Failed Bid for Masters

I am mid-Th 9 and I recently gave up on my push to masters, at the very least I am taking a break. I was using the gem boosts to ballonion and I did get close. I am still push farming, so who knows maybe I will still get their but I gave up on attacking purely for trophies but perhaps some of the formers here can point out errors in my approach.


I got to 2500 just fine. In fact I went from Crystal III to I in a single day (3 hrs, maybe less). Got a bit harder here but nothing too bad.


Then I kept hitting a wall around 2530. I then began to aim for trophies and selecting battles I felt fairly certain I could 2 star. My next button hits probably starting approaching 100. Doing this getting to 2550 wasn't a big deal but right after that I failed over and over. I know this sounds a bit sad, considering how close that is but....


I made it to 2574 on my last genuine effort for it. However after having 2 losses set me back to 2500 again for like the 8th time I was fed up with it (and my 1.5-3 hr runs were annoying people around me). Each of those losses was right at 49%


Defense wise my anti-hog set up with an exposed TH has held up nice. Up here the exposed TH seems like a gift to people and with my current set up the common strategies don't get very far against my base. However, it is a farming base so no defensive wins.


My Comp

20+ Balloons
30+ Minions
10 Barbs and 10 Archers (for the AQ and CC troops)
1 Hog rider for luring
BK When available and if needed
CC troops

Spells-
Mostly rage with a lightening as back up. Been switching over to heal as I run out of rages now (it seems I very often need 2 spells) as it seems I often need 2 spells.

My Handicaps
My Queen is currently going on to level 13 and I am set to jump to 14 after that, my intention is to get her to 15 in a straight run from lvl 5. However, my BK isn't the best for wrapping up that last 1-3%, as most of the exposed buildings have been destroyed by the time I decided to unleash him (lvl 10)

My clan - I have a great clan. I really do, they donate well and are fun to chat with but not many of them have the kinds of CC troops I need. During my bid I groaned every time I was given a lvl 4 archer or barb. When I had wizards or dragons in my CC things were much easier. But sometimes I get a mixture of giants, barbarians, and archers that aren't that useful

Target Selection
I am wondering if this is where I went wrong.

While push farming I simply selected bases where I could make off with a good pot with a reasonable chance at 50%. If the pot was high enough I'd attack anyway.

During my last 75 trophies I began looking for something different
1) Infernos set to single
2) 2 or more X-bows pointed down or grossly under upgraded archer towers
3) Wizard towers either not maxed out or very exposed
4) AD's maxed only to TH8 and relatively exposed (if centralized I would just skip)
5) Hybrid design or exposed TH (less defended TH)
6) Prioritized TH9 bases, unless fully maxed
7) Inactive or lvl 7 or less AQ
8) Lurable CC
9) Ability to gain 30+ trophies and lose less than 20. (honestly I was aiming for 10+ trophy wins)

The above criterion was fairly stiff and the number of TH9 bases was very very slim, also the number of single target infernos just as slim (often if they were set to single, other air defenses compensated for the choice). Heck, premature TH10 (which had been my fodder) are also quite thin.

Some problems I encountered. Th turned out to be landmines half the time and perhaps that is my downfall in my criterion above. I have more than a few instances of 4 red air mines flying out or setting off all the black mines and watching as my great armada was ripped to shreds. Also, I have to be honest, I just plain got tired of spending 5-10 minutes searching for a target. That and just one slip up (from being frustrated at using that dang next button) often meant losing my whole session of gains.

Strategy
During my trophy pushing I tried to neutralize as many of the Air Defenses and Wizard towers as I could. Since I was avoiding disco infernos like the plague, often they were the only things I worried about. I'd drop a rage to take out an AD as quick as possible, especially if a cluster of defenses was present. However, I often ran out of rages because I'd end up dropping 3-4 in a pitched battle. (I never had a problem winning when deploying CC troops, 4 spells, and my hero). I then would drop my minions just as soon as the wizard tower fire was out of the way.


Right now, I am questioning that tactic. I've switched to waiting to deploy my minions (unless a tower is very exposed) and then I deploy just enough to clean up the remainder. I also try to hold on to a few archers for this (as sometimes they can get at stuff my minions can't). If I have archers and barbs in my CC then I'll use them to mop up the opposing CC or AQ. But basically I try and deploy just enough minions to get all the exposed resources and buildings. Often I'll have a handful left and will hit a weak part of the base for the last 50%. I've also switched to baking healing spells after my "overnight" batch of rage spells gets used but I am also back at 2400 trophies, which wasn't a problem before anyway.



