Village Guards in Clash of Clans

The village guards in Clash of Clans sound like the people’s militia. They are not anything like that. These are a separate form of shields in CoC. If you want to know more about shields, read my other article dedicated to them.

This article will focus mainly on the village guard, its specifics, uses, etc. A village guard is much more potent than a shield because it allows you to attack without losing any shield time. That’s what makes it fantastic. Read on and find out everything you need to know about this glorious game mechanic.

What Are Shields in Clash of Clans?

What’s up, scrubs? Did you just start playing CoC? You’d be in a world of hurt if it weren’t for shields and village guards to protect you. As you may have noticed, you get free three-day protection when you begin playing.

It is a fledgling protection mechanic, which is reasonable and welcomed. Most people are clueless when they start playing any game and need some time to adjust to the gameplay. Clash of Clans is a dynamic game, and it involves some thinking.

You should use shields to build up your army, level up your Town Hall, and build other buildings. You can also use them when you are idling, i.e., you don’t have time to play. If that is the case, you should know that Supercell will automatically remove you from all matchmaking after 57 hours.

In other words, don’t waste your gems on shields. The village guard is a different thing. Oh, and you get free shields from Supercell (game developers) during and shortly after any maintenance downtime.

What Are Village Guards?

Village guards are named differently to make a distinction, albeit they look the same as a shield at first glance. The truth is that they are nothing alike. Village guards are shorter but more useful. You can use them to attack while keeping your guard up.

Shields have a time penalty for each attack you make, effectively reducing their use, and therefore their value. Village guards offer real value and are cheap. They cost only ten gems and last only up to two hours.

They have a 23-hour cooldown, which means that you can use them once a day. That’s a price I’d gladly pay most of the time. Note that purchasing a shield nullifies a village guard. Shields stack together, but the village guard doesn’t.

However, when any shield of yours expires, you get a village guard on top of it. It will extend your protection briefly. You can use this time to attack freely without any repercussions. The other two instances when you get a village guard for free is after an unsuccessful enemy attack and during the personal break time.

Personal break time is a topic of its own, but I can explain the other instance quickly. An unsuccessful attack is an attack that dealt with less than 30% destruction to your village. A successful enemy attack gives you a free shield. You can read about the specifics in my shield article.

Village Guard Specifics

Village guards always cost only ten gems, so they are highly affordable to anyone. However, there are some league restrictions. Nearly every league has a different village guard timer. Here is an informative list showing you exact village guard timers for every league:

1.  Legend League has no village guards. Neither do Clan War Leagues, Builder Base, or Clan Wars.
2. Titan I has village guards. They last for four hours.
3. In Titan II, they last for three hours.
4. Titan II has two hours of village guard protection.
5. In the entire Champion league, village guards for an hour.
6. Master I leagues and all the others under it have thirty-minute village guards.

As you can see, higher leagues offer better village guard timers. That’s because attacks are much more frequent there. In lower leagues, attacks are not as prevalent, meaning you can often be active for hours without any attacks.

You can keep attacking without any attacks coming your way. Therefore, shields seem redundant and unnecessary at these stages of the game. So, if you are a beginner, don’t bother so much with protection. On top of that, you won’t have as much to lose as top tier players.

They have hoarded millions of resources, while your gold and elixir are probably still in the thousands. You can’t attack indefinitely, though. There is a thing called the personal break that kicks in after a while, giving others a window to attack you.

Back and Forth

This whole game focuses on the balance between attacking and defending. You will get attacked, and you will attack others. Shields are there to help you out, and so is the village guard, but it boils down to basic math.

Your goal should be to attack other players more than they attack you. This way, you’ll stay on the plus side of things. It’s horrible that I have to spell this out for you, but many people are unaware of this, even after playing Clash of Clans for days or even weeks. Nevertheless, I do it because I’m a nice guy.

Success in this game comes the same way as anything else in life, through the time invested. The more you play, the better you get. The more you attack, the more you win, etc.

One more thing that sounds silly, but it applies to CoC, the attack is your best defense. You shouldn’t spend most of your time and resources turtling up in your little castle. Go out and slay some enemies, loot and ransack their village, be a plunderer, not a coward. That’s how you progress and get to higher leagues.

Get More Value out of Shields and Village Guard

I can’t give you specific advice on when and how to attack in CoC because we all lead different lives and have different playstyles. A piece of more general advice would be to get the most value out of your shields, including the village guard.

You can achieve this by planning carefully. If you want to become an advanced Clasher, you’ll incorporate the game into your daily schedule. The right way around this is to launch attacks periodically, in your spare time. I like to send out one attack in the morning, one in the afternoon around the lunch break, and one in the evening.

I always look at my remaining shield and village guard timers. Look at my shields article for shield time specifics, and try to memorize those timers. Remember that when you attack, you lose some shield time (the more you attack, the more protection time you lose).

When your shield expires, the village guard kicks in. You can freely attack when it’s active, without having to fear the loss of shields. However, here is a pro tip for you: don’t attack within the last 40 minutes of the village guard timer. This way, you’ll ensure that your Heroes will be ready to defend when it expires.

Another pro tip is only to boost your army under a village guard. That way, you’ll ensure that to get the most value out of the boost. Time management is essential in the Clash of Clans. Try to lose your shield before you go to sleep, or you are inactive for extended periods. When you return to play, you’ll want to attack as much as you can with the village guard protection active.

Finally, when you notice an incoming attack, don’t panic. Request the defending Clan Castle troops and prepare your forces to defend your village. Speaking of clans, you should try to join a good one. It’s not a lone wolf type of game.

It is vital to join a reliable clan because other clan members can help you out, and besides, playing with friends is always more fun. Yeah, some people are toxic and rude, but many Clashers are friendly and helpful. Try to surround yourself with such people, and you’ll have much more fun and success in the game.

Taking into consideration at all the shields you can purchase in this game, the village guard is the cheapest and the best one. It is your best ally if you learn to use it properly and make the most out of it.

Total Immunity

In conclusion, you probably realize by now that the village guard is OP. It is a reason enough to advance in the leagues. Always use this great game mechanic to your advantage, using the tips provided here.

Of course, as you get better, you’ll be able to make strategies of your own and think out of the box. If you get to the top (let’s be realistic, not many people do), you won’t be able to rely on the village guard anymore. The big boys don’t need protection because they fight on even when they get beaten.

You get the gist, and hopefully, you picked up a thing or two from this article.