2026 Best Guide to Spending CWL Medals, Raid Medals & Gems in Clash of Clans

Listen up, Chiefs. If you're sitting on a pile of League Medals, Raid Medals, or Gems and just guessing how to spend them, you're leaving serious progress on the table.

Clash of Clans in 2026 is a completely different beast than it was a few years ago. Between the Helper Hut, the Blacksmith, and 20-day upgrade timers at higher Town Halls, the way you manage these three currencies can make or break your progression. Here's exactly how to spend them like a pro.

Clan War League Medals — Your Premium Currency

CWL Medals are the most valuable currency in the game. You earn them once a month through Clan War Leagues, and they open up the League Shop — home to Hammers, potions, and even exclusive skins.

Hammers are fantastic for high-level players, but they're a trap for low Town Halls.

Here's the math that matters. If you're Town Hall 10 or below, a Hammer of Building might save you 2-3 days on an upgrade. But for the same medal cost (around 120 medals), you could buy four Builder Potions. With six builders working, four Builder Potions save you a whopping 216 hours — that's 9 days of total upgrade time across your village . See the difference?

When to buy hammers:

• Town Hall 12 and above, when upgrades start hitting 10+ days
• Eagle Artillery, Scattershots, Inferno Towers, and Clan Castle — these are your best Hammer of Building targets
• Hammer of Fighting for your main army composition when you jump to a new Town Hall
• The Pet House at higher Town Halls (pets are a brutal grind)

Hammers to avoid:

• Hammer of Heroes: Overpriced for only saving 7-8 days. If you have Sneaky Goblins unlocked, you can farm Dark Elixir faster than this hammer justifies
• Hammer of Spells: There are far fewer spells than troops to upgrade. Not worth the medal cost

The Builder Potion Strategy for Lower Town Halls: For anyone below Town Hall 12, Builder Potions are your best friend. At 30 medals each, they give you insane value — especially if you have all six builders unlocked. One potion = 9 hours saved per builder. That's 54 hours of progress for just 30 medals .

The Gem Conversion Play

Here's something most players don't think about. If you're saving gems for builders, hero equipment, or helpers, you can convert CWL medals directly into gems.

The move: Buy Training Potions from the League Shop for 10 medals each, then sell them for 10 gems. That's a1:1 medal-to-gem ratio— the best conversion rate in the game . A full CWL season can net you 100+ gems just from this trick.

Hammer Jam Alert — This Changes Everything

Hammer Jam is an annual event (usually November) with 50% off upgrade times and costs. Here's the pro move:DO NOT use hammers during Hammer Jam. Why? Because a Builder Potion during Hammer Jam gives you double the value — you're cutting into an already-reduced timer. Save your medals for Builder Potions during the event, and use your hammers afterward .

Pro Tip: Stack your medals throughout the year and go all-in on Builder Potions during Hammer Jam. It's the single fastest way to catch up on progression .

 

Raid Medals — Your Weekly Progress Engine

Clan Capital Raid Weekends give you Raid Medals every week. Spend them right, and you'll shave months off your lab time. Spend them wrong, and you're throwing away the best free progression system in the game.

The Weekly Shopping List (Non-Negotiable)

Research Potions — 200 medals each, buy 3 every week

This is your #1 priority. Each Research Potion saves 23 hours of lab time . Three per week = 69 hours saved = nearly3 full daysof research time every single week. The lab is always the bottleneck. Always. Fix it with potions.

Starry and Glowy Ore — As much as you can get

Hero equipment is the new meta. You cannot speed up Ore farming with hammers or books — it's strictly time-gated behind wars and daily bonuses . Every piece of Ore you can grab from the Raid Medal shop is progress toward maxing your equipment. Glowy Ore will be your bottleneck for common abilities; Starry Ore is the wall for epic equipment .

Training Potions — For farming sessions

At 100 medals each, these are great for turbo-charging your farming. Pop one and spam Sneaky Goblins for an hour — you'll fill your storages and knock out your daily Star Bonus fast .

What to NEVER Buy with Raid Medals

Clan Castle Troops: I'm guilty of this too. It's fast, it's convenient, and it's a terrible value. You're burning progression currency for something that should be free from clanmates. If your clan isn't active enough for donations, build a donation account — seriously. Rush a second base to TH12-13, keep it in a separate clan, and donate to yourself .

Raw Resources: 2.5 million Gold for 300 medals? You can farm that in 10 minutes with Sneaky Goblins. Hard pass .

Wall Rings: They're not awful— each ring is worth 1 million toward a wall upgrade — but the medal-per-value ratio is worse than just buying Training Potions and farming the loot yourself .

The Gem Farming Loop: If you need gems, buy Clock Tower Potions (100 medals) and Resource Potions (115 medals) from the Trader and sell them. This nets you around 240 gems per month on top of your normal gem income .

The 5,000 Medal Cap Warning: You can only hold 5,000 Raid Medals. Any medals earned beyond this cap are automatically converted to gems at aterriblerate — 1 gem per 100 medals . Don't let this happen to you. Spend your medals every week before the next Raid Weekend starts.

Gems — The Long Game

Gems are precious. You can farm them slowly through achievements, obstacles, and selling unwanted magic items, but you'll never have as many as you want. Spend them with intention.

Your Gem Priority List (2026 Edition)

1. Unlock All Five Builders

This is not negotiable. Every single gem goes here until you have five builders. More builders = more simultaneous upgrades = faster progression. It's that simple .

2. Builder's Apprentice

Once you have your builders, this is your next stop. The Builder's Apprentice costs 500 gems to unlock and up to 6,500 total to max . At max level, he saves 12 hours on any building or hero upgrade every day. That's84 hours per week— more than 3 days of progress .

Yes, it's expensive upfront. But it's a long-term investment that pays for itself in about 4-5 months, and everything after that is pure profit .

3. Lab Assistant

Same concept as the Builder's Apprentice, but for your laboratory. The lab is always behind the builders — this fixes that. Max him out after your Builder's Apprentice, or alternate based on your needs .

4. Hero Equipment — Only the Best

For 1,500 gems each, you can buy epic hero equipment from the Trader. But don't buy everything that looks shiny. Research what's meta for your Town Hall level and attack strategies. Pick up the equipment you'll actually use and upgrade .

5. Goblin Builder (Situational)

The Goblin Builder is an event-based helper who can work alongside your regular builders. At around 40 gems per day, he's best used for shorter upgrades where you just need an extra slot for a few days. Not a priority, but useful when available .

6. Ore from the Trader

Once everything above is handled — and I meaneverything— then you can consider buying Starry and Glowy Ore with gems. These become the biggest bottleneck at high Town Halls, but they're also expensive. This is strictly for endgame players who have nowhere else to put their gems .

What to NEVER Spend Gems On

• Finishing upgrades early: The gem cost is absurd. Wait it out or use a hammer
• Resources: Way overpriced. Farm for 20 minutes instead
• Shields: Not worth it unless you're in a very specific situation (like a Legends push)
• 1-gem donations: If you have Gold Pass, just use your resources to donate
• Skins: 1,500 gems for a cosmetic? If you're free-to-play, skip these until you're maxed

 

The Bottom Line

Here's what separates the players who max efficiently from the ones who struggle: patience and intention.

Stack your CWL medals until you hit Town Hall 12-13 where hammers actually give you value. Buy your Research Potions every week without fail — that lab progress adds up faster than you think. And for the love of the Builder Base, spend your gems on builders and helpers before you buy a single skin.

Play smart, stay consistent, and you'll be climbing Town Halls faster than your clanmates can keep up.

Clash on!🏆