"Cannons are great for point defense. Upgrade cannons to increase their firepower, but beware that your defensive turrets cannot shoot while being upgraded!"
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Burst Mode
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Summary
The Cannon is a single target defense that deals moderate damage.
Cannons are the first defensive structure that a player builds at the start of their Clash of Clans adventure. The player is required to build one during the tutorial.
Cannons are both cheap and quick to upgrade at lower levels.
Starting from level 7, the Master Builder can gear up a Cannon to make it resemble a Double Cannon, if he is available. This also requires at least one Double Cannon in the Builder Base to be level 4 or higher.
Defensive Strategy
Cannons have a high rate of fire and a decent range, which makes them an ideal deterrent for Wall Breakers (which have very low hitpoints).
Cannons are very useful for keeping Giants from attacking other defenses.
You can defend Mortars and Wizard Towers by placing them within range of Cannons.
Make sure Cannons are placed within range of Air Defenses, because Cannons are unable to target air units (or at least in range of an Archer Tower or Wizard Tower which can also target air units).
They can also synergize well with Air Defenses specifically.
Upgrade these structures and Mortars first at lower levels, as they are one of your main ground defenses. They are also fairly cheap and are among the most common defensive structures available, which makes them a good initial investment for defense.
At Town Hall 5 (and above), if two Cannons are placed near each other, it could be a great help as sometimes players mostly try to go for the Archer Towers using Giants, which makes them shotguns thus killing Giants easily.
A Geared Up Cannon is highly ineffective against swarms of smaller troops due to its slow rate of fire. It may deal lots of damage, but most of its cannonball shots prove useless due to smaller troops dying in few hits and is easily overwhelmed.
Cannons are only able to damage one unit at a time. This makes it very easy to overwhelm them with large groups of Archers or Barbarians. They can also be overwhelmed with higher health units such as Giants or P.E.K.K.As.
Strong solo troops such as the Super Barbarian or Valkyrie can destroy a cannon even when surrounded by trash buildings if it has low support.
Upgrade Differences
Cannons undergo significant visual changes at levels 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, and 18. The Cannon barrel and support platform both increase in size at almost every level.
When initially constructed, the Cannon consists of a short dark metal barrel mounted on a crude four-legged wooden platform.
At level 2, the Cannon's base receives a wooden stabilizer tied to the legs with ropes.
At level 3, the Cannon's leg stabilizer becomes stouter and the Cannon becomes larger. The base itself rotates 45 degrees within the 3x3 square (ostensibly to accommodate the later, larger upgrades of the Cannon).
At level 4, the Cannon barrel receives two decorative latitudinal ridges, one midway along the barrel and one at the rear. The platform's leg stabilizer is removed in favor of a larger and stouter main support platform with much shorter legs.
At level 5, the Cannon base's wooden legs are replaced with metal ones and its metal ring which it pivots on gets wider.
At level 6, the Cannon base receives a pair of what appear to be metal clamps or straps on opposite sides of the platform to anchor the barrel more firmly to the rotational mount. The pivot it sits on is replaced with metal as well.
At level 7, the wooden base is discarded for a white stone or metal platform with four short brass-trimmed legs. The Cannon barrel's decorative center ridge is trimmed with a ring of brass. It also gains the 'Gear Up' ability.
At level 8, the other decorative ridge around the rear of the barrel also receives brass trimming, as well as a pair of opposing brass straps or clamps securing it to the platform.
At level 9, the Cannon receives a third brass-trimmed decorative ridge around the muzzle of the barrel, and two additional brass straps or clamps perpendicular to the first pair. The straps or clamps also receive a bolt on each end.
At level 10, the Cannon barrel is entirely made of brass. The rear of the Cannon barrel receives triangular reinforcing plates, and the platform's legs become dark metal trimmed in brass with small spikes. The spikes are also gold and made of brass. Due to its color, it is often referred to as golden.
At level 11, the Cannon barrel is transformed into black metal, and the base receives prominent black footings. Some call it the "rock cannon" for its features
At level 12, the Cannon is accented with a red ring around the barrel as well as red crystals on each corner of the base to act as the footing, similar to the level 4 X-Bow's base. The brass strap on the base receives a dark red band. The mouth of the Cannon changes from smooth to plated. Often referred to as the "lava cannon" for its features and projectiles.
At level 13, the Cannon's footing is now lined with brass. The outline of the plates at the back of the barrel turns to orange, and the brass strap on the base turns to a dark-gray metal. The barrel is now sleeker and raised. The barrel looks a little shorter than the level 12. The barrel is lined with strips fastened with brass nails, and the base stone is now glowing red. You can also see lava of fire inside the barrel
At level 14, the Cannon's base becomes a white stone structure surrounding a lava pool. Each corner has a cube with three golden spikes protruding. There are some gold bars in the inner base also. The Cannon itself levitates above the pool of lava. The plating on the sides of the barrel changes to a trapezoidal shape and the rectangle bars behind becomes brass, the orange outline cover it too. The hemisphere at the back of the Cannon is heated up to an orange color. The barrel is a lot shorter than the level 13 Cannon. The muzzle is more reflective and has a silvery color and the inner barrel glows in dim red.
