How to Train Heroes Fast in COC 2026 — XP, Books & Potions

My Archer Queen was Level 72 going into CWL last month when she needed to be at least Level 80 to hold her own on the attacks I was running. That 8-level gap isn't just a number — it's a 25% HP difference and a noticeable reduction in her ability to survive a queen walk into a TH17 core. And the reason she was behind? I'd been upgrading heroes slowly and inefficiently for three months because I didn't know the fastest ways to accelerate Dark Elixir income and hero XP.

Hero leveling is genuinely one of the slowest parts of COC. The Barbarian King at max is Level 95 at TH17. The Archer Queen is Level 95. The Grand Warden is Level 70. The Royal Champion is Level 50. The Dragon Duke is Level 40 at TH17. Every level costs Dark Elixir and builder time, and you've got five heroes competing for the same DE pool and builder availability.

But there's a right way and a wrong way to approach this. The players in my clan who max heroes fastest aren't grinding more — they're using a few specific strategies that I finally figured out.

You can't upgrade heroes faster without more Dark Elixir. That sounds obvious but a lot of players are farming DE inefficiently and don't realize it.

**Multiplayer attacks in Crystal 1 - Master 3 are the best DE income for TH15+.** This range has bases with 2,000-4,000+ DE storages that are exposed enough to hit in a quick attack. TH16 and TH17 bases in this range often have collectors full with 500-800 DE just sitting in unprotected Dark Elixir Drills. A quick loot attack that hits 3-4 drills plus a partially exposed storage can net 3,000-5,000 DE in 3 minutes.

I track my DE income roughly and I get about 35,000-50,000 DE on a good farming session in Master League. That's enough for one full hero level on the Barbarian King at TH17 (costs around 45,000 DE per level at high levels) in a single active session.

**Clan Games give substantial DE rewards.** If your clan maxes the Clan Games rewards tiers, the bonus chests often include 3,000-6,000 DE depending on the tier. Don't skip Clan Games contribution — it's free hero upgrade fuel.

**The Gold Pass gives 5,000 DE at Season Bank collection.** Don't forget to collect your Season Bank at the end of each month. It's passive Dark Elixir you've been accumulating all month and players forget to collect it shockingly often.

**Dark Elixir Drills generate passively — upgrade them.** This is the most overlooked DE source. Maxed Drills at TH15-17 generate roughly 45-55 DE per hour each. You've got multiple Drills. Log in twice a day to collect them and you're getting 400-600 free DE per day without doing anything. Over a month that's 12,000-18,000 DE — enough for a quarter to a third of a high-level hero upgrade.

Book of Heroism is the single best item in COC for hero upgrade speed. It instantly completes any hero upgrade regardless of time remaining. A hero upgrade that takes 14 days? Book of Heroism. Gone instantly. If you're reading one guide about hero speed, let it be this: **maximize your Book of Heroism income and use Books strategically, not impulsively**.

**Where Books of Heroism come from:**

- **Gold Pass monthly rewards** — typically 1-2 Books per month if you complete enough Gold Pass stars. - **Clan Games rewards** — usually 1 Book of Heroism in the upper reward tiers (Tier 4-5 commonly). - **Season Challenges** — specific challenges award Books when completed. - **Magic Items from the league shop** — Builder Potions and Books can sometimes be purchased with Builder Gold/Builder Elixir from the Builder Base shop. - **Event rewards** — Supercell runs limited events (like the Medal Event) that award Magic Items. Keep an eye on active events and complete the tasks that give Books.

**When to use a Book of Heroism:** Don't use it on low-level hero upgrades that only take 2-3 days. It's a waste. Save Books for hero levels that cost 7+ days of upgrade time. At TH15-17, most hero upgrades above Level 60-70 cost 12-16 days. That's where a Book becomes a real time multiplier — you're skipping 2 weeks of a hero being offline and unusable in CWL.

I made the mistake early on of burning Books on 3-day upgrades because I was impatient. By the time CWL came around, I was out of Books and had two heroes at mid-length upgrades I couldn't complete in time. Now I save all my Books for the upgrade immediately before CWL season.

