My Guide to Town Hall 8.5

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I. Introduction: What is a town hall (.5)?
- A town hall (.5) means that when a person upgrades town halls, they prioritize offensive upgrades entirely over defenses upgrades, including building new defenses. There are different variations in how it can be done.
- The main purpose of becoming a (.5) town hall is to benefit your team in war. In matchmaking, you will be "weighted" like a little bit above a maxed town hall 8, while you will have the full capability of attacking as a town hall 9.
- In this guide, I will be going over a personal opinion through my own experience of how town hall 8.5 should be done. This is written from a war standpoint for people who are involved in serious war clans.

II. Benefits: There are many benefits to becoming a town hall 8.5, including:

• You will be weighted lower in war, with the capability of attacking like a fully grown town hall 9
• You will receive the benefits of extra traps, storages, and walls, which will greatly impair the ability of any town hall 8 to 3 star you, making a good base near impossible for a town hall 8 to 3 star.
• You will get a jump start on hero and wall upgrades; not worrying about working up new defenses will save you resources for walls and allow more time to farm for dark elixir
• The Archer Queen is the main farming threat at town hall 9, and she can still be utilized in order to snipe storages
• You will be dumping resources so quickly that not having x-bows and new defenses should not be a problem at all. They also are not complete game changers in farming defense. I can attest for this because I have managed to almost complete my lego walls in about 6 weeks.
• Your extra gold saved from not upgrading new defenses can be used to pour into new walls, because you have 25 more skull walls to complete.

III. Upgrade Priority: What to upgrade first as you reach town hall 9?
- Hopefully, you will reach town hall 9 with capped out resources: 6 million gold, 6 million elixir, and 80k, dark elixir. In any case, although this order can be switched around due to resource availability, this is my recommended upgrades in a rough order.

1. Build all traps and new walls. (Traps require no build time, and you will receive 2 extra seeking air mines, an extra giant bomb, and 25 walls. The extra air mines will negate town hall 8 dragon attacks and the extra bomb allows for 2 sets of double giant bombs to cripple hog attacks)
2. Immediately pour your gold into clan castle upgrade. (Not only do you receive extra offensive and defensive space, but the level 5 clan castle holds 30 troops. This mean you can now take max Lava Hounds and Golems from other clan members into your war attacks)
3. Laboratory: Get those new town hall 9 troops! I suggest building war troops before farming. It really is not that hard to farm with Town Hall 8 troops as long as you have the archer queen.
4. Spell Factory: Another spell is a huge advantage for town hall 9. The jump spell is also great, being a main component in many "Queen Kill Squads." Make sure to either sit out of war or gem the spell factory, because while it is building it can't be used.
5. Build Archer Queen and level her. (The archer queen should always be worked on from the start of town hall 9 as much as possible. I see many people max town hall 9 with low level heroes, because they are easy to fall way behind on. She is debatably your most valuable new asset and can be easily brought to level 5 within a couple days of Town hall 9, depending on whether you're willing to gem hero build time)
6. Army Camps: The last big offensive change is the army camps. Each army camp is allowed 5 extra space, making for 20 extra army space total. This upgrade will assist in farming as well as war, and is extremely important. Increase army camps at your pace.
7. Storages: Although storages are not necessarily "offense," they carry very little weight in the war algorithm (educated speculation), and are great for defense. The extra thousands of hit points added to your defense if very beneficial.

IV. How to Continue: After offensive upgrades are completed, this is my recommendation on how to intelligently level your defenses.
- Based on my experiences in how SuperCell "weights" each defense in war, I have found that X-bows are extremely heavy in the war algorithm.
- **I suggest working on defenses in this order: Teslas, Air Defense, Air Sweeper, Build Xbows, Cannons, Wizard Towers, Mortars. Personally, I like the idea of maxing teslas first. These take less space, have the element of surprise, and attack both air and ground units with quick attack speeds. Teslas are my favorite defense for a good reason. One good way to utilize your new tesla while it is still a low level, is to place it in a very tricky location that can throw off an attacker. I think the new air defense should be built and leveled next. If used well, LaLoon attack strategy is the most overpowered 3 star strategy in the game right now. The best way to combat this is, of course, leveling air defense. In addition, the 2 new air sweepers added to the game make this strategy much easier to defend against. At this point, X-bows are okay to add, and should be leveled to 3 as soon as possible. X-bows are very important to take out enemy heroes.
**Side note. Based on what I've studied, defenses are weighted roughly in the order that they are unlocked. Meaning, a cannon falls at the bottom of the weight spectrum while the inferno weighs at the top.

V. Conclusion:Town hall 8.5 is a great way to give your team a fair advantage in war. I strongly recommend it so any serious war player upgrading to town hall 9 and can personally vouch that is has not hurt the farming part of my game very much. Thank you for reading!

Call it what you want but it being a premmie on purpose basically * shudder*

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Originally Posted by fette

Call it what you want but it being a premmie on purpose basically * shudder*

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But do you have a good reason why that's so bad?

Dude, thank you SO much for this guide. I recently told my clanmates about it, they seemed convinced, and some of our Max Town Hall 8's are pulling it off.

In a couple weeks, I will give you guys input! Thanks.

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Originally Posted by fette

Call it what you want but it being a premmie on purpose basically * shudder*

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That's not premmie. That's like calling a new TH9 a premmie even if they maxed TH8.

Great thread OP. My question is what to do with all this gold? I'd hate to dump it all right back into the walls. Will building the new defenses other than the xbows and upgrading them to th 8 levels really hurt me?

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Originally Posted by PaulYEAH

Dude, thank you SO much for this guide. I recently told my clanmates about it, they seemed convinced, and some of our Max Town Hall 8's are pulling it off.

In a couple weeks, I will give you guys input! Thanks.

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Great. I'm glad you like it. Thanks for the feedback. Eager to know!

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Originally Posted by Jdawg69

Great thread OP. My question is what to do with all this gold? I'd hate to dump it all right back into the walls. Will building the new defenses other than the xbows and upgrading them to th 8 levels really hurt me?

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Well. The gold is useful for a little bit for your 25 new walls. Since you can only upgrade to skull walls with gold, that will take care of a decent amount. After that, its up to you. I can tell you that defenses carry weight based on when they are unlocked. For example, in order from least to most weight: cannon, archer tower, mortar, wizard tower, air defense, tesla, xbow, inferno. That is speculation based on how I've seen war standings, of course.

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Originally Posted by PrinceBlank

The main purpose of becoming a (.5) town hall is to benefit your team in war. In matchmaking, you will be "weighted" like a maxed town hall 8, while you will have the full capability of attacking as a town hall 9.

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The matchmaking algorithm takes offense as well as defense into consideration. A Town Hall 8.5 will be weighted as a Town Hall 8.5, not a Town Hall 8.

Agree on the most points you listed. But it is a soft kind of guide. In our clan for instance we do most of things you said and even some more radical stuff for the advantage in wars.

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Originally Posted by MrLeeGrahamNord

Agree on the most points you listed. But it is a soft kind of guide. In our clan for instance we do most of things you said and even some more radical stuff for the advantage in wars.

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Ok I'll bite.... What is the "more radical stuff" you allude to? OP's thread is pretty direct in it's approach, care to share these unruly tweaks you and your clanmates figure in to the war equation?

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Originally Posted by PrinceBlank

**Side note. Based on what I've studied, defenses are weighted in the order that they are unlocked. Meaning, a cannon falls at the bottom of the weight spectrum while the inferno weighs at the top.

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This is incorrect.

