#5: Know Your Goal

1. Destroying the enemy Town Hall
2. Destroying 50% of the base
3. Destroying 100% of the base

Common Mistake! I see a lot of people get 75% or more damage to a base without getting a second star. Usually this means you trashed more of the base than you needed to in order to hit the town hall. Most troops will attack whatever is closest, and those that have a preferred target don’t tend to target town halls. Strategic troop dropping is key. What I try to do is drop troops so that I create a “wedge” into their base, stripping a slice of their base to the studs. Then I can drop some ranged units (like archers) so that their closest target is the town hall. This means you’re going to have to save some troops until late in the fight, but when every star counts it can help a lot.

Finally, completely crushing an opponent will net you that third and final star. This can be tricky to do, since the game tends to match clans at approximately the same power level. Thus, the chances that you will completely outmatch your opponent are relatively low unless you’re the most powerful person in your clan.

Pro Tip Time is not on your side during a raid, especially if you are trying to go for 100%. I’ve seen attacks fail to destroy everything due to a lack of time, and I’ve also been in situations where I would have destroyed a Town Hall and gotten an extra star if I’d had a few more seconds. Make sure your strategy is fast enough to win!

#4: War Base Management

The War Base is just a copy of your normal base by default. It’s important that you customize the layout of your war base, especially to protect your Town Hall. You’re likely to be up against at least a few players who are significantly higher level than you, and chances are they have access to troops that you normally wouldn’t see attacking your base.

I also suggest creating zones for your defenses. Don’t put all your mortars inside the same wall, for instance. This leaves you vulnerable to Giant assaults. You should also carefully place air defenses so that all the possible routes into the center of your base are covered. Otherwise, it may be possible for a smart attacker to send air units past some of your more challenging defenses in order to take your Town Hall or critical defensive structures out with ease.

While you’re setting up your War Base, you can also request troops to defend it. Unlike troops you request from your clan normally, these troops are not used up when your War Base is raided. They will defend your Clan Castle repeatedly, even if they are defeated in previous raids. Also remember that you can kick out troops from your War Base’s Clan Castle if they’re not what you want.

#3: Scout Early & Call Your First Attack

During preparation day, you can view the enemy bases. The best thing you can do is to pick your top bases to raid. Once you’ve done this, let your clan know. Make sure everyone has a unique target for their first raid.

Remember that only the best attack against a given base counts. Thus, if you and another clanmate both decide to use your first attack on the same enemy, chances are good that stars are going to go to waste.

Scouting early also allows you to plan your attacking forces and request the appropriate troops for your clan castle to use during the raid.

Sometimes it helps to plan out your attack during preparation day, train up the troops you plan to use, and then find a base like the one you plan to raid and test out your strategy. Did you manage to break enough buildings for 1 star? Did you manage to get to their town hall? If not, you might have to rethink your troop mix or your attack strategy.

#2: Check the Replay

Once everyone’s done their first raid, it’s a good time to take a step back and see what your next target should be. Again, calling your second target early is a good idea, so everyone knows where you’re planning to invest your second attack.

The most powerful thing you have at your disposal is the replay from the best attack against each base. Remember that the enemy can no longer make changes to their War Base or their Clan Castle, so whatever traps and troops you see in the replay are what you’re going to get during your second attack. You can often find out where their Hidden Teslas are, for instance.

If you see some powerful Clan Castle troops, you might change up your strategy somewhat to deal with them.

#1: Clan Wars Raids Require Different Strategies

Normally when raiding for resources, the cost of your army is an important concern. You might use spells, Giants and Wall Breakers sparingly, for instance, since they’re so expensive. The rewards in Clan Wars are much greater, even if the base is relatively weak. Plus, you’re benefiting the entire clan with every star you earn. Thus, the price of your army is a lot less important. Go all out!

Enemy Clan Castle troops can ruin your raid. Usually in regular raiding, finding a full Clan Castle is a bit unusual. In Clan Wars, though, Clan Castle troops are all but guaranteed. It’s also likely that they’re going to come from the most well-developed base in the Clan War. The Clan Castle has a large attack radius, so it’s possible to “sucker” them out and into a part of the map where you can deal with them more easily. Once they’ve left the Clan Castle, these troops will head towards your attacking forces, regardless of where they are on the map.

Common Mistake! It takes time to get all the troops out of the Clan Castle. If there are a lot of them, and you send a single, easily killed troop in to lure them out, you might not get all of them out on the first try. I also see a lot of people use the wrong troops or in the wrong configuration to fight a Clan Castle troop formation. For instance, Wizards do splash damage. Grouping up your troops to attack Clan Castle Wizards is not particularly effective.

For instance, say there’s a mortar tower in a critical area and you’ve got 2 lightning spells ready to take it out. If you drop one troop within the Clan Castle radius and get the Clan Castle troops to chase that guy over top of the mortar tower, you can lightning both the troops and the mortar at once, doubling up on your damage output!