At Town Hall 17 your Town Hall swallows your Eagle Artillery. Not "sits next to it" — the two become a single building, and the Town Hall's death bomb goes with them. That's the change that reshapes a TH17 base, and everything else is smaller.
This guide is built only from what Supercell published, linked at the end. Where we recommend something, it's labelled as our judgement. And where Supercell didn't publish a number, we don't invent one — there's a checklist below for the things you should confirm in game.
In a hurry?
- TH17 war bases — loads into your war base slot, for Clan Wars and CWL
- TH17 home village layouts — loads into your home village slot, protects storages and trophies
- How to copy and adapt a base — if you've never imported a layout before
Quick upgrade plan (30 seconds)
- Treat the Inferno Artillery as a base redesign, not an upgrade. It takes your Eagle Artillery with it.
- Build the Helper Hut if you haven't. Its Lab Assistant is the only thing that speeds up research.
- Keep the Laboratory running. Still the queue you can't buy your way out of.
- Open the Hero Hall and pick your defending hero. It's a decision, and it's free.
- Walls last, with leftover resources only.
- Don't wait for the Minion Prince or Revive. Neither is TH17 content.
What changed at TH17 (verified by Supercell)
The Inferno Artillery. Supercell describes it as merging your Town Hall with your Eagle Artillery. It "shoots 4 projectiles at the same time that look for different targets" and deals area damage over time. Critically, it replaces the Eagle Artillery and the Town Hall death bomb — both of them.
Read that again if you're planning a layout. Before TH17 you had two separate high-value buildings to place, plus a death bomb that punished whoever finished off your Town Hall. Afterwards you have one building doing all of it. The compartment that used to hold your Eagle Artillery is now free space, and the Town Hall is a bigger prize with a wider effect.
The Hero Hall. With five heroes now in the game, the Hero Hall is where you choose which hero goes on the attack and which one defends your home village. That second half is the part people miss — one of your heroes is now a defensive asset, and picking is free.
The Helper Hut. A 3x3 building available from Town Hall 9, not TH17. It houses the Builder Apprentice and a new Lab Assistant that speeds up research. If you're arriving at TH17 without one, that's the single cheapest fix on this page.
The Firespitter. A new defense with aimed mechanics like the Air Sweeper and an extremely fast attack speed. Supercell states plainly that it "lacks precision so shots can miss". That's their caveat, not ours, and it's the sort of thing worth knowing before you build a defense around it.
The Giga Bomb. A trap that is always visible and does massive damage over a large area with strong pushback. A visible trap is a different tool from a hidden one: it can't surprise anyone, so its value is in where it forces an attacker to go.
The Thrower. An Elixir troop with long range and high HP that targets anything.
The Revive spell. An Elixir spell that brings a defeated hero back into the attack with some health — available from Town Hall 15, so most people reading this already have it.
Notice the pattern: three of the six headline features of the "TH17 update" (Minion Prince, Helper Hut, Revive) unlock well below TH17. The Minion Prince — a flying hero that damages from above and weakens defenses — is available from Town Hall 9. An update's name tells you when something shipped, not who gets it.
Confirm these in game
Supercell announced the Firespitter, the Giga Bomb and the Thrower without saying which Town Hall unlocks each one, and secondary sources disagree with each other. Rather than pick a number and present it as fact, here's what to check yourself — it takes a minute in the shop and the Laboratory.
- Firespitter — which Town Hall level it appears at in your shop
- Giga Bomb — same, in the traps tab
- Thrower — which Barracks level unlocks it, and which Town Hall that needs
- Multi-Gear Tower — whether you have it, and which two defenses it merges from
- Hero Hall — whether it shows five hero slots for you
If what you see differs from anything in this guide, trust the game and tell us. We'll check it against the patch notes and correct the page.
Best upgrade priorities (Offense / Defense / Economy)
Everything in this section is our editorial recommendation, reasoned from the verified mechanics above — not a claim from Supercell.
Offense first. Heroes decide most war attacks and research is slow, so the queue that compounds is the one to keep moving. A defense delayed a week costs you a week of that defense; a lab upgrade delayed costs you every attack in between.
Defense: the Inferno Artillery is a layout decision. This is the TH17-specific point. Because the merge removes your Eagle Artillery as a separate building, the shape of your base changes the moment it happens — a compartment empties out and your Town Hall becomes a larger, more valuable target. Plan where everything else goes around that, rather than merging and then patching the hole.
Defense: finish lines, don't start them. A half-upgraded defense line gives you the downtime without the benefit. Take one category to completion before opening the next.
Economy: storages only as far as you need them. A storage needs to hold the most expensive upgrade you're actually about to buy. Past that, it's a builder doing nothing useful.
