Best Troops to fill a War Clan Castle: Defense

First of all, one’s war clan castle is the single best defense for all but the highest TH levels. Why? One can add troops that are at a much higher level than the defenses that are available. Additionally, attacking troops that are already engaged will be attacked by the cc troops. One should always upgrade their clan castle as quickly as possible if one wars frequently and if one wishes to protect their village.

What troops to choose is is a highly controversial topic and there will be many many opinions, but one that everyone will agree upon is that it should be the best possible troops (highest level). That is so important that I will repeat that, only the highest level troops should be used, especially for war clan castles (defense). To put it simply, if one is a TH 5 and there is a TH8 in the clan, the TH5 should NOT contribute troops. Leave that to the TH8. In the case of a huge clan of 50, mid-levels (TH 6) can contribute to very low levels (TH3, 4), but only if no one with better troops will contribute.

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The following is one possible set of combinations for troops in a war castle:

Clan castles with 10 troop capacity:

• one wizard or one balloon; one or more minions if you have dark elixir to spare (but likely overkill), fill the rest with archers
• One wizard, 6 archers
• Two wizards, 2 archers
• One Valkyrie, 2 archers

What is my rationale? I believe that an archer is the single best all-around defensive castle troop. Why? Because it can shoot over walls and all of the enemies troops will attack one single archer. Additionally, it only takes up one housing space. It does not matter how many hit points the archer has because even if it had 500 it would be killed in a second anyway, but because the enemies focus on one troop, the other troops can attack and do some damage. If your archer is behind a wall, the enemy troops will try to get through the wall. A minion is a great flying option, but it does cost some dark elixir. It is a great troop as it can fly and therefore can only be attacked by archers at very low TH levels. A balloon is not a great weapon for most war clan castles, except for inexperienced players or those with few troops. They cause great splash damage and inexperienced players are not used to killing troops in the air. It does not take long for balloons to rack up some serious damage, but I would only use them in very low level TH (3 and maybe 4). They do take up a bit of housing, so I would not recommend more than one–NEVER. Why? You want their troops to target something else while the balloons do serious damage. Archers are the perfect complement–they take up one housing space, can shoot over walls, and are quick. They will distract enemy troops while the balloons rack up damage quickly. Wizards are a great weapon as they do great splash damage. High level wizards are great, but, as with the balloon, they do take up considerable space and I believe that they work much better if enemy troops can be distracted.

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Clan castles with 15 troop capacity:

• one to three wizards (3 preferred), with the rest archers (some use Minions as barbs and giants can’t attack them, but not recommended if one expects aerial attack)
• One Valkyrie, One wizard, 3 Barbs, 4 Archers (can mix and match Barbs, archers, wizards)
• One Witch and either 2 archers, one barb, or 3 archers

For my rationale, see above.

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Clan castles with 20 troop capacity:

• One dragon (which fills the entire war clan castle)
• Two or Three Wizards (some prefer 4 or 5, see comment below), rest Archers (some use Minions as barbs and giants can’t attack them, but not recommended if one expects aerial attack)

These days in war, most TH7 attacks are dragons. Therefore, you should try to protect against that, although the clan castle is usually of little help. There is some controversy whether to use all wizards or a combination of wizards archers. Me? I am partial to having at least some archers (if not 33-50%)–which cause a great distraction as they get to the enemy quickly and get targeted immediately, thus giving the Wizards time to clean up quickly. Dragons are great as lightening spells have little effect on them at these mid range TH levels, although do little against dragons. So for TH6, I love dragons, for TH7s, I don’t as it does not help much against dragon attacks. Level 4 dragons can do some damage though and CAN make a difference.

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Clan castles with 25 troop capacity:

• One Dragon, One Wizard, One Archer (safe, works well; have 3 troops that all move at different speeds)
• 1 witch, 3 wizards, 1 archer (especially for ground attacks)
• One Dragon and one balloon
• 1 Valkyrie, 3 wizards, one balloon (or 5 archers)

Best of all worlds. Fast moving Archer to distract, wizard for great splash damage, and the Dragon which causes considerable splash damage and has high hit points. With ground attacks on the rise at TH8 (witch and valk options are looking good)

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Clan castles with 30 troop capacity:

• 1 witch, 4 wizards, 2 archers (very good)
• 1 Dragon, 2 wizards, 2 archers (safe, works well)
• up to 7 wizards (very high level), rest archers
• One Lavahound (to distract enemy troops)

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Clan castles with 35 troop capacity:

• 2 witches, 2 wizards, 3 archers
• 1 dragon, 3 wizards, 3 archers
• up to 8 wizards (very high level), rest archers

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Troops that should never be used in a war clan castle: Wallbreakers and Healers. Healers typically try to heal buildings, which they just can’t do fast enough making them very ineffective. If you put  one of these in someone’s cc you will get a most interesting, and usually heated, reaction.

Giants, although not mentioned, can be very effective against ground troops when used in combination with high damage troops (i.e. Wizards). Do I like them? Yes and No. If one is worried only about a ground attack, such as low level TH, then yes they can work just fine and one can substitute a Giant for Barbs or even one Wizard if you like. They are slow moving, have to attack face-to-face, unlike wizards which attack from a distance, don’t do tremendous damage, but soak up damage. Therefore, in almost all cases, I prefer a Wizard over a Giant in a clan castle, which also saves one housing space. In most cases, if  you put a Giant into a clan castle, you will piss someone off.

TH6-7: join our sister clan Dozers 2.0

We are looking for SOLID TH7s with Dragons, 200 troop capacity, and 3 spells; TH8s with Level 3 drags; and maxed TH9s. Find us at DOZERS.  Search for Clan #P2U8JR9   (it is case sensitive and include the #)