=+= Dragon Raiding 101 for TH8 (w/pics)=+=
Written by Jack (Master Cheif/ringdoctor12) and JD (zantraxer), Leaders of Reemadant
Check out our clan: http://forum.supercell.net/showthrea...uitment-Thread
*All attacks displayed during this post were done by members of our clan*
Attack: Dragon Raiding
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
TH LEVEL: 8
(TH7 and 9 tutorials may come soon)
Since a lot of people use this attack, we think it’s appropriate to write a full detailed guide on how to successfully Dragon Raid.
=+=ARMY COMPOSITION=+=
Green: Recommended
Yellow: Advanced/not recommended
Army: 10 Dragons OR 9 Dragons, 4 Balloons OR 9 Dragons, 4 Hogs
---------Barbarian King
Spells: 2 Rage, 1 Heal OR 3 Lightning
Clan Castle: 5 Balloons OR 5 Hogs
ProTip: At TH8 you should have lvl 3 Dragons, lvl 5 Barb King, and lvl 5 spells. Get upgrading!
http://i.imgur.com/LsEyrjQ.png
ProTip: Depending on the base, you can use hogs or balloons to take out an air defense by themselves!
=+=OVERVIEW=+=
The single biggest downfall for any Dragon Raid attack is the pathing of the Dragons. For example, when your dragons go around the side of the base rather than go straight in, or when they completely ignore an air defense and skip the townhall.
What you want is to take out the Air Defenses as soon as possible and have as many remaining dragons as possible.
-+-Dragon Placement-+-
ProTip: Spread your Dragons in a line, rather than all in one place.
ProTip: You do NOT have to draw clan castle troops during Dragon Raids.
Here is a good example:
http://i.imgur.com/NdC8EEvl.png
Don’t spawn them all in one spot. This is how they go around the sides. When you put each dragon on one side and the majority in the middle, the side dragons take out the side buildings and your main dragon force goes through the middle.
Here is a bad example:
^^Believe it or not this attack actually failed because the dragons went around the outside.^^
http://i.imgur.com/yjt8o5wl.jpg
The dragons and Hero that you place on the side manipulate the pathing of inside dragons by destroying side buildings. Placing a Hero on the side to destroy the side buildings means your dragons won’t go to it which is what you want. It doesn’t matter if your hero dies, you just want to make sure your dragons go in the right direction.
Warning: Be careful not to pull enemy CC troops away from Air Defenses as this will distract Dragons and you may lose the fight!
You should also attack on the side that will get you to the Air Defenses faster.
ProTip: The success of a Dragon Raid is determined by how quickly you can take out all the Air Defenses.
-+-Spell Placement-+-
Using 3 Lightning Spells
Use your 3 Lightning Spells to wipe out a single air defense if you think you can get to the other two without using rage and healing spells. This is usually reserved for bases with spread out air defenses.
Example: 3 lightning spells were used to take out the top AD, and then dragons deployed by the bottom two AD's.
http://i.imgur.com/bzYUxk8l.png
Using 2 Rage, 1 Heal
Your spells are needed to get dragons to air defenses. Use them when nearing an AD so that the dragons can clear any remaining buildings quickly and efficiently and move on to take out the AD. The longer they take hits from AD's, the less likely your dragons are to survive. Use a Healing Spell when your dragons are getting low on health and taking a lot of damage from AD's
The beginning of the raid is the most important so try to use spells in the beginning because this will dictate everything else. The problem people have with spells is that by the time they put it down it’s too late. They’ll wait for 30 seconds to drop a rage spell and by the time they drop it, it hits only 1 surviving dragon when it would have been better to drop it earlier so that it affected more than just a single dragon.
Don’t be too conservative with your spells; use them when they matter the most, which is in the beginning of the raid when nearing an AD. If you see an opportunity to drop a healing spell on 2 or more dragons being hit by AD’s, take it. A dragon will be able to take at least 6-7 more AD hits if they’re being attacked which makes a huge difference.
