Clan War Leagues (CWL) Guide: Leagues, Medals, and Roster Strategy

Quick answer: Clan War Leagues (CWL) is a monthly 7-war tournament across 18 league rungs from Bronze III up to Champion League I, the highest CWL tier. Each member gets just 1 attack per war day, higher leagues pay larger League Medal pools, and each war your clan wins adds one more bonus-medal slot for leaders to award. Win CWL by fielding your most reliable attackers every day, rotating your roster to protect stars, and maximizing the star-bonus economy.

Clan War Leagues is a once-a-month, 7-war competitive season in which your clan climbs 18 league rungs — from Bronze League III at the bottom up to Champion League I at the top — and earns League Medals that scale by league tier. Unlike a regular clan war, CWL gives each rostered member only 1 attack per war day, which changes everything about roster strategy: every attack is precious, and a single missed hit can cost a promotion. This guide explains the league ladder, the medal and bonus economy, and how to rotate a bigger roster through the 15v15 format to maximize stars and medals.

How Do Clan War Leagues Work?

Clan War Leagues run once per month as a 7-day, 7-war round robin. Your clan is placed in a group of 8 clans, and over 7 war days you face each of the other 7 clans once. The key mechanical difference from regular war is the attack count: each rostered member gets 1 attack per war day, not 2. With 7 war days, a full-time CWL participant makes at most 7 attacks all season.

Each war day still has a preparation phase followed by a battle day, and only members you place on that day's roster can attack. At the end of the season, the clans with the most stars in the group are promoted to the next league, the middle clans stay, and the lowest are demoted. Your standing across all 7 wars — not any single war — decides promotion.

What Are the Clan War League Tiers?

The Clan War League ladder has 18 rungs: 6 named leagues (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Crystal, Master, Champion), each split into 3 divisions numbered III, II, and I. You climb from the bottom rung to the top in this order:

Champion League I is the top of Clan War Leagues — clans cannot be promoted beyond it. If you see a guide claiming CWL has "Titan" or "Legend" leagues, it is confusing CWL with the separate Trophy League ladder (where Titan and Legend are the top multiplayer trophy tiers). Those are not CWL leagues; the live CWL rankings still top out at Champion League I as of July 2026.

Higher leagues also change the format: clans in Master League I or below can pick 5v5, 15v15, or 30v30 wars, but Champion leagues are locked to 15v15. This guide focuses on the 15v15 format because it is the standard competitive size.

How Do League Medals Work in CWL?

League Medals are CWL's reward currency, spent in the League Shop on resources, Hammers, and other items, and the size of your reward scales with your league tier. A higher league means a larger base medal pool for every participant — a Champion-tier clan earns far more medals per season than a Bronze-tier clan for the same effort.

Your individual medal payout depends on three things:

• Your league tier — the higher the league, the bigger the pool. Base rewards climb from a few dozen medals per player in Bronze up to several hundred in Champion.
• Your clan's placement in the group — finishing 1st in your group of 8 pays more than finishing 8th, with a fixed medal gap between each position that widens in higher leagues.
• Whether you receive a bonus — the bonus pool is separate and awarded by leaders (see below).

Exact medal numbers shift with game updates and vary by exact division, so treat any specific figure as approximate and confirm the current amounts on the in-game CWL results screen. The stable rule worth memorizing: climbing one league tier is the single biggest lever on your medal income, which is why promotion, not any single war, is the season's real objective.

How Does the CWL Bonus Medal System Work?

The bonus medal system awards extra medals to a limited number of members each season, and the number of bonus slots grows with your clan's wins. Your clan starts the season with a set number of bonus awards to give out, and each war your clan wins adds one more bonus slot — so a clan that wins all 7 wars has the most bonuses to distribute.

After the season ends, the Leader and Co-leaders choose which members receive the bonuses, and they have a window of about 21 days to make those selections before the awards expire. This makes the bonus a leadership tool: it rewards the members who performed, showed up every day, and hit their assigned mirrors.

