Dominate Resource Grind with Camp Micro and Troop Rotation

Introduction

What if your next Town Hall upgrade finished a day earlier without spending a single gem? For most players, the bottleneck isn’t loot on the map—it’s how quickly your offensive buildings convert time into armies. Master the interplay between Army Camps, Barracks, Dark Barracks, Spell Factories, and the Siege Workshop, and you’ll squeeze 20–40% more raids into the same window. The secret is camp micro and troop rotation: small changes in how you queue, deploy, and alternate armies that translate into big jumps in loot per hour.

This guide shows you how to turn your offensive buildings into a synchronized production line so your next army is already training while you’re still fighting with the current one. You’ll learn practical micro tricks, data-driven rotation plans, and farm-ready examples for multiple Town Hall levels.

The Pipeline Mindset: Treat Offensive Buildings Like a Factory

Your farm efficiency depends on the slowest station in your offensive pipeline.

• Barracks and Dark Barracks: Train troops over time. In the modern single-barracks system, you can always train while upgrading, but throughput still caps your cycle speed.
• Spell Factory and Dark Spell Factory: Brew spells in parallel to troop training. If your composition relies on long-brew spells, spells can become your gate.
• Siege Workshop: Crafts siege machines on its own timer. Using a siege every raid without a plan will idle your workshop or force you to wait.
• Army Camps: Store your finished army. Camps don’t create time—they hide it. When camps are full, training pauses. Freeing camp space early during an attack allows the next wave to start training mid-battle.

Throughput rule: Your time per raid is roughly max(training time of troops, brew time of spells, siege craft time, hero regen if applicable). Camp micro and rotation techniques aim to shrink that maximum and keep every building busy.

Camp Micro: How to Train While You Attack

Camp micro is the art of freeing camp space early in a raid so the queued next army starts training immediately.

• Preload your queue: Before you attack, queue your next army in the Barracks/Dark Barracks. Place in the front of the queue the exact troops you intend to deploy first in the battle.
• Deployment order matters: If you plan to drop 40 housing of Barbarians at the start, put Barbarians first in the queue. The moment you deploy them, your camps open and the queue begins training replacements without you touching anything.
• Slice your army: Instead of dumping the whole army late in the raid, schedule early waves of cheap, fast-train troops (Barbs, Archers, Goblins, Minions). This unlocks training mid-battle and reduces the post-battle “deadtime.”
• Keep a buffer but don’t overfill: A modest queue buffer ensures no idle moments, but huge backlogs reduce your flexibility. If you need to swap to a new comp or react to a base, an overfilled queue is costly to cancel. Keep 0.5–1.0 extra armies queued, not more.
• Spell sequencing mirrors troop sequencing: Brew the shortest, most commonly used spells first. If you only need one Heal for most raids, place it first so it’s always ready; brew longer spells (like Rage or Jump) after, or alternate comps that require fewer long-brew spells.

Result: While you’re still clearing collectors, your next Barbarians and Archers are already ticking in the Barracks, and your next raid launches sooner.

Troop Rotation: Alternate Comps to Avoid Bottlenecks

Troop rotation means cycling between two or more farming armies so that no single offensive building becomes your constant bottleneck.

• Alternate spell loads: Pair a zero- or low-spell army (Sneaky Goblins, BARCH) with an army that uses a couple of spells (Baby Dragons with Rage or Freeze). While you run the low-spell raid, your factories catch up.
• Alternate dark and elixir demand: Swap between elixir-heavy and dark-light armies to build a surplus of Dark Elixir while still farming gold and elixir. Example: BARCH or Sneaky Goblins for most hits, then sprinkle in Minion-heavy snipes when drills are exposed.
• Siege cadence: If you craft your own sieges, don’t use one every raid. Use a siege every second or third attack to match your Workshop throughput, or rely on Clan Castle donations and save your own crafts for tough bases.
• Hero-aware rotation: When heroes are upgrading or on cooldown, switch to comps that don’t rely on them (BARCH, Sneaky Goblins, Baby Dragons). When they’re back, slot in a heavier comp to capitalize on their power.

Net effect: Your Barracks, Spell Factories, and Workshop take turns being “busy,” but none keeps you waiting for long.

Offensive Building Sync: Practical Playbook

Here’s how to make each offensive building pull its weight.

