What is the best TH18 air army in Clash of Clans?

The army

How to play it

Pick one side and deploy along it in one line, in this order:

1. The Duke first and alone, about nine tiles past one end of your line, so his Royal Rampage stays on.
2. The Ice Hound in the middle of that side, with the Sky Wagon right behind it.
3. The Dragon Riders, Dragons and Super Minion spread along the whole side.
4. A second later, the King and the Prince behind the middle, then the Warden in air mode just behind them.
5. The Apprentice Warden behind the middle, then the Clan Castle troops.

Revive the first hero to fall, then the next, while half a minute or more is left. Drop a Totem wherever the most fire is landing, Freeze the hottest spot once your army is under it, Rage the main group when a third or more of it is fighting in one place, and Poison the defending heroes or Clan Castle troops once they engage.

Don’t funnel. Sending heroes to the flanks first drops this army from 98% to 69%. The average attack ends at 73 seconds, half a minute sooner than the Thrower army.

How it compares

It beats every other army in the test by about 6 points or more, on 600 bases no search had seen, two rolls each.

Same bases and dice for every army; ± is one standard error of the gap.

The seven measured ladder air builds that were re-run score 34 to 67% with standard kits and 54 to 82% with the best air kits, so kits alone are worth 8 to 26 points to them. The runner-up is a different list: 22 Super Minions, 2 Dragons, a Lava Hound and 3 Balloons with no Ice Hound or Apprentice Warden, a different spell mix, and the Queen instead of the Prince. It tied this army on the first test bases and fell behind on every set after that.

It also holds up best when things get harder: 80% against 45% for the Thrower army when every base is fully maxed, and 81% against 73% with very sloppy play.

What each part is worth

Data for the chart: The Warden is worth 27 points and the Revives 11; half the swaps cost 0 to 3

Item	Group	Value (Change in 3-star rate (points))	Low	High
Without the Warden	Heroes	−27.1	−29.6	−24.6
Without the Duke	Heroes	−21.3	−23.7	−19.0
Without the King	Heroes	−14.5	−16.6	−12.4
Without the Prince	Heroes	−13.2	−15.2	−11.3
Standard air kits on all four	Equipment	−9.2	−11.0	−7.3
King: Spiky Ball + Snake Bracelet	Equipment	−4.2	−5.5	−3.0
Warden: Eternal Tome + Healing Tome	Equipment	−3.2	−4.4	−2.0
Duke: Fire Heart + Electro Fangs	Equipment	−1.0	−2.0	0.0
Prince: Dark Orb + Meteor Staff	Equipment	−0.8	−1.8	+0.1
No Revives (Totems instead)	Spells	−11.2	−13.0	−9.5
Old kit: 4 Invisibility, 2 Revive	Spells	−2.8	−3.9	−1.6
Two fewer Revives	Spells	−2.8	−3.8	−1.9
No Rage	Spells	−1.4	−2.5	−0.3
No Poison	Spells	−1.1	−2.0	−0.1
No Freeze	Spells	−0.4	−1.4	+0.5
Log Launcher instead of Sky Wagon	Siege machine and Clan Castle	−5.9	−7.4	−4.4
Battle Blimp instead	Siege machine and Clan Castle	−6.0	−7.4	−4.6
No siege machine	Siege machine and Clan Castle	−6.7	−8.3	−5.1
Empty Clan Castle	Siege machine and Clan Castle	−4.8	−6.2	−3.3
Stone Slammer instead	Siege machine and Clan Castle	−5.2	−6.7	−3.8
11 Balloons in the castle	Siege machine and Clan Castle	−1.7	−2.8	−0.5
2 Dragons + 3 Balloons in the castle	Siege machine and Clan Castle	−0.8	−1.8	+0.2
Balloons for the Dragon Riders	Troops	−11.4	−13.3	−9.5
Inferno Dragons for the Dragon Riders	Troops	−7.0	−8.6	−5.4
Super Dragons for the Dragon Riders	Troops	−7.0	−8.6	−5.4
Dragons for the Dragon Riders	Troops	−1.2	−2.3	0.0
No Dragons (3 more Riders)	Troops	−2.0	−3.1	−0.9
No Ice Hound (1 Rider, 7 Minions)	Troops	−2.3	−3.5	−1.2
No Super Minion (6 Minions)	Troops	−1.0	−2.1	+0.1
No Apprentice Warden (10 Minions)	Troops	−1.9	−3.1	−0.8
Super Minions for the Dragon Riders	Troops	−1.1	−2.3	+0.1
Ball instead of one line	Deploy	−1.9	−3.1	−0.7

Dragon Riders, Super Minions and Dragons are nearly interchangeable as the core (about a point apart), but Super or Inferno Dragons cost 7 points and Balloons 11. The four heroes matter most: the Warden alone is worth 27 points.

