Ash’s Journey to Maxed TH 10

(Thread is incomplete. Work in progress. Please check back later)
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Introduction:

When someone looks at my base, the first thing they notice are my high level walls and high level heroes, and then they look at my defenses and realize most of them aren’t even maxed TH 7 or 8 defenses. So they get the idea that I ignore my defenses and instead I focus on upgrading my walls. This is a big misconception because I do not prioritize my walls over my defense. In fact, I prioritize my defenses more than my walls. Still, I get questioned this almost every single day, and it just gets very annoying having to answer it over and over again because they are unable grasp the concept. However, I understand where these people are coming from. To them, it’s almost unheard of of a person with Lv 11 walls and Lv 40 Heroes with TH 7 defenses.

So I decided to create this thread to share my point of view of the game. As everyone has a different way they wish to progress in the game. And not everyone is capable of doing what others are able to because they’re either limited by the knowledge of the game or limited by time. Time is everything in this game. Anyone who plays this game knows the role of time in this game. If there’s one valuable thing you learn from playing this game, it’s learning the value of time and how to manage time.

I started my journey on August 4, 2014, the day I first started playing this game. It has been a total of about 7 months since the start of my journey. Now I just want to make it clear that this thread is not about me bragging or showing off. This is purely for those who are interested in learning from my experience and the strategies I used to get to where I am now. And mainly because I want to dispel a lot of commonly held misconceptions.

March 22, 2015
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http://i.imgur.com/mK2Fbsd.png
Loot Stats:
http://i.imgur.com/BT1jj88.png

Date I started playing the game:

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First Month

When I first started playing this game, I was like any other new player. I was confused. I was confused about a lot of things. So what I did was read up on guides for beginners. I got instantly hooked to the game. I can even remember the first time I was kicked out of the game for playing 6 hours straight.

Of course when I first started playing the game, I had no plans. I was just beginning to learn the ropes. I was just concerned about keeping my builders working, which was of course very easy to do at that point of the game. As I mentioned, I read a bunch of guides for beginners so I knew how important Builder Huts were and how important it was not to spend my gems so I can get the 3rd Builder as soon as possible. So I did just that, I got the 3rd builder. However, I was making loot fast, mainly due to playing for long hours. When I first started playing the game, I was easily averaging over 4 hours per day. After about 2 or 3 weeks of playing, I realized that upgrade times kept getting longer and longer. I had to make an important decision now because if I was going to continue playing this game, I had to make that decision now.
I had made a pact with myself that I wouldn't spend a great deal of money to help me progress in this game. I know it sounds cheap especially if you have the money to progress in this game much more rapidly. If you have the money, then why not buy your way to maxed TH 10? This is an easy answer. Not only does it cost a ridiculous amount of money to do this, but most importantly it takes the fun out of the game. To me, I would rather enjoy playing the game and earning everything instead.

Guide to Maxed Town Hall 10 - The fastest and best way to progress in the game

NOTE: This guide is for those who are committed to the game and are willing to spend a good amount of time on it. The journey to a maxed Town Hall 10 is a very long and arduous journey. Although my guide will help you complete this journey a lot quicker, you must be able to put a great deal of effort at the same time. This guide will also provide you with valuable insights to the game, strategies that will ease your experience in terms of farming, defending, upgrading, wars, etc.

Get all 5 Builder Huts Immediately

The decision I had to make was whether I was going to play this game for a long time. Of course there's no way to tell whether you'll get bored of the game and stop playing it entirely after a month. But if I was to play this game for a long time, then I had to make the decision of purchasing the 4th and 5th Builder Huts immediately for a couple of bucks. I spend around $60 on new video games, games that I enjoy playing. So why should Clash of Clans be any different? If I really enjoy this game and would love to play it for a long time, then why shouldn't I spend a couple of bucks on it? And the best thing you can buy as a new player are the 4th and 5th Builder Huts. Why? Because they will allow you to progress much much faster in the game. And the reason I had to make the decision of buying them immediately is because not only does it take a long time to rack up enough gems to buy the 4th Builder Hut (since you will be spending the rest of your gems on getting the 3rd Builder Hut), time is valuable. You will be wasting valuable Builder time if you wait to accumulate enough gems for the 4th and 5th builders. The 5th Builder Hut costs 2,000 Gems, which will take a new players months to get. And when you're waiting that long to get the 5th Builder, you've already wasted months of upgrade time. So you can see just how valuable Builder Huts are. If you are unable to purchase the 4th and 5th Builder Huts, then there are guides on how to do that in the least amount of time possible. But if you love this game and would love to support it and would love to progress quickly, then I recommend purchasing the 4th and 5th Builder Huts as soon as possible. They are the only things worth spending your money on in this game. And you won't regret it. I regret that I waited to so long purchase my 5th Builder Hut (I think I waited a month until I decided to spend $20 to buy the 5th Builder).