At level 15, the Cannon's barrel becomes octagonal shaped with two metal bands around the front of the barrel held in place with golden bolts, and a small golden ring hanging from a fitting on each side. In between these two metal bands is a glowing lava-colored gap. The rear of the barrel is secured with metallic fittings, and the muzzle itself is much larger. The base gains some black stone pieces on the corners and golden bands on the sides. Often called the "Fireball Cannon" because its projectiles are large fireballs.
At level 16, the Cannon and its base change completely once again. Instead of being suspended above a lava pool, the main body of the Cannon has now connected to the base once again. The cannon is now gray with a golden bolted band around the barrel; there are also spikes on the barrel as well. The base now has dark gray metal corners and has a metallic floor with blue and gold details.
At level 17, the Cannon's golden band is replaced with a larger golden band with spikes, while the main body is now grooved rather than spiked, and the back of the Cannon is also golden. The gold details on the base are more pronounced, and on the corner, golden pentagonal bolts replace the metal bumps.
At level 18, the colour scheme changes. The cannon's body is now a dark turquoise and the barrel has a purple lining with a brass ring. The back of the cannon and the edges of the base turns a snow blue color. The edges also have what looks like level 5 walls on its side. The cannon inside also turns snow blue.
At level 19, the back of the Cannon's barrel has more gold around the snow blue parts. The bass ring has gotten bigger and shinier. The base has spikes on the edges and its corners are larger.
The appearances of the cannonball change with level.
When first constructed, it is light grey and extremely small.
At level 2, it becomes bigger.
At level 4, it becomes even bigger and darker.
At level 6, it gains spikes all over.
At level 8, it is now glowing a faint yellow.
At level 10, it is now a dodecahedron with a small gap between each pentagonal pyramidal plates.
At level 12, the shape doesn't change but it is now red hot with an orange glow around it with fire particles when traveling.
At level 13, it is now a lot bigger, glowing in bright yellow and the fine particles are a lot more pronounced.
Gearing up the Cannon adds an additional, identical barrel alongside the original one. Also, the ridges which surround Cannons (starting from level 7) get extended and appear to surround both the Cannons, which makes it appear as if two cannons merged into one.
Trivia
When viewing your village, the Cannons will appear to aim randomly about. However, they will always be (generally) aiming away from the Town Hall. If the Cannons (or the Town Hall) are moved, the Cannons will instantly orient themselves to point away from the Town Hall's new relative location. This remains true even when the Cannons are being upgraded (except that upgrading Cannons always instantaneously point directly away from the Town Hall with no random movement).
The Cannon is able to rotate in a full 360 degrees.
The level 8 cannon resembles its Counterpart.
The Cannon's barrel expands slightly whenever it shoots.
The Cannon has 19 upgrade levels, the most of any building in the game if we do not count the separate upgrades of the Town Hall's Giga Tesla or Giga Inferno.
As of the Air Sweeper update (see Version History), the level 1 Cannon's building time has been reduced from 1 minute to 10 seconds.
If the details of the Cannon are opened immediately after gearing up, it will display the DPS as half that of a normal cannon instead of burst information. This is likely a bug and easily fixed by reloading the game.
Icon Descriptions
Tapping this icon displays information about the Cannon, such as Level, Damage Per Second, Hitpoints, Range, Damage Type and Targets.
Tapping this icon begins upgrading the Cannon to the next level, if you have enough resources and a free Builder. When the Cannon is at maximum level, this icon is not shown.
Tapping this icon instantly upgrades the Cannon to the next level, at the cost of one Hammer of Building if you have one. When the Cannon is at maximum level, this icon is not shown.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, instantly finishes that upgrade at the cost of the displayed number of Gems.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, instantly finishes that upgrade at the cost of one Book of Building. This icon is only shown if you have at least one Book of Building.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, instantly finishes that upgrade at the cost of one Book of Everything. This icon is only shown if you have at least one Book of Everything but do not have a Book of Building.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, boosts all your Builders for 1 hour by a factor of ten, at the cost of one Builder Potion. This icon is only shown if you have at least one Builder Potion.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, cancels the current upgrade and refunds half of the upgrade cost.
Tapping this icon gears up the Cannon, if you have upgraded it enough to do so, have enough resources and a free Master Builder. If any Cannon is already geared up, this icon will not appear.
This icon informs you that the Cannon cannot be geared up because it is insufficiently upgraded. Tapping this icon will tell you the required level to gear up this Cannon. If any Cannon is already geared up, this icon will not appear.
This icon indicates that the Cannon is currently set to Normal mode, to attack units in the usual manner. Tapping this icon switches the Cannon to Burst mode. This icon only appears when the Cannon is geared up, and is in Normal mode.
