The Weight for Dark Elixir
How much is dark elixir worth compared to normal elixir?
There are a few reasons to consider 100 elixir = 1.2 dark elixir.
This ratio appears in the number of gems required to buy resources. It also makes nice round numbers in certain places in the league win bonuses and league star bonuses. The game developers seem to like this ratio.
Weighted Troop Costs
Using that weight for dark elixir's worth we can compare all troop costs per housing space.
As one example, here are the TH9 maximally upgraded troops.
| Troop | Cost per Housing Space |
| Goblin 6 | 150 |
| Barbarian 6 | 200 |
| Archer 6 | 400 |
| Minion 5 | 417 |
| Giant 6 | 600 |
| Wizard 5 | 875 |
| Balloon 6 | 900 |
| Hog Rider 5 | 1,083 |
| Lava Hound 2 | 1,250 |
| Pekka 3 | 1,444 |
| Wallbreaker 5 | 1,500 |
| Baby Dragon 2 | 1,600 |
| Valkyrie 4 | 1,667 |
| Dragon 4 | 1,850 |
| Golem 4 | 1,875 |
| Witch 2 | 2,431 |
This list should "feel right" to anyone at TH9. (For example, hog riders seem a bit more expensive than balloons, and valkyries seem very expensive but not as much as dragons.)
It is polite to keep these costs in mind when asking for donations for raid reinforcements or village defense. (For example, a clan castle of 20 housing space could hold two valkyries and a wizard. But that costs the equivalent of about 30,000 elixir. A single valkyrie with a dozen archers or six minions defends almost as well against ground attacks, defends better against air attacks, and costs about only about 18,000 elixir.)
Here are the spell costs, with dark elixir spells adjusted by 1.2 dark elixir = 100 elixir. The spells are sorted by increasing cost if the costs for dark elixir spells are doubled because twice as many are needed to fill up spell space.
| Spell | Weighted Cost |
| Haste 2 | 7,083 |
| Skeleton 1 | 9,167 |
| Poison 3 | 10,417 |
| Lightning 6 | 24,000 |
| Heal 6 | 24,000 |
| Freeze 1 | 26,000 |
| Earthquake 3 | 13,333 |
| Jump 2 | 27,000 |
| Rage 5 | 33,000 |
Trophy League Income
The trophy leagues provide income from winning attacks and daily star bonuses.
Here are the weighted totals for common TH6 to TH9 trophy leagues, again using 100 elixir = 100 gold = 1.2 dark elixir.
| League | Max. Win Bonus | Star Bonus |
| Silver 3 | 5,200 | 120,000 |
| Silver 2 | 7,400 | 160,000 |
| Silver 1 | 9,600 | 200,000 |
| Gold 3 | 20,000 | 256,667 |
| Gold 2 | 27,000 | 313,333 |
| Gold 1 | 34,000 | 370,000 |
| Crystal 3 | 90,000 | 426,667 |
| Crystal 2 | 128,333 | 483,333 |
| Crystal 1 | 166,667 | 531,667 |
| Master 3 | 266,667 | 580,000 |
| Master 2 | 331,667 | 628,333 |
| Master 1 | 396,667 | 676,667 |
For many players the troop costs "felt" right but these league bonuses are not as strongly "felt".
Trophy League Armies
There are two relaxing ways to raid for loot profitably.
The first way is to not care about trophy leagues while using an inexpensive army, (BArch, GiArch, or BAM) to raid resource collectors or (Goblin Knife) to core dive. This works well, but can get boring and does require hitting Next many times.
The second way is to advance to a trophy league that allows the league bonuses to pay for the army, so all raided resources are profit. Imagine a moderately active player that raids five times each day. We can consider that each of his or her raids shares one-fifth of the daily star bonus. What is the total league bonus loot per raid, again using 100 elixir = 100 gold= 1.2 dark elixir?
| League | Max. Win Bonus + One-Fifth Star Bonus |
| Silver 3 | 29,200 |
| Silver 2 | 39,400 |
| Silver 1 | 49,600 |
| Gold 3 | 71,333 |
| Gold 2 | 89,667 |
| Gold 1 | 108,000 |
| Crystal 3 | 175,333 |
| Crystal 2 | 225,000 |
| Crystal 1 | 273,000 |
| Master 3 | 382,667 |
| Master 2 | 457,333 |
| Master 1 | 532,000 |
What type of army does this amount of loot pay for? Consider a few examples.
Gold 2
BArch (120 barbarians, 100 archers, 1 rage spell) has a cost of 87,000.
Gold 1
BAM (80 barbarians, 60 archers, 40 minions, 1 rage spell) has a weighted cost of 100,333.
Crystal 3
Queen Walk with GiArch (4 healers, 12 giants, 8 wallbreakers, 58 archers, 2 rage spells) is almost covered by the Crystal 3 amount, with a weighted cost of 189,200. Take two extra rage spells and six hog riders for emergencies.
Queen Walk with BArch (4 healers, 8 wallbreakers, 60 barbarians, 58 archers, 1 heal spell, 1 rage spell, 4 earthquake spells) is slightly more expensive, with a weighted cost of 192,067. Again keep six hor riders for emergencies.
Crystal 2
Goblin Knife (20 giants, 12 wallbreakers, 96 goblins, 2 heal spells, 1 rage spell, 1 jump spell) has a cost of 218,400.
GiArch (20 giants, 8 wallbreakers, 104 archers, 4 heal spells) has a cost of 221,600.
Queen Walk with Valkyries (4 healers, 8 wallbreakers, 4 giants, 50 archers, 6 valkyries, 2 heal spells) has a weighted cost of 224,000. Take two extra heal spells and six hog riders for emergencies.
Crystal 1
Balloonian with Hog Riders (30 balloons, 20 minions, 6 hog riders, 3 heal spells) has a weighted cost of 256,167.
Balloonian (34 balloons, 25 minions, 3 heal spells, 1 rage spell, 1 haste spell) has a weighted cost of 285,500.
Note: Two popular army types, HGHB and Mass Hog Riders, have weighted values close to 300,000. This puts them in between Crystal 1 and Master 3.
Master 3
GoVaHo with Double Golem (2 golems, 4 valkyries plus more in clan castle, 4 wallbreakers, 10 wizards, 16 hog riders, 2 heal spells, 1 rage spell, 1 jump spell) is almost covered by the Master 3 trophy bonuses, with a weighted cost of 407,500.
GoVaHo with Single Golem (1 golem plus another in the clan castle, 10 valkyries, 7 wallbreakers, 9 wizards, 12 hog riders, 2 heal spells, 1 rage spell, 1 jump spell) is slightly more expensive, with a weighted cost of 415,083.
Master 2
HoGonBBQ (9 dragons, 6 balloons, 6 hog riders, 5 minions, 2 lightning spells, 1 rage spell, 1 earthquake spell) is the most expensive standard attack, with a weighted cost of 488,083.