The Right Way to Make Fast Loot

Again as I've stated before, when I first started the game I was confused about a lot of things. Initially, I thought that the point of farming is to make profit. To me, Profit was when Loot Stolen > Elixir Spent on Army + Gold Spent on Nexting. So what I did was cook an army with a few elixir and spent a few gold on nexting, and when I found a base with more gold and elixir than I spent on training my troops and nexting, I attacked it. Although I was always making loot after every raid, I was making a huge mistake. The point of farming was not just about making a profit, it was also about maximizing my profit with respect to time. Which meant that I needed to be more patient and set a target goal for myself. I remember when I used to attack bases with easy to get 50,000 Gold and 50,000 Elixir inside collectors right outside a base. Sure this was easy to get, but attacking these bases was a huge mistake. Why was it a mistake? Because I did not maximize my profit in terms of time and because my target of 50,000 Gold and 50,000 Elixir was too low. I should have instead stood patient and kept nexting until there was a base that offered more.

How much loot should I target every raid? Over time I had learned that the best target for me was to go for at least 150,000 Gold and 150,000 Elixir per raid. How did I come up with this number? Through experimenting. I first experimented with a target of a total of 200,000 Gold + Elixir per raid and while that worked, I wasn't making enough per hour. So then I experimented with a total of 300,000 per raid, and then experimented with 400,000. I found that at least 300,000 in total was the best for me.

How much loot did you average per raid? Although I targeted at least 300,000 per raid, I did not average 300,000. Why? Because 300,000 was the minimum I would target with a 100% success rate. What do you mean by "100% success?" By that I mean that I did not attack a base just because it offered a total of 300,000 in total resource. I had to be 100% certain that I can steal at least 300,000 or I tap the next button. Even if I was 100% certain that I can get 250,000 instead with 100%, I would press next because it did not meet by target of at least 300,000. This is an important rule I gave myself and I advise everyone to also give yourselves rules and follow them accordingly. Following this rule, I averaged well over 400,000 in total resource per raid.

I still can't get loot fast. How do you do it? Do I need to boost?

Here's something interesting. Although I had access to gems, I did not once boost my Barracks until late in TH 9 when I finished my Lv 9 walls. Why did I not boost my barracks? I did not boost for many reason:

I was making loot fast enough using BAM.
I multitask. I do productive things such as study while waiting for my troops to finish. If I boost with BAM, I will instantly have an army, which means I will have to play nonstop. The ability to multitask is the main reason I play this game so much, because I can go about completing important daily activities while also playing the game.
Psychology. I've played many online games before and I ended up quitting on them because of one reason, they harm my health in some way or my studies. So I did not want to make the same mistake, I did not want to get 'addicted' to the game to the point where it would harm my health (as boosting puts pressure on you to keep playing for the whole session). To do this I needed self control, and not boosting my barracks was a way for me to control myself.
More Psychology. I also knew that if I was to start boosting, I would be enamored with making loot fast. However, since I was making loot fast, I did not feel the need to speed it up even more. In fact, the MAIN reason above all as to why I did not wish to boost was because I knew that the most difficult challenge is still far ahead with farming Lv 10 and 11 walls and high level Heroes that require an immense amount of resource. Thus, I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to use the ability to boost as a outlet for the future. For instance, if I can complete 10 level 9 walls with ease every day without boosting, then I know that when I'm ready farm for level 10 walls, I can boost and complete that at the same pace.

I completed by Lv 10 walls faster than I completed my Lv 9 walls. And this because I started boosting my barracks when farming Lv 10 walls, which eased my experience because I was ready.

