Balloon Strategy 101

[NB: I will edit this post next week after our clan donation war and I'll insert some pics of balloons to liven this post up for folks]

So, as many know, I tend to use war balloons for fun and other reasons a fair bit and I often get asked questions such as:

"How do you use them? I used four L6 balloons in my CC and they got shot down so fast!"
"I used 20 balloons and I didn't get any resources!"
"They stink, those Air Defenses shoot them down so fast!"

So, let's cover some basic facts and then move onto strategy.

1. Balloons, similar to Giants, target Defenses first
This is an important starting point as to how to view balloons. Goblins target resources first. Giants target defenses first.

But, many beginner ball'rs assume that balloons target anything, as archers or barbarians do. If you deploy only balloons slowly as an example, there is a high chance that you will destroy every single defensive building and unit, and then only barely get to the resources.

See strategy implications below, but it is recommended to "pair" another troop with balloons to ensure loot raiding so as to avoid the dreaded timer failure (where you have destroyed all defenses and those majestic balloons are only just turning to the resource tanks).

2. Balloons move very slowly
With a movement speed of 10, they are even slower than Giants (at 12).

The implication of this is the clock is NOT your friend. Nor are deeply imbedded Air Defenses, which have more time to shoot down your slow moving balloons.

3. Focus on Air Defenses
So many beginner ball'rs are used to focusing on mortars, wizard towers, but unequivocally, the defense that will be your bane are the Air Defenses.

A level 6 balloon has 545 hp. Air defenses (haha remember those things you ignored as a ground troop raider?) will take down a max level balloon in two shots at level 7-8, and 3 shots at level 5-7. At a shooting rate of one second, you can quickly see that three to four ADs can easily mow down a balloon army, if those ADs are free to shoot.

Time again is not your friend with these slow moving balloons. You need to get those ADs... see below for strategy implications.

4. L6 Balloon vs L5 Balloon health and Kamikaze Death Splash
When L6 balloons were released, there was appreciation for its greater health (545 vs 390 for L5). But, from my experience, this extra health does not mean as much against AD's... that greater health is indeed greatly needed, but it's more of a buffer against archer towers, wizard towers, and teslas.

Said another way, many of these strategies work just fine with "just" L5 balloons, if you focus properly on ADs (which mow down L5 or L6 balloons just fine, thank you).

Similar, I was intrigued by the recent kamikaze death plop damage but in reality, they tend to fall straight down and not aim for whatever shot you down. So, enjoy watching balloons fall and burn some walls or grass or trees... Shrug :)

__________________________________________________ ______________
OK, let’s switch to tactics, strategy, etc, etc.:

1. Air vs. Mix
When you deploy all ground troops, you effectively disable Air Defenses (AD’s can’t shoot archers, etc)

When you deploy all air troops, you effectively disable mortars and cannons (mortars can’t shoot ballons, etc)

When you deploy both air and ground, guess what? You, my dear, have disabled nothing. I groan when I see someone attack with 20 balloons, a few WBs and giants, and arch. It’s a free world, but go with vanilla or chocolate. Don’t get a nasty thing in that ice cream cup by being indecisive.

The exception is troops (such as archers) to get to those pesky AD’s (more later)

2. All Balloon Approach
OK, you see the light and wish to go all air. So, you opt for the ever famous all balloon attack. 40 balloons (if you can house 200) or 44 (if you can house 220).

It’s perhaps a bit simplistic, but so long as the AD’s are not nestled deep within, you will generally do fine. Just try to aim for those AD’s as much as you can and split your army accordingly.

The worst is sending 10 balloons at each AD, and watching 9 go down in flames, and the 10^th do a kamikaze and fall short… and that darn AD is still shooting at the rest of your army.

This brute approach works, but it is obviously not that elixir or cook-time efficient, nor is it the most three-star successful. Further, against well placed AD’s, you often see results with most of the defenses taken out, and no loot at all, as your entire is still majestically moving ever so slowly after each defense all over the place.

3. The Balloon as Meat Shield Plus Minion Approach
This is a common approach and I use it.

You deploy balloons as effectively air-based, meat decoys similar to Giants. Then you deploy minions afterwards, to clean up when it’s safe, sort as air-based goblins.

Why minions? Well, per the point above, you wish to continue to ignore walls (Hogs will still trigger mortars, etc) and ground defenses. And, they fly fast… with 30 seconds remaining, 20 minions can mop up really well. Imagine an open battlefield of no walls, and having goblins run at will. Same concept.

Some choose to deploy minions first, before the balloons. The advantage of this approach is decoy the AD’s into shooting down minions first so as to save your balloons. However, I find this approach less efficient, as red bombs do a number on minions and it’s better to have war balloons clear them out first.

Further, L5 minions have a health of just 78, that’s not much against teslas, arch towers, and such. While you are trying to decoy the AD’s onto those minions, the other “secondary air” defenses are having a field day on your minions. And remember minions take 2 occupancy. So, that’s 39 HP per spot. L6 balloons with 545 HP for 5 spots, is 109 HP per spot. That higher health per spot is critical in the first wave of any attack, whether ground or air.

