Double Jump GoWiVaPe Attack

   

     No one can deny that the GoWiPe family of strategies (strategies that typically involve Golems, Wizards/Witches, and/or Pekkas along with certain other troops like Valkyries) is likely one of the most popular attack styles in Clash of Clans, and has been popular for quite a long time now.  This is for good reason; it is one of the most versatile strategies out there, and can be used on almost any base to nearly always score at least 2-star victory.  GoWiPe style attacks are not difficult to master either, making them the ideal attack style for the bulk of players in Clash of Clans.  In fact, GoWiPe styled attacks are my own favorite.  I just figured this configuration out on my own while playing around with my army and spell composition a while back, and it has worked so well I wanted to take the time to share with you all so you can try it out as well.

Army Composition:

     There can be some variation as you see fit, but overall I have found that sticking with this composition or something very close to it seems to work best:

- 2 Golems (either 2 of your own or 1 of yours and a donated one from a player with higher level Golems)

- 1-2 Pekkas (can serve as both extra tanks and damage dealers/wall destroyers)

- 2-4 Wall Breakers (2-3 should be able to get through the first layer of wall)

- 8-12 Valkyries (they will tear it up and tank quite a bit of the damage!)

- 12-16 Wizards (for shooting over walls)

- 2-5 Archers (to take out builder's huts in the corners or help you get over 50% if things go wrong)

- For Clan Castle troops, ask for a Golem as stated above, or take your preference of Pekka, Wizards, Valkyries or Witches.

Spell Composition:

- 2 Jump Spells

- 1-2 Heal Spells (I usually take along 2 Jump and 2 Heal)

- 1-2 Rage

- 1 Poison (either from CC or your own)

- 1 Skeleton or Haste Spell (the choice is yours, but I like the Skeletons better personally)

     So some people may ask why not take 4 or even 8 Quake Spells instead of the 2 Jumps, and there are a few reasons.  One reason is that using Quakes over Jumps causes you to use up a lot more spell space.  To get the same effect as a Jump Spell, you need to use 4 Quakes, so a Jump costs you 2 spaces while Quakes cost you 4 spaces.  This is even more severe when using a double Jump strategy like this; you will end up using basically all your spell space just on the Quake spells.  Another reason I prefer Jump Spells is that I can drop them where they are needed while the battle is progressing, whereas when using Quake Spells they are typically dropped at the beginning of the battle in predetermined spots that will open up the most enclosures within the base.  I prefer to drop my Jump Spells as the battle is progressing, so that if my main army ends up going the wrong direction, they will still be able to get over the walls they need to easily move through the base.

     Since the Jump Spells will only take up 4 spell spaces, you will have some room left over to take along another spell or two.  As I said above, I prefer using 2 Heal Spells (after many attempts using various spell combinations, they seem to help the most).  They really seem to help when you can manage to catch most of your army in one at the point where they are slowly moving through the center of the base facing off against the enemy CC troops and the heroes as well.  This is a perfect time to catch a bunch of your troops in the spell and keep them in it for a long period of time.  I usually use the second Heal after the middle of the base has been cleared to keep the Valkyries going, or sometimes I use it before the army reaches the middle if they are having a difficult time reaching the center of the base.

     Rage Spells can certainly be effective as well; especially if it enrages several Wizards and Valkyries.  They will tear through several buildings in a matter of seconds when enraged, but the problem I have with using Rage is that they tear through the buildings so quickly that they move out of range of the Rage Spell within a few seconds, and the bulk of the spell is wasted.  Heal on the other hand seems to be wonderful when used on your Valkyries (and you can usually heal nearly all your Valks with the Heal since they will typically all run around together through the base).

Execution:

     First off, do a good thorough scout of the base (you should probably do this before any attack in war) and decide which side you will approach the base from.  Nearly all your troops will be deployed on the same side, so make sure you choose well (try to avoid running into too many high hit point buildings and defenses on your way to the center of the base, they will really slow you down).  Also keep an eye out for Golem traps; where the enemy strategically placed a few defenses outside their walls to pull your Golems to those defenses and throw them off your intended path.  If you see a cannon or archer tower outside like this make sure to plan for your Golems to head that way, otherwise you will end up with your Golems pathing one direction while the rest of your army is going a different direction.  This will cripple your attack and you will be lucky to get 2-stars, so definitely watch out for defenses outside the base (including possible hidden teslas) and if you choose to attack from a side with defenses outside like this, make sure to plan your path to account for the Golems heading to those defenses instead of to the nearest enclosure.

