Clash of Clans Winter update brings economy-balancing changes

**Update**

The Clash of Clans Winter Update has been released and is now available for download. Check out the full patch notes here.

**Original**

Supercell Games, continuing to provide sneak peeks of the upcoming Clash of Clans Winter update, today posted a fairly lengthy look at the next round of economy-balancing changes coming to the action-strategy mobile game. Over on the forums, Supercell explained the primary goals of these changes are to:

• Increase Dark Elixir availability in mid-level Villages and battles (Town Halls 7-8)
• Retain more Elixir in mid-level battles (Town Hall 7-9)
• Increase Gold and Elixir availability in higher-level Villages and battles (Town Hall 8-10)

With that, players can expect the following changes when the Winter update arrives.

1) Upgrading Walls with Elixir is now available only when upgrading Walls to level 9 and higher.

"Mid-level Wall upgrades using Elixir have become an easy and highly-available place to spend away excess Elixir, which is good for idle Villagers, but bad for active attackers. Our primary goal for Wall upgrades using Elixir was always to give players more flexibility when pushing their Walls to higher levels, so pushing the Elixir option to Wall level 9+ will help us keep this flexibility for the most expensive of Walls while still retaining more Elixir in mid-level battles for when you go on the attack."

Supercell notes that moving the Elixir option up to Wall level 9 is the only change to Wall upgrading. The prices in Gold (or Elixir) will remain the same.

2) New collector level! Gold Mine and Elixir Collector level 12 has been added, available at Town Hall 8.

"Along with improving Elixir and Dark Elixir availability in the mid-level, the entire higher-level Gold and Elixir economy will be getting a stimulating boost with Gold Mine and Elixir Collector level 12. This means more generation during idle times and more potential resources when going on the attack. The new collector level will have increased production rate, capacity and hitpoints."

3) The first Dark Elixir Drill can now be built at Town Hall 7 instead of Town Hall 8.

"Town Hall level 7 has been a tricky place for Dark Elixir as the Dark Elixir storage is available at Town Hall 7, but without any drills to generate income. Not only does this make stockpiling Dark Elixir difficult, but it also means that Dark Elixir offers are generally quite poor when attacking other Town Hall 7 villages.

This rarity of Dark Elixir at Town Hall 7 was part of the original challenge and reward of unlocking the Barbarian King, as Heroes used to be the ONLY thing to spend Dark Elixir on when this murky currency was first introduced. Nowadays, however, there are the competing demands of training Dark Elixir troops, doing Dark Elixir troop research in the Laboratory, as well as trying to push your Barbarian King to level 5 to unlock his powerful Iron Fist ability.

To make Dark Elixir more available to Town Hall level 7, the first Dark Elixir Drill is now unlocked at the same time as the Dark Elixir Storage and the Dark Barracks. Keep it well protected, as it will surely be an attractive target to oncoming attackers!"

4) The second Dark Elixir Drill can now be built at Town Hall 8 instead of Town Hall 9.

"Nowadays, Town Hall 8 has more need for Dark Elixir than ever before, just like Town Hall level 7. Pushing the Barbarian King to higher levels comes in tandem with training the super-useful (and expensive) Golem troop along with researching its upgrade level. Moving the second Dark Elixir Drill to Town Hall level 8 will help to supply the increased demand by increasing resource generation as well as potential Dark Elixir offers in Town Hall 8 battles."

5) Dark Elixir Drills have had their maximum capacity increased on all levels.
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6) Unchanged: Maximum Dark Elixir Drill level is 3 at Town Hall 7 and 8, maximum level 6 at Town Hall 9 and 10.

"Dark Elixir Drill capacity will be increased on all levels after the update. This means that Dark Elixir Drills will no longer fill up and stop producing Dark Elixir as fast as they used to. Note that the production rate will remain the same and maximum Dark Elixir Drill upgrade level per Town Hall level will remain unchanged – Dark Elixir Drills will just be able to hold more resources at once after the update."

Yesterday, Supercell first teased the winter update, showing off the brand new magical Christmas trees, cautioning players not to cut them yet because they may grow presents.