TH15 War Bases That Stop Root Riders in 2026
Five Town Hall 15 war layouts with copy links, picked for how they handle Root Riders. What each one does to the wall path, and where each still leaks.
Photo by Base Drop
Quick Answer
> Quick answer: Five Town Hall 15 war layouts with copy links, all picked for one job. Slowing Root Riders down. Root Riders walk through walls, so the usual compartment trick doesn't work on them, and these five each answer that differently. If you want the safe one, it's the last on the list.
Why Root Riders Break Normal TH15 Bases
Root Riders don't respect walls. They smash through them on the way to whatever they're targeting, which means every compartment you built to slow ground troops does almost nothing against them.
That's the whole problem. A layout that looks tight on the screen can fold in forty seconds, because the thing you built it against isn't the thing attacking you.
So what does work? Three things.
Distance, because a Root Rider still has to cross ground. Splash damage, because they come in a pack and clump. And the Monolith, which hits hard single targets and Root Riders have a lot of hit points.
Every layout here leans on at least two of those. None of them rely on walls alone, and that's the difference between these and a generic TH15 base.
What I Checked Before Picking
I compared the whole TH15 shelf of our library against four questions.
Does the Monolith cover the widest open approach, or is it buried where it only fires once the base is already gone?
Are both Spell Towers positioned to catch a pack rather than a single troop?
Can all four air defenses be reached from one side? If yes, the layout got cut.
And has this copy link appeared on our blog before? I checked all five against every link we've published, and none of them have.
Long Walk, No Shortcut
The simplest answer to a Root Rider pack is making them travel.
This layout pushes the Town Hall and the Eagle Artillery deep, with two full rings of low value buildings between them and any edge. Root Riders still get through the walls, but they're under fire the whole way and they aren't fast.
The Monolith sits on the widest side, which is where a pack naturally deploys.
Copy this layout into your war base slot
Where it leaks: the outer rings are cheap, so the first fifty percent goes quickly. If your clan scores on destruction, this one will look worse than it plays.
Split Compartments, Split Pack
This one doesn't try to stop the pack. It tries to cut it in half.
The base divides into two defended halves with a hard seam down the middle. Root Riders entering one half get pulled towards buildings in that half, and the ones that drift across the seam walk alone into the second cluster of defenses.
A split pack is a dead pack. That's the entire idea.
Copy this layout into your war base slot
Where it leaks: against air it's ordinary. Balloons don't care about seams, and the air defenses here are a little closer together than I'd like.
Monolith Forward
Most people bury the Monolith next to the Town Hall. This layout doesn't, and it's the most interesting build of the five because of it.
The Monolith sits one ring out, covering the two approaches a Root Rider army actually uses. It starts damaging the pack while they're still chewing through outer walls instead of after they've reached the core.
Both Spell Towers back it up with the invisibility and poison settings that punish clumped troops.
Copy this layout into your war base slot
Where it leaks: the Monolith is exposed. A good Queen Charge kills it early and the rest of the base is then a normal TH15 base.
Air First, Ground Second
Sometimes the right answer to Root Riders is to make the attacker not bring them.
This layout is so soft against ground on paper that most attackers look at it and choose air, and it's built to eat air. Four air defenses in a wide diamond, both Air Sweepers on the natural Balloon corners, and Spell Towers set to shred packs.
It's a trap in the strategy sense rather than the trap sense.
Copy this layout into your war base slot
Where it leaks: if they call your bluff and bring Root Riders anyway, you'll lose. Use this one when you know the opponent favours air.
The Safe Default
The one I'd leave up if I couldn't be bothered scouting.
Nothing about it is clever. Town Hall deep, Monolith covering the widest side, air defenses properly spread, compartments small enough to matter against everything that isn't a Root Rider.
I picked this as the default because it has no single failure that ends the attack in thirty seconds.
Copy this layout into your war base slot
Where it leaks: nowhere badly, and nowhere is it the best. A specialist above beats it against the attack that specialist was built for.
Loading a Copy Link Properly
Tap the link on the device that runs Clash of Clans. The game opens and shows the layout with a load button.
Choose a war base slot. Not the home village. A war layout in your home village parks every storage on the outside and you'll wake up with nothing.
If a browser page opens instead, the game isn't installed there. Open it on your phone.
The link moves buildings and wall positions. It won't move your traps, it can't raise your wall levels, and it leaves a hole wherever you haven't built the defense the layout expects.
What a Layout Can't Fix
Your Clan Castle troops matter more at TH15 than the arrangement of your walls.
A castle that survives a poison spell and holds a Root Rider pack for five seconds is worth more than any change on this page. Ask your clan for something with hit points rather than something with damage.
Your hero equipment matters too, on defence. A defending Queen with the right equipment turns a soft corner into a fight.
And if your defense levels are behind, no shape saves you. The TH15 upgrade order guide covers which of them actually earn their build time.
Traps That Actually Hurt Root Riders
Giant Bombs are the wrong tool. Root Riders have too much health and they don't clump tightly enough on the approach.
What works is the Tornado Trap into splash. Hold the pack in place inside Spell Tower and Eagle range and the damage stacks. That single combination ends more Root Rider attacks than every other trap put together, going by the war replays people post.
Seeking Air Mines stay useful, because Root Rider armies at this level nearly always carry a healer or two above them. Kill the healers and the pack melts at a normal rate instead of soaking everything you have.
One more habit. Set your Spell Towers before the war starts, not during it. The setting you choose decides whether they punish a clump or a single hero, and swapping mid war isn't an option once the base is live.
Our older single TH15 war base breakdown walks one layout tile by tile if you want the detailed version.
And check your traps after every copy. Copied layouts place the buildings, not your trap choices, so that pass takes a minute and it matters.
Which One to Put Up Tonight
Opponent brings Root Riders every time: Monolith forward, or the long walk.
Opponent mixes it up: the safe default.
Opponent favours air: the air first build.
You only need to deny the triple: the long walk.
Every layout on this page came from our base library, filterable by town hall level and base type. Supercell's September balance notes list the equipment changes that decide which armies you'll see this season, and a couple of them shift Root Rider support directly.
Save the link before war day rather than during it. A layout you paste under time pressure is a layout with a wall in the wrong place.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can any TH15 base actually stop Root Riders?
Stop them outright, no. Slow them down enough that the attacker runs out of time or troops, yes. Root Riders walk through walls, so the answer is distance and splash damage rather than more compartments. Every layout here is built on that idea instead of pretending walls will hold.
Where should the Monolith go at TH15?
Covering the widest open approach, usually one ring out from the core rather than beside the Town Hall. It does heavy single target damage, which is exactly what a Root Rider pack is weak to. Buried next to the Town Hall it only fires after the attack has already worked.
Do Giant Bombs work against Root Riders?
Not well. They have too much health and they spread out more than Hogs do on the approach. The trap that works is a Tornado Trap holding the pack inside Spell Tower and Eagle Artillery range, so the splash damage has time to stack up.
Is it worth changing my base between war days?
Only after two or three defence replays on the same layout. One attack tells you about that attacker, not about your base. Change one defense position at a time or you'll never learn which change helped.
How do I find a base for a different town hall level?
Filter by level in our base library. A layout is built around the exact buildings that level has, so loading a TH15 layout at TH16 leaves your new defenses with nowhere to sit and stacks buildings where there's no room.