Best army compositions by Town Hall
The right army turns a hard base into a three-star. Clash of Clans has dozens of viable attacks, but a few evergreen compositions dominate each Town Hall range. This guide walks through the strongest, most reliable armies from TH7 to the endgame, and what to level in the Laboratory first so those armies actually hit their potential.
Your heroes anchor most of these attacks — see the heroes guide for how to level them.
TH7–TH8 — top armies
Mass Dragons
Fill your camps with Dragons and a few Lightning Spells to take out a single Air Defense. Simple, forgiving, and dominant at these levels before air defenses catch up.
GiBarch / Gor
Giants to tank, Barbarians and Archers (or Goblins) to clean up. The classic cheap farming army for TH7–TH8.
Hog Riders
Once your Dark Barracks are up, mass Hogs jump walls and chew through defenses fast — your first real war army.
TH9–TH10 — top armies
LavaLoon
Lava Hounds tank for Balloons. The premier air three-star army through TH9–TH11; needs good Balloon pathing and Haste/Rage spell control.
Mass Hog Riders
Hogs + Heal Spells with a Queen/King to open. Punishes bases with clustered defenses.
GoWiPe / Miner spam
Miners burrow under walls and are healer-friendly; a forgiving ground three-star that carries all the way through TH11.
TH11–TH12 — top armies
Electro Dragons (Zap Dragons)
Chain-lightning Dragons with Lightning/Zap to disable an Inferno. Point-and-click friendly and very strong at TH11–TH13.
Queen Charge + LavaLoon
A Queen Charge takes out the enemy Queen and a chunk of the base, then LavaLoon cleans up. A staple competitive TH11–TH12 attack.
Yeti / Witch (Bat) spam
Yetis with their Yetimites, or Witches with a Bat Spell, flood the base with bodies — devastating with the Warden’s Eternal Tome.
TH13–TH16+ — top armies
Super Archer Blimp
A Blimp (Siege) drops Super Archers deep into the core; their long-range hits snipe key defenses in a lane. A signature surgical attack.
Root Riders
The go-to TH15–TH16 spam — Root Riders ignore walls and trample defenses, backed by Rage and the Warden. Extremely strong and easy to execute.
Hydra (Dragons + Electro Dragons)
A hybrid air smash that overwhelms modern bases; pairs Electro and regular Dragons behind a Lava Hound tank.
Queen Charge Hybrid
Queen Charge into Hogs + Miners — the flexible high-skill ceiling attack for pushing and competitive war.
What to level in the Lab first
The Laboratory upgrades one troop or spell at a time on a timer that’s independent of your Builders, so it should never sit idle. Prioritise like this:
- Your main attacking troop first. Whatever your go-to comp is (Dragons, Balloons, Hogs, Root Riders), max that unit before anything else — it’s where lab time pays off most.
- Core spells early. Rage, Heal, Freeze and Poison get used in almost every attack and defense. A level behind on Rage can cost you a three-star.
- Clan Castle / support troops next. Whatever you request for war (Ice Golems, Headhunters, wall-breaking support) should be current.
- Off-meta troops last. Units you don’t use can wait — don’t burn lab time on troops that never leave your camp.
Air vs ground
Air armies (Dragons, LavaLoon, Electro) are easier to control and forgiving of pathing, but live or die by enemy Air Defenses and Air Sweepers — scout those first. Keep at least one solid air comp in your pocket for bases weak against air.
Spam vs precision
Spam armies (Root Riders, Zap Dragons, Hogs) deploy fast and forgive mistakes — great for farming and clan wars alike. Precision attacks (Queen Charge, Blimp) have a higher skill ceiling and beat well-designed bases the spam can’t crack.
Learn one attack properly
The most common mistake at every Town Hall from 9 upward is collecting attack strategies instead of learning one. Five armies you can half-execute will lose to one army you know precisely: where to start the funnel, how much of it you need, when to drop the Rage, what to do when the Queen walks the wrong way. That knowledge is what separates a two-star from a three-star, and it does not transfer between compositions.
Pick the attack that matches your account rather than the one topping the charts. If your heroes are behind, a hero-light composition will genuinely serve you better than the strongest strategy at your Town Hall, and you can switch once they catch up.
Funnelling is the skill, not the army
Nearly every failed attack at mid-to-high Town Halls fails for the same reason: the main force went somewhere the player did not intend. Funnelling — clearing the buildings on either side of your entry point so your army is forced toward the core — is the single highest-value skill to practise, and it costs nothing but a few troops and some attention.
A good rule when you are learning: budget more for the funnel than feels reasonable. Losing four Valkyries to a clean funnel and three-starring is a better trade than saving them and watching your army circle the base.
Clan Castle troops and sieges
Donated troops are the largest free power increase available to any account, and most players under-use them by accepting whatever arrives. Ask for what your attack needs. A single well-chosen defensive donation also wins more defences than a couple of defence levels will.
On offence, the siege machine is a decision, not a default. A Log Launcher opens a path through walls; a Siege Barracks delivers troops behind the first line; a Battle Blimp puts your Clan Castle troops straight onto the core. Sending whichever one happens to be built is leaving a real advantage unused.