Clan Wars in Clash of Clans gives you and your Clan a chance to show the entire game community who rules the battlefields once and for all. A Clan War is a strategic battle between two Clans of roughly equal strength. Both clans need to have the same amount of participants selected for the Clan War line-up to be matched against eachother. For a player to fight in a war, the “Clan wars” button in his player profile must be green, indicating that he is available for Wars and the Leader must have chosen him for the lineup.
There are two phases in a Clan War:
1) Preparation Day
The Clan Leader or a Co-Leader initiates the search for a Clan War opponent. Once an opponent has been found, you and your Clan will have 23 hours to prepare for the battles ahead. During this time, you can make adjustments to the War Base layouts and donate and request troops.
The Clan Castle in your War Base is different from the Clan Castle in your village, and must be filled with donated troops separately. The troops donated to a War Base will be used to defend it against all attacks during the War, so be sure to request troops that you feel will work well with defending your layout.
You cannot use troops donated to your War Base for your own attacks, these you request from Clan mates in the Troop training screen.
Changes you perform on your War Base during the Clan War will not affect your village outside of the war. This also means that any troops donated to your War Base will not be available in your regular village, and vice versa.
2) Battle Day
When the 23 hours of Preparation day have passed, your Clan should be prepared and hungry for victory! Each participant can attack twice during Battle Day, but not the same opponent. Make each attack count! At the end of the war, the Clan that earns the most stars from attacking wins the clan war. If the amount of stars is tied, the destruction percentage is the deciding factor.
Clan Wars are free to start and participate in, and unlike normal multiplayer battles, Clans get to choose if and when they would like to go to war. Clans do not have to participate in Clan Wars.
Friendly Wars
It is also possible to challenge another clan to a friendly clan war. Below are some noteworthy details:
- Friendly War’s a started by tapping on the “Challenge” button on an other Clan’s profile
- An issued challenge for a Friendly War appears in the Clan Chat and can be accepted or declined from there
- A Clan can also choose to opt-out of Friendly Wars in Clan Settings
- Friendly Wars have custom durations, so you can choose the war to last as short as one hour!
- Friendly War sizes range from 5 vs. 5 to 50 vs. 50
- Friendly Wars are only for fun & bragging rights: there’s no loot or Clan XP involved
- How does my clan start a Clan War?
- How do I prepare for a Clan War?
- How do I take part in Clan Wars?
- How do you win a Clan War?
- How do I get my war win bonus?
- How do you win a Clan War?
- What happens to my village during a Clan War?
- What does my clan get for winning a Clan War?
- How many clan members and what level do you need for Clan Wars?
- What happens if our clan is defeated or draws?
- Can I cancel a Clan War?
- Why can’t I find a Clan War?
- I’m trying to start a Clan War but I can’t. What’s wrong?
- My new building is not in my War Base
- What happens to inactive members during a Clan War?
- An opponent is spying on our clan! Isn’t that cheating?
- Can leaders choose who participates in a Clan War?
- Can I opt out or in when my clan goes to war?
- How are clans matched up in Clan Wars?
- I upgraded my Clan Castle but it’s not reflected in Clan Wars!
- What is Clan XP for and what are perks?
- What is a Tiebreaker?
- Do troop donations in Clan Wars count towards achievements?
How does my clan start a Clan War?
Leaders and Co-leaders can take their Clan to War by opening the Clan War screen and pressing the “Start War” button. The Leader who initiates the war selects the players for the war lineup from all the players who have their “Clan Wars” button green in their player profile. Each player can use the button to indicate if they are available for Wars or not.
This will start the search for an opposing clan. The matchmaking system will ensure your Clan is paired up with a Clan of roughly equal Strength (both attack and defense) and the same number of Clan members participating in the war. The Clan War will start immediately after a suitable opponent has been found.
Finding an opposing Clan can take several minutes, but there is no need to wait in the matchmaking screen. Just press the ‘Return Home’ button to continue playing, and you will be notified when an opponent has been found.
How do I prepare for a Clan War?
Preparation is so important to Clan Wars that we’ve you will have 23 hours before the war for it. Preparation Day starts as soon as a worthy opponent has been found through the matchmaking system.