     Once you have chosen a side, you will be ready to deploy your army; no I did not forget about pulling the CC, but with this attack I always seem to do better when I just face the CC head on instead of wasting a bunch of time and troops/spells trying to pull the CC.  The Golems are pretty tough and can usually tank the damage from the CC troops really well, especially if you drop a Heal for them and make good use of your Poison Spell.  I like to wait until I see where the CC troops are heading then drop the Poison ahead of them at the spot where they will meet my troops; this forces them to sit in the Poison while trying to fight against my army (the Poison Spell also slows down their attack speed, which causes them to do much less damage).  With the synergistic effects of the Poison and Heal working together, the CC troops are little more than a small speed bump on your way to the center and the TH.

     You can release all of your wall breakers once you see that the Golems have gotten the attention of all the defenses that might target the wall breakers.  You can use 1 of 2 strategies when releasing your wall breakers.  You can either release them far enough away from the Golems so they don't get caught in the crossfire of a mortar or wizard tower on their way to the wall, or you can time your release so that you release them just as a mortar round hits the ground (this should give them enough time to reach the wall and explode before the mortar can fire another shot).  If you try to use the timing strategy, make sure there are no wizard towers attacking the Golems, if there are then you will most likely still get your wall breakers wiped out even if you time it right and dodge the mortar fire.  Some players prefer to release their wall breakers one-at-a-time to keep from getting them all wiped out by splash damage, but I prefer to drop all of them at once and make sure to time it correctly or position them correctly to avoid any splash damage, because this saves you valuable time completing this part of the raid.  It can take several extra seconds to release all 2-4 walls breakers one-at-a-time because you will have to wait for the mortar to fire again each time, which is why I prefer sending them all together.

      Funneling is a key part of this strategy.  Creating a good funnel and getting all your troops into the base significantly increases your chance of pulling off a 3-star victory.  To create a funnel with this army, I drop 2-4 wizards on each side of my Golems.  Place them far enough away so that once they destroy 1-2 buildings there will be no choice for the other troops but to head into the base.  Give your wizards enough time to get about 2 shots in, which should allow them to destroy a building.  Once they have destroyed at least 1 building or you can tell they have created enough space to force your troops into the base, go ahead and start releasing the rest of your army.  I usually release them in this order: Pekka(s), Valkyries, Wizards (you can save 1-4 of them for clean-up if desired).  Not only will this ensure your troops enter the base and don't just circle the outside, but it will also allow you to get maximum effect out of your spells, especially Rage or Heal, because your troops will stay grouped up as they work their way through the base; it will also help your Jump Spells be more effective because more troops will be able to make use of the Jumps if they are all inside the base together.

        Another key to success with this strategy is to keep a close eye on where your troops are heading and making sure to drop them a Jump spell when they get stuck behind some high level walls.  This will keep them moving forward so they spend less time getting hammered by defenses while attacking walls.  When you drop the Jump Spells, make sure to drop them in such a way that it allows your troops to Jump into and out of as many enclosures as possible!  Don't just drop a Jump to let them get over the wall that is right in front of them, but strategically drop it so that it covers the wall they are at and several other parts of walls that close off other enclosures.  Spend a lot of time practicing using Jump Spells so you are very familiar with their exact range, and in no time you will be able to drop them in exactly the right spot that lets you get the most out of each Jump.  Once you get really good at it, using 2 Jumps will allow you to move through a base without having to destroy almost any walls at all.  There will always be a few troops that will have to clear some walls in an attack, but you will be surprised just how much wall you can negate by using the 2 Jumps.

     Once your troops have swept past the center of the base, drop any remaining troops in areas that they can help clear several buildings without being targeted by any of the remaining defenses.  If there are not many outside buildings left or you have some troops already circling the base, you can send any remaining troops into the base to bolster your main army inside.  Sometimes this can give them just enough of a boost to wipe out those last few defenses.  If all goes well, you will be well on your way to earning a 3-star victory with plenty of time to spare!

Tips:

     Practice makes perfect:  you will not be a master of this attack on the first try, but don't give up!  Each time you perform this attack you will get better and will have a better result, and each time you will see something that you can do a little differently to improve the outcome of the battle.  Take some time to practice this attack while farming before trying it in a war.  You could also get invaluable practice (and for free I might add...) from encouraging your clan mates to post challenges, this allows you to try this strategy on different types and difficulties of bases while also not costing you anything, so make use of it!      

Dragoon ZapQuake Strategy for TH-7/8

     Since the update changed how quake spells work, they have become much more useful in battles and new strategies have sprung up that make use of them.  One new way of attacking that takes advantage of the new quake spell mechanics is referred to as the "Zap-Quake Strategy".  This strategy can be used with different types of armies and even air attacks benefit from the use of quake spells if used correctly.

