How much DE can I save before I need to fear lightning attacks?

I am at the tail end of my TH7 life cycle, and I'm trying to accumulate enough DE to upgrade my Barb King a few times before I move to TH8.

I only need to max my mines and collectors before TH8 (all defences, walls, barracks, camps, and troop upgrades complete). While I cycle through the last few mine/collector upgrades, I was thinking I'll try to max out my BK at the same time.

I just started the upgrade to BK Level 2, and the Minion lab upgrade is already brewing. So far, I haven't been hit by a single lightning attack (** fingers crossed **), even though I had 11,000 DE went I signed off last night. I've consistently kept my gold below 200,000, to make myself less of a target, though I usually have between 1 - 1.5 mil in elixer to fund my DE-focused raids.

Will I be able to accumulate the 20,000 DE to fully max out the BK at level 5, or are the lightning attacks going to bleed me out every time I get close to that number?

Just wondering what others experiences have been with DE lightning attacks lately. Thanks.

I wouldn't worry about Thors until you have 40-50k DE saved up, but since you're TH 7 the loot penalties will prevent you from losing too much.

I don't think you should worry at TH7.
If I were TH7, I would prefer to cast lightning on TH8 and TH9 for more DE, unless you are on other TH7's revenge list.

When you want a shield, more gold in your storage will result in more interest from TH8 to wipe out your base and give you a shield, which is better than get lightning without shield.

Some guy lightninged my de when it was at 10,000 -_-

I just recently upgraded my barb king to level 5 (I'm th 7) happy to say no one did a lightning spell on me while I was saving up.

This is great news, thanks for the feedback.

Though it seems sadistic, I agree with the comment that it's better to get most of my base wiped out by a TH8 and get the shield than it would be to get by DE-targeted lightning spells with no shield.

At this stage in my TH7 life cycle, the only precious resource is DE. I use spells in most of my attacks, and donate troops all day long, and I still have plenty of elixer and gold lying unused in my storages.

Looking forward to a BK5 soon, LVL2 Minions, and (maybe) LVL2 Hog Riders...

Nice work.

I never got lightning on my DE at TH7. As others have said you just don't get enough. With 20k full DE I think you can only lose 500 to TH9 and 1k to TH8. Lightning would only take a % of this too, so not worth it. Plus i'm guessing when you fill it you'll use it straight away.

Just keep the DE storages heavily protected in the base.