Clash of Clans. The mobile app that was the pinnacle of our elementary years has made a comeback, and the Optimist is here to share our advice for game.

General Tips

Builder Base: Builder bases are nonessential, but the gem mine is useful. Do not spend much time on this base, unless you are upgrading your gem mine or removing trees.

Clans: Joining a clan with your friends seems fun at first, but if they are not active, it defeats the purpose. A clan with 30 or more people is ideal, because odds are somebody will be on to donate troops to you, and it makes clan games way easier.

Clan Games: The introduction of clan games is probably my favorite update in clash history. The simple challenges give you points, and if enough people in your clan participate, you can get a lot of great rewards.

Town hall 1-5

Welcome to Clash of Clans. Town hall 1-5 is all about being active and upgrading as much as possible. The attacking strategies are all based on personal preference while your base is at this stage, but I recommend using giants and archers. Early game upgrades can be very annoying, but make sure to never spend gems on finishing them. Always save them for future updates or builders.

Town hall 6

One piece of advice: raid as much as possible.You need as much loot as possible to upgrade walls, defenses, and troops in order to succeed. You should also make sure you remove all the foliage such as bushes, trees, and logs, because they give you gems which can get you more builders which makes upgrading your base much easier.

Town hall 7

Town hall seven should be a breeze. You have finally unlocked dragons and hog riders, so attacking is cake. You finally have enough walls for solid defense, and your defensive towers are officially powerful. Maxing out town hall seven is a must do, because this is around the time where the men separate themselves from the boys. 

My personal attack strategy: 10 Dragons, two rage spells, one heal spell, barb king, (You can use three lightning spells if you want to destroy the enemies air defense but it is all based on personal preference). There are other reasonable strategies, but this is by far the best one. Dragons demolish everything in their path, and depending on your spell choice, they can do even better.

Town hall 8

I have never been one to max out a town hall before I upgrade to the next one, but town hall eight really pushed me to have the best base possible. I upgraded all my walls to level eight before I started upgrading my defenses, because walls are extremely intimidating. Once you get all walls to level eight, I recommend powering up a cannon, because the double cannon is lethal towards tanks. While upgrading defenses, always try to have a troop leveling up in the laboratory, because high level troops are the key to ranking up.

My personal attack strategy for town hall eight: two golems, 17 Valkyrie, two wall breakers, barbarian king, two rage spells, one heal spell, one poison spell. 

This strategy is for the player who does not have a lot of time to battle, so they go as hard as possible. Deploy the golems about 8 spaces apart so they soak up the damage, then send the wall breakers to break a hole in the walls. Deploy your barbarian king in between the golems to lead the charge, then spam the valkyries behind him to finish the battle. Place your rage spells in front of the golems so they hit every troop, then when they wear down, place your heal spell to ensure victory. Use the poison spell to slow down enemy clan troops or heroes, so they do not ruin your day. This is effective against most town hall eight bases, and some town hall nine bases, as long as their x-bows are not high leveled.

Other viable attacks:

Two golem, 15 wizards, four dragons, two heal spells, one rage spell, one poison, 

40 Hogs, two rage spells, one heal, one haste.

Town hall nine

Town hall nine usually means one of two things: you either know what you are doing and are a confident clasher, or you prematurely upgraded your base and you keep getting demolished. For those of you who rushed, I recommend upgrading all defenses as soon as possible. Catching up will be difficult, but necessary if you want to be able to enjoy the game. X-bows are going to be your x-factor. They dish out insane amounts of damage to ground and air troops, and they have a lot of health. Placing mortars and skeleton traps near your x-bows will dish out enough damage so that the x-bows can finish them with ease. Archer towers are also very important, because of their range. Place them in front of your mortars so they weaken heroes and tanks, then the mortars and x-bows have less work. A solid defense with below average walls should save you a few times, but level nine or ten walls with max defense should be the goal. My number one tip for an active town hall nine player is always having troops in your clan castle. Dragons are the best, but wizards and giants are also viable options.

My personal attack strategy: Two golems, four healers, eight witches, two wizards, four earthquake spells, one freeze, one rage, one jump, barb king, and an archer queen. This strategy is from the practice arena, but it works very well. Witches are ridiculously good, and when they are placed behind tanks, they are even better. If you have any other questions about troop placement, open the practice tab in the app, because they show you advanced techniques. 

Town hall 10+

If you are clashing with a town hall 10 or above, chances are you are a pro. Town hall 10 is an achievement, so congratulations to those of you who have made it that far. If any readers have any base or attacking tips then let us know and we will update our guide.