CWL is the most valuable monthly event in Clash of Clans and most players are leaving medals on the table without realizing it. Here's exactly how the star and medal system works, which league tier to target, and how to spend your medals so they actually move your progression forward.Don’t Forget to Top Up Clash of Clans at LootBar.
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Eight Days, One Attack Per War, No Room to Waste It
I've been through enough CWL seasons to know exactly when clans fall apart: day five. Everyone's hyped for the first two days, things are looking good, and then the third-day base assignments go out and suddenly half the clan has "internet issues." The attacks don't happen. The stars don't get earned. And at the end of the season, people are confused why their medal count is lower than last month. CWL is eight days straight one prep day and seven war days, one attack per player per war. There's no catch-up mechanic. Every missed attack is a permanent loss.
April 2026 brings the same format we've had since the February update introduced 5v5 as an official third size option alongside 15v15 and 30v30. The medal math hasn't changed, the star formula hasn't changed, and the League Shop is still the same. What has changed is that high-TH players with 16-plus-day upgrade timers are now getting significantly more value from their medals than lower-TH players, which means spending strategy matters more than it used to. This guide covers everything from how to hit 100% medal payout to where every medal should go after the season ends. And if you need Gems to sort your Builders before CWL week starts, LootBar has solid rates worth checking before buying in-game.
How Many Medals You Actually Earn — By League Tier
Medal rewards scale dramatically with league tier. This is the single most important variable in your monthly medal income more so than your personal star count, more so than whether your clan finishes first or eighth. Placement matters within a tier, but being in the right tier matters more.
League Tier | 1st Place | 4th Place | 8th Place | Max with Bonus |
Bronze I | 34 | 26 | 20 | ~80 |
Silver I | 56 | 44 | 34 | ~120 |
Gold I | 98 | 80 | 64 | ~180 |
Crystal I | 152 | 128 | 106 | ~260 |
Master I | 220 | 192 | 164 | ~360 |
Champion I | 120 | 99 | 78 | ~508 |
Note on Champion I: the base placement medals look lower than Master because the tier is structured differently — the bonus pool is substantially larger, bringing the maximum per player up to around 508 medals per season. The math favors Champion League significantly for high-TH players who have the roster to compete there.
The Star Formula — How Your Personal Payout Is Calculated
This is the part most players either don't know or don't apply correctly. Your personal medal count isn't just your clan's placement reward it's calculated as a percentage of that reward based on the stars you personally earn across the seven war days.
Stars Earned | % of Full Reward | What It Means Practically |
0 stars | 20% (base roster reward) | Just being on the roster gets you 20% — minimum floor regardless of participation |
1–7 stars | 30%–90% (10% per star) | Each war star adds 10% — missing even one attack costs you 10% of your total payout |
8 stars | 100% (full reward) | Full payout unlocked — this is the target every season, no exceptions |
8+ stars | 100% + bonus eligibility | Extra stars beyond 8 don't increase %, but improve bonus medal distribution chances |
The formula: 20% base for being on the roster, plus 10% per war star, up to 100% at 8 stars. Miss one attack and you're down 10%. Miss two attacks and you're at 80%. That's not a minor hit at Crystal I or above, 20% of your payout is a meaningful chunk of medals. The clan leader and co-leaders can also distribute bonus medals from a separate pool after the season. That pool scales with league tier and grows with every war the clan wins during the week. Performing well puts you in line for a share of that bonus on top of your base payout.
What Actually Determines a Good CWL Season
Beyond the star formula, these are the factors that separate clans that consistently earn high medals from clans that stall in the same tier for months:
• Register Before the Sign-Up Window Closes: CWL starts with a two-day sign-up window. If you miss it, you're out for the entire season no exceptions, no late additions. The leader or a co-leader needs to enter the clan and select the roster before the window closes. This is the most common avoidable reason players miss a month of medals.
• Hit 8 Stars Personally, Then Rotate Out: Once a player locks in 8 stars across their war attacks, the leader should consider rotating them out of the daily lineup and putting in another roster member who hasn't hit 8 stars yet. This gives more players a path to full payout without needing to win every day it's the most efficient way to maximize medal income across the whole clan.
• War Format Matches Roster Size: 5v5 was added in February 2026 for smaller clans. The war size cannot be changed midway through the season the leader needs to decide before the first war begins. 15v15 is the standard. 30v30 is available in Master League and below and gives more roster slots, but coordinating 30 daily attacks is genuinely harder than it sounds. Match the format to how many active attackers your clan realistically has.
• League Tier Targeting: If your clan can realistically push into a higher tier, the medal gains from a successful promotion are substantially worth the effort. Moving from Crystal to Master is worth more medals per season than finishing first in Crystal repeatedly. Have an honest conversation with your leaders about whether a push is realistic before committing to a format that's too small or too large to compete effectively.
• 2,500 Medal Cap Spend Before You Hit It: League Medals hard-cap at 2,500. Any medals earned beyond that convert to Gems at 1 Gem per 10 Medals an absolutely terrible rate. If you're sitting on 2,300 medals heading into CWL week, spend down before the season ends.