Heroes, equipment and pets

King, Warden, Prince and Duke is the best of the 15 possible four-hero line-ups for this army, and taking any one of them out without a stand-in costs 13 to 27 points, the Warden most. The Queen is the hero to leave at home. If a hero is upgrading, bring the Royal Champion on Rocket Spear + Electro Boots with Spirit Fox: the best stand-in for every one of them (every case, both armies).

The full army scores 98.1% on the same 600 untouched bases, two rolls each.

The Warden takes Eternal Tome + Life Gem: it beat Life Gem + Heroic Torch by 3 points in the hero search and by 1.9 points in the final re-run (1,200 attacks each). The King’s two Stick Horse pairs tie (0.5 points apart), as do Rocket Backpack and Fire Heart beside the Duke’s Revenge Deck (0.2); the Prince’s Metal Pants + Meteor Staff is 1.2 points behind Henchmen Puppet + Meteor Staff.

The standard pets won: Frosty on the King, Sneezy on the Warden, Greedy Raven on the Prince and Phoenix on the Duke. All 12 pets were tried on each hero, and the standard pet came out best on every one.

Version and platform notes

The search ran with the October 2026 balance changes already in, using an estimate for the Ruin Knight, which this army doesn’t use. The changes went live in the 20 Oct maintenance break. Re-run on the live numbers, the air army’s results stay the same to the decimal and the Thrower army moves by 0.3 points, because the air army uses none of the changed troops. Everything here applies the same on iOS and Android.

How we counted

Each hero was locked on a top air equipment pair and everything else was searched with the October balance changes in:

1. Five independent searches over troops, spells, siege machine, Clan Castle and deploy style, each 30 generations of 40 armies, every generation scored on a fresh block of 40 bases from a pool of 400. Two were seeded with everything, one without earlier results, one with Dragon Riders banned and one with the Queen in the line-up.
2. The 75 leaders, plus the previous air army, re-tested on 600 new bases. This army and a Super Minion army tied at about 95%; the best Queen line-up reached 93%.
3. A polish of both finalists: every single change, about 200 each, screened on 150 bases, with the best eight re-tested over 1,600 attacks. Nothing beat either army.
4. A hero search on 300 more bases: all 15 line-ups, every equipment pair for each hero twice, the benched heroes and all 12 pets.
5. Two hand edits the tests backed: a single Lightning became a Totem (the simulated player only zaps with three or more), and an odd Clan Castle became 2 Dragon Riders and a Balloon, an easier request that scored the same or better.
6. The final test on 600 bases no step had touched, two rolls each.
7. A re-run on 23 October with the Life Gem bonus ending one second after a troop leaves the Warden’s ring, as in the game (the steps above ran with an older rule that let it last), and with the live October numbers. Every chart and table on this page comes from that re-run.

That is over half a million simulated attacks, on the same battle simulator and calibration as the Thrower army. Electro Dragons stay excluded, because generated bases pack buildings closer than real anti-chain layouts.

Limits

• The simulator’s general limits apply: generated bases rather than real ones, a simulated player who follows simple rules, and your army at max level.
• Air sits further from the ladder data than the Thrower army, and this exact list has no ladder record to check yet. The seven measured air builds that were re-run average 53% here with standard kits and 68% with the best air kits, against 59% on the ladder. The ladder data doesn’t say what those players equip, so it can’t tell whether the simulator is harder or easier on air.
• Revives are timed perfectly in the simulator. You have to spot the fall and drop the spell in time, so expect a little less from the four Revives than the simulator gets. The Thrower army leans on Revives just as hard, so the comparison stays fair.
• Differences under about a point are ties: the King’s two Stick Horse pairs, Rocket Backpack and Fire Heart beside the Duke’s Revenge Deck, 2 Dragons + 3 Balloons in the castle and the Freeze against a fourth Totem.