At the start of the game, each player has three main resources: Gold, Elixir, and Gems. They visit a top players base and see a mystical new substance called Dark Elixir and find it charming and look forward to the day where they can have some. Although Dark Elixir may seem like a completely foreign, odd, and complex topic at the beginning of the game, it is really quite simple once you understand it. In this blog post I’ll have a little for everyone: An introduction of what it is and what it can be used for, what to do first with Dark Elixir, and what dark Elixir upgrades to prioritize, all wrapped up in a nice FAQ format
First Off, What the Heck is Dark Elixir?
Dark Elixir is a new resource that is unlocked for players at Town Hall 7. Dark Elixir can be used to buy and upgrade heroes(which I’ll explain in a bit), buy new troops which are unlocked in the Dark Barracks, and then to upgrade those troops in the Laboratory. The two Dark Elixir Troops you unlock at Town Hall 7 are the Minion and the Hog Rider. The Hog Rider can jump over walls and targets defenses and is the second troop unlocked. The minion is a flying troops that has relatively low Health and Damage.
What’s a Hero?
The heroes have both an offensive and defensive purpose. At Town Hall 7, you can summon the Barbarian King for 10,000 Dark Elixir; Don’t worry, this may seem like a lot at first but you will get it eventually. Once you summon the Barbarian King by building his Altar, you can use him as an attacking troop. However, when he dies or takes damage, you don’t have to buy him again, he just takes around an hour to regenerate. On defense, the Barbarian King stands on his altar and fights against troops that enter a 9-tile radius of the Altar. When he dies or loses health on defense, he also has to regenerate. Heroes can be upgraded to Level 40 and also have special abilities, which are unlocked at Level 5. The Barbarians King’s ability is that for 10 seances, he does increased damage and summons Barbarians by his side to help him. Furthermore, he also regains some of his health. The Archer Queen, which is unlocked at Town Hall 9, becomes invisible for a little bit, does more damage, and summons up a few archers.

The Barbarian King

The Archer Queen
What to Do With Dark Elixir
The most important thing to do with Dark Elixir at Town Hall 7 is to upgrade your Barbarian King. he becomes much more powerful and also gains his ability if upgraded to the highest level for Town Hall 7. If you are Town Hall 8, I would suggest upgrading your Barbarian King and at the same time upgrading a few troops that you use often. When you get to Town Hall 9, Dark Elixir is much easier to come by. As a Town Hall 8, you can have one Level three Drill that produces 1,080 Dark Elixir per Day. At Town Hall 9, you can have two Level 6 Drills that will get you 4,800 Dark Elixir per day. This is a huge difference, which is why I have not upgraded many of my Dark Troops and I plan and working of the Drill as soon as I get to Town Hall 9.
At Town Hall 9, What Should I Prioritize?
I would recommend first working on your Archer Queen and getting her up to a good level. Then, if your Barbarian King is at a good level, I would work on your Dark Elixir Troops that you use the most. After that, continue to work on your heroes until they are at around Level 15, at which point you should finish your other troop upgrades. Dark Elixir may seem like it’s hard to get at first, but if you keep trying it’ll come easily.