Originally wanted to post this in reddit, but in the end thought that it was a good topic to put in my blog instead. Here’s the link to reddit: Link here

Main village (the main goal here is to drastically increase the gap between TH levels, and to make all upgrades meaningful so that there will be very few “useless” upgrades)Main village (the main goal here is to drastically increase the gap between TH levels, and to make all upgrades meaningful so that there will be very few “useless” upgrades)

The main advantage of this is to make a clear distinction between TH levels and reward certain upgrades. With the huge difference in TH levels, we can use the maxer’s favourite MM algorithm “minimum TH weights” because a rushed TH10 is actually at the same power level as a maxed TH9. The loot penalty now makes sense because a higher level can easily crush a lower level without thought using a gibarch style army.

Another main advantage here is that people will become more incentivised to upgrade TH because you don’t suddenly become “weakest in the food chain”. Within 1-3 weeks of upgrading your TH level, you would become far stronger than anyone lower TH level. Imagine that a TH7 who rushed to TH10 and spent 4-6 weeks as a TH10 can become stronger than any maxed TH9 in the world.

The suggestions are below:

1. This is a mechanical change, but a required one. You can only receive troops of the next town hall level and no higher. If the next town hall level has a new troop, only lvl1 of the new troop can be received. Higher level troops will be downgraded to the appropriate level unless the receiver is getting a troop which is not unlocked in the next TH level.

• For example, a TH10 can donate lvl7 giants to TH9 (the +1/+2 troop level bonus from clan perks is not applied). If a TH11 donates lvl8 giants to TH9, it will be downgraded to lvl7 for the TH9. A TH6 for example can only receive lvl4 loons (TH6 max is lvl3), no matter the strength of the donator. Even if a TH11 tries to donate lvl7 loons, the TH6 will receive it at lvl4 instead.
• A TH10 donating bowlers to a TH9 will have it downgraded to lvl1. Miners too, a TH9 can only ever taste lvl1 miners from the cc. A TH8 for example cannot receive bowlers at all, an error text of “The receiver is too low level to utilise this troop” will appear. But the second the TH8 reaches TH9, bowlers can be received.
• For troops with two levels, it works slightly differently. A TH10 can have lvl4 baby dragons while a TH9 can only have lvl2. If the TH10 donates the babies to a TH9, it will be downgraded to lvl3 instead (+1 level of max)
• Normal donations will occur if donating to higher level players. If a TH9 donates lvl4 pekkas to a TH10, they will be upgraded to lvl6 as per usual (assuming +2 levels from clan perks).

2. Stats of most TH10 and above troops are drastically increased. Basically it will be at least a 10-20% buff to hp and dps to all TH10 troops. Most TH10 troops will be as strong, if not stronger than current TH11 troops. Few notable examples I’m thinking of are:

• wizards at lvl7 will have 220 dps and 220 hp (current lvl8 stats, originally was 200/190)
• golems at lvl5 will have 6800 hp instead of 6300
• pekka at lvl6 will have 5500 hp and 520 dps instead of 5100/470
• Hounds will have 7500 instead of 6800 hp at TH10
• pekka lvl5 will have no buffs because TH9 can access it, likewise lvl3 babies will not be buffed
• This list is not exhaustive but shows what power level the troops will become after the buffs

3. Buff to TH10 defenses. There is a very good reason why all TH10 troops need a buff, because TH10 defenses will also receive the buff. The main reason here is to prevent TH9 from being able to hit up. First and biggest buff here would be infernos, since infernos weigh so much in the MM, the logical course of action would be to actually buff infernos so that it is worth the weight. Infernos alone can account for more than half the defensive weight, so it should be reflected that a TH10 without infernos would only be half a TH10.

• Infernos will get a 2x dps buff across the board for multi mode, the main reason here is to keep in pace with the heal spell. Despite this, the heal spell would still be stronger than infernos but at least the infernos will “prevent” healing by dishing out similar amounts of dmg. So a lvl 3 inferno will have 90 dps instead of 45 (whereas TH10 heal spell has 150 heal per second). Also, lvl3 infernos can hit 6 targets compared to 5 at lvl1 and lvl2. Single mode will also charge up quicker when leveled up, so instead of fully charging up at 5.25sec, lvl3 infernos will be charged up in 4s.
• Otherwise, all other TH10 point defenses will receive a +10 dps boost except air defenses which will receive a hp boost and a +30 dps boost (TH10 lavas will receive a big boost as well to negate this, the main point is to prevent TH9s from using air against TH10s)

4. Now time to buff TH11 offense and defenses. Like the previous 2, TH11s will receive a huge boost to all troops and all defenses to mainly prevent TH10s from being able to scratch TH11s. The main form of buff will be from the eagle artillery.

• The Eagle’s AoE will be increased, instead of only the small centre receiving full dmg, all troops within the hexagonal area will receive full damage. Also, it will deal 15% of the troop’s hp every hit, on top of its regular dmg. For bowlers, they will all receive 300 dmg plus 350*0.15 = 52.5 dmg each shot, multiplied by 3 for the entire volley. That means your entire swarm of bowlers can be decimated in one volley if they are all too close together. The 15% bonus dmg is targeted towards higher hp troops so that they can’t just shrug off the Eagle. Pekka for example, will be buffed to 7200 hp at lvl7. The eagle can deal 300+(7200*0.15) = 1380 dmg per shot or 4140 dmg per volley to your pekka. This ensures that the eagle can kill off any troop in 1 or 2 volleys at max.
• Eagle also gets 2 more buffs, a lvl2 eagle’s attack speed is increased so that it only takes 8sec per volley instead of 10; the Eagle’s first volley is immediate so right after the 180 troop limit is reached, the Eagle will fire off its initial volley without delay. Currently the eagle will wait for 1-2sec after the limit before it fires and another 2sec before the shots drop down, that wait is now gone.
• Golems will still get the 3x dmg except lvl7 golems, which will have 8500 hp by the way. Lvl7 golems gain a 50% dmg resistance to both single mode inferno and Eagle (lvl7 is inaccessible to TH10 due to #1 above because TH10 max is lvl5). The full formula for golems lvl7 vs eagle is: (300 + 8500*0.15) * 3 * 0.5 = 1575*1.5 = 2363.5 dmg per shot or 7090.5 dmg per volley, nearly one shotting a maxed golem. Whereas any level golem below lvl7 will be one-shotted by the Eagle due to the 15%*3 dmg (135% hp guaranteed dmg).
• All TH11 point defenses will also receive a +30 dps buff (remember that TH10 had a +10 buff, so in effect TH11 only received a +20 buff), air defenses will receive a +60 buff (don’t worry, TH11 lavas will have much more hp). Splash gets stronger as well in a variable way. Infernos at lvl5 will have 130 dps and can fire off 8 beams at once, single mode can charge up in 2.2sec.

If you fear that TH11 offense won’t be strong enough, rest assured. All TH11 troops will get gigantic buffs as well, they will be at least 20-40% stronger compared to now, some examples will be:

• Lava hound will be 8800 hp
• Golems as stated above will be 8500 hp at least
• Hog riders will receive a good boost and get 170 dps and 900 hp (remember that TH10 new hog riders will be about 140 dps and 700 hp)

These numbers and suggestions are not absolute, but I wish that SC can take a look at the balancing between TH levels so that the balance is in line with their core design values. They want to give “meaningful progression” and this will be one of the ways it can be achieved, every upgrade must be meaningful and impactful so that players are more motivated to upgrade their town hall and buildings.