My TH8 3 star dragon raid guide
I'm a Th9, but my clan was one short for war, so I took my mini to war and got to dust off my dragon raids. This attack was to clean up a previous 2 star attack, so anything less than 3 stars wouldn't have been helpful. Sorry there is no audio, I couldn't record the video myself and had to ask a friend to help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-9S...layer_embedded
7 dragons survived the attack, and I had 1 minute to spare.
A bit of the thoughts that went behind it:
I chose this base because only one air defense was very deep in the base. I knew I could kill that AD with 3 lighting spells. That only leaves me with 2 AD to deal with, which were not very deep in the base. I knew I would have to kill one AD with the dragons, and one with lvl 6 balloons in my CC. One should NEVER EVER attack a TH8 with dragon if all 3 AD are in the core, and you are going for 3 stars. It is not happening, unless you are very lucky.
The trick is to get your dragon to go into the base rather than around the base. I used my BK to kill the NE AC, so the dragons wouldn't go around the base to the right. I also used one dragon to kill one AC at NW, so the dragon wouldn't go to the left. From scouting the base, I knew the AD's range wouldn't hit the buildings at north, so those would be free hits mostly, or they may take a bit of damage from the archer towers. Note the BK was also drawing fire from the AT, so in essence the BK was tanking for the dragons as well.
I usually zap the interior AD first as you may forget later, but in this raid I actually did forget and didn't zap it until I was midway into the raid. Best practice is to zoom in so you don't miszap and the AD is left standing. Always use 3 lightning zap. 2 doesn't cut it.
To deal with the last AD, I will be using CC balloons. The trick is to not use them too early, as cc troops can kill your balloons, and it is best to use the loons if you have a dragon tanking for them. You can either save one dragon, and release it close to the last ad to tank, and release your balloons. In the video, I actually let the dragon army get into range of the AD, and once the AD is shooting at a dragon, I then drop the balloons, essentially leveraging the dragon for tank. This is a slight advantage over saving a dragon to tank as that dragon is on the field for a longer amount of time, and is doing more total damage. When you release your balloons, beware of open 2x2 squares between balloons and AD as those could be hidden teslas, and could misdirect your balloons. In this case, I watch a replay of a previous attack, and knew there was no tesla there.
Also, note I didn't bait and kill cc troops. The cc wiz actually helped to draw the dragons into the core of the base.
using the 105.21 dragoon attack with 3 star every th8 with core clustered AD
Seriously? Any TH8 will be 3 starred by 10 level 3 dragons and 5 level balloons in cc if you follow the 105.21 dragon attack strategy. It is almost dummy proof 3 star. Now, if the AD6 are farther apart than 1 spell touches both, it requires perfect execution of the cut dragons and core piercing. That TH8 should have it's storages tanking dragons in front of them in range of wizard towers and airbomb/mines in range. Even then the advantage is dragon.
IF the AD are not in core, game over poor TH8 as you demonstrated.
Shout out to wyrhorn and JTJ University for documenting the 105.21 dragoon strategy for me. Been 3 starring ever since where as before, it was watch the dragon wander aimlessly and hoping.
