Agree that an 8.5 is the best strategy for an early th9 and really helps with the transition. Also de is by far the most important resource for a th9 in a whole. What I was explaining in my earlier post was as that elixer is in a much higher demand at the beginning of your th9. You should have your army camps, cc, spell factories, lab to do right away. That about 30 mil in elixer if you count one dark and regular barracks... far beyond your 8 mil capacity in your storage tank. That's not even counting your troops upgrades that are going to help you a lot to farm your de later on. That being said if you have the de laying around definitely throw it at your queen.
Most importantly these are just my opinions and one of the best things about coc is that you can do what ever you want. If you want to ug queen before your elixer ugs then that's your choice and more power to you. ☺
