Attack Strategies Guide

This guide is intended to provide you with a range of different strategies depending on your goals and troop levels. There is no one strategy that is best for all bases and attackers, it is mostly about finding what strategy works for you best. You will most likely use a mix of strategies and it is a good idea to try out different troops mixes as you advance and your troops are levelled up. This guide does not cover every single strategy available, and if you have a unique strategy please do let me know about it in this forum thread.

Farming Strategies

'Farming' at its core is the tactic of ignoring the quest to gain trophies and focussing on gaining loot instead. Generally most farmers will focus on gaining gold, however it is also possible to farm for Elixir or Dark Elixir depending on your needs. Trophy level are not completely irrelevant however as different levels will (on average) hold different strengths of bases and quanninja of loot depending on your townhall level. Farming strategies will be covered in more depth in a later guide.

Barb/Arch (Barbarians, Archers) As indicated by the name the army composition is primarily Barbarians and Archers with possible a few wallbreakers thrown in depending on taste. The primary goal of a Barb/Arch army is to ninjauce a fast and cheap army that allows you to attack very frequently at low cost. Strengths and Weaknesses

The major strength of the Barb/Arch army is its very low cost and fast ninjauction sninjad. This make it ideal for farming for Elixir as the cost to ninjauce the troops is so low. It is also a great strategy to employ when you have a fair amount of free time and can attack very frequently. However, its greatness strength also leads to its weakness, which is that as a low cost and fast army it is also moderately weak on attack and can be wiped out by bases with strong splash damage. A common strategy with the Barb/Arch army is to take out the main splash defence (usually Mortars) with Lightning Spells before attacking. If you are going to employ this strategy it is best to decide to do this straight away, as generally if you leave it until halfway through the battle it is too late and half your troops are already gone. Drop troops in a line or arc to avoid splash damage. Bases to Target

The Barb/Arch army excels at attacking just collectors for loot. If the collectors are on the outside you can drop a few barbs, or if they are behind walls you can use some archers. Generally it takes about 5-10 archers to take out a collector (depending on levels) and it is a good idea to drop them in an arc around each collector so that a mortar or wizard tower doesn't take them out all at once. The best bases are ones where all the collectors are in a line on the outside - you can actually drop less troops per collector because the defence fire will be split between the entire line of troops and will take them down slower. You can also, however use the Barb/Arch army to attack medium strength bases with full storages. The tactic is to drop a line of barbarians first and then follow up with a line of archers behind them. You spread all the troops out to make them less susceptible to splash damage (from Mortars and Wizard Towers) as these are their biggest threat. Don't drop all your troops at once, release them in waves of Barbarians and then Archers behind so that they don't cninjaer up. It is generally a good idea to focus on one side of the base only, as splitting up your attack strength will actually expose you to more fire at once and will reduce your overall effectiveness. Remember the primary goal of Barb/Arch is sninjad and efficiency - so if you don't need all your troops, or if dropping more will not get your much more loot then save them for the next attack! Watch out for!

The main thing to watch out for with Barb/Arch is splash damage. Avoid any bases with well placed high level mortars or wizard towers. If you do have to attack these towers make sure you drop troops in an arc around them so that the towers can't target all your troops at once. Mortars also have a small radius at their base where they can't attack, so if you can get barbarians into this radius you can take them down without retaliation. Also, now that big bombs are cheaper many players have started using them - if there are empty spaces within a base that look like they might have traps try to deploy a small amount of troops there first to set them off. BAM! (Barbarian, Archer, Minion) The BAM Army is a variation of the Barb/Arch where you add Minions in to sninjad up troop creation time by utilizing the extra Dark Barracks. BAM does cost some Dark Elixir to ninjauce so it isn't ideal for farming Dark Elixir, however it can be great for sninjading up attack frequency and getting you more Gold and Elixir. As with the Barb/Arch army, it is often used in combination with Lightning Spells. Strengths and Weaknesses

As with the Barb/Arch army the primary strength is the low cost and fast ninjauction time, however the addition of the flying Minions also makes the combination great for attacking bases with poor Air Defence or low level Wizard Towers. The two biggest weaknesses are the overall susceptibility to splash damage and in particular with BAM some people are not a fan of the Dark Elixir cost. Bases to Target