First make sure that your War Base is optimized for defense. Defense is important because you want to deny the enemy of Stars and a high destruction percentage from attacking your base. For example, leaving the Town Hall in a position where it is easy to destroy will give the opponent a one-star victory. Ask Clan mates and search online for tried & tested War Base layouts.
You can edit your War Base also before a Clan War begins, but you have to do it latest during the Preparation Day to have the changes count in the upcoming War.
Your War Base will contain the same buildings as your regular village. However, every time you add a new building to your village, you have to go to your War Base’s inventory to “deploy” that building in your War Base. The game will not choose a random spot in your War Base for any new constructions — you get to decide where everything goes. If you leave a new building in your inventory, it won’t appear in your War Base during Battle Day.
To request troops that will defend in enemy War Attacks on your village, you need to tap on your village in the War Map, and press the “Request” button. You can request troops to attack with in the troop training menu. Defending troops will survive through attacks to your War Base, where as troops you attack with are lost once you deploy them.
Another important step is troop donation. The Clan Castle in your War Base is different from the Clan Castle in your village, and must be filled separately. The troops donated to a War Base will be used to defend it against all attacks during the War, so be sure to request troops that you feel will work well with defending your layout.
You cannot use troops donated to your War Base for your own attacks, these you request from Clan mates in the Troop training screen.
How do I take part in Clan Wars?
To participate in a Clan War, tap the”Clan Wars” button in your profile to turn it green. This indicates to the Clan Leaders that you are available for Wars. However, the Leader who initiates the war can also choose you into the war even if your “Clan Wars” button is red.
If you join the Clan after a War has been started or haven’t been selected for the lineup, you can only spectate the War.
You are free to leave your Clan during a War, but your War Base will remain visible on the war map and can be attacked by the opponent. Leaving a clan will not affect an ongoing war, and if you return while the war is still on-going you can still do your attacks.
However, you cannot join another Clan War by joining another Clan if your original Clan is still battling it out. Other players will be able to see that you are still part of an unfinished war by checking your profile. You will be marked as ineligible for war until the previous Clan War has concluded.
Finally, you will see the enemy’s actual War Layouts once Battle Day starts, and this is your opportunity to scout the enemy villages to zero in on the perfect targets. The game will give you a suggested target, but you can attack other targets too. Just be sure to coordinate with your Clan who will attack which opponent. You only have two attacks so make them count!
How do you win a Clan War?
The outcome of a Clan War is determined by which clan manages to get the most stars during the war, or on total destruction percentage if Stars are tied. If more than one player raids a given base, only the strongest attack will be counted toward your Clan’s final score. This means that if you’re thinking about attacking a base that has already been 2-starred, it will only have one star left for the taking (and that’s only if you completely wipe it out).
Similarly if one of your clan members has already 3-starred an opponent’s war base, attacking the same base again will not increase your chances of winning the war.
Winning at Clan Wars requires planning and tactical resolve. It’s up to you to decide how to make the most of your clan member’s strengths. Chat with your clan mates, pinpoint optimal opponents, and make each of your attacks count. The game will help you find a suitable opponent by offering recommended targets for everyone. However, its up to the Clan members to decide who attacks which village.
Every clan member who deals at least some damage during a Clan War, whether they score a Star or not will earn some bonus loot. However, only the winning clan will receive the full War Win Bonus.
How do I get my war win bonus?
For each Clan War battle that you win, you earn the chance to receive a war win bonus. The war win bonus can be collected from the Clan Castle when a Clan War has ended. The Clan Castle can hold only a limited amount of resources, so remember to collect your bonuses regularly. You will lose any bonuses that don’t fit into the castle’s coffers.
To get the bonus in full, your clan has to win the Clan War. If your clan loses or draws, your bonus will be heavily reduced. If you don’t win a single battle during a war, you can still receive a war win bonus as its calculated based on the destruction percentages of your attacks.
Resources stored in the Clan Castle are not fully protected from attacks from other players — a part of the uncollected bonus can still be raided. Also, remember that war win bonuses do not count towards the ’Treasurer’ achievement until they have been collected from the Clan Castle.