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Originally Posted by Badut

This is incorrect.

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Well because you said so im proven entirely wrong! Im sure there is a little variation... But if you wanna say an air defense is more than an xbow or an inferno isn't the highest weight you are mistaken.

in fact. A clan mate of mine was weighed above me with walls that were way lower, lower teslas, lower heroes, and lower point defenses, just because he had built a wizard tower and I had not. These observations are the kind that have led to my conclusions.

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Originally Posted by fette

Call it what you want but it being a premmie on purpose basically * shudder*

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What are you talking about?

There is nothing "premmie" about choosing different upgrades for the first phase of a new TH.

You do understand that the idea is to max all TH8 defenses and walls before doing the 8.5 upgrade, right?

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Originally Posted by Kagey

Ok I'll bite.... What is the "more radical stuff" you allude to? OP's thread is pretty direct in it's approach, care to share these unruly tweaks you and your clanmates figure in to the war equation?

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Some people don't upgrade any troops that aren't used in wars, believing troops upgrades are part of the algorithm so upgrading, say, giants or healers to use for farming, is a no-go because they aren't used in war. That would be an example of something more radical, I think.

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Originally Posted by Janz

The matchmaking algorithm takes offense as well as defense into consideration. A Town Hall 8.5 will be weighted as a Town Hall 8.5, not a Town Hall 8.

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i edited it slightly to clarify. Yes offense is calculated. Just weights less heavily.

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Originally Posted by PrinceBlank

Well because you said so im proven entirely wrong! Im sure there is a little variation... But if you wanna say an air defense is more than an xbow or an inferno isn't the highest weight you are mistaken

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I didn't say any of that. All I said is that your assumption that the weights are in order that the defenses are unlocked is wrong. There is more than a little variation and some of it is surprising. But it sounds like you aren't the kind of person that likes to be told the truth so forget it.

Is offense really calculated? I mean, if it appears to be weighted less heavily then it might be that it is just not weighted at all. Occam's razor and all that.

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Originally Posted by PrinceBlank

i edited it slightly to clarify. Yes offense is calculated. Just weights less heavily.

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Since we don't know the exact details of the matchmaking algorithm, that is purely speculation.

To me, it would be strange if offense was weighted less than defense. They both play an equal part in determining a clan's strength, and should be weighted the same.

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Originally Posted by Badut

I didn't say any of that. All I said is that your assumption that the weights are in order that the defenses are unlocked is wrong. There is more than a little variation and some of it is surprising. But it sounds like you aren't the kind of person that likes to be told the truth so forget it.

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What you are telling us is that you don't know any of this, but like us to think you do

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Originally Posted by Janz

Since we don't know the exact details of the matchmaking algorithm, that is purely speculation.

To me, it would be strange if offense was weighted less than defense. They both play an equal part in determining a clan's strength, and should be weighted the same.

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Probably the only way to tell for sure is to have a clan full of heavily rushed bases. Not rushed in the sense that they are TH9 with TH6 defenses and TH7 offense. I mean TH9's with max TH7 defense and max TH9 offense. When I say max TH7 defense, I don't just mean the levels of the buildings. I mean the number of defensive buildings.

If they get matched against maxed TH8's, then it would seem like offense and defense are evenly weighted. If they get matched against early TH8's, then it would seem like defense is weighed more heavily.

Anyway, I have neither the time nor inclination to make 10 such accounts just to test a theory that Supercell could invalidate in the next update. So for now, all we have is anecdotal evidence. My clan has a bunch of rushed accounts (defense AND offense are rushed), so we get crappy matches. Moral of the story: don't rush too fast! Make sure that either your offense or your defense is maxed before upgrading your TH. Preferably offense, but I'm curious how a base with max defenses and crappy offense would do in war.

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Originally Posted by Badut

I didn't say any of that. All I said is that your assumption that the weights are in order that the defenses are unlocked is wrong. There is more than a little variation and some of it is surprising. But it sounds like you aren't the kind of person that likes to be told the truth so forget it.

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No. I don't like when people make claims with out any type of support. Do you have any specific examples like the one that I mentioned above?

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Originally Posted by PrinceBlank

No. I don't like when people make claims with out any type of support. Do you have any specific examples like the one that I mentioned above?

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Strange cause your original statement about the order of weights was also given without any support. Somehow, it became a fact (in your eyes) once you posted it in this thread so you took offense that someone dared to say it's incorrect.

To answer your examples: Yes inferno is the highest weight. No air defense is not higher than xbow.
Yes I do have the actual data so I don't need to guess.
No I'm not interested in proving anything to anyone - I've offered my information, take it or leave it.

BTW: to be fair, i agree with the order that you suggest to build the defenses to achieve your goals of a TH8.5

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Originally Posted by Badut

Strange cause your original statement about the order of weights was also given without any support. Somehow, it became a fact (in your eyes) once you posted it in this thread so you took offense that someone dared to say it's incorrect.

To answer your examples: Yes inferno is the highest weight. No air defense is not higher than xbow.
Yes I do have the actual data so I don't need to guess.
No I'm not interested in proving anything to anyone - I've offered my information, take it or leave it.

BTW: to be fair, i agree with the order that you suggest to build the defenses to achieve your goals of a TH8.5

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No, you don't have the data.

But we are all admiring your efforts, nonetheless.

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Originally Posted by FisherPrice

No, you don't have the data.

But we are all admiring your efforts, nonetheless.

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Thanks appreciate your sentiments.

This is pretty good.

I'm basically doing the same thing at the moment but I'm 9.5. Doing zaps before ITs, and getting occasional questions from clan mates :)

This is only helpful if your clan requires you to attack the base that's the same number as you in war. Otherwise, your recommended target has nothing to do with your defense; it's all offense.

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Originally Posted by ilovesparky13

This is only helpful if your clan requires you to attack the base that's the same number as you in war. Otherwise, your recommended target has nothing to do with your defense; it's all offense.

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What are you talking about?

This has nothing at all to do with the "recommended target" the game gives you in war.

I follow the theory of maxing offense before defense in every TH.

Just want to prioritize some offenese in TH9 over what OP write:
1- DE drills to lvl6: It is 4,800 DE daily and very beneficial. each drill need 3+4+5=12M elixir so both drills need 24M which is harder than any other building to farm. It is harder than x-bows.
2- Focus on DE farming and Heroes
3- Focus on walls cause they need zero time
4- In defenses prioritize wiz towers and archer towers.

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Originally Posted by Xitra

I mean TH9's with max TH7 defense and max TH9 offense. When I say max TH7 defense, I don't just mean the levels of the buildings. I mean the number of defensive buildings.

If they get matched against maxed TH8's, then it would seem like offense and defense are evenly weighted. If they get matched against early TH8's, then it would seem like defense is weighed more heavily.

Anyway, I have neither the time nor inclination to make 10 such accounts just to test a theory that Supercell could invalidate in the next update. So for now, all we have is anecdotal evidence. My clan has a bunch of rushed accounts (defense AND offense are rushed), so we get crappy matches. Moral of the story: don't rush too fast! Make sure that either your offense or your defense is maxed before upgrading your TH. Preferably offense, but I'm curious how a base with max defenses and crappy offense would do in war.

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I have almost TH7 defenses but build new things in TH8 and TH9 and currently they are at TH6 and TH7 levels. I even have one lvl1 x-bow and one lvl2 x-bow. (That lvl2 x-bow is my big mistake dont worth to lock a builder for 10 days.)