Anywho, any thoughts?

Try replacing the hogs barbs and archers with minions. They really help. Also, you need to change your mindset and only attack bases you know you can win against. Don't even look at the loot available.

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Originally Posted by TomRapp

Try replacing the hogs barbs and archers with minions. They really help. Also, you need to change your mindset and only attack bases you know you can win against. Don't even look at the loot available.

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This is great advice. I recommend you carry only loons & minions, use a loon or minion to bait the cc. As for spells, I like to carry 1 bolt 2 rage 1 heal, the bolt is for an unlurable cc. Past 2550 I recommend you ignore loot and just start looking for easy trophies, I raid anything I can 1 star that has 21 available. I think a big part is reading bases. You aren't the only one failing with loons, I've had a rough day, started at 2781 and I'm at 2640, just keep striving, you'll eventually get an easy base, then a th snipe, and before you know it you will have that black badge which comes along with a loot bonus that allows you to ignore loot.

I'm in the exact same situation as you today. Played all day and wasted gems on boosts only to end up losing at 49% twice in a row to get mad and put the ipad down.

i'm TH8, been BAMing the easy TH bases, got to crystal II and then lost back to crystal I. It's infuriating really. I don't know what I am doing wrong or how the others do it, I have read some players TH 8 made it to masters, but for me it's really too hard. i am not sure if I'm quitting my push or not, but I'm done for now, been playing all day and could only get to crystal II.

what do you guys do while waiting for your troops to build? Balloons take soooo long, when I go away between raids I always lose trophies. How do you move forward?

Balloonions should easily carry you to 2600 especially if they are max level. Defense matters little. I pushed from crystal iii to masters iii with my th out the entire time. With 1 gem barracks boost, now is the time.

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Originally Posted by Conan

I'm in the exact same situation as you today. Played all day and wasted gems on boosts only to end up losing at 49% twice in a row to get mad and put the ipad down.

i'm TH8, been BAMing the easy TH bases, got to crystal II and then lost back to crystal I. It's infuriating really. I don't know what I am doing wrong or how the others do it, I have read some players TH 8 made it to masters, but for me it's really too hard. i am not sure if I'm quitting my push or not, but I'm done for now, been playing all day and could only get to crystal II.

what do you guys do while waiting for your troops to build? Balloons take soooo long, when I go away between raids I always lose trophies. How do you move forward?

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TH8 is gonna be tougher. Lvl 6 balloons are way more powerful than level 5 ones. Balloons normally take forever, but not with 1 gem barracks boosts.

Sounds like hard work Nio,

I have a similar Th progress to you and also used BM but got the black badge, the 3big differences I can see from your wonderfully written report are:

1) I was very lucky that my push finished a few days before the dreaded disco balls landed, must be a nightmare trying to find bases over 2500 without multi beam.

2) I'm in a great clan and basically the pushers could have whatever cc troops they needed, I got very used to having a 4* dragon on every attack, Nakama CK donators really helped, we (the pushers) didn't even need to donate to each other much, which meant far less strain on our elixir.

3) I had both heros on call for those emergency 49% and your right the queen does work much better than the king, it was not wise of you to upgrade her, my one saved me from a few 49% losses.

Eventually my push ended at 2760, I lost 3 attacks in a row and yes I also got frustrated and everything else we all feel when we hit the wall.

Next push I do I think BM will not be my loadout as I'm thinking a GoWiWi will probably serve me better against the disco balls, although thankfully there is no push coming up soon.

Well for starters move ur th inside, might help a little bit. Raid bases u know u can get at least 1 star on. And if u keep hittin that49% take an extra lightning and zap a builder hut. Ud be suprised how much that can make the difference. And last but not least, take a break and clear ur mind putting too much pressure on urself tends to have u make bad decisions. Hope this post helps and good luck

I did make it this week. Indeed after 2500 trophies it gets extremely hard. Mostly because of those infernal disco's. The big deal is you can't lose because it sets you back 4 or 5 wins. At first I went up and down a lot but then I only attacked sure wins. You have to search a long time, but it saves you time in the end. Sometimes I had to search 15 minutes to half an hour. It actually took me more than 8 hours to get those last 100 trophies. I used 16 balloons and the rest minions. It also really helps if your clan mates cook up some dragons for your clan castle. Also use spells even though you think you don't need them. I had two rage and two lightening with me. In the end I even used instant finish to not go without. If you want to reach it, this is the time because you have to boost your barracks. It took me 300-400 gems all the way. The most important advice is to avoid disco inferno towers at all cost. They'll rip your army to shreds in mere seconds. Also don't log off until you get there. The minute I logged of after reaching masters, I lost 42 trophies. Good luck and I hope you'll succeed!

