"This veteran battle-scholar seeks out groups of friendly troops to fight behind and boost with his Life Aura, and assumes the form of a tower on defense. Attacking, he can walk over Walls or fly high, and can make nearby troops immune to damage once his Eternal Tome ability is unlocked!"
The Grand Warden is a single-target unit unlocked at Town Hall level 11. He is the third hero in the game, being weak in physical strength and self-defense but extremely powerful in support.
He is automatically summoned once the Grand Warden Altar is constructed, which costs 2,000,000 Elixir and is available at Town Hall 11. Uniquely for Heroes in the Home Village, he is upgraded with Elixir instead of Dark Elixir.
He can be set to Air or Ground mode; he flies in Air Mode and walks in Ground Mode.
He can bypass Walls regardless of the mode he is set to; however, he will attack a Wall if the majority of your nearby housing space is doing so as well.
Like the other heroes, the Grand Warden only needs to be summoned once, but he will have to spend some time regenerating his health if he is damaged when attacking an enemy village. If you attack a village while their Grand Warden is still regenerating, the Altar will be empty and the Grand Warden will not defend.
Like other heroes, he is not upgraded in the Laboratory but rather upgraded with a Builder.
The Grand Warden's regeneration time after a battle depends on how much damage he took during the battle: if he survives the battle unscathed or with very little percentage damage taken, he will be ready to fight again immediately, but the more he is damaged, the more time he will need to regenerate. The more the Grand Warden is upgraded, the more time he will need in order to fully regenerate his health.
The Grand Warden has low health and low damage, but he has a Life Aura to support troops. Thus, he is better suited as support. Deploy him behind the tanks like Golems, Giants or Barbarian King to let him stay alive so his Life Aura will keep on supporting them. This is why he is never placed in the front of the army. Another way to use him is the Warden Walk. This is commonly used when the player uses Yeti Smash Attack. He can clear a corner and some troops clear another corner so that the main army will go through the middle. He is also very easy to control. Deploy troops inside his Aura and he will be drawn away.
Hero regeneration after a Multiplayer Battle starts as soon as the player starts to search for a Multiplayer opponent. So, if the player spent some time searching for an opponent to attack before completing an attack, part of the regeneration will be completed by the time the player returns to their village. However, if the player cancels the attack by pressing "End Battle" before completing an attack, the regeneration will be reset. This effect is more noticeable in the highest leagues below legend where a significant amount of time can be spent searching for such opponents.
The Grand Warden initiates a range of his passive Life Aura upon deployment, which grants units additional health. Any unit that leaves this range will not benefit from the ability until they re-enter it.
The level of this passive ability is increased once every level, up to level 40.
The Grand Warden's active ability, Eternal Tome, renders all friendly troops within his aura invincible to damage for a short time.
Eternal Tome is upgraded every five levels that the Warden increases. The ability's duration increases by 0.5 seconds per level.
The Eternal Tome ability negates direct damage only. For example, a Spring Trap can still instantly kill troops, the Air Sweeper's pushback works as normal, while the Tornado Trap will still be able to pull troops in without dealing damage. Furthermore, lesser troops that endure the explosion of a Bomb or Giant Bomb will be hit by the resulting knockback.
The ability also does not prevent troops like the Wall Breaker from carrying out attacks that kill them or otherwise split them into sub troops. It also does not prevent Siege Barracks and Log Launchers from losing HP to their decay over time.
The ability affects only troops that are in the radius of the Grand Warden at the time that he activates it, and each affected troop is invincible for the full duration of the ability, even if they leave the Grand Warden's radius.
Any troops that are spawned inside the radius of the Grand Warden will not be made invincible if they are spawned after the ability has been activated.
If the ability has not been used before the Grand Warden is about to be defeated, it will by default automatically activate. However, this feature can be toggled off in the settings (by turning off "Automatically use Hero Abilities on KO").
This ability can still activate even if the Warden would be one-shot by an attack (such as by a Seeking Air Mine); the Warden will activate his ability and survive with 1 hitpoint.
When defending an enemy attack, he will turn into a stone statue and act as any other defensive tower while using his Life Aura to provide a health boost to defending troops and heroes. If he is damaged or defeated on defense, he does not need to regenerate health afterwards.
