Clash of Clans Clan Wars:  How Do They Work?

            Clash of Clans, a massive multiplayer base-building mobile game (MMBBMG?) and one of the most popular mobile games to date. But how does it stack up really? Mobile gaming is really a genre unto itself, and it isn’t really fair to compare it to other platforms. Clash of Clans is a simple, engaging fun experience, we think that's safe to say. But what we really want to dissect is the game’s namesake, the actual clash of the clans or Clan Wars as it is known in the game. What is this game able to deliver in terms of its premise, that’s the real question.

            For starters, what is a clan? While that may be a simple question to most, some players who decided to buy a TH13 Clash of Clans account may not fully understand how the game works.  Well, in the context of the game, a clan is a group of you and other players who have agreed to an alliance of shared resources in order to band together against other clans. The incentive for this is the resources you can receive by successfully raiding other clans. You are better together and all that sort of stuff.

            So once you are a member of a clan, or have started your own if you are the leadership type, you can now enter clan wars. Clan wars are a mechanism for clans of similar strength to challenge one another for prizes and prestige. There is no limit to how many times you can go to war, other than the actual time constraints themselves. Getting into a clan war isn’t instantaneous and can take some time, depending on the circumstance.

            Clans are matched with one another dependent on the number and the strength of their members. The clan war matches up is also dependent on the size of the war the leader has chosen to seek out from. Matches range from 5v5 all the way up to 50v50, which is a really massive fight. Once you are matched with an appropriately strong clan that is when the preparation day begins.

            Opposing clans have one day to prepare for the clan war. Technically the “preparation day” is 23 hours long, which is good to know because it could matter if the clans are matched closely and you need that little bit of an edge. During the preparation day, players have two primary options and both of them are extremely important. The first option is you can scout out the enemy clan. While you can’t view their war base and thus have little knowledge of their strategic capability, you can view their bases to plan, prioritize, and anticipate your enemy’s actions. This is also a time where you can coordinate with your fellow clan-mates by marking particular bases you plan to prioritize and leaving notes on enemy sites so others know your strategy. No one from the opposing clan can see any of these helpful little tools and they will give you a real advantage when used correctly.

            The second integral aspect of preparation days is donating troops to your war bases. This is essential to the clan’s defense and ensuring your collective resources aren’t stolen. Stolen resources and take more damage means your clan loses the clan war. In case the name Clash of Clans didn’t give it away, you want to avoid losing the clan wars.

            So the 23 hours pass and the battle has begun. What does that entail exactly? Well, each player has the opportunity to attack twice. Based on the strength of your forces, the game will recommend specific enemy bases, but you can attack any of them. The only caveat is you can’t attack the same base twice, you have to use your two attacks on two separate bases.

            The real importance of strategy is here because when it comes to your clan’s score, it only counts the highest base per attack. So if you attack a base and get two stars, and someone else gets three stars, your clan only gets three stars, not five. Use of the in-game note system and clan chat will help avoid overly redundant attacks and allow your clan to maximize its score. 

            After everything is done and the smoke has cleared, the game will calculate the results of the war. The winner is determined by which side secured more stars during their attack. If the number of stars is tied, then the game will move on to whichever side caused the most destruction. If in the extremely rare instance that this score is tied too, then the game officially results in a tie. While ties like this are rare, ties can result in too other, slightly more feasible, circumstances. If in any clan war both sides manage to secure all of their opponents’ stars or neither side attacks at all, then the war is automatically declared a tie. A tie will result in your clan taking only ½ of the war bonus prize. Better and losing for sure, where players only receive 3/7ths of the prize but probably still just as bitter.

            Speaking of prizes, what does your clan actually win. Well first off, win or lose you gain an unaltered amount of clan XP which levels up your clan. For fighting the clan war, you will win a large sum of gold, elixir, and dark elixir, all extremely valuable resources. The amount you can win is equal to 7 times the capacity of the base you are attacking. Also, much like single player raids, none of these materials are actually lost by your opponent. So while you may have to burn through some resources to have a successful campaign, you aren’t risking your gold or elixir by participating in a clan war. Pillages to your heart’s desire.

            We think the clan wars sound like a really great way to make Clash of Clans feel like, well, a clash of the clans. As simple as everything might seem in terms of gameplay, successfully coordinating a group of 50 people is an impressive piece of gaming that we think deserves some recognition. Clash of Clans may not be the most heralded game, but it certainly has some chops, that we can’t argue with.