Complete base design guide for beginner/intermediate players (With 60+ base tips)
A few days ago I thought it would be cool to make a complete guide on base designs. After working on it a bit, I realized I was at 1900+ posts, so I decided to make it my 2000th. I hope you guys enjoy this guide, and learn a thing or two, or ten, or thirty.
INDEX
1. where to start
2. Beginner tips
3. Intermediate tips
4. Defense abbreviations, and terms
5. Links
6. Trap bases
7. FAQ
1. Where to start
Do you want to design a base, but don't know where to start? well, you've come to the right place.
1. What kind of base do you want?
What kind of base do you want? Do you want a farming base, or a trophy hunting base? Obviously, if you're farming, it's probably best to have a farming base, and visa versa. Here are some important parts of both:
---Farming---
Protects loot
The town hall is easy to snipe
Doesn't matter if the attacker gets 50%
---Trophy hunting---
Protects trophies
does this by protecting the town hall, and tries not to allow 50%
Once you decide what kind of base you want, it's time to make the base.
2. The core
The first thing I do when making the base is designing the core. Here are a few things that can go in a core:
---Farming---
Clan castle (always)
X-bows
Inferno towers
Mortars (I find it best not to have them in the core)
Heroes
Dark elixir
---Trophy hunting---
Clan castle (always)
X-bows
Inferno towers
Mortars
Archer towers (if at 2600+ trophies)
Heroes
Dark elixir
air defenses
The core should usually have 4-9 buildings inside. Here are a few cores i like:
Town hall 8
http://i59.tinypic.com/b7zwck.jpg
Town hall 9
http://i59.tinypic.com/2l8dbg6.jpg
http://i61.tinypic.com/2llnm9w.jpg
Note- town hall 7 cores usually work best with 3-5 buildings. Here is a core designed by binoyeti. I reached my 30 image limit, so I'm just putting a link.
http://i61.tinypic.com/10xuemq.jpg
3. The second layer
After I do the core, I make the second layer. Here is what is usually inside:
---Farming---
Important storages
mortars
wizard towers
air defenses
teslas
---Trophy hunting---
mortars
wizard towers
air defenses
sometimes storages to act as tanks
The second layer is usually made of 3-6 compartments, and usually has 10-16 buildings.
4. The last layer
The third, and final layer is usually made of these things:
---Farming---
archer towers
cannons
storages you don't need to protect
a few collectors if possible
---Trophy hunting---
archer towers
cannons
sometimes storages as tanks
often a few collectors (loot doesn't matter, but this is to prevent 50% damage)
Its goal is to limit the damage to only that layer, and make sure that troops don't get past it. The last layer often has funnels (see intermediate tip #23). Generally, it doesn't matter if the attacker breaks into the edge layer.
5. Extra buildings
After you finish your main design, it's time to place the extra buildings. To know how to do this, see intermediate tips #43-48.
2. Beginner tips
(If anyone can think of more, please comment)
1. Have multiple compartments
Don't just make one compartment, have more than one. With one, as soon as the attacker breaks through a wall, they have access to the whole base.
2. Don't leave holes in your base
If you have an empty 3x3 (or bigger) hole in your base, the attacker can place their troops there. This can really weaken your base, so don't do this.
3. Separate loot
If loot is what you want to protect, separate it into different compartments. Try to not have multiple storages of the same kind in a compartment, and leave at least 3 blocks between storages.
4. Symmetry
Symmetry makes a base even. Having a symmetrical base usually helps make it stronger. There are two kinds of symmetry: normal, and rotational. Normal means that the right side is a mirrored version of the left. Rotational symmetry means that each of the four sides is the same as the adjacent sides, but rotated 90 degrees. Here are some examples.
Normal symmetry
http://i59.tinypic.com/2075cud.jpg
Rotational symmetry
http://i59.tinypic.com/2884ad5.jpg
No symmetry
http://i57.tinypic.com/iekyux.jpg
3. Intermediate tips
Walls
1. Convert X-junctions to T-junctions
One big thing that can ruin a base is X-junctions. X-junctions are when four walls are connected with a single wall. Here is a picture showing an X-junction. The X-junction in the middle is joining all four compartments. Please keep in mind that the junctions around the edge are T-junctions; the middle one is an X-junction.
http://i59.tinypic.com/dyr51c.jpg
The problem with X-junctions is that if one gets destroyed, all four compartments are open. To fix this, try and convert the X-junction to T-junctions. A T-junction is when three walls are joined together by a single wall. Here are Four compartments joined by T-junctions.
http://i58.tinypic.com/1zbtdf9.jpg
2. Properly seperate T-junctions
Now that you know your junctions, you should know how to properly space them apart. Wall breakers do splash damage, so if you have two T-junctions touching each other, a wall breaker can easily blow up both, so it's kind of like it were an X-junction. Here is a picture of T-junctions touching eachother.
http://i57.tinypic.com/30vbw3k.jpg
This one has them properly spaced.
http://i58.tinypic.com/1zbtdf9.jpg
Even though having them touching is better than an X-junction, it's definantally not good, and I would recommend spacing them with at least one wall in between.