The practical implications:

• Winning wars literally creates medals. More wins mean more bonus slots, so pushing for the win every single war day compounds your clan's total medal income.
• Bonuses reward reliability. Leaders should award bonuses to the members with the best star performance and cleanest attendance, not by seniority — this keeps the whole roster motivated to perform.
• Don't let bonuses expire. Leaders must allocate within the roughly 21-day window; forgetting wastes hard-won medals.

How Should You Build and Rotate a CWL Roster?

Build a CWL roster larger than 15 so you can rotate your strongest 15 attackers onto each day's lineup while resting or benching weaker or absent members. Because each member gets only 1 attack per war day, the roster is a rotation puzzle: you want your best three-star threats attacking on the days that matter most, and you want to avoid fielding a member who might miss their single attack.

Why rotate a roster instead of using the same 15 every day?

Rotate the roster because a bigger pool lets you match your best attackers to the toughest opponents and rest members who are traveling or busy on a given day. If you sign up 20 to 30 members but only field 15 per war, you can bench anyone unavailable that day and still put a full, motivated lineup on the map. A missed attack in CWL is far costlier than in regular war because there is no second hit to make up for it.

What is the practical rotation strategy?

Follow these principles when setting each day's 15:

1. Front-load your strongest attackers against the strongest opponents. Scout the group; save your most reliable three-star hitters for the wars that decide promotion.
2. Bench anyone who might miss. If a member says they can't attack today, leave them off — an empty attack slot is a guaranteed star deficit.
3. Protect mirror integrity. In 15v15, encourage members to hit their mirror or one base up, so stars accumulate cleanly and cleanup is predictable.
4. Rest, don't cut. Rotating a strong member out for one day keeps them fresh and available; cutting them from the season loses depth.
5. Track attendance across all 7 days. Use a public war log so you can see who used their attack and who didn't.

With a public war log, the War Coaching tool reads your clan's live CWL war and shows attack usage, star rates per member, and missed attacks — the fastest way to spot a member who skipped their single daily hit before it costs you a promotion.

How Do You Maximize Stars in the 1-Attack Format?

Maximize stars by treating every one of your 7 attacks as a must-hit, because there is no second attack to recover a missed one. In regular war a sloppy first hit can be salvaged by a second; in CWL, your single daily attack is the whole story. That raises the value of preparation:

• Scout before you attack. The three-star system guide applies fully here — scout 30 seconds, funnel two sides, deploy on the weak quadrant.
• Bring the right army for the base. The best war attack strategies guide covers which archetypes suit each Town Hall; a Root Rider smash or Super Yeti charge is a safe, forgiving high-TH pick when you can't afford a miss.
• Practice the exact base in a Friendly Challenge. Because you get only one shot, a Friendly Challenge rehearsal against a similar base is worth more in CWL than anywhere else.
• Keep your heroes ready. A Queen Charge and other hero-dependent armies need your heroes un-upgraded (available) during the season — plan hero upgrades around the CWL week using the hero upgrade order guide.

What Is the Star Bonus Economy in CWL?

The star bonus economy is the relationship between the stars you earn, the wars you win, and the medals you take home. Every star pushes your clan toward the win that adds a bonus slot, and your individual performance influences whether leaders award you one of those bonuses. In effect, stars convert to medals twice: once through your league placement (more group wins, higher promotion, bigger pool) and again through the bonus pool (more wins, more slots to award).

This double conversion is why CWL rewards consistency over heroics. A member who reliably scores their stars every day across all 7 wars contributes more to the clan's medal income than a member who triples one base and misses two attacks. Build your roster and your personal habits around showing up and scoring every day.

Who Can Participate in Clan War Leagues?

Any clan member the leadership rosters can participate in Clan War Leagues, but only members added to the season's signup list are eligible, and the roster is locked once the season begins. Leaders and Co-leaders sign up members before the first war day, choosing from anyone in the clan. There is no fixed minimum Town Hall to be rostered, but matchmaking weighs your lineup, so stacking low Town Halls onto a competitive roster can pull you into harder matchups.

Two participation realities to plan around:

• The roster is set at season start. You can sign up more than 15 members, but you generally cannot add brand-new members mid-season, so recruit and organize before CWL begins.
• Only rostered members earn medals. A member left off the signup list earns nothing that season, so include everyone who wants to play and can commit to attacking.

