TH9 is a wonderful Town Hall level that offers access to Archer Queen and a brand-new defense known as X-Bow. What should they upgrade first is the most common question posed by new TH9 players. This upgrade priority guide for TH9 will tell you the best order in which you should be upgrading your new TH9 so you can speed things up.
An upgrade priority guide teaches you the right order to upgrade your base. All of my priority guides start with offensive buildings. You should always be focusing on your offense first. Some buildings have a high priority than others due to their statistics.
This guide has the following purpose:
- To help you speed things up as a new TH9.
- To help you in upgrading important buildings first.
Note: We will consider that you have five builders as most players have the fifth builder at TH9. You can still follow the guide if you don’t have the fifth builder.
Getting the new buildings (Two Builders)
You get the following new buildings after upgrading your TH9:
- 2x X-Bows
- 1x Archer Queen
- 1x Elixir Collector
- 1x Elixir Storage
- 1x Gold Mine
- 1x Gold Storage
- 1x Archer Tower
- 25x Walls
- 1x Wizard Tower
- 1x Air Defense
- 1x Hidden Tesla
- 1x Dark Elixir Drill
- 1x Air Sweeper
- 1x Giant Bomb
- 2x Seeking Air Mines
That’s a big list of new buildings, so it’s recommended to use two builders on all of these buildings and make them the same level as the older buildings.
You should build Archer Queen right away, and as a new TH9, you will get a boost on her that will increase her level to 6 for the next 5 days. It is recommended to upgrade Archer Queen to level 5 after the boost ends.
Laboratory
You can upgrade your village’s Laboratory to level 7 as a TH9. The Laboratory is always a high-priority upgrade because it lets you upgrade your troops, making them stronger and better. You will need better troops in order to three-star fellow TH9s.
Laboratory to level 7 upgrade cost: 800,000 Elixirs
Laboratory to level 7 upgrade time: 1 day
Clan Castle
As a TH9, you can upgrade your Clan Castle to level 5. A level 5 Clan Castle has a housing space of 30, so you can now request Golem, Lava Hound, or Electro Dragon. These troops can make a substantial difference in the outcome of your attack.
Clan Castle troops play a major role in both defending and attacking. You cannot attack a base without taking Clan Castle troops into consideration. Clan Castle always has a high priority because of its perks, so put some effort into your Clan Castle whenever you upgrade to a new Town Hall.
Clan Castle to level 5 upgrade cost: 2,500,000 Elixirs
Clan Castle to level 5 upgrade time: 2 day
Army Camps
As a TH9, you can upgrade your Army Camps to level 7, increasing the total troop housing capacity to 220. Use as many builders as you can on your Army Camps, so they can be upgraded quickly, giving you access to more troops.
An extra housing space of 20 can help you take on fellow TH9s in a better way. A maxed-out TH9 is hard to attack if you lack the extra troop housing space.
Army Camp to level 7 upgrade cost: 1,500,000 Elixirs
Army Camp to level 7 upgrade time: 2 days
Dark Elixir Storage
Dark Elixir storage gets two new levels at TH9 taking the total storage capacity to 180,000. As a TH9, You will need a lot of Dark Elixir to upgrade your heroes, dark troops, and dark spells. Dark Elixir Storage is a priority upgrade because you will need to store a significant amount of Dark Elixirs to upgrade heroes and dark troops at a time.
| Level | Upgrade Cost | Upgrade Time |
| 5 | 2,000,000 | 2 days |
| 6 | 3,000,000 | 3 days |
Barracks
You can unlock Baby Dragon by upgrading your Barracks at Town Hall 9. Baby Dragons are frequently used for the creation of funnels for Queen Charge attacks or other ground-based attack strategies. Baby Dragons perform best when left alone because they become enraged when left alone.
Barracks to level 11 upgrade cost: 2,600,000 Elixirs
Barracks to level 11 upgrade time: 4 days
Dark Barracks
Your village’s Dark Barracks can be upgraded twice at TH9 unlocking Witch and Lava Hound. Both of these troops are extremely necessary for good TH9 attacks.
Witch is a vital troop for Town Hall 9 players as Witch Slap attack has the potential to 3-star a carefully designed war base. The Witch will improve the effectiveness of your current attack strategies and create opportunities for even more powerful new attacking tactics.
