Clash of Clans farm guide: how to collect loot fast
Fast loot takes three things: picking opponents with full loot, refreshing your army without any waiting and spending the collected resources instead of letting them sit in storage. When playing by hand, the biggest loss is the idle time between attacks; a bot closes that gap.
What is farming and why does it matter so much?
In Clash of Clans, farming means the attacks you make to collect gold, elixir and dark elixir from opponent villages. The aim is to build up the resources that grow your village. Upgrading buildings, training armies, doing research in the Laboratory and improving walls all cost resources. That's why, in the middle and late stages of the game, the real bottleneck is often resources.
Farming efficiency is measured by two numbers: how much loot you get per attack and how many attacks you can make in an hour. If both rise together, your village develops quickly. If you neglect one, for example by being too picky and delaying the attack, your total efficiency drops.
The basic rules of collecting loot fast
1. Pick the right opponent
A village's loot becomes visible. If the gold and elixir storages are outside and easy to reach, it's worth attacking. If the storages are right in the middle of the village behind multi-layered defenses, it gets harder to take that resource with the same army. A good farming target is a village with high loot whose storages are reachable relative to its defenses.
One setting matters here: the minimum loot threshold. If you set the threshold too high you keep skipping opponents and waste time; if you set it too low, you bring back few resources from each attack. The threshold needs to be set at a point that comfortably covers the cost of your army and leaves a meaningful gain.
2. Refresh your army without waiting
As soon as an attack ends, the next army needs to be ready. Army training takes time, and you can't attack during that time. Never leaving the training queue empty directly sets your attacks per hour. The army composition should also be simple and repeatable: training the same composition every time makes resource use predictable and reduces the chance of mistakes.
3. Don't let resources sit in storage
A full storage is a missed opportunity. When your gold and elixir storages are full, part of the newly collected loot is wasted. That's why you need to spend collected resources regularly: building upgrades, the Laboratory, army and walls. Walls in particular are a good resource sink; because they can be upgraded with gold and elixir, they drain a full storage. For details, see our wall upgrade guide.
4. Keep the attack simple
A farming attack is not a show. The goal is to land the army near the storages with as few moves as possible and take the loot. A complicated plan wastes time on every attack. Still, it helps to know critical points like Air Defenses; we cover that separately in our Lightning Spell article.
Planning by resource type
The three basic resources are used for different things. You can change your target selection depending on which resource is more urgent.
| Resource | General uses | Farming notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | Building and defense upgrades, walls | Should be spent before the storage fills |
| Elixir | Army, spells, Laboratory, walls | Refilling the army constantly uses elixir |
| Dark elixir | Heroes and some special units | Usually builds up more slowly, takes patience |
Current uses and amounts can change with game updates and by level. For exact values, you can look at the relevant community-maintained wiki pages.
Manual farming vs. bot farming
Farming by hand is fun but takes time. Staying at your phone all day isn't for everyone. A bot runs the same loop without interruption.
| Criterion | Manual farming | Farming with a bot |
|---|---|---|
| Run time | While you're at it | 24/7, non-stop |
| Gap between attacks | Depends on your attention | Waits for the army, then attacks again right away |
| Opponent selection | By eye, every time | Reads the loot, skips what doesn't match the filter |
| Spending | Whenever you remember | Directs full storages to upgrades and walls |
| Effort | Needs constant attention | Monitored remotely after setup |
What does cocbot do while farming?
cocbot reads the opponent's loot and skips any village that doesn't pass the minimum loot filter. It builds the army from whatever is in the bottom bar; in other words, you decide the army composition in the game and the bot uses it. In an attack it spreads the army around the village at 9 points. It spends full storages on walls and the upgrades the game recommends, and verifies the spending. Through Telegram you can ask for the status, and stop and start it. You can find the general workings in the article explaining how the bot works.
If you'd like to try it, you can get a free trial code from the download page and install it on your phone with the step-by-step guide.
Common farming mistakes
- Being too picky: Searching for the perfect opponent lowers your number of attacks.
- Leaving the army queue empty: It's the biggest waste of time.
- Hoarding resources: A full storage is wasted loot.
- Trying a different army every time: Repeatability raises efficiency.
For resource information you can look at the wiki pages: the Walls and Laboratory pages give general information. Official game page: clashofclans.com.
How do you build a daily farming routine?
Efficient farming comes not from random attacks but from a repeatable routine. First, work out which resource you need. If you mainly need gold for a week, prefer villages rich in gold storages. If elixir is your bottleneck, change your target selection accordingly. Then set up your army once and keep it fixed; train the same composition again after every attack. A fixed army makes training time predictable and turns attacking into a reflex.
The second part of the routine is spending. If your storages are full at the end of the day, part of that day's farming has gone to waste. So think of spending not as a job separate from farming but as part of the same loop: collect, spend, collect again. The more smoothly this loop runs, the faster your village grows.
How do you measure farming efficiency?
To measure efficiency, ask two simple questions: how many attacks do I make in an hour, and how much resource do I get per attack? If the number of attacks is low, the problem is usually waiting for army training or skipping too many opponents. If loot per attack is low, your target selection or your filter may be the problem. Noting these two numbers and comparing them as you change your settings is far more reliable than tuning by guesswork.
| Symptom | Likely cause | What should you do? |
|---|---|---|
| Few attacks | Waiting on army training or skipping too many opponents | Don't leave the queue empty, loosen the threshold a little |
| Low loot per attack | Threshold is low or target selection is weak | Raise the minimum loot |
| Storages are always full | Spending is lagging | Direct it to walls and upgrades |
| The army often falls short | The composition is too ambitious | Build a simpler, cheaper army |
This table is a general framework; exact thresholds vary with your level and the game version. What matters is changing settings by observation, not blindly.
Summary: points to remember
If you had to sum up farming in one sentence: collect resources, spend them without waiting and keep the loop running. When picking an opponent, look at the loot and how reachable the storages are. Build the army simple and repeatable. Don't leave the storage full, because a full storage is wasted loot. Measure efficiency by attacks per hour and loot per attack, and change your settings based on what you observe. These four habits are the foundation of farming at any level.
Playing by hand keeps you inside the game, which is a pleasure in itself; but if your time is limited, a bot keeps the same loop going when you're away. Combining the two is possible too: let the bot farm during the day and spend the resources by your own strategy in the evening.
Frequently asked questions
What is the fastest way to collect loot in Clash of Clans?
By picking villages with full loot and reachable storages, refreshing your army between attacks without ever waiting, and spending the collected resources instead of holding them in storage. The number of attacks per hour sets your efficiency.
What should the minimum loot threshold be?
A value that comfortably covers the cost of your army and leaves a meaningful gain. A threshold that is too high means you keep skipping opponents; one that is too low means little gain. The exact value depends on your level.
Can it be done with a farm bot?
Yes. cocbot reads the opponent's loot, skips any village that doesn't match the filter, attacks with the army in the bottom bar and spends full storages on walls and upgrades.
Where is the best place to spend full storages?
Generally on building upgrades, the Laboratory, army refills and walls. Because walls can be upgraded with gold and elixir, they are a practical way to burn through full storages.