     If you have already checked out my post on the Dragoon Strategy, you will already be familiar with how to perform the attack.  If you haven't already looked at my Dragoon Strategy post, I highly suggest you check it out because I will not be going into all the details of the Dragoon attack here; I will mostly only be pointing out the ways this attack will differ from a normal Dragoon attack and some of the benefits and drawbacks to each.  So, if you haven't read my post on how to perform a Dragoon Attack , I will post the link here so you can check that out first.

http://soyouwannaclash.blogspot.com/2016/02/zap-quake-strategy.html

Battle Preparation:

     There are only a few differences in how you start the raid when using the Zap-Quake strategy.  Using this strategy will result in you having no extra spells to help your dragons and balloons once they are deployed, which is a really uncomfortable feeling the first few times you attempt this style of attack.  But in place of the normal heal, rage, and/or haste that you are used to, you will be taking 2-4 lightning spells and 1-2 quake spells.  The idea is the same as when players used to use lightning spells to take out air defenses before sending in their air troops, but instead of using 3 lightning spells you can now use only 2 lightning spells and a quake can finish it off.  This is a major difference because instead of using 3 lightning spells that would take 6 spell spaces, you can take 2 light and a quake and only use 5 spaces, which gives you room to take an extra dark spell (or another quake if you opt to use the "Double Zap-Quake Strategy").

     To begin the battle, you will want to have already chosen which air defense(s) you will use your spells on.  Preferably you will have done this prior to attacking, while scouting the base beforehand.  The key to this strategy is choosing the best air defense to remove from the battlefield.  In a base that is asymmetrical, you will likely find an air defense that will be more difficult for your dragons and loons to reach than the others; this is almost always going to be the best one to take out.  If there isn't an air defense that really stands out as more protected, see if there are any that have been placed away from other defenses and/or buildings near the center of the base.  These are usually designed this way so that your air troops will go around the air defense instead of through it, allowing it to pick them off while your troops attack all the buildings nearby.  These kinds of air defenses are ideal targets for this strategy because removing them from the battle gives your air troops a much higher chance of survival.  It is a different situation when attacking symmetrical bases.  There will likely not be any air defense that is any more difficult to reach than the others.  In this scenario, you will choose the air defense based on which side you are planning to attack from.  Look for which side has the most storages, the cc, and other high hit point buildings and attack from the opposite side.  This way, when you encounter all the high hit point structures, you will have most likely already gotten rid of most or all of the air defenses.

Execution:

     Once you have chosen an air defense to target with your spells, you will hit it with 2 lightnings (or possibly 3 if you have low level lightning spells and are attacking someone with high level air defenses).  If you are unsure how many lightnings you will need, scout the enemy base and tap on their air defenses and see how many hit points they have.  Then, check your lightning spells to see how much damage they do; if 2 lightning spells will do enough damage to put the air defense under 15-25% (depending on the level of your quake spell), then you only need 2.  But if they do not put the air defenses under that percentage, you will have to take an extra one.  This is extremely important to make sure of, because it will be a total waste if you use all those spells and the air defense is still standing (and still able to hit your troops until they can reach it to finish it off).

     One final important consideration is deciding whether to only take enough spells for 1 Zap-Quake, or taking enough spells for 2.  If you take only enough for 1, you will be able to also take your choice of heal, rage, or haste spells; but if you take enough for 2 Zap-Quakes, you can take out a second air defense.  Both strategies have their benefits and drawbacks; having the extra supporting spells like heal/rage/haste can really give your troops a boost if things begin to go awry, but using being able to destroys a second air defense right from the get-go can also really boost your attack, so this choice is completely up to you.

Pro Tips:

1.     If you are really good at judging the range of your spells, it is possible to take out 2 air defenses with a single set of Zap-Quake spells!  You have to really know the exact range of you spells to make this work, so it is definitely taking a risk because you may wind up missing slightly and end up not destroying either air defense!  The only real way to get 2 air defenses with a single set of Zap-Quake spells is if the air defenses are butted right next to each other or are within one tile of each other.  Any further than that and your lightning spells will not do enough damage to them to allow the quake to finish them off (since the lightning spell does significantly more damage in the center of it's range and less damage the further from center you go).  However, some players will opt to take 4 lightning spells and drop 2 directly on each air defense, then simply use a single quake spell to finish off both air defenses if they are in range.  While this takes up more spell space, it greatly increases the chances of destroying both air defenses.

2.     Another tip involves attacking TH-9 bases that have an Archer Queen.  If she happens to be located directly next to one of the air defenses, you can sometimes take her out as well when you take out the air defense.  To do this, simply wait and watch as she walks around patrolling the area of her altar; eventually (if she is close enough) she will step right on top of the air defense and stand there.  As soon as she approaches the air defense, drop both of your lightning spells right on top of her and the air defense.  In many cases if timed accurately, you will be able to destroy the air defense and kill the enemy Queen at the same time!!!  It is a good idea to just sit and watch her patrol while scouting the base to get familiar with how she patrols and how long she stands still when she stops.  Needless to say, pulling this off will go a very long way in helping your attack succeed, because she can take out balloons in 1-3 hits and do substantial damage to dragons as well.