You have too many diff troops, do 24 or 26 loons rest all minions, and bk and aq , 4 rage or 3 rage and a heal.
The key to searching for the right 'winnable' base is the patience of a saint. 10 minutes searching...meh thats nothing, try half an hour if necessary. The base will come along and you will be sure to be able to win it.

You can totally miniball your way to masters with max loons and max minis but you have to be patient and select the right battles, its really just that, there is no trick to it or anything, just patience patience patience.

Good luck next time!!

Here was my experience when th8,troops 20 hogs lv4,20 barb lv 5,20 archer lv 5,4 wb lv 5,n the rest wiz maybe 12 wiz lv 5. BK lv 10. Healing spell 3 pcs. Never attack th10. Always search th9 with heroes n cc easy to lure. Never off except i sleep.coz th 8 will get flated in crystal. Need around 4-5 days to get master with playing 12 hrs nonstop per day. Patience for search the right base is the key. Dont attack if u not confident 😁. Th9 will get lot easier to get master with hogs, coz have 4 spell to use n hog lv 5. Try it dude,u will satisfied

You need to make the most of the boost. I agree with Dahimi, Balloonion should carry you to masters without too much effort. The volume you can attack with now compensates for your weak defence up there. The problem seems to be, as you point out, that you lose too often.

I took my TH9 to 2868 last trophy push using Daddy's balloon strategy. Ignoring AA, CC/Royals. Only taking heed of upward xbows and clustered WT. It was a breath of fresh air for me since I suck at luring CC and royals. Take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fhnSmtWRO4

Note that this was pre disco IT. I'm not sure how this strategy holds up with IT on multi mode. When the new IT came out I was afraid Trophy pushing for TH9 would be dead, but I haven't heard any complaints about it so far. Perhaps it's not so much of a problem. Which is good for you, because this strategy is a killer.

A very important addition (Daddy doesn't mention this) is that you should be very careful with your minion deployment. My biggest frustration was when the minions fan out to periphial buildings instead of going to the core your balloons just cleared. You can counter this by either a) select bases which are favorable for minion-to-core route, or b) destroy some key buildings that might let your minions go astray.

Not sure if you're going to try again with the advice given in this thread, but good luck!

I failed too Lol. Screw those llv 1hogs and lv5 loons

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Originally Posted by Vario777

Here was my experience when th8,troops 20 hogs lv4,20 barb lv 5,20 archer lv 5,4 wb lv 5,n the rest wiz maybe 12 wiz lv 5. BK lv 10. Healing spell 3 pcs. Never attack th10. Always search th9 with heroes n cc easy to lure. Never off except i sleep.coz th 8 will get flated in crystal. Need around 4-5 days to get master with playing 12 hrs nonstop per day. Patience for search the right base is the key. Dont attack if u not confident . Th9 will get lot easier to get master with hogs, coz have 4 spell to use n hog lv 5. Try it dude,u will satisfied

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Thank you, this helps me a lot

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Giggitygoo

A very important addition (Daddy doesn't mention this) is that you should be very careful with your minion deployment. My biggest frustration was when the minions fan out to periphial buildings instead of going to the core your balloons just cleared. You can counter this by either a) select bases which are favorable for minion-to-core route, or b) destroy some key buildings that might let your minions go astray.

Not sure if you're going to try again with the advice given in this thread, but good luck!

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How do you ensure minion to core route? i've run into this problem.

Bloonion is one of the best ways, but you have to avoid discos and maybe even air xbows. Skulloons and atleast level 3 minions and high level spells are needed.

im Th9 and at Masters II, using balloonians strat. Faced similar difficulties when i was at 2600-2750.

i've learnt from this dude, his a balloonian pro. Even Daddy agrees.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyhPCRvztWg

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Originally Posted by Conan

How do you ensure minion to core route? i've run into this problem.

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Yeah sideways minions will ruin any attack, what I have learned is to do this:

The perfect push BM recipe

You will need:
24 x Loons
50 x Minions
2 x Heal
1 x Rage
1 x Thor
2 x Heroes
15 x CC minions or a dragon and 5 minions



Method
1) Lure cc and queen, if 30 archers come running out nows the time to use the Thor.
2) Use a few minions to clear all outside buildings on the chosen side/corner of target, about 10 or at most 15 minions for this. This is the key to coring the target and avoiding sideways minions
3) Send in the loons
4) Follow the loons very closely with the mass of the minions, use CC if you feel you need to fatten this wave up a bit.
5) For best results add rage and heal to taste
6) Use Heroes only if you must and a good tip is to use both together, the king tanks very well for the queen.
7) If at the end you have 49% and still have a Thor use it on a builders hut.

