Image: Supercell via HGG
My name is Gibson Vasela. I am a freelance writer who has been playing video games for almost 20 years now. I play all kinds of games, but I especially love immersive sims and RPGs.
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
Ever since its release back in the summer of 2012, Clash of Clans has been one of the most popular mobile games on the market. With its satisfying gameplay loop, strategic decision-making, and well-done art style, it’s not hard to see why so many people enjoy playing the game. If you’re one of the many new players trying Clash of Clans out for the first time, you’ve come to the right place for the best beginner tips and tricks!
Chance are good that you’re a bit lost on where to start. With so many different things to do, it can get overwhelming. This guide will help you learn some of the most important things you should do as a beginner in Clash of Clans as well as providing some other useful tips!
15 Beginner Tips & Tricks For Clash of Clans
With that introduction out of the way, let’s hop right into this list!
1. Upgrade Your Gold & Elixir Storages ASAP
One of the most important upgrades to get early on in Clash of Clans is upgrades to your gold and elixir storage buildings. This is because you won’t be able to upgrade certain buildings in the game unless you have enough of a respective currency. The level 1 storage units just won’t cut it when it comes to storing enough materials for big upgrades, so make sure to keep these upgraded!
Just make sure that you don’t neglect upgrading other things, such as your defenses. What’s the use of having a big coffer if you don’t have the means to defend it? Keeping your towers/walls upgraded is important as well, but you should still prioritize getting storage units upgraded early on.
2. Play The Single-Player Campaign
Probably the BEST way to earn some resources early on in Clash of Clans (and get in some practice for the multiplayer mode) is to play through the single-player missions. When you press the “Attack” button located in the corner of your screen, one of the options there will be to play single-player. This will take you on a little campaign through the game’s fantasy-inspired world.
These are all missions that have been custom-made by the developers of the game. They work pretty similarly to the multiplayer: you send out your units to attack a base and come home with rewards. They’re fairly fun to do, and a lot of the earlier levels are pretty easy to complete, allowing you to get three stars and haul in lots of rewards.
3. Upgrade Resource Extractors ASAP
Another building type that you should be sure to upgrade a bunch early on is resource extractors. This includes gold mines as well as elixir collectors. Both of these buildings are responsible for building new buildings and upgrading existing ones. Elixir is needed for training new troops and brewing potions. Resource extractors are the lifeblood of your base, so you are going to need to get them fired up ASAP.
Just make sure you’re also upgrading your storage buildings early on as well. Both types of buildings are equally important. Resource extractors are good for making sure you can afford the upgrades for other buildings, but some of these upgrades require you to have a LOT of resources, which you can only get if you have upgraded storage units.
4. Know Where to Place What Buildings
Building a base and defending it from other players is the name of the game in Clash of Clans, so it’s important that you use the best layout for your village. The town hall should ALWAYS go in the center of your base. Resource storage units should also be towards the center. Towers and then walls should be next, with resource collectors after that.
It seems pretty obvious, right? It is. But one thing in particular that many people do not know is that you should place your builder’s huts at the corner of your base. At the start of the game, you’ll only have one, but later on, you can have several more. It’s a good idea to place a builder’s hut at each of the four corners of your base.
This is because when a player attacks, they will usually send out all of their units to your town hall. If they manage to wipe out all of your main bases, these units will then start to head toward the builder’s huts. Sometimes, however, the timer will end before they can reach and destroy each one. When this happens, they will only get 2 stars instead of 3!
5. Use Your Walls & Upgrade Them Regularly
Walls are typically very overlooked in Clash of Clans. Many people will upgrade them last and not put much thought into where they are placing them. But these are mistakes. Walls are without a doubt some of the BEST defensive structures in the game. They are vital to ensuring that enemy units are being deployed where you want them to be deployed.
You are going to want to make sure you upgrade them regularly to keep them at their max strength. You are also going to want to make sure you place them in the right spots. I recommend you have at least one layer of walls surrounding your town hall, as well as another layer surrounding your entire base. If you do not have enough walls to cover every part of your base, then place down some traps at the empty spots instead.
6. Upgrade Your Buildings Before Your Town Hall
Many players will be tempted to upgrade their town halls as soon as they can. While I can understand anyone’s desire to do that, it’s generally best if you only ever upgrade it when there is nothing else for you to upgrade. Upgrading your town hall gives you access to more buildings and upgrades, but you still have to build those buildings/upgrades after your town hall is finished.
So it makes more sense to make sure that you have everything else upgraded right then and there. If you have a tower that can be upgraded to another level, then it makes more sense to spend time and resources getting that, as you will start reaping the rewards much sooner than with a town hall upgrade instead.
7. Don’t Use Gems to Speed Things Up Too Often
One of the currencies in Clash of Clans is called gems. Gems are a premium currency that can be used to speed up the production time of buildings/upgrades. Many players may be tempted to spend their gems rushing buildings. This can be beneficial, but generally speaking, you should not do this very often. Instead, you should be saving most of the gems that you collect in the game.
The reason for this is that gems are not just used for rushing upgrades. They are also used for purchasing builder’s huts. A builder’s hut can be purchased for 250 the first time. Then an additional one will cost 500. Then 1,000. And then 2,000. As you can imagine, this ends up costing a lot of gems, and it takes a long time to amass enough without purchasing them. So, I would only ever start spending gems to speed things up after you have purchased all of the builder’s huts.
