The real argument for ".5" Town Halls (Not just CW matchup)

[joelamosobadiah]

This thread is coming from somebody that upgraded from TH8 to TH9, immediately bought all the defensive upgrades I could and started working on offense.
Now, I am a TH10 without any TH10 defenses and decided to go the "TH9.5" route of upgrading.

Obviously, without clan wars the ".5" option would never even be considered. There's no advantage to lower defense if it weren't for those. Therefore most of the arguments I see FOR the .5 approach is better clan war matchmaking and most arguments I see AGAINST are the people who think maxing your base no matter what is best.

Well, my main argument FOR is not for better matchmaking per se, but it two-fold.

First, you are maximizing your ability to continue upgrading your base. We all know the Lab upgrades take longer than defensive upgrades. At TH9 I kept my lab going non-stop and my defense was done weeks before my lab was ever finished (and heroes take longer than both, but that's a whole other thread).

Second, you are maximizing your ability to attack better opponents in war. Each defensive upgrade pushes you up the map and brings in a slightly higher opponent. You are voluntarily matching yourself against better and better opponents. Common sense would dictate to not push yourself higher up that list until you can survive at that level.

The ONLY arguments against going to 9.5 that lend any sort of credibility are not being able to protect your loot and the loot penalty. Unless you have severely rushed your base, the loot protection isn't too much of an issue. Find a good league, good farming base, put your TH outside, and you will get sniped more often than raided until you have a LOT of DE in your storage. As for the loot penalty, that's for you to decide, but at 3-4 weeks into TH10, there is little noticeable difference especially after the new matchmaking system went into effect.

My mini guide to ".5" upgrades include:

• TH1-7, upgrade to the next town hall as soon as you have army camps, lab, spell factory, and farming troops upgraded
• TH8, remain at TH8 until you have most lab upgrades completed, purple walls, level 10 BK, and max defense.
• TH9, don't build Xbows until you have your offensive buildings upgraded. Remain at TH9 until you have 15/15 heroes, most lab upgrades, lego walls, and max defense. When you build Xbows, keep them going to level 3 where they become really useful.
• TH10, don't build infernos until you have 20/20 heroes (preferably 25/25), max freeze spell, and all offensive buildings upgraded. At this point you will be able to compete against other TH10s in your range.

So there's my thoughts on the much-discussed ".5" debate. Any disagreement or dissenting opinions, I would love to discuss. Going this route is what we require in our clan to stay a warring member. This keeps a brand new TH9 or TH10 from being grossly outmatched in war.

[Branel]

I really don't have any arguments against this. Thanks for spreading your thoughts.

[fplant]

I don't see where you make any case for adding to your title "not just CW matchup". It seems that all the advantages are for better CW matchups.

Also, you only mention the defensive disadvantage applying outside of war, but I think the defensive disadvantage is much more important in war. I find that I get just as much advantage with my defense as I do with my offense. I regularly get attacked more than 1 time, and I have never been 3 starred since I've been a TH9.

I understand the benefit up concentrating on offense over defense early in a TH upgrade, and I have always followed that philosophy, but you need to understand that defense is also very important in war, and the extra defenses that you get at each level can make a huge difference in your defensive capability, so X.5 is not simply a win-win, there are tradeoffs.

[Turkalurk85]

I don't see where you make any case for adding to your title "not just CW matchup". It seems that all the advantages are for better CW matchups.

Also, you only mention the defensive disadvantage applying outside of war, but I think the defensive disadvantage is much more important in war. I find that I get just as much advantage with my defense as I do with my offense. I regularly get attacked more than 1 time, and I have never been 3 starred since I've been a TH9.

I understand the benefit up concentrating on offense over defense early in a TH upgrade, and I have always followed that philosophy, but you need to understand that defense is also very important in war, and the extra defenses that you get at each level can make a huge difference in your defensive capability, so X.5 is not simply a win-win, there are tradeoffs.

I am doing the TH9.5 right now very similar to what the original poster outlined. At a certain point at TH9 with your defensive upgrades, you are a difficult 3 star if you have a good layout. I don't see much of a benefit of upgrading more defenses as I am already a challenge for the enemy and having my AQ (21 now) upgrading will only make me more challenging. There are bases out there for TH9 that are difficult for TH10 to 3* or may force them into a few attempts which is to your advantage in war.

For me, the real arguement for ".5" THs, or even rushing to TH9, are the extra DE drill and army camps. Getting DE with 240 troops is easier (no I can't pick on TH8 anymore but that's fine by me), so now I will be able to upgrade my heroes faster.

[joelamosobadiah]

I don't see where you make any case for adding to your title "not just CW matchup". It seems that all the advantages are for better CW matchups.

Also, you only mention the defensive disadvantage applying outside of war, but I think the defensive disadvantage is much more important in war. I find that I get just as much advantage with my defense as I do with my offense. I regularly get attacked more than 1 time, and I have never been 3 starred since I've been a TH9.

I understand the benefit up concentrating on offense over defense early in a TH upgrade, and I have always followed that philosophy, but you need to understand that defense is also very important in war, and the extra defenses that you get at each level can make a huge difference in your defensive capability, so X.5 is not simply a win-win, there are tradeoffs.

The other advantage (and in my opinion more important) is to not leave a lab sitting there idle. Ideally, you would stay at TH9 until you had level 30 heroes and then go to TH10, but you have effectively wasted months of laboratory time that could have been spent advancing your offensive ability.

In high level war clans, a new TH9 will be 3-starred whether they have xbows or don't have xbows. Until your defense is almost maxed, you will get 3-starred consistently. So for early TH upgrades, the defensive improvement is negligible, but in a matter of a couple weeks, you can drastically advance your offense.

Since going to TH9.5, I have 2-starred at least 1 TH10 every single war. I also have 3-starred almost every TH9 I have attacked. My base usually gets attacked by TH10s and I have only been 3-starred once. My experience shows for me, my offense was drastically improved and my defensive capabilities are hardly affected at all. (2-starred before, still getting 2-starred)