March 21, 2016 - Kick Report

March 21, 2016  Kick Report

Akn - new member #2 in war was kicked by kev for poor war attacks, 0 stars.  also he was a rushed TH10.

Mitch - kicked by golgon for multiple infractions: not donating (0 donated / 176 received), ignoring requests (he requested and ignored open requests before his), and only using 1 attack in multiple wars, and attacking a th7 (lowest base) when he is a th9 (#8 attacking #20).

ko ok - new member was kicked by star for leeching, non-existent donations.  one failed war attack

rajesh - new member #15 in war left in the middle of war without using his attacks.

Soumya - left to visit a friends clan for a few days

Kev & Kev2 - left to join a UK based serious war clan.  we spoke at length and it was a difficult decision for him and he will certainly be missed.  I sincerely wished him the best because he has worked hard in this game and deserves the best.  with his heroes and THs maxed he wants to focus on warring and war to win.

Our clan is inconsistent in warring for a number of reasons.

• We allow new member to join wars before vetting them
• Many do not attack wisely and do not follow war rules
• People do not get 3 stars and we need to do cleanup because:
• They attack higher than their own base number
• They attack higher than their own TH level
• They do not use the best war army
• They do not study 3 star war attack strategies
• Some people (mostly new members) do not use both of their war attacks.

We have several great warriors in our clan who excel in war and it is just a matter of having the best squad go to war together and having quality over quantity.  If we take anyone and everyone it is very difficult to match up against strong war clans that are only bringing their best squad and usually no new members.

Dark Elixir Raiding Tips & Tricks

Hey guys, as we all know, at high level play your heroes and dark troops make a huge difference.  With that said we have a special treat for you today:

Here are some great tips from Kev on Dark Elixir Farming to save you time and make your raids most efficient.  With max level 40 heroes and almost 6.5 million DE raided in his Heroic Heist achievement he is a master thief when it comes to DE.  So heed his advice along with some hard work and you'll be well on your way to keeping that DE storage full and heroes upgraded.

by Kev

Golgon asked for a guide on DE raiding, but this is not a simple thing to do as every base is different and we are all at different levels. However, here's some things I use to do and can be used as things to consider

1. Use a cheap and quick army to raid with, for example 8 Giants, 8 Wallbreakers, 24 Goblins, 60 Archers and 60 Barbs uses 200 spaces and takes about 20 mins to make, so you can raid more often in the time you have.

2. Base selection, don't be afraid to use next button to get the right base. I looked for a minimum of 1000 DE and without xbows where possible.

3. Check where the DE is, as often the DE store will be in the centre of the base and the DE drills in separate compartments. Don't target the DE Store if there are empty xbows, as the store is likely to be empty too. The collectors have a glass container on the top to show how full they are, target your forces appropriately.

4. Check what you are raiding for, you cant go for Gold, Elix, DE AND Trophies, so other upgrades can/may be delayed or hampered

5. The attack, as per all attacks, try to draw CC and kill them in a corner with few archers. They probably know you're after their DE, so check for Giant Bombs and traps, drop just 1/few Barbs to test way is clear. Deploy Giants and couple of Wallbreakers at a time to break a path way in with some Archers and Barbs behind. Don't bunch them up too much as Mortars can kill a pile of weak armies with the splash damage. Once the DE store pathway is there, then drop the Goblins, just a couple to start with to ensure no further bombs on route. 

6. With the latest update, the Town Hall now also stores DE, so if it's on the outside or on route to the DE store, its worth taking out (especially as it will also help in keeping your trophies up)

7. Save your Hero's to the end of the attack and use them briefly to maybe take out a drill, boost it and end the game saving as much life as possible. It will take 20 minutes to rebuild the army, so if you don't use it all, you'll have him for the next attack. However, if the DE Store has over 2k DE then it may be worth sending him in earlier to help ensure you get the loot.

8. Remember to keep your camps building the next set of armies before you raid, so by the time you've finished raiding, you'll saved a few minutes and maybe get an extra attack in.

You can also get DE in your Loot Bonus if you in Crystal league, not sure if this is worth it with the new update as you'll need to get 50%+ to get a portion of the bonus.

With my TH10 base, I was collecting up to 200k DE before the previous AQ/BK had finished (7 days), so it is possible to have your hero on constant upgrade (but I never used DE troops) and I also opted out of War as I had a hero on upgrade.

War Review

Hey guys, after a nice war win we've had two straight losses to tough war clans, the first a lvl 9 clan and the second a lvl 8 clan.  While a loss can be expected when a clan is matched with a much higher level war clan, this also gives us some good opportunities to review and see what it takes to be a successful war clan.

So reviewing the war logs what does it take to win wars consistently like the top war clans?  What did the enemy do to us that we weren't able to do to them?

Here are a few of my observations.  Feel free to comment on this post or in the game chat with your own observations.

War Offense

First off we had some great attacks in both wars.  Highlights were pounds getting 4 stars last war including 2 on a TH11, kev getting 5 stars this war including a 97% on a TH10, gard 3 starring a max TH9 this war, and soumya getting 6 stars this war.  Great job guys!

