Lava Hounds

I am currently saving up the dark elixir to upgrade my minions to level 5. My loons are at level 6 and my lava hounds are at level 1. Is this going to be sufficient troop level to use lavaloonion effectively? I realize that having level 2 hounds would be better, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon, as I am starting minion lv 5 and then it's 60K de for hounds lv2. Both of my drills are level 4, working on saving the elixir to upgrade them level 5. Are elvel 1 hounds strong enough to use the lavaloonion strategy?

Yes it is. guys in my clan do it.

Yes theyre still ok to use. Btw it shouldnt take you more than 3 days to save up 60k DE. Head up to crystal league and start looking for only DE raids. I've made due with only lvl3 drills for the longest time.

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Originally Posted by sithhappens44142

I am currently saving up the dark elixir to upgrade my minions to level 5. My loons are at level 6 and my lava hounds are at level 1. Is this going to be sufficient troop level to use lavaloonion effectively? I realize that having level 2 hounds would be better, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon, as I am starting minion lv 5 and then it's 60K de for hounds lv2. Both of my drills are level 4, working on saving the elixir to upgrade them level 5. Are elvel 1 hounds strong enough to use the lavaloonion strategy?

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depends on the base...and if you kill AQ and/or cc.

It will of course be better with lvl 2 but you can lavaloon just fine with lvl 1 hounds. Just have to be a little more carfeul with base choice (the AD lvl and the x bow settings)

Level 1 lava hound will be fine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sithhappens44142

I am currently saving up the dark elixir to upgrade my minions to level 5. My loons are at level 6 and my lava hounds are at level 1. Is this going to be sufficient troop level to use lavaloonion effectively? I realize that having level 2 hounds would be better, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon, as I am starting minion lv 5 and then it's 60K de for hounds lv2. Both of my drills are level 4, working on saving the elixir to upgrade them level 5. Are elvel 1 hounds strong enough to use the lavaloonion strategy?

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Lvl 1 lava hound works, but I would save up for lvl 2 lava hound instead because lvl 2 lava hound & lvl 4 minion is more effective than lvl 1 lava hound & lvl 5 minion.

Minions are like barchers, they don't last long even at lvl 5 unless you bring a lot of them, but you don't bring a lot of them in typical lavaloonion compositions. I usually only bring about 10, no more than 15, whereas I bring 3-4 lava hounds depending on the base layout and base defensive strength. They are used to help to kill CC troops at the beginning (if I failed to kill all CC troops in one balloon drop) and clean up non-defensive buildings at the end. In any case, they are not the key to success.

Lava hounds, on the other hand, tanks better and produces more lava pups at lvl 2. More lava pups means you can kill centralized archer queen faster (because unlike minions, they appear on the inside of the base), trigger any untriggered air mines better, and clean up non-defensive buildings faster. Whether you can kill archer queen in time is the difference between a 1 star raid and a 3 star raid. Even if you have failed to kill all defensive buildings and struggling to get 2 stars, having more lava pups is more useful because they appear on the inside, whereas minions would only get to the town hall after they have worked through all buildings on the outside. This is why some people used to bring 4-5 lava hounds (no minions) and rely on lava pups to handle archer queen and CC troops (it's called quadro/penta lavaloon or QLL/PLL). It was a very viable strategy before the clan perks update. (Read here to see why it's not anymore.)

Lvl 1 lava hounds aren't bad depending on how you use them. I would upgrade them to lvl 2 still though.

Easily. (all though higher lvl is better) you can. I have a champion in my clan, he LOVES:heart: lavaloonion. He has maxed troops, but when he had lvl 1 hounds he shared replays of lavaloonion. So good luck ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sithhappens44142

I am currently saving up the dark elixir to upgrade my minions to level 5. My loons are at level 6 and my lava hounds are at level 1. Is this going to be sufficient troop level to use lavaloonion effectively? I realize that having level 2 hounds would be better, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon, as I am starting minion lv 5 and then it's 60K de for hounds lv2. Both of my drills are level 4, working on saving the elixir to upgrade them level 5. Are elvel 1 hounds strong enough to use the lavaloonion strategy?

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For clan war purpose: L2 Lava & L4 Minions are better than L1 Lava and L5 Minions.
Minions are mostly used for rear-line clean up, after all the defenses are destroyed by lava/pups and loons.

L1 lava is alright if you are attacking mid TH9 or lower. And not 4x maxed L7 AD. L6 AD are already difficult, and you may need to bring 4-5 L1 lava, which takes up a lot of your camp/cc space.
With L2 lava, depending on enemy base, you can bring 3-4.

My minions are only lvl3.
I chose to upgrade lavas first
They will be 2 in 3 days
I also keep 1 hero on constant upgrade
Plenty of dark out there