Latest Update Totally Changes How We Farm!

In the latest update of Clash of Clans, there were many huge changes made to the time required to train various troops.  This change has been overall very welcomed among the players, as it greatly reduces the amount of time it takes for players to create their armies for farming and clan wars.  Some troops are now 3x faster than before, while others are 2x as fast, and still others are slightly less than 2x as fast.

Here is an overview of the times now required to create troops/spells:

Wizards, Balloons, Valkyries, and Bowlers - These troops had their completion times reduced from 8 minutes to 5 minutes.

Dragons, Witches, and Wall Breakers - These units have had their completion times cut in half!  That means Dragons take 15 instead of 30 minutes, Witches take 10 instead of 20 minutes, and Wall Breakers take 1 minute instead of 2.

P.E.K.K.A., Golems, and Lava Hounds - These guys have had their completion times cut drastically from 45 minutes to only 15 minutes!

Spells and Dark Elixir Spells - All Spells have had their completion times cut in half!  All Dark Spells now only take 5 minutes to complete, and all Elixir Spells now only take 10 minutes to make.


Here is a table showing the same information in an easier to read form:

Troop/Spell Type	Original Completion Time	Current Completion Time	Completion Time Reduction
Wizard	8 min	5 min	37.5%
Balloon	8 min	5 min	37.5%
Valkyrie	8 min	5 min	37.5%
Bowler	8 min	5 min	37.5%
Dragon	30 min	15 min	50%
Wall Breaker	2 min	1 min	50%
Witch	20 min	10 min	50%
P.E.K.K.A.	45 min	15 min	66.7%
Golem	45 min	15 min	66.7%
Lava Hound	45 min	15 min	66.7%
Elixir Spells	20 min	10 min	50%
Dark Elixir Spells	10 min	5 min	50%

How Will This Affect The Game?

While this update does not make it any less expensive to use the best troops in the game, it definitely removes the time constraints that caused some players to choose to use other kinds of armies in their attacks.  This will allow farmers to grab resources much faster than was previously possible.  You can now use stronger troops and still not have to wait over 30-45 minutes between attacks, so this will really help players who have had a hard time successfully raiding with weaker troops since they will now be able to make stronger troops much more quickly.

This is also going to help players that are pushing for trophies by greatly decreasing down time between attacks, which will cut down on instances where you get attacked while waiting for your troops to finish training.  Trophy pushers will also benefit from the fact that golems and some of the other strongest troops in the game now only take 1/3 of the time to train, allowing players to use more of them without sacrificing time (and possibly trophies).  In short, this allow trophy pushers to use stronger troops (and therefore have more raiding success), while also providing them with less situations of being attacked while training an army for raiding.

There are even more updates in the works that will change the way we play Clash of Clans even more!  Be on the look-out for more info as the updates occur!

Zap-Quake Strategy

Here comes the Zap Quake!

Zap-Quake (aka zapquake) is a new strategy that employs the use of the earthquake dark spell in conjunction with the lightning spell to destroy air defenses using the fewest spell spaces possible. This is a guide that will help you master the different approaches to the zapquake strategy, and I have also provided several tables that will show you how many lightning spells you will need to use with an earthquake spell (at a given lightning and quake spell level) to destroy an air defense of a given level.  The zapquake attack is very versatile and can be used in almost any situation for many TH levels.  By the end of this guide, you should be able to use several variations of the zapquake attack, which will allow you to attack many different base designs and have success in many different situations (such as inactive heroes that are being upgraded or facing a higher level base than your own).

Zap Quaking 2016!

This attack strategy can work with several different army compositions that are completely different from one another, while others are quite similar.  It can be used with a Queen Walk, Dragoons, Lavaloons, GoLaLo, and a few others.  With the spell donation in the recent update, you can now take down 2 air defenses on a base even if they are too far apart to use the same lightning/earthquake combo.

In general, you will want to use the zapquake to destroy the air defense that is the hardest to get to or the hardest for your army to destroy.  This way, you can take out the easier ones that much faster without worrying about another air defense attacking your army from deeper within the base.  A pro tip for this strategy is this: if you find that the queen is nearby one of the air defenses, you can sometimes take her out along with the air defense by waiting for her to walk near the air defense while she is doing her normal patrol she does before you start your attack, before dropping your zapquake spells.  This can kill her outright, and really make the rest of your attack much easier.


Zap Quake Spell Combinations

The spells you take along in your zapquake attacks will depend on the army you are using as well as which style of zapquake you intend to do. If you have any leftover spell space, you will want to take either rage or haste spells (preferably haste since you can take more of them), to help the balloons or dragons move about the base much faster.


