.5 is it still a strategy in war?

My husband and I are thinking of upgrading to 8.5 and 9.5 for war. Is this still achievable and good strategy in war with the new update? Or has _.5's been rendered useless with the new tweeks to war?

I can't help you with the 9.5, but I have 2 8.5's and it seems to work for me. I think MANY other variables can factor in as to whether it truly works or not. First I believe war weight is based on total clan weight and not individual match ups. Also we are a small clan and do 10 or 15 member wars, and with both my accounts being the top 2 on the map I think this helps too. If you were to do larger member wars, and you were in the middle of the map any help this strategy provides may not be noticeable directly to your matchup but may help the overall clan a bit.

Heres how I did it I got the x-bows (level 1 still) and all the other new buildings. I upgraded new buildings to th8 level, and other than dumping excess gold into walls I have done no defensive upgrades. So basically I'm a th8, but at this level of play we mostly get matched with gowipe attacks so I've been able to hold attackers to 2 stars. I rarely see lvl7 ad's and most opponents hounds and loons aren't even capable of a solid 3 star attack against me. Meanwhile, my offense is now 75% maxed and I've been able to learn the golaloon (and several variants) and am now 3 starring on a fairly regular basis.

So for me I can directly see the benefits, but may or may not work for you.

Here's the skinny: 8.5 and 9.5 are still great for war but the farming drawbacks are now worse than ever.

More people are using GiBarch or even heavier armies and, combined with the removal of free shields, you will be raided harder than ever.

Hope it helps.

I just went 9.5 on New Years Day and I have no regrets so far... the biggest complaint I have is the ability to find a good base to loot from since I now only see TH10+ in the search queue :/

Hero weight and wall weight has increased in the war matchmaking, so I'd say this strategy is still quite viable but not as much so as it was months ago. With that said, I think offense is always the best route to take first. My clan is getting our TH8.5's to build new tesla and airdef to TH8 max after heroes are 10/10. Once heroes are 15/15 we allow them to build all other defenses to TH9 max and xbows lvl1. After heroes are 20/20 you can get bows to max. 20/20 plus is just mastering strategies.

edit: I have a TH9 base setup currently and haven't had a problem getting raided. I am still getting hit by TH9's and the occassional TH10 GiArching but my base has held well. I am at 2700ish trophies just for reference.

it's still good in war, but if you are trying to make progress on your base at all forget it. you will just get wrecked over and over again without mercy.

still, at a new th level I think it makes sense to prioritize elixir and DE for offense upgrades. maybe spend your first big chunk of gold on castle upgrade. it does help your clan if you're not dropping xbows and infernos instantly. but you can't wait as long as you used to.

Yes, I believe it still works, BUT it comes at a fairly heavy cost...you'll get lit up often as a true TH8.5 during farming (can't speak for 9.5)

The best counter to this is to just make yourself an unattractive target. Spending gold/elixir on walls as soon as you hit 1M helps a ton, but it hurts during those times you are saving, say, DE for a troop/AQ upgrade (BK should already be L10 when you get to TH9) & you are close to 1M gold and/or elixir

I've been doing my best to only have one of my resources "big" but it isn't easy.

One thing that truly makes me laugh is just how lame people often are. They will just attack my 2nd even when he resources are fairly low and the exchange was hardly profitable. Many times, the attack is so bad, it wasn't profitable at all, which really makes me chuckle.

In any case, it appears that an 8.5 is a magnet for people to attack, so proceed with caution.

I do believe, however, it helps with overall war weight. Having 1 or 2 people do it probably wont make much difference. You need a decent % of the clan doing it to even have a chance at impacting a matchup.