Because matchmaking considers your rostered lineup, competitive clans often sign up a deep, balanced roster and then field their strongest 15 each day — getting the benefit of depth without over-weighting the matchmaking.

What Should You Spend League Medals On?

Spend League Medals in the League Shop on the items that accelerate your account fastest, and for most players that means Hammers and resources. The League Shop refreshes with items you cannot easily get elsewhere, and medals are one of the game's most efficient reward currencies because they scale with your league tier.

The strategic takeaway loops back to promotion: because a higher league pays a bigger medal pool, climbing tiers is what lets you afford the expensive Hammers that shave weeks off hero and building upgrades. Every promotion compounds — more medals means more Hammers means a stronger account means easier promotions next season.

How Does CWL Differ From a Regular Clan War?

CWL differs from a regular clan war in attack count, season length, rewards, and matchmaking, and understanding those differences changes how you play. A regular war is a single 15v15 (or other size) matchup with 2 attacks per member; CWL is a 7-war monthly gauntlet with 1 attack per member per war day and its own medal economy.

The biggest behavioral change is attack discipline. In regular war, a botched first attack can be salvaged by a second; in CWL, your single daily attack is the entire contribution, so preparation and reliability matter far more. Treat CWL like a tournament: plan hero upgrades around the season, rehearse tough bases in Friendly Challenges, and never field a member who might skip their one attack.

What Are the Most Common CWL Mistakes?

Mistake 1 — fielding a member who misses their attack. With only 1 attack per day, an unused slot is a guaranteed star loss. Impact: massive. Bench anyone who can't commit to attacking that day.

Mistake 2 — believing CWL has Titan or Legend leagues. CWL tops out at Champion League I; Titan and Legend are Trophy Leagues, not CWL. Impact: moderate. Plan your climb around the real ladder, Bronze III to Champion I.

Mistake 3 — treating one war like a throwaway. Promotion depends on total stars across all 7 wars, and each win adds a bonus slot. Impact: significant. Push for the win every single day.

Mistake 4 — letting bonus medals expire. Leaders have about 21 days to award bonuses; forgetting wastes them. Impact: moderate. Allocate bonuses promptly to your best performers.

Mistake 5 — starting a hero upgrade mid-CWL. An upgrading hero is unavailable for attacks all week. Impact: significant. Time hero upgrades around the CWL season.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the highest league in Clan War Leagues?

Champion League I is the highest league in Clan War Leagues — clans cannot be promoted beyond it. The full ladder runs from Bronze League III at the bottom through 18 rungs to Champion League I. Titan and Legend are Trophy Leagues, not CWL leagues.

How many attacks do you get in Clan War Leagues?

You get 1 attack per war day in Clan War Leagues, across 7 war days in a monthly season — a maximum of 7 attacks total if you are rostered every day. This is half the 2 attacks per member you get in a regular clan war.

How do CWL medals work?

CWL League Medals scale with your league tier: higher leagues pay a larger base pool, finishing higher in your group of 8 pays more, and a separate bonus pool rewards a limited number of members. Exact amounts shift with updates and vary by division, so confirm current figures on the in-game results screen — but climbing one tier is the biggest single boost to your medal income.

How does the CWL bonus medal system work?

Your clan starts a CWL season with a set number of bonus awards, and each war your clan wins adds one more bonus slot. After the season, the Leader and Co-leaders choose which members receive them, with about a 21-day window to allocate before they expire. Winning wars literally creates more medals to distribute.

How big should a CWL roster be?

Sign up more than 15 members — commonly 20 to 30 — so you can field your strongest 15 attackers each day and bench anyone unavailable. Because each member gets only 1 attack per war day, a deep roster lets you rest members and avoid a costly missed attack while still fielding a full lineup.

Can I do smaller wars in CWL instead of 15v15?

Yes, if your clan is in Master League I or below (or unranked) you can choose 5v5, 15v15, or 30v30 wars. Champion leagues are locked to 15v15 only, so once you climb into Champion the format is fixed at 15 attackers per side.