NEW Guide for Rushing to TH9!

[DG1967]

Yup, leave golems for TH9. Hounds dominate from early-mid TH9, no need golems at all at that stage

So I should upgrade now? I've got 40000 DE saved towards the 60 I need for the Golem upgrade. Should I just do Minions to level 4 and save for the AQ while TH upgrades?

[randerthall]

Hi Sin. Been awhile man. Just want to clarify that optimising is not rushing but strategic planning on what you need built and ready for you to move up. Did that when I was an 8. Max walls, def , traps and elix upgrade but my hero was only 8 and the only de troop upgraded was minion since i use bam to farm. When I hit 9 built both my xbows and aq right away and defended my loot even from max 9s. When I moved up to TH 10 10 days ago, I was a max 9 except royals (both at 25) in Champs 1. Built simultaneously both my infernos and upgraded my lab and spell factory. I got rekt daily by max 10s and 11s in Champs 1 but I camped in Champs 2 until my infernos were built and I was never rekt again even by max 11s. When my lab was finished I upgraded my golem to 5 right away. I survived by 2 starring 10s with goviz with 9 troops and 220 troop space for the league and daily bonus but now I've dropped to Champs 3 where I do not get attacked by max 10s or 11s. If I rushed, I would never have been able to not only survive in Champs but thrive since all my 5 builders are busy doing new upgrades.

High level defense and walls work. When I had my baby infernos up, a maxed penta golem gowipe with 40/40/12 heroes only 2 starred me for 78% and I saved 1 gold and 1 elix storage. Try surviving max attacks with weak walls and def in champs 1-2. Max 10s and 11s from titan and champs will eat you up.

Rushing works well if you plan to attack alot, spend your days in silver and bronze league raiding dead bases and you know what to build but optimising allows me to attack 4-5 times a day and get the same loot at less effort plus the one hr guard is a great bonus on top of league and daily bonus.

[SinOfDusk]

Hi Sin. Been awhile man. Just want to clarify that optimising is not rushing but strategic planning on what you need built and ready for you to move up. Did that when I was an 8. Max walls, def , traps and elix upgrade but my hero was only 8 and the only de troop upgraded was minion since i use bam to farm. When I hit 9 built both my xbows and aq right away and defended my loot even from max 9s. When I moved up to TH 10 10 days ago, I was a max 9 except royals (both at 25) in Champs 1. Built simultaneously both my infernos and upgraded my lab and spell factory. I got rekt daily by max 10s and 11s in Champs 1 but I camped in Champs 2 until my infernos were built and I was never rekt again even by max 11s. When my lab was finished I upgraded my golem to 5 right away. I survived by 2 starring 10s with goviz with 9 troops and 220 troop space for the league and daily bonus but now I've dropped to Champs 3 where I do not get attacked by max 10s or 11s. If I rushed, I would never have been able to not only survive in Champs but thrive since all my 5 builders are busy doing new upgrades.

High level defense and walls work. When I had my baby infernos up, a maxed penta golem gowipe with 40/40/12 heroes only 2 starred me for 78% and I saved 1 gold and 1 elix storage. Try surviving max attacks with weak walls and def in champs 1-2. Max 10s and 11s from titan and champs will eat you up.

Rushing works well if you plan to attack alot, spend your days in silver and bronze league raiding dead bases and you know what to build but optimising allows me to attack 4-5 times a day and get the same loot at less effort plus the one hr guard is a great bonus on top of league and daily bonus.

Unfortunately, not maxing is rushing in this forums, that's why I call it rushing even though I'm optimising/strategic rushing/min-maxing.

While you said in defense is true, a rusher cannot defend. But as you experienced it yourself, as a maxed TH9, you cannot defend too when you moved up to TH10. This just reinforces my statement that maxing nor rushing helps you in defense. While you can argue that you can maintain in higher leagues, but the best loot in the game is in silver for milking or G1 for TH9 or C2 for TH10, nowhere high enough to be wrecked constantly. Even maxers get wrecked constantly, and they aren't defending as much too. My rushed TH9s lose 3 storages + TH on average, while my mid TH9 is losing 2 storages + TH, which is a mere 70k difference in loot loss. For that 70k loot loss per defense, how much time and gold has the maxer wasted in building defensive structures?

Look at your second paragraph, if my rushed account was the victim, I'll lose 320k/320k/2k, while you lost 250k/250k/2k. How much time and gold have you spend in your defenses? For that amount of time and gold, you saved a mere 64k gold and elixir. 4 defenses per day and we're still only at a 260k difference, which is like half an attack in Ch2.

My rushed accounts (TH9) are doing decently even with 4-6 barch attacks per day. This highlights another major flaw in the game design, you earn no more than twice a raid with an army of 3-10 times longer cook time. My main in Ch2 is getting around 300k+225k per attack with 110 cook time. My alt in C3 is getting 200k+25k per attack with 18 minute cook time. Who is getting better loot? And due to the short cook times and session farming, my alt is only hit 3 times per day; while my main is getting hit 4-5 times per day, losing almost the same proportion per raid as my rushed accounts (60-80% loot from total offer) with nearly maxed TH11 defenses

[Noctaire]

Unfortunately, not maxing is rushing in this forums, that's why I call it rushing even though I'm optimising/strategic rushing/min-maxing.

