Updated for Town Hall 18 (October 2026).
The Ice Block Spell is a 1-space Dark spell that freezes your own troops inside a block of ice for 7 seconds. While frozen they can’t move or attack, but they take 86% to 96% less damage, so the spell turns any group into a short-lived wall of tanks. It unlocks at Town Hall 14 with a level 7 Dark Spell Factory and reaches level 6 at Town Hall 18.
How the Ice Block Spell works
The spell only touches your army. Enemy buildings and defending troops inside the 5-tile circle are not frozen, which is the opposite of the Freeze Spell. Your ground and air units caught in it stop where they are, stop attacking, and shrug off most incoming damage until the ice breaks 7 seconds later.
Who gets frozen is decided the moment the spell lands:
- Only units already inside the circle are affected. Troops that walk in afterward, or units that spawn inside it later, are not.
- Bats and skeletons from a Bat Spell or Skeleton Spell are the exception: they get frozen even if they haven’t popped out yet.
- Units that come out of a dying Golem, Lava Hound or Yeti are not frozen.
- Siege Machines are immune. Miners and Super Miners underground are skipped unless they are above ground when it lands.
Frozen units can still be pushed around. An Air Sweeper blast or a Tornado Trap moves them like normal. The damage cut also doesn’t stack with other reductions such as the Giant Gauntlet or Eternal Tome: a unit keeps whichever one is strongest.
Timers keep running inside the ice. A Druid‘s bear form or a Rocket Balloon’s speed boost ticks down while frozen, and a Furnace keeps spitting out Firemites.
Ice Block Spell levels and research cost
The duration stays at 7 seconds; each level adds 2% damage reduction. Research uses Dark Elixir in the Laboratory. Values are base costs and times before Gold Pass discounts.
| Level | Damage reduction | Duration | Research cost (Dark Elixir) | Research time | Laboratory level | Town Hall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 86% | 7s | None | None | None | 14 |
| 2 | 88% | 7s | 140,000 | 10d | 12 | 14 |
| 3 | 90% | 7s | 200,000 | 11d | 13 | 15 |
| 4 | 92% | 7s | 280,000 | 12d | 14 | 16 |
| 5 | 94% | 7s | 320,000 | 14d | 15 | 17 |
| 6 | 96% | 7s | 380,000 | 16d | 16 | 18 |
At level 6, a frozen troop takes only 4% of normal damage. Going from 86% to 96% reduction means a frozen troop takes less than a third of the damage it took at level 1, so the late levels are worth more than the small percentages suggest.
How to use the Ice Block Spell
Make a tank out of anything
Freeze a group that’s drawing fire and the defenses keep shooting at targets that barely take damage. Medium tanks like the Ice Golem or Giant hold a spot much longer, which buys time for a funnel or for your main army to arrive. A Skeleton Spell plus an Ice Block makes a cheap swarm of distractions that defenses waste shots on.
Keep a Lava Hound alive
Ice a Lava Hound that’s soaking Air Defense fire and it keeps the defenses busy for an extra 7 seconds while Balloons, Dragon Riders or a Battle Blimp do the damage.
Hold a hero still
Fast heroes like the Royal Champion can run ahead of the army and die alone. A quick Ice Block keeps her with the group. The same trick helps a Fireball Grand Warden: hide the outer defenses with an Invisibility Spell, freeze the Warden in place, and he aims the Fireball at the core instead of drifting onto the wrong target.
Survive the Town Hall’s death blast
If the Grand Warden’s Eternal Tome is used up, freezing your troops right before the Town Hall falls cuts the damage from its explosion and the poison that follows.
Common mistakes
- Casting it ahead of your troops. Units that walk in later are not frozen.
- Freezing your damage dealers in the open with no tank nearby, so they lose 7 seconds of damage for nothing.
- Stacking it with Eternal Tome or Giant Gauntlet. Only the strongest reduction counts.
How to defend against the Ice Block Spell
The frozen units still take a few percent of the damage, so high single-target damage is the only real answer. An Inferno Tower on single mode or a Monolith can still finish off troops that were already low before the ice. Otherwise, the best plan is to make sure the 7 seconds the attacker gains don’t matter: traps and defenses deeper in the base will still be there when the ice melts.
Recent changes to the Ice Block Spell
- June 16, 2025: added in the Let’s Get Crafty update with 5 levels (2 at Town Hall 14 and 1 at each Town Hall after).
- April 27, 2026: level 6 added for Town Hall 18; research for levels 4 and 5 cut from 14 to 12 days and from 16 to 14 days.
Ice Block Spell FAQ
Is the Ice Block Spell the same as the Freeze Spell?
No. Freeze stops enemy defenses and defending units. Ice Block freezes your own troops to protect them.
Is Ice Block an Elixir or Dark spell?
Dark. It’s brewed in the Dark Spell Factory (level 7) and researched with Dark Elixir.
Does it work on heroes?
Yes. Heroes inside the circle when it lands are frozen and protected like any troop. Siege Machines are the only attacking units it skips entirely.
How long does Ice Block last?
7 seconds at every level.
Sources: in-game data; Supercell, Let’s Get Crafty update notes (June 2025), Sound of Clash update notes (April 2026).
