BH9 Upgrade Guide Part 1 (Clash of Clans Builder Base)

It’s time to start talking about how to run the upgrade to BH9!  I’ve broken the upgrade guide and video up into 2 parts.

The introduction of OTTO - the second builder for the BB - and, more to the point, the unusual method of upgrade-by-progress means many players are in one of two positions.  You’re either going to run the OTTO upgrade right away, or you’re going to wait a while and focus on the rest of the game.

OTTO requires 4 steps to upgrade:

1. Complete all Gear-Ups on the Home Village (HV).
2. Upgrade Cannon Carts (CC) to L18.
3. Upgrade the MegaTesla to L9.
4. Upgrade the Battle Machine (BM) to L30.

Now…this is what will typically determine whether you’re in the OTTO First camp or postponing the OTTO upgrade.  If you have not completed the Gear-Ups on your HV, maybe your Battle Machine is still L10 or your MegaTesla is still L5…maybe you haven’t even started your CC upgrading at all yet…then upgrading OTTO may not be the right first step in your BH9 upgrade plan.  Completing the necessary upgrades of these particular items can be a very time consuming effort.  The daily loot limit, cost, and levels can be overwhelming.  Players who are not currently maxed BH8 or nearly so, should consider following a more standard upgrade path that includes dropping everything new, upgrading key troops, upgrading everything new, THEN circling back to work on OTTO.

If, however, you’re further along in the game, then upgrading OTTO right out the gate makes sense.  This is the case even if you aren’t a big fan of Cannon Carts, which I get, especially considering I am predicting an air meta early on!  OTTO will give you a second Builder on the BB and that will significantly improve your upgrade pace.  Faster upgrades means increased competitiveness.

To get a solid jump on the upgrade, you’ll want to take advantage of Books, Runes, resource overflow (buy resources in the Shop), Hammers, and the level-up bonus pack.  My current upgrade plan goes something like this…

1. Upgrade BH8 to BH9 using Gold and a BoB.

2. Drop everything new using Gold.

3. Upgrade Star Lab using Elixir and a  BoB.

4. Upgrade Cannon Carts using a combination of Elixir/BoF and 1 Hammer.

5. Upgrade MegaTesla using a Hammer.

6. Upgrade Battle Machine 3 levels using Elixir and 2 Runes of Builder Elixir (one in storage, the other in this month’s Gold Pass).

7. Upgrade Battle Machine to L29 and L30 using Hammers of Heroes.

That will give me OTTO and from there, I run my upgrade schedule pretty much the same as I have in the past.

8. Upgrade Roaster (probably using a Hammer).
9. Upgrade everything new to L8.

10. Upgrade remaining key defenses to L9 (including Lava Launcher)

Next come secondary then tertiary defenses.  My secondary defense tier includes FireCrackers, AirBombs, Hidden Teslas, Crushers, and Double Cannons.  I plan on upgrading these in exactly this order, again, because I expect an air meta and want to be best capable of defending against it.

As always, Archer Towers, Cannons, and Guard Post (tertiary defenses) will all come at the end of the defensive upgrade roundup and mines/traps will be done in between everything else.

Storages will be able to hold 4.2M Gold/Elixir once the BH is upgraded to BH9.  That is actually enough to upgrade a whole bunch of stuff, especially if you’re using overflowed resource storages and Hammers.  You will not need to upgrade your Gold Storages until you start upgrading key defenses from the storages themselves.  Elixir storages will need to be upgraded typically after your first regular troop upgrade.

I’ve put together my part 1 upgrade video and it is posted online for those who are interested.  I go into a bit more detail and reasoning, focus in on upgrade costs and OTTO.  At the time of posting this article, it is unlisted so consider it an exclusive.    Part 2 will be the more general upgrade path and a discussion of troop upgrades, coming in a couple days.