CoC BB - Base Building 101

Builder’s Hall - Base Design Guide

There are a lot of base designs out there for the Builder’s Hall.  Some are great, some are…well…not so great.  No base can defend against ALL attacks and many base designers will offer up clickbait claims like, “Anti-1-Star!” or “Best BHx Ever!!!”, which are usually pretty easy to spot.  

What if you just want to know how to build your own so you can tinker?

Young padawan, to the right place, you have come!  Much knowledge, have I, to share!

The goals of any good base design are to path, block, and surprise.  The best designs take advantage of known troop weaknesses and target preferences to reduce an opponent’s army size (or decimate it entirely).  Using these target preferences will help path troops to where you want them.  Walls, of course, block troops from getting access to defensive structures and the BH plus they can be used to further path troops to other structures or areas of the base.  Placement of mines and traps are key to the surprise element

Here are some tips and tricks I’ve come up with as I design and/or modify bases.


GENERAL
  1. Never place a structure somewhere that it's just a giveaway (Ike the corner of the game grid); at the very least, use it as a distraction or to draw troops in a certain direction.
  2. Avoid placing defenses of the same type together; overlap range, but separate them...they do not really double up damage against most attacks.
  3. Think about how YOU would attack your base then tighten it up.
  4. Avoid dense, tight bases but don't spread out so far you lose overlapping zones.
  5. Don't be obvious - lots of base designs put an air Mine right next to the AirBombs...just say no!
  6. If you use someone else's design, be sure to move mines/traps around.  It's a good idea to do this periodically just to freshen things up.
  7. Establish a path for your opponent; lure his eye (and troops) to begin where you want so you can control the pathing.  For example - bases like the southern teaser openly invite the enemy to launch his attack there; combined with some discouraging design at the top, and he might just give it a try.
  8. Traps should change depending upon what kinds of attacks you're seeing; lots of ground attacks, set the mines to ground...more air attacks, set them to air.
  9. Design to the current meta for your levels; for example early BH5 is dominated by ground, late BH5 by air and trophy levels 1500-2000 by ground; 2200-3000 by air (check these ranges)
  10. Each troop has a weakness - SA...3 Tiles; BM loves the Crusher and the FCs, DCs rip him up; RB...Crusher; NWs...mines and MM; Beta Minions...AirBombs and Roaster.  Level 6 MM can take out SA in one volley.
  11. No base covers every attack strategy.

AIR DEFENSE
  1. Centralize air defenses.
    • Air defenses on the perimeter are easily destroyed; put a few buildings between them and the outer layer of the base and they will mercilessly destroy enemy air troops from afar.
  2. Separate air defenses around the core; never put them on the outer edges.
    • This one speaks for itself - bring ‘em into the middle or at least have a couple of buildings between them and the edge.
  3. Place AirBombs behind and adjacent to BH, preferably on side opposite most likely approach vector.
    • Centralization and distance - AirBombs that are directly adjacent to the BH will fire on any air troops that are in range of firing on the BH.  
  4. Place Roaster and AirBombs on opposite sides of BH.
    • The Roaster and AirBombs offer a solid, air troop targeting defensive shield.  Many players place them side-by-side which actually makes them easier to take out for mass units like Beta Minions and the Night Witch’s Bats (who are good for distracting these two defensive structures).  Separate them and you get a much more solid coverage area with less collateral damage.
  5. Use high HP structures outside of core but within reach of FCs to slow down Minions.
    • Beta minions are tough to beat back BUT, if you give them something to chew on for a while, the air targeting defenses will whittle away at their number until they are ineffective.
  6. Use mines of last resort.
    • If your base centralizes the BH, add a couple of small mines set to air along the likeliest approach.  Enemy troops will often be weakened after trying to reach the BH and these may take them out.
  7. Try to put a MegaMine set to air in the north or south apex of your base.
    • Most air attacks, including Night Witch attacks with their bats, start at the northern or southern apex of a base.  That makes this the ideal place to drop a MegaMine set to air.  

BATTLE MACHINE DEFENSE
  1. Put FCs next to Crushers to lure BM
    • The Battle Machine has a known affinity for FireCrackers and likes to stand in front of Crushers while pounding on other things, so why not take advantage of it?
  2. Put Guard Post within range of and behind Crusher to distract BM while Crusher pounds it to dust
    • Did I mention that the Battle Machine is easily distracted?  The Guard Post troops will pull him off whatever he’s doing and he’ll focus on hammering them.
  3. Use Double Cannons to inflict greater damage on BM; position opposite sides/angles but covering  general approach
    • The DCs are rough on the BM.  Properly positioned, they can take the BM down in no time at all.  (Just wait until the new Giant Cannon is released at BH7; it’s rumored to take a level 15 BM out in just three hits!)

GROUND DEFENSE
  1. Use pathing of defense structures to draw Giants into Crushers.
    • Giants target defensive structures before anything else.  Set your defenses up such that the Giant will walk from one, to another, to another…until you have them right in front of a Crusher.  If you can get them in range of the Crusher while they beat on another defense, that’s even better.
  2. Walls either slow down BM or path troops
    • A closed, box base uses walls to block troops from entering.  This will slow them down but, eventually, they’ll break through.  Make sure you have defenses that can target beyond the walls to take a few out while they make entry.  
    • Likewise, walls are great for pathing troops.  There are many open base designs that have no closed compartments at all; the walls are strictly used to direct troops to easy targets.
  3. Multiple compartments slow ground troops.
    • Along the same lines of walls blocking - multiple compartments will slow ground troops as they go from one to the other to the other.  Meanwhile, your defenses pick them off, just a few at a time, until they’re ineffective.
  4. Push Traps that point to the Crushers; one to another to the Crusher; Spring straps around corners.
    • Push Traps are great for launching one or more enemy troops right at the Crusher.  You can also point one trap to another trap that points to the Crusher.
  5. Place high HP structures in front of defensive structures.
    • If you can get the enemy to beat on a high HP structure while a defensive structure sitting right behind it is beating on his troops, you’ve won the battle.
  6. Set ground targeting defenses so they can reach the outer perimeter of the base from as central a point as possible.
    • You want junk buildings all around your defensive structures, but you need to make sure those structures can still reach troops attacking those buildings.
For the companion video to this article, please go to the following link:



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