Ultimate Clash of Clans Winter Update Recap: Everything You Need to Know About the Christmas Update

img src="2019-winter-update-recap.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Banner"

Clashers, it's that time of the year again, the Christmas update is right around the corner!

Christmas updates are always special on Clash of Clans, but this year it is absolutely massive, this is by far the biggest update recap I have ever done.

With the addition of a new Town Hall level we have new levels to pretty much all troops, traps and buildings on your Home Village. But that's not all, we have the first new Hero in 4 years, the Royal Champion, two brand new defenses, the Giga Inferno and Scattershot, a new Siege Machine called Siege Barracks, a new troop Yeti and many, many other changes.

Without further due, here is the ultimate recap for the 2019 Winter Update!

Release Date

I will start with the most common question I'm getting, the release date. The big Sneak Peeks are probably over but we don't have an exact release date yet.

It might come as soon as tomorrow (12/9), but it might take a few days. On the last few years the Christmas update always came on Mondays or Tuesdays, so I think it might follow the same schedule this year.

Update: the update is confirmed for this Monday (12/09). Get ready!

Town Hall 13

img src="th13-render01-2048x2048-1.png" height="250" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Town Hall 13"

Adding a new Town Hall level on Clash of Clans is always massive and brings a huge impact to the game. With the Town Hall 13 it's not different as we will see on this recap.

Featuring a “Dark Elixir and Ice” theme, it will add this style to all buildings levels unlocked by reaching Town Hall 13.

Requirements

To upgrade to the Town Hall 13 you must have a Town Hall 12 with a level 5 Giga Tesla.

It should cost 12,000,000 Gold and 18 days, but these stats have not been confirmed yet.

Giga Inferno

img src="town-hall-13-02.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Giga Inferno in Action"

As expected after the Town Hall 12 Giga Tesla, the Town Hall 13 also has a brand new defense system, the Giga Inferno!

The Giga Inferno is a defense based on the multi-target Inferno Tower and entirely replaces the Giga Tesla on your Town Hall

When the battle starts the Giga Inferno is not active. Once an enemy damages it or reaches 51% of destruction, the Giga Inferno emerges transforming the Town Hall on a defense building.

Bonus Effect: Haze of Ice

img src="town-hall-13-03.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Giga Inferno Explosion" caption="Level 3 Giga Inferno about to explode and release the Haze of Ice"

Starting on level 3, the Giga Inferno will release a "Haze of Ice" bomb on the battlefield when destroyed.

This Haze of Ice will cause damage and slow the movement and attack speed of enemy troops. It will not completely stop them as a Freeze Spell, it will only slow them down.

img src="town-hall-13-04.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Giga Inferno Haze of Ice" caption="Barbarian King affected by the Haze of Ice"

There is currently no way to stop the Haze of Ice. Even the Grand Warden Eternal Tome can't prevent your troops from being slowed down by the haze.

Royal Champion

img src="royal-champion.png" height="250" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Royal Champion"

Royal Champion is the first Hero to be added on the game in 4 years. Yes, it's been that long! The Grand Warden was released back in 2015 with Town Hall 11.

Unlocked on Town Hall 13, she is a ranged troop that uses a spear to attack.

She is the first Hero with a preferred target of defenses, making her quite special, although she should not attack Clan Castle troops until all defenses have been destroyed for this reason.

Like the Grand Warden, she has the ability to jump over walls. But since the Warden is a support Hero, the Royal Champion is indeed quite special and will advance on the enemy villages targeting defenses regardless of walls. Just be careful with the Clan Castle troops!

Special Ability: Seeking Shield

img src="royal-champion-03.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Royal Champion Seeking Shield"

Her special ability is called the Seeking Shield and consists in throwing her shield on the defenses.

The shield will hit an enemy defense causing damage and will target the next one, regardless of the range. Yes, you read it right, regardless of range! Her shield can even fly across the entire village looking for the next defense.

img src="royal-champion-04.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Royal Champion Seeking Shield in Action"

She can hit up to 4 defenses, regardless of how far they are. The shield will fly all over the village looking for the next target!

