Upgrade Priority: What to Build Next
Mechanics
Updated: 18 September 2026 · By the Goblins Farm team
The specific answer changes every Town Hall. The framework does not. Keep the laboratory running, keep a hero upgrading, keep every builder busy, and never let the Town Hall run ahead of what is underneath it. Almost every progression mistake in the game is a violation of one of those four.
The four things that should never be idle
Progress in Clash of Clans is measured in parallel timers, not in resources. Resources sitting in a storage do nothing except attract attackers. The four parallel tracks:
- The laboratory. Research applies to every troop of that type forever, in every future attack. An idle lab is the most expensive idleness in the game.
- A hero. Hero upgrades take the longest, so the only way to get them done is to always have one running. Yes, that means attacking without that hero for a while. Do it anyway.
- Every builder. A free builder is a timer you are not running. Even a cheap, low-value upgrade beats an idle builder.
- The Clan Castle, on defence. Free, and forgotten constantly.
If you check nothing else when you log in, check these.
Ordering within a Town Hall level
When you arrive at a new Town Hall, the shopping list is enormous and the temptation is to build the shiny new defence. A more reliable order:
- Army camps and barracks. More troops per attack improves every single attack you will make at this Town Hall. This is almost always the highest-value first purchase.
- Laboratory, then research. Upgrade the lab early so the research queue can start on the troops you actually use.
- Storages. Because if your storages cannot hold the cost of the next upgrade, you physically cannot buy it, and you will spend days confused about why.
- Defences that close a category gap. A missing Air Defence is a hole; a fourth Cannon is a decoration. Read defence mechanics for what a category gap looks like.
- Everything else.
- Walls, continuously, with surplus. Never as a priority, always as a sink.
Rushing, and what it actually costs
Rushing means upgrading the Town Hall while the base beneath it is far from complete. It is not forbidden and it is not always wrong, but it is widely misunderstood, so be clear about the trade:
What you gain: access to new buildings, troops and levels sooner.
What you pay: your defences are now several tiers behind the players you meet, so you lose more defences; your army is behind the bases you are offered, so you win fewer attacks; and your war matchups get harder because war matchmaking looks at what you own, not at whether it is upgraded. The result is a village that looks advanced and performs badly, and digging out takes months.
The moderate position most experienced players land on: do not max everything, but do not skip categories. Get heroes, army research, camps and the key defences to a reasonable level for the Town Hall, then move up. Leaving a few decorative buildings behind is fine; leaving your heroes ten levels behind is not.
A checklist before pressing Town Hall upgrade
- Are my heroes within a reasonable range of the cap for this Town Hall?
- Is the laboratory maxed for this level, and are the troops I actually use researched?
- Are army camps maxed?
- Is there a defence category, especially anti-air, that is still weak?
- Do I have enough builders free that the next Town Hall's queue will not stall?
Four yeses and a plan for the fifth means go. Two yeses means you are about to rush, and you should know that is what you are doing.
What this page talks about
Frequently asked
What should I upgrade first in Clash of Clans?
Army camps and laboratory research before anything else, because they improve every attack you will ever make at that Town Hall level, then storages so you can actually afford later upgrades, then any defence category you are missing. Walls last, always, using surplus.
Is rushing your Town Hall bad?
It is a trade rather than a mistake. You get access to new content sooner and pay for it with weaker defences, a weaker army relative to your opponents and harder war matchups. The workable middle ground is to keep heroes, research, camps and key defences reasonable for your level, and not worry about maxing decorative buildings.
Should I upgrade heroes even though I cannot use them?
Yes. Hero upgrades have the longest timers in the game, so the only way to finish them is to always have one running. Attacking without a hero for a few days is a small cost; being permanently behind on hero levels is a large one.
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Goblins Farm is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or specifically approved by Supercell. Clash of Clans is a trademark of Supercell Oy. This material is unofficial fan content produced under Supercell's Fan Content Policy. Game values change with every update; always verify in-game before committing an upgrade.