Good Example (TH8 attacking TH9, done by one of our members, TheNarrator):
3 Stars
A) 1st Rage Spell placed when nearing Air Defenses
http://i.imgur.com/rf13em5l.jpg
B) Healing Spell (almost synonymous with the rage spell but you can see it touching the clan castle)
http://i.imgur.com/QAR5MTvl.jpg
C) 2nd Rage Spell to get to the last AD
*Should have been placed slightly more right to get the other dragons in the Rage.
Tip submitted by KOEWen: Drop spells where Dragon shadows are, as that's what determines whether dragons are included or not.
http://i.imgur.com/qv9hkb1l.jpg
*Also note that raid used good CC balloon placement, covered in the next section*
Obviously drop rage spells on large groups of dragons whenever possible. Important places to drop rage spells.
- Large Clusters of buildings,
- When you need your dragons to move faster into a particular direction (Hopefully that direction is towards the Air Defenses/Townhall) PS: That is the ONLY Direction you should get your dragons moving towards.
- Pretty much both of the above. Name of the game: Use rage spells to quickly and I do mean quickly get your Dragons to the center of the base as fast as humanly possible. The Longer the Air Defenses stay up the worse the raid. The longer they stay up, the more missiles they get off, GG.
-+-CC Troop Placement-+- (more info to come)
Using Balloons (Medium-Hard Technique)
Placing the Clan Castle takes precision and must be timed perfectly. When executed perfectly, the balloons can take out an entire Air Defense all by themselves, letting your dragons demolish the rest of the base.
Here is exactly when you want to place your clan castle troops (balloons):
1) After your dragons will take the full AD hits,
2) Before your dragons are all killed by AD's
Basically, you just want to get your balloons to kill the AD before they die. Typically, balloons are placed BEHIND the dragons, mainly because the dragons tank for them, secondly because they won't get distracted by any defenses because the dragons would have destroyed them already.
100% Perfect Dragon Raid (By one of our members Smackinator)
A) Placed in a line, not bunched up
http://i.imgur.com/EEFdC0u.png
B) As dragons are getting close to AD, places CC balloons in the top behind the dragons. Also BK was placed to help take out buildings on the top right.
http://i.imgur.com/zgzURBn.png
C) Places Rage Spell on dragons and balloons to help kill the first AD, simultaneously speeding up the balloons so they're rushed to the center.
Advanced Strategy: Time your spells with the balloons and your dragons so that both will benefit from them. If you can also get your balloons and dragons in there and get the timing right it will be even better.
http://i.imgur.com/DfSItlV.png
D) 2nd Rage and Heal are placed to help get to the 2nd and 3rd AD's and also to help kill the enemy CC troops.
http://i.imgur.com/vqcMpqm.png
E) Balloons make it to the AD on the right, about to take it out.
http://i.imgur.com/sehoNsr.png
F) Dragons take out the last remaining AD. 7 dragons and the balloons still remain.
http://i.imgur.com/hhQjOY2.png
E) 3 star for the win!
http://i.imgur.com/QAFkucf.png
Using Hogs (Hard technique, not recommended):
Using hogs as your clan castle reinforcements are harder than using balloons;
Here are 4 things you have to watch out for:
1. Luring the CC troops on accident
- This could distract the dragons away from air defenses AND kill your hogs, most likely causing a loss.
2. Hitting giant bombs
- This would kill your hogs before taking out AD. No Bueno.
3. Taking hits from cannons/mortars and other defenses that dragons can't tank for.
- Hog riders might die before taking out AD. Also no bueno.
4. Getting distracted by other defenses
- Also might die or take too long to take out AD.
When done right this can absolutely turn the tides in a Dragon Raid. People who know how to effectively use Balloons and Hogs in a Dragon Raid can get these units to take out an Air Defense all by themselves.
Things to note:
- The pathing of the Hogs/Balloons are a little bit easier to predict since they only target defenses, so place them only when you see a clear shot that they can make it to the Air Defenses, none of the other defenses matter. You want your Hogs/Balloons to make it to the AD’s
- If you are using Balloons, please don’t deploy them until a dragon has begun taking AD Aggro, Balloons will drop fast and are also painfully slow
- If you see any Air Defenses on the outside, you can take them out easily with a well placed hog CC castle. And I really do mean the outer outer shell.
**This information is subject to and will change without notice. More information will be added and current information will be edited to make it easier to read and clearer to understand. Clash on!**
