There are many different types of troops in Clash of Clans, and like the spell upgrades, choosing which troops to upgrade depends on which kinds of armies and troops you use the most for farming and wars. The types of troops you tend to use the most depends on which attacks you like to use the best. Since the armies, and therefore the troops that you use for farming are probably very different from the ones you use for war, it will come down to deciding which troop upgrade will provide you as well as your clan with the most value. Upgrading your farming army will provide you with more farming loot and higher trophies, while upgrading your warring army will help you and your clan win more war attacks and therefore more wars. Here I will provide an overview of each individual troop in the game, and then we will briefly discuss how you can apply your army usage to making upgrading decisions.
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| Barbarian |
The barbarian is the first troop you are able to use in the game. He is a melee troop, and has to be right up on a target in order to attack it. He has a moderate speed, moderate health, and in groups they can have very high damage. Barbarians are fast and cheap to train, so you can make an army of them in no time, and if you start making more before looking for an opponent to attack you will likely have an army nearly ready by the time you find an opponent and finish your attack on them.
Barbarians are still rather low hit point troops, and therefore they are vulnerable to mortars and wizard towers. They are more resilient than archers, however, and can withstand 2-3 mortar strikes or 3-5 hits from the wizard tower. Up until TH-6 or so, barbarians can be used alone and swarm bases from all sides, overwhelming the defenses and staying so spread out that splash damage defenses are mostly ineffective. After TH-6, it will become more difficult to pull off because there are more mortars and wizard towers, and the walls become difficult for the barbs to get through. At this point, it may be more effective to use the barbarians with other troops like archers, goblins and giants in a more diverse attack.
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| Archer |
The archer has a fast speed, moderate damage that is extremely high in groups, and very low health. Archers attack at range, and can shoot their arrows over enemy walls if their target on the other side is within range. The Achilles heel of archers is their low health, which can cause groups of them to get one-shotted by mortars or quickly taken out in a few hits by wizard towers. For this reason, it is best to keep archers spread out as long as possible unless they are behind a meat shield like a group of giants or barbs. Archers and giants can be a great combination for farming because the giants target defenses and keep them distracted, while the archers hang behind them and deal all the damage from a safe distance.
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| Giant |
Giants are slow moving, high hit point tanks that do very little damage to structures. The giants are usually used as meat shields because they can take such a large amount of damage and keep on going. These huge red haired units should be released out in front of all the other troops so they can grab the attention of all the defenses, allowing the other units to sneak in from behind and destroy everything. Giants will specifically target defenses, and won't target anything else (besides walls to get to the next defense) until all defenses are destroyed. They are also useful in pulling the clan castle troops because the giants will walk right past any buffer buildings (as long as they are not defenses) and head straight to the nearest defense, or the wall protecting the nearest defense. Giants are useful in many situations and attacks, and for many players they are one of the most used troops in the game.
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| Goblin |
The goblin is a very quick, low hit point troop that does high damage to resource buildings. Goblins are specialized units that specifically target resource buildings and cause double damage to them. The goblin has great strategic value when used efficiently. They are extremely quick, and can normally outrun the shots of the mortar when they are on the move. Goblins can even outrun bombs before they explode if they continue to run past them.
Goblins can be used in a few different ways; they can be used to farm abandoned bases by quickly destroying all the mines and elixir collectors around the outside of the base, or they can be deployed once the main army opens up a route to the storages inside the base, and now they can even be used to help destroy the town hall and clan castle (goblins now target and do double damage to them), which is really helpful since these high hit point structures can really slow down a raid. Try to only release the goblins when they will be able to move freely and avoid being targeted by the splash damage defenses, because if a group gets stuck on a wall near a wizard tower it will take them out very quickly. Similarly, if a group gets stuck hitting walls on the outside of the village, the mortars will kill the entire group in a single hit.
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| Wall Breaker |
The wall breaker is a fast moving, extremely low hit point unit that does low damage to normal buildings, but does 40x damage to walls. These units are one of the most strategically important units in the game, and can make or break an attack if (or if not) used properly. Because of their very low health, wall breakers are easily killed by any defense if they are targeted, so you must have another troop distracting the defenses before you deploy any wall breakers. Make sure not to release them too close to your giants, because they will likely be hit by a stray mortar shot as they follow in behind the giants. It could be wise to send the wall breakers in groups of 2-3, and drop the groups in the same spot but a second or two apart so that all your wall breakers are not able to be taken out at once by a mortar shot or bomb. Dropping them from the same spot usually helps ensure that they will follow the same path and penetrate deeply into the base.
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| Balloon |
The balloon is an extremely slow troop that targets defenses and has moderately high hit points. While it is slow, it does very high damage, destroying most buildings in 1-2 hits. The damage per shot at max level is around 600, but it takes a few seconds between shots, so the damage per second is quite a bit lower. The balloons can tank damage from normal defenses fairly well, but the air defenses can take down balloons in only a couple hits. Balloons work great with rage and haste spells, because with their speed increased the balloons are deadly and can quickly take out all the defenses in a base. Balloons are great for backing up dragons or being deployed with minions and lava hounds to take out defenses while the other troops distract the defenses and destroy the other buildings.
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| Wizard |
The wizard is one of the favorite troops of many players. He has average speed, moderate health, and does high damage. A group of wizards inside a rage spell can do more damage than almost any troop in the game. Wizards are ranged attackers and can shoot over walls just like archers. They can shoot from behind the meat shields from a safe distance and quickly destroy the buildings they target. Wizards can destroy buildings so quickly that they can clear out an enclosure without the melee troops having to sit and hack away at the walls to get inside, and if they have to get through walls, the wizards will make getting through the walls much faster. Healing spells are perfect for keeping the wizards going when they start getting the attention of defenses, which usually happens once they reach the center of a base. Dropping a rage and a heal on top of each other is a great strategy for GoWiPe and variations of it when the army reaches the center of the base, it will help them quickly clear out the entire enclosure quickly including the TH and CC.
