Clash of Clans ‘Air Sweeper’ update released. Here’s what’s new

One-time village name change now available

We knew Supercell Games was readying an update for Clash of Clans, but usually they don't release it until teasing us with a week of sneak peeks. Bucking the trend, the developer today released the new "Air Sweeper" update with no warning or previews of the features. 

Instead, the new update is now available for download and below is the complete list of changes and new features it brings.

The big feature, of course, is the ability to change yoru village name. This is a one-time use you unlock starting at Town Hall 5, so use it wisely.

Other than that, as the name of the update suggests, the next big thing is the new anti-air defense, the Air Sweeper, which is detailed below.

New anti-air defense: The Air Sweeper

  • Push back groups of flying enemies with strong blasts of air!
  • Air Sweepers deal no damage, but are great at slowing the progress of air attacks
  • Air Sweepers can only face one way, but can be rotated to a direction of your choosing
  • Unlocked at Town Hall 6, Air Sweepers gain more pushing strength when upgraded

Clan bookmarks

  • Bookmark any Clan for later viewing using the '+' icon on any Clan profile page
  • You can bookmark up to 30 Clans and view them under a new tab next to your profile

Clan War attack army preview

  • Never attack unprepared again! Your army is now previewed before every war attack
  • Inspect your troops, Clan troops, spells and heroes – anything missing will be flagged red
  • Be ready or be sorry! You can no longer end war attacks early without surrendering

Interface improvements

  • Starting at Town Hall 5, a one-time name change will become available in the game settings – use it wisely!
  • Clan chat now shows when Clan settings are changed, indicating who changed them
  • Defense ranges can now be seen even when the defense is under construction
  • Defense modes can now be changed even when the defense is under construction
  • Defensive buildings now initially point away from the TH in combat, EXCEPT for the Air Sweeper, which always points in its configured direction

Gameplay improvements

  • Attacking troops will not start chasing defending troops as far away as they used to
  • Fixed a very rare case where a defense might target a troop at the edge of its range, but not fire
  • Loot values for many lower level single player maps have been improved, along with some slight layout tweaks and surprises

Matchmaking tweaks

  • You are now more likely to find targets at or near your Town Hall level in multiplayer matchmaking
  • Strength calculations have been updated in Clan Wars matchmaking to compensate for high level walls and heroes, skeleton traps, etc.
  • (Already released in the 2x Clan XP event) Clan Wars matchmaking now prefers to wait a bit longer and try to find a bit better match