Im number one in my clan and always face a rush TH9 or new TH9 and can 2-3 star them. But in the last 5 wars they dont attack my base in 3 wars and in 2 wars they just could 1 star and 0 star me.
You can find my base in HAMED EDIT clan. IGN ali.

When I first rushed to th9, I had lvl6 mortars and wt, everything else was th7 max but I built all new defenses including 2 lvl1 xbows

During war, the mm regarded me as somewhere in between a maxed th8 and premmie th9. Sometimes I would match me against a th8, sometimes a th9, but never more than a new th9. All opponents were easy 3stars using a giant based army (lvl 6 giants)

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Originally Posted by FisherPrice

No, you don't have the data.

But we are all admiring your efforts, nonetheless.

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Right? I just don't even see his arguments. All I can tell is that he likes to type in a way to make himself feel "superior." LOL. Go figure.

There is a clan called rushed one. They have very low defenses and maxed offense. They throw some very weak matches vs them. The opposing team never has a chance, because their maxed offense is enough to crush the enemy who are lower ths and cant compete vs the maxed offense.

infernoes clearly weight he most, its already been shown(proven) before. After that come the xbows. Im not sure on the order after, but ive noticed the same trend Op suggested. It might be based on unlock order.

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Originally Posted by irmtfan

I follow the theory of maxing offense before defense in every TH.

Just want to prioritize some offenese in TH9 over what OP write:
1- DE drills to lvl6: It is 4,800 DE daily and very beneficial. each drill need 3+4+5=12M elixir so both drills need 24M which is harder than any other building to farm. It is harder than x-bows.
2- Focus on DE farming and Heroes
3- Focus on walls cause they need zero time
4- In defenses prioritize wiz towers and archer towers.

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I totally agree with this, but did not go in depth on it in my guide, as its a little off topic. I haven't worked on many defenses yet but I have a 2 level 5 drills, 1 going to level 6. I'm also focusing mainly on heroes and walls. Unfortunately, many people don't have the time to really grind these as hard as some others.

Thanks a lot for this guide.
I will be upgrading my th to 9 in a week.
8.5:thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by BaDya

Thanks a lot for this guide.
I will be upgrading my th to 9 in a week.
8.5:thumbsup:

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You're welcome! Good luck with Town Hall 9. It's the best!

I would say Clan Coordination is the best way to win a war, no matter how good or bad you are in attacking. Discuss on how to destroy the opponents' base, one by one. Decide who will take which base, plan these attacks carefully, and teach those who are less experienced how to attack the specified base they chose.
This is how we war in our clan, and we are on a pretty decent win streak right now. So I would say no matter how good your base or atatcks are, its really up to do you work as a clan.

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Originally Posted by PrinceBlank

Right? I just don't even see his arguments. All I can tell is that he likes to type in a way to make himself feel "superior." LOL. Go figure.

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I was trying to help you by pointing out that one of your assumptions is wrong. But it looks like I'll have to respect your right to continue being wrong.

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Originally Posted by Badut

I was trying to help you by pointing out that one of your assumptions is wrong. But it looks like I'll have to respect your right to continue being wrong.

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What you're doing is arrogantly stating a claim with no evidence. What I am doing is calling my claim speculation based on what I've observed. That's why I'm not wrong.

Awesome guide, I went the th8.75 route built everything but xbows and it's working getting matched with maxed th8s/premmie th9s.

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Originally Posted by PrinceBlank

What you're doing is arrogantly stating a claim with no evidence. What I am doing is calling my claim speculation based on what I've observed. That's why I'm not wrong.

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Don't get so worked up. Can't we have a civil discussion?

I'll concede that my position is not credible given that I'm not willing to reveal the evidence that I do have.

Although I'll point out that you're not being rational because you admit your claims are speculation but won't allow for the possibility they might be incorrect.

In short, forget about it.

I'll extend the olive branch once again by saying that I do agree with your suggested build order.

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Originally Posted by calebjayy

Awesome guide, I went the th8.75 route built everything but xbows and it's working getting matched with maxed th8s/premmie th9s.

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Thanks! and I'm glad its working out for you. It has been working out for myself quite well too.

I despide people who do the ".5" thing or whatever.. very very unfair in clan wars. you have the offense of a maed th 9 but weight of a th 8. This is ♥♥♥♥♥ing and sc should be able to detect this. very cheap way to win clan wars, you should have a defense of a th 9, your opponent should to. whats the fun of overpowering a th 8 with your maxed offense. -1 to this thread. :thumbsdown:

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Originally Posted by antimatter

I despide people who do the ".5" thing or whatever.. very very unfair in clan wars. you have the offense of a maed th 9 but weight of a th 8. This is ♥♥♥♥♥ing and sc should be able to detect this. very cheap way to win clan wars, you should have a defense of a th 9, your opponent should to. whats the fun of overpowering a th 8 with your maxed offense. -1 to this thread. :thumbsdown:

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I haven't attacked a town hall 8 since I've gone up. Usually I attack nearly maxed town hall 9s. The point is actually to attack town hall 9s. It also isn't an unfair way to win clan wars. You have to adapt to your surroundings, and for all you know you will get matched up with a clan doing the same thing.

I'm not sure how this would benefit both as an individual and for the clan. Offense upgrades require Elixirs and DE. Defense upgrades require Gold. Unless you are raiding only for a specific resource, you generally end up having all 3.

Offense upgrades are not dependent on builders, but defense do, so both offense and defense can upgrade simultaneously. How would anyone just focus on upgrading offense troops and completely ignore defenses? It doesn't make sense.

Now, if you talk about the sequence of upgrades, then yes, it has an impact in war match ups. However, leaving to build Xbows later really short change you in the defense department. When I go for raids and I see Xbows, I tend to skip unless they are in the midst of upgrading or the loot is worth the effort. If I don't see Xbows at all, and the loot is plenty, I'll proceed to raid it without hesitation. It's that intimidation factor that separates a TH9 from lower THs. Same goes for war. A TH9 without Xbows is like a beast with its teeth removed.

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Originally Posted by Yachi

Offense upgrades are not dependent on builders, but defense do, so both offense and defense can upgrade simultaneously. How would anyone just focus on upgrading offense troops and completely ignore defenses? It doesn't make sense.

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1- offense upgrades are all upgrades need elixir and DE + castle + elixir collectors + elixir storages which need gold. LAb researches dont need builder but others need builder!!!. so LAB, SF, Camps, Barracks, drills, collectors, mines and storages are all offense upgrades need builder

2- In .5 TH we dont ignore defenses. we just prioritize offense over defenses!!!

But, I'm not a hardcore war player.

Our clan does 2 times a week war, is it viable for some1 like me? Or is it just good for players who war non-stop.

Not convinced of the validity of this strategy, you are getting matched with maxed th8 and low th9s still means a decent attack by a th9 is going to three star you as will a good th8 attack.

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Originally Posted by robbinS

But, I'm not a hardcore war player.

Our clan does 2 times a week war, is it viable for some1 like me? Or is it just good for players who war non-stop.

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It is beneficial for farming only If you are an active farmer. eg: 3M gold + 3M elixir each day. so you can dump excess gold/elixir on walls.
They just raid you 2 times a day and the most they can steal from a TH9 is 350K each.

Im TH9 with TH7 defenses but 66 lego 21 lava rest skull walls. In reality 6 out of 7 of my defense logs are just snipe and im in crystal 3 league and both heroes are upgrading.
you know a centralize and high level BK and AQ is a big factor in defense.

