WAAAAAR!!! If you're in a serious war clan or trying to turn your clan into a serious war clan, you'll need to know the mechanics of war inside out and upside down. Unfortunately, one area that is not well understood or applied in many clans is the area of war weighting and matching. Many people don't even know what the term "war weighting" means or, more importantly, how to apply it in their clan to improve their war matches. We'll look at three main areas of clan management relating to war so you, too, can help your clan become a war powerhouse: War weight and matchmaking, recruitment and upgrade order priorities for members.
Ok, so just what is war weight?
Short version: It's the mathematical value of the strength of your base as it relates to clan wars.
Your base's weight plus the weights of your teammates' bases are combined to give your clan's war weight. That figure is what Supercell uses to match your clan versus other clans when you search for war.
How do you find this magical number??
There are 2(*) ways to find it- First way is to count the available gold (recommended). Scout your war base on BATTLE DAY (NOT prep day- this is very important) and check how much gold is in your gold storages and multiply by the number of gold storages you have (assuming all gold storages are the same level) and add the gold in your Town Hall (usually 1,000).
Short version: It's the mathematical value of the strength of your base as it relates to clan wars.
Your base's weight plus the weights of your teammates' bases are combined to give your clan's war weight. That figure is what Supercell uses to match your clan versus other clans when you search for war.
How do you find this magical number??
There are 2(*) ways to find it- First way is to count the available gold (recommended). Scout your war base on BATTLE DAY (NOT prep day- this is very important) and check how much gold is in your gold storages and multiply by the number of gold storages you have (assuming all gold storages are the same level) and add the gold in your Town Hall (usually 1,000).
**If the gold storages are different levels, you need to add up each level individually in order to get the correct amount. Sometimes they'll be the same but other times they'll be different**
The second way is to use the replay method (not as reliable): Watch a replay of the base being attacked in war and it will show the amount of gold available in the upper left corner at the beginning of the replay. This method has a caveat however: if the attacker is a different level TH, the amount can be slightly higher or lower than if they were the same TH level.
*I'll just briefly mention a third way is to try an online calculator but since no one knows precisely how the weights are calculated, the ones I've tried have been close but not exact, so for that reason I don't recommend them.*
Who should care about war weight?
Anyone who is in a war clan or wants to run a successful war clan should! It dictates war matchmaking and often is the difference between winning wars and losing wars. The way you go about upgrading your base will have an impact on your war weight and should be planned accordingly.
Anyone who is in a war clan or wants to run a successful war clan should! It dictates war matchmaking and often is the difference between winning wars and losing wars. The way you go about upgrading your base will have an impact on your war weight and should be planned accordingly.
How to use war weight to your advantage in matchmaking
Remember that your clan's total weight in war is what determines your match. Once you push that 'search' button, you'll be matched with a clan who has a similar war weight. Clan families use this information all the time to arrange wars between sister clans or to do intra-clan scrimmages. "Similar" war weights have a range! They can be almost exactly the same or as far off as about +/- 50,000 of your clan's overall weight. You know that sometimes you find a match very quickly and other times it takes much longer. The length of time it searches is determined by how many clans within your range are searching at the same time you are. Now, there are theories out there that the longer the search, the tougher the match/higher odds of a mismatch there are. I'm not at all convinced that this is the case because I've experienced short searches that resulted in a loss and long searches that resulted in a win.
Ask yourself this question: Do you feel like your clan is consistently getting matches in war that seem unfair? Does it seem like you're facing opposing clans that are superior to yours? Are their individual bases superior to your own? I'm here to tell you that it all comes back to your war weight and the order in which you've upgraded your bases within your clan. Take a look at the bases you've opted in to war. I bet you that they're players with high (almost maxed if not completely maxed) defenses and lower level heroes, troops, walls or all of the above. The reason war weight matters is because it's largely determined by your defenses. Troops, walls and heroes matter, but to a much lower extent than defenses. There has been quite a movement over the past several months towards doing offensive upgrades prior to defensive in most war clans. You'll recognize the 9.5, 8.5, and mini-max strategies as being offense-heavy. The basic premise is that you defer defense upgrading when moving to a new TH level in favor of offense. What that does is ensure that your weight remains low enough to bring in an opponent in war you can easily 3 star when in reality, your offensive upgrades will allow you to 3 star well above your own war weight.
Remember that your clan's total weight in war is what determines your match. Once you push that 'search' button, you'll be matched with a clan who has a similar war weight. Clan families use this information all the time to arrange wars between sister clans or to do intra-clan scrimmages. "Similar" war weights have a range! They can be almost exactly the same or as far off as about +/- 50,000 of your clan's overall weight. You know that sometimes you find a match very quickly and other times it takes much longer. The length of time it searches is determined by how many clans within your range are searching at the same time you are. Now, there are theories out there that the longer the search, the tougher the match/higher odds of a mismatch there are. I'm not at all convinced that this is the case because I've experienced short searches that resulted in a loss and long searches that resulted in a win.