If you do the prep and get the timing just right BM is almost unstoppable, even disco balls in the core bases can be beaten, although still risky to try if your hard earned cups are at stake.

What to avoid
Hi level queen, hard to lure CC, sky xbows, hi level air defence, inferno multi death beam = next and keep nexting till you find the base thats going to be a sure thing! don't even look at loot but do look at cups, some bases will only cost a few cups for a loose, these are maybe worth more of a risk.


Now that I've written all this I can't help thinking that one of Daddies videos would be a much better way of learning :)

Thank you Gendel, though I assume you are giving instructions for a TH 9, since that's what the op was asking.

I'm TH 8, and having only 3 spells and no Queen... Still, I am at 2450 cups right now. I think the only way for a TH 8 to get from 2400 cups to 2600 is to snipe TH's, but correct me if I am wrong. I've even lost using BAM on an outside TH that was well defended.

the problem, of course, is that you gain 4-7 cups per hit and lose 30-45 cups when you log off. It's very hard that crystal I league, especially for a TH 8!

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Originally Posted by Conan

Thank you Gendel, though I assume you are giving instructions for a TH 9, since that's what the op was asking.

I'm TH 8, and having only 3 spells and no Queen... Still, I am at 2450 cups right now. I think the only way for a TH 8 to get from 2400 cups to 2600 is to snipe TH's, but correct me if I am wrong. I've even lost using BAM on an outside TH that was well defended.

the problem, of course, is that you gain 4-7 cups per hit and lose 30-45 cups when you log off. It's very hard that crystal I league, especially for a TH 8!

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Yeah I tried and failed at Th8, I was using gowipe and that was a bad idea against maxed Th9 and inferno holding Th10 bases, so in the end only made it to 2440.

We had a couple of Th8's in our clan that made it to masters last push, one of them was using BM, I think his strategy was to search for an hour till he found a Th snip or another Th8 or new Th9 base, its possible you just got to be super persistent, I myself can never stop looking at the loot, so often find I loose attacks a few hours work for a few K's of DE, just can't stop myself being a farmer.

Getting to masters at Th8 is a real achievement but not impossible for the best, good luck.

First off thanks for all the replies. I had a similar morning where I spent all my time gaining back trophies to get to 2400. Had a terrible loss to a smart hogger that pointed out a weakness in my base, rather painfully.




Looking at the replies and replays I honestly think my skill level is insufficient at the moment. I was a dragon user back in TH 7 and 8. Back then single target infernos were my bane but I had little motivation to push back then (no big gem pot to look forward to)


I am finding balloons are very different and how I use minions with them is different than I did with dragons.


I just don't have the timing down. I am not sure when to deploy things and am noticing a few differences in my approach.


With rages I am seeing them deployed on the flanks, balloons still deployed in a spread out row. I've been using groups of 10 with healing spells and spreading out if deploying near a wizard tower.

Lately I've also been deploying my minions after the destruction is all said and done. Which is fine while farming. But I just know know these units like I know Barch, BAM or Drag/Minion.



I am still not sure if I want to push again. I really hate searching for 10-15 minutes for a base and my gems are almost bled dry.....


But I am aware now, that I am no balloon master.

Tried to push for master when I was in Forum Elite. Capped at 2573. I tried again with the boost, and did it fairly easily with balloon/minions. But always needed to use two rage spells and a lightning.

Also, one thing that I found was pretty much a guaranteed one-star for me was 10 Valkyries, 35 wizards (maybe some wall breakers) with two heal spells and two rage spells. They could drill through defences and take out the town hall every time, but it was very time and resources-intensive.

There is definitely a wall there. I got stuck on it and almost quit but I got better at deploying. You can go after the multi inferno's as long as the rest of the air isn't bad and xbows are down.

You're going to be at a pretty big disadvantage with the CC situation. Even lower level minions would help your swarm.

It may be a cheap way of doing it, but I just wanted to get to masters for the 1000 gems so I could get my 5th builder.

All I did was patiently search for town halls that were on the outskirts of a city.

They are out there, and it may take a while, but I made it that way.

Just be ready to drop some serious units if there are hidden teslas or if the town hall is in range of the Clan Castle!

For me it's even worse.

I'm a TH8, I used all Dragons. I hit 2588, where I lost like 3 Battles in a row and then lost big time on Defense. I was raging because I:

- Spent like 4000 Gems on Elixir
- Spent 100-150 Gems on Boosting Spell Factory and Barracks.