Edit: i just care about DE and some people zap my DE storage. They can steal DE by zapping regardless of your defenses so it is another advantages of offense first progress.

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Originally Posted by AussieMenace

Not convinced of the validity of this strategy, you are getting matched with maxed th8 and low th9s still means a decent attack by a th9 is going to three star you as will a good th8 attack.

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If you build everything besides xbows, you will have more buildings, walls, cc space and queen to defend. No th8 is going to 3 star you.

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Originally Posted by AussieMenace

Not convinced of the validity of this strategy, you are getting matched with maxed th8 and low th9s still means a decent attack by a th9 is going to three star you as will a good th8 attack.

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A TH8 is going to have a very difficult time getting 3* on what is basically another max TH8 with the addition of two more (black) seeking air mines (good luck drags/loons) and a fourth giant bomb (two double bomb spots, good luck hogs), more walls and compartments and buildings and HP (good luck GoWi__), and an AQ (another obstacle for any attack), etc.

Also I subscribe to the idea of putting down the fourth AD so, really, a TH8 drag attack is going to die.

It will take more than a "good" TH8 attack. And needing a TH9 to do the attack...while being (we thin, mostly) matched as a max TH8...that's exactly the point. You force a TH9 to attack you for the 3*.

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Originally Posted by antimatter

I despide people who do the ".5" thing or whatever.. very very unfair in clan wars. you have the offense of a maed th 9 but weight of a th 8. This is ♥♥♥♥♥ing and sc should be able to detect this. very cheap way to win clan wars, you should have a defense of a th 9, your opponent should to. whats the fun of overpowering a th 8 with your maxed offense. -1 to this thread. :thumbsdown:

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I despise people who put down all the new defenses as fast as they can. Very very unfair in raiding. You have a much stronger defense than a TH8 almost immediately, nobody ever gets to attack your "TH9" and the corresponding loot penalty (or lack thereof) wile you still have TH8 defenses. SC should be able to detect this. Very cheap way to improve your farming and resource retention, you should have to suffer through being a TH9 with lower level defenses. What's the fun in having few attackers do anything but TH snipe while you sit back and pile up resources? -1 to this post ^

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Originally Posted by FisherPrice

A TH8 is going to have a very difficult time getting 3* on what is basically another max TH8 with the addition of two more (black) seeking air mines (good luck drags/loons) and a fourth giant bomb (two double bomb spots, good luck hogs), more walls and compartments and buildings and HP (good luck GoWi__), and an AQ (another obstacle for any attack), etc.

Also I subscribe to the idea of putting down the fourth AD so, really, a TH8 drag attack is going to die.

It will take more than a "good" TH8 attack. And needing a TH9 to do the attack...while being (we thin, mostly) matched as a max TH8...that's exactly the point. You force a TH9 to attack you for the 3*.

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totally agree with this. Also, to another poster, prioritizing offensive over defense as a non constant, serious, war player is still beneficial. Even without war, I think offense is more important than defense. The majority of the time I defend I'm just getting town hall sniped anyway. Also, with walls, you should never really have that many resources to steal. If you are a very casual player who rarely plays, then I can see how you would focus on defense equally. The reason being because you take several days to farm up resources for an upgrade.

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Originally Posted by FisherPrice

A TH8 is going to have a very difficult time getting 3* on what is basically another max TH8 with the addition of two more (black) seeking air mines (good luck drags/loons) and a fourth giant bomb (two double bomb spots, good luck hogs), more walls and compartments and buildings and HP (good luck GoWi__), and an AQ (another obstacle for any attack), etc.

Also I subscribe to the idea of putting down the fourth AD so, really, a TH8 drag attack is going to die.

It will take more than a "good" TH8 attack. And needing a TH9 to do the attack...while being (we thin, mostly) matched as a max TH8...that's exactly the point. You force a TH9 to attack you for the 3*.

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As a datapoint, I have TH6 level upgrades on my defenses, but a TH9 count of them. I also have 4 Teslas at level 1, and am working on moving traps to TH9 levels. My war loot is 324k/324k/1200. This is slightly under a max TH8, but not by much. I have given up 8 stars, over 10 attacks in 5 wars. No one has 3 starred me.

If you're a max TH8, then putting down/upgrading any defenses (especially the new Air Defense or Xbows as they're major) will shift you into TH9 land on your war base ranking. That said, newer TH9 would still struggle with the base. I'm actually curious what it takes to 3 star me, but have no examples. I sit far enough down on the map (17ish of 20) in the clan that I'm an obvious cleanup target, but in one of the wars after 4 failed attempts, they shifted to trying to 3 star a different (higher) base.

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Originally Posted by Sservis

As a datapoint, I have TH6 level upgrades on my defenses, but a TH9 count of them. I also have 4 Teslas at level 1, and am working on moving traps to TH9 levels. My war loot is 324k/324k/1200. This is slightly under a max TH8, but not by much. I have given up 8 stars, over 10 attacks in 5 wars. No one has 3 starred me.

If you're a max TH8, then putting down/upgrading any defenses (especially the new Air Defense or Xbows as they're major) will shift you into TH9 land on your war base ranking. That said, newer TH9 would still struggle with the base. I'm actually curious what it takes to 3 star me, but have no examples. I sit far enough down on the map (17ish of 20) in the clan that I'm an obvious cleanup target, but in one of the wars after 4 failed attempts, they shifted to trying to 3 star a different (higher) base.

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Your attackers really have that much trouble getting 3* on TH6 level defenses?

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Originally Posted by FisherPrice

Your attackers really have that much trouble getting 3* on TH6 level defenses?

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Sadly, yes. 4 TH6 (level 4) AD = 640 dps, 3 TH8 (level 6) AD = 690 dps. Plus two more black bombs. So Dragons from a TH8 don't work.

There's a similar roughly equivalency math for all the other defenses. Plus I have the major advantage of having that defensive dps spread out over more building hp, so it's harder to target and remove. Knock out one of those AD's and I'm at 480dps vs 460dps for the TH8 max. Knock out two and it's 320 dps vs 230 dps, etc.

Like I said, I want to see it get 3 starred (multiple times) to see what it takes. Both gowipe and dragons have achieved two stars, gowipe a bit more reliably. A high level hog attack (their #3 I think) ended with 1 or 2.

Good job OP, really good guide. I did something slightly different and it paid off well. I would use a builder right as you get to Th9 to get one of your de barrack to lvl 6 asap to unlock your hound. Even if lvl1 are not the best, you can still practice laloon fairly early in your Th9 progression. By the time your hounds are lvl2 you should had time to get the hang of laloon and practice 3 staring easy Th9 base with lvl 6 ad.

As someone mentioned before, getting your DE drill to lvl6 is a great benefit. It's 2400 de more a day makes a big difference.

Also, from my experience setting up planned war and weighting bases, I think your defense rating is wrong. I beleive it goes like this from heavier to lighter. Inferno, xbow, motar, archer tower, wizard tower, cannon, telsa, air defense. I might be wrong but that's what a noticed evatuating a lot of different bases. I also believe heroes level, lab upgrade, offense building, storages and wall don't carry any weight. Traps might carry a tiny bit of weight if any.

Who invented this .5 business.

It is simple absurd.

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Originally Posted by mmxk

Good job OP, really good guide. I did something slightly different and it paid off well. I would use a builder right as you get to Th9 to get one of your de barrack to lvl 6 asap to unlock your hound. Even if lvl1 are not the best, you can still practice laloon fairly early in your Th9 progression. By the time your hounds are lvl2 you should had time to get the hang of laloon and practice 3 staring easy Th9 base with lvl 6 ad.