Barracks and Dark Barracks

• Front-load fast-train units in your queue. Early drops of Barbs/Archers/Goblins free camp space and start the next army.
• Use ratio thinking: Prefer troops that deliver good damage or utility per housing and train quickly. For farm speed, cheap, fast troops usually beat slow bruisers.
• Training Potion timing: A Training Potion boosts training, brewing, and hero regen significantly for one hour. Use it when you can chain 6–10 raids; don’t waste it on a single opportunistic hit.

Spell Factory and Dark Spell Factory

• Assign roles: Spells are insurance, not a habit. Brew only what creates consistent value: Heal for tight BARCH pushes, Freeze to disable key defenses on Baby Dragon raids, or Lightning to snipe resource buildings guarded by weak air defenses.
• Queue the next raid’s spell first: If your “A” army needs 1 Heal, 1 Rage, brew those in that order. Place “B” army’s spells behind them.
• Zero-spell windows: After a spell-heavy raid, run one or two zero-spell Sneaky Goblin raids to let the factories refill.

Siege Workshop

• Don’t let the Workshop sit idle. Craft a default “farm siege” whenever you have capacity, even if you won’t use it every raid.
• Use sparingly for farming. Wall Wrecker to crack a compartment for town hall or storages, or Flame Flinger to chip an undefended corner. Skip sieges on dead bases to preserve your stock.

Army Camps

• Plan camp slicing: If you carry 240 housing, aim to spend 30–60 housing in the first 10–15 seconds to trigger training. Keep a second wave to maintain pressure without stalling your queue.
• Keep storage flexible: Don’t pack your queue with niche troops you rarely deploy; they’ll clog the front when you need to pivot.

Measuring Efficiency: The Loot per Hour Model

Loot per raid is only half the story. Use this simplified model to judge rotations:

• Loot per raid: Average gold + elixir + (optional DE weighted by your goal)
• Cycle time: Time to find base + attack duration + retrain/brew wait
• Loot per hour = Loot per raid × 3600 / Cycle time

Camp micro reduces the “retrain wait” component. Rotation reduces brew or craft waits. If you shave even 30–40 seconds off the average cycle and keep loot per raid roughly equal, your hourly gains spike.

Example: Two comps both average 650k total loot per raid. One takes 5:30 per cycle; the other takes 4:45. The faster cycle yields roughly 13% more loot per hour without winning bigger—just by launching sooner.

Ready-to-Use Rotations by Town Hall Tier

These examples emphasize offensive building sync and minimal waste. Adjust numbers to your capacity and upgrades.

TH9–TH10: Classic BARCH Core

• Army A: BARCH with 8–12 Giants, a few Wall Breakers, 1 Heal or 1 Rage.
• Army B: Goblin Knife lite: 60–80 Goblins, a few Giants, 1 Jump or 1 Heal.
• Micro plan:
  • Queue Barbarians and Archers first; deploy them early for collectors and funnel.
  • Use Giants as a mid-raid anchor; don’t lead with them unless you need a push.
  • Alternate A and B. The Goblin raid runs with minimal spells, letting the factory brew the next Heal/Rage.
• Why it works: Fast front-line drops wake the Barracks mid-raid; Goblin runs keep spells from gating your cycle.

TH11–TH12: Baby Dragons plus Sneaky Goblins

• Army A: Sneaky Goblins for sniping collectors, drills, and town halls on exposed bases. Zero or one Freeze.
• Army B: Baby Dragons with a couple of Freezes or Rage, optional Minions.
• Micro plan:
  • Queue Sneaky Goblins first; your initial gob drops instantly open training.
  • When base layout needs air pathing, swap to Baby Dragons; while you fly, your factories brew a small set of spells.
  • Use a siege only on storages behind multiple walls; otherwise skip sieges to keep Workshop crafting cadence comfortable.
• Why it works: Goblin hits are ultra-fast and spell-light; Baby Dragons give you reach on compact or awkward storages without stalling your Barracks.