While you said in defense is true, a rusher cannot defend. But as you experienced it yourself, as a maxed TH9, you cannot defend too when you moved up to TH10. This just reinforces my statement that maxing nor rushing helps you in defense. While you can argue that you can maintain in higher leagues, but the best loot in the game is in silver for milking or G1 for TH9 or C2 for TH10, nowhere high enough to be wrecked constantly. Even maxers get wrecked constantly, and they aren't defending as much too. My rushed TH9s lose 3 storages + TH on average, while my mid TH9 is losing 2 storages + TH, which is a mere 70k difference in loot loss. For that 70k loot loss per defense, how much time and gold has the maxer wasted in building defensive structures?

Look at your second paragraph, if my rushed account was the victim, I'll lose 320k/320k/2k, while you lost 250k/250k/2k. How much time and gold have you spend in your defenses? For that amount of time and gold, you saved a mere 64k gold and elixir. 4 defenses per day and we're still only at a 260k difference, which is like half an attack in Ch2.

My rushed accounts (TH9) are doing decently even with 4-6 barch attacks per day. This highlights another major flaw in the game design, you earn no more than twice a raid with an army of 3-10 times longer cook time. My main in Ch2 is getting around 300k+225k per attack with 110 cook time. My alt in C3 is getting 200k+25k per attack with 18 minute cook time. Who is getting better loot? And due to the short cook times and session farming, my alt is only hit 3 times per day; while my main is getting hit 4-5 times per day, losing almost the same proportion per raid as my rushed accounts (60-80% loot from total offer) with nearly maxed TH11 defenses

You may get more loot and have faster cook times, but someone who maxed has already scored that loot and completed the tasks the loot is needed for....

In the end, it all balances out. Strategic rushers progress better than maxers because they have more opportunities to spend what they raid; in other words, their resource utilization is more efficient. Done right, maxing offense first, they also become more capable attackers, more quickly than the typical maxer as well. This, of course, translates to more loot, more quickly, because of the stronger offense.

Interesting side note - higher townhalls lose a lesser percentage of their stored resources than their lower counterparts, plus it is distributed across more storages. I realize it;s not always a lot, but this can work in the rusher's favor as well.

It's funny how many players on the forum are so adamant about maxing before upgrading. I mean, sure, if you don't rush in a smart/strategic fashion you will be a liability in clan wars, but the exact opposite is true too.

[Araidia]

Great guide!
It only took me like 2 years to max out TH8 :P

[randerthall]

Unfortunately, not maxing is rushing in this forums, that's why I call it rushing even though I'm optimising/strategic rushing/min-maxing.While you said in defense is true, a rusher cannot defend. But as you experienced it yourself, as a maxed TH9, you cannot defend too when you moved up to TH10. This just reinforces my statement that maxing nor rushing helps you in defense. While you can argue that you can maintain in higher leagues, but the best loot in the game is in silver for milking or G1 for TH9 or C2 for TH10, nowhere high enough to be wrecked constantly. Even maxers get wrecked constantly, and they aren't defending as much too. My rushed TH9s lose 3 storages + TH on average, while my mid TH9 is losing 2 storages + TH, which is a mere 70k difference in loot loss. For that 70k loot loss per defense, how much time and gold has the maxer wasted in building defensive structures?Look at your second paragraph, if my rushed account was the victim, I'll lose 320k/320k/2k, while you lost 250k/250k/2k. How much time and gold have you spend in your defenses? For that amount of time and gold, you saved a mere 64k gold and elixir. 4 defenses per day and we're still only at a 260k difference, which is like half an attack in Ch2.My rushed accounts (TH9) are doing decently even with 4-6 barch attacks per day. This highlights another major flaw in the game design, you earn no more than twice a raid with an army of 3-10 times longer cook time. My main in Ch2 is getting around 300k+225k per attack with 110 cook time. My alt in C3 is getting 200k+25k per attack with 18 minute cook time. Who is getting better loot? And due to the short cook times and session farming, my alt is only hit 3 times per day; while my main is getting hit 4-5 times per day, losing almost the same proportion per raid as my rushed accounts (60-80% loot from total offer) with nearly maxed TH11 defenses

