Balloon

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"These promoted skeletons have traded in their joy of destroying for a joy of destroying . Deploy them to take out pesky mortars and cannons!"
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Level 1 & 2
Level 3 & 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10
Level 11
==Summary==
*Balloons are the sixth overall Elixir Troop unlocked in the Barracks, and is the first aerial unit unlocked in the Home Village, requiring a level 6 Barracks.
*Balloons are "promoted" Wall Breakers that now attack from a hot air balloon. They drop bombs towards the ground with a large area splash damage, which can destroy a wide range of ground targets, but can be easily taken out by any anti-air buildings or air-targeting splash-damaging buildings (such as the or Wizard Tower).
*Balloons have high damage for their housing space, but low attack range and rate. They also cannot hit air units.
*When they are defeated, Balloons drop to the ground and explode, dealing relatively minor damage (as compared to the damage of their bombs).
*
==Strategies==
===Offensive Strategy===
*In lower trophy ranges (up to Bronze League), you can request for Balloons and demolish your opponents because the opponents probably won't have an yet. Balloons (as well as Minions, s and Dragons if you can obtain them from Clan donations) are a great way to gain trophies and resources.
*Balloons do not have a lot of health. However they have very high damage and ability to do splash damage, as well as a relatively low housing space of 5, making them powerful in a large group.
*Balloons can be paired with higher-health troops such as Dragons, Lava Hounds or Electro Dragons, since they can distract defenses, letting Balloons attack the defensive buildings.
*In Town Hall 7 or above, Zap Dragons and DragLoon come into play, involving Dragons and Balloons, where dragons tank for the Balloons and the Balloons disarm the Seeking Air Mines. If the Balloons are still alive, they can help in destroying defenses.
*In addition to the above mentioned strategy, a hybrid strategy known as DragLoonion can prove even more potent. The Dragons act as tanks to shield the Balloons and Minions so the latter two can funnel the army further into the base.
*In Town Hall 9 or above, an attack called LavaLoon, involving Lava Hounds, Balloons and Minions is incredibly popular and also extremely powerful, though the attack generally will require use of other troops to defeat defending Heroes and Clan Castle troops.
*Every attack that involves a member of the Dragon family will likely involve Balloons as protection against air traps and more firepower on the defenses.
**At low levels, groups of three Balloons or more can usually overwhelm an . Five Balloons is generally assured destruction unless there are Air Bombs or an Air Defense nearby. More Balloons can generally destroy Air Defenses, however they will then be at the mercy of splash damage defenses.
*Balloons are exceptionally useful in the Single Player Campaign. You can simply destroy all of the Air Defenses, Archer Towers and Wizard Towers, then deploy a single Balloon. It will destroy every building. It takes a bit of patience, but it pays off at the end. With Single Player Campaigns, there are no time limits, so one Balloon will eventually destroy every building.
**In some of the earlier bases, there might be no air targeting defenses so you can use the Balloon right away.
**Important note: In many cases, a single Balloon will take enough time to destroy the remaining buildings (commonly in the Single Player Campaign maps) that your game will time out due to inactivity, which will cause your attack to end prematurely and be unsuccessful (regardless of how many stars you had earned prior to that point). To prevent this from happening, simply change the view every few moments (by panning or zooming).
*When raiding other players, time is limited, so make sure you take out all the Air Defenses and at least most other defensive buildings that can target air troops (e.g. Archer Towers, Wizard Towers) quickly so you can sweep up the raid. Use Giants and Wizards to destroy these buildings.
**This strategy loses its steam at Town Hall 7, due to a third Air Defense and more Wizard Towers along with the introduction of the much more powerful Dragon that could be used with them.
*Although Balloons are slow moving, their damage is excellent; a good option is to speed them up with a or a Haste Spell.
**Balloons deal a lot of damage on their own at higher levels and the extra bonus from the Rage Spell usually is not necessary and can be traded with two Haste Spells but Rage Spells are still essential once the Balloons get to the core of the base.
