Clash of clans - farming guide 

Clash of clans on a mobile based MMO developed by SUPERCEL. The idea of the game is improve the strength of your defence and offence by purchasing upgrades to buildings and units through mined and stolen resources acquired by raiding. WAR also offers players the ability to pitch their clan against another clan every 48 hours. War loot is awarded for victory. Upgrades require time to complete and can be boosted by the use of “gems”, purchased with in game currency or real world currency if patience is not one of your virtues. 

Who am I?

A thirty something IT project delivery nerd who loves RPG’s, MMO’s, RTS and space sim games. I have a busy life that doesn’t allow me to sink hundreds of hours a week into games like I could in years’ gone by. I am a casual clasher with a lot to learn. As I learn, I wish to share my knowledge with other people who want to maximise their enjoyment with minimal commitment. I have several accounts from TH3 upwards. 

I love gaming, Clash of Clans and play to WAR.  Thank you to #steemit to offer a forum to talk about the game that I love. 

Why this guide? Clash and farming ain’t new! 

Progress faster, spend more time with your friends and family, safe in the knowledge that your builders are all busy :)

YOU CANNOT FAIL. Most people I see farming do it TOTALLY WRONG and/or whine about loot being hard to obtain in short time periods. 

 Benefits of following this guide:

• You will make 2-3 million of each resource (gold and elixir) per hour
• You can attack at least once every 5 minutes, YAY
• You can keep 5 builders working by playing a few minutes per day...whoop, whoop
• You do not need to boost barracks production 
• You do not need to use spells
• You do not need heroes 
• You do not need to be maxed at any level 
• You do not need CC (Clan Castle) troops 

I have a busy life with a young family and a full time job, as-well-as a list of “jobs” at home as long as your arm. I do not have time to play clash more than a few minutes a day, sometimes I can’t even log in for days BUT I always keep all 5 builders and the lab busy. HOW? Read on... 

Who this guide is aimed at? 

This guide aimed at TH’s 6-9’s (Town Hall) who do not have time to commit more than a few hours per week to Clash of Clans but want to make 3,000,000 GOLD and 3,000,000 ELIXIR per hour. 

Whilst this guide will gain you dark elixir as a result of drill snipes, you will rarely get into the core of a base to take big quantities of dark.

Just upgraded to the next TH level? PERFECT. This guide was made for you. 

Dark elixir farming requires a dedicated guide. Coming soon... 

 This guide is not for trophy pushing as I require you to maintain a specific trophy range, again, that subject requires a guide of it’s own.

This guide is made using a TH9 account as I feel TH8/9 is where efficient farming becomes very important. This guide is applicable to most TH levels. I have accounts at most TH levels and can offer advice, just drop me a comment.  

What is farming?

Upgrades in clash require resources, a faster and more fun way to acquire resources than mining is to raid other players bases and steal their resources. Ever fancied the pillaging viking lifestyle? Well, here’s your chance. 

Farming is an art. Farming requires discipline and patience to pull off successfully. Farming will make you millions of each resource per hour at all town hall levels. Farming is EASY and available to all if you follow a few basic techniques. 

Successful farming strategy and execution  

Farming does not take ages, it can be achieved with great results in minutes.
The key to successful farming is:

• Army composition
  • Simple, cheap, fast-to-build army composition
• Base (target) selection
• Troop deployment
• Trophy range
  • Correct trophy range for your town hall level
  • Don’t be scared to drop trophies 

At TH’s 8 and 9, I can fill my collectors in a couple of hours. YES, 6,000,000 of each resource in a few of hours!! Why are you not already doing this? 

You do not need to be a pro. I am a casual clasher at best. The casualness of my gaming has forced me to refine short burst, high reward farming. If I can do it, so can you.  

Army composition

It’s well know that Barch (barbarian/Archer) is your best bet for fast, cheap, effective farming. Although barch is a solid army composition for farming, to speed up army build times and add diversity I include “Minions” into the mix. To mix things up a bit, I sometimes add in goblins. If i’m not farming dark (rarely is my dark full), I’ll swap out the minions for something more fun like Valks.

