Hey Chief,
Hero upgrades are one of the most frustrating parts of Clash of Clans. Not because they're expensive — you knew that going in. But because the moment you start one, life finds a way to make it inconvenient.
The Hero Upgrade Problem Nobody Talks About
Your clan calls a war. Your hero is upgrading.
You either sit out and watch your clanmates carry the map, or you scramble to find a Book of Heroes you don't have. Your clan leader checks the roster and sees your hero is down — again. And somewhere, a co-leader is typing "can you please time your upgrades better" in the clan chat.
Or worse — you're just helping out by sitting out. 😐
Clan leaders and co-leaders know this pain better than anyone. It's not that players don't want to attack. It's that nobody ever explained how to upgrade heroes without constantly being unavailable when the clan needs them most.
That's exactly what this guide covers.
Can You Use Heroes While They're Upgrading?
No — and there's no workaround for it.
Unlike buildings, heroes are completely unavailable the moment an upgrade starts. Hero Potions don't help either — they only work on heroes that are fully available, not ones mid-upgrade. There's no item, trick, or shortcut that lets you use a hero while it's being upgraded.
The only real solution is timing.
Upgrade at the right moment, use builder potions and you can get through a 7–8 day hero upgrade while barely missing a single war attack or ranked hit. Get the timing wrong and you're sitting out for days at a time.
The rest of this guide is about getting the timing right.
How to Upgrade Heroes Without Missing Clan Wars
Each clan war runs on a two-day cycle — one preparation day followed by one battle day. That rhythm is your biggest advantage when timing hero upgrades.
Here's the strategy:
On Battle Day 1, attack at the very first minute it starts. Do both war attacks immediately. Then start your hero upgrade right after.
On Battle Day 2 of the next war, attack at the very last minute before it closes. This squeezes every possible hour out of the window between your two attack obligations.
Here's the full picture of what that window looks like:
| Phase | Time Available | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| After attacking at START of Battle Day 1 | ~23 hours | Start hero upgrade immediately |
| Next war Prep Day | ~23 hours | Hero upgrading, no attacks needed |
| Next war Battle Day (attack at LAST MINUTE) | ~23 hours | Hero still upgrading, attack right before day closes |
| Total window | ~69 hours (~3 days) | Use Builder Potions to compress upgrade |
That's nearly three full days of upgrade time without sitting out of a single war attack.
Add Builder Potions into that window and a 7–8 day upgrade compresses significantly — making three days more than enough to push through several levels.
The key habit: attack first at the start, attack last at the end. The hours in between are yours.
How to Upgrade Heroes Without Missing Ranked Attacks
Outside of Legend League, ranked mode is the most forgiving format for hero upgrades — and most players don't take advantage of it.
You're not required to attack every single day outside Legend League. You have a full week of attacks available and can do them all at once — either right at the start of the week or right at the end. The days in between are a wide open upgrade window.
If you're playing both ranked mode and clan wars simultaneously, coordinate the two:
| Phase | Time Available | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Do ALL ranked attacks at START of week | ~5–6 days free | Start hero upgrade immediately after |
| Clan war attacks timed as above | Fits within the ranked window | Attack first/last as covered in war section |
| Do ALL ranked attacks at END of week | Closes the loop | Resume hero upgrades next week |
| Total window | ~5–6 days | Minimal magic items needed — timing alone usually enough |
The more consistently you do this, the less your hero upgrades ever become a problem. It becomes a rhythm rather than a scramble.
How to Upgrade Heroes During CWL and Legend League
These two formats are the hardest — and it's worth being honest about that upfront.
CWL runs back-to-back wars every single day for seven days. Legend League requires up to eight attacks daily. There's almost no natural gap to hide a hero upgrade in.
That said, there's still a workable approach for both.
