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.

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.