Updated for Town Hall 18 (October 2026).
The Lava Launcher is a long-range Builder Base defense that lobs molten rock at ground troops every 7 seconds and leaves a burning pool that keeps hurting anything standing in it for 20 seconds. It unlocks at Builder Hall 9, where you can take it all the way to level 9, and level 10 needs Builder Hall 10. It can’t hit air units and has a blind spot inside 6 tiles.
How the Lava Launcher works
Each shot lands as splash damage in a 3-tile area, then turns into a lava pool 2.5 tiles across. The pool burns ground troops every 0.4 seconds at a flat rate, and pools from separate shots stack without any penalty. The impact hit is modest. The burn is where the damage comes from: a max-level pool can deal 750 damage over its life to a troop that stays in it.
It reaches from 6 to 13 tiles. The shot flies in a high arc, so it lands faster on close targets and slower on far ones, which gives fast troops at long range a chance to walk out of the target zone. Anything that gets within 6 tiles is safe from it.
There is one Lava Launcher per base. Like every Builder Base defense from Builder Hall 6 on, it counts toward a stage’s defense limit, so you choose whether it guards your Builder Hall on Stage 1 or O.T.T.O’s Outpost on Stage 2.
Lava Launcher levels and stats
Costs are in Builder Gold. Times are base values before any Gold Pass builder discount. Levels 1 to 9 all need Builder Hall 9.
| Level | Builder Hall needed | Damage per hit | Burn damage per second | Total burn per pool | Hitpoints | Cost (Builder Gold) | Upgrade time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | 50 | 15 | 300 | 500 | 3,000,000 | 2d |
| 2 | 9 | 55 | 17.5 | 350 | 575 | 3,100,000 | 3d |
| 3 | 9 | 61 | 20 | 400 | 660 | 3,200,000 | 4d |
| 4 | 9 | 67 | 22.5 | 450 | 760 | 3,400,000 | 5d |
| 5 | 9 | 73 | 25 | 500 | 875 | 3,700,000 | 6d |
| 6 | 9 | 81 | 27.5 | 550 | 1,050 | 4,000,000 | 7d |
| 7 | 9 | 89 | 30 | 600 | 1,250 | 4,300,000 | 8d |
| 8 | 9 | 97 | 32.5 | 650 | 1,450 | 4,600,000 | 10d |
| 9 | 9 | 107 | 35 | 700 | 1,650 | 4,900,000 | 11d |
| 10 | 10 | 118 | 37.5 | 750 | 1,850 | 5,900,000 | 12d |
Building and maxing it costs 40,100,000 Builder Gold and 68 days of builder time in total. No other Builder Base building lets you stack so many levels at one Builder Hall, so it is a good job for the extra Builder Base builder added in May 2026.
Where to place it
The blind spot decides everything. Put the Lava Launcher deep enough that troops have to walk through its 6-to-13-tile ring for a long time, and cover the space right around it with defenses that handle ground units up close, such as a Crusher or a Mega Tesla. Walls help twice here: they slow troops down inside the burning pools, and they keep tanks from strolling into the blind spot. A Lava Launcher sitting on the edge of a stage wastes half its range off the map.
Its hitpoints are low for a late defense (1,850 at max). If a Power P.E.K.K.A reaches it, it goes down quickly, which is one more reason to wall it in.
How to attack a Lava Launcher
- Go air. Beta Minions, Baby Dragons and the Battle Copter take no damage from it at all. Note that Drop Ship Skeletons are ground units, so they do burn.
- Bait it. A single cheap ground troop on the far side draws the first shot. The next one won’t come for 7 seconds, which is enough time for your main group to cross the ring.
- Don’t stall in lava. Open walls before you send swarms, and use a Bomber‘s Bouncing Bomb so your army isn’t stuck on a wall inside a pool.
- Send tanky units. High-hitpoint troops like the Power P.E.K.K.A shrug off a pool far better than Raged Barbarians or Sneaky Archers.
What changed, and when
The Lava Launcher arrived with Builder Hall 9 in June 2019. Builder Base 2.0 (May 15, 2023) reworked it along with the smaller maps: its range was cut from 10 to 20 tiles down to 6 to 13 tiles, damage on impact was raised, the burn was changed to tick at a constant rate, and level 10 was added for Builder Hall 10. Supercell’s patch notes summed up the range cuts as many Builder Base defense ranges being reduced to fit the smaller map.
A separate, crafted Lava Launcher also appeared in the Home Village’s Crafting Station during Crafting Phase 3, from April 1 to July 31, 2026. It was a temporary defense and is no longer available; the Builder Base version on this page is permanent.
Lava Launcher FAQ
Does the Lava Launcher hit air troops?
No. Its shots and pools only damage ground units.
What Builder Hall unlocks the Lava Launcher?
Builder Hall 9. Levels 1 to 9 are all available there, level 10 at Builder Hall 10.
What is the Lava Launcher’s range?
6 to 13 tiles since Builder Base 2.0. It can’t hit anything closer than 6 tiles.
Sources: Supercell, Builder Base 2.0 patch notes (May 15, 2023); Supercell, May 2026 update notes; in-game data.
