How to Farm in Clash of Clans

Preparing to Farm

Understand the basics of farming. Farming is a term in which the player changes her or his attributes of attacking and defending so that s/he is mostly focused on resources, not trophies. It involves intentionally losing so that you drop down to lower levels, giving you the opportunity to attack weaker opponents. Since Clash of Clans has several systems in place to try to prevent farming, it requires manipulating some things in your favor. Farming is based both on trophies and your Town Hall level. You receive penalties for attacking towns that are more than one level below your Town Hall, so you'll need to balance your level and your trophies. More on that later.

Configure your town. Before you start farming, you will want to ensure that your town is set up properly to both protect your resources and allow you to lose enough to drop down to the level you want to be at. There are several strategies to keep in mind when designing your town. Protect your storage's. Since you are farming for resources, you don't want your spoils going to a lucky invader. Place your storage's in the center of your town, surrounded by several walls and various defensive buildings. Place your Town Hall in your second layer of walls. This may seem like it will hurt, but that's the whole point. It gives you more room in your base for storages. People will also attack you, and if you put it inside the walls, but not in the core, many attackers will go for the Town Hall, getting 30% which equals a free 13 hr shield. Putting your Town Hall in the corner is not good because a Town Hall is worth 2 storages now. Do not put your storage's right next to each other. If you put them together, if the attackers get to your storage's, they have gotten to them all. By spreading them out, you reduce your overall loss of resources. Place high-level resource collectors inside walls and leave the others outside. Keep checking the game after every 6 to 8 hours and collect the resources from the collectors.

Get the "Sweet Victory" achievement. This achievement is awarded after you win a certain number of trophies from multiplayer battles, and gives you almost enough gems to purchase the third or fourth Builder's Hut. This is essential for keeping your town upgraded.

Get about 1,100-1,200 trophies. This is widely considered to be the ideal range for farming, as it allows you to get significant amounts of resources without coming across enemies who are too powerful.If you have very good troops and a strong base you can climb up to 2000-2500 trophies because there you usually find more loot especially dark elixir.

Don't rush to upgrade your Town Hall. Your Town Hall level dictates the amount of loot you can get from raids on other towns. If you attack a Town Hall two levels below yours, you will only receive 50% of the loot, and even less for town hall levels lower than that. However, there is no bonus for attacking town hall levels above yours. Max out the upgrades for each of your defensive buildings, army buildings, and walls before upgrading your Town Hall. The best Town Hall level for farming is generally 5-7, but can definitely be applicable at the upper town hall levels as well.

Building Your Army

Build all the barracks you can. You want your army to constantly be reinforced, so that there is as little downtime as possible between attacks. With four barracks, you can have a large portion of your army restored by the time your first attack finishes.

Build a good mix of units. Opinions vary wildly about the best setup for your farming army, but generally, you're going to want some combination of Goblins, Archers, Barbarians, Giants, and Wall Breakers. The most common configuration is Barbarians and Archers (widely called "Barch") but you can sprinkle in wall breakers and giants if needed. Giants are expensive, so only worry about adding a few. Early levels should focus on Barbarian-heavy armies. Later levels generally call for more Goblins than anything else, though some strategies call for more Archers. As you increase your Town Hall Level, your maximum army size will increase, allowing for a greater unit variety, as well as a greater spell variety.

Consider using Minions as well. Minions train very fast and don't cost very much, so they are great for quickly bolstering your forces. They can be very useful if you are trying to farm as quickly as possible, as you can quickly replenish your troops between battles. It becomes easier to use Minions more frequently at Town Hall 8 because you will have two Dark Elixir drills and be able to produce more Dark Elixir on a daily basis.

Know your army cost. When determining whether or not to attack a town, it will be helpful to know how much your army costs. Calculate the total costs of your attacking army, and then find 1/3 of that value (this will help you determine when it's time to retreat). You don't want your loot to be worth less than the troops you are losing.

Finding Targets

Look for specific resource types. You will be much more successful when farming if you focus on a specific resource type instead of towns with a spread of resources. Having a spread of resources in your town also makes you a target for all other farmers. Pay attention to the upgrades you need next and focus on that resource.

Look at the resource total. Ideally, the town you target will have about 100k of the resource you want, and won't require a large army to take. You can also look for towns that have more resources and are poorly defended.

Look for inactive towns. These are the best targets you can find, as you can usually score large hauls for minimal effort. If the town has gray league shields, then it has been inactive for at least the current season. If the Builder's huts are "sleeping", the player is likely neglecting the base. Look for round loot numbers. This usually indicates that the storages are empty by the collectors are full, which means that they will be easy picking.

Check the mines and collectors. Look at the tank in elixir collectors, little box by the side of the gold mines, and box on top of the DE drill. The more full, the more loot will be in those vulnerable resources. Try to attack higher leveled collectors. Low-level ones might look full, but barely have any loot.

Look at the Town Hall level. Always keep the opposing town hall level in mind. You are penalized 10% for attacking a Town Hall one level below, and 50% for a Town Hall two levels below you. If you think you can get away with it, attack Town Halls with a higher level, as you get bonus rewards.

Attacking the Towns

Run Collector Raids. These are typically the best for farming, as collectors are easier to raid than storages. Make sure to only perform these raids when you find a town with full collectors.

Run Storage Raids. if you can't find towns with full collectors, you will need to run Storage Raids. Try to find towns where the layout is poorly optimized or where the storages aren't defended well so that you have enough time to destroy them and collect the loot.

Deploy your troops in small numbers. Send your troops in groups of five or so to minimize the effects of Mortars and Wizard Towers, which can wreak havoc on large groups. Use Giants as distractions since they can soak up lots of damage. Avoid deploying Wall breakers if a mortar is incoming.

Focus on the loot first. Once the attack begins, you'll want to focus first and foremost on the loot. Destroy the collectors or the storage, depending on the raid. This usually puts your destruction rate at 30%.

Avoid using spells. Spells can help turn the tide of battle, but they can be very expensive. Try to avoid spells if at all possible, or you may not make any profit on the attack.

Get your destruction rate up to 50%. Use archers to destroy some of the unprotected buildings to boost your destruction rate up to about 50%. This will help you win some trophies so that you can maintain your trophy range.

Maintain your trophy level. Try to stay within Silver or Gold leagues to concentrate your farming efforts. Those ranges have the most inactive bases. You can go up higher if you are a TH 9, 10, or 11. You can forfeit battles after gaining the resources you need to ensure that you don't get too high of a trophy count.