For a double zapquake, you will use:
4 lightning spells, 2 earthquake spells

To take out 2 air defenses by zapping each twice then using a single quake that reaches them both:
4 lightning spells, 1 earthquake spell

To take out 1 air defense and if you need a jump to reach the queen:
2 lightning spells, 1 earthquake spell, and 1 jump spell


Types of Armies that Work Well With Zap Quake:

• 1-5 Lava Hounds (the number of air defenses you will have left over after zapquake/kill squad + 1), 10-20 Balloons
• 1-3 Lava Hounds, 6-10 Dragons
• As many Dragons as you can take
• Dragons and some Balloons (Dragoons)
• 1-3 Lava Hounds, 1-2 Golems, 10-20 Balloons, 6-12 Wizards 

For Lava Hounds and Balloons:

If you have high level heroes that can tank long enough to get to and kill the enemy queen and the clan castle troops (and hopefully an air defense as well), you can use the heroes alone (or with a few wizards/archers) to do the job before sending out the air portion of your attack.  Without high level heroes though, this can end in disaster and cause you to possibly score no stars at all on your attack, so if you have heroes lower than level 15-20 I would suggest taking along at least 1 golem and a few wizards to assist your heroes in killing the enemy queen, an air defense and the clan castle troops, and remember to take along a few wall breakers to get the kill squad into the first compartment and ensure they don't simply circle the base.

But if your heroes are up to the task, you will first destroy the toughest air defense to get to or the one furthest from where you plan on starting your air attack.  After destroying it, you will send out your heroes and a wall breaker or two to get them into the first compartment nearest to the enemy queen.  Note that if the queen's altar is against a wall, she will hop over it to attack your heroes once they move within range of her, allowing your King to take her out.  As soon as she begins attacking your heroes, they will turn and target her, sometimes this even gets them to move deeper into the base and nearer to the next air defense.  They will likely also pull the CC troops during this time as well, so if you haven't used their abilities yet, now may be a good time to have your finger at the ready in case they start taking heavy damage.  You can also opt to take a poison spell in place of a haste if you think your heroes might need some extra help.

After you have destroyed the intended air defenses and killed the enemy queen and clan castle troops, you will begin the air raid portion of your attack.  The lava hounds will tank for the balloons while they take out the final air defenses, and when the hounds begin popping (dying) they spawn several lava pups that are very similar to minions, which will help the balloons with clean-up duty.  Place your remaining haste/rage spells near the remaining air defenses in spots that will allow them to catch as many of the balloons as possible.  The hounds should be able to live long enough to allow your balloons to take down the remaining air defenses, and if you're lucky they will die off just as the air defenses go down and explode into several pups, since the pups will be much more help than the hound in destroying the remaining base structures.


For Lava Hounds and Dragons (or just Dragons):

If you're heroes are moderately high level and you are confident they can survive long enough on their own to take down the enemy CC and an air defense (and maybe the enemy queen), you may opt to use dragons instead of the golem, kill squad, and balloons with your lava hounds.  You will be able to take between 6-10 dragons depending on how many hounds you need and whether you take along support troops for your heroes.  You can still take a golem to help your heroes using this strategy, preferably in your CC, but this will definitely hurt you in terms of taking up a lot of your already limited space, since the dragons will be taking up 20 spaces each already.  This strategy is a little simpler, because you can choose to leave the enemy queen alone if she is too difficult to pull, since the dragons are tough and will be able to tank her damage until they take her down.  Also always remember to take along a few wall breakers to get your kill squad into the right compartment, otherwise you will risk them just circling the base which would be useless.

The same overall strategy still applies; zap down one or two of the air defenses before beginning your attack.  You can either choose to take along a few wizards to help your heroes take out another air defense and the clan castle troops (and possibly the queen), or you can just send your heroes and use a few wall breakers to get them into the compartment with the air defense (or a compartment adjacent to an air defense since the queen and/or wizards will shoot over the wall and destroy it).  You can take along a heal or jump if needed to help your troops access everything they need to take out and help them survive longer.

Once your kill squad has accomplished their tasks, you can release your lava hounds and dragons to begin your air attack.  You will want to release the hound(s) so that it(they) only begin taking damage at the time the dragons start to get in range of the remaining air defense(s).  You will also want to release the hound(s) so that they trip as many air bombs and traps as possible while they path towards the air defenses.  Sometimes this will mean sending them from the opposite side of the target air defenses, and other times it will mean sending them from some other angle, you will have to make your best judgement on where the most likely spots for the air traps are.

The rest of the attack is basically the same as before; you will use your remaining rage and haste spells to speed up your dragons as they work their way through the base, especially while they are still dealing with any remaining air defenses because the air defenses will be the main threat to your dragons from this point forward.  If all goes according to plan, at this point you should be on your way to a 3-star victory!