*Balloons can be very strong if you know how to use them, but never train an army of only Balloons as Clan Castle troops which target air can make short work of them! Bring other troops to help out in this department. However, at around Town Hall 7, most people begin using Dragons in their army which can counter many Clan Castle troops.
**Beware of splash damage, as a Balloon's relatively low health makes them very vulnerable once weakened from them. Once weakened, they can be quickly chopped down by other defenses like Archer Towers and X-Bows. Balloons’ slow speed and relatively mediocre health leave them vulnerable to . Air Bombs can drastically reduce the health of Balloons when clustered together, potentially allowing other defenses to rapidly destroy the entire group by picking them off one by one. A or the Healing Tome can be used to mitigate the damage if you have one.
*If the Clan Castle happens to have a ton of Archers or other low health troops in it, a single Balloon can be used to take them all out with the death damage. Group all the Clan Castle troops together by luring them out with fellow Archers or s and as the Balloon gets destroyed by the defending troops, it will use the death splash damage to completely destroy the low HP troops below. This does not affect air troops.
**However, this usually does not occur, since in higher trophy ranges, higher health troops such as Ice Golems, Lava Hounds, Electro Dragons and Dragons would be more likely to occupy the Clan Castle.
**In very high trophy ranges, one would use strong single-target troops to destroy the Clan Castle, low health troops are often used in mass formation to tank for stronger troops so this strategy can be used to deal with them.
*When Balloons are researched to level 6, they undergo a massive change. Their damage and health are increased drastically. Most interactions are changed:
**They can destroy Mortars, Archer Towers, and other low HP defenses in two hits (s may require three).
**A pair of Air Bombs will no longer destroy Balloons, making double Air Bombs not as effective.
**Archer Towers require more shots to destroy them, allowing you to send some Balloons to destroy it without much dying. The amount needed is significantly less.
*Some players place air traps, particularly Seeking Air Mines, near the outside of their base to defend against Queen Walks/Charges and similar strategies. You can place a balloon in a suspicious area where you suspect an air trap might be to trigger them. Then, you can deploy your more powerful air units afterwards. These Balloons are called Coconut Loons.
*Use Freeze Spells to freeze defenses that pose a threat to Balloons, such as Scattershots and Inferno Towers set on Multi-target mode, to be able to reach those defenses safely. Alternatively, Invisibility Spells for the former can work as well.
*Balloons fit well inside a Battle Blimp. When the Blimp is sent to a level 12 or higher Town Hall, provided that the blimp successfully reaches the Town Hall, the blimp's death damage will trigger the Town Hall, allowing your Balloons to quickly attack it. When paired with a Rage Spell, the Balloons will make short work of the Town Hall.
**Note that the Giga Inferno will do a lot of damage to the Balloons which quickly destroys them, so you might want to disable it with a Freeze Spell.
**Usually, the shortest path to the Town Hall may be defended with Seeking Air Mines, Air Sweepers or the Tornado Trap, which can stop your Blimp from reaching the Town Hall. Having a Lava Hound in front of the Blimp can absorb damage from Seeking Air Mines and other aerial defenses (greatly increasing the survivability of your Blimp), as well as potentially trigger the Tornado Trap. On the other hand, the Air Sweeper can be countered by using a Freeze Spell on it.
***If you have unlocked the Grand Warden, you can use the Eternal Tome to make the Blimp invincible, allowing the Blimp to go towards the Town Hall.
**A viable strategy against bases with defenses concentrated around the Town Hall is to use multiple Clone Spells and the Grand Warden together with your blimp and Rage Spell. The Clone Spells will create a large number of Balloons, which after destroying the Town Hall, can decimate nearby defenses and they can be protected from any Town Hall explosions by the Grand Warden's ability. Done right, the Balloons and their clones can wipe out the entire center of the base, allowing for an easy cleanup.