As someone mentioned before, getting your DE drill to lvl6 is a great benefit. It's 2400 de more a day makes a big difference.

Also, from my experience setting up planned war and weighting bases, I think your defense rating is wrong. I beleive it goes like this from heavier to lighter. Inferno, xbow, motar, archer tower, wizard tower, cannon, telsa, air defense. I might be wrong but that's what a noticed evatuating a lot of different bases. I also believe heroes level, lab upgrade, offense building, storages and wall don't carry any weight. Traps might carry a tiny bit of weight if any.

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Just remember that while placement on the war map is solely dependent on defense (giving the opposing clan an ordered list of which bases are strongest); matching clans is done including other factors.

Several people in this thread have compared their base to the same numbered base on the enemy side and claimed that is the base they "brought in" with theirs. That's not true. The total strength of the entire clan is what the matchmaker tries to balance, not each base. So if you are number 4 in your clan, it doesn't mean that you were matched with the #4 in their clan. Could be roughly true, or one clan may have a stronger top 5 and more TH7s to balance their opponent who have a weaker top 5, but a stronger mid- and low-range.

Also, being #4 in your clan only shows that the game considers your base to be the 4th strongest on defense. It doesn't necessarily mean you are #4 for overall points in the matchmaking algorithm.

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Originally Posted by clandoc

Also, being #4 in your clan only shows that the game considers your base to be the 4th strongest on defense. It doesn't necessarily mean you are #4 for overall points in the matchmaking algorithm.

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This is a very important point. That said, I think my composition of defenses that rates under the TH8 max rating (solely on defense) is probably better for defense than the TH8 max assortment.*


* I find it highly likely that the defense component used in matchmaking is the same as is used to order bases and so this statement is valid. (it may be wrong, but the direct comparison of defensive matchmaking impact versus actual defensive value in game in terms of stars is valid)

I have the assumption that defenses weight only with amount, but the level is irrelevant.
So maybe it is better as a TH8.5 not to build new defenses as usual, but upgrade your current ones.
Just an assumption... cause always we have a rushed th9 base in war we get mostly an mid-late th9 as complement.
What do you guys think about this?

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Originally Posted by nas

Who invented this .5 business.

It is simple absurd.

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Why?

I guess "why" isn't a long enough post, but that's all I need to post? Why? Explain.

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Originally Posted by FisherPrice

Why?

I guess "why" isn't a long enough post, but that's all I need to post? Why? Explain.

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Its just another way to max out a base, with different order, what is so absurd in this case?

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Originally Posted by DarkRises

Its just another way to max out a base, with different order, what is so absurd in this case?

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This post is confusing. You may have a better result if you quote the person you are asking the question of.

I have followed a very similar strategy. I have upgraded CC, SF, Lab, Camps to TH9 level. I have purchased and upgraded (to near TH8 max lvl, except tesla still just going to 4) the new defensive buildings minus the X-Bows. The new storages are very close to max 10 for the elixir and 9 for gold. Got my queen to 6 and am ready to put golems in the lab to 3 (tonight). I have also done 1 upgrade to each of my dark drills. From now my focus will be walls and queen to 10. I find as fast as I can farm dark now that I have my queen to 6 it wont take long to get her to 10. Meanwhile I will continue to upgrade the new tesla to 6 and 1 more upgrade on new AT. Other than that I will pour all gold and elixir into walls for that time frame. My clan war matches have basically had my base paired with max TH8's or new TH9 and most of them have been poorly walled or not max TH8 defenses. It will be interesting to see what happens to my position once I do a few more offensive upgrades. I am thinking balloons after the golems. Will have to see where I am at with the queen and dark elixir as witches need to be in there as well or lvl 5 hogs.

Will keep you posted.

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Originally Posted by MooseHunter

I have followed a very similar strategy. I have upgraded CC, SF, Lab, Camps to TH9 level. I have purchased and upgraded (to near TH8 max lvl, except tesla still just going to 4) the new defensive buildings minus the X-Bows. The new storages are very close to max 10 for the elixir and 9 for gold. Got my queen to 6 and am ready to put golems in the lab to 3 (tonight). I have also done 1 upgrade to each of my dark drills. From now my focus will be walls and queen to 10. I find as fast as I can farm dark now that I have my queen to 6 it wont take long to get her to 10. Meanwhile I will continue to upgrade the new tesla to 6 and 1 more upgrade on new AT. Other than that I will pour all gold and elixir into walls for that time frame. My clan war matches have basically had my base paired with max TH8's or new TH9 and most of them have been poorly walled or not max TH8 defenses. It will be interesting to see what happens to my position once I do a few more offensive upgrades. I am thinking balloons after the golems. Will have to see where I am at with the queen and dark elixir as witches need to be in there as well or lvl 5 hogs.

Will keep you posted.

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Except that

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Originally Posted by clandoc

J
Also, being #4 in your clan only shows that the game considers your base to be the 4th strongest on defense. It doesn't necessarily mean you are #4 for overall points in the matchmaking algorithm.

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You can't necessarily compare your base to your mirror and proclaim that the two are equally or substantially similarly weighted.

I'm going to 9.5 in under 2 weeks.

Going to work those freeze spell to max before I get the inferno.

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Originally Posted by DarkRises

I have the assumption that defenses weight only with amount, but the level is irrelevant.
So maybe it is better as a TH8.5 not to build new defenses as usual, but upgrade your current ones.
Just an assumption... cause always we have a rushed th9 base in war we get mostly an mid-late th9 as complement.
What do you guys think about this?

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My thoughts?

As clandoc brought up, the bases on the map are ordered solely based on defensive strength as measured by Supercell. You need to ask yourself, is it better for my clan if I upgrade my offense or my defense? Do you easily 3 star your opponents? Attack higher on the map and focus on defense until your # matches where you attack. Do you struggle? Work on offense and attack lower in the meantime.

Also, theres no reason to stop at TH9 offense(and farming)/TH8 defense, you could consider moving to TH10 offense(and farming)/TH8 defense before you work on TH9 defense.

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Originally Posted by Sservis

Also, theres no reason to stop at TH9 offense(and farming)/TH8 defense, you could consider moving to TH10 offense(and farming)/TH8 defense before you work on TH9 defense.

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I think you should not go to th10 unless you finish walls lvl10 and at least lvl20 heroes.

50% loot penalty against th8 + 1000 next cost is big in my opinion. Don't worth it just for one spell + one lvl barch + 20 troops in camps and 5 in CC

Staying in th9 and max it is good if you work on walls and heroes from the start.

Many th9 just start walls and heroes grind when they max builder-needs upgrades. IMO it is really boring.

Does TH 8.5 or 9.5 work if you build the new defenses, but not put them on the war map? I know that if you put them on the war match, it becomes part of the calculation (duh:o), but does the new defenses get calculated if you don't put them on the war map? thanks.

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Originally Posted by clashofclams8

Does TH 8.5 or 9.5 work if you build the new defenses, but not put them on the war map? I know that if you put them on the war match, it becomes part of the calculation (duh:o), but does the new defenses get calculated if you don't put them on the war map? thanks.

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I guess that's a good question. Don't know. But you could never edit your war base at that point, right? Because it would make you put all of your buildings down when you edited it?