Any Suggestions?
My Troops are lvl 5 & 3 (Pekka, Drag, Healer), Minions lvl 3 and all my Spells are lvl 5.

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Originally Posted by techcare

It may be a cheap way of doing it, but I just wanted to get to masters for the 1000 gems so I could get my 5th builder.

All I did was patiently search for town halls that were on the outskirts of a city.

They are out there, and it may take a while, but I made it that way.

Just be ready to drop some serious units if there are hidden teslas or if the town hall is in range of the Clan Castle!

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I made that mistake last night. After a 40 trophy loss to a hogger I thought I'd look for an exposed TH while waiting for troops. Saw a base with lots of underdeveloped towers and thought, hey that looks easy. 4 fully maxed Teslas popped out of the ground and thus the huge hole I had to dig out of.

Sure I thought their might be Teslas there, but because of his base I never thought he'd have maxed teslas.... he still had puny little gray cannons and wooden archer towers...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NioTheDreamer

I made that mistake last night. After a 40 trophy loss to a hogger I thought I'd look for an exposed TH while waiting for troops. Saw a base with lots of underdeveloped towers and thought, hey that looks easy. 4 fully maxed Teslas popped out of the ground and thus the huge hole I had to dig out of.

Sure I thought their might be Teslas there, but because of his base I never thought he'd have maxed teslas.... he still had puny little gray cannons and wooden archer towers...

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Lol, I got caught in that trap before (many times, to my dismay!). Just gotta make sure you're ready for anything!

Perhaps there is an alternative... Perhaps if you flip your ratio, you can have a whole new effective attack... What if the only reason you used loons was to draw fire and pull in the red air mines? What if minnies were the ones that delivered the bacon? hmmm... I like bacon.
I could be more specific but as with the diminishing ninja masters they each keep one killing attack away from their pupils. Oh wait, I'm not a ninja master. As with all good breakfasts chefs - they keep one ingredient away from their trainees and I would never share to add muffin mix in with your french toast batter. I'd just keep serving up the bacon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NioTheDreamer

First off thanks for all the replies. I had a similar morning where I spent all my time gaining back trophies to get to 2400. Had a terrible loss to a smart hogger that pointed out a weakness in my base, rather painfully.




Looking at the replies and replays I honestly think my skill level is insufficient at the moment. I was a dragon user back in TH 7 and 8. Back then single target infernos were my bane but I had little motivation to push back then (no big gem pot to look forward to)


I am finding balloons are very different and how I use minions with them is different than I did with dragons.


I just don't have the timing down. I am not sure when to deploy things and am noticing a few differences in my approach.


With rages I am seeing them deployed on the flanks, balloons still deployed in a spread out row. I've been using groups of 10 with healing spells and spreading out if deploying near a wizard tower.

Lately I've also been deploying my minions after the destruction is all said and done. Which is fine while farming. But I just know know these units like I know Barch, BAM or Drag/Minion.



I am still not sure if I want to push again. I really hate searching for 10-15 minutes for a base and my gems are almost bled dry.....


But I am aware now, that I am no balloon master.

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wow, congrats to you. Someone who knows his limitations and admits to them is the sign of some of the best players. I have no doubt that in time, you will succeed, once you've nailed the strategies.

I got to the masters league fairly quickly with my th 9 using 28 lvl 5 hogs and 4 lvl 3 dragons plus 2 healing spells and 2 rage spells. You do have to do a lot of searching for the right bases to attack but in the end you will get there. And yes I avoided any bases with inferno towers and went for th's that were outside the core or other th 9's that had weak defenses. Sometimes you get lucky and find an abandon base but they are much rarer than they used to be.

Sometimes you even find th's that are totally unprotected so you only have to use a few troops to get the win. Also once you get close to the masters league (crystal 1) it is best to stay on-line until you get to the masters. Otherwise you have to regain cups every time you log off. This is how I did it. Happy cup hunting.

Clan: Blackest Night
Name: Chumpskers

Currently trophy pushing.

Well, that was tough. I finally made it to masters. I must say, the last 100 to 50 cups is very hard. you have to press next many times.

There were many times I also wanted to quit, thinking I would never get there, I thought it was so frustrating. Took some breaks, thought about strategy, and in the end, here we are.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...an/photo-3.png

I can finally go back down to normal farming. that was an exciting 4 days of clashing hard.

Cheers to everyone for your help.

Conan

Well done, thats a pretty small club you just joined, really not easy to get the black badge at Th8 ✌️