*In TH12 or higher, using a Mini-charge, such as the Queen Charge, Warden Charge or Mini GoWi or GoHo, with your Siege Machine is advised to destroy the Town Hall before deploying the Balloons. This is because the Balloons will not target the Town Hall until the 51% mark and then the Town Hall can do significant damage to the Balloons before they target the Town Hall and because the Giga Bomb, Freeze Bomb and Poison Bomb will severely damage the Balloons, if not decimate them.
===Defensive Strategy===
*Due to the Balloon's very slow movement speed, melee range, and relatively low health an at equivalent level can wipe out a single Balloon in two hits. It is recommended to deploy Balloons in swarms, but be careful of Air Bombs too.
**Air Bombs, Wizard Towers, Air Defenses, Archer Queens, (especially when higher-leveled), and Air Sweepers can be very annoying to deal with when raiding with Balloons. Bringing some Lava Hounds may counter some of these, as if the Archer Queen is occupied with one of your other troops, any Lava Pups nearby can injure her or even stun her for the rest of the raid. Lava Hounds are also excellent for tanking.
***A max level Air Sweeper can push Balloons far enough that they will never reach it. This can be quite helpful for either defeating a horde of them or for forcing the use of a , Freeze Spell or Haste Spell that could be used more effectively elsewhere.
**On the defensive hand, when Balloons are in the defending Clan Castle, the Archer Queen will take massive damage from their bombs if left unattended, so do not ignore them.
***You can use a Poison Spell to deal with the defending Balloons, to give time for the Queen to destroy the before she gets heavily damaged by them, if not kill her.
*Generally, high-level Balloons are relatively decent as a defensive unit: their powerful bombs can destroy groups of ground troops, usually in a single hit, making them very dangerous. If your opponent does not have any troops/spells that can attack air, a Balloon in the Clan Castle will teach them a lesson. Most low-TH level troops lack the ability to target Balloons and thus will be helpless against them, leading to an easy fail. Balloons are often used to fill Clan Castles that are already partly occupied by more powerful air units, such as Dragons, Electro Dragons, or Lava Hounds.
*From a defensive standpoint, it takes quite a few Archers to take out the Balloon, which effectively weakens the raid. Its only major weaknesses are air troops capable of attacking air, such as Minions, which can destroy it easily without fear of counterattack. A single similar-level Wizard (up to level 3) is also able to destroy a Balloon due to its high damage output, but only if it has sufficient range to fire twice before the Balloon closes (the Balloon will destroy the Wizard in one shot). Beyond level 3, two Wizards would be required.
**However, under normal circumstances, one should not be too conservative in trying to destroy a defensive Balloon, since it will be able to deal more damage and reduce the amount of time the attacker has before the raid ends.
*At lower levels the Balloon has such low HP that it is vulnerable to being taken down by two Air Bombs. Consequently, a great way to defend against lower-leveled Balloons is using a grouped pair of Air Bombs; they can take an entire group out before they get a chance to get healed with a . However, this can also hurt your chances of winning if the Air Bombs target a small group of Balloons, or other, stronger, air units like the Dragon that has an extremely high health pool which render Air Bombs ineffective.
**However once the Balloon reaches level 6, it becomes stronger and can survive two Air Bombs, but will still be heavily damaged and can easily be finished off by splash damage.
==Upgrade Differences==
The Balloon undergoes significant visual changes at levels 3, 6, and 8. Appropriately, at each level the Balloon pilot resembles a similar-level Wall Breaker.
*Initially, the Balloon is a red-orange colored hot air balloon which has a red envelope with a few patches and a wooden basket which holds the Wall Breaker inside, with both the envelope and basket connected by ropes. A couple of sacks hang on the basket of the balloon. The bombs it drops look like level 1-2 Bombs.
**At level 3, the Balloon receives wooden armor attached to the sides of the envelope underneath its rigging.
**At level 5, the Balloon's basket gain golden spikes attached to its side and the bombs it drops become golden in color.
**At level 6, the Balloon's red-orange envelope turns to black with a white skull on it, and the wooden armor become gray-black steel, also, the golden spikes on the bottom gets shorter. The sacks of the basket turn into a red color.
