Hey all, Infinity323 here. For you TH9 players, new and old, here is a guide that may actually help you. Here I will present TH9 raids. Let's begin!
Note: This guide is not for newbies. You must be able to make adjustments to the armies listed based on the design of the base, if needed.
Clan Castle Kill Squads
Clan castle kill squads are what a player will use to kill clan castle troops. My normal clan castle kill squad includes 2 witches, 1 wizard, and 2 barbarians in the clan castle. Really good for GoWiPe.
Balloons can also be used to kill clan castle troops. To do so, you need to gather the clan castle troops into one big clump. Then send a balloon approximately one tile away from the clan castle troops. The clan castle troops will shoot down the balloon, causing it to fall and explode on the clan castle troops. But you must pay close attention the balloon pathing.
In this picture, the player calculated the balloon pathing and positioning correctly. The balloon is directed toward the archer tower and will hover over the clan castle troops. But the clan castle troops will shoot it down, causing the balloon to fall and explode on them.
In this picture, the player did not position the balloon correctly. The pathing of the balloon will direct it towards the archer tower. However, the balloon will not hover over the clan castle troops. So when the clan castle troops shoot the balloon down, the balloon will not fall on top of them.
Hero Abilities
The Barbarian King's ability allows the king to burst into a rage for ten seconds, summon barbarians, and heal a chunk of its HP. Use this ability whenever the Barbarian King has half of its HP remaining or to speed things up.
The Archer Queen's ability allows the queen to cloak itself (still vulnerable to splash damage), summon archers, and receive a damage boost. Use this ability whenever the Archer Queen is in trouble and needs immediate recovery.
How Strong Should My Heroes Be?
Heroes play different roles in different ways. Based on their role in the raid, from insignificant to very important, there is a suggested level for each of them.
| Raid | Level 0-4 Heroes Acceptable? | Level 5-9 Heroes Acceptable? | Level 10-14 Heroes Acceptable? | Level 15-19 Heroes Acceptable? | Level 20+ Heroes Acceptable? |
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| Barch |  |
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| Dragloon | |
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| Hog Rush |  |
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| Balloonion | |
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| GoWiPe | |
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| GoWiWi | |
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| HoLoWiWi | |
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| GoHoWiWi | |
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| Traditional LavaLoon | |
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| QuatroLavaLoonion | |
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| PentaLavaLoon | |
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| GoLaLoon | |
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| Shattered GoLaLoon | |
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| Queen Walk GoHo | |
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Obviously, sometimes the minimum hero level needed to execute the raid successfully will change, based on the strength of defensive buildings and positions of key targets.
Beginner Raids
Yes, the infamous farming raid: barch. Being able to be completed in around 10 minutes, barch is the classic farming raid for anyone. But did you know you can three-star some bases with just barch, both heroes, and healing spells?
Normally when I train my barch army, I fill two barracks completely with barbarians and the other two with archers. When my army finishes training, I will have 122 barbarians and 98 archers.
When looking for a base to barch, you want to find a base with a small probability of giant bombs inside the walls. Normally if the player you are raiding is inactive, there's not much to worry about for giant bombs.
First, and most importantly, you need to destroy any exposed mortars with a few barbarians and archers. A few mortar bad shots could ruin your raid, as archers can easily fall by one explosion.
Second, you should try to trigger any exposed giant bombs. 2x2 or 3x3 spaces can often give away giant bomb locations. This is crucial to the raid, as, believe me, forty barbarians walking into one giant bomb is not a good thing.
Third, try to lure out the clan castle troops. Single targeting troops like barbarians, archers, and minions aren't a big deal and can be ignored. However, splash damage troops like wizards, balloons, and dragons will ruin your day. Golems are tricky because upon death, they will deal splash damage.
Fourth, if trying to access the loot storages in the core, funnel the barchers into the core, followed by both heroes, the king first then the queen. You can't let them travel around the base and let them be picked off by wizard towers, or you will fail. If you are attacking an inactive player, you can send four-six barbarians and two-four archers to pick off a collector, basing on how protected it is.
Fifth, drop heal spells on a massive group of barbarians and archers if they are being bombarded by mortars and wizard towers. Healing is crucial to the survival of your troops, as they are tiny and have low defense against splash damage.
That wraps up the barch raid section. If all fails, don't worry! You can try barch again in 10 minutes. (By the way if you are TH7 you can barch and three-star TH7 and lower in war :D)
The name says it all. Dragons and balloons. This war attack will work on the weaker TH9s and TH8s, but not on maxed TH9 bases.
