In Clash of Clans, Clan Wars are perhaps the most demanding aspect of the game for players, as players are tasked with (hopefully) fully-clearing similarly-leveled enemy bases (and sometimes even higher-level bases). However, players only get a large reward if their clan wins, so it is important everyone in your clan has an understanding of how to make effective attack in Clan Wars.
In this guide, I will be focusing on Clan War attack strategies for Town Hall 8 players. In particular, I will be discussing four strategies: my go-to Clan War attack at Town Hall 8, which maximizes strength while controlling spending; a modified version of my favorite attack, used against maxed TH7 players in order to save resources; a very cheap attack, which can be used in specific situations outlined below; and a very expensive attack, which I will advise against using but will discuss as players routinely ask about it.
Clash of Clans Clan War Attack Strategy Guide – Best Attack
- Recommended Army Composition: 10x Dragon
- Heroes: Barbarian King, as high as level as possible
- Spells: 2x Rage Spell + 1x Healing Spell, 3x Rage Spell, or 3x Lightning Spell
- Clan Castle Units: 1x Dragon (if possible); otherwise Archers or Wizards.
- When to Use & Expected Success: Use against enemy TH8 players. It may be hard to 3-star a fully maxed TH8 with an intelligent base design, but this strategy will be able to 3-star low-mid TH8 players or even high level TH8s with exposed Air Defense towers. Can also often 2-star low TH9s with poor air defense choices. Once in awhile can 3-star rushed TH9 players with under-leveled and over-exposed Air Defense towers.
The most efficient way to go about attacking in Clan Wars at TH8 in my opinion is to use a full army of Dragons. If you can get another Dragon in the Clan Castle, even better. The higher the level of your Dragons, the more effective your attack will be. It can be done with level 1 Dragons, but level 3 Dragons will increase your attacking options.
I prefer the 2x Rage Spell + 1x Healing Spell approach. However, some players prefer 3x Rage Spells. Both are effective. As an alternative strategy, 3x Lightning Spells can be used to destroy an Air Defense tower. The Lightning Spell strategy only works better when there is just a single high-level Air Defense tower in the center of the base while the rest of the Air Defense towers are much lower level or easy to reach with an attack.
What About Cost?
While this army might seem very expensive (10x Dragons run 300k to 360k elixir depending on level while typical targets only pay out 200k-290k elixir), understand that at Town Hall 8, elixir is by far your most abundant resource. You need much more Gold and Dark Elixir than you need Elixir; Clan Wars make the perfect outlet for this excess elixir.
Dragon TH8 Clan War Video Demos
The video above demonstrates the full Dragon army composition in action. I show how to evaluate bases, how to 3-star enemy opponents, and even how to 2-star weaker Town Hall 9 players in a reliable way.
TH8 Dragon Clan War Attack Strategy
Using Dragons does actually require a bit of strategy. If you place your Dragons poorly, the attack will not work at all. You have three things you need to think about when placing your Dragons:
- Destroying enemy Air Defense towers;
- Making sure your Dragons focus on the center of the base, rather than chasing non-defensive buildings along the perimeter of the base;
- Destroying enemy Clan Castle units.
Air Defense Towers
Destroying the enemy’s Air Defense towers is your top priority when using Dragons. These towers (along with Clan Castle units) are the only defense your opponent has against Dragons. Once the Air Defense towers are down, your Dragons will have free reign against the enemy’s base. Try to position the side you attack the enemy based on which Air Defense towers will be easiest to reach. If there is an Air Defense tower or two towards the center of the base, save your spells for when your Dragons get close to the tower. This will ensure the Dragons quickly take out the tower(s) before taking too much damage.
Making Sure Dragons Attack What Counts
The worst thing that can happen with your Dragon attack is for the Dragons to get pulled to perimeter structures. If your Dragons just follow the perimeter of the enemy’s base while attacking Barracks, Army Camps, and resource collectors, you are in a lot of trouble. The best way to prevent this from happening is to first use a few units to clear some of these perimeter structures before dropping the bulk of your Dragons.
Typically, the Barbarian King and a single Dragon will work for this purpose. If you decide you want to attack the enemy from the northeast side, you could drop a Dragon at the east corner of the base and the Barbarian King towards the north corner of the base. These units will then clear 20%-30% of perimeter structures before dying. This ensures that when you drop your remaining Dragons, they are not lured out to the perimeter and instead focus on central structures.
Clan Castle Units
With most base layouts, you can trigger the Clan Castle by dropping a single Dragon. However, with a full Dragon army, it is not very easy to lure Clan Castle units far away.
Fortunately, there is a way we can actually leverage Clan Castle units to our advantage. Rather than trying to lure them out, once Clan Castle units pop, we can drop most of our Dragons (at least 5) and allow the Dragons to chase the Clan Castle units deep into the enemy’s base. Normally engaging Clan Castle units in the center of the base is a disaster, but Dragons deal splash damage. As the Dragons take out Clan Castle units, they will be taking out enemy structures at the same time.
