Free Gems and the Art of War: Six Epic Clash of Clans Tips

Posted By Puching Zhang in Archive, Gaming, Mobile

BreakingModern — The best things in life may not be free, but getting free gems is pretty sweet in Clash of Clans, that freemium gaming hit. Here’s how to rake in those sparkly dollars, and five other tips to step up your game.

1. Get Free Gems

First rule of Clash of Clans: You don’t have to pay for gems. You think you do, but you really don’t. Yes, it’s slow going, but the easiest way to get free gems is by destroying obstacles and expanding your village. Every time an obstacle is destroyed, you collect a few gems as a bonus. Yes, it’s just a few, but one grain of rice can tip the scales of balance (and victory, of course). Achievements get you gems, too. Way faster than clearing obstacles, that’s for sure. And, if you don’t want to smash obstacles or complete achievements, remember to embrace your inner pioneer and expand that lovely village of yours! Expansion will get you gems, and the bonus of satisfaction.

2. Hoard the Elixir

As a veteran of the Total War series, and Age of Empires III, I will point out that the most important aspect of any RTS is your economy. It is absolutely impossible to produce any sort of military without a strong economy to back it up. For a militaristic warlord like myself, elixir is the way to go. I love to stockpile elixir within my village because it allows me to unleash vast hordes of barbarians, effectively decimating my enemies. However, if you’re getting raided yourself, then it’s time to invest in more gold. Also, remember, gold and elixir complement one another, so if you need more elixir to fuel your growing hordes of freaks, put in some more gold. Also, concentrate on upgrading your resource producing units rather than resource storing units. Remember, when you upgrade your mines or elixir makers they increase storage size, while also increasing the gathering rate of said resource.

3. Take Revenge!

Those are the words of advice Genghis Khan got after his village was raided by the Tartars. And it’s the motto for any self-respecting barbarian. Take revenge! When your village is ransacked by the hordes of another, don’t just sit there and take it, go back and destroy his village (assuming you survived the onslaught). Revenge is great for two reasons, one of which is good ol’ satisfaction. Nothing improves your gameplay or mood better than destroying the village of the guy that destroyed yours. Secondly, raiding his village gives you resources and prestige points. There’s no better way to replenish your empty coffers than to raid someone else’s, particularly someone that just raided you. Plus the added prestige points can make others know that you aren’t a noob at this game.

Now, when deploying defenses, you should line them up in a way where every possible point of attack is covered. Ideally, they should overlap with one another so that enemies will be hit from multiple sides when attacking. Check to see if any side of your village is open to attack. If so, a crafty strategist will likely spam his barbarians, rush that part of the map, and take you down. I would know, too. I do it all the time. If one side is vulnerable, it usually means the Town Hall is a short blitz away. I always advise taking down your opponent’s defenses quickly, but Town Hall is a great place to spam goblins that’ll otherwise take your resources.

4. Take Down Defenses First

That brings me to my next point. When attacking, go all Von Clausewitz and aim for the enemy’s point of strength first. The sooner you take down his defenses, the easier it’ll be to take down the rest of the village. Make sure you assemble your soldiers near the enemy defenses. After you take those down, just march on in and destroy the rest of the village with ease. Don’t worry about taking casualties. You’ll lose even more soldiers if you delay in attacking a village with defenses still active.

5. Specialize Your Troops

Once you upgrade your barracks past level one, you’re going to have to strategize how to optimally take down a village. Say you have a Level 4 barracks and the best troops you have are giants. Optimize your soldiers by treating your giants like tanks. Use those giants to take out the heaviest of an enemy’s defenses. Do remember to support them with melee troops, since those giants have a lot of hit power and you don’t want to waste them on small fish. Use your archers to circumvent walls. Deploy them at the beginning of a battle to take down defenses that are protected by walls. Then you can bring in the melee soldiers. Use goblins as spies. And, once a breach is made in the defenses, send them in to take resources and finish the battle quickly. Finally, if you do have dragons, use them to support infantry in the traditional method. Or you use them like panzers and concentrate their attack on a particular spot.

6. Concentrate When Attacking

The Art of War explains that when attacking you should always concentrate your men in a single attack rather than divide them across multiple ones. In Clash of Clans that’s true, too. I don’t care if you are sieging. The bottom line is that trying to surround an enemy’s castle like it’s a village will only result in disaster. The best way to cripple an enemy is to concentrate your soldiers and burst through a single section of his defenses. The only way you can take down your enemy’s cannons or towers is by concentrating your men and attacking relentlessly and with force. Take the cannons and towers out one at a time. Don’t try to take down everything at once. You’ll spread your forces as thin as butter on toast. Attacking from multiple sides is a great tactic when you do it correctly, but always make sure your attacks are concentrated. They won’t succeed otherwise.

If you guys have your own tips, feel free to add them to the comments below.

For BMod, this is Puching Zhang signing off.

Image Credits: Supercell