com.android.tools.build:gradle is android’s plugin for gradle. It is not the same as gradle distribution. See here for release/version information of gradle android plugin: https://maven.google.com/web/index.html?q=gradle#com.android.tools.build:gradle
To change the gradle version that the plugin uses, edit the file:
<Project>/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
and change this line to the gradle verison you want:
distributionUrl=http\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-2.12-all.zip
Then rebuild your project.
Do keep in mind that the android plugin version you’re using may not have been tested with this brand new gradle version and could potential cause unexpected issues.
android gradle plugin to Gradle version compatibility as of Feb2020
Plugin version Required Gradle version
-- --
1.0.0 - 1.1.3 2.2.1 - 2.3
1.2.0 - 1.3.1 2.2.1 - 2.9
1.5.0 2.2.1 - 2.13
2.0.0 - 2.1.2 2.10 - 2.13
2.1.3 - 2.2.3 2.14.1+
2.3.0+ 3.3+
3.0.0+ 4.1+
3.1.0+ 4.4+
3.2.0 - 3.2.1 4.6+
3.3.0 - 3.3.2 4.10.1+
3.4.0 - 3.4.1 5.1.1+
3.5.0 - 3.5.3 6.0.1+
3.6.0+ 6.0.1+