4. Other
This post is getting long, so I’ll quickly wrap up on the other tidbits.

1. Bait those CC archers out. Drag ‘em away from the other defenses and take em out with archers. Or, lightning them once baited (1 spell with work)
2. Bait that Arch Queen. You can ignore the King, nothing like looking at blue gnats biting the fatso away.
3. Take out external placed AD’s with archers. Beyond 1900 or so troph, you will find less and less AD’s placed outside or on the outer perimeter
4. Your own lightning spell will kill your own balloons (has this bug been fixed?)
5. Don’t be shy to rage some balloons to ensure they get to that critical first AD to make an entry for your army, if you see enough loot for farmers/ cups for trophers to warrant some usage of spells
6. Some try deploying a dragon in FRONT of balloons, so to put a meat shield in front of your meat shield. So one dragon, wait for AD to lock onto the lizard, then the balloons, then when it’s safe, the minion mop up crew. If I have a dragon in my CC, it’s a fine strategy, but I tend to dislike cooking dragons… messes up my OCD symmetry of barrack cooking, haha
7. Against the new inferno tower, try to not use balloons directly against them first, but the minions or archers… but if need be, the balloons will take it out. I’ve generally found the inferno tower to not be that effective against a balloon army (does a number on GoWiPe’s of course). You may need to rage the balloons to get to the tower though.

In closing, while it can be frustrating to watch your balloons destroy all the defenses and have the clock run out (if you didn’t pair them with some other troops, such as minions), it can also be a lot of fun watching a TH9 with 4200 hp being one-shotted by a bunch of your balloons.

Remember four balloons will not do much. You wish to clear all the defenses, and have the minions have a free field day. I find a three-star much easier with air-based attacks than ground based above 2300 trophy. Yes, you can get to 50% damage with ground troops, but there's something darn pleasant in three-starring L9 wall villages.

Illustris

(again I’ll post some pics into this OP next week after I switch back to air)

P.S. OK, Jayne, happy? I wrote this darn essay finally

Illy! You are an awesome dictator (if lagging behind your flagship clan in donations :P)

What? This was a ploy for this interim essay was a ploy to distract me from the donation war?

I see you, I see your evil ways, Gold, tsk tsk.


Illustris the Giant Stuffing Essay Writer

I can see I need to practice with my baloonses!
Great help however, particularly as myself (and many others I am sure) have never experimented with baloons, past that euphoric stage upon first unlocking them in barracks.

But the best sort of distraction? Anyway, I go for no ones clan but my own liddle FFF.

And as for three starring lvl 9 walled villages? I will get to it, pics or it never happened style!

Nice guide. I like just going with all balloons myself. If I'm patient there are plenty of people with lots of loot and poor air defence; I've come across several 200K/200K loots from a TH8 with one AD outside the walls(and I mean just one total). I try to focus on loot per space; a TH7 with 150K gold is really nice for me at TH9 if I can get it with 9-12 balloons. To help with the running out of time issue I drop my BK and AQ when the defences are gone; careful of unsprung teslas and CC troops as I don't want my heroes napping. What I like most about being frugal with balloons is if I get a cheap raid I can do one or two more with out waiting for more balloons. I haven't noticed a problem dropping lightning on my balloons but I've been without a spell factory for awhile. About the only thing that really puts a dent in the strategy is a dragon in the clan castle, I can't lightning it to death and the balloons of course can't target it.

Nice thread!

I've been using balloons-minions combo for some time now and i must say they are quite effective at high level gameplay.

Unlike you im more concerned about high level wiz towers compared to ADs tho.

Im currently at 2300+ while typing this.

I love balloons... here is a strategy I use which I have not seen before, but which works beautifully.

Background:
TH8, getting close to maxed except for AD and Teslas.

Army:
18 balloons (6 per barracks=1hr)
2 dragons (1 hr)
30 minions
10 archers

3 level 3 lightning, which I rarely use, but occasionally finish off an AD or CC troops with one.
CC full of archers which I rarely use.

Target selection:
Over 200k gold (at near maxed TH8, I have little use for elixir)
AD near the perimeter
I'll take as many clicks as needed, as my army takes an hour to build. Target selection is important. Look for xbows set to ground or empty.
Goal is almost always 100%

Strategy:
1.
Archers lure out CC for lightning, or attack any easy air defenses.
2.
Look for air defenses that are easy to reach with balloons... no more than one or two other defense buildings between the drop point and the AD. Drop a dragon close enough to draw the AD attack. Then, drop 6-8 balloons. Do this to another AD on the periphery as well.
3.
Swarm minions behind the balloons/dragons. The balloons and dragons clear out the air bombs, and the minions sweep up all the goodies.

Results:
Started really using this strategy at 1550 cups about 20 raids ago. I'm now at 1888.
Last 10 raids (gold×1000/elixir×1000/de/%)
183/183/342 89
242/247/204 100
232/176/723 80
189/230/298 100
302/284/120 100
174/34/196 49
200/200/419 100
198/202/0 60
162/203/241 80
211/78/805 54

I'll see if I can make a video if there is enough interest... I'll have a tough time going back to the quicker cooking army of archers/giants/barbs/gobs/wbs after mowing down town after town with this.

Thanks for some tips using balloons Illustrus :)
Im gonna have my level 6 balloons on monday-tuesday and i truly never really used them before. So this post will be helping me using them :)

Something useful rather than a wise crack or a sexual advance! You're full of surprises Illy...

@Grogg, great results... I find the results even better over 2200 trophy, as the walls and defenses get tougher for ground troops, and available loot increases with some nice bases... There's something rather appealing in watching those balloons float ever so majestically over pretty L8-L9 wall formations

@Aprixius, why thank you!

@Humuhumu, hey you, been a long time... yes, I used to write more strategic posts a la Hannibal months ago, but things are generally rehash of rehashes lately... so I generally don't write "serious" stuff as much (except perhaps, in reviewing new updates). And yes, this essay was prompted by ahem, a certain, lady who saw a few of my balloon raid pics and was curious as to the strategy behind such results. So, does it make you feel better in reconciliation if I admit a lady was involved? Hehe, wink.


Illustris, yes, yes, I'll post screen pics next week when I pop back to 2300-2500 troph and go air again