The builder base was introduced in the May 2017 update and introduced a second village using a number of existing mechanics from the home base, but also introducing some new ones.

Similarities

• The resources used for building and upgrading structures and troops are also gold and elixir, however resources cannot be shared between the builder base and home village.
• Gems can be collected and used on the Builder Base and these are shared between villages.
• Trophies can be gained through winning battles, however these are separate to the home village trophies and determine the amount of resources you recieve from a win.
• Some of the troops are similar to the home village troops, however they have special abilities unlocked as they are upgraded.
• Buildings can be upgraded by the Master Builder and most have a build time that keep the Master Builder busy until completion.
• Troops can be upgraded in a new laboratory called the Star Laboratory.
• New troops can be unlocked by upgrading the Builder Barracks.
• You use the same player name and player tag for the builder base and are in the same clan as the home village.
• Magic Items such as Book of Builder, Book of Heroes and Book of Fighting can be used to instantly complete upgrades on the builder base.

Differences

• There is a single builder called the Master Builder rather than multiple builders.
• Each battle is head to head within each player attacking the other person’s base. The person with the most stars and/or damage wins and receives resources.
• There is no shield and you don’t lose any of your resources when your opponent attacks your base.
• Rather than a star bonus each day, there are rewards for winning 3 battles after which no further resources can be won until the next rewards are ready. If the 3 win bonus isn’t completed before the next bonus is ready, it will stack once allowing you to receive resources from the next 6 wins.
• Before deploying your first troop during a battle, you can change which troops you wish to use for the attack.
• Troops have special abilities that are unlocked as they are upgraded such as a higher damage first attack, increased damage for a short period or additional damage upon destruction.
• Archer towers have the option to be toggled between the conventional attack or a shorter range, faster rate of fire attack although this ability can be added to the home village through the “Gear Up” mechanic.
• A new hero, the Battle Machine. Once upgraded to level 5, the Battle Machine has a special ability as per the home village heroes, however the ability can be used multiple times within a battle. The ability can be used as soon as it is deployed in battle, however there is a 14 second cooldown before it can be used used again.
• There aren't any troop training costs for an army and troop training times are immediate as soon as both you and your opponent have finished attacking.
• Troops are trained in groups rather than individually with one group per army camp and all camps must have completed training before the next attack can occur.
• Introduction of a passive gem source via the gem mine.
• Troop training, Master Builder tasks, Battle Machine regeneration, Star Laboratory research time and resource collectors can be boosted to 8x speed for a short duration with the Clock Tower.

How do you access it?

Once you reach Town Hall 4, you are able to rebuild the boat that takes you to the Builder Base. The boat allows you to travel between the Home Village and the Builder Base.

Before it is rebuilt, the boat appears washed up and damaged on the South-West shore of the home case with an arrow above it pointing down.

Tapping on the boat gives the option of viewing info about the boat of rebuilding the boat:

Once rebuilt, a functional boat is shown on the shores and when tapping on it now, it takes you to the builder base.

Are there any benefits for the home village?

Gear Up Structures

Although the builder base is separate to the home village, it possible to “Gear Up” some structures in the home village to add new abilities. There are currently 3 structures that can be upgraded:

1. Cannon - Switch between single shot and a 4 shot burst for increased DPS but with a shorter range.
2. Archer Tower - Switch between Long Range and Fast Attack mode for increased rate of fire but with a shorter range.
3. Mortar - Switch between single shot and a 3 shot burst.

In order to gear up a home village structure, you need to have sufficient home village gold for the upgrade cost and the Master Builder musn’t be busy. While the Master Builder is gearing up a structure in the home village, he won’t be available to upgrade items in the builder base. The Master Builder uses a smaller boat to access the home village.

Earn Gems

Gems gained through completing achievements and from the gem mine can be used on the home village, so it can be worthwhile completing some of the achievements and building the gem mine.

Different style of play

The builder base offers a different play style with the head-to-head versus attacking and resource rewards. With it only being possible to gain resources from 3 wins per day and each troop training times being considerably shorter than the home village (even more so with the Clock Tower boost active), it’s possible to collect the maximum loot each day with a few minutes of play time each day. With the quicker troop training times, faster matchmaking due to there not being “The Clouds” issue and boosted speeds for free with the Clock Tower, it can be ideal for having a quick Clash of Clans fix when you only have a few minutes free.

Unlock a 6th Builder for the Home Village

Once you have upgraded to Builder Hall 9, it is possible to construct the O.T.T.O Hut. Once that has been upgraded to level 5, O.T.T.O is available. O.T.T.O is a robot created by the Master Builder to take over primary building duties in the Builder Base. This frees up the Master Builder to either handle a second upgrade in the Builder Base or travel to the Home Village as a 6th builder. He can travel freely between the two villages as long as he’s not busy on an upgrade.