Web+tube's Strategy Guides/Rushing the Builder Hall

For whatever reason, rushing is usually frowned upon in Clash. Rushing is actually beneficial in Clash, however, and especially so if you can rush it correctly. In Builder Base, it is even more obvious so.
==Why Rush the Builder Base?==
1) Unlock O.T.T.O sooner.Whether you like the second base in Clash or not, unlocking it improves your home village progression speed. Getting O.T.T.O Hut to level 5 allows you to have O.T.T.O be a builder in the Builder Base, thus allowing your master builder to function as a second builder in the Builder Base, or a sixth builder in the Home Village. Having him at the Home Village helps more, since your progression speed in the Home Village is bottlenecked by time.
2) Builder Base matchmaking is solely based on trophy count.Unlike home village multiplayer matchmaking (where TH level also determines which bases you'll see), Builder Base matchmaking (aka the system that determines who'll be your opponent) only looks at your trophy count and nothing else (after a certain range in trophies). That means that a BH7 can be matched by a BH9 if they have similar amounts of trophies. Hence, you'll be better off as a rushed BH9 than as a maxed BH7, as the rushed BH9 is far stronger than a maxed BH7 despite taking lesser time to accomplish.
3) Bottlenecked by loot.The only way of getting loot in Builder Base, excluding buying them with gems or packs, is by:
 a) Winning three times in battles each time the Win Bonus is available.
 b) Getting them from Collectors.
 c) Using Runes of Builder Loot.
 d) Season Challenges generally offer 1M Builder Gold and Builder Elixir per month.
As you can see, loot is quite limited in the Builder Base compared to the Home Village. In fact, rushing benefits all three methods of gaining loot. Higher trophies grants larger win bonuses, higher BH level unlocks higher level collectors which grants more loot, and runes are more effective with a larger storage, which is only available at higher BH levels.
==Some General Tips and Tricks==
1) Rush to BH9. As explained above, higher BH level boosts your progression in general, and you can unlock O.T.T.O faster as a result.
2) Your collectors are very important. You may be able to get away with not upgrading collectors in the Home Village, since you can always raid a lot to fill your storages. However, loot is limited in the Builder Base, and you want as much of them as you can.
3) Use a one troop-type army. Loot is limited, and researching troops takes loot. Therefore, you want to minimize the amount of loot spent to improve your army. Remember that you only need to max one type of troop to already be effective, researching more is just a waste of loot and time. Pick only one type of troop to carry you all the way to BH9, whether that'll be Raged Barbarians, Baby Dragons, or Beta Minions.
4) New Defences > Upgrading old ones. New defences at each new BH level adds more DPS in your base than upgrading old ones. As an example, let us assume you have 2 level 3 double cannons at BH7. Combined, they can output 206 DPS. Now, you can either upgrade the Double Cannons to level 6, which costs 5.36M Builder Gold, and gains 66 DPS in total...or you can just place the new Double Cannon available at BH8 and gain 84 DPS right away at a small cost of 20k Builder Gold. 
5) Gold Pass is incredibly helpful. You get to cut down the loot and time cost of upgrades, shortening your time required to obtain O.T.T.O. With it, you can strategically ignore certain storage upgrades at BH levels, allowing you to use said loot to upgrade other more impactful buildings to speed up O.T.T.O even faster.
Before we proceed to the actual guide, know that the advantages to rush and the tips above also applies to the Home Village, actually. Rushing is just as beneficial in the Home Village as it is in the Builder Base.
==Let's Rush!==
Alright, with this info in mind, let's now begin our rushing journey, from BH2 all the way to unlocking O.T.T.O, and eventually maxing the Builder Base as well.
Note: Other than specified upgrades (and clearing obstacles once you're at a high BH level), Do not upgrade other items as loot is limited. If you're overflowing in Elixir, you could start a lab upgrade, ideally Cannon Carts, as soon as your Builder Barracks is level 7.
The most optimal rushing here would involve a few steps, each time you went to a new Builder Hall level.
===Build your new buildings.===
Note: If you unlock another Army Camp at that Builder Hall level (BH2, BH3, BH4, BH7, BH8), always prioritize on unlocking it first. If you need to upgrade your Elixir Storage in order to do so, then upgrade your Elixir Storage so that you can store enough Builder Elixir to build the army camp.
After that, try to build the rest of your new buildings, only upgrading your storages if you can't store enough loot to afford the new building.