We also had areas to improve.  Rather than focusing on any specific attacks I'll just mention my observation about what seems to be the standard for successful war attacks to be competitive.

For TH8 and below, you should be able to 3 star your same TH level with your best war army.  This could be the enemy opposite number in war or 1-2 below.  Strong TH8 armies are GoWiPe, Mass Drags, Mass Hogs, or GoHo.  I would stay away from hog based armies until your hogs are lvl 4 or higher due to their vulnerability to giant bombs.

For TH9 and TH10, you should be able to 2 star your same TH level or 3 star any lower TH level.  This is what the enemy is consistently doing to us so if we can do the same then we will at least tie.

For TH11, you should be able to at least 1 star the enemy TH11 and at least 2 star a maxed TH10.

Check where you are in the above categories and see if you are consistently doing this in war.  If you are then you're in good shape.  If you are able to do this most of the time then that's also good.  No one's perfect.  If you are struggling to 3 star th8s or 2 star th9s on a regular basis it means one of three things.

1) you may not be using the right army.  watch other 3 star war attacks to see if that is the case or just ask in the chat.  people are willing to help and give constructive suggestions.
2) you may need more practice and experience attacking with that army on war bases.  most of us practice war attacks during war.  try to occasionally make war armies outside of war and practice attacking maxed bases to see how you do.  getting to know your troops outside of war is best so you'll know what they're going to do in crunch time.
3) your troops and heroes may need to be upgraded for your TH level.  keep your lab busy at all times and this should not be an issue.

If we are able to consistently 3 star the th8 bases on our first attack then it frees up more of our th9 players to focus on the other bases rather than having to do cleanup.  This was our downfall the last two wars, especially this last war.

Also this goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway.  Everyone needs to use both attacks in war.  If you can't then just opt out.  It's not fair to your teammates if they are making two strong war armies and using both attacks and we lose because others didn't bother to use both attacks.  So be considerate of your teammates.

Yours in Clash,

golgon

Congrats on Lvl 5 Clan Perks! War Review

Congrats to all on reaching Level 5 Clan Perks this week!  A great accomplishment and I'm sure our clan castles all appreciate it!  Let's keep up the good work.  Level 6 gives a 35% troop cost donation refund along with 30% extra loot storage.  Level 7 is even better, letting you request every 10 minutes.  So let's keep pressing on!

Latest War: Dragonblood vs Ghabile Karash

Not a lucky draw and this was a mismatched war to begin with since the enemy had two extra th9s.  So we were at a disadvantage and as a consequence had a hard time closing out their number 8-10 bases.  That was the difference this war.  Not completely our fault because of the mismatch.  What we can improve upon is our attack efficiency.  What this means is maximizing our star count with as few attacks as possible.  In order to do that we need to do a few things:

I've said several of these before in previous posts but I'll say them again because they serve as good reminders.

• Communicate:  Before attacking talk with your clanmates, especially those close to your rank so that you can coordinate attacks.  You can also brainstorm and discuss strategies.
• Be smart:  Make the right war army for the job.  Every base requires a slightly different army to defeat it. Tight bases favor hog attacks, wide open bases favor golem-based attacks, weak air favor drags and loons.
• Make your attacks count: Unless you're number 1, it is not necessary to attack your opposite (same number enemy base).  If you're a TH8 or low TH9 it will be better to attack the highest base you can confidently 3 star.  This will close out a base so that your clanmates can focus on other bases and not have to clean up a base you already attacked. That is inefficient. Of course use common sense and ask if you're not sure.  And wait several hours for the lower mates to attack before going for the bottom bases.
• Defend: Make sure your base design is difficult to attack with the major war armies.  In this war the enemy had tougher base designs than us and therefore we struggled 3 starring their lower bases.  This means we need to exercise better judgment and gain more experience and also make it more difficult on our enemies.
• Watch and Learn:  If at first you don't succeed, try try again.  But before you do watch the replays to see what went wrong and what can be improved.  For example I saw a few attacks where our spell timing & placement was not right and spells got wasted.  These things take practice.  But we need to take the time to watch & learn from our mistakes.  And also learn from the successes of others.  See what went right on your clanmate and enemy attacks and emulate those tactics.

Here were the stats from this war and areas for improvement.  Primarily in maximizing our first attacks and being more efficient.

Enemy 3 starred 7 lower bases on their first attempt, requiring no clean up from others

We 3 starred 0 lower bases on our first attempt, all lower bases required at least two attacks to 3 star and clean up. 

Dragonblood vs Zedbazi.tito

After a strong last war, this was not our best war guys.  I thought we'd have good chances this war because they had four th7 bases compared to us only having one th7.  But we struggled getting 3 stars on many of their bases including the th7s.  My last post was to help us get guaranteed 3 stars on th7s so we don't have this struggle next time.

