Surviving in the New Clash of Clans Era

[Smolson]

I want to start this off first and foremost with a thank you to nerfedname for his help creating this post.

Also, I'm really hoping to get some other tips and tricks that we can add to this guide to help our fellow clashers as we learn to adapt and play during this new era of Clash.

Please comment on this thread as you see fit but I implore that we keep this civilized, whether you agree or disagree, and not a flame fest. This isn't a about whether or not you like or dislike the update it's about finding ways to succeed within it.


Surviving in the new clash of clans.

Specifically, ways to keep progressing within the new state of the game post TH11 Update

I. Gaining Shields -

1. Get your TH inside your base (it's obvious but should be said)

2. Find a league where you can reliably get shields

3. If you're never getting attacked or rarely getting attacked for 30% or more consider moving up in leagues.

4. If you're consistently getting attacked for 90-100% destruction consider moving down in league

5. Consider base design. If your base allows attackers to easily get loot without using many troops they are likely to loot and leave. Additionally it's important that your base design requires the attacker to deploy at least 30% of their troops if they want a chance at your loot or your trophies.

II. Shield Management

1. Once you have a shield use it to your advantage. Consider the shield as a resource, just like gold and elixir. It can be spent to get raids in, or saved to grant unlimited online playing time.

2. For those questioning how they can administer their clans wars on battle day, to sit around and talk strategy and dole out troops, this is how. Open yourself up to a defense and get a shield. It's what I did yesterday, and I was able to stay online almost all night without worrying at all about the PBT.


III. Protecting Resources

1. Develop a base that protects your resources

(A) Put storages in multiple compartments. The TH is a storage now too, you may consider putting it in a separate compartment from your DE storage to avoid 100% DE losses.

(B) Defend storages with multiple types of defenses when possible (splash/ground/air). Giant bombs near your DE storage are great for fending off those pesky goblins.

(C) Before you go on defense fill your CC with war worthy troops (assuming your clanmates are willing donors) and make sure heroes are up (unless upgrading)

(D) Watch your defensive replays and make adjustments to your base as needed

2. Again consider what league you're in. If you're always losing all of your resources it might be a good idea to move down in leagues to face weaker attacks.

3. Limit the amount of resources you are stockpiling to 1-2 types. Sitting on all three will attract stronger attackers and lead to greater losses.

4. Matchmaking has been adjusted to make it more likely to find bases that are the same Town Hall as you. This will make it more difficult to 'hide' regardless of your league. If you have a severely rushed base try and focus on getting your defenses (towers, walls, traps, etc) to level appropriate for your TH.

IV. Gaining Resources

1. Focus primarily on one type of resource to farm at a time, but don't pass up juicy targets or whales if you're lucky enough to find one.

2. Tailor your army composition to fit your league and the resource you are targeting. If your goal is to get six million elixir and you're farming in silver, then using a high cost elixir army is going to be a slow process. Similarly using a low cost elixir army while farming DE or gold can also result in slow gains.

3. Determine the best league to suit your purpose. If you're using a high cost elixir army it may be worth considering moving to a league with a sizeable loot bonus to help cover costs of your army.

You have to know your army cost in order to get ahead. You've also got to know what your approximate league bonus is going to be for a successful raid. After that you can assess exactly which base you have to hit in order to break even on elixer costs.

It's pure numbers management in terms of raiding. If you apply similar numbers to resource management you can keep your losses as a minimum as well. If you complete the trifecta of time management you'll never have to worry about PBT ever or missing out on attacks under shields and getting a positive profit margin every single day.

A few other things that you may want to include in there as well.

Collector income can not be ignored 504,000 per day. This is significant and give you some wiggle room as it relates to your margins a bit. Or in my example above gives me exactly 3 free raids over 24 hours. I do 6 raids per day on average, so therefor I'm producing half of the necessary resources to cover my daily battles. Consequently now you know also know why I choose to use my army/spell composition instead of opting for something slightly more robust. 3 free attacks instead of 2, better margins, higher profits!

