DEFENSIVE DESIGN FOR FARMING

No matter which way you like to play Clash of Clans you need an effective way to build up your resources for upgrades. Resource farming has three key elements – trophy ranges, defensive design (to save your resources), and offensive strategy. In today’s post we will analyze the part two in this series – defensive design. Make sure to check out Part 1 of the series at COC RECOMMENDED TROPHY RANGE FOR FARMING

If you have already found your ideal trophy range or are still looking for it, your defensive design still has a major impact on your farming. As you steal resources others look to steal yours as well. There are three components to an effective defensive design for saving your resources – (1) Effective use of the shield, (2) actual base layout and storage placement and (3) learning from defensive battles.

How Best to Use the Shield?

There are two types of shields – the ones you buy and the ones you get after being attacked. We will focus on the ones you get from defending. The length of your shield depends on how much of your base the opponent destroyed:

• 30% destruction – 12-hour shield
• 60% destruction – 14-hour shield
• 90% destruction – 16-hour shield

The second set of numbers you need to know are how much shield time you lose when you attack.

• 1st attack – 3 hours removed from your shield
• 2nd attack – 4 hours
• 3rd attack – 5 hours
• 4th attack – 6 hours

You want to get in as many attacks as you can once you have a shield. For instance, let’s say you are raided for 200k gold and elixir and get a 14-hour shield. If you time your attacks right you could get 4 raids in during that window: 1st drops the shield to 11 hours, 2nd to 7 hours, 3rd to 2 hours and 4th before the shield runs out. If you gain even 100k gold and elixir each time, you will have doubled what they took, in addition to all of the league and daily bonuses you get.

Base Layout & Storage Placement

Search the internet and you will find thousands of defensive layouts. Some are quality for certain attacks and some are outdated. More important than finding the magic layout is understanding how buildings and traps interact with the troops attacking your base. You want a design that is not predictable and forces the opponent to decide between one option or the other. While it would be nice to save up all three resources at once, that isn’t practical as you climb the ranks. Determine which upgrade you want to achieve next and focus on protecting the storages for that type. Split them across sections in your base, and don’t forget that the Town Hall now holds 20% of all resource types. Use the storages that you are not focused on saving for as decoys or shields.

Watch & Adjust

No design is perfect, and attacks continue to evolve. The best thing you can do is watch the raids on your base and see where a small adjustment would have messed up the enemy’s attack. Perhaps move a trap or wall placement. By watching how people are attacking your base you can better design a defensive layout to counter that. However, don’t worry about making it perfect. No one has a 100% protected base. The goal is to simply do the best you can to protect which resource you are focused on saving.

Conclusion

As you climb Town Hall levels these tips will become more important. Effectively use your shield to time 2-3 attacks for every time you defend. Determine which resource you are trying to save at the moment focus on protected that one type. Each time you are attacked watch the replays and look for small adjustments you can make to your base in order to stop the next attacker. It is all about finding the strategy that works for your goal, and most importantly that you enjoy. Good luck defending those raiders and come back soon for Part 3 of this series – farming armies!