One final note:  If you are using only dragons as your air raid army, you will want to save as many spells as you can to help speed them up and get them to the remaining air defenses as quickly as possible.  Without the hounds to tank for them, the dragons will be more susceptible to the air defenses and will need  more help to get past them.  The advantage to this strategy is that you will be able to take more dragons with you, so you can afford to lose a few to the air defenses if needed.  You will be able to take 3 extra dragons in place of 2 lava hounds, so it is quite a significant increase in the number of dragons you can take to battle if you opt to leave the lava hounds out of the fight.  In this strategy it is more important than ever for you to take out as many of the air defenses as possible before releasing your dragons, because they will not be able to survive for long if there are more than 2 air defenses remaining.


For Dragons and Balloons (aka Dragoons):

This attack is very similar to the variation of zapquake that uses only dragons for the air portion of the raid.  You will still want to take out as many air defenses as possible before beginning your air attack, so definitely take enough support troops along to ensure your heroes are able to take out 1-2 air defenses and the CC, and preferably the enemy queen as well (if not, she will make very short work of your balloons).  Don't forget to take a couple of wall breakers to get them into the first compartment.  You will probably want to bring along between 6-10 dragons and 8-12 balloons (you can also bring 1-2 lava hounds if so desired, but keep in mind how much space you are going to be using!).  For spells, you should take 1-3 rage, 1-4 haste, and either a heal or jump if needed for the kill squad, and of course 2 lightning and 1 quake for each air defense you want to zap down at the beginning. 

Once your kill squad is able to achieve their goals of killing the enemy queen and CC, and hopefully an air defense as well, you can begin your air raid.  Start by releasing your dragons (and hound(s) if you have brought any) in such a way as to let them reach the remaining air defenses as quickly as possible.  Specifically for the hounds, in this strategy it is very helpful to send them from the angle that will let them trip as many air traps as possible, because air traps and skeletons can wreak havoc on your balloons!

After your dragons have a decent head start (usually around the time they are about to enter the range of the air defenses) you can begin releasing your balloons in groups of 3-4 or by spamming them in a line behind your line of dragons (preferably the first option).  By releasing the balloons in groups, you can have different groups released at different angles so that even if one group gets distracted and moves away from the air defenses, the other groups should still be able to make their way to the air defense.  When spamming balloons, they tend to either stay grouped up and make easy targets for wizard towers and air mines, or they don't group up at all and get shot down one by one before they are able to take out any defenses.  So try to plan ahead several paths that will have a good possibility of getting the loons to the air defenses quickly, and drop a group at each good spot you found in your scouting.

While the dragons or hounds are tanking the air defenses, the balloons will come from behind them with the help of rage/haste spells and quickly take out the remaining air defenses (and the other defenses as well).  After that, the base is yours!  There will be practically nothing standing in the way of your 3-star victory, except maybe left-over traps or the battle timer...


For Golems and Wizards with Lava Hounds and Balloons:

This strategy is the same as the above strategies, but with this strategy you commit a sizable portion of your army space to ensuring your kill squad is able to do it's job completely.  This is a good way to go if you are facing a base that has an outside compartment adjacent to two air defenses, because if your kill squad can destroy them both and you have zapquaked another one you will only have one air defense left to deal with.

You will take along a single golem (maybe 2 if you really really need it), a few wizards (4-10 should be plenty to support your heroes and golem), enough hounds to equal the number of air defenses remaining at the start of the air portion of the raid plus one, and the rest of your army will be filled with balloons (hopefully you will end up having around 10-20 balloons), and finally just enough wall breakers to get you into the compartment that will allow you to take out as many air defenses as possible, probably around 2-8 wall breakers.  And yes, even if you plan on being able to destroy all the air defenses before the air portion of the raid, I would still recommend taking along a single lava hound just to help tank for the balloons and cause some havoc when it explodes upon death (and also give you some pups to help the balloons clean up).  For spells, take 2 lightning spells and 1 quake for each air defense you plan to destroy using the zapquake strategy, 1 jump if needed for the kill squad, and use the space you have left for as many rage or haste spells as you can take, also remember to either get a quake or haste spell in your CC depending on whether you already have enough quakes or not.

For the air portion, you will drop the hounds first, making sure they pick up as many skeletons and air traps as possible on their way to the air defenses.  Then you will drop your balloons and wisely choose where to deploy your rage/haste spells to help them get to the remaining air defenses as quickly as possible.  It is better to use them early on to make sure they take out the air defenses before the hounds go down, otherwise the balloons will die off quickly once they start being targeted by the air defenses.  Once the air defenses are dealt with, the only real threat remaining is traps and wizard towers.  If you saved any extra balloons, this is a great time to deploy them to distract wizard towers while your bigger groups of balloons (that are probably low on hit points by now) zero in on the wiz tower and take it out, because it is much better to have the wizard towers shooting at a single balloon rather than an entire group.  Avoiding any major catastrophe, you will be able to wipe out the base in surprisingly quick fashion with these strategies.


