Clan War League Strategy for Small Clans: Roster Size, Rotation and Bonus Medals

Last checked: October 10, 2026. Core rules (roster, war sizes, day lengths, the 8-star medal rule, bonus timing, promotion and demotion) come from Supercell's own support articles and the October 2026 news post, linked inline. Medal tables, guaranteed bonus counts and the war-win star bonus are reported by the community-maintained Clash of Clans Wiki on Fandom and are labeled as secondary. Everything else, including the worked arithmetic, is ClashVault editorial analysis for clans with roughly 15 to 25 active members.

Most Clan War League advice assumes a full clan of maxed accounts. A clan with 18 reliable players and mixed Town Halls faces different problems. The questions that matter are which war size you can actually staff, how to spread seven days of attacks so everyone earns full medals, and how to hand out bonuses without starting an argument.

Current season: October 2026

Supercell's October calendar post listed the October Clan War League for October 1–11, with clans fighting seven other clans in 15v15 or 30v30. October's league ends on October 11, and the next one is expected at the start of next month, but Supercell has not published its dates yet, so check ClashVault's event calendar rather than planning around a guessed sign-up day.

How a CWL season works

These are the rules that drive every decision below. Each comes from Supercell's support portal.

• Monthly, week-long seasons. Clans play once a month against clans of similar skill, with a war every day of the week (About CWL).
• Sign-up. Leaders get two days to enter matchmaking with at least 15 players selected. By default every clan member is in the roster, and the roster is the pool of players who can fight and earn rewards that season (same article).
• War size. You choose 15v15 or 30v30 each season, and the choice does not affect your league position. In Champion league only 15v15 is available (same article). The Fandom wiki reports that Titan and Legend leagues are 15v15 only as well.
• Seven wars, one attack each. A war is fought each day for seven days. Preparation Day lasts 23 hours and Battle Day 24 hours, and each player in that day's lineup gets one attack (A week of wars).
• Lineups change daily, the map order does not. Leaders swap members during Preparation Day, but each player's defensive strength sets their position on the map (same article).
• Matchmaking ignores Town Hall. After a clan's first placement, matching is by league only. Town Hall, troop, Hero and defense levels are not considered (Matchmaking and groups).

Two consequences follow. You cannot "arrange" the map to hide a weak player, because the game orders it for you. And because a TH13 clan and a TH17 clan can meet in the same league, the clans around you are not necessarily your size or strength.

15v15 or 30v30: count reliable attackers, not members

The war size decision is about attack slots. A 15v15 season has 15 × 7 = 105 attack slots. A 30v30 season has 210. Every slot you cannot fill with someone who will actually attack is a base the opponent defends for free.

The Fandom wiki's reward tables explain why bigger clans are tempted by 30v30: they list double the guaranteed bonuses in 30v30 (for example 2 rather than 1 from Bronze III to Silver I, and 4 rather than 2 from Gold III to Crystal I). That is a real gain, but only if the extra wars are winnable.

ClashVault's rule of thumb: count the members you trust to attack on at least four of the seven days. Call that number R.

At 15 to 25 actives, 30v30 means fielding everyone every day with no margin. One missed attack per day costs as much as a lost base, and over seven days that adds up quickly.

Rotation versus a fixed lineup: the 8-star rule

Supercell's rewards article sets the rule that shapes rotation. A player needs at least 8 War Stars across the season for the full placement reward. A player with no stars gets 20%, and so does a rostered player who never appears on the war map. The Fandom wiki fills in the steps between: each star adds 10 percentage points, so 4 stars earns 60% and 7 stars earns 90%.

That makes a fixed lineup expensive for a clan with more reliable players than slots. Here is the arithmetic for a 15v15 clan with 22 reliable attackers:

• Total slots: 105.
• Three 3-star attacks give a player 9 stars. Giving all 22 players three wars uses 66 slots.
• That leaves 39 slots for the strongest or most consistent players.

If your weaker members average closer to two stars a hit, they need four wars to reach 8 stars. Twenty-two players at four wars each is 88 slots, still under 105. In both cases rotation fits, and every reliable member can leave the week with full medals. A fixed 15 leaves seven players on 20%.

A practical schedule: give each player two or three wars early in the week, track stars in the CWL "Clan" tab (Supercell says it shows each clanmate's season performance), and spend the final days on whoever still needs stars plus your most dependable hitters.

Star math: when attacking down helps and when it doesn't

Supercell's war results article says a war is decided by stars, with total destruction as the tiebreaker, and that only the best attack on each base counts. In CWL each player has one attack, so the real question is how to pair attackers with bases.

