COC Upgrade Priority TH15 — What to Max First

TH15 is where COC gets genuinely expensive. You've got six heroes now — the Dragon Duke unlocks at TH15 Hero Hall level 9 — and each of them has multiple equipment pieces eating Shiny Ore, Starry Ore, and Glowy Ore. You've got new defenses (the Monolith arrives, Scattershots get their third level, and you're looking at new trap upgrades). And your lab research queue at TH15 is long enough that you'll still have troops to research when you're ready to push to TH16.

I pushed to TH15 midway through last year after spending about 14 months at TH14, and my first two weeks were chaotic. I upgraded the wrong things first, spent DE on hero levels when I should have been building defense DPS, and had multiple builders sitting idle because I'd queued upgrades in the wrong order. Took me a few weeks to find a rhythm that actually made sense.

Here's the order I'd run if I was starting TH15 again from scratch.

This sounds obvious but I see players ignore it: the very first upgrade at any new TH level is the new Town Hall. Upgrading the Town Hall unlocks your builder capacity, the new buildings, and the gear. Nothing else matters until TH15 construction finishes.

While the Town Hall is building (around 14 days at TH15 depending on your Book of Building situation), start a Scattershot upgrade on a free builder. The Scattershot is the highest DPS per cost defense at TH15. A maxed Scattershot deals more single-target damage per second than almost any other defense in the game at this Town Hall level. Getting both Scattershots to max level as early as possible makes your base dramatically harder to 3-star.

Second builder: Builder Hall's Giga Inferno, if you haven't maxed it from TH14. At TH15, the Giga Inferno gets its final upgrade and the damage increase is significant. Attackers who don't know your Giga Inferno is maxed and deploy their army near the Town Hall for cleanup get punished hard by the pulse.

Third builder: Multi-Gear Tower. The Multi-Gear Tower at TH15 is one of the most versatile defenses in the game — it switches between ground-targeting (single target high damage) and anti-air modes. Max it early and set it to anti-air mode as your default. Most TH15 attacks you'll face are air-heavy and the MTG in anti-air mode specifically counters eDrag and lalo attacks.

I'm not going to sugarcoat this: TH15 has a lot of upgrade content and you'll feel behind on all of it for the first 2-3 months. That's normal. The key is making sure your highest-impact defensive upgrades are moving on your builders at all times — don't let a builder sit idle just because you're not sure what's next.

TH15 hero upgrades are a significant DE investment. You've got BK going to Level 90, AQ to Level 90, GW to Level 65, RC to Level 45, and now the Dragon Duke unlocking at Hero Hall 9 with levels all the way to 20 by TH15.

Here's my recommended DE priority order at TH15:

**Archer Queen first.** Always. At TH15, the Archer Queen is your most impactful hero for both attack (queen charge is foundational to virtually every TH15 attack strategy) and defense (high DPS, shoots air and ground, wide detection radius). She's also the most DE-intensive hero to max — starting her upgrades immediately means she's higher level sooner, when it matters most for CWL.

**Dragon Duke second** — but hear me out. The Dragon Duke is new at TH15 and most guides tell you to deprioritize him because he's an "extra" hero. I disagree. The Dragon Duke at Level 1-5 is noticeably weaker than a Level 15-20 Duke in war attacks. Getting him to a usable level (around Level 10) in the first two months of TH15 makes a significant difference in your attack power during CWL. Don't dump every resource into him, but don't ignore him either.

**Grand Warden third.** The Warden's Eternal Tome ability scales with his level in subtle ways — higher Warden level means longer aura range and higher HP bonus. At TH15, every Warden level matters for ground attacks using Root Riders and air attacks using Electro Dragons.

**Barbarian King fourth.** The BK at high levels has solid DPS and HP but his attack contribution in TH15 wars depends heavily on his equipment more than his raw level. As long as he's got Spiky Ball and Giant Gauntlet at reasonable equipment levels, a BK at Level 70-75 performs almost as well in the actual attack as a Level 85-90 BK with the same equipment.

**Royal Champion fifth** at TH15. She's powerful in a queen walk variant (RC walk into the base to kill key defenses before the main army) but she's the last hero to unlock at TH15 and she's the most situational. Level her consistently but don't prioritize her over AQ, Duke, or Warden.

Something my clanmates often forget: hero equipment matters more than hero levels in 2026. A Level 70 AQ with maxed Frozen Arrow + Giant Arrow outperforms a Level 85 AQ with Level 1 equipment. Upgrade hero equipment (specifically the primary pieces for each hero's main role) in parallel with hero levels. The hero equipment guide on Base Drop breaks down which equipment pieces to prioritize for each hero at different Town Hall levels.

TH15 lab content is extensive. You've got Root Riders, Electro Dragons, Super Yetis, Super Witches, and a long list of spells all competing for lab time. Here's the priority order I'd follow:

**Root Riders — top priority.** Root Riders are the backbone of TH15 ground attacks in 2026. Maxed Root Riders break walls significantly faster and deal substantially more DPS than lower-level ones. This is not a troop to have at Level 1 while you're in CWL — get Root Riders to max level before anything else in the TH15 lab.

**Electro Dragons second.** eDrag attacks are the primary air strategy at TH15 and higher-level edrags do meaningfully more chain lightning damage. If you're running eDrag + Lalo as your war attack (which you should be having in your toolkit), eDrag level directly impacts your 3-star rate.

**Rage Spell upgrades third.** Spells are often overlooked in upgrade priority lists but Rage Spell level affects both the damage bonus percentage and the area of effect at TH15. Max Rage Spell should be upgraded in parallel with your primary troops.

