Updated for Town Hall 18 (October 2026).
The Battle Machine is the first hero of the Builder Base: a hammer-swinging machine that the Master Builder pilots into battle. You repair it at Builder Hall 5 for 900,000 Builder Elixir, and it levels up to 35 at Builder Hall 10. Its Electric Hammer ability heals it and powers up its next three swings, and since Builder Base 2.0 (May 2023) you decide how long to charge that ability before you fire it.
How the Battle Machine works in a Builder Battle
The Battle Machine is a melee unit that hits one ground target at a time. It has no favorite target, so it walks to the nearest building and smashes it, swinging once every 1.2 seconds from 1.25 tiles away. It cannot hit air units. On defense it does nothing: it never leaves its Battle Machine Altar to fight, and the altar counts as an ordinary building.
Builder Base 2.0 changed how heroes fit into an attack. Bases at Builder Hall 6 and above have two stages, and you may deploy one hero per stage. The rules for carrying a hero into Stage 2 are worth knowing before you plan an attack:
- If the Battle Machine survives Stage 1, you can send it into Stage 2 with whatever health it had left, or switch to the Battle Copter, which starts at full health.
- If the Battle Machine died in Stage 1, you have to use the Battle Copter for Stage 2 (if you have unlocked it).
- The Healing Hut does not heal heroes between stages. If the Electric Hammer is ready when Stage 1 ends, the game fires it automatically for the health, but the damage boost does not carry over.
- A Battle Machine that continues into Stage 2 starts with its ability at charge level 1.
Push Traps and Spring Traps do not move it. The full two-stage system is covered in the Builder Base 2.0 guide.
Electric Hammer and charge levels
The ability unlocks at level 5 and gets stronger every five levels, reaching ability level 7 at Battle Machine level 35. You fire it by tapping the hero’s icon. When you do, the machine pauses for a moment to raise its hammer, recovers health, and the next three hits deal much more damage. Then the ability starts charging again, so you can use it several times in one battle.
The charge is the part that changed in 2.0. The Battle Machine enters the battle with the ability at charge level 1. Each further charge level takes about 13 seconds, so waiting for charge level 3 costs you roughly 40 seconds after each use. A higher charge means bigger hits and more healing. From level 15 (ability level 3), charge levels 2 and 3 also send chain lightning from the struck building to nearby ones within 3 tiles: up to 2 targets at charge 2 and up to 3 at charge 3. Each jump deals less damage than the one before it (50% less per jump at charge 2, 30% less at charge 3).
| Ability level | Battle Machine level | Charge 1: damage per hit / heal | Charge 2: damage per hit / heal | Charge 3: damage per hit / heal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 432 / 800 | 702 / 1,600 | 972 / 2,400 |
| 2 | 10 | 480 / 850 | 780 / 1,700 | 1,080 / 2,550 |
| 3 | 15 | 528 / 900 | 858 / 1,800 (2 targets) | 1,188 / 2,700 (3 targets) |
| 4 | 20 | 576 / 950 | 936 / 1,900 | 1,296 / 2,850 |
| 5 | 25 | 624 / 1,000 | 1,014 / 2,000 | 1,404 / 3,000 |
| 6 | 30 | 672 / 1,050 | 1,092 / 2,100 | 1,512 / 3,150 |
| 7 | 35 | 716 / 1,100 | 1,170 / 2,200 | 1,620 / 3,300 |
For scale, a normal swing from a level 35 Battle Machine does 348 damage. A charge 3 hammer at the same level hits for 1,620 three times in a row and heals 3,300 hitpoints, which is more than half of its 5,380 maximum.