Cost of war armies and war lot won also factor into the margins. Those numbers are very fluid however and change depending on attacks. Most war attacks are DE heavy though so when it comes down to the cost of surviving in the game as it relates to profit margins for war attacks they are usually quite high. The most DE a TH9 will likely spend on war if they do 2 laloon attacks is around 500K and the return should be roughly 900K-1M. My margins are much higher because I am a hog/valk hybrid. This throws my DE margins for a loop, but it's the choice I have made in the game. War cost/return is important to factor in.

Other hidden costs are clan donations, what kind of troops are you giving away and how much. Our clan likes to use giants, wizards and balloons in their regular CCs. Lv9 perks give me a great return on investment too, but I donate anywhere from 200-400 troops per day not including war. High donors and those filling war CCs need to adjust their margins accordingly.

4. Attack through shields. This can be a great way to recoup what you lost in defense and generate additional resources. Depending on your army composition you can normally attack through shields multiple times without having to worry about going on defense in between raids. If you're attacking just once (or twice) while shielded, you might consider training a stronger army with spells to go hunting for whales (you can freely 'next' while shielded). Once you exhaust your shield and your PBT timer starts, change it up and use cheaper, quicker cooking armies (e.g, GiBarch, BAM, etc.), depending upon your goals and league, in order to get more raids in while on the clock.

5. Manage your shields to fit your lifestyle. If you can't play at work/school take a defense just before you start your day. This also applies to sleep schedule. Again, if you can't get a shield consider moving up in league (see section 1).

V. Personal Break Timer - PBT

Personal break timer can be frustrating but there are ways to work within the constructs and not have gameplay disrupted

1. Time out raiding sessions and boosts with your shields/schedule

Utilizing shielded and unshielded time properly allows you to maximize playing time without fear of a PBT. For instance:

Get a 12 hour shield (PBT is reset). You should be able to attack 3 times (depending on army build) before your shield runs out. Once your shield is out this is a great time to kick in boosts. You know that you have 3 hours to play before PBT sets in. Normally I only do one round of boosts but you could get in two before PBT. This will allow you to maximize attacks that you get in while unshielded. Once your boosts are done fill your CC and take a defense

(A) If you're planning on being online to simply chat or focus on war, it might be a good idea to go ahead and take shield so you're not building up time towards a PBT.

(B) As stated before you can attack while shielded which is a great way to take your time between army builds and use a more casual play style where you steal a couple minutes every hour or so to attack but in general have your phone/device off.

(C) If possible start raiding sessions just as a shield runs out. If you time your shields out well you can have decent control over what time of day your shield is expiring.

(D) If you are going to use boosts (barracks, royals, spells) do it at the beginning of a raiding session as soon as your shield ends.

A semi-casual raiding schedule

Morning Routine
- Wake up in the morning, empty collectors, fill donations (optional), make sure army is built or cook remaining troops, request for CC. Total time online - 5 minutes
- Do remaining morning activities. Hop back online, search for a raid (only takes me less than 10 minutes but for these purposes assume 15 for search), raid (3 minutes), cook army, request CC and log off. Let's call it 20 minutes
- Get attacked, get 12 hour shield (if you're not getting attacked or not getting a shield refer to section I)

Total Morning Time: 30 minutes

Afternoon Routine
- You are under 12 hour shield and headed off to work/school/whatever. Put your phone away and live your life.
- Optional lunch attack. At lunch or break hop online, empty collectors, check your army and CC, search for raid while eating (15 minutes) and attack (5 minutes), rebuild army and request CC.
- Total time 25 minutes and still under shield that should have roughly 4-5 hours left and get your through the rest of your work/school/whatever day.

Total Afternoon Time: 30 minutes

Evening Routine

- log on just before shield runs out, empty collectors, search for raid and attack, rebuild army request for CC (25 minutes)
- log out, take a defense. You now have 12 hour shield.
- go about nightly routine with family, tv, etc.
- Optional attack, army rebuild and CC request (25 minutes)
- Optional attack, army rebuild and CC request (25 minutes)
- Ride out rest of shield, chat with clan mates focus on war, get ready for bed, etc.
- Make sure CC and heroes are up before bed, leave remaining time on your shield as it will give you more flexibility the next day and go to sleep.

Total Evening Time: 25 min with an additional 50 optional minutes.