**At level 7, the Balloon's steel armor gets plated with miniature golden spikes, it also gains larger golden spikes that replace some of the old spikes. A light inside the Balloon can be seen. The bombs it drops look like the level 5 and 6 Bombs.
**At level 8, the Balloon's envelope is now dark red, but the skull pattern is retained. The golden spikes on its armor are replaced with thicker silver ones, while the spikes on the basket are removed.
**At level 9, the Balloon's envelope gets back its black base color with an icy blue fade on the sides. It gets golden spikes on its armor as well as spiky icicles underneath the basket.
**At level 10, the Balloon's envelope turns into a dark shade of purple. The base of the spikes on its armor turns green to match the jungle theme of Town Hall 14. The spikes on the base of the Balloon turn golden and the bolts of the basket turn green.
**At level 11, the Balloon's envelope turns light red. The ropes connecting the basket to the envelope is now replaced with tree roots, with three small tree branches. The metal plating on the basket as well as the spikes become golden, and the envelope's wooden armor now becomes dark red and the spikes become golden. The frames around the spike also become golden.
==Statistics==
Preferred Target	Attack Type 	 	Movement Speed	Attack Speed	Barracks Level Required	Range 	Death Damage Radius
Defenses 	Area Splash 1.2 Tile Radius (Ground Only)	5	10 	3s 	6 	0.5 tiles	1.2 tiles
Training Time of Balloons	Training Time of Balloons
Barracks available 	Barracks upgrading
30s 	1m
Level	Damage per Second	Damage per Attack	Damage Upon Death	Hitpoints	Research Cost	Research Time	Laboratory Level Required
1 	25 	75 	25 	150 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A
2 	32 	96 	32 	180 	125,000 	8h 	2
3 	48 	144 	48 	216 	400,000 	12h 	4
4 	72 	216 	72 	280 	720,000 	18h 	5
5 	108 	324 	108 	390 	1,300,000 	1d 	6
6 	162 	486 	162 	545 	2,750,000 	3d 12h 	7
7 	198 	594 	214 	690 	4,500,000 	4d 	9
8 	236 	708 	268 	840 	7,000,000 	5d 6h 	10
9 	256 	768 	322 	940 	8,500,000 	9d 	11
10 	276 	828 	352 	1,040 	17,000,000 	14d 	12
11 	290 	870 	375 	1,140 	20,000,000 	16d 	14
Super Troop Boost
Super Troop	Boost Cost	Balloon Level Required
 	25,000 	8
==History==
Patch 	Type 	Description
August 2, 2012 	August 2, 2012 	The Balloon was in the original release of the game, with 5 levels.
September 19, 2012	Update 	
*The upgraded Balloon now shows pink asterisks that represent its level.
*The Balloon now has an upgrade differences at levels 3-4 and 5.
February 5, 2013 	Update 	Added the level 6 Balloon.
April 17, 2013 	Update 	Made Balloons to deal additional damage upon death.
August 27, 2013 	Update 	Decreased the training time of Balloon from 10 minutes to 8 minutes.
May 4, 2016 	Balance Changes	Reduced the training time of Balloon from 8 minutes to 5 minutes.
May 24, 2016 	Update 	Added the level 7 Balloon.
December 19, 2016 	Update 	The Balloon now attacks slightly sooner after reaching its target.
June 11, 2018 	Update 	Added the level 8 Balloon.
June 26, 2018 	Balance Changes	Reduced upgrade times of level 1-6 Balloon.
October 23, 2018 	Update 	Reduced gem donation cost of Balloon from 5 to 3 gems.
April 2, 2019 	Update 	Reduced upgrade times of level 5-7 and reduced upgrade costs of level 1-8 Balloon.
December 9, 2019 	Update 	Added the level 9 Balloon.
March 30, 2020 	Update 	Reduced upgrade cost of level 6 Balloon.
