of players like upgrading Barbarian King before the Archer Queen and vice versa because he can take damage and protect the Archer Queen. Let’s discuss about this late. For now, just upgrade the Hero you like and follow this guide for upgrading your Heroes effectively.

- Upgrading new Walls

You don’t need to upgrade your walls to their maximum level at the previous Town Hall, but you should upgrade them to a certain level which can’t be destroyed by just 1 Wall Breaker (see more at Wall Breakers Vs. Walls). Mix them up, upgrade your walls when you have loot and also want to keep your Builder free.

- Build new Air Defense and Giant Bombs
Build these new stuffs If you’ve just hit Town Hall 8/9 and upgrade them to the level of other current ones. With the 3rd Air Defense at Town Hall 8, you don’t need to worry about Dragon attacks anymore. Giant Bombs are critical at all Town Hall levels for dealing with either Hog Rider attacks or Barch variations.

- Normal buildings
Clash of Clans is not just about attacking and defending, non-defensive buildings also play a role in game.
IMO we should upgrade Dark Elixir Drills at first because the amount of DE we need it is unlimited. In addition, high level Dark Elixir Drills have an insane producing speed. By having them, you can upgrade your troops much easier. While your Drills are being upgraded, the next building you should upgrade is Barrack. With new troops, especially at TH7 (Dragons) and TH9 (Lava Hound), you can have new stronger attack strategies and have lots of advantages in both - Clan Wars and farming.
After that, you can start working on Storages and other Collectors.

- Traps:
You can either upgrade trap to the level as other ones’ at last or mix them with the Collectors/Storages, which suits you the best. Upgrade them when you don’t want to hoard too much loot for a long time.

- Upgrade new defensive buildings
- Upgrade them to the max levels at the previous Town Hall, like other current defenses. You can do this and upgrade your traps at the same time. Remember: Just upgrade them to the previous TH max level.

- Maxing defensive buildings and walls
This depends on what loot you focus on. Let’s assume that we are normal players and focus on both 3 resources at the same time.
If you want to get 3 stars from the base which has the same progression as you, you need to be maxed out your troops at first.
Based on the match making system, you should upgrade your walls until you max out all your War troops. With the same amount of Gold, If you work on defensive structures before walls, your defensive buildings will be maxed out before your War troops, for sure. Although all walls cost much war weight than defenses but you need less time to work on defenses than walls. If you focus on upgrading your troops at first, you will always face easier bases than If you focus on defensive building

- Defensive upgrades

For the best results in Clan Wars, I recommend this upgrade order:

  1. Air Defenses: The best defensive building which help you survive all air attacks, which are always extremely strong at all Town Hall levels.
  2. Hidden Teslas: Undoubtable, Hidden Teslas work amazing against P.E.K.K.As and pretty nice against air attacks. Also, they can work as traps and give the enemies difficulty by luring their tankers for pathing. Because GoWiPe attacks are pretty popular, I’d like to place Hidden Teslas at the second position at this upgrade order.
  3. Archer Towers/Wizard Towers/Cannons: I’d like to recommend upgrading Archer Towers and Wizard Towers before Cannons as they have a nice attack range and also can hit flying units.
  4. X-Bows /Inferno Towers: Deal damage to the enemies with insane DPS and attack speed. The reason we shouldn’t upgrade them sooner because they can hurt your base weight so bad. Upgrading them while you are working one the last upgrade of your War troops.
  5. Mortars/Air Sweeper/Traps: Although Mortars are really great for farming but they are the worst choice for Clan Wars.