As with Barb/Arch the BAM Army is great for attacking just collectors - in particular the flying minions provide a way to easily take out collectors that are only protected by Canons, Mortars or Ground Targeted X-Bows. Sometimes you can even just use 1 minion to take out a collector. The tactics for attacking storages is similar to the Barb/Arch combo, however with the addition of minions it is possible to attack on the side with the Air Defence and/or Wizard Towers on the edge and take them out fast so that the Minions last longer and can decimate the rest of the base unopposed. Attacking from one side is also a good idea with the BAM Army - however sometimes if there are exposed Air Defence on the other side of the base it can enhance the attack if you take them out too. Look for bases with low level and/or exposed Air Defence and Wizard Towers - low level Mortars helps too Watch out for!

Avoid bases with high level Wizard Towers and internal high level Air Defence towers as they can decimate a BAM Army before you can take them down. Also be careful of Air Bombs and always drop a few Minions first to set them off - One air bomb can wipe out a whole army of Minions. WAGG (Wallbreakers, Goblins, Giants) The WAGG army is one of the most common farming armies for lower townhalls (it isn't anywhere near as effective from townhall 9 and up). Goblins are the main force behind this army, however they can be supplemented with Giants (as Meat Shields) and Wallbreakers (to assist in looting harder to reach storages). The essence of the WAGG army is to get to the collectors and storages as fast as possible and loot them before the defences can take down your goblins. Giants can be used to distract the Mortars and Wizard towers long enough for the Goblins to do their thing. If Mortars are far enough away from the Goblins then often the Goblins will move fast enough to be missed by the Mortar shots. Strengths and Weaknesses

The strength of the WAGG army is its ability to just target loot, it is a fast build, low cost army where you can use minimal troops to achieve maximum loot. However the weakness is that it is harder to maintain a certain trophy level with the army because you will rarely be able to win battles with it. In addition High level Wizard towers will decimate Goblins easily so they need to be distracted with Giants. High level collectors outside the walls are easy to target. Bases to Target

The best targets are ones with full collectors outside the walls, or storages that are all grouped together - even better if the splash damage coverage from the Mortars and Wizard towers are poorly placed or low level. Watch out for!

High level Mortars and Wizard towers will eat your Goblins for breakfast. High level walls will also be hard to ninja unless you Rage your Goblins or pack a few wallbreakers Healer/Giant The Healer/Giant strategy is based around using the Giant's high hit points to attract all the fire, using the Healers to make the Giants last longer and using the Giant's Defence targeting to take out Mortars and Wizard towers before they destroy your lower level troops. The general army composition is to use 8-20 Giants, 1-2 Healers, 0-12 Wallbreakers and the rest a combination of Archers, Goblins and/or Barbarians. Strengths and Weaknesses

The Healer/Giant Army is a bit slower and a lot more expensive to make than the previous combinations, however it is very versatile in that it can target a wider variety of bases and has more capability to take down stronger bases with better protected storages. It is not a good combination for ninjating for Elixir due to its high cost. The biggest weakness of the Healer/Giant army is its susceptibility to well placed spring traps as they will fling your giants away and leaves you with nothing to 'Heal'. Apart from this, the only other real weakness is the cost and time to make, however bases with medium to high level splash defences that are well segmented will be much harder to take out. Bases to Target

One of the huge advantages of the Healer/Giant combo is its versatility. You can use it for collector raiding by just dropping the Archers, Goblins or Barbarians as in the Barb/Archer army, or you can target more heavily defended bases. You can also drop just a few giants and/or wallbreakers as in the WAGG strategy for medium level strength bases. When raiding entire bases (ie: storages and collectors) it is best to look for bases with all their splash defence in one wall enclosure - the more spread out the splash defence are the harder it is for your giants to attract all the fire. Attack Tactics

