Clash of Clans Builder Base - New Update Guide

Builder Base - New Update Guide 

 

Builder Base Guide

Hi guys, Judo Sloth here, I run a Clash of Clans YouTube channel and I wanted to give some advice on the new Builder Base following my experience with it from the developer build. You've clicked update, repaired the ship and arrived at the Builder Base – massive right, but where do you start? Well I aim to break down the different aspects for you here. This guide is not meant to provide in-depth strategy; the update has only just been released. However this will provide you lots of advice to get you going!

Contents
What's different?
What you unlock at each Builder Hall Level.
Attacking
Troops
Defences
Buildings
Strategy Advice
What do you want to see?


What's Different?
Although the update I'm sure will bring new people to the game, we're all Clashers so you'll have a good idea of how things go, but the Builder Base does differ to your Home Village in a number of ways. The Builder Base is all based around the Versus Battle. This is the area you use for 1v1. You do have mines and collectors but most of your resources will come for battling. All of your resources can be used to upgrade your troops/base as it does not cost anything to create troops or to battle. Resources gained from battling will be from a 'Win Bonus' and then a '3x Win Bonus' which you can gain once per day. Once you have won 3 matches you cannot gain any more resources from battling on that day – but you can still battle to increase your trophies, for practice or just fun – which I certain plan to do! The Win Bonus works similar to the Star Bonus in your home village in that if you miss a day it will roll over and you can have 2 win bonus ready to go. You can also use gems to unlock the win bonus again.

You have to build everything! Unlike in your home village you cannot upgrade to the next Builder Hall level until you have built everything available, all offensive and defensive buildings.

You can switch troops! Every army camp houses a single type of troop – not a capacity (so you need 2 army camps before you could take more than a single type of troop to battle). Each troop will take 1 minute to cook irrespective of what it is. When you find an opponent you will have 1 minute to scout the base before you attack. Within this time you can switch your army freely to anything you want in order to customise your composition to the base instead of having a pre-built army – cool right! This is also explained under the 'Attacking' section.

Special Abilities – There are no spells in the Builder Base. Instead, troops have special abilities (similar to the Baby Dragon in your home village which receives a rage bonus). You have to upgrade troops to unlock their Special Ability. Each level upgrade will provide increased benefits to a specific area whether that be hitpoints, special ability or increased number within a camp. These are described in the 'Troops' section.

Gear Ups – the Master Builder is able to visit your home village to 'gear up defences'. Currently you can turn one cannon into a double cannon.

Rechargeable Ability – When you unlock the Battle Machine (Builder Base Hero) and level it to level 5 you gain access to the hero ability. Unlike what you're used to the ability is rechargeable and can be pressed again after a set amount of time so long as the Battle Machine doesn't get taken out. Keep an eye on that hero and press, press, press!
Walls – You cannot place single wall pieces on your base. Instead them come attached in lines of 5 pieces.


What you unlock at each Builder Hall Level.
Here is a list of what you unlock at each level but descriptions will follow in their appropriate subsection.
Level 2 – You will have to upgrade to level 2 as part of the tutorial. At level 2 you will have available the Raged Barbarian and Sneaky Archer as troops. Defences available include Cannon, Double Cannon, Archer Tower, Walls and Push Trap. You can also build 2 army camps at this level.
Level 3 – Troops unlocked include the Boxer Giant and Beta Minion along with a 3rd army camp. Defences unlocked include the Hidden Tesla, Firecrackers, Crusher, Spring Trap and Mine.
Level 4 – Troops unlocked include the Bomber and Baby Dragon along with the 4th army camp. Defences unlocked include the Guard Post, Air Bombs and Mega Mine.
Level 5 – The Battle Machine (your Builder Base hero) is unlocked with ability once it is upgraded to level 5. Defensively you unlock the Multi Mortar.