TH13–TH15: Hybrid Light and Super Goblins

• Army A: Light Hybrid for farming: 8–10 Miners, 8–10 Hog Riders, 2–3 Healers on a Hero walk, 1–2 Heals, 1 Rage.
• Army B: Sneaky Goblins spam for dead bases, zero to one Freeze.
• Micro plan:
  • Lead with Healers and Hero walk only if you need to crack a compartment; otherwise keep it BARCH-like with early cheap troop drops to free space.
  • After a Hybrid raid (spell heavier), run 1–2 Goblin raids to let factories catch up.
  • Keep a Wall Wrecker or Flame Flinger crafting; use one every second or third raid.
• Why it works: Alternating heavy spell reliance with zero-spell farming keeps the max timer low across your buildings.

TH16+: Precision Farming with Heroes on Cooldown

• Army A: Zero-hero Sneaky Goblins and cleanup troops. Focus on collector snipes and town hall if exposed.
• Army B: Baby Dragon swarm with a few Freezes; add a couple Balloons for black mine checks.
• Micro plan:
  • When heroes are upgrading, your comps must not depend on them; Sneaky Goblins and Baby Dragons fill that gap.
  • Front-load quick drops to start retraining; keep spell usage tight.
  • Use sieges sparingly; save them for dense storage cores.
• Why it works: You’re no longer gated by hero regen, so the slowest building is usually the Barracks or Spell Factory—both addressed by rotation.

In-Raid Micro: The Minute That Saves Minutes

• First 10 seconds: Deploy 25–60 housing of your fastest-train troops along the resource edge. This kickstarts retraining.
• Next 20–40 seconds: Deploy tank or utility units only where they add clear value—don’t bloat early deployment with slow-train troops.
• Spell discipline: If a raid is already profitable, skip the extra spell. Spells extend brew time; save them for when they convert a fail into a win.
• Exit timing: Once storages and collectors you targeted are cleared, don’t overstay; the earlier you end, the sooner your next army finishes.

Queue Orchestration: Step-by-Step

1. Camps full with Army A.
2. Queue Army B in order of your planned deployment: fast-train units first, tanks and slow-train units later.
3. Brew the first spell you will need for the next raid at the top of the spell queue.
4. Start the attack. Your early drops open camp slots; the Barracks begins training Army B mid-raid.
5. End the raid decisively. Your next army should be partially trained already. If you rotate to Army C, adjust the back of the queue before searching.

Tip: If you frequently pivot armies, keep 10–30 housing “free” at the back of your queue to slot in situational troops without canceling a large batch.

Data-Backed Principles Without Guesswork

• Fast-train units first: Barbarians, Archers, Goblins, Minions—ideal for early drops that trigger mid-raid training.
• Heavy troops sparingly for farming: Giants, Pekka, Bowlers offer control but can slow throughput if overused in speed farming.
• Spell ROI test: If a spell doesn’t add at least 100k total resource swing on average in farming, it may be slowing your hour rate. Use it only when it meaningfully boosts success or safety.
• Training Potion windows: Plan a 45–60 minute farm session; chain short-cycle armies during the boost to compound gains.

Common Pitfalls and Fixes

• Overfilled queue: You lock yourself into a composition and pay cancellation time and resource friction. Fix: Keep the buffer moderate.
• Spell gating: You spam spells every raid and end up waiting on brew timers. Fix: Alternate zero- and low-spell raids.
• Siege dependency: Burning a siege every attack drains your stock and adds craft wait. Fix: Use a siege at a set cadence or only on tough bases.
• Late mass dump: Dropping the bulk of your army in the last 30 seconds means the Barracks sat idle for most of the raid. Fix: Slice early.

Quick Checklists

• Pre-attack: Is your next army queued with fast units first? Are the first spell(s) brewing?
• During attack: Did you free 30–60 housing in the first 15 seconds? Are you avoiding unnecessary spells?
• Post-attack: Are you rotating to a low-spell comp if factories lag? Is your Workshop crafting?

Conclusion

Resource grind is a time game, and time is produced—or wasted—by your offensive buildings. Camp micro frees space early so the next army trains while you fight. Troop rotation keeps your Barracks, Spell Factories, and Workshop in balance so none becomes a hard gate. Together, they raise your raids per hour without needing stronger troops or better bases.

Start small: reorder your queue, slice your early drops, alternate a zero-spell army between heavier hits. Watch your cycle time fall and your storage fill faster. Master the production line, and the grind stops feeling like a grind at all.