Battle Machine levels and upgrade costs by Builder Hall
Upgrades are paid in Builder Elixir. Each Builder Hall level opens a new block of hero levels:
| Builder Hall | Hero levels | DPS at top level | Hitpoints at top level | Ability level at top | Cost per level (Builder Elixir) | Time per level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 1-5 | 135 | 3,280 | 1 | 900,000 (repair) to 1,300,000 | 12h to 1d |
| 6 | 6-10 | 147 | 3,630 | 2 | 1,500,000 to 1,900,000 | 1d 12h to 2d 12h |
| 7 | 11-20 | 180 | 4,330 | 4 | 2,100,000 to 3,000,000 | 2d 12h to 4d |
| 8 | 21-25 | 210 | 4,680 | 5 | 3,100,000 to 3,500,000 | 5d |
| 9 | 26-30 | 250 | 5,030 | 6 | 3,600,000 to 4,000,000 | 6d |
| 10 | 31-35 | 290 | 5,380 | 7 | 4,100,000 to 4,500,000 | 7d |
The price climbs by 100,000 per level, with bigger jumps into levels 6 and 11. Repairing it and taking it all the way to 35 costs 96,500,000 Builder Elixir in total. Hero levels also count toward unlocking B.O.B: one of the tasks behind B.O.B Control (the old O.T.T.O Hut) needs your two Builder Base heroes at a combined level of 45.
How to use the Battle Machine
Choose the charge level for the job in front of you. A charge 1 hammer is a cheap heal you can fire whenever the machine is in trouble, and it comes back fast. Charge 3 is for the moment the hammer reaches a group of defenses packed close together, where the chain lightning can hit a Crusher and the two buildings beside it in one swing. Firing a big charge on a lone storage or the Guard Post wastes it.
The Battle Machine is a good front line for ranged ground troops. Boxer Giants and the Battle Machine can soak damage while Cannon Carts or Sneaky Archers work from behind. Leave a gap, though. A Multi Mortar or Roaster shell aimed at the hero, or a Mega Mine under it, will splash anything standing right behind it.
In air armies it is often the only ground unit on the map, so every ground defense shoots at it. If you run Night Witches, Baby Dragons or Drop Ships, send the Battle Machine after the air troops have taken out a Double Cannon or two, or use it to clean up buildings on the edge for extra percentage.
Think about Stage 2 while you are still in Stage 1. A Battle Machine that limps out of the first stage at 20% health is a poor opener for the second. From Builder Hall 8 you can swap to a fresh Battle Copter instead, and save the Battle Machine for a base where Stage 2 is mostly ground defenses with no air coverage.
Defending against an enemy Battle Machine
Expect most attackers to bring one. High single-target damage against ground units brings it down fastest: Double Cannons, the Mega Tesla and Crushers. Keep those behind Walls and a ring of cheap buildings, so the hammer spends its boosted hits on junk before it reaches them. Your Guard Post troops help too, because the machine stops to fight them, ideally while a Crusher is in range.
What changed with Builder Base 2.0 and since
- March 30, 2020: regeneration time removed, so the Battle Machine is always ready.
- May 15, 2023 (Builder Base 2.0): levels 31-35 added with Builder Hall 10, the Electric Hammer reworked with three charge levels and chain lightning, and the Battle Copter added as a second hero machine. Head-to-head Versus Battles were replaced by Builder Battles with two stages.
- October 9, 2023: Electric Hammer cut to two boosted hits.
- October 20, 2023: restored to three hits, where it is today.
Before 2.0 the Battle Machine was the only Builder Base hero and its ability had a single strength. Older guides that tell you to fire the hammer the instant it recharges were written for that version.
Battle Machine FAQ
When do you get the Battle Machine?
At Builder Hall 5. The ruined altar sits in your Builder Base from the start, and repairing it costs 900,000 Builder Elixir and 12 hours.
What is the Battle Machine’s max level?
Level 35, which needs Builder Hall 10. Level 30 was the cap before Builder Base 2.0.
At what level does the Battle Machine get its ability?
Level 5. The ability levels up again at 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35, and chain lightning starts at level 15.
Is the Battle Machine or the Battle Copter better?
They do different jobs. The Battle Machine is a ground brawler that tanks and heals itself; the Battle Copter flies, attacks from 7 tiles away and only arrives at Builder Hall 8. You can open with one and bring the other into Stage 2 at full health.
Sources: Supercell release notes (Supercell, Builder Base 2.0 patch notes (May 2023)) and in-game data.