It takes some practice to get skilled at these attacks, but it is well worth it in the end.  You will be able to 3-star a variety of bases using the zapquake strategy, and now you know exactly how to do it.  But as I have said before, seeing and doing are two totally different things, so make sure to get plenty of practice in on farming attacks before trying this strategy out in war.  Good luck, Clash On!!!

Should you take Giants or Golems?

Clash of the Big Guys, Golems vs. Giants

Many of us have probably wondered at some point when we were forming an army if it would make a difference whether we took giants with us on a raid or whether golems would be better.  The answer to this question is debatable, but many believe it depends upon the situation at hand and whether you are going for stars (as in a war attack or trophy push), or if you are just trying to get resources (as in farming).  Both giants and golems have their positive and negative attributes, but knowing some of the key differences will help you make a more informed decision that will best work for your situation, getting you more stars or resources.

To address this question, we should first take a look at the base stats for each of these units.  After that we can discuss what these stats mean and how they apply to the uses of each unit.  Let's take a look at the giants:

Favorite Target	Attack Type	Housing Space	Training Duration	Attack Speed	Movement Speed	Range	Required Barracks Level
Defenses	Melee	5	2m	2s	12	1	3

Level	Damage Per Second	Damage Per Strike	Hit Points	Training Cost	Research Cost	Research Time	Required Lab Level
1	11	22	300	250	None	None	None
2	14	28	360	750	100,000	1d	2
3	19	38	430	1,250	250,000	2d	4
4	24	48	520	1,750	750,000	3d	5
5	31	62	670	2,250	2,250,000	5d	6
6	43	86	940	3,000	6,000,000	10d	7
7	50	100	1,100	3,500	7,000,000	14d	8

Now, let's take a look at the base stats for the golems:

Favorite Target	Attack Type	Housing Space	Training Duration	Movement Speed	Attack Speed	Required Dark Barracks Level	Range	Death Explosion Radius
Defenses	Melee	30	45m	12	2.4s	4	1 tile	1.2 Tiles

Level	Damage Per Second	Damage Per Attack	Death Explosion Damage	Hit Points	Training Cost (Dark Elixir)	Research Cost	Research Time	Required Lab Level
1	38	91.2	350	4,500	450	None	None	None
2	42	100.8	400	5,000	525	60,000	10d	6
3	46	110.4	450	5,500	600	70,000	12d	7
4	50	120	500	6,000	675	80,000	14d	7
5	54	129.6	550	6,300	750	90,000	14d	8

And here are the stats for the golemites:

Preferred Target	Attack Type	Movement Speed	Attack Speed	Range	Death Explosion Damage Radius
Defenses	Melee	12	3s	0.5 Tiles	1.2 Tiles

Level	Damage Per Second	Damage Per Strike	Death Explosion Damage	Hit Points
1	7	21	70	900
2	8	24	80	1,000
3	9	27	90	1,100
4	10	30	100	1,200
5	11	33	110	1,260

So, now that we have all the information on these units, let's compare how they stack up.  Keep in mind that we will be comparing these units in terms of 6 giants to 1 golem, since it would take 6 giants to take the same amount of space as a single golem. 

Comparison:

Damage Dealt:

Both units do similar damage, however when you factor in the fact that 6 giants are equivalent to 1 golem, the amount of damage by giants is around 6x greater than the damage from golems.  While the single golem will do all of it's damage to only one target at a time, the 6 giants will be able to damage up to 6 different structures at once.  This allows the giants to spread out more and distract a greater number of defenses.  Also of note, the golem explodes upon death causing 550 damage in a 1.2 tile radius surrounding the spot where he died, and the golemites also explode upon death causing an additional 110 damage each.  This can sometimes be enough to destroy nearby buildings, and will heavily damage or even destroy any CC troops that might have been attacking them.  This explosion is enough to kill archers, barbs, goblins, wizards, and can even kill hogs, balloons, and giants level 4 and below!  The explosion will damage both ground and air units, as well as structures and walls.

Damage Received:

Sometimes having more units is a benefit, but sometimes it is not.  Having 6 giants in place of 1 golem also means that any splash damage (such as mortars, wizard towers, cc splash damage troops, and bombs) will potentially hit all the giants, causing up to 6x the damage it would have caused to a single golem.  This means that any and all splash damage will damage all of the giants in the area, while it would only cause that damage to a single golem.  For example, if a max level giant bomb explodes near a golem, it will cause 250 damage to that golem.  But if that golem were replaced with 6 giants, the bomb would cause 250 damage to each of them, effectively causing 1,500 total damage to your army as a whole! 

