Climb in Ranked, farm in regular Battles
Trophies move only in capped Ranked Battles, while unlimited regular Battles are matched by Town Hall level.
- 01Sign upEnter each Tournament Week
Four weeks without signing up starts a demotion toward your Town Hall floor.
- 02SpendGive every Ranked battle full strength
Bring Heroes and a saved army without temporary troops to each limited attack.
- 03FarmRaid with cheap, repeatable armies
Fund named upgrades and keep storage room so the Hoggy Bank keeps counting.
ClashVault editorial visual. Use the reviewed guide below for exact mechanics, dates, and limitations.
Last checked: October 11, 2026. How Ranked and regular Battles work comes from Supercell: its September 2025 announcement, the October 2025 update notes, and its support articles on Ranked Leagues, trophy calculation, Legend League and Star Bonus, all linked below. The October notes come from Supercell's October calendar. The weekly-budget arithmetic and the decision framework are ClashVault editorial analysis, not Supercell guidance.
For years, "trophy pushing or farming?" was a real trade-off. Pushing meant attacking harder bases for less loot, and farming meant dropping trophies on purpose to find easy, loot-rich bases. That trade-off is mostly gone. Since Ranked arrived, trophies move only in a separate, capped mode, and farming happens in unlimited regular Battles matched by Town Hall. If you still drop trophies to farm, you are following advice from an older game.
The useful questions now are different. How much effort should each of your limited Ranked battles get? How high is it worth climbing, given what a higher league pays in regular Battles? And what do you do with all the unlimited attacks left over?
Current season: October 2026
| Dates | What | Which mode it affects |
|---|---|---|
| October 1–31 | Cosmic Curse season temporary troops | Regular Battles only; Ranked excludes temporary troops |
| October 16–31 | Cosmic Streak community event (daily attacks) | Check the event panel for which attacks count |
| October 22–28 | Clan Games | Challenge-specific; read each task |
| October 26–28 | Resource Collector Boost #2 (Town Hall 8+) | Farming: plan storage headroom |
Dates come from Supercell's October announcement. The exclusion of temporary troops from Ranked is in Supercell's Ranked Leagues article. Our events calendar tracks the whole month. This is the only section we update each month.
What changed: two modes with different jobs
Supercell's September 2025 announcement and its October 2025 update notes split multiplayer into two modes:
- Regular Battles are open from Town Hall 2, unlimited and matched by Town Hall level. Supercell describes them as the place to farm resources, play events and practice "without the risk of losing Trophies". Everyone in this mode can farm and can be looted.
- Ranked Battles unlock at Town Hall 7. You join weekly Tournaments, rise or fall through Leagues, and face players in your Town Hall range with a limited number of attacks. Trophies are earned and lost only here.
Three rules tie the two modes together:
- Your Ranked League raises regular loot too. Supercell's Ranked Leagues article says a higher league increases the bonus loot from successful raids, "and this applies to regular battles too".
- Star Bonus counts both modes. Supercell's Loot and Star Bonus article says stars from Ranked Battles, regular Battles and Revenge all count toward the five-star Star Bonus. A higher league improves its rewards.
- Shields protect regular loot. The October 2025 notes describe an 8-hour Magic Shield after your village is attacked in regular Battles. In Legend League I, only Legend Shields apply, per Supercell's Legend League article.
So climbing is no longer the opposite of farming. A higher league pays you a little more on every regular raid, so pushing in Ranked can support your farming.
Your weekly Ranked budget
Every Ranked League has a fixed number of battles per week, published in Supercell's Ranked Leagues article. Each battle is worth up to 40 Trophies, per its trophy calculation article, so the maximum offensive trophies are simply battles × 40. The battles per day column is ClashVault arithmetic over a seven-day week.
| League | Battles per week | Max offensive Trophies | Battles per day (about) | Promoted each week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skeleton | 6 | 240 | 0.9 | 50% |
| Barbarian | 6 | 240 | 0.9 | 50% |
| Archer | 8 | 320 | 1.1 | 40–50% |
| Wizard | 8 | 320 | 1.1 | 35–50% |
| Valkyrie | 10 | 400 | 1.4 | 35–50% |
| Witch | 10 | 400 | 1.4 | 35–50% |
| Golem | 12 | 480 | 1.7 | 35–50% |
| P.E.K.K.A | 12 | 480 | 1.7 | 30–50% |
| Titan | 12 | 480 | 1.7 | 30–50% |
| Dragon | 14 | 560 | 2.0 | 25–30% |
| Electro | 18 | 720 | 2.6 | 15–20% |
| Legend III | 24 | 960 | 3.4 | 5% |
| Legend II | 30 | 1,200 | 4.3 | 3% |
Legend League I works differently: eight attacks and eight defenses a day in a four-week tournament, with a maximum of 40 Trophies per attack or defense, per Supercell's Legend League article.