Normally when I dragloon, I bring 7 dragons, 16 balloons, and 6 extra balloons in my clan castle. Note that the balloons must be level 6 in order to pull of this raid! Bring 2-3 rage spells and 1-2 heal spells.
First, make sure the dragons funnel into the core of the base so that they will take out the air defenses first. Like any other attack, you don't want your main forces traveling around the sides getting picked off by air defenses.
Second, once your dragons make contact with the first layer of defenses, send in your balloons in a wave behind them. Drop the two rage spells so that the balloons will rage into the defenses, obliterating them.
Third, heal your balloons and dragons when they exit the rage spell area and are in trouble.
That wraps up the dragloon attack overview. There isn't much to say as this is one of the simpler attacks.
Did someboday say Hog Ridah?!?! This classic war attack is still doable, though hogs have been nerfed! Don't know how? Find out here...
For your hog rider army, it is best to have at least 30 hogs. This will speed up the raid and ensure a victory. Nowadays, because hog riders are weak to the high DPS of the archer queen, people bring golems and some wall breakers to break into the compartment of the queen and use heroes to kill it. If the queen is deep inside the core, I wouldn't recommend hog raiding the base unless your heroes are around level 20 each.
When you look for a hog-raidable base, you want to make sure the base has no or obvious double giant bomb bases which can easily be triggered and an archer queen that's not too deep in the core. Just for convenience and avoiding failure.
First, you must kill the queen! If you use a golem, wall breakers, and heroes, the clan castle will be lured out for you. However, if you only use both heroes because the archer queen is outside of the walls, you'll need to lure later.
Second, lure the clan castle troops with giants or hogs, if not lured already! There are some easy ways to kill clan castle troops. You can use two witches, one wizard, and two barbarians (my clan castle kill crew) with a few of your own wizards, a balloon, or a dragon. You MUST kill the clan castle troops, because if you don't, your enemy can snack on bacon as you tremble in defeat.
Third, try to trigger giant bombs. Whether it be with barbarians or hogs, it is good to trigger outside giant bombs. This will make the raid a whole lot easier.
Fourth, deploy the hog riders! There are a few ways to do this. One way is to send the hogs in two columns adjacent to each other. Another way, and probably the safer way, is to send the hog riders in a small wave. This will lower giant bomb effectiveness.
Fifth, whenever your hog riders hit a giant bomb, drop a heal spell. Heal spell timing and placement is crucial to a successful hog raid. Wizard towers and giant bombs will completely mess up your raid if you drop heal spells too early or late.
With proper planning and heal spell placement, you can three-star any TH9 base with hog riders if they fit the requirements.Intermediate Raids
This is one of the more famous raids. The name says it all: Balloons and Minions. Though there have been updated defenses, this raid is still sort of effective.
One of the standard armies of balloonion is 28 balloons, 20 archers, 30 minions, and 6 extra balloons in the clan castle. Make sure the balloons are level 6, and the minions should be at least level 3. Bring 3 rage spells and 1 lightning spell.
When searching for "balloonionable" base, look for bases with ground only X-Bows, exposed archer queens, and lower level air defenses. An empty clan castle will also help.
First, you must kill the archer queen. Since your balloons have no tank, they will fall easily by an archer queen's crossbow shots. Use your archers to kill the archer queen.
Second, send your balloons in a wave in the direction that will kill the most air defenses the quickest. When the clan castle troops start popping out, if they are ground troops, drop the lightning spell on them. That will do enough damage so that they will die once a balloon drops a bomb or falls on them.
Third, drop rage spells when the balloons get to the air defenses. They must go down as soon as possible. Also beware of wizard towers, especially level 6 or higher ones; they do devastating splash damage.
Fourth, send minions in a wave behind the balloons. You need to clean up the buildings quickly, and there may be a chance the minions will pass into the "rage zones."
Fifth, send heroes to help clean up or shoot down an air defense if possible.
Balloonion will yield three stars if done correctly, but if done incorrectly, it will yield either one or no stars. Good luck with this attack. IMO a better air attack is lavaloonion.
Using golems, wizards, and P.E.K.K.As, gowipe the smile off your enemies' faces! (No pun intended.) A standard two star.