8. Join a Clan Through Online Forms
A few years back, the developers of the game removed Global Chat. As the name suggested, any player could chit-chat with others players who were online at the same time. It was a really nice featured that helped the game feel more alive and allowed new players to easily find a clan to join up with. Unfortunately, however, it was removed due to high amounts of player toxicity.
It’s a shame, as using the global chat was how I was able to join clans back in the day. Thankfully, however, there are plenty of forms online that allow you to meet up with other players and find clans to join. Reddit is a good source of communities for you to join and make posts to. Here you can look for other people that want new recruits for their clans. Here is a link to a subreddit specifically designed for people looking to join clans/find recruits.
9. Obey Social Rules in Clans
One of the core features of Clash of Clans is joining a clan of other players. These are essentially guilds where you can cooperate with others to share units and go to war with rival clans. It is not essential for getting resources, but it is incredibly helpful and beneficial for getting wealthier. Everyone should join or start a clan sometime during their Clash of Clans playthrough.
Because of this, it’s a good idea that you understand the unwritten social rules when it comes to being a member of a clan. When first joining a clan, check and see if participation in a clan war is optional or not. If it is not, then make sure you always fight during a war. Second, make sure to donate troops to allies as often as you receive/ask for donated troops. Third, read the clan rules as soon as you join. There are more unwritten social rules, but this is a good starting point.
10. Use The Practice Mode Regularly
One feature that many people sleep on in Clash of Clans is the practice mode. When you click on the “Attack” button, you will see an option to practice. This will give you several different levels to choose from. You do not take your own troops or heroes into battle. Instead, you will be given a pre-set army that you can use for the attack. This allows you to play around with units you may not regularly use.
It also gives you a chance to practice your battle strategies without losing anything. If you lose a battle, you will not forfeit any trophies (nor will you gain any if you win). This is a really great way to get your hands dirty without losing anything. Additionally, you will also gain resources for each level that you clear. This is another good way to get resources in a low-risk environment, similar to the single-player campaign.
11. Let Your Shield Expire Instead of Breaking it
After you get attacked by another player, you will receive a shield. This is an in-game effect that prevents other players from attacking your base for a limited amount of time, or until you decide to attack another player. This is the developer’s way of making sure that no one gets attacked too often and to prepare for future attacks.
Many players will be tempted to break their shield in order to start an attack on a random player. Generally, I think it’s best for you to just wait until your shield runs out. Instead use the shield time as an opportunity to upgrade your defenses and get ready for future assaults. You don’t want this time to go to waste.
12. Keep Your Trophy Count Low to Avoid Attacks From Higher Level Players
The higher your trophy count is in the game, the more attacks from high-level players you will encounter. These more experienced players will no doubt clear out your base if you are not properly prepared for/equipped to deal with them. It’s important to keep this in mind, as you may not want to attack other players as often if you want to avoid dealing with these higher-level players.
Additionally, to negate some of this issue, you can also try placing your town hall outside of your defenses. This is a common trick I see many other players use, allowing attackers to easily destroy their town hall and get quick kill. By doing this, the defenders will have a low trophy count, meaning they can attack others more often for their resources without drawing the attention of higher-level players.
13. Learn About Different Potions
One of my favorite features in the game is potions. These are magical items that you can brew at a potion factory, and then deploy on the field during an attack for a variety of different effects. There is one potion that can be used to heal units, for example. And there is another that allows your units to jump over through enemy walls, bypassing them entirely!
There are some really cool effects that can turn the tide of battle in your favor. I highly recommend you do lots of research into all the different potions, and I recommend you test them out in the single-player campaign to learn which ones you like the best. If I had to recommend one early game, it would be the healing potion. It’s great for keeping tanky units alive through the whole battle. Speaking of which…
14. Use Giants And Archers For a Great Early Game Army
Two of the best units that you can have in the early to mid-game are giants and archers. Giants are slow, lumbering units that can tank a lot of damage. They’re also fairly cheap and can be unlocked early on in the game. Archers are ranged units that can attack from a distance and are the second unit you unlock in the game. The most common strategy in my play-through of the game is to get several giants and as many archers as I could get.
I would deploy the giants first, then have the archers in the back. The giants would tank most of the damage from enemy defenses, with the archers doing most of the damage to the enemy base. This is a really great strategy that isn’t too hard to master. It is definitely not the meta strategy (especially later in the game), but it’s still a really effective strategy for beginner players.
15. Use Barbarians to Trigger Enemy Traps
If you take a look at the defensive tab, you will see that there are lots of different traps that you can set up at your base. These traps are great for surprising enemy units and ensuring that your base is well protected. Most of these traps can be triggered by only one unit. Because of this, I recommend you keep a few barbarians in your rooster so you can send them out first when attacking.
The barbarians will trigger the traps and will quickly die. However, since they’re a very cheap unit to make and deploy, you won’t be losing much. After the trap has been deactivated, you can then send out the rest of your army to do the real work. If you followed my previous tip, then you will know that this will save your giants a lot of health, allowing them to tank more damage and last longer.
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Happy gaming!
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