Hogs:
I was skeptical after the nerf of hogs with the recent update (1.5x damage to hogs with giant bomb) but my level 4+ hogs treat me well with cautious application. I bring 28+hogs with 4 heal spells for the main war attack. I also bring 5 barbs, 4 archers and 8-12 wizards to bait and kill enemy clan castle troops prior to main attack. Request max hogs for your clan castle. I trigger the enemy CC with 2-3 hogs as they trigger the CC almost 100% of the time. You can also use 2-3 balloons if the CC is very well centered. If the CC is not very well centered then use 2 giants as they can take a lot of damage and will move right up to the wall quickly.
Then I drop a barb in the corner to lure troops out of the way of defenses. It’s important that you lure the CC troops far away into a corner or you’ll be losing troops quickly from arch towers, cannons or mortars. Then I encircle the CC troops with archers first, then wizards (4-5) which keeps the enemy focused on the archers while the wizards take down the CC troops. Now I drop a few barbs in the launch area for hogs to clear any giant bombs or springs. Now I drop a heal spell inside the base to "pre-heal" hogs and use the remaining 3 heal spells based on where the hog train is going. It's still a gamble due to double or “stacked” giant bombs vaporizing them so always try to trigger the giant bombs when you see 2 4x4 squares next to each other. Due to everyone anti-hogging their bases with stacked giant bombs, many are using a golem with jump spell to jump the golem into the area where stacked bombs are and trigger them prior to releasing the hog train.
What I’ve described is for a TH9, so at TH8 its even easier to get great results with hogs since there’s only 3 giant bombs and no cross-bows. With hogs, it’s all about execution of your heal spells, and following the basics. Always drop a sacrificial hog near your launch point for the main attack in case there is a giant bomb on the outside of the base. It’s always better to lose 1 hog than risk your whole hog train. Always send solo scout hogs if you see open spaces near the outside wall that a solo hog could reach in order to trigger giant bombs if you can. Always consider where the wizard towers are and make sure your heal spells cover the hogs in that area as splash damage from wizard towers is devastating.
Fri Apr 17, 2015 9:10 pm by 