Walls last, always. Walls take leftovers. They should never be the reason a hero or a lab upgrade is waiting.
Laboratory priorities (what matters first)
The Laboratory still runs one research at a time, and gems spent on builders don't touch it. At TH17 there's one lever that does.
- The Lab Assistant is that lever. It lives in the Helper Hut and speeds up research. If you don't have the Helper Hut, this is the highest-value thing you can build, and it's been available since TH9.
- Never leave the lab idle. An empty lab overnight is the most expensive mistake on this page, and the easiest to avoid.
- Upgrade the army you actually use. The troop you bring to every war is worth more upgraded than a new troop you'll try twice.
- Finish what's started. Partial research across three troops is worth less than one finished line.
- Spells are cheap for what they do. Shorter research than troops, and they change how your existing army performs without you relearning an attack.
We don't publish "best troop" rankings. Which army works depends on what you can already use well, and a guide that tells you otherwise is guessing on your behalf.
War vs Farming focus at TH17 (how priorities differ)
The game keeps two separate layouts for you, and at TH17 they diverge more than usual because of the merge.
If you're warring, your war base defends in Clan Wars and CWL and there's no loot at stake — the job is denying stars. The Inferno Artillery matters most here: it's a single building carrying the weight two used to carry, so where it sits and what surrounds it is most of your war design. Heroes decide the rest.
If you're farming, your home village layout defends when another player attacks you in multiplayer, and there are real resources to lose. Storage placement earns its keep in a way it never does in war. The free compartment left behind by the Eagle Artillery is worth spending on protecting loot rather than reflexively filling with another defense.
Most people do both. If you have to choose: heroes and lab serve both jobs, so when in doubt, spend there.
Recommended base types
The two layouts are separate slots in the game, and a copy link loads into one specific slot — so you can set up both without one overwriting the other.
- TH17 war bases — every layout here loads into your war base slot, ready for Clan Wars and CWL.
- TH17 home village layouts — these load into your home village slot, the base that defends your storages and trophies.
- All TH17 bases — the full feed if you'd rather sort by rating or by how often a layout has been copied.
Not sure which you need? War vs farming vs trophy bases explains what each one protects, and anti-2 vs anti-3 explained covers how many stars a war base is built to deny. Coming up from below, the TH16 upgrade guide covers the permanent merge decision you met one level earlier.
Common mistakes (checklist)
- ❌ Merging the Inferno Artillery without replanning the base. It removes a building. The hole doesn't fill itself.
- ❌ Still budgeting for a separate Eagle Artillery upgrade. It's part of the Town Hall now.
- ❌ Counting on the Town Hall death bomb. The Inferno Artillery replaces it.
- ❌ Reaching TH17 with no Helper Hut. It's been available since TH9 and it's the only thing that speeds research.
- ❌ Leaving the Hero Hall on its default. Choosing your defending hero is free.
- ❌ Building around the Firespitter as if it never misses. Supercell says it can.
- ❌ Treating the Giga Bomb as a hidden trap. It's visible by design.
- ❌ Walls before heroes or lab. Walls absorb infinite resources and will eat your week.
FAQ
Does the Inferno Artillery really replace my Eagle Artillery? Yes. Supercell describes it as a merge of the Town Hall and the Eagle Artillery, and it replaces both that and the Town Hall death bomb.
So I lose the Town Hall death bomb at TH17? Yes. The Inferno Artillery takes over that role.
Is the Minion Prince a TH17 hero? No. It arrived in the TH17 update but is available from Town Hall 9.
Is the Revive spell new at TH17? It was introduced in that update, but it's available from Town Hall 15.
Is the Firespitter accurate? Not entirely, and that's Supercell's own description: it's an aimed defense with a very fast attack speed that lacks precision, so shots can miss.
Can attackers see the Giga Bomb? Yes. It's always visible — that's how it's designed. Its job is shaping where an attacker commits, not surprising them.
What does the Hero Hall actually do? With five heroes available, it's where you set which hero attacks and which defends your home village.
Why doesn't this guide list which Town Hall unlocks each new item? Because Supercell didn't publish those levels, and the sources that state them disagree. We'd rather give you a checklist to confirm in game than a number we can't stand behind.
Sources
- Supercell — The Town Hall 17 Update Is Here: supercell.com/games/clashofclans (TH17 update)
- Supercell — Town Hall 17 and the Introduction of Minion Prince: supercell.com/news (Town Hall 17)
- Clash of Clans Wiki — Thrower: clashofclans.fandom.com
- Clash Champs — TH17: Everything In Detail: clashchamps.com