Since he is considered a building on defense, Poison Spells do nothing, but Earthquake Spells will be able to damage him. Builders will also be able to repair the statue mid-battle if their Builder's Hut is weaponized and he is in range of the hut.
The Grand Warden will attack the building being attacked by the highest number/troop space troop and will continue to attack that building until it's destroyed.
Strategies
Offensive Strategy
Use the Grand Warden in Air Mode if you are using an air attack so he does not take damage from ground defenses (as they are not distracted by other troops) and Ground Mode when using a ground army as he will not be targeted by the Air Defenses.
Only set him to Air Mode if you are using an air attack, as, without distraction troops, he can easily be killed or otherwise heavily damaged by Air Defenses and Seeking Air Mines.
If using the Air Mode warden alone (as a niche to evade heavy ground defenses, for example), it is recommended to deploy Balloons near the Warden to distract any Seeking Air Mines and make sure that none of the mines will hit the Warden. Relative level Seeking Air Mines will kill the Grand Warden, unless he is at least level 37 for Town Hall 12, or level 49 for Town Hall 13/14.
Use the Eternal Tome ability near the core so your troops can get through the core, where the most damage usually is. Against a level 5 Giga Tesla or a Giga Inferno, it may be useful to save the ability specifically for the explosion when the Town Hall is destroyed, as it does severe damage.
Alternatively, it can be better to use it early, such as if high damaging defenses are situated nearer the outside of a base.
The Grand Warden goes where other troops go, so he does not need funneling. However, the other troops need to be funneled.
He will follow the troop with the highest housing space or the largest mass of troops, so bunching up troops with the Grand Warden is crucial to getting the most out of his abilities.
However, do not bunch them up too tightly, as the Life Aura is large and the troops will take a lot of splash damage from other defenses if they are too bunched up.
His Life Aura is most effective on troops with moderate amounts of health, such as the Balloon or Miner. He will be able to grant a sizable health increase to these troops that is close to the maximum increase allowed by his ability (or if this increase is the maximum allowed, then the health increase is still significant on these troops). The Life Aura is significantly less effective on low-hitpoint troops such as Minions, as they only gain a tiny proportion of health from his Life Aura. It is also somewhat limiting to high-hitpoint troops such as the Golem, as its health increase is well over the maximum allowed. Additionally, since they already have high hitpoints themselves, the extra hitpoints are usually not necessary.
The Super Archer has a projectile range of 12, but its targeting range is only 6.
If the Grand Warden is positioned correctly, he can defeat an enemy Barbarian King and even an Archer Queen without being attacked. In the case of an Archer Queen, it is substantially harder to pull off, as she has a larger attack radius, has a faster movement speed, and can attack from far away unlike the King.
When upgraded to a high level, the Grand Warden can be used with Healers to perform a Warden Walk, which is similar to a Queen Walk in terms of utility. Compared to a Queen Walk, his longer range allows him to snipe buildings from a longer distance, meaning that the Warden Walk is generally safer, but his lower damage output means it will take longer to create an effective funnel or destroy the targeted buildings.
His AI (which makes him follow troops if they are close enough) can be exploited to help funnel him in a particular direction, which can be useful for the objectives of the Warden Walk. You can also do this to convert a Warden Walk into a smash-style attack (which will be supported by the Warden and Healers) by simply deploying your main force in the path of the walk.
When set to Air Mode, if you see a Seeking Air Mine coming towards the Grand Warden, activate his Eternal Tome ability if you still have it. If you react quickly enough, he will be able to avoid all damage; failing to do so will mean severe damage, and in most cases automatically trigger the ability anyway (if the "Automatically use Hero Abilities on KO" setting is turned on), but the Warden will be reduced to 1 HP and be extremely vulnerable, leaving you at a disadvantage.
Defensive Strategy
He creates a buff to boost defensive troops, heroes, and the Skeletons from the Skeleton Traps. It is recommended to place his Altar near structures that will receive the benefit such as the Clan Castle, or other heroes.
To defend against an enemy Grand Wardens, make sure you set your Inferno Towers to multi-target, as he is often behind other troops so few defenses can hit him.
Placing the Grand Warden near the other heroes and the Clan Castle will be quite beneficial for defense, as the heroes and Clan Castle troops will have a great hitpoint increase.
The Grand Warden in defense mode will not be targeted by a Headhunter, due to him being considered a defensive building.