If you only attack once in the morning and once in the evening you can stay even (not counting collector resources generated) and play a minimal amount of time. Approximately 1 hour and quite possibly less depending on search times, how quickly you build your army, and how much time you spend in chat.

If you use the optional attacks that's a total of 5 attacks to 2 defenses which will yield quicker progress. Total time in game will be around 2 hours and 15 minutes over the course of 16 hours of being awake.

Of course this is not a cookie cutter template meant for everyone but the point is to show that you have to figure out how much time you have available to play this game and how you can utilize game mechanics to fit your schedule.

If you don't have enough time in your day to play this game then you can likely expect setbacks.

2. If you are one of those players who doesn't often get a shield logging off for 30 (35 for good measure) minutes will reset your PBT

3. If you're offline for a long period of time (sleeping) and your PBT does not reset it is possible (especially if you get a lot of trophy droppers) that people are doing at least 1% damage thus giving you 15 minutes of village guard which acts as if you are online.

Personal Break Timer (PBT):

PBT is 3 hours: forced offline for 6 minutes after 3 hours cumulative online time without shield
PBT resets when gaining shield, or in other reset cases below
Buying 2-hour Village Guard from shop extends current PBT by 2 hours
PBT paused during server maintenance, but not reset


PBT reset cases:

After defense with shield: Full PBT reset
After a defense without shield OR 6-minute PBT kickout without defense: PBT extended (+15 minutes to PBT, +15 minutes Village Guard)
After 2nd consecutive defense without shield OR 6-minute PBT kickout without defense: PBT extended (+15 minutes to PBT, +15 minutes Village Guard)
After 3rd consecutive defense without shield OR 6-minute PBT kickout without defense: Full PBT reset + Free Village Guard based on League
After 30 minutes consecutive offline time without defense: Full PBT reset (no Village Guard given)

PBT Patch Notes
Fixed a bug in the Personal Break system that could force players into Personal Break even after being offline for a while
• Personal Break online-time limit has been increased from 3 to 4 hours
• Personal Break limit now fully resets when being 15 minutes offline without Shield or Guard (was 30 minutes)
• Personal Break limit extensions increased to 30 minutes (was 15 minutes) after taking a defense without shield or getting kicked out without being attacked
• Free Guard when Shield expires has been increased for all Leagues:
- Titan I / Legend: 4 hours Guard (was 3 hours)
- Titan II: 3 hours Guard (was 2 hours)
- Titan III: 2 hours Guard (was 1 hour)
- Champion (all levels): 1 hour Guard (was 30 minutes)
- Below Champion: 30 minutes Guard (was 15 minutes)

VI. Army Compositions

1. GiWiWi + heal quake

TH lvl: 9
League: Champs 3
Army Comp: 24 Giants (lvl6), 15 Wiz (lvl5), 4 WB (lvl4), 8 goblins (lvl4), 2 Witches (lvl1), 2 heal spells (lvl5), 4 EQ (lvl1), 1 poison (lvl1)
Army Cost: Elixir: 179,140 | Dark Elixir: 1095
Build Time: 1 hour 15 minutes due to dark spells.

Notes: Splits easily across 4 barracks, effective against TH9s with strong walls and defenses, can be used with only 1 hero, seeks to lower elixir investment through a supplement of dark spells and dark troops. I try to target bases with at least 200k elixir with this army.

[conscript]

As a th9 I'm planning on pushing back to champs and farming with some heavy one hour army. Thoughts?

So far league-wise I either don't get a shield for hours if ever, or I get into masters and fight for trophies. Either way loot sucks, particularly elixir.

[Smolson]

As a th9 I'm planning on pushing back to champs and farming with some heavy one hour army. Thoughts?

So far league-wise I either don't get a shield for hours if ever, or I get into masters and fight for trophies. Either way loot sucks, particularly elixir.

I have spent most of my time since this update in either masters or champs. I'm also a TH9 and my current army comp is 24 giants, 21 wiz, 8 WB, 1 rage, 1 heal, 4 EQ, 2 poison (one from CC). It's about a 1 hour build time. I get on average 50-70% destruction and between the loot and the bonuses I have been profiting when it comes to resources.

Here's my latest attack.

