Cannon Cart and Boxer Giant Attacks…which strat to use when?
I’ve been spending some time on one of my alts (KussVonNacht, aka “KVN”) here lately. Over the past month or two, I’ve managed to get max both Mitch and Minion Drops - my top two attack strategies since BH6/BH7. Over on my flagship game (Noctaire), I’ve been working a LOT with Cannon Carts, so I decided to max them next on KVN and add in Boxer Giants afterwards.
It’s made for some VERY interesting gameplay. Season reset was not too long ago, and I just finished up the the ground troops a week into the new season so I’ve switched over to using my Boxer Giant/Cannon Cart attack strategies. Lots and lots of 3-star results and wins in general; right now, my Battle Log shows 8/1/1 from the last few days. Defenses on the KVN game are generally L7, with a few key defenses at L8 so it’s far from maxed too.
I’ve completed the initial series on Boxer Giant/Cannon Cart attack strategies. You can read about each at the links below….
GiCart Attack Strategy
GiBoCC Attack Strategy
Big Bart Attack Strategy
One thing I do try to emphasize, though, is the importance of NOT becoming a one trick pony and at BH8, there’s no reason for that to ever be an issue.
I switch between attack strategies frequently, depending upon both the offensive capabilities of the game I’m playing and the opponents I face. In the case of the KVN game, I have maxed Cannon Carts and Giants, with L14 Raged Barbarians and L12 Bombers - plenty to take advantage of several ground attack strats.
It seems like a great many players really like the box base designs for some reason, and those are the very bases that Cannon Carts do so well against. Of course, I’m only happy to oblige. Boxer Giants and Cannon Carts form a perfect union - the Boxer Giant attacks defenses and tanks for the Cannon Carts who come in behind them and help take down those same defenses very quickly. The best defense against these attacks rests with the Giant Cannon - who shoots through the target troop and damages everything in the line of its cannonball; the MultiMortar - whose splash damage is severely damaging to Cannon Carts; and Teslas, which hit Cannon Carts hard as well. If you can keep their fire concentrated on the tanks, though, you keep the Cannon Carts alive to absolutely wreak havoc on most base designs.
I find GiCarts (Boxer Giants and Cannon Carts) are usually adequate to task for most of my attack runs. The typical base layout includes multiple points of ingress and so long as there is at least one, I can easily open a second nearby with the Boxer Giant. Given those two ways into the base, and a little careful pathing, I form up my offensive line and begin the sweep through the base with Boxer Giants at the front and Cannon Carts to the rear. My Battle Machine is typically lower level - usually L10 - so he comes in on clean up and secondary tanking services, after the Boxer Giants start to go down and I’m out of more to trickle into the base.
Sometimes, I come across a base where there’s a wall across the entry point that I want my offensive line. In these cases, I will switch to GiBoCC (or Big Bart) and have Bombers take down the wall so the offensive line forms up outside the base. If there are any fringe buildings outside the walls, I take them out first - once they’re gone, the Bombers can come in straightaway to take out most levels of walls in a single throw with their Big Bomb ability. All that’s typically required here are L10 Bombers. Occasionally, I hold one back to take out an interior wall as well.
I also have no problem switching it up to use a camp Raged Barbarians, as you see in Big Bart and Big Bart Jr. Big Bart uses Boxer Giants and Cannon Carts, but also Bombers and Raged Barbarians to great effect; Big Bart Jr. is the same but omits the Bombers. An example of when I’ll add in Raged Barbarians is when I come across a base with a bunch of structures around the outer edge of the game grid. If it’s just a single camp in a corner, I’ll usually either power through and snag it at the end or drop a Cannon Cart on it and just wait until the Cannon Cart gets closer to the base before launching the main attack. However, some players really like to put buildings around the outside of the game grid and when that’s the case, I drop a single Raged Barbarian on each, then trickle the remaining units into the base for distraction and tanking.
I use similar logic for my air attacks as well. If a diamond base has the MultiMortar at the apex of the base, I’ll use Mitch; if a base has a lot of compartments, I’ll switch to Minion Drops. Roaster under construction…good likelihood I’ll go with air. Big, open base…it’s probably going to be a ground attack. Understanding the inherent weaknesses of specific base designs will help you cross the finish line faster and with a higher percentage than your opponent.
The companion video for this article has 6 replays using Boxer Giants and Cannon Carts. 3 are Gicarts, 2 are GiBoCC, and one is Big Bart Jr. Ideally, this should illustrate when to use each and why one works better than the other for that particular layout. The link is below.
Originally Posted by Noctaire