Ask yourself this question: Do you feel like your clan is consistently getting matches in war that seem unfair? Does it seem like you're facing opposing clans that are superior to yours? Are their individual bases superior to your own? I'm here to tell you that it all comes back to your war weight and the order in which you've upgraded your bases within your clan. Take a look at the bases you've opted in to war. I bet you that they're players with high (almost maxed if not completely maxed) defenses and lower level heroes, troops, walls or all of the above. The reason war weight matters is because it's largely determined by your defenses. Troops, walls and heroes matter, but to a much lower extent than defenses. There has been quite a movement over the past several months towards doing offensive upgrades prior to defensive in most war clans. You'll recognize the 9.5, 8.5, and mini-max strategies as being offense-heavy. The basic premise is that you defer defense upgrading when moving to a new TH level in favor of offense. What that does is ensure that your weight remains low enough to bring in an opponent in war you can easily 3 star when in reality, your offensive upgrades will allow you to 3 star well above your own war weight.
Good war weight vs bad war weight
A "good" war weight base will be one that has emphasized those offensive upgrades over defenses and a "bad" war weight base will be one that has high level defenses but lower level troops, heroes and walls.
Good war weight base
A "good" war weight base will be one that has emphasized those offensive upgrades over defenses and a "bad" war weight base will be one that has high level defenses but lower level troops, heroes and walls.
Good war weight base
As you can see, John is doing the 8.5 route with this account and he's got no xbows, maxed walls and his defenses maxed for TH8 level. His war weight is around a max TH8 level (about 50k) but check his profile...
John is a pretty new 8.5 but looking at his heroes, troops and spells he can certainly handle the max TH8 he'd draw in war. John also has the ability to hit up to a mid-lvl TH9 with his troops. That's an invaluable asset in war.
Bad war weight base
Poor Hector...not hating on him but his base is a perfect example of a war base that's weighted to the negative...he's got lvl 6 and 7 walls, infernos and xbows (the two heaviest weighted defenses in the game as of this post), lower air defenses, cannons, wizard towers, mortars, archer towers...his base carried a weight of 74k (for comparison sake: a max TH9 including walls and heroes weighs 75k). When you look at his profile, it only gets worse.
Low troop levels, low heroes, low spells...he won't be able to 3 star the near max TH9 he'll draw in war, let alone a TH10....in this war he was matched with a TH9 who had a 72k weight...
These were the bases he hit in war....
A 47k weighted TH8.....
And a 46k weighted TH8....YIKES!! Can you see why this is a liability if he's in your clan??
Coming back to matchups...
If your clan has experienced those so-called "bad matchups", rest assured it's not Supercell out to screw your clan over. 9 times out of 10 it's your clan screwing itself over. If your TH9's have maxed out defenses and lower lvl heroes (under lvl 15) you're committing clan war suicide. Sure, you may get lucky every now and then but those lvl 3 xbows tell Supercell "I don't care who you are, I'll 3 star any TH9!" If you want to get more favorable matches, you need to change your upgrade order in your clan. Walls, Troops and Heroes. Those are the things you need to focus on upgrading. Don't believe me? Watch your war weights for a while and see. As you upgrade your WTH, your war weight won't change much, if at all. It usually takes a few upgrades before a noticeable difference is seen in war weights. A TH9 with maxed defenses working on just walls and heroes will weigh in the low 70's for war weight. Many decide at that point to make the jump to TH10....why? For the infernos? Because you're bored? You'll have a higher war weight (assuming you get infernos and upgrade defenses) therefore harder opponents. Everybody will have their own way of playing the game but if you're in a war clan, grind out those walls and heroes at TH9. Here's our recommended upgrade priority list at NRB.
If your clan has experienced those so-called "bad matchups", rest assured it's not Supercell out to screw your clan over. 9 times out of 10 it's your clan screwing itself over. If your TH9's have maxed out defenses and lower lvl heroes (under lvl 15) you're committing clan war suicide. Sure, you may get lucky every now and then but those lvl 3 xbows tell Supercell "I don't care who you are, I'll 3 star any TH9!" If you want to get more favorable matches, you need to change your upgrade order in your clan. Walls, Troops and Heroes. Those are the things you need to focus on upgrading. Don't believe me? Watch your war weights for a while and see. As you upgrade your WTH, your war weight won't change much, if at all. It usually takes a few upgrades before a noticeable difference is seen in war weights. A TH9 with maxed defenses working on just walls and heroes will weigh in the low 70's for war weight. Many decide at that point to make the jump to TH10....why? For the infernos? Because you're bored? You'll have a higher war weight (assuming you get infernos and upgrade defenses) therefore harder opponents. Everybody will have their own way of playing the game but if you're in a war clan, grind out those walls and heroes at TH9. Here's our recommended upgrade priority list at NRB.