History
The Grand Warden was initially revealed as the new hero for Town Hall 11 at Clash-Con 2015. However, only a silhouette of him was shown.
In the sneak peeks showcasing him, his hitpoints at level 20 was 2,000; however it was changed to 1,500 in its release.
His beta ability color was orange, but was later changed to yellow when released.
The Grand Warden was added in the December 10, 2015 "Town Hall 11" update, with 20 levels.
The March 21, 2016 update slightly reduced Grand Warden's Life Aura and Eternal Tone range.
The December 19, 2016 update changed the Grand Warden's info image.
The June 11, 2018 "Town Hall 12" update added levels 21-30 Grand Warden.
The June 26, 2018 balance changes reduced Grand Warden's regeneration times at all levels (1-30).
The June 18, 2019 update added levels 31-40 Grand Warden and reduced regeneration time across all levels, and fixed Grand Warden's AI for ground mode: he no longer jumps into empty compartments for no reason. The same update also converted the Grand Warden from 2D to 3D, giving his appearance a significant change.
The October 16, 2019 update improved Grand Warden's AI to prevent him from easily abandoning a supported group.
The December 9, 2019 "Town Hall 13" update added levels 41-50 Grand Warden, added KO option for heroes, the Warden's shoot effect starts closer to the staff than stomach, made it so that Grand Warden would less likely follow Lava Hounds, and force retarget for Grand Warden if he's attacking a wall and his group has died.
The December 19, 2019 update fixed Grand Warden's celebration animation clipping after changing mode.
The March 30, 2020 update gave the Grand Warden an update:
New Hero Skin selection screen that is much easier to select which skin you want to apply to your Hero.
All Heroes will display in their selected skin under the Player Profile tab.
When acquiring a new skin, the UI to select the skin will automatically open.
Some selected skins will be able to be purchased outside of the Gold Pass.
The May 20, 2020 update made it so that the Grand Warden would less likely to follow Dragons and P.E.K.K.As.
The June 22, 2020 update improved Grand Warden's AI to follow the group more effectively and be less prone to drifting away while in Air Mode, and added sound effect when toggling Grand Warden to air or ground mode.
The October 12, 2020 update made it so that heroes now automatically heal after raid. The same update also removed guard toggle.
The October 26, 2020 update fixed skin names not changing when changing Hero with the arrows (in the "Change Skin" menus).
The December 7, 2020 update gave the Grand Warden an update:
At the end of a battle, if the Grand Warden’s ability remains unused, the Hero will heal the amount of HP they would normally recover from using their ability. This will help reduce the Hero’s downtime, allowing them to be ready much sooner.
A new Cosmetics tab has been added to the in-game shop where you can browse and purchase any permanently available cosmetics such as Hero Skins when they become available for Gems.
A “View Skin” option has been added when visiting.
Skin animations are more elaborate when viewed in the wardrobe and simpler animations in other UI elements.
Fixed an issue with hit points rounding after the Grand Warden’s aura ends. This issue would cause Heroes to lose their auto ability if they were left with 1HP when the Warden’s aura ended as it would round the HP down to 0.
Increased the brightness of the Grand Warden’s Eternal Tome ability to make it more visible.
The January 20, 2021 update adjusted Grand Warden priority when following Battle Blimps and Log Launchers to reduce the chance of him following them in a deadly run towards the Town Hall.
The April 12, 2021 "Town Hall 14" update gave the Grand Warden an update:
Added levels 51-55 Grand Warden.
Boosts on Grand Warden or Buildings are no longer cancelled when an upgrade is started and will continue to run in the background.
Stop Grand Warden from attacking a Wall if nobody else in his group is attacking a Wall.
Prevent Grand Warden from dying while activating his ability if he's damaged at the exact same moment.
The April 29, 2021 update made it so that Grand Warden would less likely to follow Pets.
The June 15, 2021 update fixed Grand Warden and other heroes occasionally doing 360 turns during attacks.
Trivia
Each successive upgrade of the Grand Warden adds anywhere between 2% to 2.3% health and anywhere between 3.4% to 5.1% damage, but every fifth level also adds a constant two minutes to his total regeneration time. As a consequence, the Grand Warden's regeneration rate changes as he levels up.