[dave5872]

2. If you are one of those players who doesn't often get a shield logging off for 30 (35 for good measure) minutes will reset your PBT

This is incorrect. I was unshielded and unattacked all night last night. I got on this morning and did a 10 minute raid before lunch. I retrained troops and tried to log on again on at lunch and was told I needed a break. I did get a 1 troop drop during the first part of the day, but no shield. I was offline a solid 5 hours between this morning and lunch.

[Tacticus]

I have spent most of my time since this update in either masters or champs. I'm also a TH9 and my current army comp is 24 giants, 21 wiz, 8 WB, 1 rage, 1 heal, 4 EQ, 2 poison (one from CC). It's about a 1 hour build time. I get on average 50-70% destruction and between the loot and the bonuses I have been profiting when it comes to resources.

Here's my latest attack.

I'm getting similar results in crystal with @ 12-14 giants, 110 archers, 40 goblins, 2-3 heals, 4 quakes. Build time about an hour.

[nerfedname]

This is incorrect. I was unshielded and unattacked all night last night. I got on this morning and did a 10 minute raid before lunch. I retrained troops and tried to log on again on at lunch and was told I needed a break. I did get a 1 troop drop during the first part of the day, but no shield. I was offline a solid 5 hours between this morning and lunch.

The system is intended to work as described in the original post, and 35 minutes offline should reset your PBT (provided you don't weather an attack and get village guard).

So far, my PBT has reset no problem every time, but if you think yours is not it might be worth posting about it (with screengrabs and any information you have) in the "Problems & Bugs" forum. You could also add it to the "bugs" sticky atop the general forum, but it's 143 pages long and less likely to be heard there.

[conscript]

Interesting. I use 20 giants, either 14 or 17 wiz, 4-5 wb, 3-4 healers, 2 rage and 4 eq. Is there any advantage to going without the healers? I just like them in a rage and how they can keep queen up for defense.

[dave5872]

The system is intended to work as described in the original post, and 35 minutes offline should reset your PBT (provided you don't weather an attack and get village guard).

So far, my PBT has reset no problem every time, but if you think yours is not it might be worth posting about it (with screengrabs and any information you have) in the "Problems & Bugs" forum. You could also add it to the "bugs" sticky atop the general forum, but it's 143 pages long and less likely to be heard there.

I know for a 100% fact that simply staying offline and in MM for 30 consecutive minutes is not resetting my PBT. I suspect the 30 minute rule only applies after you have already been kicked off the first time (this HAS worked for me in that case). People are going all night unattacked and unshielded and getting nailed by this first thing in the morning.

[MRomeo]

I know for a 100% fact that simply staying offline and in MM for 30 consecutive minutes is not resetting my PBT. I suspect the 30 minute rule only applies after you have already been kicked off the first time (this HAS worked for me in that case). People are going all night unattacked and unshielded and getting nailed by this first thing in the morning.

I've told him the same thing in another thread and he insists that it's working as intended. I've seen the same thing. Logged out, switched accounts to a mini. Went out to lunch for an hour and a half, came back within 10 minutes got the PBT message and was booted. Right at the start of a boosted raiding stretch I was doing. At a bare minimum, they should show you the timer so you know when to take a break, this seems arbitrary.

[nerfedname]

I know for a 100% fact that simply staying offline and in MM for 30 consecutive minutes is not resetting my PBT. I suspect the 30 minute rule only applies after you have already been kicked off the first time (this HAS worked for me in that case). People are going all night unattacked and unshielded and getting nailed by this first thing in the morning.

I've told him the same thing in another thread and he insists that it's working as intended. I've seen the same thing. Logged out, switched accounts to a mini. Went out to lunch for an hour and a half, came back within 10 minutes got the PBT message and was booted. Right at the start of a boosted raiding stretch I was doing. At a bare minimum, they should show you the timer so you know when to take a break, this seems arbitrary.

So far, in my experience, it has been working 100% as intended. I would absolutely support the addition of a PBT countdown timer in the player profile so people know where they stand.

Aside from that, if you think you're encountering a bug with your PBT not resetting please post it in the bugs section with supporting documentation. I cannot help you any further, sorry.