June 15, 2021 	Update 	Added the level 10 Balloon.
December 9, 2021 	Update 	Reduced upgrade costs and times of level 2-8 Balloons.
==Gallery ==
Avatar Balloon.png|Balloon's icon
Balloon info.png
Balloons Level 1.jpg|Army of Balloons
==Trivia==
*
*The first use of hot air balloons in warfare was in 1849, where the Austrian imperial forces besieging Venice attempted to float some 200 paper hot air balloons each carrying an 11–14 kg bomb that was to be dropped from the balloon with a time fuse over the besieged city. Before that, Balloons were used in wars exclusive for reconnaissance purposes.
*Due to a peculiarity of the Balloon attack, the first bomb a Balloon drops on an individual building does damage the instant it is dropped; the last bomb it drops will do no damage.
*Balloons "hover around" slightly while they are attacking.
*In Clash Royale, its Star Level 3 skin resembles the level 3 Balloon in Clash of Clans, only without its crown.
**Its card image and render are identical to the old render of the Balloon in Clash of Clans, except for the re-skinned envelope and color change.
*A level 6 or 7 Balloon has the same design on its exterior as a Seeking Air Mine (a black sphere with a broad white skull), which suits as both do extremely high damage per hit.
*It is somewhat ironic to note that Balloon pilots are promoted Wall Breakers, as the latter are kamikaze units and would not be actually "promoted" since they will perish instantly upon attacking.
*While most levels of Balloons drop bombs that are carried by Wall Breakers of the same level, level 6 and higher Balloons do not drop barrels (see upgrade differences above).
*Each of the four upgrades which upgrade the Balloon from level 2 to level 6 increases the Balloon's damage by 50%.
*During late October 2016, the Balloon's training cost was temporarily reduced by 50% and its training time changed to 1 minute and 20 seconds to celebrate Halloween.
*The Balloon's design strongly resembles that of the Kirov Airship from the Command and Conquer series of games. They are both airships that deal massive damage to things right under them, both are very slow and can only target ground units.
**Unlike its counterpart in Clash of Clans, the Balloon in Clash Royale does not deal area damage.
**In Clash of Clans, the Balloon's death damage will only affect ground troops and buildings, while in Clash Royale, the Balloon's Clash Royale will also affect air troops as well. Visually, the Balloon in Clash of Clans will crash down, dealing damage upon impact when defeated, while in Clash Royale, it will disappear completely, only dropping a bomb which will deal damage.
*In Clash Royale, its description is based on the Clash of Clans Balloon Parade commercial.
*The Balloon's basket looks similar to the hull of the Rocket from Clash Royale.
===Comparisons===
*Currently, the Balloon is one of the only air troops that have no wings, the others being Grand Warden if counted as a troop and set to Air Mode, Rocket Balloon, and Drop Ship, as well as the seasonal Skeleton Barrel. The Hog Glider is considered to have wings in this because all gliders in real life are said to have wings.
*Its Super version has the same health as the normal Balloon, except the former deals much more damage upon death, and has an initial boost of movement speed for a short time, and also slightly increased damage and is faster.
**This could be because the Rocket Balloon has rockets attached to it.
*The Balloon, the Rocket Balloon, the Healer, the Lava Hound and the Ice Hound are the only Air Troops in the Home Village that can only target things on the ground.
*The Balloon, along with the Barbarian, Archer, Giant, Goblin, Wall Breaker, Wizard, Healer, Dragon and P.E.K.K.A are the oldest units in the game.
*The Balloon is one of the 13 units to appear in a Scenery, the others being the Barbarian, Goblin, Hog Rider, Barbarian King, P.E.K.K.A, Baby Dragon, Skeleton, Archer Queen, Grand Warden, Dragon Rider, Cannon Cart, and the Party Wizard. In its case, it appears in the 9th Clashiversary Scenery.
Category:Troops
Category:Elixir Troops
Category:Air Troops
Category:Home Village
de:Ballon
es:Globo_bombástico