So I have recently heard a debate that it is stupid to waste all that gold on upgrading the x-bow at TH9 (at least early on) because there are better upgrades, such as archer towers, cannons, etc. that are all cheaper. This is a misconception by many lower level players. The argument I heard was that a level 11 archer tower is better than a level 3 x-bow. Because it is a cheaper upgrade and does not take as long.
The facts:
Level 3 Upgrade on X-bow takes 14 days. The X-bow set to Air and Ground (which is effectively what an archer tower is set to as it can target both) has a tile range of 11.
Level 11 Upgrade on archer tower takes 6 days. Has a tile range of 10 (so the argument is 1 less tile and 8 less days).
Prices is 7 mil for X-bow upgrade and 5 mil for archer tower upgrade.
So at first glance you are paying 2 mil less for 8 less days and 1 less tile range right?
WRONG! The archer tower shoots its arrows at 1 per second while the X-bow fires its bullets at around 7-8 bullets per second.
What does this mean?
It means that yes they may do the exact same (75 DPS) damage per second but that an archer tower can only kill one archer per second while an X-bow deals its 75 damage at a rate of 9.6 damage per shot. This means that it will kill a max level archer in 4.58 shots or about .586 seconds.
In 10 seconds an archer tower would kill 10 archers, 5 barbarians, etc.
In 10 seconds an X-bow would kill 17 archers, 7 barbarians, etc.
What it really means:
It means that if you are bombarded with lower level troops not only does the X-bow start attacking them a bit earlier it also kills them and moves on to the next one faster, all while having higher hit points than a similar level archer tower or cannon. So if you are torn between which is the more cost efficient upgrade... It is the X-bow.
Originally Posted by MrShred