This icon indicates that the Cannon is currently set to Burst mode, to attack units with burst shots. Tapping this icon switches the Cannon to Normal mode. This icon only appears when the Cannon is geared up, and is in Burst mode.
Gold Pass modifiers
Input Gold Pass boost to modify the statistics in the tables below accordingly
*These damage per second values are seen in-game and are approximations; it does not necessarily do this much DPS if it cannot utilise the full potential of its bursts.
"The iconic ground defense, built to last! This classic makes the Master Builder a bit sentimental."
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Summary
Cannons are a defensive building in the Builder Base. They are unlocked at Builder Hall level 2 (they are fixed from their ruin), and are the first defensive building in the Builder Base.
Cannons are both cheap and quick to upgrade at lower levels.
Cannons have a high rate of fire and a decent range.
Cannons are very good point defenses that can deal massive damage to ground tanks, as long as they are protected.
You can defend with splash damaging defenses such as Multi Mortars and Crushers by placing them within range of Cannons.
Make sure Cannons are placed within range of Firecrackers or Air Bombs, because Cannons are unable to target air units.
Upgrade these structures first at lower levels, as they are one of your main ground defenses. They are also the cheapest and one of the most common defensive structure available, which makes them a good initial investment.
Offensive Strategy
Cannons are one of the few defensive structures that cannot attack air units. This makes them easy pickings for Beta Minions or Baby Dragons if they are not within range of Firecrackers, Archer Towers, Hidden Teslas, or Air Bombs.
The Beta Minions' Long Shot ability allows them to destroy a cannon while out of range if there are enough and placed correctly.
Cannons are only able to damage one unit at a time. This makes it very easy to overwhelm them with large groups of Sneaky Archers or Raged Barbarians.
You can destroy a lone cannon without any distraction buildings with three Sneaky Archers of relative level.
Upgrade Differences
Cannons undergo significant changes at levels 2, 3, 4, and 7. Their upgrade differences correspond to Cannons in the Home Village of equal level.
At level 1, the Cannon consists of a short dark metal barrel mounted on a crude, four-legged wooden platform.
At level 2, the Cannon's base receives a wooden stabilizer tied to the legs with ropes.
At level 3, the Cannon's leg stabilizer becomes stouter and the cannon becomes larger. The base itself rotates 45 degrees within the 3x3 square (ostensibly to accommodate the later, larger upgrades of the Cannon).
At level 4, the Cannon barrel receives two decorative latitudinal ridges, one midway along the barrel and one at the rear. The platform's leg stabilizer is removed in favor of a larger and stouter main support platform with much shorter legs.
At level 5, the Cannon base's wooden legs are replaced with metal ones and its metal ring which it pivots on gets wider.
At level 6, pieces of metal bolted by a metal bolt are added to the side of the cannon.
At level 7, the wooden base is discarded for a white stone or metal platform with four short brass-trimmed legs. The Cannon barrel's decorative center ridge is trimmed with a ring of brass.
At level 8, the other decorative ridge around the rear of the barrel also receives brass trimming, as well as a pair of opposing brass straps or clamps securing it to the platform.
The appearances of the cannonball changes with level, along with its size.
When first constructed, the cannon shoots small, light grey color balls.
At level 2, it shoots bigger balls.
At level 4, the balls becomes even bigger and becomes darker.
At level 6, it gains spikes around the ball.
At level 7, the ball becomes bigger again.
At level 8, the ball that is shot now glows.
Trivia
The Cannon is automatically repaired when the player upgrades to Builder Hall level 2, even though the Master Builder does not appear to repair it.
When viewing your village, the Cannons will appear to aim randomly about. However, they will mostly be aiming away from the Builder Hall. If the Cannons (or the Builder Hall) are moved, the Cannons will instantly orient themselves to point away from the Builder Hall's new relative location. This remains true even when the Cannons are being upgraded, though it will not move.
The Cannon is able to rotate in a full 360 degrees.
The Cannon's barrel expands slightly whenever it shoots.
Icon Descriptions
Tapping this icon displays information about the Cannon, such as Level, Damage Per Second, Hitpoints, Range, Damage Type and Targets.
Tapping this icon begins upgrading the Cannon to the next level, if you have enough resources and a free Master Builder or O.T.T.O. When the Cannon is at maximum level, this icon is not shown.
Tapping this icon instantly upgrades the Cannon to the next level, at the cost of one Hammer of Building if you have one. When the Cannon is at maximum level, this icon is not shown.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, instantly finishes that upgrade at the cost of the displayed number of Gems.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, instantly finishes that upgrade at the cost of one Book of Building. This icon is only shown if you have at least one Book of Building.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, instantly finishes that upgrade at the cost of one Book of Everything. This icon is only shown if you have at least one Book of Everything but do not have a Book of Building.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, cancels the current upgrade and refunds half of the upgrade cost.
Gold Pass modifiers
Input Gold Pass boost to modify the statistics in the tables below accordingly