3. Upgrade junctions and corners first
When upgrading walls, try to upgrade junctions and corners first. Troops prefer targeting junctions instead of normal walls, so upgrading them first is a good idea. Corners often get targeted a lot, because they are the closest wall to the troop. This is why it can be good to upgrade them after you do the junctions, and before the other walls. Here is a picture with the junctions upgraded. The corners aren't, but hopefully you get the idea.
http://i58.tinypic.com/2ptt386.jpg
4. Don't have exposed junctions
One common mistake people make is having their T-junctions exposed. This is almost always not a good idea. When a T-junction is exposed, it means that it is as close to the troops as the rest of the walls, and usually it is targeted first. The first picture shows an exposed junction, and the second shows a non-exposed one. The junctions are upgraded, so you can easily identify them.
http://i57.tinypic.com/2zsp8r5.jpg
http://i58.tinypic.com/15naudw.jpg
5. Wall cushions
If you must have exposed junctions, it can be a good idea to make wall cushions. Basically, it diverts troops away from the junction. Even though wall breakers do splash, they would rather not break through a double layer. Here is a picture of a simple wall cushion.
http://i57.tinypic.com/ffa8v4.jpg
You can see that the double layer makes troops not want to go to the junction. This isn't the best method, but if your base is really good except for the exposed junction, then this can be a good thing to do.
6. No double layers
As I previously mentioned, wall breakers do splash damage. They can easily destroy a double layer of walls, so doubling them up rarely helps. You can however, have two rows of walls with a space in between. This can be useful, but generally it's just a waste of walls.
7. Extra walls
You might find yourself left with a few extra walls. There are a few things you can do with them. You can push back the spawn point, make a compartment bigger, make a wall cushion (not recommended), fix an exposed junction, or something else. I would recommend pushing back the spawn point with extra walls.
Defenses
8. Triangulated splash
Having your mortars in a triangle shape makes them even, and really helps. Doing this is also good with wizard towers. If you have four wizard towers, then make them into a square.
9. Triangulated/squared air defenses
This is basically the same as with the splash. Having your air defenses in a triangle or square shape really helps with evenness.
10. Alternating point defenses
A point defense is an archer tower or cannon. It is generally a good idea to alternate them, so you have even coverage.
11. Multiple spots for teslas
Having more spots for teslas than actual teslas can confuse the enemy. If you have 3 teslas, and 8 spots for them, then the attacker probably won't know where they are.
12. Tesla placement
I usually like to place teslas by storages. They are good against wall breakers, so it will be hard to get into the storage compartment if you put them there. You can also do some advanced funneling with them, although I'm not going to explain that in this guide.
13. Centralized clan castle
This, in my opinion, is the most important part of a base design. If the attacker can't lure the clan castle, then it will make the attack a lot harder, as long as troops are in it. Even if it's empty, it might make the attacker unsure, waste time trying to lure it, or just skip your base.
14. Troops inside the clan castle
My favorite clan castle troops are wizards and minions. Generally, the good troops to have for defense are archers, wizards, dragons, minions, Valkyries, and witches.
15. Alternating defenses
One thing that helps a lot with symmetry is having alternating defenses. This doesn't mean that, for example, you would have a mortar, then a wizard tower, then a mortar, ect. It means that the defenses next to a certain defense are the opposite of it. For example, you might have a wizard tower (splash) next to an air defense (air), then a mortar (splash), then an archer tower, (damage and air), ect. Try to keep air coverage, splash coverage, and high damage coverage even.
16. Don't put mortars next to each other
Some people use lightning spells on mortars. If you have multiple mortars within a few squares of each other, they are extremely vulnerable to lightning. You should also not put them by the dark elixir storage, because it gets lightning often too. Don't let the attacker kill two birds with one stone.
