Barch or BAM?

I'll cut right to the chase here. I am a maxed town hall 9 (except walls) and I am starting to move away from the giant/healer strategy because I hear you can't use it at town hall 10 for farming. Mostly everyone says to use Barch or BAM but I don't understand why people would use BAM. I used barch to get up to masters in about 3 days and it worked really well for getting that one star. If I switched to BAM then I would have less troops and the air traps and air defenses could start shooting at me so I don't see why BAM is a viable strategy.

Could somebody who has used BAM explain why you use it and why you think it is better than barch? Oh yeah, I was also going to use one of the two strategies in either gold 1 or crystal 3 so be sure to tell me if it will work up there (or down there if you are in champs or masters).

Thanks for all your advice guys!!

I use BAM at TH9. 50/50 arch/barbs with 4 WB and 15 minions. Yes, the minions cut 30 barchers out of my comp, but they are GREAT for picking off an outlying BK, cannon, mortar, ground xbow. Also, they are good if your BARCH has the defenses distracted and you want to fly over them to get to a storage.

I used to bring more minions - like up to 25. But I find I don't need as many. They are situational for sure.

I would say the main reason I like BAM over pure BARCH is that it takes my army 6 minutes less time to build because of the minions.

Alright thanks. I guess I will try that and just learn from experience then.

Yea man, just start with adding a couple of minions to your BARCH. Use them when you feel like they can kill some things without dying. Add more minions as you get more comfortable with them. There's really no big loss with trying out BAM vs BARCH - both are cheap and fast to make.

I usually carry 8-10 minions, 6 wbs, the rest barch. The minions is just used to pick off structures that aren't covered by air-targeting defenses. With this, 1 minion can take down a building which would have required say 20 barbs/arch. Sometimes its also great for sniping those occasional partially exposed townhalls with only canons and mortars guarding it.

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Originally Posted by tissuepaper

I usually carry 8-10 minions, 6 wbs, the rest barch. The minions is just used to pick off structures that aren't covered by air-targeting defenses. With this, 1 minion can take down a building which would have required say 20 barbs/arch. Sometimes its also great for sniping those occasional partially exposed townhalls with only canons and mortars guarding it.

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This. Basically you are still using barch and occassionaly use minions. You only use the minions to pick off buildings to net that 1star win or to get storages not covered by air targeting def. Just make sure to send out 1 minion to test for air bombs before sending out the rest.

I use BAM and have been for a while. It's faster to train (using 6 barracks instead of 4) and it's awesome for farming. I also use it in clan wars and it has gotten me kicked from a clan, so use it only for farming.

Pros:
-Fastest to train
-Relatively cheap
-Still possible to get 50%
-Spells not needed

Cons:
-Uses Dark Elixr
-Can only steal loot in mines and pumps easily

Wiggy made a video on BAM that convinced me to use it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2McJ0N0VrBc

I'm a new convert to BAM too. I'm a TH8 with 200 space and I've been using:

56 Barbarians
56 Archers
4 Giants
4 Wall Breakers
30 Minions

Usually, I'll pick the side that is either closest to my target or the side that has the air defenses and start with throwing about 35-40 each of the barbs and archers at it. Then a couple Giants, then the wall breakers to follow the giants. I let that stew for a couple seconds and then throw my BK into the mix. Once he's going, I'll drop the test minions, to draw out the air bombs. usually by this point, the troops have wiped out the first row of defenses and are two levels deep into the base. If there's an air bomb, the test 3-4 minions will pull those out. If there's none, I send in all the remaining minions right behind the troops and they usually catch up pretty quickly. Activate the iron fist and sit back and enjoy.

As others have said --- BAM is usually BARCH with a few minions --- I personaly only use the minions where necessary, but when you see that big juicy storage raid come up, and if you have rage to hand, then 20 minions under rage will gut a core, (and will happily take down single mode infernos as well)...


Also bear in mind that AT and whizz tower and xbow can target air or ground - but only one or the other at a time - therefore 5 barbs/archers can distract, whilst a few minions can take it out....


I just feel that BAM is more flexible..... the fact its quicker to cook up, using 6 barracks is just a nice bonus....


good luck :cool:

I use BAM .. beacause its faster.. and i like minions :).. and sometimes can get into hard to reach places ..