In addition to the bonus, there’s also loot that you can raid immediately from your enemy’s War Base. This is usually only a small amount compared to the war win bonus, but it is immediately added to your regular storages regardless of whether you win the battle or the war.
How do you win a Clan War?
The outcome of a Clan War is determined by which clan manages to get the most stars during the war, or on total destruction percentage if Stars are tied. If more than one player raids a given base, only the strongest attack will be counted toward your Clan’s final score. This means that if you’re thinking about attacking a base that has already been 2-starred, it will only have one star left for the taking (and that’s only if you completely wipe it out).
Similarly if one of your clan members has already 3-starred an opponent’s war base, attacking the same base again will not increase your chances of winning the war.
Winning at Clan Wars requires planning and tactical resolve. It’s up to you to decide how to make the most of your clan member’s strengths. Chat with your clan mates, pinpoint optimal opponents, and make each of your attacks count. The game will help you find a suitable opponent by offering recommended targets for everyone. However, its up to the Clan members to decide who attacks which village.
Every clan member who deals at least some damage during a Clan War, whether they score a Star or not will earn some bonus loot. However, only the winning clan will receive the full War Win Bonus.
What happens to my village during a Clan War?
Your village is always safe from Clan War attacks because these battles are fought in a different area than the regular game. Even when the War Base is an almost identical copy of your village, it is important to remember that this War Base used during Clan Wars is a separate entity from your village. Using our new Village Editor and layout keeper, you may have up to 3 regular Village layouts, and 3 War Bases simultaneously. That’s 6 layouts in total. From their War Base, players prepare and attack War Bases instead of from their regular village. Your village’s resources, Trophies and Shield are never at risk during a Clan War.
What does my clan get for winning a Clan War?
Your clan will earn the glory of victory, the respect of the rest of the clans, and the celebration of a great power that will last into posterity. Additionally, the clan will earn a shiny new point on its “Wars won” stat, visible from the clan description. At an individual level, each participating member of the winning clan will immediately be awarded the full bonus loot they accrued from their victorious attacks. Remember that you can only accrue this bonus by attacking and defeating enemy War Bases. Finally, winning Wars will give your Clan valuable Clan XP, good for bragging rights and treasured perks. Leveling up your Clan will also reward a more and more epic Clan badge border. Even limited success will give you Clan XP, but winning naturally brings more of it. You can see all the perks by tapping on the blue “Clan Perks” button in the “My clan” tab.
How many clan members and what level do you need for Clan Wars?
The only requirement is that a Clan must have at least 5 members eligible for war. If you have left a Clan while at war, you will be ineligible for a new Clan’s War, until the previous one ends. New Clan members cannot join a War while it is in progress.
What happens if our clan is defeated or draws?
After your clan loses, you will face the shame of overthrow and massacre, the memories of greater times will turn to ashes and your clan name will be unremembered. At least until the next Clan War. The members of a clan that lost a war will suffer a stiff penalty to their war win bonus; this is the loot collected from the victorious attacks on enemy War Bases. A bonus will still be awarded, but only a fraction of the full sum.
If both clans have the same amount of stars by the end of Battle Day, the result of the War come down to a tiebreaker. Both clans’ members will still be awarded their War bonus loot, but it will come at a penalty since there was no actual victory. The penalty is not as big as for losing, but it’s still a heavy reduction.
Can I cancel a Clan War?
Before an opposing Clan has been found, you can cancel the matchmaking by pressing the “Cancel” button. However, once an opponent has been found, the Clan War can no longer be cancelled. Preparation Day begins immediately. There is no option to forfeit (surrender).
Why can’t I find a Clan War?
Clans are paired using a matchmaking algorithm. This ensures that Clans of similar strength are pitted against one another. Because so many players and factors come into play in matchmaking, Clan War matches take longer to find than matches in multiplayer or VS Battle attacks.
If the matchmaking system has been searching for a while, it is best to leave it running in the background. You can still enjoy Clash of Clans in the meantime. Select the “Return Home” (1) icon in the bottom left corner of the matchmaking screen to return to your village without interrupting the matchmaking process.
Note: pressing “Cancel” (2) in Clan Wars matchmaking will dismiss the search altogether.