A maxed out Seeking Shield can make 1860 of damage on each target, it's massive! It can take down many defenses with a single hit, including Air Defenses. The damage also remains the same on all 4 buildings, it doesn't get reduced as the Electric Dragon. Super cool!

Siege Barracks

img src="siege-barracks.png" height="250" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Siege Barracks"

Siege Barracks is a brand new Siege Machine unlocked when you upgrade your Workshop to level 4.

This Siege Machine is similar to a Lunar Lander that will land on the enemy village by parachutes. It can only be placed outside enemy walls.

Once landed, it will start to spawning troops. But not the Clan Castle troops, it will slowly release extra troops provided by the Siege Machine! It will always spawn a single P.E.K.K.A followed by Wizards over 30 seconds.

img src="2019-xmas-siege-barracks-03.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Siege Barracks Gameplay"

Upgrading this Siege Barrack increases its HP and the number of Wizards it will spawn. A maxed Siege Barrack will spawn 1 P.E.K.K.A + 12 Wizards.

The whole process of releasing the bonus troops takes 30 seconds and over this period of time the HP of the Siege Machine continually decreases. It will also be targeted by enemy defenses too, accelerating the process of destruction.

When the Siege Machine is destroyed it will stop spawning Wizards and will release all Clan Castle troops, similar to all other Siege Machines.

Yeti

img src="yeti-clash-of-clans-art-ilustration.png" height="250" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Yeti"

The Yeti is an Elixir melee troop that can attack only ground targets, doesn't have any preferred target, uses 18 Housing Spaces and can be unlocked on Town Hall 12.

img src="2019-xmas-yeti-02.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Yeti Gameplay"

Special Ability: Yetimites

img src="2019-xmas-yeti-06.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Yetimite Gameplay"

Once the Yeti gets any damage, he will start releasing his Yetimites.

Yetimites are not like Skeletons or Golemites, they are quite unique. They target defenses, make 4x damage on them and have the ability to jump over walls!

Once the Yetimite reaches a target, it will splash on it causing damage and dying instantly.

Yetimites are not unlimited spawned like Skeletons from Witches, they have are limited by the Yeti level. A maxed Yeti carries 10 Yetimites. The higher the Yeti level, more Yetimites he will release. If he dies, he will release all Yetimites left on this backpack.

Scattershot

img src="scattershop-level-02.png" height="200" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Scattershot"

The Scattershot is a brand new defense at Town Hall 13 able to target both ground and air troops.

This defense is a type of trebuchet or catapult that launch boulders at the nearest enemies.

You can built up to two Scattershots on Town Hall 13 and they can be upgraded to level 2.

Cone-Shaped Blast

img src="2019-xmas-scattershot-05.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Scattershot Blast" caption="Illustration made by the YouTuber Galadon"

Capable of hitting air and ground troops, upon impact the bundle will break apart causing additional damage in a cone-shaped blast, dealing splash damage to the troops behind.

This defense has a dead zone around but it's quite small. With only 3 tiles, most ranged troops will not be able to get into the dead zone.

Auto-Ability

Heroes will now automatically try and save themselves and use their Ability if they take damage that would kill them and the ability is available to be used. Advanced players can disable this feature in More Settings.

Army Camp Resize

Resize Army Camps and Siege Workshop to 4x4 and Laboratory to 3x3 to free some space in the Village.

Decorations

img src="2019-winter-devtalk-04.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | Decoration Movement"

Decorations can now be placed on the outer edges of the map.

It is also no longer necessary to place decorations in every layout. For example it's possible to have a decoration only in the Home Village layout but not in the War Base layout.

Recruitment Improvements

On the last update the url="https://houseofclashers.com/r/clash-of-clans/en/news/2019/09/19/global-chat-is-being-removed/"Global Chat was removed/url and a url="https://houseofclashers.com/r/clash-of-clans/en/news/2019/10/16/halloween-update-gos-live-today-here-are-all-changes/#global-chat-is-being-removed"new recruitment tool/url was added as a replacement. This tool uses a complex machine-learning system that learns from player behavior and adjusts the algorithm accordingly.

In the next update, Supercell will continue the ongoing efforts to improve the Player Clan country and language matching.