Minions, whilst decreasing your dark elixir (DE) income ever so slightly, not only provide you a tool to kill a drawn out barb king with no loss of troops, but also forces the enemy defences to split across multiple target types (barb; close up - ground, archer; distance, ground, minion; distance, air).

Barracks build order:

1. Barracks: Barbarian
2. Barracks: Barbarian
3. Barracks: Archer
4. Barracks: Archer
5. Dark Barracks: Minion
6. Dark Barracks: Minion

The 7.5 minute army:

• 45 barbs
• 26 archers
• 20 minions

To reduce DE loss, I queue roughly 15 minions in each dark barracks, if i’m not gaining much dark during raids I won’t re-queue Minions, similarly, if I don’t use many minions in a raid I won’t re-queue any more minions until needed.

Remember, heroes equal FREE resources. Use your heroes wisely and avoid them dying so that can be re-used for the next attack. 

Base (target) selection

Base selection is the single most important element to get right when farming. Good base selection will make the difference between 200,000 an hour and 2,000,000. 

 Basic base selection rules (for novice farmers): 

 

1. Never be afraid to NEXT
2. Select dead bases ONLY
   1. Storages must be EMPTY, collectors must be FULL else NEXT
   2. What is a dead base? See below. 
3. Aim for 100,000 of each resource, MINIMUM
   1. An attack every 6 or 7 minutes with roughly 100 housing space of troops must bring in around 300,000 of each resource to hit 3,000,000 per hour or 3,000 - 4,000 per unit.
   2. If you are using 100 troops, you need a base offering 400,000 of each resource
      1. Resources acquired by hero attacks reduce the above.
   3. For 50 housing space army, 200,000 of each will suffice.
4. Farmer’s aren’t heroes. Target bases of an equivalent town hall level to yourself or below. 
5. Collectors must be on the outside of the base, even a single layer of walls between your troops and the collectors....NEXT 
6. Collectors should be max level 
7. Never target storages
   1. Targeting juicy storages is a quick way to suck you into using too many troops and lower your resource per hour
   2. Storages can be attacked if close to the edge of the base and brimming full
8. No spells
   1. Do not use spells, don’t even cook spells else it’s tempting to use them. Spells will not make you any additional profit if you’ve selected the correct base. 
9. Raid with a small army
   1. TH6: 40-50 troops
   2. TH7: 50-80 troops
   3. TH8-9: 80-120 troops
   4. TH10+: 100-150 troops
10. If in doubt of any of the above…NEXT
11. Don’t be afraid to keep hitting next 50+ times; NEXT, NEXT, NEXT

These are empty collectors....NEXT

Good targets: 

This base has collectors full to the brim on the outskirts of the base. Some of them require only a single troop to take out, maximising your resources per unit. 

This base has full collectors which again, are not covered by defences, it even has a nice juicy, fairly undefended TH. 

The collectors in this base are quite full but not overloaded. These can be picked off with very few troops...watch out for mortars though. 

Easy TH snipe, nice. Collectors are not fully maxes but will yield 150,000+ each. Don’t spurt your whole army on this one. 

Poorly defended collectors and TH. You wouldn’t want to spend more than 60 or 70 troops on this one as your return is roughly 300,000 combined resources.  

Bad targets:
 

Resources are defended behind at least 1 layer of lvl7/8 walls. You will not break in far with Barch without heroes and a tonne of heals. Collectors are pretty empty. 

Storages are within the walls and collectors are pretty empty and not max level. NEXT. 

Firstly you don’t have a good mix of resources, being an elixir heavy base. Secondly, collectors are empty and very heavily defended. Definite NEXT.

Advanced base selection enhancements  

For more experienced farmers 

 Making more than 2kk of each resource per hour? You’re now ready for a few refinements. 

• A layer of walls protecting storages?
  • No problem. You can get to these storages with minimal effort.
    • Clear away buildings that will distract your barbs before you deploy them.
    • Drop barbs, followed by archers and minions just as you would before but add 2-3 additional archers per collector. The barbs will run to the walls (if you cleared distractions) and take the heat of splash defences, your archers and minions will take out the collectors.

• Target storages
  • If storages are near the outskirts of the base, drop your heroes and a layer of barbs, archers, minions. Rage your king to break the walls with barb support then once through, rage your queen to take out the storages. If you can justify the return, drop a heal spell. 