Regeneration rate for each level; click to enlarge
The Grand Warden's regeneration rate fluctuates, decreasing every fifth level and increasing at every other level. From an initial regeneration rate of 50 HP per minute at level 1, it increases up to 53.2 HP per minute at level 4 before eventually dropping to 49.36 HP per minute at level 5, the lowest regeneration rate of any level; however, the regeneration rate shows a slow upward trend as the levels increase, eventually reaching a maximum of 64.59 HP per minute at level 39. Beyond level 39, the low amounts of HP increase mean that the decrease in regeneration rate every fifth level outweigh the increases from every other level, and the rate starts to trend downwards, falling back to 60.48 HP per minute at level 55.
The Grand Warden of the versions before the update of June 2019 bore a great resemblance to the late television host, Li Yong.
Because of this, he is commonly called "(Li) Yong King" among Chinese players.
In January 2016, shortly after the Town Hall 11 update, a show "Clash of Clans Players' Ceremony" was held in Beijing, China, with Li Yong as the main host due to this resemblance.
He is the only unit in the game that can be changed to an air or ground unit.
He is the only unit in the entire game that can behave as both a troop (attacking) and a building (defending). Thus, it's only possible to destroy his Altar with a single Lightning Spell only if he is not guarding (and thus his Altar will be empty.)
The Grand Warden is one of the units that can be healed by a Healer while attacking an Air Defense without the Air Defense being able to attack the Healer. The others units capable of doing this are the Archer Queen and the Super Archer.
He is the only hero to have two abilities.
He is the only hero that can be killed in one hit by a trap (when in Air Mode via a Seeking Air Mine, due to his low amount of hitpoints and the high damage from the trap).
The Grand Warden's Eternal Tome Ability is the only hero ability that does not heal the hero. As a result, he is also the only hero to not activate his ability if it is unused at the end of a battle.
He is the only hero that appears to be based on more than one unit, particularly the Healer and the Wizard, because of his use of magic and ability to heal friendly units.
The Grand Warden is the only unit that can bypass Walls, but may still attack them directly (some air units, such as the Balloon, are able to damage Walls indirectly through splash damage when attacking another target).
The tip of Clockwork Warden's staff looks similar to a level 7 Laboratory that's from the top and level 7 Tesla from the top.
The Gladiator Warden skin looks to be based off of the Roman king of the gods and god of lightning, Jupiter.
The Pirate Warden skin is based of off the Barbary Pirates according to a post by Darian, the Supercell community manager.
If the Grand Warden is defeated while wearing the Pirate skin, there will be parrots spinning on his head instead of stars like other heroes.
The Jungle Warden skin was added after the Epic Jungle Scenery was added that featured a Jungle Warden statue.
The Grand Warden is the last hero to have a Winter Themed skin which is the Warden of the North skin.
The Warden of the North skin is the only hero skin which its hero name (Warden) is on the front but not on the back (like "Ice Queen").
The Grand Warden's Jungle Warden skin appears to not have any hair, or even a face, whatsoever when viewed from behind.
Before Hero Skins were added, the Grand Warden had a different appearance as well as an upgrade difference. He had less facial hair, antlers and a different book cover.
Initially, he had purple facial hair. He wore white and purple robes along with a short cape. His eyes were of different color, one was white with a little pupil and the other was a normal one with a blue iris. There was a gold trim on his collar at the neck and he wore a white crown-like decoration on his head. He also held a thick book and a long wooden staff with a magical crystal held on top.
At level 10, his white antler crown became golden.
Before the Grand Warden was converted into a 3D model, the Grand Warden's book and staff switched arms when he turns. When the Grand Warden fell in battle, he drops his staff but holds on to his book.
Level 1-9 (Old Sprite)
Level 10-30 (Old Sprite)
Statistic Modifiers
Input values into these modifiers below to modify the statistics in the tables below accordingly
Below is a table that lists all Grand Warden skins and the month in which they were available, in chronological order. Skins are divided into three classes: Gold denotes a skin that is/was featured as a Gold Pass skin in Season Challenges, while Standard and Legendary denote skins not available from the Gold Pass that were available only through a special offer. The associated footnotes denote further details on said special offer containing the skin.
Entries that are highlightedmarked with an asterisk denote that the skin is available in the current Season Challenges season. Entries marked with a Gem denote that the skin is purchasable with Gems; all skins currently purchasable in this manner cost 1,500 .
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