The second upgrade will give you access to Lava Hound. Lava Hound is an extremely popular dark troop that you will be using at every Town Hall level at some point. Lava Hounds are the main part of LavaLoon attack strategy which is very effective for three-starring other Town Hall 9s.
| Level | Upgrade Cost (Elixirs) | Upgrade Time |
| 5 | 2,200,000 | 3 days, 12 hours |
| 6 | 2,900,000 | 4 days, 12 hours |
Spell Factory
As a TH9, you can upgrade your Spell Factory to level 4, unlocking both Jump and Freeze Spell. These two spells are essential for Town Hall 9 players and hold high upgrade priority points.
Thanks to the Jump Spell, your heroes, and ground troops can now Jump over walls. Jump Spell can help you redirect your troops to the core of the enemy base. You can use Jumps Spells in any of the ground attack strategies.
The Freeze Spell can temporarily freeze Clan Castle troops, enemy defenses, or heroes. Freeze Spell takes only one housing space and is used in almost all types of attacks. You should unlock both of these spells as soon as possible.
Spell Factory to level 4 upgrade cost: 1,200,000 Elixirs
Spell Factory to level 4 upgrade time: 3 days, 12 hours
Dark Spell Factory
Your Dark Spell Factory gets two new levels at TH9, giving you access to Haste and Skeleton Spell. Haste Spell can prove itself useful in LavaLoon attacks. Haste Spell can be used to speed up troops that have a slow speed like Balloons.
The Skeleton Spell can spawn Skeletons that can be used as a distraction for enemy heroes or defenses. Sometimes depending on the placement of heroes, you can use the Skeleton Spell to kill heroes at the start of the battle.
| Level | Upgrade Cost (Elixirs) | Upgrade Time |
| 3 | 600,000 | 2 days |
| 4 | 1,200,000 | 4 days |
Archer Queen
If you followed the guide, your Archer Queen would be level 5 by now, as mentioned at the start of the article. We need to get her to level 30 now. Well-upgraded Archer Queen is extremely necessary at TH9; otherwise, you will have a hard time attacking well-designed and maxed-out TH9 bases.
A well-upgraded Archer Queen can create a good funnel for other troops by coupling her up with a few Healers. The famous Queen Walk strategy is fun and necessary to learn because it is used at every Town Hall level.
| Level | Upgrade Cost (Dark Elixir) | Upgrade Time |
| 6 | 16,000 | 12 hours |
| 7 | 17,000 | 14 hours |
| 8 | 18,000 | 16 hours |
| 9 | 19,000 | 18 hours |
| 10 | 20,000 | 20 hours |
| 11 | 22,000 | 22 hours |
| 12 | 24,000 | 1 day |
| 13 | 26,000 | 1 day, 8 hours |
| 14 | 28,000 | 1 day, 16 hours |
| 15 | 30,000 | 2 days |
| 16 | 32,000 | 2 days |
| 17 | 34,000 | 2 days |
| 18 | 36,000 | 2 days |
| 19 | 38,000 | 2 days |
| 20 | 40,000 | 2 days,12 hours |
| 21 | 42,000 | 2 days,12 hours |
| 22 | 44,000 | 2 days,12 hours |
| 23 | 46,000 | 2 days,12 hours |
| 24 | 48,000 | 2 days,12 hours |
| 25 | 50,000 | 3 days |
| 26 | 52,000 | 3 days |
| 27 | 54,000 | 3 days |
| 28 | 56,000 | 3 days |
| 29 | 58,000 | 3 days |
| 30 | 60,000 | 4 days |
Barbarian King
If you max out your TH8, you will have a level 10 Barbarian King. We get 20 new levels on Barbarian King as a TH9. We need to take him to level 30 to get better with our war attacks. A level 30 Barbarian King is an absolute menace for enemy defenses and takes a lot of firepower to kill.