When using gowipe against other TH9 players, I normally bring two P.E.K.K.As, three golems, eight wall breakers, and any amount of giants or hogs needed to lure the clan castle. Fill the rest of the army camp space with wizards, and if no more wizards will fit, fill the tiny remaining space with archers. In your clan castle, bring the clan castle kill squad listed above. I normally bring 1 heal spell, 2 rage spells, and 1 jump spell.
GoWiPe will work on most bases, the only exception I know of being labyrinths. Just be extra careful if the base has a reinforced quad-hidden tesla core.
First, use your giants and hog riders to lure the clan castle troops. This is crucial, as four or more wizards will wreck your P.E.K.K.As which attack very slowly.
Second, lure the clan castle troops away from the base and kill them in the location you will send your main attack force. Use your kill squad and 2-3 wizards to do so.
Third, send golems to the base: one on the middle, and two on each side. Make sure to spread the golems enough, as three golems in one location defeats the purpose of bringing them.
Fourth, spread wizards in a wave behind the golems. In this, a handful of wizards and a golem will be a mini-tank.
Fifth, once the wizards clear a path to the core, deploy the P.E.K.K.As, heroes, and wall breakers to attack the core. Drop a heal spell on them. Do not use the jump spell unless absolutely necessary.
Sixth, once the P.E.K.K.As, center golem, and heroes breach the core, drop a rage spell on them. They should totally obliterate the core and get that first star.
Seventh, use the jump spell so the P.E.K.K.As, golem, and heroes get out of the core to attack the rest of the base.
Eighth, whenever the P.E.K.K.As decide to hack on a wall or need to kill a defense as quickly as possible, you can drop the last rage spell on them.
This war raid is a standard two star raid. Do not expect a three star.Coming soon!
Advanced/Base-Specific Raids
Two stars don't win wars anymore. You'll need three stars, and these raids are ways you can grab them.
Land-based Raids
Now, you're probably thinking, What's holowiwi? It's a base specific war attack strategy which a forum user created. More information about Holowiwi here.
Sadly this army can't be used as frequently as it was in the past, since people have become smarter and have changed air defense placement. But it still works :)
There is no set army for Holowiwi. You will bring hog riders, balloons, witches, and wizards. The hog riders are the ones which will wreck the base. The balloons will be used for destroying the outer ring of defenses. The wizards, witches, a couple of archers, and your heroes will be used to kill the clan castle troops and heroes and, if they survive, will be used for cleaning up the base. In the clan castle, bring hog riders. Bring 3 heal spells and 1 rage spell to speed things up.
A list of how many balloons for each defense in the outer ring are needed (keep in mind any core X-Bows!):
- Archer Tower - 1 Balloon
- Cannon - 1 Balloon
- Wizard Tower - 1 Balloon if level 6 or lower, 2 if level 7
- Mortar - 1 Balloon
- Hidden Tesla
- Air Defense - 2 Balloons, 3 if level 5 or higher
Holowiwi is a very base-specific raid. The bases which are "holowiwi-able" need to have an outer ring of defenses. Most of the air defenses need to be in the core, not being able to fully protect the outer ring of defenses. The archer queen should be able to be killed with wizards, witches, and both heroes. Examples of these bases:
...and many more.
First, deploy balloons in order to destroy the outer ring of defenses. See list above to determine how many balloons to bring and deploy. Do this quickly, and this should be able to lure the clan castle troops.
The first step is important, as it gets rid of the possibility that the hog riders will run into a double giant bomb.
Second, bring the clan castle troops near to where the enemy queen is located. Deploy the archers as a decoy, then the witches and wizards. Also deploy the heroes. Make sure your kill squad and heroes target the queen and destroy her.
Third, send in your hogs into the core behind your kill squad. Drop 1 heal spell on your kill squad and your hogs as they enter the core.
Fourth, once in the core, drop a rage spell on your hog riders.
Fifth, drop heal spells on the hogs when necessary.
With proper usage and technique, this attack will get you three stars. However, because players have become smarter, fixed air defense placement, and centralized the archer queen, there are less bases able to be "holowiwi-ed."
Gohowiwi is another base-specific raid. It's used on any base which can't be "Holowiwi-ed"
As the name of the raid says, Gohowiwi has golems, hog riders, witches, and wizards. Basically a Gowiwi with hog riders. You'll need 18 hog riders, one golem (at least level 3), 3 witches (level 2), 5-10 wall breakers (based on how many walls need to be destroyed), and the rest wizards. Bring a golem in the clan castle. Bring three heal spells and one rage spell, or two heal spells and rage spells, depending on the base. Replace a rage spell with a jump spell, if needed. Again, this is base specific, so the amounts of each troop will vary. Because this raid includes a mini-gowiwi, you'll need at least level 10 heroes.
