Defensive Base Building Principles: How to Judge, Adapt and Test Any Layout

Last checked: October 11, 2026. Rules about Ranked trophies, layout snapshots, Legend League layouts, War Bases, Guardians, Crafted Defenses and replays come from Supercell's support articles, linked where they appear. The October notes come from Supercell's October calendar. The three star conditions are stated in Supercell's game but not in text on its support pages, so we cite Wikipedia as a secondary source for them. The five design principles, the trophy arithmetic and the testing routine are ClashVault editorial analysis, not Supercell guidance.

Most players copy a base. That is fine, and often the right call. The problem comes later: a new defense unlocks, the copied layout no longer fits, and nobody can tell which part of it was doing the work. This guide gives you a way to read any layout, adapt it to your own buildings, and check it against real attacks instead of trusting how it looks.

What changed this season: October 2026

The dates come from Supercell's October announcement. The rule that temporary troops are excluded from Ranked Battles is in Supercell's Ranked Leagues article, and the same exclusion for Clan Wars is in its Intro to Clan Wars. This is the only section we update each month. The rest of the guide is evergreen.

What a defense can realistically do

Start with an honest goal. At most Town Hall levels, a skilled attacker with the right army can three-star almost any layout. A base is not trying to be unbeatable. It is trying to make attackers pay for mistakes, and to give up as little as possible when they don't make any.

Supercell's Ranked trophy article puts a number on "as little as possible". Every Ranked attack is worth up to 40 Trophies, and whatever the attacker does not earn goes to the defender:

The defender column is ClashVault arithmetic on Supercell's figures. It shows two things. First, the biggest swing is between two stars and three: a base that turns a three-star into a low-destruction two-star recovers up to 24 Trophies. Second, inside each star band, destruction percentage still matters. Holding an attack to the low end of the two-star range is worth 16 more Trophies than the high end.

The three star conditions are one star for at least 50% destruction, one for destroying the Town Hall and one for destroying the whole base, as summarized on Wikipedia (secondary). Supercell's Clan War Results article confirms that war stars are awarded the same way as in multiplayer attacks.

Know which layout you are building

Clash of Clans now has several defensive layouts that follow different rules. Mixing up their goals is the most common design mistake we see. Every rule in this table comes from Supercell's support articles. The "Design goal" column is our editorial reading.

Ranked. Supercell's Ranked Leagues article says your defensive base is snapshotted when you are placed into a league group on Monday. Later layout changes do not apply until the next tournament. If you want a new Ranked base, finish it before you sign up, then sign up manually. Ranked play starts at Town Hall 7.

Legend League I. Supercell's Legend League layouts article says you choose a separate Legend layout and set defending Reinforcements. Changes apply from the next League Day, and they do not affect your regular Battle layout.

War Base. Supercell's Participating in a Clan War notes that resource storages and collectors don't matter to the attacker in war, so you can place them to distract enemy units while your defenses work. The Intro to Clan Wars adds that War Base changes stop counting once Battle Day begins, and that the War Base has its own Clan Castle. Our CWL guide for small clans covers how lineups interact with war bases.

Regular Battles. Here, loot is what you protect. Supercell's Loot and Star Bonus article explains that attackers take resources from collectors, storages, the Town Hall and the Clan Castle. Our farming base layout guide goes deep on that case, so this guide concentrates on star denial.

Five principles for reading any layout

These are editorial principles, not rules from Supercell. They are the questions we ask of every base before trusting it.

1. Put the objective where attackers must earn it

Decide what the layout protects. In Ranked and war, that is the Town Hall star and the three-star. In regular Battles, it is storages. Then make the attacker cross several defended compartments to reach it. If the objective sits on an edge, the attacker can take that star with a small, cheap commitment.

2. Spread coverage so one push can't remove a section

Group your strongest defenses tightly and one spell or one well-placed Hero can disable several at once. Spread them so each needs its own answer. The test is simple: draw the area a single spell would cover and count how many key defenses fall inside. If it is three or more, the layout is asking for that spell.