Efficiency if EVERYTHING. The best way to make loot fast is by using troops that can quickly fill up your army camp. Sure something like Wizards sound great as they're very good at breaking bases, but using them to farm is just a really bad idea. That is why I have only used one comositoin for farming from Town Hall 7 to the end of Town Hall 9. And that is BAM.

What is BAM? Or, I know what BAM is but why BAM?

BAM = Barbarians + Archers + Minions. Check out my quick video tutorial on making loot fast: https://youtu.be/GQ2mxEe1uF4Simple answer: EFFICIENCY. I have accumulated over 95% of all my resource (Gold Grab, Elixir Escapade, and Heroic Heist) all from BAM. And this is because I can make loot very quickly. Barbarians only take 20 seconds each to train, while Archers take 25 seconds. Barbarians and Archers work excellently together as a combo, as you can use Barbarians to shield damage (they're bulky) and they're also great at breaking walls in groups (they're powerful too), while Archers have range and can attack over walls (excellent for clearing out defenses and buildings over walls while Barbarians tank). Minions provide another dimension of attack, air. Minions are often underrated, but are quite bulky, fast, powerful, and can fly over walls! Now the main reason I use Minions is not because any of that. The main reason I cook Minions is because they allowed me to quickly fill up my Army Camp. Minions take 45 seconds each to train, but also take up 2 units of camp space. What this means is that you'll fill up 1 more unit of camp space every 22.5 seconds if you cook Minions. Archers on the other hand take 25 seconds to fill 1 camp space, so in a sense, Minions cook faster. What this also means is that if one was to simply just use Barch instead of BAM, they'll complete 8 units of camp space every 50 seconds (4 Archers from two Barracks and 4 Barbarians from two Barracks). But, a someone who uses BAM can complete 12 units of camp space every 50 seconds (4 Archers, 4 Barbarians, 2 Minions from two Dark Barracks). Thus, it will take the person using BAM less time to get a full army, meaning he will complete more raids and make more loot. But Minions cost Dark Elixir and I'm trying to farm Dark Elixir, should I still use BAM? Yes, Minions also provide versatility along with efficiency of raids, so you'll find yourself making Dark Elixir more than spending it. However, to maximize your profit, I recommend no more than 20 Minions. Check out my Dark Elixir Farming Guide for more information.

How much do I play every day and how do I manage my playtime?

To stay on top of my game means that I will need to spend a large fraction of my day playing this game. However, this game isn't the utmost important part of my daily life. Other than eating and sleeping, I need to make time for studying, working, eating healthy, exercise, and sped time with family and friends. So how do I manage? I keep an agenda of my daily activities and a spreadsheet so I know exactly how much time I have inbetween upgrades and how much I will need to play before I have a free builder. I rarely ever keep a builder idle, I always try to keep all my builders working and at the same time, allow myself enough time to fill up my storages to 100%. I give myself 24-48 hours inbetween every upgrade to do so. Why do I have such low level collectors? As you can see, I'm a TH 10 player who still has lv 8 collectors. The reason for this is since I make resource quickly, I do not need high level collectors to make resource, and at the same time I'm saving precious Builder time.

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STILL UPDATING...

How did I progress so fast in just 7 months?
How did I choose when to move to the next Town Hall?
What are my upgrade priorities and why?
Why are a lot of my defenses such low level?
How did I make loot so fast? How did I upgrade my walls so fast?
What troops did you use to farm? What's your army composition?
Do you boost?
When did I decide that I should start to max out my heroes?
Why did I not max out my collectors?
Why do I have no war troops?
How do you war?
You defenses are so low, how do you protect your resource?
You’re a TH 10 player now, how do you manage to farm in Masters League so easily with your weak defenses?
Isn’t it a better idea to max out your defenses before
How much resource do I make every day? And how?
How was I able to keep both my heroes upgrading at the same time?
Are you having fun?
When do you think you will be a maxed TH 10 player?
What are your regrets? (everyone has regrets)

I will be answering all of these questions and more in this thread. I am expecting this thread to be a very large thread as I will sharing all the knowledge I have accumulated from my experience, so I will be constantly updating this thread with more and more information.

Ash’s Journey to Maxed TH 10 - The Fast Way