Attacking
When you click the 'Attack' then 'Find Now' button you will be matched up with another player within your trophy range. You both attack each other at the same time (you don't see your opponent attack you) as you are both online and have searched. The person with the best stars then percentage wins, simple. The higher in trophy range you are the more resources you will gain from a win and 3-win bonus. On attacking you will get 1 minute to scout. Possibly the coolest feature is that within this feature you can freely swap your army by clicking the little arrow. This brings up the other troops you have unlocked which you can switch to any of them. This means you can try and take advantage of weaknesses within a base. Once the 1 minute has expired or you deploy a troop your 3 minute attack time will begin and you can no longer change your army. My advice, take your time and be patient. 3 minutes is a long time against these small bases – take your time to take out those snipes and create your funnel. I have found success in coming at a base with a mini kill-squad often for just 1 or 2 objectives. I will give some strategy advice in the 'Strategy' section, but it is brand new and more practice is needed really.


Troops
Enraged Barbarian – The first troop you unlock in the Builder Base. Very similar to the regular Barbarian but with increased Speed and Damage initially due to its 'Rage' Special Ability.

Sneaky Archer – The Archer is just what you would think but with a Sneaky Ability. When first deployed the Sneaky Archer will be cloaked/invisible (just like the Archer Queen ability). This makes them great for sniping buildings on the outside of a base to help with funnelling/percent.

Boxer Giant – The Giant much like in your home village is great for absorbing fire and tanking for other troops. The difference, on unlocking the 'Power Punch' ability the Boxer Giant will deal extra damage on the first attack.

Beta Minion – Minions in your home village are often used to 'snipe' buildings so what better of a special ability than the 'Long Shot'. For a short period of time the Beta Minion will fire from a longer range meaning you can more easily snipe off buildings that may normally be in range of defences.

Bomber (NEW TROOP) – Unlike the previous troops which just are similar to home village troops but with a special ability, the Bomber is a brand new troop for Clash of Clans. Imagine a wallbreaker that could throw the bombs – introducing the Bomber! It will attack anything and everything – buildings, walls, whatever he sees first, although he does get a bonus against walls (similar to the regular wallbreaker in your home village). Similar to the Boxer Giant, the Bombers special ability is being able to deal extra damage with the first bomb. This troop is great if you have defences distracted.

Baby Dragon – This troop doesn't need much introduction. The Baby Dragon works the same as within the home village as receives a bonus when not in range of other air units.

Cannon Cart (NEW TROOP) – Another new troop! You've always used the cannon for defence, but why not take it on offense. It is exactly what it sounds like, a cannon on wheels. The Cannon Cart will bring tons of fire to the battle field and doesn't like to be taken down without getting a few final shots in with its 'Last Stand' special ability. A great troop to use as part of a kill squad or when well protected.

Battle Machine – Your Master Builders prized invention. This is your Builder Base Hero. You don't unlock it until BH5 and need to upgrade it to level 5 before being able to use the ability. I would say it's similar to the Barbarian King – very good for tanking but with a re-useable ability. That's right, the ability has a regeneration time so you can use it again and again so long as he doesn't get taken out.

Defences
Cannon, Hidden Tesla and Spring Traps – These are the same, no change from your home village.

Double Cannon – Similar to the Cannon but has a burst fire and ability to unload multiple shots. It does however have shorter range than the normal cannon.

The Archer Tower – Within the Builder Base the Archer Tower has a nice new mechanic where you can customise it to your base design by setting it to 'Fast Attack' (but shorter range) or 'Long Range' (but less damage per second).

Firecracker – Very similar to an Air Defence in your home base but not quite as powerful. It does provide a burst fire.

Air Bombs – Don't get confused, this is actually a defensive structure and its powerful. This is your heavyweight air defence – protect it wisely. The Air Bombs provide a constant stream of air traps when a troop is within range, deadly if not taken down.

Mine and Mega Mine – Similar to the Bomb and Giant Bomb from your home village but with the ability to switch them between ground/air. As with the Archer Tower, this is per trap, so you could set half to air and half to ground.

Crusher – Deadly against ground attackers. It provides splash damage and is a huge hitter, even your hero will suffer drastically if caught underneath. As this defence crashes to the ground it can wreck mass armies but does take a bit of time to recharge for another strike. Why don't you try using the Push Trap to throw troops under the Crusher – it's great fun!