17. X-bows
With farming bases, x-bows are usually best in the middle. This way they can cover the whole base, and it helps a lot with defense. I usually put them on either side of the clan castle, like so.
http://i62.tinypic.com/261gdqw.jpg
18. X-bows: ground or air?
A lot of people wonder what they should set their x-bows to. Ground or air? It really depends on your base. If you have a big base, that doesn't have the buildings clumped together tightly, and the ADs are near the middle, then it's probably best to set them to ground only. If you have a compact base, and/or your ADs aren't super close to the middle, it's usually a good idea to set them to ground and air. It also depends on your trophy level. If you're at 2000 or higher, there are a lot of air attacks, so consider that when deciding what to set your x-bows to. I usually set them to ground and air, because my ADs aren't usually close to the middle, and I often farm high. Some people have one on ground only, and one on ground and air. This can be good for your average farming base.
19. Inferno towers
Inferno towers are probably the strongest defense in the game (besides the clan castle). Depending on what they're set to (single/multi shot), they can either kill high hit points troops easily, or shoot five targets at once. I don't have these ultra cool towers yet, but I have seen, and attacked, a lot of good farming bases that had them. Usually they are placed in the core, within rage of storages. They usually aren't right next to each other. With trophy hunting bases, they are almost always right next to the town hall, usually on either side.
20. What to set the inferno tower to?
Should your tower be single, or multi shot? Well, guess what. It depends on your base. (I bet you didn't see that one coming). With farming bases, it is almost always (at least 97% of the time) best to have them on multi shot. Even with trophy bases, multiple shot is usually best. Part of this reason is because setting it to multi shot cancels healing on the troops it targets, and that can be good against healing spells, and healers.
21. Coverage
One thing that really helps with defense is having proper coverage on all defenses. Each defense should be cover by at least: Two defenses that can shoot flying troops, one splash, and one high DPS defense (cannon, AT, tesla, IT, x bow).
22. Defenses inside walls
Not all your defenses have to be inside walls. As long as there are buildings in front, they don't have to be inside the base. ATs and cannons are usually the defenses not inside walls. Here is an example of a time where it's good to do this.
http://i57.tinypic.com/vcxp8h.jpg
Countering Certain Troops
23. Funnels
A common thing to do is to purposely leave a hole in a compartment with a defense, and put spring traps there. This is called funneling. Funnels attract giants, and kill them with spring traps. Here are a few examples.
http://i57.tinypic.com/op5u76.jpg
http://i57.tinypic.com/icmgco.jpg
23b. Sieves
Sieves are basically funnels that split up ranged and melee troops. These are great for labyrinth bases, especially at higher town hall levels. Often times a giant bombs goes in the sieve, to help against tier one troops.
24. Goblin funnels
Similar to normal funnels, goblin funnels work against goblins. To make a goblin funnel, put a collector (or useless storage) in a compartment, and leave an opening, then put bombs there. Here are some example.
http://i58.tinypic.com/kalkxf.jpg
http://i57.tinypic.com/6p21k1.jpg
25. Archer funnels
Similar to other funnels, archer funnels can be made. Since archers are ranged, these funnels are a bit different. These funnels usually don't open compartments. In fact, these funnels usually use up more walls. There are a few ways to make archer funnels. One way is to clump them together right in front of a mortar (first picture). Another way is to make them go towards a giant bomb (second picture).
http://i59.tinypic.com/nwnbi8.jpg
http://i57.tinypic.com/34ss2hc.jpg
26. Look at defense logs to see what troops attack you
Looking at you defense log to see what troops attack you is a great way to know what troops to counter. For example, if you're in the masters league, where hogs are very common, you might want to make an anti hog base. If you're in gold 3, giants and archers are a good thing to try and counter. If you're in silver 1, it's probably not a good idea to try and counter pekkas. Looking at you defense log can tell you what troops are common in your trophy range.
27. Countering troops
Each troop has a weakness. Giants are weak to funnels. Wizards aren't good when there's a giant bomb. Minions are really weak against air bombs. Once you know what troops attacks you most, try and counter them with things that are good against them. The next few tips will help you counter certain troops.
28. Countering barbarians
Barbarians are easy to counter by having a lot of compartments. Barbarians take a while to break through walls, so segmenting is very good against them.
29. Countering archers
One thing that's good against archers is having archer funnels. Another thing you can do is to have wizard towers near the edge of your base, to kill them. If you choose the wizard tower option, try and make it be targeted last. Here is an example of doing that. The other buildings get destroyed before the wizard tower.
http://i58.tinypic.com/2qwlhg5.jpg
With this design, when the archers finally target the wizard tower, they have to be bunched up in front of it.
