Defence Mechanics: Splash, Single Target, Air and Ground
Mechanics
Updated: 18 September 2026 · By the Goblins Farm team
Every defence in the game sits somewhere on two axes: what it can shoot at, and whether it hits one thing hard or many things a little. A base that is strong on one axis and empty on the other is not a strong base, it is a base with an obvious answer, and every attacker will find it.
Single target versus splash
Single-target defences pick one unit and shoot it until it dies. They deal high damage per shot and are the correct answer to a small number of large, expensive units: a Golem, a hero, a Dragon. They are close to useless against thirty Barbarians, because they kill one at a time while the other twenty-nine chew through the building.
Splash defences deal damage over an area. Each individual hit is weaker, but it lands on everything in the circle. They are the correct answer to masses of cheap troops, and they are what makes swarm strategies fail. Against a single Golem, they are a rounding error.
This is the entire defensive balance problem in one line: you need both, because the attacker chooses which one you will face. A base packed with single-target defences dies to swarms. A base packed with splash dies to a handful of heavy units. The attacker gets to look at your base before deciding, so any hole you leave is the hole they will attack through.
Air, ground, and both
The second axis is targeting. Ground-only defences cannot touch a single air unit; air-only defences cannot touch a single ground unit; some defences hit both.
The failure mode here is more common and more brutal than the splash one, because air attacks are the default recommendation for newer players. A base with one Air Defence, however well compartmented, is a base that Dragons walk through, and walls contribute exactly nothing to stopping them. Conversely, a base that over-invests in anti-air while leaving thin ground coverage gets flattened by hogs and miners.
Rule of thumb for placement: anti-air belongs deep, spread apart, and never all on one side. Air Defences clustered together die to one Rage and a stack of Balloons; spread across the base, each one has to be dealt with separately.
Range, coverage and blind spots
Each defence has a fixed range, drawn as a circle when you tap it in edit mode. Two things matter about those circles:
- Overlap is the point. A defence standing alone gets destroyed alone. Defences whose circles overlap cover each other, so an attacker who commits to one is being shot by three. Layout is really the art of arranging overlapping circles.
- Some defences have a minimum range. The Mortar is the classic example: it cannot hit anything standing directly on top of it. Attackers exploit this deliberately, and defenders counter it by making sure something else covers that dead zone.
When you have finished a layout, tap each defence in turn and look at what its circle does not cover. Wherever two circles fail to meet is where the attack will come.
Building a balanced set
The checklist that catches most bad bases:
- Is there splash damage covering the core, and is it centred rather than on the edge?
- Is anti-air spread across at least three sides of the base?
- Does any single Rage-sized circle contain two or more of your key defences? If so, move one.
- Are the highest-value defences inside walls, or are they sitting on the perimeter where cheap troops reach them first?
- Is the Clan Castle radius covering the approaches, rather than tucked in a corner?
Then, and this matters more than any checklist, watch your defence replays. The game shows you exactly how you lost. Three replays will tell you more about your base's weakness than any amount of theory. Layout principles are covered in base building principles.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between splash and single-target defences?
Single-target defences shoot one unit at a time for high damage, which suits killing large expensive troops and heroes. Splash defences damage everything in an area for less per hit, which suits killing masses of cheap troops. You need both, because the attacker looks at your base and picks whichever one you are missing.
Why do my Air Defences keep dying at once?
Almost certainly because they are close enough together to sit under a single spell. Anti-air should be spread across different sides of the base and placed deep, so an attacker has to make a separate effort for each one rather than removing them all with one Rage and a stack of Balloons.
Do Mortars have a blind spot?
Yes. Mortars have a minimum range and cannot hit units standing directly next to them. Attackers use this on purpose, so make sure another defence covers the ground immediately around each Mortar.
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