Understanding Shields in Clash of Clans

Clash of Clans is a complex strategy game, despite the fact it is a mobile game with cartoony graphics. There is a lot of thinking involved, and it gets progressively more complicated, the more you play and level up.

Shields in Clash of Clans work similarly to shields in other games of this type, e.g., Travian. They make your village immune to enemy attacks. There are some shields that you get for free, and some of them you have to buy.

These shields are rather expensive, so we’ll also discuss when it is best to buy them. Come on then, read the article and learn about defense for once, instead of always focusing on attacking you cheeky brutes!

• Shields in Clash of Clans Explained
• Shield Rules
• Types of Shields
  • Automatic Shields
  • The Village Guard
  • Purchased Shields
• Shield Buying Guide
• Final Thought

Shields in Clash of Clans Explained

Shields in Clash of Clans protect your village from attacks. Why discuss it further? There’s much more to them. There are rules and limitations for using shields, depending on how long they last and what league you are in.

When you first start playing CoC, you get a free three-day shield. That’s a simple means of protecting the novice players and keeping them in the game. If your village got raided on the first day, I assume you’d cry.

In this period, you are allowed to build up an army and get various buildings and upgrades. The same goes for purchased shields that you use to make sure that these improvements go uninterrupted. You also get a shield when your village is raided successfully, with 30% or more damage.

There are three types of shields, in general – the village guard, automatic shields, and purchased shields. I will describe them all separately in the following sections.

Shield Rules

Shields give you complete immunity, but there are some ground rules. When you attack a player while your shield is active, a portion of your it will disappear. Multiple attacks add up to this rule, meaning that the more you attack, the less shield time you’ll have.

The first attack you make reduces shield time by three hours. Every subsequent offense reduces your shield time even more (four, five, six, eight, ten, twelve, sixteen, twenty, and twenty-four hours). This rule also applies to revenge attacks, i.e., when you launch an attack on an enemy that recently attacked you.

The attacks you make in Clan Wars, Friendly Challenges, or the Campaign don’t affect your shield. Only attacks against other players in the multiplayer count.

Shield rules in CoC also vary depending on your skill level and league. The Legend League (highest rank) is the most restricted. Players in this league can’t attack others while they have a shield. They also don’t receive automatic shields, no matter how much they lose. Finally, players in this league can only get full-day shields. These rules apply only to players in Legend League that are signed up.

Types of Shields

If you weren’t paying attention, I will now repeat myself. Here I go. There are three types of shields. Yes, 3…

Automatic Shields

Let’s talk about automatic shields first, since they are the easiest to explain, and they are free. As mentioned before, you need to suffer at least 30% base damage, and the attacker needs to deploy at least a third of his or her army.

The automatic shields vary depending on the destruction percentage – 30% destruction provides a twelve-hour shield, 60% destruction provides fourteen-hour protection, and 90% destruction gives you a sixteen-hour shield.

Titan League players have shorter automatic shields. The third subdivision’s shields last an hour less, the second has shields that are two hours shorter, and the first subdivision of Titan has shields that are three hours shorter. Legend League players who haven’t signed up have shields that are four hours shorter than lower leagues.

You don’t need to lose a battle to get an automatic shield. Only the damage percentage matters, regardless of Town Hall destruction. If you keep your Town Hall intact and suffer between 30% and 49% damage, you’ll get both a defensive victory and a shield.

The army rule I mentioned is the most complicated and confusing. The player that is attacking you needs to deploy a third of his army, hero included. If he has 200 units and a hero (which counts as 25 units), he needs to use 75 units minimum for you to get a shield.

The automatic shields are neat, but you can’t rely solely on them. I suggest building a stout defense that can protect your village. The only shields that can guarantee protection in Clash of Clans are the ones given out to everyone when the game is in maintenance, and briefly after it. That’s sweet of Supercell, the game developer. Otherwise, a bunch of scrubs and weaklings would flee the servers in tears.

The Village Guard

The village guard could be a topic in its own right because there are also many rules revolving around it. It is a shield on top of a shield. It’s not that complicated. When you defend your base successfully, you gain a 30-minute long shield, called the village guard.

The village guard replaces the above mentioned automatic shields that you get when you are defeated. Since you won, and your village suffered only minor casualties, you get a village guard to recover briefly.

You also get village guards upon the expiration of the proper shields. The village guard doesn’t exist in Legend League. In other leagues, the village guard timers look like this:

1. Titan I – three hours
2. Titan II – two hours and 30 minutes
3. Titan III – two hours
4. Champion (whole league) – one hour
5. Leagues up to Master I (including it) – 30 minutes

You can attack while the village guard is up, without any penalties. You can purchase two hours of village guard from the shop for only ten gems. There is a 23-hour cooldown on it, and the purchase of a shield cancels it.

Purchased Shields

Purchased shields are the trickiest ones, and they involve thinking and strategy. Below this will be a buying guide section, including advice on when to activate the village guard. Don’t worry, my noob friends, I thought of everything.

There are only four types of shield you can buy in Clash of Clans (with gems). The village guard is one of them (it lasts only two hours). The other three are the one-day, two-day, and week-long shields. Each of these has a cooldown, which depends on the shield’s duration. Here is a brief list of cooldowns and costs for each:

1. The village guard has a 23-hour cooldown, and it costs ten gems.
2. The one-day shield has four days of cooldown, and it costs 100 gems.
3. The two-day shield has seven days of cooldown, and it costs 150 gems.
4. The seven-day shield has 35(!) days of cooldown, and it costs 250 gems.

All of the shields stack, meaning that you can buy and place them on top of each other. You can use this to your advantage to extend your base protection as much you can. Theoretically, you can be protected for 21 days, if you chain shields on top of each other, including the three-day newbie shield.

However, this is highly unlikely, and it is also unnecessary. You can get 18 days of protection if you buy the one-day, two-day, and seven-day shields and then keep repurchasing the one and two-day varieties as their cooldowns expire.

Technically, you can repeat this cycle every 35 days, because of the seven-day shield cooldown. Frankly, I would call this strategy paranoid.

Shield Buying Guide

All said and done; shields are very situational. There is no definitive advice on buying them. They cost an arm and a leg, so you have to consider if they are worth it. The one day and two-day options are ridiculously expensive if you ask me.

The only shield that is actually worth its price is the seven days shield. It allows you to stay protected even while you’re attacking. Sure, attacking will chip the protection period, but the cost is worth it if you are winning.

Shields are better for passive or inactive players. There is an inactivity shield as well. Technically, this is not a shield. Supercell removes you from all matchmaking after 57 hours of inactivity. So, is a seven-day shield redundant?

It isn’t if you are going to attack a lot while using it. Frankly, the offense is a better strategy in Clash of Clans. You are better off investing the gems in boosting your Barracks. This boost will allow you a few hours of constant attacking. The results should be much better than only guarding your village as you will gain more resources this way.

The village guard seems like the best investment in shields overall. It is cheap, short, and sweet. Above all, you can use it even when you’re attacking, without any repercussions.

Final Thought

Baby don’t hurt me!

Is that song stuck in your head now? You are welcome. Anyway, hopefully, you newbies learned something today. Shields are for weaklings, brave men attack. Just kidding, but this is almost true in Clash of Clans.

If you are aiming to be the best player, you shouldn’t rely so much on shields. Legend League is unforgiving and ruthless. Better train for it and use protection sparingly. Use village guards freely, as they are fantastic.