Loot bonus farming in Champs

No, it's not using barch to 50% a base, but rather making an army that costs less than what the loot bonus will give back to crush a base (th9 bases only, to be specific. Don't go for th10's with infernoes). You will need to next a bit often to find a th9.

Army composition: Giwiva

16 giants (Level 6)
12 wizards (Level 5)
9 valks (Any level)
8 wallbreakers (Level 5)
4 archers (Level 5+, for that 50% or 70% clutch, just in case)
Any clan castle troops, although I recommend high DPS troops such as valkyries, wizards and giants. Healers can also work

2 heals
4 earthquakes
1 poison
1 CC poison or earthquake, depending on your needs

Both heroes recommended, although it can still work without either or both of them

Cost: 168k to 175k elixir + ~1500 DE (varies depending on troop and spell levels)
Takes up to 1h 15m to make, up to ~18m with boost
If you need more DE profits, you can replace earthquakes with 2 jumps or 1 jump and 1 rage, however, this will affect total training time

This army is deployed similarly to a gowipe army (and about the same strength, too), only with golems replaced by giants, and pekkas replaced by valkyries.

1. If possible, lure enemy clan castle troops with a giant

2. Use 4 earthquakes to open compartments in a way that lets your troops access the first layer without the use of wallbreakers; depending on the base layout and spell placements, you can go straight into the core easily.

3. Make 2 groups of 8 giants several tiles apart to tank the wizards

4. Make a line of wizards behind the giants to create a funnel for your heroes and valkyries.

5. Drop heroes and valkyries once all outside buildings in that area are destroyed.

6. You can either drop your wallbreakers along with your valkyries, or save them for until the near-end of the raid if necessary. They tend to stray off and die when doing the former, therefore I recommend the latter*

7. Use heals when your giants and/or valkyries are under fire by wizard tower, or when they reach the core.

8. By step 6 or 7, the enemy clan castle troops (if any/applicable) with be after your troops. Drop a poison spell on them when they're close enough to hit your troops. Otherwise, you can use the poison spell on the enemy king or queen, if necessary.

Using this strategy, I was able to get all 5 builders active along with a lab upgrade. I currently have less than 1 million gold (just used my last builder to upgrade wizard tower), 6.4 million elixir and 22k DE (just started a lab upgrade)

*Former is the first idea, latter is the second idea, in case you don't know what these two terms mean

I was honestly wondering about this myself. I was already currently on my way up to masters. The loot isn't to great in gold anyway, and your description makes the higher leagues seem ever more enticing. Thanks for sharing the info :)

But your still talking a long wait time - an expensive army - and low profit margins...

Theres another guide here saying to drop into sub 1k trophy range - and use goblins.... I've mixed Barch with goblins and tried this and - every 20 minutes- I can bring home over 200k gold 200k elixer and 1k dark.. easy pickings down there...

so thas 600k g/ 600k elixer and 3k dark each hour doing 3 very simple - cheap - brainless attacks...

I've only played for about 11 months now... but I refuse to spend dark - to earn dark.. in fact I never spend dark elixer on anything unless its war day and I'm attacking or donating for others to attack... 100% of all my dark goes to upgrades...

Solid attack plan for those who want to have their 'masters' brand... I've found hiding down in the gutter to be effective... been 30 hours since someone attacked me... everyone just clicks NEXT and skips my base down there...

I made it to Champs 2 and have been doing well here with a very similar comp:

22 giants
15 wizards
6 archers
5 wallbreakers
3 valkyries
2 hogs (for cc lure)
2 heals
4 quakes
1 poison
1 cc poison
usually cc wizards

183,300 elixir 1,220 DE, ~1h training time

I rarely get only 1 star and haven't lost against a TH9. I'm trying to find something reasonably consistent to attack TH10s with, as they're 95% of what I see now...

Edit: The reason I'm staying in champs instead of farming in silver is that I don't have near as much time to play as I used to and can't attack every 20 minutes, so attacking once every hour for a decent profit works better for me. I know the potential for loot is better elsewhere, but the playstyle needed to take advantage of it doesn't fit my schedule.