Hey Chief,

If you're still running around with only 5 builders, you're making your own life harder than it needs to be. Supercell hands you a completely free 6th builder — Bob — but most players unlock him months later than necessary, mostly because they're approaching the Builder Base all wrong.

Here's the fastest, most efficient path to unlocking Bob, including the mistakes that quietly cost you months, the troop shortcut nobody talks about, and exactly where to spend your resources.

The Mistakes That Add Months to Your Grind

Before anything else, fix these habits:

• Stop trying to "max" your Builder Base. This is the opposite of the Home Village mindset — rushing is the correct strategy here.
• Stop upgrading walls. Builder Base walls contribute nothing toward Bob. That gold and elixir should go to heroes, Star Lab, or key defenses.
• Stop randomly upgrading troops. Pick one plan and stick to it — every off-plan troop upgrade delays your heroes.
• Never let your Star Laboratory sit idle. If it's not researching, you're losing progress every single day.
• Keep attacking even while heroes are upgrading. You'll need resources the whole time, so don't go quiet.

One more thing: if you've already got all 5 Home Village builders and 1,000 spare gems, unlock the Boto Shack immediately. It gives you a 3rd builder in the Builder Base and speeds up literally everything below — one of the best gem purchases for this entire grind.

So What Is Bob, Exactly?

Bob is your permanent 6th builder, unlocked through the Builder Base. To start, reach Builder Hall 9 and build the Bob Control Hut — it costs 100,000 Builder Base gold and starts at level 1. Complete four specific tasks (each one bumps the hut up a level), and once it hits level 5, Bob is unlocked permanently and joins your Home Village.

▶️ The Rushing Strategy

Don't max BH6, BH7, or BH8 — just build what's required for the tasks below and move on. Your priorities at every level should be: Army Camps, Star Lab upgrades, hero progression, and the four Bob requirements. Nothing else matters right now.

If rushing makes attacks tougher, don't worry — Builder Base matchmaking is heavily trophy-based, so dropping a few hundred trophies while farming is normal and often makes things easier. Progress beats trophies during this grind.

Requirement 1: Three Gear Ups in the Home Village

You need the Cannon, Archer Tower, and Mortar gear ups. Each one needs a specific Builder Base level first:

• Archer Tower gear up → level 6 Archer Tower in Builder Base
• Cannon gear up → level 4 Double Cannon in Builder Base
• Mortar gear up → level 8 Multi Mortar in Builder Base

The Mortar gear up is usually the slowest — start it early, don't save it for last. If you've got a Book of Building, this is a great place to use it.

Requirement 2: Get a Troop to Level 18 (Here's the Shortcut)

Most players grind a troop from level 1 to 18 the painful way — that's 17 separate upgrades. Skip it.

Get your Star Laboratory to level 9 (this should always be a top priority — never let it fall behind), then push your Barracks to level 12 (BH10). This unlocks the Electro Fire Wizard, which starts at level 17. One single Star Lab upgrade takes it to 18, and the requirement is done.

To be clear — this doesn't mean Electro Fire Wizard becomes your main farming army. Beta Minions + Drop Ships, or Pekka + Night Witch, are still better for actual farming. This is purely a shortcut to tick the box.

Requirement 3: Upgrade a Defense to Level 9

The Multi Mortar is the best pick — upgrading it to level 9 also counts toward your Mortar gear-up requirement, so one upgrade does double duty. Mega Tesla is a fine backup if you'd rather go that route. If you've saved CWL medals, a Hammer of Building can save a huge chunk of time here.

Requirement 4: 45 Combined Hero Levels

You need a combined total of 45 levels across Battle Machine and Battle Copter — any split works. A solid approach: Battle Machine to 20 + Battle Copter to 25 (Battle Copter already starts at 15, so that's only 10 levels to push). Hero upgrades are usually the biggest bottleneck in this whole grind — if an upgrade is ready, start it immediately, never let a hero sit idle.

Resource Management: Where the Free Stuff Comes From

• Raid Medals: spend these every single week on Builder Base resources from the Trader. Over months, this adds up to millions of gold and elixir, completely free.
• Star Bonus: collect it consistently — one of the most reliable resource sources throughout the grind.
• Clock Tower: upgrade it early and use it daily. Save your Clock Tower potions for BH6+ once you have multiple builders working — unlike regular Builder Potions, these directly speed up Builder Base upgrades.
• Elixir discipline: don't waste it on troops you'll never use. Every unnecessary troop upgrade delays your heroes, and hero levels are literally one of the requirements.

Magic Items Cheat Sheet

• Book of Building → Multi Mortar / gear-up upgrades
• Book of Fighting → expensive Star Lab upgrades (especially if you're not using the Electro Fire Wizard shortcut)
• Book of Heroes → high-level Battle Machine or Battle Copter pushes
• Hammers (CWL medals) → hero upgrades and the level 9 defense requirement

How Long Does It Take to Unlock the 6th Builder?

With consistent daily play, weekly raid medals, proper rushing, and smart magic item use, most players unlock Bob in 3–6 months. Less active play roughly doubles that. The key is consistency — keep your builders busy, your Star Lab always running, and don't waste resources on anything that doesn't move the needle on these four requirements.

It's a grind, no doubt. But once that 6th builder shows up hammering away in your main village, you'll wonder how you ever survived with five.

💪 Now go get that 6th Builder, your Town Hall deserves it.

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