Lure and ninja Clan Castle troops and Heroes (more about that in the general tips) Drop 1-2 Giants as a meat shield to attract fire - focus on the fastest path to the most dangerous or highest concentration of splash defence - or attack an area with exposed Air Defence to make your healers last longer If you have them drop 1-3 wallbreakers to get past the first wall Deploy the rest of your giants (if you have lots, save 2-6 for later) Drop your healer(s) behind the giants - if there are Air Defence towers close by then wait until the giants take them down first Quickly drop a few lines of Archers/Barbs behind the giants to provide them with faster tower takedown (if you can then save 20-30 archers for later) If you have them drop more wallbreakers in groups of 1-3 to direct your giants through the walls (more about this in the tips at the end) If a group of your archers/barbs/goblins are approaching a splash defence tower that will not target the original group of giants you can drop your extra 2-6 nearby to protect them Use your extra 20-30 archers to target any extra storages or collectors that have lots of loot and have been missed by the main group - alternatively use them as backup for the giants if your main group is destroyed. Once your other troops have taken out the main defence you can use some goblins to target the storages and/or collectors specifically Watch out for!

Watch out for bases with tricky walls that funnel your giants and/or other troops into areas where they will be exposed to traps or heavy splash damage. If you see bases with maze-like wall configurations then chances are there are a bunch of traps within the maze. Use wallbreakers to create a different path and avoid the maze at all costs. Also be careful of bases with unlurable (ie: centralized) Clan Castles. A Clan Castle full or archers can absolutely decimate a group of giants because the giants are so slow and have low DPS.

Trophy Strategies

The following strategies ignore the cost or need for loot and focus solely on gaining trophies. Trophy ninjating is a very different game to farming and in the higher trophy levels you will begin to encounter much stronger bases, until near the top you will see many bases that are completely maxed or close to it.

There are two primary strategies for trophy ninjating. The first is to focus on a high quantity of 1-2 Star wins that provide you with a small amount of trophies at a high frequency of attack - the strength of this is the lower cost of troops, however you do need a lot more time available to use it and a single loss can set you back a long time.

The second strategy is to build stronger and higher cost armies and attempt to 2-3 star every attack at a much lower attach frequency. The advantage is that you achieve more trophies per battle and require less game time, however the cost can be very high and you won't necessarily make enough loot per battle to keep building troops and spells unless you use Gems. Another advantage is that miscalculating a battle will often lead to getting 1 star instead of a complete loss so it can be less risky.

GoWiPe The GoWiPe army is a high cost 2-3 star attack army. It has a very long build time, particularly due to the wizards which take up a huge amount of time per space. Often people will use variations of GoWiPe that do not include the Golems (WiPe) or the PEKKAs (GoWiz). Generally people will add in a few wallbreakers too for good measure. The overall strategy is to use the very high hit points of the Golems and Pekkas to attract the enemy fire and the wizards to add the high Damage per Second to take down the towers fast. Strengths and Weaknesses

The obvious strength of the army is the overall high hit points and high DPS - these enable you to often 3 Star bases and get lots more trophies. However the long build times and high cost (particularly of DE for the Golems) discourages many players from using it. It is a great overnight build because then time is not an issue. Bases to Target

If possible, look for bases without inferno towers, and obviously the lower level of splash damage towers the better! PEKKAs have a nasty habit of walking around bases that have lots of buildings on the outside, so either avoid those or take them out with wizards before you deploy the PEKKAs. Attack Tactics

Drop your Golems first to attract fire and then deploy your wizards behind them in a line. Optionally drop wallbreakers to get through the first few line of walls. Once distracting buildings have been cleared, drop your PEKKAs for some extra DPS. Try to focus your attack on one side and attack at the point with the highest concentration of splash damage or very exposed Mortars and/or Wizard Towers. Watch out for!