===Upgrade only required buildings/troops.===
(1) Your collectors in general. Always prioritize upgrading these once you build your new buildings.
(2) Your Storages. Only upgrade your Gold Storage enough to store loot to upgrade Builder Hall, and only upgrade your Elixir Storage enough to store loot to upgrade your Gold Storages.
(3) Your Builder Hall. We want to get to BH9 as fast as possible, so upgrading your Builder Hall once you're able to is encouraged.
(4) Since Builder Base bottlenecks you on loot, you'll occasionally find yourself unable to complete a builder gold upgrade while your builder elixir is overflowing, or vice versa. If you have excess gold, upgrade your Clock Tower while waiting for enough elixir to build/upgrade your stuff. If you have excess elixir, upgrade your Star Lab while waiting for enough gold to build/upgrade your stuff.
(5) Unlocking the Battle Machine is highly encouraged in BH5, as it gives a boost in trophies thanks to the increased offense power. In BH6, you can upgrade it to Lv5, where it'll unlock its special ability, Electric Hammer. It is recommended that you do not upgrade it any further until BH9. 
(6) While waiting for your Builder Hall to upgrade, you'll probably find yourself with more builder elixir. In this case, focus on the one troop that you'll be using all the way till O.T.T.O is unlocked. There are three main troop type worth considering:
# Raged Barbarians. They are the cheapest troop to research in the Star Lab, and is able to crush early bases. They synergize well with Cannon Carts, of which you need Lv18 as a part of the O.T.T.O requirements. Do note, however, that BH9 has the Lava Launcher, which makes ground attacks harder to perform. They are also the most affected by the absence of the Battle Machine when you upgrade it. In high ladder Builder Base meta, they are used in Backend Gibart and Barch.
# Beta Minions. They are not as cheap to research in the Star Lab, but they still can crush bases as easily as Raged Barbarians can. They are rather easy to play with, just make a ring with them around the base, saving 15-20 minions to snipe the Builder Hall section. 5-6 is enough to snipe the Builder Hall itself, assuming no defenses are targeting them. In high ladder Builder Base meta, they are used in Shimi, Baby Dragon Minions and Flybrid.
# Baby Dragons. Among the three options they have the highest cost of research, in addition it takes a good amount of skill to triple most bases. It's best when you can combo this with your Home Village's Town Hall boost. They excel in pushing you to high trophies, even if your defenses are extremely low levelled. In high ladder Builder Base meta, they are used in Baby Dragon Minions and Flybrid.
Note: All listed attacks are not the only meta attacks available for high Builder Base ladder! These are just some more well known ones.
===Builder Hall 9===
You finally reached the destination of your rush! Our upgrade order will be based on unlocking O.T.T.O first, and coincidentally unlocking O.T.T.O is also the best way to progress our Builder Base in general, so let's get to it!
1) Build new buildings.
2) Upgrade Collectors.
3) Upgrade your Star Lab. You need this to achieve Cannon Cart Lv18, one of the O.T.T.O requirements.
4) Upgrade your Clock Tower to Lv9. This is a valuable upgrade, allowing to gain more loot per day by boosting your collectors with it.
5) Upgrade your Elixir Storages. Yes, you don't need to upgrade any Elixir Storage to upgrade your Battle Machine, and only one Elixir Storage upgrade needed to upgrade Cannon Cart to Lv18. However, upgrading both Elixir Storages allows you to store more Builder Elixir in one go, allowing you to manage your elixir upgrades easier. Your O.T.T.O bottleneck is Builder Elixir after all, due to the massive elixir cost required to upgrade both Cannon Carts and Battle Machine. You probably can spare some Builder Gold to upgrade both of them.
6) If you do not have the Gold Pass, then upgrade both Gold Storages, as they are required to upgrade your Mega Tesla to the final level, which is a requirement of O.T.T.O. However, if you do have the Gold Pass, you can actually skip on both Lv9 Elixir Storage upgrades, as the cost of Lv9 Mega Tesla will reduce to 3.84M Builder Gold from 4.8M Builder Gold. A Hammer of Building can also be used on this upgrade, however I personally would not recommend such because you are using it on a 5 day upgrade when it can be used in the Home Village to make a 14-19 day upgrade instead. Either way, you get to save the Builder Elixir needed for Storages and use them to upgrade your Battle Machine/Cannon Carts instead.
