Clash of Clans: Winning Loot By Losing Wars

Surprisingly, it can be much more profitable to lose a war than to win it.

Most strategy and information about war is structured to answer the question of how you can maximize your win rate, in order to maximize the loot that your clan receives. However, if the enemy team has at least two town halls easily accessible on the outskirts of their base, or if you are good with Barch or Goblins, it is much more profitable to lose on purpose.

This article will be a mathematical proof of the validity of the Pirate War Protocol for maximizing clan loot.

First, some foundational numbers.

• When you win a war, you receive the full war loot bonus.
• When you draw a war, you receive 4/7ths of the full war loot bonus.
• When you lose a war, you receive 3/7ths of the full war loot bonus.

It just so happens that I was making two new clans, and I stocked each one with 5 minis. I set them both to search for war at the same time and, not that surprisingly, they matched against each other! This will provide an excellent opportunity for me to demonstrate that it is much more loot-efficient to lose on purpose than to try to win. In fact, that little happenstance is the motivation behind my finally writing this article!