IMHO calling optimising "rushing" is misleading. As per getting rekt by max 10s and 11s, that was when I was a 9.5 and I was now seen by the big boys. As a 9 I admit to getting rekt thrice by max attacks by 40/40 th 10 raids but when I got my infernos as a baby 10 the hurting stopped. Max gowipes, gibarch, mass dragloon zapquakes by max 10s and 11s could only 2 star me. Lavas, max 9 def and infernos prevented the wipe. If I only had skulls, max 8 def and infernos I would get wiped. Everyone knows that the first few weeks of a 10 are the worst but I survived and thrived because of max def. Sure I got raped loot wise but because of loot , league and daily bonus in champs anything I lost I earned back in 1-2 raids. Plus how many new 10s do you know can go head to head with mid to max 10s and win with 9 troops? They could if they were maxed. Sure loot is plenty in silver but thats easy. Here in champs loot is pretty much the same but you get better in attacking faster.I'm not saying rushing doesn't work but a rusher even if he had a 2-3 month headstart will still not be that far ahead skill wise. Sure you might have the troops and heroes but could you wipe a player who optimised if your attacking strat is gibarch? Can you easily analyze my base and see where my traps and pathing will lead your troops if you attacked me? Now I might not have the troops and royals but I would have the skill to 2 star you with what little I have and be more successful in war because I hit high and stay in more competitive leagues.In farming in Champs 3, I now use Valkyrie Tornado which has a cook time of around 40 minute but is faster when queued and I only use 3 elix spells plus poison to save up for my campsites. My farming troop is optimised for core penetration and ensures I get 70% for the 100% league bonus. I also optimised my farming to make 3 raids per shield.

[Bobobomb]

I have a quick question to ask, my th8 has everything but dragon/pekka, healing and rage, most of the de troops, and dark spells upgraded to max th8 level. I have every wall at least level 7 and 2 pekka barracks. I haven't upgraded my DSF yet but I'm going to. Do you think I should rush to th9?

[CamaroBro1089]

HELLPPPPPPP MEEE
I RUSH ALOT

[SinOfDusk]

You may get more loot and have faster cook times, but someone who maxed has already scored that loot and completed the tasks the loot is needed for....

Herein lies the biggest lie of maxing, the myth that "work I do today, is less work for me tomorrow"

It is as if each TH is a day and whenever you upgrade, its a new day. That's very wrong, we'll use days to illustrate why. Let's say TH8 is a day and TH9 is 2 days, when you rush to TH9, you spend half a day in TH8 and 2.5 days in TH9. Maxers think that if you rush, you lose that half a day, which is absurd.

A TH8 maxer needs to farm (I did this calculation way back long ago, might forget stuff) 1.6mil gold per day, 0 elixir per day (all covered by pumps) and 1k DE per day over a period of 4.5 months to max TH8. A rusher (in my regime) needs 2.5mil gold, 1.4mil elixir and 2.3k DE per day over a period of 5 weeks in TH8. It seems that it is tougher for a rusher to progress here, but we'll see what happens in TH9

A TH9 who maxed TH8 would now need to farm 3.7mil gold, 3.7mil elixir and 16k DE per day on average over a period of 6 months. If he cannot do that, he'll reach a point where walls and heroes aren't maxed while defenses are and he'll have idle builders and lab. A TH9 who rushed TH8 would need 2.5mil gold, 2.5mil elixir and 9k DE per day on average over a period of 9 months to catch up and max everything. Suddenly, it is much easier for a rusher, this is because a rusher spends a longer time and can spread the load over a longer period of time to do stuff. In total, the maxer spends minimum 10.5months and 6 of those months are heavy farming; a rusher spends 10 months too and farms almost the same amount throughout the entire duration.

Furthermore, the rusher gets to use one hero throughout the entire TH9, upgrading the other. The maxer must keep both heroes down almost forever and never gets to use them until 30/30

In the end, it all balances out. Strategic rushers progress better than maxers because they have more opportunities to spend what they raid; in other words, their resource utilization is more efficient. Done right, maxing offense first, they also become more capable attackers, more quickly than the typical maxer as well. This, of course, translates to more loot, more quickly, because of the stronger offense.

Interesting side note - higher townhalls lose a lesser percentage of their stored resources than their lower counterparts, plus it is distributed across more storages. I realize it;s not always a lot, but this can work in the rusher's favor as well.

It's funny how many players on the forum are so adamant about maxing before upgrading. I mean, sure, if you don't rush in a smart/strategic fashion you will be a liability in clan wars, but the exact opposite is true too.

Yes, rushers get better loot earlier because loot penalty is a lie. In the end, its all about loot gain and loot per hr, not the inherent loot penalty. TH10s can definitely farm >1mil gold per hr, and get some great DE in the process, while lower THs can match that gold easily, they'll definitely struggle to farm that DE. This is why I laugh at maxers who adamantly max heroes in TH9, because it takes half the effort to do in TH10

Yes, that's true. I've actually used that argument a few times now. However, with the reduction of loot to reach loot cap, it is harder to justify now.

Yep, this forum is full of adamant maxers who bash at us rushers at all opportunities. Which is why this guide is to reduce the chances of people doing badly while rushing so that maxers understand that rushing works. Other similar games like this, maxing is stupid and inefficient. This is the first game I've encountered that maxing is chorused by nearly 90% of the players

Great guide!
It only took me like 2 years to max out TH8 :P

If it took you that long, you probably won't gain too much from rushing. Thanks for the praise though

[Klavious]

There is nothing wrong with rushing with a plan as long as you know the potential pitfalls.

Rushing just cuz you want the next TH without any real farming or war troops to support the jump is what's bad.

Also, folks who play more casually are generally better off maxing and folks who play very actively are better candidates to rush ahead.

At least that's my view but I could be wrong.