Ideally, you will drop your Healing Spell on your Dragons as soon as they start to engage the Clan Castle troops. This will help negate the effects of high-strength Clan Castle units like Wizards. Additionally, your Dragons are likely not to move around much during this time, making sure they get the full benefit of the healing spell. You may need to drop a Rage Spell on top of the Healing Spell to deal with Wizards, especially if your Dragons are also in range of an Air Defense tower.
Wizards sometimes present a major problem to players using Dragons. If your Dragons clump up, a few Wizards can take out all of your Dragons in a few seconds. The key is to never drop your Dragons on the same tile. If you drop 9 Dragons, put about 1 tile of space in between each Dragon. Dragons are flying units, so they can all be attacking the same structure while not occupying the same tile space. This significantly reduces the strength of Wizards against Dragons, as it ensures the Wizard’s attack only hits 1 Dragon at a time.
Finishing the Attack
Once you have picked the appropriate place to attack, cleared out some perimeter structures, and dealt with Clan Castle units, there is not much left to do but sit back and watch your Dragons clear the map. Be sure to drop any remaining Dragons in such a way that they head towards either the enemy’s Town Hall (if things are not looking good for a 3 star clear) or so that the Dragons head towards any remaining Air Defense towers (if you have a chance to 3 star).
Use your remaining Rage Spell(s) on Dragons that are attacking a cluster of high-health structures, like the Town Hall or storage structures. While a cluster of Gold and Elixir storage structures might not seem threatening, the high HP count of these structures can hang up Dragons for a long time. If the Dragons are under fire from enemy towers while clearing out storage buildings, it can be useful to drop a Rage Spell to take out these high health structures so the Dragons can move on to the towers.
Alternative Option #1. Dragon/Archer – A Cheaper 3 Star Attack
- Recommended Army Composition: 7-8x Dragon, 40-60 Archers
- Heroes: Barbarian King, as high as level as possible
- Spells: 3x Lightning Spells
- Clan Castle Units: Archers
- When to Use and Success Rates: Good choice for your second attack if your Clan is active. Use on a maxed-out TH7 player to get an easy 3 stars.
If you need to 3-star a maxed out TH7 player, you do not need to spend all those resources on a full Dragon army. You can save about 100,000 elixir by using cheaper spells (Lightning Spells) and just 7 Dragons instead of 10. Instead of full Dragons, a Dragon and Archer hybrid army will suffice for a high-end Town Hall 7 opponent. If you have level 2+ Dragons, you only need 7 Dragons; if you have level 1 Dragons, you should make 8 Dragons total. As you get comfortable using the build, you may be able to drop the Dragon count even lower.
The strategy is very simple: use all 3 Lightning Spells on the most central enemy Air Defense tower. This will destroy it outright. Lure out Clan Castle units and then kill them with your Archers. From here, use your Archers and Barbarian King to pick off perimeter structures. Once you have cleared out some of the perimeter structures, drop your Dragons in such a way that they will head towards the final enemy Air Defense sooner than later.
Alternative Option #2. Barcher – A Cheap 2 Star Attack
- Recommended Army Composition: 80x Barbarian, 100x Archer, 10x Wall Breaker
- Heroes: Barbarian King, as high as level as possible
- Spells: 2x Rage Spell + 1x Healing Spell
- Clan Castle Units: 1x Dragon (if possible); otherwise Archers or Wizards are fine.
- When to Use and Expected Success: Useful for getting 2-stars against high TH7s in a war where your clan is either far ahead or far behind. Can 3-star lower TH7s and TH6s (no Wall Breakers required against TH6). If your clan is very inactive and you have no chance of winning, it can be a good way to get a small reward and work towards Clan War achievements.
This is hardly a go-to strategy, but useful in certain situations. A simple Barbarian, Archer, and Wall Breaker army is typically strong enough to 3-star weak TH7s and 2-star higher TH7s (or even low TH8s).
Lure out Clan Castle units as a priority and kill them in a safe spot. Then, use your Archers and a few Barbarians to take out perimeter structures. Drop your Barbarian King as a distraction, using a Rage Spell. Use a few waves of Wall Breakers to break deep into the enemy’s base (dropping 6 of 10 will be fine), then flood in with Barbarians and Archers. Use the healing spell near your Barbarian King and Barbarian clusters to help them stay alive while you take down AoE towers. Use another Rage Spell once you get deep into the base and drop your remaining Wall Breakers.
Slowly drop wave after wave of Archers; do not drop too many at once as you do not want Mortars to wipe them all out in a big clump. Once the last Mortar is down, you can flood in with your Archers.