As Kev pointed out we had too many 1 & 2 star attacks compared to the enemy's 3 star attacks so some of us need to aim lower and use stronger armies.  4 of the bottom 6 enemy bases were not 3 starred at the end of the war which is just low hanging fruit that we're not taking.

Stats tell the story

Enemy's TH7s 3 starred our TH8s

We only had a few 3 star attacks

War heroes (4+ war stars):
Jean - congrats for being the only one with 4+ war stars this war.  Nice job!

Many people only used 1 attack and didn't say why:

Gard - phone problems, could not attack

Jimbo - Got 3 stars on 1st attack, did not use second

Casey - Attacked late for 1st attack, did not use second

Gard Jr - Made mass drags army for 2nd attack, but did not attack

Buntheang - Did not use second attack

I don't want to kick good people and shrink our clan further but this is a warning.  Please explain the issue using both attacks and either use both attacks or opt out of war, thanks.

Suggestions:
Soumya - move your outside teslas to the center of the base surrounding your TH.  They will help to protect better against pekkas and others penetrating the core.

If you guys want to war back to back please provide constructive analysis and suggestions on how we can improve in the in-game chat so we make progress and improvements each war.  That way we can get more wins and get to level 5 even faster.

Thanks and let's keep improving!

TH7 enemy bases: mass dragons + 3 lightning + max loons cc = 3 stars guaranteed

Hey Guys,

Great job with 2 wins in a row!  A very nice, decisive win this last war.

One thing we can improve upon.  I've noticed the last few wars that we have used multiple attacks to 3 star TH7 enemy bases.  There's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't 3 star every TH7 enemy base on our first attempt. The answer is to use mass dragons with 3 lightning spells.

Here's how it works.

Preparation
Make 10 dragons on your camps.
Make 3 lightning spells.
Request max balloons for your clan castle.

Strategy
Since air defenses are the only real threat to dragons, and there are only 2 air defenses at TH7, take out one air defense with the 3 lightning spells and then overwhelm the other air defense with the dragons and loons.  There's no way one TH7 air defense can take out 10 dragons and 4-5 max loons.

Execution

• Drop 3 lightning on the hardest to reach air defense.  This is usually the one closest to the center of the base.
• There should now only be 1 air defense left. 
• Next funnel your dragons to target the remaining air defense.  This means dropping them closest to the air defense so they do not spread out and go away from the air defense.
• Once you have dropped all dragons and they are taking fire from the air defense release your clan castle full of max loons and the drags will tank while the loons take out all defensive buildings including the lone air defense.
• That's it, and works every time!

This video is pretty funny.

Other video if you need more examples:

War Rules, Lessons Learned

Guys, let's do post-war analysis and come up with a set of war rules.  I'm talking about more than just "attack your opposite in war".  I personally don't like that rule.  So let's come up with our own set of rules based on lessons learned.

I'll start with a few from this past war:

1) Make every attack count and not go to waste.  Every attack is precious.  We have won and lost wars by a single star and a single attack.  Lower level players (in the bottom half): Attack early in the war before all of the easier bases are gone.  Higher level players: save lower level bases for the lower levels unless you are on cleanup duty at the end or they have already all attacked.

2) Go for the low hanging fruit first.  Get it out of the way.  To our lower level players attacking in the first 12 hours of the war: go for the highest base you can confidently 3 star.  If everyone can earn 3+ war stars total for the clan and we use all of our attacks we will win every war.  Basic math.  Also if you 3 star your first attack then it means others can use their attacks on other bases and not have to attack the same base you already attacked.

3) Do not attack a higher number base than yourself unless all lower bases have been 3-starred.  There are others higher than you that have two attacks to use also.  They have a better chance to 3 star that base than you do.  If you think there's an exception to this rule then check with a co first.  

4) Do not attack a higher TH level than your own.  For the same reason as the previous rule.

5) Use the right army.  We had some failed (1 star) attacks due to the wrong army being used.  There are a limited number of war armies that will yield 3 star success at various town hall levels.  If you don't know what the best army is, just ask and someone will help.  And start by reading these old posts:

Clan War Tips Part 1
Clan War Tips Part 2
Army Comps and Attack Strategies
Dragons and GoWipe Tips

6) Put high level dragons and high HP defensive troops in war map CCs.  Max wiz and archers can be lured and killed with one poison spell now unfortunately and no longer provide good defense in war.  Dragons, max loons, valks are better.  If you don't have level 4+ dragons, or max loons and valks then don't donate.  Let the higher levels fill the war map so everyone has the best defense possible.

7) Once you have started a war attack you cannot Surrender and use the attack later like you once could.  If you click Surrender and have not placed a troop you will get 0% on your attack.  This is why they put a war attack confirmation screen in to remind you if anything is missing before your war attack.  Be sure to review it carefully before attacking.

8) Don't forget about the corners.  It only takes one archer on each corner.  This is mentioned in Clan War Tips Part 1 & 2 but it cost us a star again this past war which we needed to secure our victory.  If you have archers or barbs to spare always do it early in your attack.  Getting 99% sucks and has happened to most of us at one point.


What else guys?  Let's keep adding to this list.