Updated for Town Hall 18 (October 2026).
The Air Sweeper is a Home Village defense that blows air troops backward instead of damaging them. You unlock it at Town Hall 6, get a second one at Town Hall 9, and finish upgrading it early: level 7, the max, is available at Town Hall 11 and nothing has been added since.
What the Air Sweeper does
Every 5 seconds the Sweeper fires a gust at flying troops in front of it. A hit troop gets pushed back (1.6 tiles at level 1, 4 tiles at level 7) and can’t attack while it’s being shoved. It then has to fly back to whatever it was attacking, which buys time for your Air Defenses, Archer Towers and air traps. Upgrades only add push distance and hitpoints; the Sweeper never deals damage.
Facing matters. You point it in one of eight directions, 45 degrees apart, and during a battle it can swivel up to 45 degrees to either side of that heading. Anything behind it is safe. It has a 1-tile blind spot, so a Balloon hovering right on top of it won’t be pushed (unless another air troop in range draws a gust that catches it anyway). Ground troops ignore it completely and can knock it down without any trouble.
Troops are pushed outward from the curve of the gust, so a tight group of air troops tends to fan out and pick new targets one by one.
| Range | Attack Speed | Damage Type | Unit Type Targeted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-15 | 5s | None (Knockback Only) | Air |
How many Air Sweepers you can build
One at TH6 to TH8, two from TH9 onward. The count has stayed at two through TH18. Each Sweeper takes up 2×2 tiles.
| Town Hall Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number Available | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Air Sweeper upgrade levels
| Level | Town Hall required | Push distance | Hitpoints | Gold cost | Build time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 1.6 tiles | 750 | 200,000 | 4h |
| 2 | 6 | 2.0 tiles | 800 | 300,000 | 6h |
| 3 | 7 | 2.4 tiles | 850 | 450,000 | 8h |
| 4 | 8 | 2.8 tiles | 900 | 800,000 | 12h |
| 5 | 9 | 3.2 tiles | 950 | 1,200,000 | 1d |
| 6 | 10 | 3.6 tiles | 1,000 | 1,900,000 | 2d |
| 7 | 11 | 4.0 tiles | 1,050 | 3,400,000 | 3d |
No other Home Village defense maxes out this early. Costs and times have been cut several times since 2018, so older charts with 400,000 Gold for level 1 are out of date.
Placing and aiming your Air Sweepers
Decide which side of your base you want air attackers to avoid, then aim at it. Most attackers look at where the Sweepers point and launch from somewhere else, so the uncovered sides need real anti-air: Air Defenses, Archer Towers, Seeking Air Mines and Air Bombs.
- At TH6 to TH8 you only have one. Point it one way and load the opposite side with air traps.
- From TH9, you can aim both at the same area to make it very hard to cross, or split them to cover more of the base. Don’t put them close together, because two Sweepers inside one Lightning radius are an easy pair to delete.
- Gusts stack air troops up much like walls stack ground troops. A pushed pile of Balloons or Minions is exactly what Air Bombs, Wizard Towers and Scattershots want. Bigger air troops held in place give single-target Inferno Towers, the Monolith and Seeking Air Mines more time.
- Sweepers break up Queen Walks by pushing Healers away from the Archer Queen, sometimes into Air Defense range. Druids heal from the ground, so they don’t get pushed.
One downside: a gust can push an air troop out of a single-target Inferno Tower‘s range and reset its beam. Keep that in mind when you put the two close together.
The Sweeper hurts slow air troops the most. Balloons spend a long time flying back, a max-level Sweeper can stall an Electro Dragon almost forever, and every push resets an Inferno Dragon‘s beam.
How to deal with Air Sweepers when attacking
- Go around them. Attack from a side the Sweepers don’t face, or send ground troops to clear them first.
- Speed through them. A Rage Spell or Haste Spell gets Balloons back to their targets faster after a push.
- Give them something else to blow at. Dragons, Healers or Minions in front of the Sweeper soak up gusts while other troops reach it.
- Spread out. Deploying air troops in a wide arc instead of a single stream means one gust can’t catch everyone.
- Zap them. See the next section for the spell math.
How many Lightning Spells to destroy an Air Sweeper
A max-level (level 7) Air Sweeper has 1,050 hitpoints. Lightning Spell damage per bolt decides the count:
| Lightning Spell level | Damage per spell | Spells for a level 7 Sweeper |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 270 | 4 |
| 6 | 320 | 4 |
| 7 | 400 | 3 |
| 8 | 480 | 3 |
| 9 and higher | 560+ | 2 |
If you can line up the spells so they also hit an Air Defense, you get two defenses for the price of one. The Archer Queen’s Giant Arrow equipment can also snipe a Sweeper from long range if you angle her right.
Recent changes
The Air Sweeper itself hasn’t changed in years. It arrived on April 30, 2015, the second one came at TH9 on July 1, 2015, and level 7 was added on October 11, 2017. Since then the updates have been cost and time cuts (2018, 2019, April 2021, December 2021, and later reductions reflected in the table above). No new levels came with TH12 through TH18.
FAQ
Does the Air Sweeper do damage in Clash of Clans?
No. It only pushes air troops back. It is the only Home Village defense that pushes air units, and apart from walls the only one that deals no damage.
What is the max level Air Sweeper?
Level 7, at Town Hall 11, with a 4-tile push and 1,050 hitpoints.
Can the Air Sweeper hit ground troops?
No. Ground troops can walk up and destroy it freely.
Video
For an older but still accurate walkthrough of how the gusts work, see Galadon Gaming’s The Air Sweeper In Depth (2015). It predates level 7 and the newer cost cuts, but the mechanics shown are unchanged.
Home Village Buildings
Sources: Supercell release notes and in-game data.