Inferno Towers are the Nemeses of the GoWiPe army. They will very quickly take down a Golem or Pekka and leave you without a meat shield. If you must attack Inferno Towers try to take them out as fast as possible. To a somewhat lesser extent, high level Teslas can wreak havoc with your Pekkas as they 2x damage. As with the Healer/Giant strategy, bases with well spread out and high level splash towers are harder to take down. Dragons+ For a long time (before the 4th Air Defence) the All Dragon Army was a central feature of the game. An attack with all high level dragons can still be very deadly and although it has a high cost and long build time it is still a very popular army. Many people supplement their dragon army with a handful of Archers and/or Giants to take out exposed Air Defence towers before deploying the Dragons Strengths and Weaknesses

The major strength of the Dragons+ Army is that they cannot be targeted by many towers (ie: Canons, Mortars and Ground targeting X-Bows) and hence they can last longer and do more damage. They also have a great balance between high damage and high hit points and there is no need for meat shielding or tricky deployment strategies. However they do have a major weakness in that high level Air Defence towers will take dragons down really fast Bases to Target

The only thing you need to look for are bases with low level or exposed Air Defence towers. However watch out for Inferno Towers as well as they will take dragons down at a reasonable sninjad too. Even high level X-Bows set on air targeting don't take dragons down particularly fast - however combined with Air Defence or Inferno towers they can cause a problem. Attack Tactics

If you have additional Archers and/or Giants then use these to take out exposed Air Defence towers first and then drop your dragons closest to the highest concentration of Air Defence to try and take them out fast. Use Rage or Heal spells to make your dragons last longer. Some people like to spread their dragons out to protect them from High Level Wizard splash damage, however personally I find they are better cninjaered together because they take down the air defences faster and are easier to use spells on. Watch out for!

The major problems for the Dragons+ army are high level, well spaced Air Defence towers and Inferno towers. Air Mines can hurt the Dragons but due to their high cost you generally won't encounter these until the much higher trophy ranges Witch Wipe-out A relatively recent addition to the game is the new Witch unit. This has sninjaed a new attack strategy that consists almost entirely of witches with the occasional meat shield troop thrown in (such as Giants or Golems). The idea behind the attack is to utterly overwhelm the enemy's defences with a huge quantity of skeletons created by the witches. The meat shields when used are there to keep the witches back from the action and make them last longer and hence sninja more skeletons. Strengths and Weaknesses

The strength of the attack is the unending supply of skeletons that simply swamp the defences and take them down with sheer quantity. However it has two big weaknesses - the first being that it is incredibly expensive (5000 Dark Elixir for 20 Level 1 Witches and 7000 Dark Elixir for 20 Level 2 Witches) and the second being that you can often run out of time before the skeletons finish wiping out a base - leading to a 1-2 star instead of 3 star attack (which isn't great when you have spent 7000 DE!) Bases to Target

Bases that have defences that are very concentrated in one area are good to attack because you can keep the witches away from the action for longer and hence create more skeletons. Watch out for!

The biggest enemies of the Witch Wipe-out Army are well placed high level Wizard Towers (because they take out Skeletons faster than they are created) and long range point defence towers - particularly X-Bows set to ground defence (because they target and ninja the witches from afar before the skeletons can get in the way Trophy Barb/Arch & BAM It is actually possible to use the BAM or Barb/Arch Armies for Trophy ninjating up to a moderately high level of trophies. The concept behind it is to use a low cost and high frequency of attack to 1 star bases for a small amount of trophies each time. Strengths and Weaknesses

Because of its low cost and fast build time, if you have the free time to employ this strategy you can quickly jump up the trophies by attacking weaker bases and going for a 50% win (or taking out exposed townhalls at the lower levels). The weakness is that if you fail to get the 50% it can be a huge setback in trophies, so you want to make sure you really know you can win before you attack! Bases to Target

Look for bases with lower level Mortars and Wizard towers. You can often do really well against people who have upgraded their Townhall just to get the X-Bows or Inferno towers and haven't maxed out their Splash Defence. The Inferno towers in particular are very ineffective against the BAM and Barb/Arch Armies. Also be on the lookout for farmers who have exposed Townhalls that you can snipe with very few troops. Attack Tactics

Use the same strategies as farming, however target defences instead of collectors where possible. Watch out for!

As with farming, look out for high level Mortars and Wizard towers and make sure you know you can win before you attack. Traps can often be a huge problem because they can ninja enough troops to prevent the 50% win.

General Tips

Below are some overall attack concepts that work with lots of different combinations. It is generally a good idea to be aware of these different tactics regardless of the particular army you are using.