[Food for Thought] For TH8ers out there that are maxing out before going on to TH9

[Spikefood]

Also another thing to note: two maxed DE barracks provide my village with an extra 700 hit points. Any way I can slow attackers down so my defenses can destroy them the better. It's the same reason I'll max my collectors. More total hit points in your village the harder it will be for attackers to get to your resources.

[RegaliaRemix]

^ Mmmm, I like that way of thinking. Totally changed my perspective towards upgrading buildings. Thanks!

[Junliang]

Also Jun, aren't you swimming in elixir all the time? You should work on those barracks now because 220 troop camps obviously takes longer to fill than 200 and isn't it nice if you can queue 15 more troops PER BARRACK?

Thats a very good point..
220/4 = 55 meaning Lv8 barracks atleast.

When they do release more DE troops and they make them viable i will get to building it then. Who knows by that time maybe I will stop playing or maybe something else will come up.

The idea is to be at the most prepared state when that update is release.

Say golem is available to Lv4 dark Barrack, those with Lv3 dark barrack will be able to build golem after 9 days, and not 5+7+9 = 21 days assuming your dark barracks are still level 1.

Probably, but it is literally the very last thing on my priority list. Maybe the most significant reason for me will be to hide as much DE as possible when working towards the Archer Queen, though if they add a totally gamebreaking DE troop in the future it will be good to have them maxed. TH9 is a few months away for me, so who knows what troops will be out by then.

Awesome point..
Lv3 Dark barrack = 60 housing space = 7 Valkyrie + 4 minion = 724 DE assuming Lv1 troops.
But thats only a total of 1,448 DE lol.
Still can't hide much..

[s0007]

Hmm..
Screen Shot 2013-04-02 at 12.09.27 PM.jpg

[Sinclaire]

Well said
Regarding troops upgrade, assuming you are done with the basic 5 lv5 troops, spells, what would be your choices for more troops upgrade ?

Personally I went with Drag lv2 > Drag Lv3 > Pekka Lv2 > Pekka Lv3 in my planner and i'm out of time as I am already hitting th9 already

Dragon wise, is a good donation troop, and if you really want revenge, just go full dragon much easier than full pekka imo. (of course there are strategy in dragon strategy, but its much easier than pekka)

Pekka wise, I was torn between Lv3 Healer or Pekka or Wizard or balloons
Healer wise, I'm really tempted to try high level giant + healer combo, but.. it aint that fun actually, and against advanced bases, healer giant combo is quite useless. Even healer/pekka combo is quite restricted by Air Def positions.
Wizard wise, I only use 1 healer in my army to clear enemy's CC troops, and I find it a hassle to use them in attacks, especially when a tank is required, where my giants are always shot down so quickly the wizard cant even optimise properly.
Balloon wise, really tempted.. but thinking that they will really shine only at level 6 at th9 makes me zzz

So i went with pekka, the occasional donations, and to feel the power of the best elixir troop

Then again, I'm usually running the basic 5 troops only, so no harm choosing any other troop upgrades at all.

Edit: Oh wait, I haven't considered the 3 other DE Troops upgrade.

After the basic 5, my next upgrade choices would be lightning -> rage -> Dragon -> Wizard -> PEKKA. The efficiency of high level spells can really turn the tide in your favor. It also makes it more forgivable if you drop it slightly off center.

That being done, I'd go with Dragons next since they're the prime choice for any guaranteed win (refer to Pingfao's and Jorge's threads). Pekkas are a nice choice after but wizards are needed as well if you go down the PEKKA route. Wizards complement the pekkas well from what I've seen.

DE troop upgrades are another thing entirely. I personally think maxing out the BK takes more priority. I suppose once that is done... I'd love to stockpile on DE first. I want to get AQ as soon as I upgrade to TH9 so I won't be using any spare DE to upgrade the DE troops (plus, it takes quite a long while for these upgrades to finish).

[MintberryCrunch]

Awesome point..
Lv3 Dark barrack = 60 housing space = 7 Valkyrie + 4 minion = 724 DE assuming Lv1 troops.
But thats only a total of 1,448 DE lol.
Still can't hide much..

True it's not very much. But a hell of a lot more than I can currently hide with my single level 1 rax (240) ;p

But I'm hoping by the time I'm th9 ready there will be more interesting troops as well.

[facescraper]

i have both dark barracks at level 1 and have yet to make any DE troops. they're just not useful at my level without upgrading them. i use my DE on hero upgrades instead. while the golum looks cool, i'm not sure what he'll cost and whether or not it's worth making them if you're spending more DE than you're winning from the raids. if you have nothing else to upgrade you might as well upgrade the dark barracks. as to whether or not you will use the DE troops, time will tell i suppose...