The two-day squeeze:
| Phase | Time Available | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 — attack at the very START | ~23 hours | Start hero upgrade immediately after |
| Day 2 — attack at the very LAST MINUTE | ~23 hours | Hero still upgrading, attack right before reset |
| Total window per cycle | ~46 hours (~2 days) | Use Builder Potions to push upgrade as far as possible |
This works for both CWL and Legend League. The discipline is the same — attack immediately when the day opens, wait until the last possible moment to attack the next day.
Magic items: Books of Heroes skip upgrades entirely, and Hammers of Heroes do the same. The honest reality is you won't have many — maybe four or five per month total across all sources. That's four or five hero levels you can skip, not a full upgrade path. Useful in a pinch, but not a complete solution on its own.
The honest recommendation: If you're in Legend League and mid-way through a long hero upgrade, consider dropping out temporarily for a few weeks to Electro 33 league. You'll lose some trophy progress but gain significantly more upgrade flexibility — and you can re-enter once the hero is done.
CWL is different.
Don't skip it — the medals you earn buy Builder Potions and Hammers of Heroes directly. One good CWL season funds several levels worth of magic items. Stay in CWL, time your attacks carefully, and use the medals to stock up on upgrade fuel.
Upgrade Faster, Miss Less
The timing strategies above work — but they work best when your bases are strong enough to hold trophies and win CWL rounds while your heroes are down. A base that folds every war gives away the loot bonus you need for the next upgrade.
Fresh bases built for the current meta across War, CWL, and Ranked — covering every TH from 11 to 18 — are exactly what the Blueprint Blue Packs are built around. New layouts every month, limited to a small group of players, delivered before each season starts.
Better bases mean more wins, more medals, more DE — and shorter gaps between hero levels.
💎Best Bases to Upgrade Heroes Faster 💎
How Dark Elixir Farming Speeds Up or Slows Down Your Hero Upgrades
Here's something most players don't connect: how fast you can upgrade heroes isn't just about magic items — it's about how much Dark Elixir you're generating every week.
Hero upgrades at higher levels cost millions of Dark Elixir. If you're farming it slowly, every upgrade drags. If you're generating it consistently, you can chain upgrades back to back without long gaps in between.
The fastest way to increase your DE income is to push higher leagues — both in ranked mode and CWL. Higher leagues mean bigger loot bonuses on every attack, and those bonuses scale significantly as you climb. Holding your league while heroes are down requires a base that actually defends — the best ranked mode bases for every TH are built specifically for that, giving you consistent bonus loot every single week without sliding back down.
CWL works the same way — stronger CWL performance means more medals, and medals buy Builder Potions and Hammers of Heroes directly. A clan that wins more rounds wins more medals, and the best CWL bases for every TH are what keep your clan competitive round after round.
On the attack side, a consistent triple rate in ranked and CWL is what separates players who accumulate DE fast from players who grind slowly. The best attack strategies for every TH give you the armies to actually earn those bonuses every session.
And if you want to go deeper on the farming side specifically, the Dark Elixir farming guide covers the most efficient ways to stack DE between upgrades.
The faster you generate DE, the shorter the gaps between hero levels — and the less painful the whole upgrade process feels.
Hero Upgrade Timing — Quick Reference by Format
| Format | Flexibility | Best Upgrade Window | Magic Items Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clan Wars | Medium | Attack START of Battle Day 1 → upgrade → attack LAST MINUTE of Battle Day 2 → ~3 days | Builder Potions to compress timeline |
| Ranked Mode (non-Legend) | High | Attack all at start or end of week → 5–6 day gap in between | Minimal — timing alone usually enough |
| Both War + Ranked | Medium | Coordinate both sets → upgrade after both done | Builder Potions help |
| CWL | Low | Attack at DAY START → upgrade → attack LAST MINUTE next day → ~2 days per cycle | Builder Potions + Hammers |
| Legend League | Very Low | Same two-day squeeze as CWL — or drop out temporarily | Books/Hammers, or skip Legend during upgrade |
What if everyone in your clan does this?
Everyone has heroes for every single war, CWL and ranked. Your clan always ranks at the top in every format.
So, spam this guide into your clan chat, your Discord server or your Whatsapp group.
