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How to Upgrade Troops in Clash of Clans

Source-checked About 10 minutes

Answer

Tap the Laboratory in your Home Village, select an eligible troop, spell, or siege machine, review the resource cost and research time, and confirm the upgrade. Verify that its research timer starts. The Laboratory normally researches one upgrade at a time, and cancelling an upgrade is irreversible and returns only half of the resources spent.

Guide steps5 steps
  1. Open the Laboratory
  2. Select the unit
  3. Review the commitment
  4. Start the upgrade
  5. Accelerate only if useful
  6. If it still does not work

Open the Laboratory

In the Home Village, tap the Laboratory and choose Research. The list shows the troops, spells, and siege machines available at the current Laboratory and Town Hall level.

Select the unit

Tap the troop, spell, or siege machine you intend to improve. Check its current and next level rather than choosing only by icon, especially when several upgrades use the same resource.

Review the commitment

Read the displayed Elixir or Dark Elixir cost, research time, and required Laboratory level. Confirm that no other research is active and that this is the intended village before spending the resources.

Supercell's Laboratory research reference

Start the upgrade

Tap the upgrade button and confirm once. Reopen the Laboratory and verify that the selected unit and its countdown appear in the active research slot; this visible timer is the success check.

Accelerate only if useful

If you already own a relevant Research Potion, Book, Hammer, or have the Lab Assistant available, open that official control and review its effect before using it. These are optional; the normal timer completes the same upgrade.

If it does not work

  • If the unit is locked or already maxed, upgrade the required Town Hall, Laboratory, or troop-unlocking building and use the eligibility shown in the Laboratory.
  • If the Laboratory is busy, wait for the active research to finish or use an owned official accelerator; a second normal research project cannot start in the same slot.
  • If you selected the wrong upgrade, remember that cancelling is irreversible and returns only 50 percent of the resources; compare that loss with waiting before you cancel.
Sources and verification

Checked against official documentation on . Scope: Android or iPhone.

Follow the linked first-party guidance if labels differ after a platform or app update.

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