How to Hit 3 Stars Consistently in CWL
One Attack Means No Scouting Phase
Regular wars give you two attacks one to scout a difficult base, one to clean it up. CWL gives you one. Arriving at your war base assignment without a plan for how you're attacking it is how 1-star attacks happen. Study the base during Preparation Day. Identify the Town Hall location, the compartment structure, whether there are air defenses or ground-focused setups, and what the Clan Castle likely contains. Do this the night before, not 30 seconds before the attack timer runs out.
Run Friendly Challenges Before Committing
If you're uncertain about an army composition against an unfamiliar base style, Friendly Challenges are free. Pull a clanmate's base into a challenge that resembles your target layout and run the attack there first. The Friendly Challenge result doesn't affect anything it's a sandbox. Use it. The players who consistently 3-star in CWL are almost always the ones who practice unfamiliar attacks in Friendlies before using them in war.
Best Armies by Town Hall — Quick Reference
These are the compositions consistently delivering 3-star results across the current meta:
• TH12–TH13: Queen Walk into Hybrid (Miners + Hog Riders) or ZapDrag. Queen Walk sets up funneling and softens compartments before the main army lands. ZapDrag works well against bases with poorly spread air defenses.
• TH14–TH15: Root Rider + Hog Rider is the dominant ground attack. Root Riders handle walls and compartments while Hog Riders clean up. Super Archer Blimp for a Town Hall snipe opener if the TH is accessible. Blizzard + Lalo (Lava Hound + Balloons) for air attacks against bases without strong air defenses.
• TH16+: Super Witch + Super Bowler Smash for ground attacks on bases with open compartments. Hydra (Electro Dragon + Balloons) for aerial cleanup. Spam armies like Super Goblins work for dark elixir farming but aren't CWL-appropriate bring your actual war attack for the one attack you get.
Assign Bases by Skill, Not Seniority
A common mistake leaders make is assigning the strongest players to the top bases by default, leaving mid-tier bases to whoever's left. The smarter approach is matching attack difficulty to attacker capability put your players on bases they can realistically 3-star rather than bases that will humiliate them for 1 star. Your top attackers can often 3-star bases two or three spots above their own TH. Use that. The goal is maximizing total war stars, not following a clean hierarchy.
How to Spend Your League Medals — What's Actually Worth It
CWL medals are the most valuable monthly currency in the game. The League Shop is full of traps for players who don't think through what they actually need. Here's the breakdown:
Item | Cost | Cooldown | Best For |
Hammer of Building | 120 medals | 7 days | TH14+ with 16+ day building timers — highest time-per-medal value at endgame |
Hammer of Heroes | 120 medals | 7 days | Any TH with heroes under upgrade — skip the 7-day hero downtime completely |
Hammer of Fighting | 100 medals | 7 days | Lab upgrades above 14 days — weaker value at lower TH where lab times are shorter |
Builder Potion | 30 medals | None | Best for lower TH or during Hammer Jam — stack these for the event |
Research Potion | 30 medals | None | Speeds lab by 24hr — good value if you have active lab upgrades daily |
Training Potion | 10 medals | None | Converts to 10 gems each if sold — best medal-to-gem ratio in the game |
Resource Packages | Varies | None | Skip unless farming is the bottleneck — Hammers give far better progression value |
The Training Potion Gem Conversion Trick
This is worth knowing: Training Potions cost 10 medals each and can be sold for 10 gems each. That's a 1:1 medal-to-gem conversion the best rate available anywhere in the game. A full CWL season at Master League or above nets you enough medals to convert 100+ gems through this method. If you're saving gems for Builders or the Builder's Apprentice, this trick accelerates that goal faster than almost any other non-spending method.
Save Medals for Hammer Jam
Hammer Jam is an annual event usually in November where upgrade times and costs are cut by 50%. The instinct during Hammer Jam is to use your Hammers because everything is cheaper. The correct play is actually to use Builder Potions during the event, because a Builder Potion during 50%-off timers gives double the effective value. Save your Hammers for after Hammer Jam when timers return to full cost. The players who stack Builder Potions for Hammer Jam and then unleash Hammers immediately after are the ones who push TH levels fastest.
Conclusion
CWL rewards the basics executed consistently: register on time, hit your attack every single war day, aim for 2 or 3 stars every time, and don't miss the 8-star threshold. Everything else league tier, format selection, medal spending sits on top of that foundation. Get the fundamentals right first.
The spending side is where most players leave the most value on the table. Hammers at TH14 and above are the highest-impact item in the game. Builder Potions during Hammer Jam are next. Training Potions for gem conversion if you're in a building sprint. In that order, repeated consistently, medals compound into months of accelerated progression that farming alone can't match.
April is a clean reset for CWL. If last season's medal count was lower than it should have been, this is the month to fix it. Get the roster registered, coordinate the base assignments, and make sure every player knows the 8-star target before the first war day starts. For Gems before the season kicks off, the Clash of Clans top up page on LootBar has the rates I use. Good luck this season, Chief.