The week before CWL starts, upgrade your most important hero (usually AQ) with Dark Elixir and immediately use a Book if the upgrade would run into CWL. That way you start CWL week with all heroes available and you've banked the real upgrade time savings where it counts.

For tips on which hero upgrades to prioritize first at different TH levels, the hero equipment guide on Base Drop covers equipment upgrade priority in addition to base hero levels — and honestly, equipment level matters more than raw hero level in 2026. If you want to find a TH17 base that's specifically vulnerable to Slammer approaches, the Base Drop base finder lets you browse layouts by Town Hall and type.

Hero Potions give you a temporary hero level boost for 1 hour. Your hero acts as if it's Level 50 (or max level if you're below 50) during that hour, regardless of its actual level. The catch: Hero Potions are single-use and don't stack.

Most players I talk to sleep on Hero Potions and I think it's because they don't realize how useful they are during specific high-stakes attacks.

Here's how I use them: I save Hero Potions specifically for CWL attacks where my hero gap is the difference between a 2-star and a 3-star. If I'm attacking a base where the enemy's defenses are borderline for my current hero levels — the queen walk will work if she's Level 80 but she's currently Level 75 — I pop a Hero Potion before the CWL day starts and make all my attacks that hour. That temporary boost has turned borderline 2-stars into clean triples for me multiple times.

You can get Hero Potions from Clan Games (they show up in Tier 3-4 rewards), from Gold Pass challenges, and from periodic events. Don't blow them on casual multiplayer attacks — save them for CWL and tournament attacks where the stakes are real.

One more tip: Hero Potions affect your heroes' ability level too. A Level 40 AQ with a Hero Potion active triggers her ability at full Level 50 strength — meaning the clone count and invincibility duration are both maxed. For a queen walk where the Queen's ability is the key moment that determines whether the walk succeeds, that ability strength difference can be the margin between a successful walk and a dead Queen.

For tournament-level play where every attack matters, Base Drop's tournaments section runs regular COC tournaments where players compete — keeping your heroes upgraded and using items strategically is part of the competitive edge.

Hammer of Heroes is the most expensive Magic Item in COC (in terms of cost relative to other items) and it's the only one that completes a hero upgrade instantly AND for free — meaning you don't need the DE to be on hand, it just finishes the current upgrade and refunds the remaining upgrade cost.

Wait, actually — I had this wrong for a while. The Hammer of Heroes does NOT refund remaining upgrade cost. What it does is instantly complete the current active hero upgrade without needing to pay the cost. You need to START the upgrade normally (which costs DE), then use the Hammer to finish it instantly. The distinction matters because you still need enough DE to begin.

**Hammer Jam events change the calculation.** Hammer Jam is a periodic COC event (usually once or twice a year) that reduces the cost of Hammers by 50-80% in the in-game shop. During Hammer Jam, a Hammer of Heroes that normally costs significant event currency becomes much cheaper. If you're saving Magic Item resources for hero upgrades, Hammer Jam is the time to convert them.

I'm not saying buy Gems or spend real money chasing Hammers — that's a personal choice. But if you've been hoarding event currency waiting for the right moment, Hammer Jam is it.

**Builder Potions matter too.** A Builder Potion speeds up all your builders for 1 hour, making them work as if 10 hours have passed. For a 14-day hero upgrade, using a Builder Potion each day cuts roughly 10 hours off the total time per use. Over 14 days, that's potentially 140 hours — nearly 6 full days cut from the upgrade time if you're diligent about using daily Builder Potions.

Combining Builder Potions (from Clan Games and Gold Pass) with Books of Heroism at the final stretch of a long hero upgrade is the most efficient use of both items. Save the Book for the last 5+ days of the upgrade, use Builder Potions daily during the middle stretch. You'll never fully "train heroes fast" but you can meaningfully compress the timeline with the right item cadence.

For the community approach to fast hero upgrades — which events to target, which army comps maximize DE farming per attack — r/ClashOfClans has regular threads on optimal hero upgrade strategies updated as the meta shifts each season.