Layout Design

Overview

In Clash of Clans the adage “The best defense is a good offense” takes on a new meaning. To be good at building base layouts you must first be good at using the core army types. Once you have mastered an army type you will be able to identify what bases are hardest to attack with that army type. You can then incorporate elements from these base layouts into your own base.

Building a war layout

An important observation on building a war layout is that it is impossible to defend against all army types with a single layout. You will want to be as strong as possible against all common war armies but every war base can be 3 starred somehow (we’ll get to this in the war army section). Therefore the first decision you must make when designing a layout is what army types would you like to be strongest against. Another important decision is whether you are defending against 2 star attacks or against 3 star attacks. This will often be impacted by the clan you are in, the average town hall level relative to your own town hall and the number of players that join the average war. For example, a single town hall 5 in a clan of town hall 4 players should be concerned about giving 2 stars too easily as this might be the difference between winning or losing the war. A th 5 in a clan of th7s may give out 2 stars easily if doing so makes 3 stars more difficult.

We, at New Scientists, have gathered some general tips on how to defend against certain troops and army types however it is important to remember that the level of attacking troops and the level of defenses are also a factor (for example, if as a new th8 you have 2 lvl 6 ADs [Air Defenses] and 1 lvl 2 AD your layout should probably focus on defending the 2 stronger ADs)

Some general tips useful for most base layouts:
 * place your highest lvl walls in intersections or inside the base
 * place your bombs and big bombs inside the walls in areas ground troops are most likely to step on
 * Buildings such as barracks, spell factories, resource collectors have no value in war other than distracting and delaying attackers. They do not necessarily have to be inside the walls. However - you should put thought into their placement too, as they can be useful (for example - for funneling troops to go where you want them)
 * Double walls are in most cases wasteful. Wallbreakers break both layers and using the walls the walls to create extra sections is usually more valuable.
 * Builders huts in the corners can sometimes prevent 3 stars but allow easy luring of the clan castle. Decide which is more important for your specific base.
 * Always make sure the clan castle troops defending your base complement your layout.

Defending against army types:

BARCH – BARCH is only relevant as a war strategy in the lowest town hall levels. Against BARCH the mortar and wizards tower are most effective. Keep them behind buildings and and well defended. Spread them out so that when an army attacks from a certain side the defense on the far side can continue bombarding as long as possible.

GIBARCH – When defending against giants you want to occupy the giants with point defenses such as archer towers and cannons while the mortars and wizards towers attack the giants and the barbarians\archers. A good defense against giants is the spring trap. You want to place the spring traps between defenses and if possible place walls so that they force the giants onto the spring traps.

BALLOON PARADE – The path of balloons is easy to predict. You want your AD to be as central as possible and the rest of your defenses aligned in a way that will draw the balloons away from the AD. Also spread out your archers towers and place them behind cannons if possible. This will allow them more time to shoot at the balloons.

GIWI – at th5 wizards replace barch in the most common offensive army. The defense against giants is similar however you want the mortars to be focused on the wizards, rather than on the giants. This can be done by trapping the giants outside the wall closest to the mortar. While the giants are occupied trying to break down the wall, the mortars get free shots at the wizards.

GIWIHEALER – At th6 healers make the GIWI army even more effective. You should have your AD as central as possible to prevent giants (or even cc hogs) from taking it out

DRAGONS – Defending against dragons is difficult at th7 however there are numerous ways to make it more difficult to 3 star.