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| Healer |
The healer is a highly specialized unit, and is actually the only unit that does not cause direct damage to enemy buildings or troops. Instead, the healer is a support based troop that targets your troops and heals all troops in the area of their target for a specified amount. She has a moderately slow movement speed and moderately high hit points. Upgrading the healer increases the amount each of her shots heals for, as well as her life. Some players rarely ever use healers, while other players use them very often. The healer can be used in farming attacks and war attacks to support the army and give the troops increased survivability. She isn't very useful with low hit point troops like archers, barbs and goblins because they tend to die before she can hit them with a heal. She is most useful with giants and wizards for farming attacks. The healer cannot target air troops, so it is pointless to take her with you in an air attack. The healer herself is actually considered an air troop, so she can be targeted by air defenses and archer towers, but not by mortars and cannons. Because she can be targeted by air defenses she should be placed well behind the front lines, and shouldn't be dropped until any air defenses are cleared from the initial site you begin your raid. In the last update, the healer was changed so that multiple healers healing the same target do decreased healing. This was probably meant to stop the Queen walk attack strategy, where players simply take their Queen and several healers to farm dark elixir from bases.
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| Dragon |
Dragons are a very powerful flying unit that has slow speed, but high hit points and damage. They don't attack any specific target, just the next closest building. Dragons can do massive amounts of damage, but are expensive and take 30 minutes each to train. All dragon attacks are very popular in wars for both TH-7's and TH-8's. Some players choose an alternate form of dragon attack where they take balloons to help destroy the air defenses, since balloons target defenses specifically they get to the air defenses faster and the dragons keep the defenses attention so the balloons don't get targeted until it's too late. Some players also use dragons with lava hounds to tank for them while the dragons destroy the base. Useful spells for dragons are rage, haste, and heal spells. The rage and haste spells help speed up the slow dragons so they plow through the base even faster, while the heal spell keeps the dragons alive while they make their way to the air defenses, which are really their only threat. Upgrading your dragons will give them a sizeable boost to their life and damage, and is definitely worth doing when you are able.
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| P.E.K.K.A. |
The PEKKA is the last elixir troop you can get currently in the game. PEKKA has very high hit points and very high damage, but is rather slow. Many players complain that PEKKA is also very dumb, meaning that they tend to go in the wrong direction during a raid and are prone to end up circling the outside of a base instead of following the rest of the army inside. The reason for this is that PEKKA is a ground troop that doesn't target anything specific, simply the next closest building, and when players try to use them with the tanking portion of an army and think of them in that way, they are surprised when the PEKKAs deviate from the rest of the tanks after they are deployed. It takes a good funnel to avoid this, so I suggest placing 2 wizards on each side of the tanks to destroy the buildings that might pull the PEKKAs away from where you want them to go. Once the wizards destroy 1-2 buildings, you should be able to drop the PEKKAs in the center and they should funnel directly into the base with the rest of the army. PEKKAs have a slow attack rate, but do huge damage with each strike. Upgrading them increases their health and damage by a significant amount. The PEKKA is useful in war attacks in the GoWiPe attack or some variant of it. They can serve as both tank and damage dealer in an attack, and work well with wizards as they act as protection while the wizards help them destroy the target. This works well because they tend to target the same buildings as the wizards since PEKKAs do not have a favorite target like golems or giants. PEKKAs are a favorite troop of many players in Clash of Clans, but to be truly useful they must be properly deployed and used in the right kind of attacks.
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| The Elixir Troops Together |
The upgrades on elixir troops will depend on what you use the most, as well as whether you would rather improve your farming or war attacks first. It is highly suggested that you upgrade your dragons to max with every new TH level, because dragons are a great attack troop for wars at TH-7 & 8. Wizards, giants, and archers are all good choices as well. They can be upgraded if you want to make your farming attacks easier and earn you more loot each time. Once you hit TH-9, you will want to start thinking about using a GoWiPe or GoVaPe style attack along with Lavaloonion or Balloonion for air attacks in war. This means upgrading all the troops that make up these attacks, like PEKKAs, archers, wizards, golems, balloons, dragons, lava hounds, valkyries, witches, and wall breakers to help get your troops through the walls.
I wouldn't recommend worrying too much about the healer upgrades unless you use them often or you have run out of other troops to upgrade. Upgrading your balloons is also useful at TH-7 & 8 since that will allow you not only to use all dragon attacks but also dragoon attacks combining dragons and balloons. This can be an extremely effective attack if used correctly at these TH levels, and is a bit faster and cheaper than using all dragons.
My best suggestion is to go out and try these different attacks and see which ones suit you best, and form there decide how you want to go about upgrading your troops. See which war attacks work best for you and seem to always get you 3-stars on your opponents, and see which attacks you like, which ones fit your attack style best. When I was at TH-8, I really enjoyed using dragoon attacks, and was usually able to get 5-6 stars for my clan each war with that attack. Hog attacks are another option to look into, especially before TH-9 when GoWiPe isn't as powerful.
Once you decide 1-2 of your favorite attacks for farming and for war, then decide whether you enjoy farming or warring more, and upgrade the troops used in attacks for your favorite game mode first. After that, then you can upgrade the other troops, and when you finish them up you can go ahead and upgrade troops that you rarely use. For more on spell upgrades and where they play into all of this, check out my post on spells here: http://soyouwannaclash.blogspot.com/2016/01/spell-factory-and-dark-spell-factory.html
Good luck, if you have any questions on any of this just leave a comment and I will help you out!
Clash on!!
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