What Is Clan War League?
Clan War League (CWL) is a monthly competitive event where 8 clans in a group battle each other over 7 days. Each day, your clan faces one opponent clan in a standard Clan War format — except each player only gets one attack per day.
At the end of 7 days, clans are ranked by stars earned. Your clan’s performance determines:
- League placement — move up, stay, or drop a league tier
- Medals earned — distributed to all participating members based on performance
CWL is the most important recurring event in Clash of Clans for competitive players.
How CWL Works
Structure
- 8 clans in a group, one war per day for 7 days
- 15, 20, 25, or 30 players per war per clan (depending on sign-up count)
- Each player has 1 attack per day, against the opposing clan’s base map
- Stars decide the daily winner; total stars across all 7 days determine final ranking
Scoring
- Win: 10 points for your clan
- Draw: 5 points each
- Loss: 0 points
Leagues
CWL has 8 leagues, from Bronze to Legend: Bronze → Silver → Gold → Crystal → Master → Champion → Titan → Legend
Finishing in the top group of your league promotes you. Finishing at the bottom demotes you.
How Medals Are Distributed
Medals are the CWL currency used to buy magic items in the League Shop.
Medals earned depend on:
- Your clan’s final rank (1st through 8th place)
- Stars you earned from your attacks
Every star your attacks earn gives you bonus medals. The player on your roster who earned the most stars gets a bonus on top.
Key implication: You earn more medals by 3-starring bases than by 2-starring them. Even if your clan loses the daily war, maximizing personal stars directly increases your medal payout.
Best CWL Attack Strategy
Principle: Attack bases you can reliably 3-star
CWL uses a fixed map. You can scout every enemy base before attacking. The standard strategy:
- Leaders assign targets. Good clans have a designated war caller who assigns each player their attack target based on Town Hall matchups.
- Match TH level or attack up by 1. Attacking a TH equal to or one above yours is realistic. Attacking up by 2+ is risky unless your strategy is strong.
- Use your most reliable strategy. CWL is not the time to practice new strategies. Use what you’ve mastered.
Attack Order Matters
Day 1-3: Deploy your strongest attackers early. If your best players 3-star top bases early, weaker opponents may not attack back efficiently.
Late attacks: Save flexible attackers (players who can hit up or clean up 2-stars) for later in the day. Some leaders hold 2-3 cleanup attacks in reserve to convert 2-stars to 3-stars.
Don’t Hoard Attacks
Use your attack every day. Even a 2-star is better than 0 stars — it earns medals and contributes to clan points.
CWL Preparation: The 24 Hours Before Sign-Up
Hero Status
This is the #1 CWL failure mode. If your heroes are upgrading when CWL starts, you fight through all 7 days without them (or with lower-level heroes if you used a Book of Heroes).
Rule: Finish all hero upgrades at least 24 hours before CWL sign-up opens. If a hero is mid-upgrade, use a Book of Heroes to complete it.
Army Readiness
Your army needs to be cooked and ready before each daily war opens. CWL attacks happen on a 24-hour window — plan your cook time.
Training Potion: Use during CWL to instantly fill your army between attacks. A single Training Potion covers 1 hour of 10× troop production — more than enough to refill most armies.
Clan Castle
Request the strongest defensive and offensive CC troops available from your clan before each attack. For CWL attacks, CC troops like Super Witch or Electro Dragon provide critical additional DPS.
CWL by Town Hall Level
TH9-TH10
Target: 2-star the enemy TH level match or 3-star bases 1 TH below
Recommended strategies:
- Queen Walk + LaLoon
- GoWiPe
- Mass Dragon
TH11-TH12
Target: Consistent 3-stars at matching TH, 2-star attacks up
Recommended strategies:
- Queen Walk + Yeti Smash
- Super Witch Spam
- LaLoon (air-heavy bases)
TH13-TH16
Target: 3-stars at matching TH, attack up by 1 possible
Recommended strategies:
- Root Rider + Super Witch (TH14+)
- Super Witch + Warden Walk
- Queen Charge + Hydra
Medal Shop — What to Buy
Medals accumulate across seasons. Priority purchases:
Tier 1:
- Book of Heroes — best value in the shop
- Builder Potion × 5 pack — equivalent to ~2 days of building
Tier 2:
- Book of Building — for long upgrades
- Book of Fighting — for key troop upgrades
Skip: Resource packs (Gold, Elixir, Dark Elixir) — inefficient compared to raiding.
Common CWL Mistakes
Missing attack days. One missed day costs your clan points and costs you personal medal stars. Set reminders — CWL attacks reset every 24 hours at war start time.
Attacking into unwinnable matchups. Trying to 3-star a TH2 levels above yours when you can reliably 3-star the matching TH wastes attack potential. Stars on same-level bases earn the same as stars on higher-level bases.
Heroes upgrading during CWL. The most preventable mistake in the game. Check hero upgrade timers 3 days before CWL week and Book of Heroes anything that will still be upgrading.
Not scouting before attacking. Every enemy base is visible before you commit. Scout the CC placement, trap locations (inferred from base design), and pathing obstacles. A 2-minute scout before deploying your one attack changes outcomes.