I'm an almost maxed th8 just got some walls left ...I always did my cc & spell factory camps etc first... which is opposite to what most of my clan members do when they upgrade to a new th ...anyway I'm glad to see that this is something others do too I do really well in clan wars using these tactics so good post I plan on telling my clan members many of the points u brought up thanks (*^o^*) check out my base in stlyeyedkiller I'm daisycloud ✌

i recently heard of this strategy and i thinks its amazing... if you dont build or upgrade defences when you hit th9 and work offense 1st then you will always be at the bottom of all th9 in your clan war map... as far as defending loot is concerned, i think the best way to counter this is not keeping any loot at all.. pour gold and elix on walls.. keeping 1 builder on standby is you best defense..

Hey I am currently in clan war illuminati and every clan I join seems to have some rushed TH players. These players can ruin a clans opportunity to win from the way the war match up algorithm works. Being that I am very competitive, I've been looking for a solution to this problem as have you, and I am very interested in joining your clan.
My ID is Garrett and I recently tried to join your clan but I was rejected.
I was hoping my further interest would give me another chance. Please add me fellow clashers.

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Originally Posted by Pranav

That's not premmie. That's like calling a new TH9 a premmie even if they maxed TH8.

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This
10.5 chars

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Originally Posted by FisherPrice

I despise people who put down all the new defenses as fast as they can. Very very unfair in raiding. You have a much stronger defense than a TH8 almost immediately, nobody ever gets to attack your "TH9" and the corresponding loot penalty (or lack thereof) wile you still have TH8 defenses. SC should be able to detect this. Very cheap way to improve your farming and resource retention, you should have to suffer through being a TH9 with lower level defenses. What's the fun in having few attackers do anything but TH snipe while you sit back and pile up resources? -1 to this post ^

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+1 to this ♥♥♥♥

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Originally Posted by drakulas

i recently heard of this strategy and i thinks its amazing... if you dont build or upgrade defences when you hit th9 and work offense 1st then you will always be at the bottom of all th9 in your clan war map... as far as defending loot is concerned, i think the best way to counter this is not keeping any loot at all.. pour gold and elix on walls.. keeping 1 builder on standby is you best defense..

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I totally agree. Keeping 1 builder for walls is great after the initial push, or at least timing builder availability well. There is almost no way you can have level 30 heroes and full lava walls before 5 constantly working builders max your base anyway.

We are still on the .5 fiasco - lol cute.

When will this die out along with /clear chat spam

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Originally Posted by wretchedhorror

We are still on the .5 fiasco - lol cute.

When will this die out along with /clear chat spam

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when the devs tinker with the mm algorithm to make it a less effective th ug strategy for cw purposes. basically its the smart way to ug your th to maximise/minimise your contribution to cw weighting. nothing wrong with that.

as for /clear chat phenomenon - when people stop using global.

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Originally Posted by GastonOrozco

when the devs tinker with the mm algorithm to make it a less effective th ug strategy for cw purposes. basically its the smart way to ug your th to maximise/minimise your contribution to cw weighting. nothing wrong with that.

as for /clear chat phenomenon - when people stop using global.

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thank you for clarifying what the clear chat thing applied to. I don't think I've ever really been on global, lol.

now that heroes and walls are taken into account for war match up, if someone would go 8.5, should he/she still build new walls and AQ?

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Originally Posted by attehccuz

now that heroes and walls are taken into account for war match up, if someone would go 8.5, should he/she still build new walls and AQ?

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Yes.

I finished my TH9 one week ago. At that time I had these levels:

Cannon: 8, 8, 8, 9, 9 (max is 10)
Mortar: 6, 6, 5, 6 (6)
Archer Tower: 10, 10, 9, 9, 9 (10)
Wiz Tower: 6, 4, 4 (6)
Air Defense: All 6 (6)
Tesla: 4, 4, 5 (6)
Walls: Just over half skull, rest purple
King lvl 10
All troops and spells maxed except Pekka was in lab for lvl2 and Valks still lvl1
Air traps and giant bombs maxed, mini bombs still level 4

I nearly maxed all resources so I could hit the ground running.

Immediately upon completion of the TH I put the AQ down and upgraded her to lvl2, gem'd the spell factory complete, gem'd the clan castle complete, put down the three new traps (two black air mine, one giant bomb), put down the new air defense (it's still only lvl2), and put down the 25 new walls and immediately made them all pink. I raided my butt off on DE and

We have done three complete wars since. I have not had a TH8 even threaten to 3* me and at least half of the TH9 that tried have failed (call it a combination of under-estimation, good base design, bad attacks, and the update blocking 'unfair war practices').

I have myself earned 18 war stars in those three wars, hitting max TH8 or higher.

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Originally Posted by FisherPrice

Yes.

I finished my TH9 one week ago. At that time I had these levels:

Cannon: 8, 8, 8, 9, 9 (max is 10)
Mortar: 6, 6, 5, 6 (6)
Archer Tower: 10, 10, 9, 9, 9 (10)
Wiz Tower: 6, 4, 4 (6)
Air Defense: All 6 (6)
Tesla: 4, 4, 5 (6)
Walls: Just over half skull, rest purple
King lvl 10
All troops and spells maxed except Pekka was in lab for lvl2 and Valks still lvl1
Air traps and giant bombs maxed, mini bombs still level 4

I nearly maxed all resources so I could hit the ground running.

Immediately upon completion of the TH I put the AQ down and upgraded her to lvl2, gem'd the spell factory complete, gem'd the clan castle complete, put down the three new traps (two black air mine, one giant bomb), put down the new air defense (it's still only lvl2), and put down the 25 new walls and immediately made them all pink. I raided my butt off on DE and

We have done three complete wars since. I have not had a TH8 even threaten to 3* me and at least half of the TH9 that tried have failed (call it a combination of under-estimation, good base design, bad attacks, and the update blocking 'unfair war practices').

I have myself earned 18 war stars in those three wars, hitting max TH8 or higher.

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Also worth noting, the guy AHEAD of me on our war map fully maxed his TH8 defenses, and despite going TH9 weeks ago, has not placed the fourth air defense or the new black air mines, though he has placed the new/fourth tesla and is currently upgrading it to lvl2. He has all skull walls. My AQ is 2 levels higher.

Yes, he is AHEAD of me on the war map and his base is easier to 3*.

That's why we do 8.5. So as to be in my position and not his.

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Originally Posted by fette

Call it what you want but it being a premmie on purpose basically * shudder*

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You've either maxed TH8 before going to TH9 or you are 1 level low on your point defenses before going to TH9 so you're not really a preemie as much as a TH8 on steroids. What it amounts to is that you have to look of a TH8 with a grey TH and the traps and troops of a TH9. It's a very deceiving matchup especially when you haven't yet build your xbows. People think they can still mass drag your base and they are highly mistaken. Of course you are still susceptible from a high level TH9 attack, but if they are moving down to 3 star your base that is a win for your clan because theri attacks would have been better used on a higher level base.

So .5s when done properly are not actually preemie. They are offensively/defensively unbalanced depending on how you look at them.

I posted as a TH8.5 3 weeks ago. Just thought I would give you an update on my status. Since my last post golems have gone to three balloons to six and I now have witches in my lab. All of my new defenses to TH9 are at max TH8 lvls. I actually have the new tesla going to lvl 7 as these are the only defensive structures I have decided to upgrade. I have 2 at lvl 7 now and 2 under construction. I have nearly completed all elixir based upgrades (other than lab upgrades). I have one drill to get to six (that upgrade begins today) and my dark storage to six which will be going shortly. I have completed 60+ lego walls. With 5 builders my plan is once the last elixir upgrade is done to take a short builder break and get my legos at least half if not 2/3 done. This will allow more time for offense to continue to get better in the lab. I am still ranked in our clan wars as the bottom TH9. My clan as well just got to lvl 5 so the troop donations get a +1 bump. I can donate very good troops for my position in the war map to people higher up the chain or help out our TH8 with lvl 4 golems or pekka or of course lvl 4 dragons. As for attacks, it is a beautiful thing.

