Lava Launcher is the biggest defensive building that you can unlock at Builder base in Clash of Clans. This defense is immensely powerful and it can clear weak troops easily.
Here we will discuss this new defense type in detail and how you can use it on your builder base.
What does the lava launcher do?
A Lava launcher will fireballs of lava on enemy units. Even though the impact of the lava balls is not so high but the lava thrown on the ground will have damage over time just like a poison spell.
The overtime damage stays for ten seconds and any enemy troop that comes into its contact will start losing its hit points.
Enemy troops with weak hit points like Night Witch, Cannon Cart, Bomber, Raged Barbarian, Sneaky Archer, and hog gliders will die within seconds of staying on the lava-infused ground.
Another cool specialty of lava launcher is that it has a huge range that covers 75% of the base. The two major weaknesses are that it can not attack air troops and it has a huge blind spot.
The blind spot of a lava launcher is around 10 tiles. You can only have one launcher on your base. Here are the basic stats of this powerful defense.
| Range | Attack Speed | Damage Type | Unit Type Targeted | Favorite Targets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-20 tiles | 7 seconds | Area Splash | Ground | Any |
Also Read – Best Town Hall 8 Upgrade Order
Lava Launcher Max Levels
Even though this building is unlocked at the highest level of builder hall that is BH9 yet has 9 layers of levels that need to be maxed out to get maximum benefit.
Here are the stats of different levels of lava launchers –
| Level | Damage per Second | Damage per Shot | Maximum Damage per Second | Hitpoints | Build Cost | Build Time | BHÂ Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 25 | 160 | 500 | 3,000,000 | 1d | 9 |
| 2 | 4 | 33 | 165 | 575 | 3,100,000 | 1d | 9 |
| 3 | 5 | 41 | 170 | 661 | 3,200,000 | 2d | 9 |
| 4 | 7 | 49 | 175 | 760 | 3,400,000 | 2d | 9 |
| 5 | 8 | 57 | 180 | 874 | 3,700,000 | 3d | 9 |
| 6 | 9 | 65 | 185 | 1,005 | 4,000,000 | 3d | 9 |
| 7 | 10 | 73 | 190 | 1,156 | 4,300,000 | 4d | 9 |
| 8 | 11 | 81 | 195 | 1,329 | 4,600,000 | 5d | 9 |
| 9 | 12 | 89 | 200 | 1,395 | 4,900,000 | 5d | 9 |
As you can see the DPS, hitpoint, damage per attack, and maximum damage per second increase significantly over time therefore I strongly suggest you max out this defense as early as possible.
This should be the first building that master builders should focus on after upgrading to builder hall 9.
Lava Launcher Building Time
The Master builder will take one day to unlock this defense. After this, every second upgrade will increase by a day. This means that level 9 of the lava launcher which is the max level will be unlocked in five days.
How does Lava Launcher work?
A Lava launcher has a tile range of 20. So whenever any enemy ground troop is deployed in this range, the lava launcher will lock its target and fire lava balls on it.
Wherever the lava balls land it will leave a splash of lava on the ground. Any enemy troop that comes into the contact with that splash of lava will lose health per second.
The splash stays for 10 seconds and a level 9 lava launcher splash will take 200 units of hit points of the enemy troop.
How do you beat the lava launcher?
As told above this over-the-time splash damage is what makes lava launcher deadly. If you are attacking an enemy base that has a lava launcher on it then it is important to destroy it as soon as possible.
There are two popular ways that can be used to destroy this defense.
The first method is to deploy an all-air attack. You can carry out an air raid via air units like a baby dragon, beta minion, and/or dropship. Air troops won’t trigger the lava launcher. This strategy is useful against bases that have lava launchers installed deep inside the base.
However, since higher-level builder halls have too many firecrackers and mighty air bombs therefore this strategy is tricky.
The second strategy is to distract the defense via expendable units such as raged barbarians. You can also use a Battle machine to distract the lava launcher. The Battle machine won’t get much affected by the lava launcher but it can be overwhelmed by other defenses.
Therefore it is important to quickly enter in Lava launcher blind spot and destroy it. You can use Hog Gliders for it as they fly over walls and target defenses only. Cannon carts can also come in handy but you have to use them with boxer giants and bombers.
Lava Launcher vs Eagle Artillery
A common comparison made by COC players is between the two long-range defenses in the game. Both Lava Launcher and eagle artillery launch fireballs in the air.
The DPS of Eagle artillery is higher than that of the lava launcher. If we compare just the stats of these two defenses then eagle artillery has many plus points over the launcher. It has a tight blind spot, longer range, and high Damage per attack.
Additionally, an Eagle artillery has enough walls, buildings to protect it from enemy troops.
Best Placement for Lava Launcher
If you want a perfect builder base design then it is important to place a lava launcher near the center of the base. Since this building has a large blind spot therefore you need to place other defenses in such a way that they can kill any enemy troop that enters the lava launcher blind spot.
Use walls atleast 3-4 tiles away from the lava launcher. This way the enemy troops have a large distance to cover and the launcher gets enough protection.
Place atleast one spring trap, one giant bomb, and one mine near the launcher. You can also use a push trap near it to throw away troops that come closer to the launcher.
Your multi mortar should be aligned in such a way that it has only 40% mutual covering with lava launcher. This way the two powerful defenses will cover wide range without focusing on the same troop.
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