[TH8] Lab upgrades

In TH8, it seems that I am likely to finish upgrading walls and buildings long before I am done upgrading in the lab, so I want to prioritize troops that I are going to continue being useful as a late TH8 and early TH9. In that vein, I plan on maxing out the things I use frequently for farming (Barb, Archer, Giants, Spells) but I'm not quite sure where to go from there.

Since TH7 my primary war attack strategy has been mass Dragons, and they are currently level 2. However I hear that Dragons are not really all that useful in TH9 and above. Would it be better to do Wizards/Pekkas, or Balloons/Minions, or Hog Riders? I'll do them all eventually as time permits, but what's the most efficient to get done prior to getting to TH9?

Get your drags to level 3 and max your rage as soon as you're done upgrading your farming troops. They are useful in CWs and can almost 3 star any base with the correct placement.

After drags, I would suggest doing wiz/pekka/loons whichever you use frequently and if you have spare DE, upgrade minions and hogs.

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Originally Posted by tomasinooooo

Get your drags to level 3 and max your rage as soon as you're done upgrading your farming troops. They are useful in CWs and can almost 3 star any base with the correct placement.

After drags, I would suggest doing wiz/pekka/loons whichever you use frequently and if you have spare DE, upgrade minions and hogs.

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Well... this isn't very helpful. You didn't address my question regarding the usefulness of Dragons once I hit TH9. While I understand that in the short term they are very good against other TH8 bases in wars, the state of my clan is such that whether I get 2 stars with level 2 dragons or 3 stars with level 3 is very seldom of any consequence, so if the upgrade is such that it won't be useful once I hit TH9 it seems like a waste of time.

I currently don't use any of the other troops you mentioned so I have no idea what would be best. I Barch or GiBarch 99% of the time when I'm farming and only use Dragons for wars.

TH9s use GoWiPe, GoWiWi, Lavaloonion, HoLoWiWi, etc.
Definitely not mass drags!

Once you have finished with your farming troops (barbs, archers, wallbreakers, and minions) you should upgrade dragons. Lvl 3 dragons with upgraded spells can take out any th8 base in war. You can easily get 2 stars off most th9s as well. The most effective war strategies for th9 (gowipe, gowiwi, etc) take months to upgrade and also cost dark elixir. Having a good war strat for the interim is a good idea. Dragons are also amazing cc troops...

Mass dragons stand no chance in decent th9.

Me:

1) Archers
2) Dragons
3) Loons (if you do 813 dragon attacks a lot)
4) Barbs
5) Rage
6) Heal
7) WBs (hey I use them for farming right?)
8) Lightning (sometimes AD6s will not die)
9) Wizards (I rarely use these guys, but they're useful for donations)
10) ??

I'm on #9 only. But 10 probably is Giants.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kather

Mass dragons stand no chance in decent th9.

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Right, so this being the case would you recommend just getting started on upgrades that will help me against a decent TH9? In which case what would be the best way to prepare for that as a TH8?

This is my order that I did so far!

1. Archers
2. Barbarians
3. Dragons
4. Minions
5. Balloons
6. Currently doing wizards in my lab!!

But, TH 9 don't use dragons. I would upgrade balloons and minions as that is an amazing farming strategy for Town Hall 9, and then you could use them for Lavaloon and Holowiwi and etc!

Assuming you have been keeping your lab busy at all times which you should ALWAYS be doing, you should still have a decent amount of time before you max your TH8 base.

You are looking at a 12 week period with 5 builders (always busy) at TH8.

Your upgrade line should include dragon lvl 3 early on if you war frequently as they are the best TH8 war composition. I would recommend upgrading drags after you do your BARCH army.

Here is what I did at TH8:

1. Barb
2. Arch
3. Dragon
4. Rage
5. Giant
6. Wizard
7. Minion lvl 3
8. Minion lvl 4
9. Balloon
10. PEKKA 2
11. PEKKA 3
12. Golem
13. Lightning Spell
14. Heal Spell


I skipped Valk, Hogs, Goblin, Wall breaker, Healer. Came to TH8 with maxed TH7 research.

I left TH8 with maxed buildings and walls. (took a week or so to finish skulls before TH9 upgrade).

My builders weren't always busy 100% of the time (probably 98% of the time though) and I don't think I got builder #5 until a week or so in. I also took advantage of TH9 upgrade time to finish a couple 5 day research upgrades.

Long story short - Dragon lvl 3 early will be worth it in clan wars while you are at TH8. You will be able to attack and beat better upgraded TH8 and some early/rushed TH9 and TH10 bases for extra loot. You will want to max your PEKKA and Golem before you hit TH9 if you war frequently. Also you will want to max Balloon and Minion beforehand so you can max them fast at TH9.

Hope this helps!