"Anti-2 star" and "anti-3 star" describe what a base is built to stop — they're design goals, not a specific layout. Understanding the difference helps you pick the right base for war, CWL or daily play, and sets realistic expectations for how a defense will hold.
Which should I pick? (30 seconds)
- In a Clan War or CWL? → Lean toward an anti-3-star base — most wars are decided by who denies the third star.
- Defending daily or pushing trophies? → Lean toward an anti-2-star base — protecting the Town Hall protects your trophies and loot.
- Mixed play or not sure? → A balanced layout is fine; switch once you have a clear goal.
These are starting points, not rules — your clan's strategy and skill level matter.
First, how war stars work
In Clan Wars, one attack can earn up to three stars:
- 1 star for destroying 50% of the base.
- 1 star for destroying the Town Hall.
- 1 star for reaching 100% destruction.
This is the scoring used in Clan Wars and CWL. Everyday multiplayer battles work differently — they award trophies based on the trophy matchup, which is why protecting the Town Hall (an anti-2 goal) carries more weight in day-to-day play. Anti-2 and anti-3 are simply two design goals aimed at different stars.
Anti-2 star vs anti-3 star (design principles)
Anti-2-star designs aim to stop the attacker from taking the second star — usually by protecting the Town Hall and making it hard to reach and destroy. If the Town Hall survives, the attack is often capped at one star. This matters most in daily multiplayer and trophy pushing, where losing the Town Hall means losing the battle.
Anti-3-star designs accept that a strong attacker will probably take two stars, and focus on denying the last one — full, 100% destruction. They tend to spread buildings out, tuck structures into awkward corners, and keep a resilient core so cleanup runs out of time or troops. This matters most in war and CWL, where the two-versus-three-star margin decides the result.
These are principles, not guarantees: no layout stops every attack, and results depend on the attacker's army and skill.
How to choose layouts on our site
Every base here comes with real community signals to help you judge it:
- Best rated uses a weighted (Bayesian) score, so a base with a handful of votes can't jump ahead of one that earned a high rating across many votes. It surfaces genuinely well-reviewed layouts.
- Trending (7d) ranks by copies over the last seven days — what players are actually using right now.
- Copies show how many people imported a layout. They appear once a base has a meaningful count, so a base showing none simply hasn't crossed that mark yet.
- Rating and votes give you the community score next to its sample size — a 4.6 from many votes tells you more than a 5.0 from one.
Practical tip: for war, favour a well-rated base with a healthy vote count, then check Trending to see what's holding up this week.
When to use each
- War: usually anti-3 — denying that third star is what wins most wars.
- CWL: it uses the same war scoring, but you face a different clan and different attackers each day, so a base can't be tailored to one opponent — anti-3 designs that reliably hold attackers to two stars are popular for that consistency.
- Daily / trophy pushing: usually anti-2 — protecting the Town Hall keeps your trophies and shields your loot.
Depending on your Town Hall gap and your clan's level, a strong anti-3 base can also defend fine day to day.
Find a base
Browse by Town Hall and filter by type, rating, trending or copies:
Related reading: War vs farming vs trophy bases and How to copy and adapt a base.
FAQ
Is anti-3 always better than anti-2? No — they solve different problems. Anti-3 is for war; anti-2 is for protecting the Town Hall in daily play.
Can a base be both? To a degree — many war bases hold two-star well and also protect the Town Hall — but pushing hard for one goal usually costs a little on the other.
Does anti-3 mean I'll never get three-starred? No layout is unbeatable. Anti-3 makes the third star harder, not impossible; the outcome still depends on the attacker.
Which is better for CWL? Usually anti-3, since a single dropped star can swing a close CWL day.
Where should the Town Hall go? For anti-2 it's typically well-protected and fairly central; anti-3 designs care more about the last percentage than about any single building.
Sources
- Supercell — Clash of Clans, official site (Clan Wars and attack scoring): supercell.com/games/clashofclans
- Clash of Clans Wiki — Clan Wars: clashofclans.fandom.com