Multi Mortar – Are you getting the idea that these defences in the Builder Base are epic, well this one is no different. It's long range allows it to take out ground units extremely quickly although you don't need to worry about it until BH5. If a stack of Cannon Carts or Bombs are clumped up it will have no mercy!

Push Trap – This is a fun trap to play around with. You are displayed with a small 'x' indicating where the trap will push attacking troops to. At first you might think of automatically pushing troops back away from your base but I've actually had better success with other methods. For example, try placing a regular spring trap underneath the 'x' if you want to have a laugh. Alternatively throwing troops inside your base can actually be effective as defences can focus on just them few troops and take them down quickly. On occasion I've been able to push Giants away from the troops they were tanking and providing coverage for. One final thing to consider is not to push troops inside of the Multi Mortars 'non-fire' area unless you can take them out. Once I split up a ground of Archers with a push trap which would have been taken out by the Multi Mortar, they were then able to surround it and take it down for the 3 star. A fun trap for us to try out for sure though.

Guard Post – This simulates Clan Castle troops within the Builder Base, however you cannot change the troops surrounding it. As you upgrade the Guard Post you will have more troops protecting your base. When attacking you will be able to see the troops walking around defending the area.

Walls – There isn't much to discuss other than what was mentioned in the 'What's Different' section. Wall pieces come attached in a line of 5. This helps keep the base building relatively quick – which is what I personally like most about the Builder Base – its quick to jump on for a short amount of time to play.


Buildings
Clock Tower – If you boost your barracks in the home village then you will love the Clock Tower. Not only does it train troops faster, but it also boosts resources, research and build time – x10 quicker! As you level up the Clock Tower it provides a longer boost time – up to 14 minutes every 8 hours. The advice is basically press it, over and over. Obviously if you are going to be attacking and playing the game it is the ideal time to use it but if you didn't plan to play for over 8 hours and just logged on to collect mines – press it. It will boost your mines for the period of time and be ready to press again when you wanted to play, a nice boost for the Builder Base.

Gem Mine – The Gem Mine is here! Not much to explain, it gives you free gems, not a lot, but better than a kick in the teeth. A huge advantage is it's large capacity, so even if you couldn't log onto Clash for a few days (WHAT?!?) it would still be working in the background to give you a nice reward when you return.


Strategy Advice
As explained, the update has just came out so the strategy advice here is from playing for a relatively short period of time and with a small sample size. However, I will try and explain a few methods I have found successful. These strategies include all of the way up to BH5 as in the very early stages you will be limited as you don't have all of the troops unlocked. Barch will be your friend originally.

General Advice – Starting out you want to save up for your second army camp as soon as possible. This will give you a massive boost as not only can you take more troops, as soon as you unlock the Sneaky Archers you can take a variety. I have found most success with a small kill-squad in an attempt to take down a key objective/s. This could be a defence that is particularly vulnerable which will set up the attack for the rest of the base. For example, Mass Archers – you don't have to worry about splash damage in the early Builder Hall levels but as you progress if you can take out the Multi Mortar easily I have been able to swarm a base with Archers. Since they're sneaky you get the added bonus to help funnel them as well.

Baby Dragons – You will be most familiar with the troop mechanic of the Baby Dragon and it is a great troop within the Builder Base. My favourite composition is to take 1 Army Camp of Cannon Carts to use alongside the Battle Machine and take out the Air Bomb defence. I then take the other 3 Camps with Baby Dragons. It is important to try and be surgical with the Baby Dragons and take out ground targetting defences as your Battle Machine is moving forward to help protect it. This also keeps it on track towards the Air Bomb. You may need to deploy some Baby Dragons first to funnel for the Battle Machine and Cannon Carts but you could also take Beta Minions/Sneaky Archers if it was appropriate.

Giants and Bombers – This is worth noting as it is an easy strategy to get the hang of and can be deadly, especially for the high percentage 2 star.