Troops upgrade costs and times

Data current as of Jul 10, 2026·Updated Oct 4, 2026

Troop levels are set entirely by the Laboratory. Barracks and the Dark Barracks unlock a troop; every level after the first is a research job in the lab, paid in elixir or dark elixir, gated by your Laboratory level, and run one at a time on a timer that has nothing to do with your builders. That single queue is why lab time is the scarcest resource for most attackers, and why it should never sit idle.

Each section below lists every research step with its cost, research time and the Laboratory level it needs, along with the Town Hall where that lab level first becomes available. Level 1 is unlocked rather than researched, so tables start at level 2. The TH Cap row shows the highest level each troop reaches at each Town Hall, worked out from the Laboratory's maximum level there.

The Town Hall filter hides research you cannot start yet and recalculates the totals: how many days of continuous lab time maxing every troop takes, and how much elixir and dark elixir it costs. Read that number as a ceiling rather than a target. Almost nobody maxes every troop at a Town Hall, and the right plan is to max the ones your attacks use.