Ian's New and Original Troop Idea- Shieldsman (with Pictures!)
Introduction
I have decided to come up with my own troop that is both versatile on offense and defense and is practical and balanced for those who are cup pushers and farmers alike. I realize many people think offense already over powers defense as it is (I am one of those people :D), but you will be glad to hear that this troop is just as effective, maybe even more, on defense. To those who are not willing or are too lazy to read my whole explanation, a synopsis is provided below which explains the basic gist of this troop, along with pictures.
My idea of a new troop is a Shieldsman. It can only be obtained with a Level 6 Dark Barrack at Town Hall 9. This troop is graphically designed with a giant shield in front of a barbarian, however the barbarian can be swapped with any original character idea by supercell. This dark elixir troop satisfies the in between of meat shields/tanks of the giant and the extreme Golem. This troop utilizes an idea that I like to call ‘directional based damage.’ This means that this troop is more tolerant to damage that comes in the direction in front of it. This troop does this by using it’s giant shield as the name suggests, which has it’s own set hitpoints that’s not connected to the troop it’s self. It also taunts defenses and enemies to only shoot it, rather than other troops or defenses.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this troop. Whether it is overpowered, underpowered, the character that should hold the shield, possible mistakes I made on this thread, future strategies you see when using this troop, or simply just a comment. Anything is appreciated! Thanks :)
Possible Statistics:
Preferred Target- Defenses
Housing Space- 8
Training Time- 5 minutes
Movement Speed- 8 (slowest troop in the game)
Attack Speed- 2
Dark Barracks Level Required- 6 (only reasonable and realistic option)
Dark Barrack Level 6- Town Hall 9 required
Ground troop (unaffected by air defense and air related traps)
General Troop Statistics:
| Level |
DPS |
DPA |
HP |
SHIELD HP |
Training Cost |
| 1 |
30 |
60 |
80 |
1500 |
80 |
| 2 |
35 |
70 |
100 |
2000 |
130 |
| 3 |
42 |
84 |
130 |
2500 |
180 |
Laboratory/ Research Statistics:
| Lab lvl req. |
Research Time |
Research Cost |
Graphical Image |
| 6 |
10 days |
20 000 |
Wields 1-day wooden shield |
| 7 |
12 days |
30 000 |
Wields 2-day silver shield |
| 8 |
14 days |
40 000 |
Wields 1-week golden shield |
DPA- Damage per attack
HP- Health Points
Images-
Level 1 Shieldman- http://i.imgur.com/d0OiRrB.png
Level 2 Shieldman- http://i.imgur.com/b2qIYmi.png
Level 3 Shieldman- http://i.imgur.com/1LtzgFP.png
Directional Based Damage and Weaknesses-
This troop is very tolerant to any type of damage coming in front of it (splash from mortar, valkerie swing, etc) . All defenses and enemies (including clan castle troops, heroes), that shoot directly infront of it will shoot the troop’s shield rather than the actual troop. As soon as the shield’s hit points are expended, the troop is vulnerable and will most likely die.
Any projectiles or damage that comes from the side will directly damage the troop rather than it’s shield, leaving him very vulnerable to damage that comes from those areas.
I realize that programming this “directional based damage” would be a challenge, but I believe supercell will be able to overcome this challenge as they have with others in the past. I believe this will be able to program because troops only face 4 general directions on the map, towards the ocean, towards the left forest, towards the right forest, and towards the plains. I believe this directional based damage could be programmed so that the source of damage must come from a certain half of the troop’s “radius” (explained better in the picture.) If the source of the damage comes from half the radius of the circle facing the shield, than damage will be taken to the shield rather than the troop. Any damage that comes from a source in the other half will directly damage the troop, making his sides and back his ‘weak points’
Once this troop is deployed, it will most likely face towards the base because it’s target are the defenses. Based on the unpredictability of it’s AI, the troop could either turn to it’s side and go after an undestroyed defense leaving it vulnerable to defenses in the core, or it could continue to move forward being a very effective meat-shield, especially being in numbers.