In summary I am very satisfied with my decision to upgrade my village in this fashion. I would recommend to any clan that has a max TH8 that is willing to go this route to encourage it fully. It will benefit your clan and really the individual. I would not recommend that a clan have more than 2 individuals going this route as that may prove to be to much (unless they have a very good war base that can make higher TH9's come down to ensure a 3 star)

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Originally Posted by MooseHunter

I posted as a TH8.5 3 weeks ago. Just thought I would give you an update on my status. Since my last post golems have gone to three balloons to six and I now have witches in my lab. All of my new defenses to TH9 are at max TH8 lvls. I actually have the new tesla going to lvl 7 as these are the only defensive structures I have decided to upgrade. I have 2 at lvl 7 now and 2 under construction. I have nearly completed all elixir based upgrades (other than lab upgrades). I have one drill to get to six (that upgrade begins today) and my dark storage to six which will be going shortly. I have completed 60+ lego walls. With 5 builders my plan is once the last elixir upgrade is done to take a short builder break and get my legos at least half if not 2/3 done. This will allow more time for offense to continue to get better in the lab. I am still ranked in our clan wars as the bottom TH9. My clan as well just got to lvl 5 so the troop donations get a +1 bump. I can donate very good troops for my position in the war map to people higher up the chain or help out our TH8 with lvl 4 golems or pekka or of course lvl 4 dragons. As for attacks, it is a beautiful thing.

In summary I am very satisfied with my decision to upgrade my village in this fashion. I would recommend to any clan that has a max TH8 that is willing to go this route to encourage it fully. It will benefit your clan and really the individual. I would not recommend that a clan have more than 2 individuals going this route as that may prove to be to much (unless they have a very good war base that can make higher TH9's come down to ensure a 3 star)

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We have 4 people who claim to be doing a version of TH 8.5 and it looks like 3 who are doing it correctly. It certainly seems helpful.

I'm planning to do a TH8.5 myself, I hit TH9 in 6 hours. Will do Traps/Air Mines/Walls first, then AQ, Spell Factory, and Lab. If I have the cash Clan Castle... trying to fit Air D in there somewhere, that's one I definitely want.

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Originally Posted by TheFrankman

I'm planning to do a TH8.5 myself, I hit TH9 in 6 hours. Will do Traps/Air Mines/Walls first, then AQ, Spell Factory, and Lab. If I have the cash Clan Castle... trying to fit Air D in there somewhere, that's one I definitely want.

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IMO the very first things to do are the lab upgrade, spell factory upgrade, traps, clan castle, and AQ. As in, 6 hours from now those things should be down.

I'm 11 days into TH9. I Did this exact thing. Paired up with premie TH9 or maxed th8 in wars. I opted out of wars until my spell factory was completed. After that the extra spell and AQ has helped me 3 star bases I couldn't before.

All new walls are to purple and I have one camp upgraded and the other three in progress.

Defense wise I have AT at 7 AD going to 5 WT going to 4 and Tesla at 1. All traps and bombs built including GB to 2. I built a non symmetrical war base which I think lulls attackers into thinking it's easy. But I had multiple DGB locations and odd Tesla positions which have screwed up attacks. Last war I was attacked 4 times. 2 for 0 and 2 for 1.

Have loons going and am going to do hogs when they finish. I'm happy with this progression. I don't need no stinking xbows

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Originally Posted by FisherPrice

IMO the very first things to do are the lab upgrade, spell factory upgrade, traps, clan castle, and AQ. As in, 6 hours from now those things should be down.

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Best army/place to farm for a th 8.5?

Thanks for the write up

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Originally Posted by LawdJesus

Best army/place to farm for a th 8.5?

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I'm running 14-16 lvl6 giants, 6 lvl5 WB, king, queen, rest split barch with 2/3-3/4 of that being the arch. Two heal two rage in my pocket for big scores.

Silver II

Attachment 113866Attachment 113866Attachment 113866

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Originally Posted by PrinceBlank

I. Introduction: What is a town hall (.5)?
- A town hall (.5) means that when a person upgrades town halls, they prioritize offensive upgrades entirely over defenses upgrades, including building new defenses. There are different variations in how it can be done.
- The main purpose of becoming a (.5) town hall is to benefit your team in war. In matchmaking, you will be "weighted" like a little bit above a maxed town hall 8, while you will have the full capability of attacking as a town hall 9.
- In this guide, I will be going over a personal opinion through my own experience of how town hall 8.5 should be done. This is written from a war standpoint for people who are involved in serious war clans.

II. Benefits: There are many benefits to becoming a town hall 8.5, including:

• You will be weighted lower in war, with the capability of attacking like a fully grown town hall 9
• You will receive the benefits of extra traps, storages, and walls, which will greatly impair the ability of any town hall 8 to 3 star you, making a good base near impossible for a town hall 8 to 3 star.
• You will get a jump start on hero and wall upgrades; not worrying about working up new defenses will save you resources for walls and allow more time to farm for dark elixir
• The Archer Queen is the main farming threat at town hall 9, and she can still be utilized in order to snipe storages
• You will be dumping resources so quickly that not having x-bows and new defenses should not be a problem at all. They also are not complete game changers in farming defense. I can attest for this because I have managed to almost complete my lego walls in about 6 weeks.
• Your extra gold saved from not upgrading new defenses can be used to pour into new walls, because you have 25 more skull walls to complete.

III. Upgrade Priority: What to upgrade first as you reach town hall 9?
- Hopefully, you will reach town hall 9 with capped out resources: 6 million gold, 6 million elixir, and 80k, dark elixir. In any case, although this order can be switched around due to resource availability, this is my recommended upgrades in a rough order.

1. Build all traps and new walls. (Traps require no build time, and you will receive 2 extra seeking air mines, an extra giant bomb, and 25 walls. The extra air mines will negate town hall 8 dragon attacks and the extra bomb allows for 2 sets of double giant bombs to cripple hog attacks)
2. Immediately pour your gold into clan castle upgrade. (Not only do you receive extra offensive and defensive space, but the level 5 clan castle holds 30 troops. This mean you can now take max Lava Hounds and Golems from other clan members into your war attacks)
3. Laboratory: Get those new town hall 9 troops! I suggest building war troops before farming. It really is not that hard to farm with Town Hall 8 troops as long as you have the archer queen.
4. Spell Factory: Another spell is a huge advantage for town hall 9. The jump spell is also great, being a main component in many "Queen Kill Squads." Make sure to either sit out of war or gem the spell factory, because while it is building it can't be used.
5. Build Archer Queen and level her. (The archer queen should always be worked on from the start of town hall 9 as much as possible. I see many people max town hall 9 with low level heroes, because they are easy to fall way behind on. She is debatably your most valuable new asset and can be easily brought to level 5 within a couple days of Town hall 9, depending on whether you're willing to gem hero build time)
6. Army Camps: The last big offensive change is the army camps. Each army camp is allowed 5 extra space, making for 20 extra army space total. This upgrade will assist in farming as well as war, and is extremely important. Increase army camps at your pace.
7. Storages: Although storages are not necessarily "offense," they carry very little weight in the war algorithm (educated speculation), and are great for defense. The extra thousands of hit points added to your defense if very beneficial.