Once an opponent has been found, you will receive a notification on the Clan Wars icon. A 23-hour Preparation Day starts as soon as your match has been found.
I’m trying to start a Clan War but I can’t. What’s wrong?
The basic requirements for starting a Clan War are that you’re in a clan with at least 5 members and that you are a Co-leader or a Leader. If you still can’t start a war because your Clan War icon is greyed out, or you are getting a message that says “Clan Wars are still loading, please try again”, you probably need more bandwidth. Loading a Clan War involves transferring a lot of data, so we recommend using a strong 3G/4G or WiFi connection with a reliable network.
My new building is not in my War Base
If you’ve added a new building to your village and you can’t find it in your War Base, it sounds like you probably haven’t taken that building out of the war base inventory yet.
As a rule, your War Base will contain the same buildings as your regular village. However, every time you add a new building to your village, you have to go to your War Base inventory to “deploy” that building during Preparation Day and save your War Base layout. The game will not choose a random spot in your War Base for any new buildings — you get to decide where everything goes. If you leave a new building in your War Base inventory, it won’t appear in the Base during Battle Day.
The only exception to this rule is if you have never used your War Base edit mode and saved your layout. If that’s the case, your War Base’s layout will continue to mirror whatever you have in your regular village.
What happens to inactive members during a Clan War?
Active and inactive Clan members are treated the same during Clan Wars. They can still be the targeted by enemy bases, and may receive donated clan troops. However, because inactive Clan mates will not use their attacks, they are a potential liability, and will in no away help your Clan toward victory. Additionally, if you leave your village inactive during a war, you will not receive any bonus loot following a win. Thus, you should encourage your clan mates to be active Clashers for optimal results.
An opponent is spying on our clan! Isn’t that cheating?
While spying on your opponent’s clan isn’t what we would call sportsmanlike, it’s not a breach of any rules in Clash of Clans.
It’s understandable if you feel upset about players doing this, but Clan Wars is serious business. Some clans are prepared to go to surprising lengths for victory. Be careful about who you let into your clan because, as the saying goes, everything is fair in love and war. You can keep unwanted members out by setting your clan to ‘Invite only’ or ‘Closed’.
Can leaders choose who participates in a Clan War?
Added by popular demand, Clan Leaders and Co-Leaders may select who participates in Clan Wars to set up the ultimate team.
Pressing the “Start War” button brings up a list of all your Clan mates. On the right, you’ll see a button that says “In” or “Out”. When you use this team selection tool for the first time, the “In/Out” button indicates each member’s personal preference. As a Leader or Co-leader, you have the right to override this preference. The War selection screen will display each player’s preferences prior to each new Clan War. Toggle them with discretion and create your ideal fighting force.
Clan War match-ups can only be made in increments of 5 members, i.e. 5 vs 5, 10 vs. 10, 15 vs. 15, 20 vs 20, 25 vs. 25, 30 vs. 30, 40 vs. 40 and 50 vs. 50. In the Clan War selection tool, the villages that will ultimately participate in the war are shown in green (set to “In”). Furthermore, if your clan has 17 members with their preferences set to “In”, you must manually set 2 users to “Out”, in order to fairly match the opposing Clan. This means your clan will be matched in a 15 vs 15 Clan War. If you set all 20 to “In”, you will be matched up 20 vs 20.
Can I opt out or in when my clan goes to war?
Each Clasher can indicate whether or not they’d like to join in Clan Wars by following these steps:
- Access your Player Profile page by tapping the “XP button” that indicates your level next to the XP bar in your village view
- Tap the “In/Out” button to select your Clan War preference.
Note that this preference indicator is more of a suggestion for your Clan Leader and Co-leaders. Whoever starts the Clan War is still ultimately responsible for choosing who joins the Clan War team. This means that even though you have pressed the “I’m In” button the leader still needs to select you for the War lineup. If you’ve indicated that you’re not available, the leader can still include you in the lineup.
If your Clan Leaders persistently take you into war against your wishes, please use the Clan Chat to reach out to them and talk things through.
How are clans matched up in Clan Wars?