On the user-end, here are some of the changes coming this December:

listAdded ability for Clans to set a minimum Town Hall level requirement to join (similar to Trophy requirements)

Prompt players if they still want to receive invites after they've rejected a number of invites

Added possibility to toggle receiving invitations on in the Clan search screen

Added Clan badges to the "Find new members" list

Added "View Clan" button to Clan invitations

Added notification bubble when player has received maximum amount of clan invitations

Ongoing improvements to both suggested Clan and member models./list

Clan Perks

Reaching clan level 8 now enables clan members to donate 2 spells instead of 1

All existing troop donation limits have been increased by 1

UI Changes

listVillage preview in profile is back! Tap the Town Hall Icon in the profile.

When choosing war members you can now see Clan mate's town hall levels in all war types (as long as they have logged in since the update)

When signing up for War League if you close and re-open the choose members screen it will remember your previously selected war size.

Multiple walls can be upgraded if the combined price is not greater than max(you current resources, resource cap)./list

New Levels

img src="2019-winter-devtalk-02.jpg" alt="Clash of Clans 2019 Winter Update Recap | New Defense Levels"

With the addition of a new Town Hall level, pretty much all troops, buildings, traps and heroes will get new levels. Here are the complete lists:

Heroes

listArcher Queen: 5 new levels

Barbarian King: 5 new levels

Grand Warden: 10 new levels/list

Defenses

listEagle Artillery Level 4

Inferno Tower Level 7

Wizard Tower Level 12

X-Bow Level 7

Air Defense Level 11

Hidden Tesla Level 11

Cannon Level 18

Walls Level 14 (100x pieces can be upgraded to Level 14)/list

Buildings

listSiege Workshop Level 4

Barracks Level 14

Dark Elixir Storage Level 8

Gold Storage Level 14

Elixir Storage Level 14

Clan Castle Level 9

Laboratory Level 11/list

Troops

listWall Breaker Level 9

Balloon Level 9

Dragon Level 8

Miner Level 7

Electro Dragon Level 4

Hog Rider Level 10

Bowler Level 5

Healer Level 6/list

Spells

listHeal Level 8

Jump Level 4

Skeleton Level 7/list

Traps

listSeeking Air Mine Level 4

Giant Bomb Level 6

Air Bomb Level 7

Bomb Level 9/list

Town Hall 13 will also get an extra Seeking Air Mine and Bomb.

Balancing

Buildings and Traps

listIncreased storage capacity of level 13 Gold Storages and Elixir Storages by 500000

Increased Multi Mortar damage by 10% across the board in Home Village

Reduced Spring Trap ejected housing space

sublistLevel 1: 15 → 10

Level 2: 16 → 12

Level 3: 17 → 14

Level 4: 18 → 16

Level 5: 19 → 18/sublist/list

Troops and Heroes

list

Increase Giant level 8/9 HP from 1480/1660 to 1500/1850

Increase Miner level 6 HP from 870 to 900

Decrease Lava Hound explode radius from 5 tiles to 3.5 tiles

Add death damage of 1000/1200/1400 for level 1/2/3 Battle Blimp

Increase Valkyrie level 7 HP from 1400 to 1450

Make Grand Warden a bit less likely to follow Lava Hounds

Decrease troop healing of Level 5 Healer from 80 to 72

Increase hero healing of Level 5 Healer from 44 to 48/list

Loot

listIncreased the maximum amount of Elixir/Gold that can be looted from TH12 player storages by 50 000

Increased the maximum amount of Dark Elixir that can be looted from TH12 player storages by 500/list

Spells

listChange Skeleton spawning frequency to 1 skeleton per second after the initial spawns for all Skeleton spell levels

Increase cost of Haste spell level 2-5 from 85/90/95/100 to 100/120/140/160/list

Thank You!

Well, this is it! Thank you so much for visiting House of Clashers app and website during this Sneak Peek season! Without you this wouldn't be possible.

The app/website will be updated with all stats and new levels images in a couple of days. There is a lot os new stuff to rewrite and update, but it will be done.

If you want to support me, contact or participate on giveaways (free Gold Passes, skins, etc), please follow me on url="https://twitter.com/houseofclashers"Twitter @HouseofClashers/url!

Clash on!