IV. How to Continue: After offensive upgrades are completed, this is my recommendation on how to intelligently level your defenses.
- Based on my experiences in how SuperCell "weights" each defense in war, I have found that X-bows are extremely heavy in the war algorithm.
- **I suggest working on defenses in this order: Teslas, Air Defense, Wizard Towers, Build Xbows and upgrade, Archer Towers, Cannons, Mortars. Personally, I like the idea of maxing teslas first. These take less space, have the element of surprise, and attack both air and ground units with quick attack speeds. Teslas are my favorite defense for a good reason. One good way to utilize your new tesla while it is still a low level, is to place it in a very tricky location that can throw off an attacker. I think the new air defense should be built and leveled next. If used well, LaLoon attack strategy is the most overpowered 3 star strategy in the game right now. The best way to combat this is, of course, leveling air defense, followed by wizard towers. At this point, X-bows are okay to add, and should be leveled to 3 as soon as possible. X-bows are very important to take out enemy heroes.
**Side note. Based on what I've studied, defenses are weighted in the order that they are unlocked. Meaning, a cannon falls at the bottom of the weight spectrum while the inferno weighs at the top.

V. Conclusion:Town hall 8.5 is a great way to give your team a fair advantage in war. I strongly recommend it so any serious war player upgrading to town hall 9 and can personally vouch that is has not hurt the farming part of my game very much. Thank you for reading!

Edit: My clan is on a 14 war winning streak and a lot of us our newly upgraded town hall using the (.5) strategy.

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thank you man i read all this so i want to apply this :D townhall 8.5 :D
i almost max out 1archer towerleft and 98walls so ithink by the end of may i will upgrade my townhall this is a great idea ill follow you tips. godblessyou :D

def:
canon: all max out to th8 (lvl10)
archer tower: 1 lvl9 left the rest all lvl10
mortar : all max out to th8(lvl6)
wizard tower : all max out to th8(lvl6)
airdef: allmax out to th8(lvl6)
tesla: allmax out to th8 (lvl6)

my gowipe troops max out on th8 :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FisherPrice

IMO the very first things to do are the lab upgrade, spell factory upgrade, traps, clan castle, and AQ. As in, 6 hours from now those things should be down.

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12 hours into my build, getting ready to do Spell Factory. Everything else is done including the extra Storages and Air Defense (really wanted 4 to stop TH8 Mass Dragons + CC Loons/DragLoon). Hardest thing is to find a good TH8.5 Farming Base because people do 8.5 differently, some throw in random buildings and some don't. I'm going to try and adapt my normal one since it did ok at TH8.

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Originally Posted by zerodroid

Attachment 113866Attachment 113866Attachment 113866



thank you man i read all this so i want to apply this :D townhall 8.5 :D
i almost max out 1archer towerleft and 98walls so ithink by the end of may i will upgrade my townhall this is a great idea ill follow you tips. godblessyou :D

def:
canon: all max out to th8 (lvl10)
archer tower: 1 lvl9 left the rest all lvl10
mortar : all max out to th8(lvl6)
wizard tower : all max out to th8(lvl6)
airdef: allmax out to th8(lvl6)
tesla: allmax out to th8 (lvl6)

my gowipe troops max out on th8 :D

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you're welcome. Wish you the best of luck

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Originally Posted by GeneralMayhem

You've either maxed TH8 before going to TH9 or you are 1 level low on your point defenses before going to TH9 so you're not really a preemie as much as a TH8 on steroids. What it amounts to is that you have to look of a TH8 with a grey TH and the traps and troops of a TH9. It's a very deceiving matchup especially when you haven't yet build your xbows. People think they can still mass drag your base and they are highly mistaken. Of course you are still susceptible from a high level TH9 attack, but if they are moving down to 3 star your base that is a win for your clan because theri attacks would have been better used on a higher level base.

So .5s when done properly are not actually preemie. They are offensively/defensively unbalanced depending on how you look at them.

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this is basically a sum of why town hall 8.5 is so deadly

Attachment 114448

I think this is a good TH8.5.

Thank you for the guide. I've been looking at the idea of "rushed" or .5 bases for a while now. Wondering if this would work at other town hall levels too?
I usually upgrade elixer stuff 1st and clan castle and walls next. The idea of traps upgrades sounds like a good idea with what I'm guessing is minimal difference in war rank.

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Originally Posted by MrJackrabbit

Thank you for the guide. I've been looking at the idea of "rushed" or .5 bases for a while now. Wondering if this would work at other town hall levels too?
I usually upgrade elixer stuff 1st and clan castle and walls next. The idea of traps upgrades sounds like a good idea with what I'm guessing is minimal difference in war rank.

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Definitely is is the same concept for other town hall levels. It really only applies to town hall 9 and 10 in terms of extremity. However as a rule of thumb I'd say always prioritize offense at any town hall level.

*Sigh* very hard to base build a farming base for TH8.5 because not everyone uses the same rules for 8.5. Some build no new structures, some build lvl 1 of all the new th9 stuff (even the tesla), some just build the air d and storages (me), some just the storages, and different combos of each. As a result it's very hard to protect loot unless you hide 4th storage set and DE in your core. I've tried a few sample bases and I keep getting hit hard...

Gonna keep working on a base though. The tri-storages with the 4th set in core is the way to go, try to find a defensive setup to build around it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheFrankman

*Sigh* very hard to base build a farming base for TH8.5 because not everyone uses the same rules for 8.5. Some build no new structures, some build lvl 1 of all the new th9 stuff (even the tesla), some just build the air d and storages (me), some just the storages, and different combos of each. As a result it's very hard to protect loot unless you hide 4th storage set and DE in your core. I've tried a few sample bases and I keep getting hit hard...

Gonna keep working on a base though. The tri-storages with the 4th set in core is the way to go, try to find a defensive setup to build around it.

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Nobody who builds level 1 of ALL the new TH9 stuff (that would include lvl1 xbow) is not doing 8.5. Just ignore those people.

For war you really want the fourth air defense to make sure TH8 dragons will fail every single time. IMO. Sure the two new traps and the AQ are big for that but the fourth AD just makes it a no-go period (assuming the base isn't really dumb).

I just gave up on trying to max protect all of the storages. In fact, I gave up on having a village I really like and keep tweaking things. I figure I won't like it until I level up my defenses (intelligently rushed to TH9) including the new wizard tower (will hold off on xbows for awhile already placed new archer tower).

I just changed it but it was similar to this for awhile. The majority of attacks come from the north or northwest where the free storage is. What happens a lot is they get 20%-35%, kill the CC, and I don't get a shield. Very annoying. The stronger attacks get 40% or more and often do not touch the DE storage though. Of course I get leveled by legit armies from time to time.

I've been switching the defenses around within the compartments, right now AD are on the outside (of their inner compartments) because most raids are by ground and the one archer tower is up by the BK because too many times an AQ would come from the TH side and snipe the DE while only being hit by splash defenses, that archer tower can take a lot out of a lower level AQ that comes from that direction instead of having a stinkin mortar tickling her. I consider putting the AD all the way out on the edge but I want a giant/healer army going through two walls to get them if possible (of course an AQ can fix that...)

For some reason people rarely come from the south and never come from the top army camp.

The majority of attacks come from where the builder huts are lined up since I put the storages towards that end. I swap the accessible storages depending whether I have more gold or elixir. I want them to come from there because the DE is far away, and they rarely touch the DE coming from there unless it's a serious raid army or good heroes, but they kill CC without giving a shield pretty often too.


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