Clans will be matched up based on the overall strength of its members. Strength is based on each member’s attacking power (troops, army camp capacity and spells) and defensive power (defense buildings, walls and traps). Heroes constitute towards a player’s offensive and defensive power.
Unlike the Multiplayer mode, trophies do not factor in when clans are matched. Town Hall levels aren’t a deciding factor in matchmaking either. Only once a player has built the defenses unlocked at his Town Hall level and upgraded to the new troop levels does his weight begin to increase. Therefore the presentation of Town Halls in the Battle Map (whether they are above or below your level) can’t be taken as an accurate representation of the opposing team’s strength.
Matchmaking aims to match Clans with similar ratios of offensive and defensive power against each other. Matchmaking will always try to find matches within a tolerable time however, causing variety in the quality of matchups. Different layouts and base designs do not affect strength. The only way a member’s strength can be changed is if they upgrade their troops, defenses, spells, etc. Finally, matchmaking will factor in Win/Loss records. This ensures that your opponents are worthy adversaries.
I upgraded my Clan Castle but it’s not reflected in Clan Wars!
If you’ve entered a Clan War, and would like to upgrade a building before the fighting begins, you must do so before Preparation day is over. However, there’s an exception to the rule with: The Clan Castle. For technical reasons, the amount of troops your War Base’s Clan Castle can hold must be locked down at the beginning of preparation day. If your Castle is at level 5 with a troop capacity of 30 at the start of preparation day, it will stay at 30 for the duration of the War, even if you’ve upgraded the Castle to level 6 before Preparation Day has ended.
What is Clan XP for and what are perks?
Clan XP is gained by successfully competing in Clan Wars and Clan Games. Every new Clan will begin at experience (“XP”) Level 1. XP is unlocked as follows:
- Defeat an enemy War Base to earn Clan XP. The stronger the opponent, the more Clan XP a victory will be worth!
- Winning Stars is good — winning Stars AND winning the War is even better. The more Stars, the more wins, the bigger the XP reward, the sooner you reach more cool perks.
These features not only make Clash of Clans more competitive, but more awesome altogether. Some Perks are purely visual, such as the Clan badge borders. The borders are the same for each Clan of the same XP level, but as your clan levels up the border graphics become more and more epic.
A comprehensive list of Perks can be found in the “My Clan” section of your profile.
Other important information:
- Perks apply only to your Clan, as if you leave you cannot take them with you.
- Perks are cumulative, i.e. they are not replaced as you level up. You simply collect more.
- Some Perks help you outside of Clan Wars as well. Enjoy them in your day to day Clashing!
- The “Donated Troop Upgrade” Perk will not affect donated troops that have already been maxed out.
- If your Clan has unlocked a Perk, you will not be notified every time it works. For example, if Elixir is returned to you following a troop donation, it will happen automatically, without a pop-up.
Every time your Clan levels up, it is displayed in the Clan Chat for the whole Clan to cheer and check the new Perks assigned to that level.
What is a Tiebreaker?
If each Clan has equal stars at the end of a War, the winner is decided depending on a clan’s ‘total destruction percentage’ aka the tiebreaker:
– The ‘total destruction percentage’ is taken from each side’s players’ best attack.
Keep in mind, total destruction is now shown in the War’s results screen, and in War Stats.
On the other hand, ‘Average destruction’ simply calculates the average amount of destruction from each clan’s attacks completely and does not determine who wins the war.
Do troop donations in Clan Wars count towards achievements?
Troop donations made in Clan Wars will not count toward the Friend in Need achievement (or yield XP).
We’d like to make sure your clan mates donate Clan War troops for a single purpose: to win the War. We want Clashers to be motivated by the cause, and not for gems and achievements. We’re not saying that every player would donate troops without consideration (most Clashers are loyal), but many would give away the cheapest troops available (like Goblins) simply to climb the achievement ladder.
Now that you can drop unwanted Clan War troops, this would be far too easy to exploit, especially given that, in Clan Wars, there is no cool down period between donations.
Again, most Clashers honor sportsmanlike behavior, but there are players who make the most of loopholes. We don’t want fair players to feel like they’re getting the raw end of the deal. We believe this to be a reasonable resolution.