Here is a hypothetical with made-up averages. Your strong attacker A and weaker attacker B face enemy bases #5 (strong) and #12 (weaker).

A's personal number improves when A hits down, but the clan's total drops, because someone still has to take on #5. Attacking down only wins when the stronger base would get a poor hit anyway, for example when no one in that day's lineup can realistically get two stars on it. Use the same logic each day: put the attackers most likely to 3-star into the bases your lower half can't reach, and leave the bases they can reach to them.

Standings matter too. The Fandom wiki reports that each war win adds 10 bonus stars to your group total. Under that rule, losing a war by one star costs far more in the table than any single attack, so on close days a safe two stars is worth more than a risky push for three.

Hero and upgrade timing around war week

A Hero who can't fight costs a CWL attack. Whether an upgrading Hero can be used in war has changed between game versions and events, so check the Hero Hall before starting a long upgrade near sign-up rather than assuming. As editorial advice:

• Time long Hero upgrades to finish before sign-up, or start them right after your last war. Use Hero Catch-Up to see which Hero is furthest behind, so the one you take offline is the one you need least in war.
• Settle equipment before Battle Day one. Ore spent mid-week is ore not spent on the pieces you use in war. Plan it with the Ore Calculator and our Hero Equipment ore planning guide. For loadouts, see the Archer Queen and Grand Warden equipment guides.
• Keep players with sleeping Heroes useful. They can still be useful as Clan Castle donors, because every rostered member can fill clanmates' Clan Castles during Preparation Day (A week of wars). Check what is left with Left to Max, and see the Sixth Builder planner if you're short on builders.

If several members are rushed, a short note pointing them to how to unrush without quitting does more for next season's results than any lineup trick.

A fair bonus-medal policy

Bonus medals are where small clans most often fall out. The rules from Supercell's rewards article:

• Clan Leaders can award bonus League Medals. Each war the clan wins adds one more eligible recipient.
• Bonuses must be given within 21 days of war week ending. Bonus size and the number of recipients depend on the clan's league.
• Rostered players who leave or are kicked are still eligible for bonuses.

The exact medal amounts per league and position aren't published in Supercell's article. The Fandom wiki maintains a table, and the in-game reward screen is the authority.

A policy that holds up in a small clan, as editorial advice:

1. Post the rule before sign-up. For example: "Bonuses go to players who used every attack they were given, ranked by total stars, with ties broken by destruction."
2. Missed attacks disqualify. One zero costs the clan more than an extra star helps.
3. No automatic bonus for leadership or the highest Town Hall. If leaders earn it under the rule, fine.
4. Rotate tie-breaks. If the same two players always win the tie, give the next tie to someone who hasn't had a bonus recently.

Promotion, demotion, and what to do if you're relegated

Supercell's promotion article says thresholds vary, but in most leagues two clans are promoted and two are demoted. The matchmaking article adds that groups can have 6 clans instead of 8. Those groups fight fewer wars and demote no one. In its Crystal III example, two clans are promoted and none are demoted.

Relegation is not a disaster for a small clan. A lower league means lower medal rewards, but also opponents you can beat, more war wins and more bonus recipients. After a demotion:

• Review missed attacks before blaming strength. If you missed five or more attacks over the week, the fix is attendance, not upgrades.
• Consider dropping from 30v30 to 15v15. Supercell says switching size doesn't affect your league position.
• Sign up early and don't restart. Matchmaking serves clans that signed up first, and cancelling sends you to the back of the queue. Supercell warns that a late restart can mean no match that season.

A seven-day operating rhythm

1. Before sign-up: count reliable attackers, choose the size, post the bonus rule and confirm Hero timing.
2. Days 1–3: rotate so every reliable member gets early wars. Track stars in the Clan tab.
3. Days 4–5: start every Preparation Day by checking who is under 8 stars, and fill slots from that list first.
4. Days 6–7: prioritize winning. Field your most dependable hitters, and play for safe stars on close days.
5. After the week: award bonuses within 21 days, exactly as posted. Use the Town Hall pages, such as Town Hall 15, and the upgrade order framework to plan the next month.

Quick answers

Can players who joined after sign-up fight? Supercell describes the roster as the pool of players who can fight and earn rewards that season, and sign-up happens before the wars start. Plan as if new members wait for next month, and check the roster screen if you are unsure.

Does my clan's Town Hall spread affect matchmaking? Not after your first placement. Supercell says matchmaking is by league only.

Who can receive bonus medals? Anyone the Leader picks from the roster, including players who have since left. Recipients grow by one per war won.