This applies to inferno towers and eagle artilleries as well.  The multiple giants can all be hit by a single strike from the eagle artillery and be heavily damaged or killed outright, but most of the time the bulk of your giants will only suffer partial damage from the eagle artillery since the radius for maximum damage is very small.  However, a single golem that is stuck at a wall or working on a defense may be instantly destroyed if it takes a direct hit from the eagle artillery.  With inferno towers, giants are at an advantage against single target infernos since there are more of them and inferno damage resets each time it targets a new unit, but a single golem will quickly fall once the inferno's damage builds up.  Golems are at an advantage against multi-target infernos since they have high hit points and can tank the lower damage of the multi-target inferno very well, whereas a group of giants will quickly be killed by it. 

Notice the ring for single target infernos (on left), and sphere for multi-target infernos (center), and black-looking inactive inferno tower (on right).

Longevity/Survivability:

A single max level golem will have 6,300 hit points, plus 2 golemites that form upon it's death, each with 1,260 hit points of their own.  Each max giant will have 1,100 hit points, so 6 giants will have 6,600 hit points, which is slightly more than the single golem, but much less than the golem once you add in the golemites, not to mention the splash damage from the explosion of the golem and golemites upon their deaths.  The giants are also susceptible to spring traps, and a single spring trap can instantly remove up to 3 giants from the battlefield.  Golems are not susceptible to spring traps, and will still trip them which helps protect your other troops from being thrown from the battlefield.  It should be noted, however, that the smaller golemites that spring up from the defeated golems are susceptible to spring traps, and both can be removed from battle by a single spring trap.  

So as said before, there are good and bad aspects to choosing each of these units for your army.  Overall, in practice it definitely seems like the golems survive for a much longer period of time.  On the other hand, using 2-3 golems also seems to leave more troops open to attack since the golems can only cover so much ground, whereas an equivalent number of giants (12-18 would be equal to 2-3 golems) are able to cover a much larger area of the base, which results in a much better chance of the giants being targeted instead of the other units.  With practice though, you can become skilled enough to deploy your golems and troops in such a way that the golems are able to keep the attention of the defenses and allow the other troops to live longer.

Golems and giants are affected by inferno towers, but since golems are a single troop they can be devastated by a single target inferno tower.  Once the inferno builds up to full damage, it will very quickly destroy a golem.  With giants, you have roughly the same amount of hit points spread across multiple units instead of all in a single unit, so giants are at an advantage against single target inferno towers because it will have to reset it's damage and start all over each time it kills one of the giants and targets a new one.  Multi-target infernos are a different story, because they can quickly take out multiple giants, but aren't much of a threat to a golem.  This is another reason why it is so important to be able to tell the difference between a single or multiple target inferno tower when scouting a base, either right before a farming attack or during the prep day of a war.    


Conclusions:

In conclusion, there are several things you should look for to help you decide whether to take golems or giants as your armies preferred meat shields for a given attack.  If you are facing a base with single target inferno towers, you should definitely take at least a few giants with your golem(s) to keep the inferno towers busy switching targets and keeping their dps low.  But, if you are facing multi-target infernos, or even one multi-target inferno, it is probably best to take golems, or at least take a couple golems with a group of giants if there is one of each type of inferno.  Another strategy many players now use is to take 1-2 freeze spells to stop the infernos and force them to reset their dps, allowing them to still take golems and not have to worry so much about the single target infernos taking out the only tanking units.

For high level defenses, it is almost always better to take golems than giants (except sometimes in cases of single target infernos as stated above).  Even with single target infernos, they can be neutralized with freeze spells with relative ease.  The golems will last much longer, especially considering their golemites will continue to fight after the death of the golem itself, making them live even longer and also adding a significant amount of splash damage upon death for both the golem and it's golemites.  So ultimately, not only does the golem last much longer than the giants would against tough defenses, it also adds a significant amount of damage with 3 separate explosions when the golem and it's 2 golemites die.

Finally, for farming purposes it is usually more cost and time efficient to take along giants.  While they cannot tank as well or last as long as golems, they are much cheaper and faster to make, allowing you to get more attacks in while also spending less of your hard earned resources.  To give the giants more tankability, you can also take a few heal spells to keep them going when they are targeted by many defenses.  Heal spells no longer take so long to make, and they are fairly cheap as far as elixir spells go, so these are a good choice for farming.  Heal spells will also keep your other units alive, which is an added bonus when your primary focus is healing the giants.  At only 3,000 or so elixir, the giants are much cheaper than the golems at a whopping 675 dark elixir!  So you should take giants especially when farming for dark elixir to upgrade your heroes, you will get more attacks in and save tons of dark elixir at the same time.