Ok, so with the recent damage increase to hogs the most popular Clan war raid army has become mass dragons. While dragon raids can become expensive (a TH10 with L4 drags and all rage spells can spend upwards of 700,000 elixir per raid) the art of mass dragon raids can either make for great times full of 100% raids or times full of frustrating 95% 1 star 'victories.' This guide will be designed to ensure your times are the first if the two options.As a clan leader with all clan members TH8 or TH9 i took pride on utilizing my armies to achieve the maximum number of stars for my clan, and I noticed the vast differences in results some players would get with their dragon raids, even though they used the same troops. Why would some players with mass drags get constant 3🌟 raids while others would strike out? Dragon raids couldn't be that hard could they? So I investigated, practiced, tweaked, and perfected the art of mid-range (TH7-9) dragon raids. The most common mistakes dragon users make are;This guide will outline the dos and don'ts of dragon raids.When raiding ing a base in clan wars there are quite a few variables to consider when selecting your spells. First off is the base you're raiding a TH7, TH8, or TH9?If the base is TH7 there is only one type of spell needed. Lightening. When a base only has 2 Air Defenses as a TH7 does, you simply need to eliminate one of the Air Defenses prior to deploying your dragons. Carry 3 Lightening Spells and use them to blow up the Air Defense that is most hidden within the base. From there deploying the dragons in the side of the base NEAREST the remaining Air Defense (see dragon deployment sections) and watch with enjoyment as your dragons go to work.If the base is TH8 you need to see if the third Air Defense has been constructed. If not, refer to the base as a TH7. If the third Air Defense has been constructed examine the base Air Defenses. If the base has Air Defenses level 4 or lower you will be perfectly fine with all Heal Spells. Deploy your dragons and heal when and if they need to be healed (see spell placement section). If the bases Air Defenses are above level 4 you will need to bring all Rage Spells. Rage your dragons when appropriate (see spell placement section).If the base is TH9 and has Air Defenses of level 4 or higher, and/or X Bows pointed up you will need to bring all rage spells, no exceptions.When selecting spells with mass dragon raids it is never recommended to mix spells (2 rage/1 heal/1 light, etc.)The biggest mistake that I've seen dragon users make is their deployment technique when it comes to dragon raids. Mindlessly dropping dragons in a group will lead to headaches and many 1 star raids.No...just no.... Dragons AI pulls them to the next closest building regardless of the direction in or out of the base. If they're incredibly grouped together on the edge of a base they will (more times than not) follow the edge of the base with an occasional straggler breaking off to the inside. This ring-around-the-posie means Air Defenses have more time to shoot dragons down before the Air Defenses are targeted.Again no...just don't do it... Occasionally if a base is designed incredibly poorly, or the Air Defenses are under leveled you'll get away with this but typically it leads to frustrating 80-95% 1 star raids. Kids just say no!Proper deployment should be to spread a very small number of dragons along one side of a base and allow the dragons to destroy outer buildings to the left and right.Notice this player used 4 dragons (slightly excessive, however no nearby ADs means they wont be shot down quickly). The player the. Waited until the 4 buildings were destroyed and the dragons moved to the outer army camps. He then unleashed the remaining dragons.Once a path to the inner portion if the base was cleared his remaining dragons were unleashed and they went directly for the core of the base as was their intention. If the player had done as previous pictures showed and deployed all dragons at once it would have resulted in 1 star rather than than the 3 star it ended as.Another cheaper alternative to clearing outside obstacles is archers. Works against bases designed in a way that a few archers can tackle outer buildings. However if too many defensive structures nearby it will waste troops.notice how this player dropped a handful of archers to destroy a full row of buildings to the north prior to deploying his dragons. 20 archers can do the job of 1 dragon, and possibly save an extra from clearing. This can turn into an extra dragon working the core rather than the edge of the base. Once the archers are done working. Send in the meat and potatoes.The next area to consider is your deployment placement of dragons. Many times I'll see dragon users deploy their dragons in bad positions. As with all good bosses you want your troops to be out in a placement to succeed. Don't deny your drags that chance!In this picture you'll notice the attacker decided to raid the base from the north. In this base that is a bad decision. If you want a full 3 stars in each raid you will want to raid from the proper angles or it will be disastrous. A common mistake is to attack from the 'weak side' with dragons, or the side with less Air Defense units. While this may have some sort of common sense, and may work to an extent, its wrong. Your dragons do the most damage when there are the most of them alive (mind blown :-0) so naturally you would want the most amount possible hitting the Air Defenses grouped to the south of the previously shown base. When raiding from the north many of your dragons could be shot down by traps, wizard towers, and archer towers, long with others being drawn away from the core of the base due to their AI. This means by time your dragons reach the Air Defenses to the south there will be fewer of them than is needed, they'll be low on health, and no longer grouped. All those play into the hands of the defense.The final thing to be mindful of in dragon raids is the use of your spells. Proper placement of spells can be the deciding factor between a 1 or 2 star raid and a 3 star raid.When deploying heal spells you want to never waste a spell on a single dragon. Only use heal spells when multiple dragons are grouped up, low on health, and taking fire from multiple defenses. Otherwise the spell will be completely useless. Also always remember heal spells are not effective against high level Air Defenses, so Rage Spells are highly recommended for bases with level 5 and up ADs.When deploying rage spells remember to always maximize their effectiveness. This can be done in a few ways.Notice this player dropped his rage spell in a position so a large number of dragons became enraged, it sped up numerous dragons damage while they were taking fire from an archer tower, wizard tower, and air defense. The spell was also maximized in effectiveness because it was completely enclosed by buildings, and had no wasted space.In the photo above you can see multiple mistakes with this players Rage Spell placement. He overlapped multiple Rage Spells. Rage Spell effect does not stack, so stacking them wastes them. He also used one spell each for 1 dragon each. This is a huge no no. Why enrage 1 dragon when you can enrage 10? Also with the amount of nearby defenses targeting the affected dragons they were not under heavy fire and so did not need the speed boost as much as other areas if the raid may have.Once again the attacker dropped multiple unneeded Rage Spells. He did get numerous dragons inside one if the spells, however he wasted them due to the fact there was no need for a Rage Spell to be used. With a small number if defenses hitting each dragon the enrage ability wasn't crucial to success.In our final picture you'll see a player who attempted to get multiple dragons into a single Rage Spell. His placement was OK, and as the dragons converge on the CC and TH they all become enraged and year through the core quickly enough that the WT and ADs are able to be destroyed and the raid results in a 3🌟. Good placement!Please feel free to leave any constructive feedback on this thread and let me know if it helped! It's my second raid based guide with my first being a Giant/Hog farming guide. The link to it is in my signature. Thanks for reading and I hope it helps!!