30. Countering goblins
Besides having goblin funnels, one great thing you can do against goblins is to have a ring of collectors around your base. This makes it so that instead of going towards the storages, goblins go around the base destroying collectors.
31. Countering giants
There are so many ways to counter giants, I can't cover them all here. I already mentioned funnels, so I won't explain them again. To counter giants, you can put spring traps in between defenses, like so.
http://i57.tinypic.com/a3o3dj.jpg
Giants don't like breaking through walls, so here is one example of an anti-giant thing. The arrows show where the giants go. Wizard towers are good against giants, so it will most likely be able to kill them all before it gets destroyed.
http://i62.tinypic.com/24et05t.jpg
32. Countering wall breakers
There are a few ways to counter wall breakers. The main way is to properly separate your T-junctions (See #2). Another way to counter them is to have a builders hut compartment to attract them. Here are a few examples.
http://i58.tinypic.com/2ib2jqc.jpg
http://i61.tinypic.com/f4jmfb.jpg
The wall breakers target them, rather then the important compartments.
Another thing you can do is stagger your walls. This makes wall breakers, and other troops, often target different walls.
http://i60.tinypic.com/2053v3c.jpg
Be careful with this, though. If you do this, you won't be able to fit as many buildings in that compartment. (It does use the same amount of walls though).
33. Countering balloons
Two defenses that are really good against balloons are air defenses, and wizard towers. When placing these, make sure they are placed properly. Here is how you should place them:
Air defenses:
Make sure they are close to the middle. Make sure that balloons will target at least 4 defenses before the ADs.
Wizard towers:
Make sure that the balloons have to target at least 3 defenses before they get to the WT. This way, 2-3 balloons won't be able to destroy the WTs. Basically, make sure the balloons are bunched up by the time they get to the WT.
Another thing that helps against balloons is having your X-bows pointed up.
34. Countering wizards
Wizards are extremely weak against giant bombs. One giant bomb can kill wizards in one shot. Try to place giant bombs where wizards go most. (Usually not inside the walls). Here are some examples.
http://i61.tinypic.com/nb3y4m.jpg
http://i61.tinypic.com/2ch2psm.jpg
35. Countering healers
Healers can be hard to kill, because often times the troops in front of them are being shot, not the healers themselves. ADs are, in my opinion, the best thing against healers. Try to have your ADs in the layer around the core. This way they aren't too bunched, and the attacker can't just place 3-5 hog riders (or balloons) to destroy one.
36. Countering dragons
Countering dragons actually isn't too hard. Here are the main things to do:
-Have ADs very well protected, but make sure that one lightning spell can't do damage to more than one.
-Put seeking air mines (black) near the edge of the base, and make sure that their ranges don't overlap.
-Have extra mines/collectors in front of archer towers (for distracting the dragons).
37. Countering pekkas
Pekkas don't really have specific strengths or weaknesses. Teslas do double damage, so try to place them inside the walls, but other than that, there's not much you can do. If you place a lot of buildings around the edge, and make it hard to break into the base, the pekkas will most likely go around the edge. Pekkas really don't want to break through walls, as you might have noticed.
38. Countering minions
Minions are extremely weak against air bombs. One air bomb will kill any number of minions in its large splash radius. The best way to counter minions is to have air bombs behind the first layer of defense, so just one minion won't trigger it, but make sure not to have their ranges overlap too much.
39. Countering hog riders
To effectively counter hog riders, I advise making an anti hog base. An anti hog base is basically when you have the core (with some long ranged defenses), then a layer of non defensive buildings, then the rest of the defenses. This makes the hogs go around the base before going into the core. Here is a guide on how to make one.
http://forum.supercell.net/showthrea...ow-to-make-one
Having minions or wizards in your clan castle really helps against them.
40. Countering Valkyries
Valkyries are so weak, and underused, that there's not really any point in countering them. The bet thing I can suggest is having minions or dragons in your clan castle.
41. Countering golems
Golems are similar to giants, except they can't be killed by spring traps. Golems are usually used with high damage-dealing troops, so one strategy to defend against them is to make the golems go to the sides, and the other troops go to the middle.
42. Countering witches
Witches make skeletons, which, when in large groups, do a lot of damage. The best thing to try to do is to kill the witches themselves. Splash is very effective at killing skeletons, which helps make an open path to the witches. Make sure to place splash evenly to defend against them well. Wizards in the clan castle do splash, and can kill witches fast, so they are great to have.