The goal is to core towards the Town Hall and take it out, netting you 2 stars. This strategy will work against any TH7 and even some TH8s, particularly if you get good at using it. The resource cost is low, so you will actually net a resource gain even if you lose the war.
Why would you want to use this? If your clan is very active, then odds are you will just need to 2 or 3-star a similarly-leveled opponent (using the Dragon strategy) and then are best off getting 3 stars against a low-level opponent. This strategy is perfect for that second attack. Alternatively, if you are losing a war by many stars and have no chance of winning, this is a good way to get a little resource reward and work towards the Clan War achievements without needing to spend a ton of resources on Dragons.
Alternative Option #3. Hog Riders – An Expensive 3 Star Attack
- Recommended Army Composition: 34x Hog Rider, 30x Archer
- Heroes: Barbarian King, as high as level as possible
- Spells: 3x Healing Spell
- Clan Castle Units: 5x Hog Rider (if possible); alternatively Archers
- When to Use / Expected Success: Preferably never; but can 3-star any Town Hall 8 player and some TH9s.
The most effective army composition at Town Hall 8 for pure power is an attack force that consists largely of Hog Riders. Hog Riders move quickly, jump over walls, target defenses, and deal a lot of damage. As a result, it does not take a large Hog Rider army much time at all to clear all the defensive structures of a TH8 player, at which point clearing the rest of the base becomes trivial.
There is a strategy to using Hog Riders. If you simply place all 34 Hog Riders at once and do little else, you likely will not have a lot of success. Instead, you will want to first lure out Clan Castle units. Even if the enemy’s Clan Castle is placed centrally, there should be a spot where a Hog Rider can hop over the wall and trigger the Clan Castle units.
Once the Clan Castle units are triggered, you should be able to then lure and clear them with your Archers. I would recommend using 30 Archers in order to ensure that you can finish off whatever is inside the Clan Castle.
Next up, find the place you want to attack. The biggest threat to the Hog Rider is not any tower in particular but rather Giant Bombs. Look for gaps where Giant Bombs might be. Try to avoid those and instead attack near an area where it is unlikely that you will trigger any Giant Bombs, at least for some time. You should drop 15-20 Hog Riders as your first attack. Once some of your Hog Riders start dropping into orange health, drop your first healing spell. Try to place the Healing Spell with your Hog’s pathing in mind in order to increase its uptime. Drop the second Healing Spell as soon as your Hog Riders start getting low on health again.
After your first set of Hogs gets wiped or thins out, you can drop the rest of your Hog Riders, attacking from another part of the enemy’s base near where the remaining towers are located. By splitting your Hog Riders into two attacks, you limit the potential to get your troops wiped by a double-stacked Giant Bomb. Use your final healing spell as necessary on whichever pack of Hog Riders needs it the most.
If you have a Clan Castle full of Hog Riders, you can drop that as well as soon as it is needed. Just 5 Hog Riders can handle 2 Cannons or 2 Archer Towers, so having this small third pack is useful should your first two packs of Hog Riders get caught in enemy traps.
Once all the enemy defensive towers are down, drop your Barbarian King to help clean up the remaining structures. Your Hogs should do most of the damage, but Hog Riders do occasionally get taken out by traps. The Barbarian King has no chance of dying to bombs, so it is good to save the Barbarian King for the very end.
This strategy results in an easy 3-star against even fully-maxed TH8 players. It also can 3-star some TH9 players if controlled properly and if your Hog Riders are upgraded beyond level 1.
Why I Recommend Avoiding Hog Riders
Despite the effectiveness of Hog Riders and their relative ease of use, I would strongly recommend not using these troops. While they work well, their cost is astronomical. An army of 34 level 1 Hog Riders costs 1,340 Dark Elixir (if they were level 3, it would cost 1,768 dark elixir).
At Town Hall 8, the typical war reward for an enemy you could 3-star with Hog Riders would be 275-400 Dark Elixir. Given that Dark Elixir is by far the tightest resource at TH8 and is the resource really want to focus on saving, it makes no sense to spend 1,500 Dark Elixir on Hog Riders to win 300 in a Clan War battle.
The only situation in which I would recommend using Hog Riders in a war battle would be if there was almost no time left in the Clan War, your clan was down 2 stars, you had one attack left, and there was a maxed enemy TH8 that had all 3 stars available. Other than a scenario where you could single-handedly win your clan a war, I cannot imagine using Hog Riders in a Clan War fight at Town Hall 8.
What About GoWiPe?
At Town Hall 8, mass Hog Riders actually is more reliable than Golems, Wizards, and P.E.K.K.As – the composition commonly known as GoWiPe. Also, TH8 players rarely have high level P.E.K.K.As and Golems. If you have enough Dark Elixir to go beyond level 1 Golems at TH8, you really need to upgrade to TH9 so you can spend that Dark Elixir on the Archer Queen.
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