 Until you're pulling in 1.5kk to 2kk of each resource per hour, I recommend you attack only dead bases with unprotected collectors. No exceptions. As you get better at base selection and as you level up heroes, you can start taking out collectors and storages deeper within the base without losing too many troops. I wouldn’t recommend this before TH9 due to no access to the Archer Queen.  

 What is a “Dead base”? 

A dead base is one whose owner has not logged in for a while, allowing the resource collectors’ stock of resources to build up. Mines and pumps have animations that indicate how full they are. 

Unless another farmer has attacked the base recently and not left a shield (*shakes fist*), a dead base’ collectors will be brimming full of resources, ready for plunder.  

 Troop deployment

1. Deploy as close to collectors as possible. 
2. Use multiple fingers, a finger for each collector.
   1. 3 collectors near each other? Use 3 fingers to deploy all barbs, archers, and then minions at each collector simultaneously. 
3. Deployment order (heavily defended collectors):
   1. 5 barbs
   2. 5 archers
   3. 1-3 minions (Air defences in range? Don’t bother with Minions)
4. Don’t waste troops. 
   1. Deploy single archers/minions if collectors are not covered by defences. 
5. Heroes
   1. Use your barb king to tank if absolutely necessary.
   2. Use your archer queen to snipe the last of those collectors
   3. DO NOT LET YOUR HEROES DIE
      1. Use their abilities then quit out. 

Assumption: The base you are attacking is of an equivalent or lower level than yourself. If the base is an higher level than yourself, their defences are likely to take heavier damage against your troops, you will need to deploy additional numbers.  

 Trophy range 

Trophy range depends upon your town hall level. This is the most loose section of the guide as optimum trophy range can shift quite quickly. 

1. <=TH6: <900 trophies (up to silver)
2. TH7: 900-1,200 trophies (silver)
3. TH8-TH9: 1,100 - 1,600 (silver/gold)
4. TH10+: 2,200+ (crystal+)
   1. It’s hard to find good loot as TH10+ down in silver/gold leagues. The sheer amount of dark elixir required for upgrades also means lower leagues aren't great for farming. Loot bonus in master+ is important to take advantage of. 

Serious farming isn’t required before town hall 6/7 are upgraded resource collectors and typically a lack of builders (unless you’ve gemmed) mean a few attacks can fill your storages. 

Dropping trophies

If you’ve acquired too many trophies, don’t just quit battles to drop trophies. Farm collectors and pumps but quit out before you get 50%. 

Trophy pushing

Dropped too many trophies? Not to worry. The fastest way to gain trophies in lower leagues (gold and below), is to “Town hall snipe”. Town hall sniping is where you search for a base where the town hall is situated outside of the base. These are often trapped with hidden tesla but not to worry. If you are TH7+, drop your heroes, rage your barb king and you’ll have the TH in seconds. For players without heroes, snipe the TH with a few archers then move on.  

Know when to walk away?

You don’t need 50%, let it go, just let it go. Quit out. 

 If you start dropping trophies skip until you find loaded collectors AND an external, unguarded TH. Chuck a few troops at the TH before you target the collectors. By the time you have cleaned out the collectors the TH will be ready to fall. Then quit out. Done.
 

Farming etiquette  

Give the target a shield. Why? You are targeting dead bases. If you provide a shield, by the time the next farmer hits the dead base the collectors will be brimming full. The more people do this, the more chance there is that collectors will be full when we hit dead bases. 

If you take out 40%+ without compromising the efficiency of your farming by using a few archers to take out undefended buildings, then you help the farming community at minimal loss to your efficiency. 

Summary

You can farm massive amounts of loot and it doesn't need to take hours of your time. Farm smart.

Happy farming :-)

This is not the only way to farm, if you disagree with anything I've said please be constructive with your criticism. I am happy to improve my farming technique if you have additional insights and i do apologise for not always clearing 40%+ LOL. In the interests of character count, I have left A LOT of detail out of this guide, there are a tonne of additional farming related discussions to be had... 

#gaming #clashofclans #coc #clashfarming #mmo #supercel #steemit #introduceyourself