Two things stand out. Below Electro, Ranked costs you one or two attacks a day at most, so it competes very little with farming for your time. And promotion gets sharply harder near the top. In a group of 100, a 50% bracket promotes about 50 players, but Electro promotes 15 to 20 and Legend II only about 3. Those counts are our arithmetic on Supercell's percentages, assuming a full group.
Make every Ranked battle count
With so few battles, the old "spam attacks to climb" habit no longer works. Treat each Ranked attack the way a war attack deserves:
- Bring your real army. Temporary troops are excluded from Ranked. Supercell lets you keep separate saved armies for Ranked and regular Battles, so set one up and avoid starting a Ranked battle with a broken army.
- Bring your Heroes. A Ranked attack made while Heroes are upgrading spends a scarce battle at reduced strength. Plan long Hero upgrades around your weekly budget rather than around trophy counts.
- Chase destruction inside the star band. Supercell's trophy table pays a two-star 16–32 Trophies and a one-star 5–15, both scaled by destruction. A late cleanup push that lifts a two-star from 60% to 90% is worth real Trophies even without a third star.
- Defend with a snapshot in mind. Your Ranked base is snapshotted when you are placed in Monday's league group. Finish layout changes before you sign up.
Farming in regular Battles
Farming is now a separate, unlimited activity, so the old tricks change:
- Don't drop trophies to farm. Regular Battles are matched by Town Hall level, not trophies, per Supercell's announcement. Losing Ranked trophies gains you nothing here and lowers your league bonus.
- Use cheap, fast armies. Loot per hour matters more than stars per attack. A quick army you can repeat often usually out-earns a slow, perfect one. Temporary troops are allowed here, so seasonal troops can be useful.
- Keep storage headroom. Supercell's Hoggy Bank article says only raided loot that fits into your storages is also saved to the Hoggy Bank, so farming with full storages forfeits that season-end bonus. Spend before long farming sessions.
- Pair farming with an upgrade plan. Know what you are farming for. The Left to Max planner and the Upgrade Planner show the queue, and the resource calculator guide helps you size the target.
Our farming base layout guide covers defending your loot in regular Battles, which is where it can be stolen.
How high should you climb?
This is the real decision now. It is editorial reasoning, so weigh it against your own play:
| Your situation | Suggested Ranked effort | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Builders idle, storages empty | Use every Ranked battle, but put your energy into regular farming | Your bottleneck is loot; the league bonus helps, but volume matters more |
| Builders busy, storages healthy | Push for promotion each week | A higher league raises regular loot and Star Bonus rewards |
| Heroes mostly upgrading | Play your Ranked battles, accept a slower climb | A held league position beats an inactivity demotion |
| Busy week, little playtime | Sign up and play a few battles | Inactivity costs more than a weak week |
The last row matters more than it looks. Supercell's Ranked Leagues article says you are inactive if you don't sign up for a Tournament Week. After four inactive weeks you are demoted at the start of the next, and longer inactivity drops one league for every further four weeks, down to your Town Hall's floor and then to unranked. Signing up costs nothing.
A weekly routine
- Before Monday: finish any Ranked layout change, then sign up. Check that your Ranked army is saved without temporary troops.
- Spread Ranked battles across the week so each one can get full Heroes and your best army. In the lower leagues, about one a day uses the whole budget.
- Farm in regular Battles between Ranked attacks, with a cheap army and storage headroom, toward named upgrades.
- Claim the Star Bonus from whichever mode gets you five stars first.
- End of week: check your bracket. If promotion is close, spend the remaining Ranked battles carefully; if not, use them anyway, because they are part of your trophy total.
Quick answers
Do regular Battles change my trophies? No. Supercell says trophies are earned and lost only in Ranked Battles.
Should I drop trophies to farm easier bases? No. Regular Battles are matched by Town Hall level, and a lower league reduces the loot bonus on your raids.
How many Ranked battles do I get? It depends on your league: from 6 a week in Skeleton and Barbarian to 30 a week in Legend II, and 8 a day in Legend I.
Can I use seasonal temporary troops in Ranked? No. They are excluded from Ranked Battles; use them in regular Battles.
What happens if I skip Ranked for a while? After four Tournament Weeks without signing up, you are demoted at the start of the next week, and further inactivity keeps dropping your league toward your Town Hall floor.
Does a higher league really help farming? Supercell says a higher league increases the bonus loot from successful raids in regular Battles too, and improves your Star Bonus. It doesn't change who you are matched against in regular Battles.