For gohowiwi, find a base that has the same criteria as a Holowiwi base, except that the air defenses don't have to be necessarily covering the outer ring of defenses.
Gohowiwi works very well on Southern Teaser bases, especially on ones with the giant bombs in the southern area of the base. Your goal when battling southern teaser bases with Gohowiwi is to detonate the giant bombs with golems and skeletons and to destroy everything in the area.
As shown in these southern teaser bases, the giant bombs are all in the south area, and they will be triggered by the golems and skeletons.
First, find the places in the base where you suspect there may be double giant bombs. Make sure you bring enough witches, wizards, and wall breakers to trigger and eliminate the double giant bombs.
Second, start the mini-gowiwi. At the location where the double giant bomb can be triggered by golems, send in your golems first (make sure you spread them), backed up with wizards, witches, and heroes. Rage your troops up as they kill the clan castle troops and start detonating giant bombs.
Third, once the giant bombs have been eliminated and the clan castle troops are gone, send in your hogs from the part of the base you are certain there are no double giant bombs. In a southern teaser base, this would be the top.
Fourth, heal your hog riders in the core when necessary.
Fifth, once defenses are destroyed, your leftover witches, wizards, and heroes will all cleanup the base, yielding the three star if done correctly.
Zega made a guide here.
Pretty much any base can be three-starred with some form of GoHo (golems and hogs). Any GoHo raid involves a main golem force to destroy the core and the enemy archer queen and using surgical hog riders to clean up the rest of the base. Another base specific raid, meaning the amount of troops you bring and what level your heroes need to be depends on the strength of the base.
The Queen Walk GoHo breaks down into three main steps: the queen walk, the gowiz, and the surgical hog clean up.
Let's use this base as an example. Upon inspection, there are only a couple places where double giant bombs would be located. These need to be "nullified" so that your hogs won't trigger them and all die. "But Infi, there are so many 2x4 spots on the outer ring, wouldn't double giant bombs be there?" Not likely because of how easy it is to trip them with just one hog.
First step: the Queen Walk. Use your queen and 2-4 healers to take out point defenses (Cannon, Archer Tower, Tesla, X-Bow (though unlikely)). This saves time for your hogs and makes sure they don't run into a double giant bomb. "How many healers do I bring?" Depends on the amount of point defenses attacking your queen at a time. If one defense, bring two healers. If two defenses, bring three. If three, bring four. Also factor in the level of your queen; if your queen is level 15, you may need more healers than a player with a level 20 queen.
When you begin your queen walk, you want your queen to walk to the site of the main golem attack. I suggest having your queen walk from the left corner to the bottom, where the main attacking force will be. This will allow the queen to take out a good amount of point defenses, as well as opening up a double giant bomb spot.
When placing the queen, make sure you do so in a way that the queen will go the direction you want her to. In this example, I would place her next to the gold mine. She would destroy that, then the barracks, then the builder's hut, then the army camp, then the mortar, and continue down the right. Because she would only be attacked by 2-3 defenses at a time, bring three healers. Deploy them as soon as you deploy the queen.
The queen would destroy these buildings (marked with turquoise). A good 20-30%. If you ever find your queen dying too quickly, you may need to use a rage spell on your healers to increase the healing rate.
Once the queen gets to the bottom-most gold mine, it would be time to commence step two, the main golem attack. Do so from the bottom right to trip the giant bombs and kill the queen. Your objectives in this step are to kill the queen and cc troops and triggering the double giant bombs.Lavaloon Variants
Please make sure your lava hounds are level 2 and your balloons are maxed before proceeding! Also a good idea to have level 3+ minions!
Always bring one more hound than the amount of remaining air defenses prior to sending in your air troops, except for the traditional lavaloonion and quatrolavaloonion.
Note: Laloon = Lavaloon
The traditional lavaloon consists of only two lava hounds. Bring 28 balloons, 6 more in your clan castle, 5 minions for cleanup, and 10 archers to help with the cc kill.
You'll want to find a Holowiwi style base, one with an outer ring with defenses. See above for bases with Holowiwi criteria.