Despite this troop being a very effective unit while facing forwards, it is also very weak and vulnerable with any sort of damage coming from any other direction. We have already addressed defenses and clan castle troops damaging it from the sides, but this also includes spells and traps. This troop is frail when it comes to these things. Just like any infantry, this troop will be able to be ‘one shotted’ with a giant bomb, spring trap, and a lightning if on defense. It will also be severely damaged by regular bombs. Since these defenses and spell come from the below the troop or from the sky, the directional based damage is not taken into account and will damage the troop directly.
This troop is completely killed when the unit it’s self is killed, whether holding the shield or not.
Directional Based Damage Image- http://i.imgur.com/azgKuXO.png
Any defense who's source shoots from the green area will shoot the shield rather than the troop. Any defense who's source originally shoots from the red will shoot the actual troop
Taunt Ability-
To make this troop an even more effective tank unit, it will also have the ability to taunt defenses and clan castle troops alike to only be able to attack at it. When this troop comes in the radius of any defenses or enemies, they are only forced to attack that unit as long as it is still in that unit or defense’s attack radius. If there are more than one shieldmen in a defense’s radius, the defense must deal with the first shieldman that came into it’s radius before dealing with the second. The defenses/ clan castle troops may proceed to attacking any other troop as long as it doesn’t have a shieldman in it’s radius.
Shield Man on Defense-
This also makes the Shieldman a very effective unit for defense. Like any non-ranged unit on defense, the shieldman will also be able to jump over walls to travel to the attacker and attack it from one space away. However, luring this troop could be detrimental for high trophy level players. Since this troop is so slow, quite a bit of precious raid time could be lost waiting for it to make it’s slow journey, which could be the difference of getting a star on a base. On the other hand, letting the troop roam free on defense could cause an upstir. Using it’s taunt ability, this troop could effectively become quite a game changing distraction. While dragons continue to bash his shield, an air defense can effectively take them out. In another situation, a PEKKA maybe one hit away from destroying a Town Hall but when a shield man walks into it’s attack radius, the PEKKA is forced to deal with it rather than finish off the Town Hall. Since the shield man is such a nuisance on the defense, another costly but effective option would be to lay down 2 lightning spells to kill him.
Difference Between Giant-
Despite the Shieldman housing slightly more space and being more costly (in my opinion), he is obviously the more effective unit when it comes to hit points. It comes down to whether or not the shield man will continue to face forwards and be that effective of a tank as opposed to the reliability of a giant in any situation.
Difference Between Golem-
(Assuming they are highest level)
Shieldman- 8 housing space
Golem- 30 housing space
30/8= 3.75
3.75 Shieldmen= 1 golem+2 golemites
3.75*2500> 8400
9375>8400
Math proves that if shieldmen were to occupy the same amount of housing space as a single golem, the combined shieldmen will have more hitpoints than the Golem and Golemites combined. Although this may seem overpowered, the attacker must deal with the unpredictability that comes from the Shieldman. His AI may cause him to turn around for whatever reason and in that time, a defense could easily take him down. The unpredictable actions of this troop could cause the difference between losing a battle, or a getting a 3 star. Whereas with the golem, a standard GoWIPE is guaranteed at least a star.
Strategy-
Although the Shield Man is a fictional character that I made up and is not even implemented in the game, I can still imagine Strategy and troop combinations which involve him.
1. First of all, I believe the norm on defense for high trophy player’s troop donations will switch from archers to Shieldmen.
2. I imagine at a very high trophy count (Master League and above,) Cosmi’s “Golden Star Army” (1-2 Golem+mass of archers and barbarians) be replaced with shieldmen for those who only want 1 star but are willing to the risk of a loss.
3. The Shieldman can effectively replace the Golem in any army composition for those willing to risk his unpredictability as stared before. (GoWIPE, Witch+Golems, etc)
4. I imagine a very effective army composition that is likely to 2 star at a high trophy count. 10 wallbreakers then remaining space filled evenly (half and half) with Pekkas and Shieldmen, (I’d preferably use more 1 PEKKA) along with heroes.
5. From now on, high trophy players will be forced to hold lightning spells. (Not that they already didn’t)
Questions Undisclosed about this troop
- Should the troop’s shield be able to defend against aerial troops such as minions and dragons?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this troop. Whether it is overpowered, underpowered, the character that should hold the shield, possible mistakes I made on this thread, future strategies you see when using this troop, or just simply comments. Anything is appreciated! Thanks :)