It is highly recommended to upgrade Archer Queen and Barbarian King together. It might look hard, but it isn’t. Make an attack or two whenever you have free time, and you will have plenty of Dark Elixir to fund both of your heroes.
| Level | Upgrade Cost (Dark Elixirs) | Upgrade Time |
| 11 | 17,000 | 22 hours |
| 12 | 19,000 | 1 day |
| 13 | 21,000 | 1 day, 8 hours |
| 14 | 23,000 | 1 day, 16 hours |
| 15 | 25,000 | 2 days |
| 16 | 27,000 | 2 days |
| 17 | 29,000 | 2 days |
| 18 | 31,000 | 2 days |
| 19 | 33,000 | 2 days |
| 20 | 35,000 | 2 days, 12 hours |
| 21 | 37,000 | 2 days, 12 hours |
| 22 | 39,000 | 2 days, 12 hours |
| 23 | 41,000 | 2 days, 12 hours |
| 24 | 43,000 | 2 days, 12 hours |
| 25 | 45,000 | 3 days |
| 26 | 47,000 | 3 days |
| 27 | 49,000 | 3 days |
| 28 | 51,000 | 3 days |
| 29 | 53,000 | 3 days |
| 30 | 55,000 | 4 days |
X-Bows
X-Bows get unlocked at Town Hall 9 boosting your defense by a significant amount. If you follow the upgrade order properly, you will have level 1 X-Bows in your village built already. Now it is time to take them to level 3. Level 3 X-Bow will make your village’s defense a lot stronger.
| Level | Upgrade Cost (Gold) | Upgrade Time |
| 2 | 1,600,000 | 4 days |
| 3 | 2,400,000 | 5 days |
Air Defenses
Dragon and Lava Hound attacks are pretty common at TH9. Level 7 Air Defenses can help you in defending against these attacks. Air Defense has high priority over other defense buildings because aerial attacks are extremely powerful and Air Defenses are your best chance against them.
Air Defense to level 7 upgrade cost: 1,750,000 Gold
Air Defense to level 7 upgrade time: 3 days
Air Sweepers
To effectively combat air attacks, you will also require well-upgraded Air Sweepers in addition to Air Defense. Put some effort into your Air Sweepers to defend better against air attacks.
Air Sweeper to level 5 upgrade cost: 2,000,000 Gold
Air Sweeper to level 5 upgrade time: 2 days
Archer Towers
Archer Towers are a good first line of defense against both air and ground units. They have the ability to target any type of troop with a very good range and high fire rate.
Archer Tower to level 11 upgrade cost: 1,200,000 Gold
Archer Tower to level 11 upgrade time: 1 day
Hidden Teslas
Hidden Teslas are traps that deal a fair amount of damage with their high fire rate. They can make a bunch of troops disappear in seconds. Hidden Teslas can target both air and ground units giving them a higher priority than other defenses.
Hidden Tesla to level 7 upgrade cost: 1,800,000 Gold
Hidden Tesla to level 7 upgrade time: 3 days
Wizard Towers
The wizard on a Wizard Tower can target both air and ground units with splash damage making this defense a higher priority defense than other ground attacking defenses.
Wizard Tower to level 11 upgrade cost: 2,200,000 Gold
Wizard Tower to level 11 upgrade time: 2 days
Bomb Towers
Bomb Towers are an absolute nightmare for Hog Rider attacks. Put some effort into your Bomb Towers to defend against those Hog Riders.
Bomb Tower to level 3 upgrade cost: 1,800,000 Gold
Bomb Tower to level 3 upgrade time: 2 days
Cannons
Cannons can only target ground units with no special perks making them a lesser important defense building. However, you cannot ignore their part in defending your village against ground attacks.
Cannon to level 11 upgrade cost: 1,000,000 Gold
Cannon to level 11 upgrade time: 1 day
Mortars
Mortars are extremely effective against Witch attacks. Try placing your Mortars closer to walls to eliminate resource-stealing Goblins or Witch’s Skeletons.
Mortar to level 7 upgrade cost: 1,500,000 Gold
Mortar to level 7 upgrade time: 3 days
Dark Elixir Drills
Dark Elixir Drills can give a small amount of Dark Elixirs every hour. It won’t be much, but it’s free, so work on your Dark Elixir drills for a few extra Dark Elixirs.
| Level | Upgrade Cost (Elixirs) | Upgrade Time |
| 4 | 1,200,000 | 3 days |
| 5 | 1,500,000 | 4 days, 12 hours |
| 6 | 1,800,000 | 8 days |
Traps
Traps can get rid of intruders in the blink of an eye. I would recommend starting with Seeking Air Mines and Air Bombs.
Walls
You will get two new levels of walls as TH9. The major function of the Walls is to delay advancing ground troops, allowing defenses to inflict damage and kill attackers as they try to break the Walls.
| Level | Upgrade Cost (Gold and Elixirs) | Upgrade Time |
| 9 | 100,000 | None |
| 10 | 200,000 | None |
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