Recruiting and fixing the problem bases...
Ok, if your clan has been on a losing streak or getting those tough matchups lately, you need to first identify the problem then try to fix the problem. Is it easy? No. But it's essential in order to start winning wars. Identify those bases which are upside down in war weights (maxed defenses, low offense) and (if they're friends or family) explain the situation and ask that they immediately begin to work on their walls, troops and heroes. It's not always an easy conversation to have with people but assure them that you're doing this in the best interests of the clan and that they'll be better off for it. Do the same thing for those random players who are upside down and if they don't want to comply, kick and recruit players who will help your clan instead of hurt it. If your base is upside down, opt out and sit until you catch up.
Recruiting is the easy part....now that you know what a good war weight base and profile and a bad war weight base and profile looks like, try to find players with strong bases and profiles to join your clan. You'll occasionally get fortunate on global or you can try recruiting on the Supercell forums. At NRB, we look for strong TH8's who are willing to follow our 8.5 upgrade recommendations as they move to TH9. Once you get a solid group of players with those good war weight bases, you'll see a huge, green difference in your war log!
Ok, if your clan has been on a losing streak or getting those tough matchups lately, you need to first identify the problem then try to fix the problem. Is it easy? No. But it's essential in order to start winning wars. Identify those bases which are upside down in war weights (maxed defenses, low offense) and (if they're friends or family) explain the situation and ask that they immediately begin to work on their walls, troops and heroes. It's not always an easy conversation to have with people but assure them that you're doing this in the best interests of the clan and that they'll be better off for it. Do the same thing for those random players who are upside down and if they don't want to comply, kick and recruit players who will help your clan instead of hurt it. If your base is upside down, opt out and sit until you catch up.
Recruiting is the easy part....now that you know what a good war weight base and profile and a bad war weight base and profile looks like, try to find players with strong bases and profiles to join your clan. You'll occasionally get fortunate on global or you can try recruiting on the Supercell forums. At NRB, we look for strong TH8's who are willing to follow our 8.5 upgrade recommendations as they move to TH9. Once you get a solid group of players with those good war weight bases, you'll see a huge, green difference in your war log!
Application
NRB (main) is a typical clan...we've got a couple TH10's and the rest TH9's and TH8's. When I search for war, I try to keep a ratio of 1:2 TH8.5's to max TH9's (those with level 3 xbows). We currently have 1 near max TH10, 1 mid TH10, 8 max TH9's, 4 mid TH9's, 6 TH8.5's, 10TH8's. By keeping that ratio as close to 1:2 as possible, we're able to get war matches that are almost always in our favor.
NRB (main) is a typical clan...we've got a couple TH10's and the rest TH9's and TH8's. When I search for war, I try to keep a ratio of 1:2 TH8.5's to max TH9's (those with level 3 xbows). We currently have 1 near max TH10, 1 mid TH10, 8 max TH9's, 4 mid TH9's, 6 TH8.5's, 10TH8's. By keeping that ratio as close to 1:2 as possible, we're able to get war matches that are almost always in our favor.
.5's and mini maxes
Here are my thoughts with regards to the .5 strategies....TH8.5's should go as long as possible before getting xbows and work only the Walls, Troops, Heroes and the 4th air defense. TH7.5's should only get the 3rd air defense and no additional defenses, working only the Walls, Troops and Hero. If you're so inclined, your TH7.5's can go to 9 after maxing all WTH at TH8 without getting any additional defenses and become a "mini max" account. Basically, mini max is a base that has skipped 2 town hall levels without getting any additional defenses or increasing their war weight significantly. Another option is the wall-less, defense-less base. I have a couple mini accounts that I'm taking this route and, while it's tough to hold on to loot, I can unquestionably hit much higher up than my war weight would suggest.
Here are my thoughts with regards to the .5 strategies....TH8.5's should go as long as possible before getting xbows and work only the Walls, Troops, Heroes and the 4th air defense. TH7.5's should only get the 3rd air defense and no additional defenses, working only the Walls, Troops and Hero. If you're so inclined, your TH7.5's can go to 9 after maxing all WTH at TH8 without getting any additional defenses and become a "mini max" account. Basically, mini max is a base that has skipped 2 town hall levels without getting any additional defenses or increasing their war weight significantly. Another option is the wall-less, defense-less base. I have a couple mini accounts that I'm taking this route and, while it's tough to hold on to loot, I can unquestionably hit much higher up than my war weight would suggest.
Hopefully this information has helped you out a bit and you can apply these concepts in your own clan. If you're interested in using this war weight knowledge to try to set up an arranged war with NRB, send me an email at [email protected].
Good luck in war and happy clashing, chiefs!
Good luck in war and happy clashing, chiefs!