3. Use compartments to cost time, not just to block

Internal walls split the base into boxes. Each box adds walking time and wall-breaking cost, and changes where troops path next. Since every battle runs on a timer, time is a real defensive resource: a three-star attempt that runs out of time becomes a two-star. Higher wall levels add to that cost. Check what your walls need with the Wall Calculator.

4. Don't hand the attacker a free funnel

Attackers clear the outer buildings first so their main army walks inward instead of wrapping around the base. A layout with isolated buildings sticking out from the corners makes that funnel cheap. Pull outer buildings in and avoid long, empty edges, so creating a funnel costs troops the attacker would rather spend on the core.

5. Put traps where the attacker wants to go

Traps work only on paths that units actually take. Each troop's info screen in game shows its preferred target, so you can predict where ground troops that hunt defenses will walk. Put traps on those routes and on the obvious entry into the core, not in empty corners. When a replay shows a trap that never triggers, move it.

Town Hall 18: Guardians and Crafted Defenses

Two systems change late-game base design, and both have rules that are easy to miss.

Guardians. Supercell's Guardians article says you select one Guardian at a time from your Town Hall, starting at Town Hall 18. Each has different strengths, so pick the one that covers your layout's weak point. A Guardian that is upgrading cannot defend in regular Battles, but it still defends in Ranked, Clan Wars and Clan War League at its current level. An upgrade that finishes mid-tournament does not apply in Ranked until the next Tournament Week. If you farm actively, switch to another Guardian while one upgrades.

Crafted Defenses. Supercell's Crafted Defenses article says these are built at the Crafting Station, upgraded module by module, and can switch type at any time with "Cycle Defense". They last only until the current Crafting Phase ends, and the Station is available only at the highest Town Hall level. Treat them as the most flexible part of your layout: after a few replays, cycle the type to cover whatever keeps beating you.

Test the layout with replays

A layout is a hypothesis until it has defended against real attacks. A simple routine:

1. Collect evidence before changing anything. Watch your recent defense replays. Supercell's Revenge article notes that a replay must still be available to take Revenge, so replays don't last forever. Review them while they are fresh.
2. Look for repeated failures, not one bad defense. A single strong attacker proves little. The same entry point failing in three replays is a design problem.
3. Change one thing at a time. Move a trap, swap a compartment or rotate a defense, then watch the next few defenses. Several changes at once make the result impossible to read.
4. Time it for the right layout. In Ranked, finish edits before Monday sign-up. In war, finish before Battle Day. In Legend League I, edits wait until the next League Day.

Adapting a copied base

Copying from the ClashVault layouts or elsewhere is a good starting point. Before you commit:

• Ask why it works. Find the objective, the compartments and the trap paths. If you can't explain them, choose a base you can.
• Match it to your buildings. Your defenses and levels won't exactly match the screenshot. Place yours to satisfy the five principles rather than copying tile by tile.
• Use the right copy for each job. Keep separate layouts for Ranked, war and regular Battles, because each one protects something different.
• Plan upgrades that strengthen the design. Long defense upgrades leave gaps, and an upgrading Guardian sits out only your regular Battle defenses. The Upgrade Planner and Left to Max help you schedule them so the weakest part of the base is not offline when it matters.

Check the events calendar before rebuilding during a busy month. War weeks and temporary-troop seasons change what attackers bring.

Quick answers

Should I protect the Town Hall or my storages? In Ranked and war, protect the Town Hall and the three-star. In regular Battles, protect storages. Use separate layouts for each.

Why didn't my layout change apply in Ranked? Supercell snapshots your Ranked base when you are placed into a league group on Monday. Changes made later wait for the next tournament.

Do temporary troops affect my Ranked base? No. Supercell excludes temporary troops from Ranked Battles and Clan Wars, so seasonal troops can only attack your regular Battle layout.

How many Trophies does a good defense save? In Ranked, the defender keeps whatever the attacker doesn't earn out of 40. Turning a three-star into a two-star saves between 8 and 24 Trophies, depending on destruction.

Does a Guardian defend while upgrading? Not in regular Battles. It still defends in Ranked, Clan Wars and Clan War League, at its current level.

Are war storages worth protecting? Not for loot. Supercell says attackers don't need them in war, so use them as decoys that hold enemy units under fire.