**Balloons fourth.** Balloons support both Lalo and eDrag attacks at TH15. Higher-level Balloons have more HP and deal more death-bomb damage — which means more destruction per attack even when they get shot down.

**Freeze Spell fifth.** At TH15, Freeze Spell duration increases with each level, and that extra 0.5-1 second per level can mean the difference between a kill squad surviving the Inferno ramp-up or getting burned. Freeze Spell is always active in war attacks — it's worth maxing.

Super troops at TH15 (Super Yeti, Super Witch, Super Dragon) don't require lab research to level up — they scale with their base troop level. So maxing your base Yetis, Witches, and Dragons directly improves your super troop versions.

I didn't rush my TH15 lab and I regret it. I had max walls after 4 months at TH15 but my Root Riders were still Level 8 (max is 10 at TH15) going into CWL. Lost two attacks I should've tripled because the Wall-breaking speed difference between Level 8 and Level 10 Root Riders is real. Max the lab troops before worrying about walls.

After your Scattershots, Multi-Gear Tower, and Giga Inferno are moving on builders, here's the remaining defense priority order for TH15:

**Eagle Artillery** — if it's not maxed from TH14, this is the first defense to max at TH15. Eagle Artillery activates after 150+ troops have been deployed in an attack and immediately deals massive DPS to everything on screen. A maxed Eagle Artillery is one of the most valuable defensive buildings in the game and it's often the difference between a 2-star hold and a 3-star.

**Inferno Towers** — get both to max level as quickly as possible. At TH15, Inferno Towers can be set to multi-target mode (spreading DPS across multiple troops) or single-target mode (focusing full DPS ramp on one troop until it dies). The meta recommendation at TH15 is one of each mode — one multi-target Inferno to shred troop clusters, one single-target to burn down hero tanks.

**Air Defenses** — all Air Defenses to max. This is important for the same reason eDrag attacks are good: your Air Defenses are what counter enemy air attacks. Under-leveled ADs get destroyed faster by zap quake and fail to provide defensive value once they're gone.

**Traps** — Giant Air Bombs first (they counter Balloon and eDrag cluster attacks), then Giant Bombs (Root Rider counters), then everything else. Traps at TH15 are cheap per upgrade but there are a lot of them. Knock out a trap upgrade whenever you have a free builder slot and nothing higher priority is available.

**Walls** — last. I know walls feel urgent because they look incomplete when they're not maxed. But a Level 13 wall vs Level 15 wall is a much smaller gameplay difference than a maxed Eagle Artillery vs an Eagle Artillery at Level 4. Fund wall upgrades with Gold and Elixir overflow — resources you'd otherwise be unable to spend anywhere else.

The ore system is one of the most confusing aspects of TH15 for new players at this level. You've got Shiny Ore (common, mostly from events and Clan Games), Starry Ore (uncommon, from achievements and Gold Pass), and Glowy Ore (rare, from Clan Capital raids and special events). Each equipment piece uses different ore types at different upgrade levels.

Here's my ore spending priority at TH15:

**Fire Heart for Dragon Duke** — this is the best bang for your ore in terms of attack impact. Fire Heart is non-negotiable for the Dragon Duke (it's the only healing he has access to, since Healers don't target air troops). Get it to at least Level 12 before spending ore anywhere else for the Duke.

**Frozen Arrow for Archer Queen** — Frozen Arrow's slow effect is critical for queen walk viability at TH15. A low-level Frozen Arrow means your Queen's area slow is too weak to handle TH15 defenses during the pre-funnel. Get this to at least Level 12-15 before CWL season starts.

**Eternal Tome for Grand Warden** — the Eternal Tome duration scales with level and at Level 12+, the activation gives your army enough immunity time to push through the core at TH15. Lower-level Tome doesn't last long enough in the current TH15 defense DPS environment.

**Spiky Ball for Barbarian King** — the area damage on Spiky Ball's ability at higher levels is what makes the King useful in ground attacks. At Level 12+, the ability clears full CC troop groups and surrounding buildings. At Level 5, it's disappointing.

For a full equipment tier list with recommended level targets for each piece at every Town Hall level, the hero equipment guide on Base Drop is the most complete breakdown I've seen.

For live discussion on TH15 upgrade order and whether it's worth rushing to TH16, r/ClashOfClans has threads specifically about TH15 upgrade routes updated every month.

The honest answer: most players push to TH16 too early. I did it too. I had maybe 60% of my defenses maxed, Root Riders at Level 8, and heroes at mixed levels when I moved on. It took me two extra CWL seasons of feeling underpowered to compensate.

Here's a more realistic "TH15 ready" checklist: - Both Scattershots maxed - Eagle Artillery maxed - Both Inferno Towers maxed - Multi-Gear Tower maxed - Root Riders maxed - Electro Dragons maxed - AQ at Level 80+ and Archer Queen equipment at Level 15+ - Grand Warden at Level 55+ with Eternal Tome at Level 12+ - Barbarian King at Level 80+ - Dragon Duke at Level 15+ - Heroes don't all need to be max — equipment level matters more than hero level at TH15

If you meet 80% of that list, you're in solid shape to push to TH16 without feeling underpowered on day one.

For everything you'll face at TH16 and how the upgrade priority changes when you get there, Base Drop's TH16 upgrade guide has the full breakdown based on what's changed in the 2026 meta — specifically how the Dragon Duke changes the hero upgrade order compared to older TH16 guides.