First, with 10 balloons, clear one part of the ring of defenses and lure out the clan castle by doing so. If possible, destroy wizard towers in the process. Do this quickly and all at once!
Second, once all the clan castle troops are lured out, using your archers, lure them into a corner. Gather them up into one small mass using your archers. Then, drop one balloon approximately a tile away from the clan castle troops. The clan castle troops will shoot it down, and the balloon will fall on them, killing them. If some survive, use leftover archers to kill them.
Third, send in your hounds one on each of the two most "exposed" air defenses. Back them up with your loons, and rage them when they start attacking each air defense.
Fifth, once all defenses are destroyed, send in minions and heroes to cleanup.
This lavaloon may be traditional, but it is not the best. Great for weak bases without archer queens to worry much about, though.
QuatroLavaloonion consists of 3 lava hounds, 18 balloons, and 20 minions, as shown in Galadon's video tutorial of it. Bring one maxed lava hound in the clan castle, yielding four lava hounds in total. Bring three rage spells and one healing spell.
This lavaloon variant will work on virtually any symmetrical base or weak base.
First, find two air defenses which are near each other; send two lava hounds to each of those air defenses, followed by balloons, followed by minions.
Second, rage the balloons and lava hounds when near an air defense. Hopefully, the balloon splash damage, minions, and lava pups will kill the clan castle troops and archer queen.
Third, heal the balloons if a cluster of them are low on health and being heavily damaged by a wizard tower.
Fourth, use heroes to clean up other buildings.
This attack should give three stars, some two stars, or one star if messed up. Pentalavaloon is better IMO.
One of the best lavaloon variants out there.
The army of pentalavaloon consists of four lava hounds, 18-20 balloons, and 0-2 giants. 18 balloons and 2 giants if you need to lure using ground troops, and 20 balloons if you want to lure with air troops. Bring a maxed lava hound in the clan castle and four rage spells.
Pentalavaloon will work on any TH9 base (that is not meta). It's that powerful.
First, lure the clan castle with 2 balloons or 2 giants! Lure them into a corner with your archer queen, and using both heroes, kill the clan castle troops.
Second, send two of your lava hounds on each of two air defenses. One air defense must be near to the archer queen, and the other must be near to that air defense. Send in balloons behind them, and make sure there are no other defenses which will cause the balloons to stray away from the lava hounds.
Third, rage the lava hounds. You need them to burst, raging up multiple lava pups which will kill the archer queen.
Fourth, when one of the remaining two air defenses starts firing at your troops, send in your clan castle lava hound to cover and soak up damage.
Fifth, rage the balloons and lava hounds when they get to the remaining air defenses.
Your balloons, lava pups, and heroes (if surviving) will all cleanup the base, yielding a three star. If the base is irregular and the air defenses are very spread out, or if it has very weak defensive capabilities against air troops, I suggest trying a different lavaloon variant or a whole different raid.
Cold-Blooded/Shattered GoLavaloon has the coolest name by far. In this raid, the goal is to take out an air defense or two and the defending queen. You'll need level 15+ heroes to accomplish this on higher level and meta bases. Level 4+ golems preferable.
Shattered GoLavaloon has no definite army. You'll need as many golems as air defenses (and the queen) you plan to take out with your heroes and golems. For example, if you plan to take out one air defense and the queen, bring one golem (Cold-Blooded). If you plan to take out two air defenses and the queen, bring two golems (Shattered).
When it comes to determining the amount of lava hounds, you'll want to make sure you bring 1 more lava hound than the amount of air defenses standing before deploying your air troops, as done in Pentalavaloon. If you plan to take out one air defense and the queen with your golem and heroes, bring four lava hounds. If you plan to take out two air defenses and the queen with your golems and heroes, bring three hounds.
Fill the rest of the army camps with balloons, and bring 4-5 wizards. You can bring a few wall breakers to destroy the outer wall. In your clan castle, bring a maxed golem. Bring two rage spells, 1 jump spell, and 1 lightning spell.
First, kill however many air defenses planned and the queen with your golem(s), wall breakers, jump spell, and heroes. Drop the golem(s) to tank for your wizards as they destroy outside buildings to create a funnel to the inside of the base (MANDATORY). Send a few wall breakers (if you have some) to destroy the outside wall. Once the golems breach the first layer of walls, drop the jump spell and your heroes so they can access the queen and air defense(s). The clan castle troops will inevitably come out, so drop a lightning spell on them once they pause and bunch up.