7) It's time to work on your O.T.T.O requirements! Upgrade your Battle Machine when you have enough Builder Elixir. When you have excess Builder Gold, upgrade your Mega Tesla. If your Builder Elixir is overflowing while your builder is busy, upgrade Cannon Carts in your Star Lab.
Once your Mega Tesla is maxed and your Builder Gold is overflowing, be sure to upgrade the following defense:
* one Double Cannon to Lv4
* one Archer Tower to Lv6
* Multi Mortar to Lv8
After you completed these upgrades, spend your Builder Gold on defenses/traps that help defend you based on what you're getting attacked by. Drop Ships and Minions? Upgrade your Firecrackers and Air Bombs. Getting annoyed by Night Witch spam? Some extra levels in your Lava Launcher and Roaster would suffice. Your base getting rolled by Super P.E.K.K.As? Double Cannons and Crushers are your friend.
Reminder here! Make sure that your Home Village Cannon, Archer Tower and Mortar are at least Lv7, Lv10 and Lv8 respectively! They need to reach these levels before being eligible for gearing up. Mortar Lv8 requires you to be TH10, meaning if you're TH9 or below, you cannot unlock O.T.T.O at all! That said, it wouldn't harm to start working on it anyways, as the benefit of getting your sixth builder is great. 
Another note: If you have Books of Building/Everything, it is wise to use them on the Archer Tower gear up and the Mortar gear up, which takes 7 days and 14 days respectively. Having the Master Builder be gone for that long can result in you having excess builder base loot, which is very bad for unlocking O.T.T.O and Builder Base progression in general. (Hammers of Building can't complete gear ups!)
That said, there is a way to gear your Archer Tower without using a book nor wasting builder base loot, if your Cannon Cart is not maxed. Empty your Gold Storages by upgrading Walls, then send your Master Builder to gear up your Archer Tower. While you will slowly accumulate Builder Gold, you can use the Builder Elixir to upgrade Cannon Carts!
A similar process can be achieved with the Mortar gear up, however unlike the Archer Tower gear up, you are 100% going to waste Builder Gold due to the process taking 14 days instead of 7 days. Only do this if you are uninterested in progressing Builder Base further than unlocking O.T.T.O.
===Post O.T.T.O===
Once you unlocked O.T.T.O, if you're still interested in continuing Builder Base, upgrading your Gem Mine next gives you an additional source of Gems in addition to removing Obstacles and selling certain Magic Items. Those gems helps your Home Village too, so better get them done sooner than later would be preferable!
After that, unlocking all troops in the Builder Barracks gives you a variety of armies to choose from once you sufficiently level those troops up! (or having a Power Potion effect, by upgrading TH or using a Power Potion) You will have completed all Builder upgrades that uses Builder Elixir upgrades (sans Walls Lv7-9), so you can focus your Builder Elixir in your Star Lab, while you can use your Builder Gold to upgrade your defenses/traps to improve your base!
For troops, here's a nice path on what troops to upgrade depending on your starting troop!
* Raged Barbarians > Cannon Carts > Bombers > Boxer Giants (Backend Gibart)
* Beta Minions > Cannon Carts (For O.T.T.O) > Drop Ships > Night Witches (Shimi + Witches, or Shiwimi) or Baby Dragons (Flybrid)
* Baby Dragons > Cannon Carts (For O.T.T.O) > Beta Minions > Drop Ships (Flybrid)
For defenses, you can utilise breakpoints to get the most out of your defense upgrades!
* As an example, if you want to defend yourself against Super P.E.K.K.A attacks, upgrading one Double Cannons to Level 7 before moving on to the next Double Cannon is a great idea, as Lv7 Double Cannons can tank a maxed Super P.E.K.K.A hit/explosion and survive while Lv6 and below Double Cannons are one-shot by it.
* Another example, upgrading your Roaster to Lv6 allows you to kill Beta Minions in a single salvo. 
* For more information, you can check out this Reddit post, which details all the breakpoints and bulkpoints of troop and defenses/traps interaction!
==Closing==
With how much more advantage rushing is in the Builder Base over maxing, it is surprising that most players, including those in the Fandom, are actually still maxing the Builder Base. Hopefully with this guide you can see the power of rushing. 
If there's a typo or grammar mistake in my guide, feel free to edit it out! If you have more info to add in, or to correct me on certain subjects in this post, or if you just have a question, feel free to leave your comments down and I'll do my best to check! Now go get your O.T.T.O! :D
Category:Strategy Guides