Zegaloft12's Strategy Guides/Advanced TH9 War Guide

=Introduction=
Hello , and welcome to my guide on how to create a decent working asymmetrical War base for TH9s. So if you haven't experienced the world of TH9s, please don't read this until that time, however there's a few content here that can be applied to TH8. I will be focused more around defense and we will be talking about Double Giant Bombs, Kill Squads and more from a standard TH9's defense, moving on to the strong TH9 war attacks like using Queen Walk with GoHo, GoLaLoon and more. Note: Some of the content and pictures are used from akiyume and I take no credit whatsoever. If you have any questions please message me on my wall and I'll get to it as soon as possible.
Common terms used:
*DGB(Double Giant Bomb)
*KS(Kill Squad)
*Cold Blooded/CB(1 Golem Kill Squad)
*Shattered(2 Golem Kill Squad)
*Stoned(3 Golem Kill Squad)
==Defense==
Symmetrical bases? Nah. Teaser base? Nah. Open base? Seriously? Nope, not any of those will work to protect yourself from a three star. Asymmetrical bases are the good to go bases to protect yourself from a three star.
===Setting up the Double Giant Bombs===
Double Giant Bombs, commonly referred to as DGBs as they're easier to type. The point about Double Giant Bombs is (obviously) set up a trap for Hog Riders and ultimately destroy them. The near to perfect setting for Double Giant Bombs will be to use the forced pathing concept. Forced pathing is to create a path for Hogs in which a section Hogging cannot do and will be forced to follow the path through the Giant Bombs whether they like it or not.
====3 Key Components to know when designing a DGB spot====
1. The Outer Layer(Purple)
- The outer layer is the section where most point defenses are located to protect more useful defenses such as the Wizard Towers, Air Defenses and X-Bows.
2. The Inner Layer/Threat Layer(Yellow)
-Using the Inner layer as a magnet for Hogs, the defenses lined across will naturally/forcefully bring them to the real location of the Giant Bombs.
3. The Buffer Zone(gray)
-This is the area where there are no defenses, in other words a section where Hogs won't path. A common mistake is putting Hidden Teslas behind the DGB spots which can cause the entire funneling process to go to waste. This buffer zone will cause the Hourglass effect as shown in the picture and carefully lead the Hogs to their dreaded enemy.
====Dismantling====
Watch out for dismantling!
You can notice the importance of the Buffer Zone here as the DGB spots need 4x2 spaces and Hogs will naturally go over to the sides when in a group of at least 5 and trigger a single Giant Bomb rendering the other one useless and just creates a perfect opportunity to three star your base.
As much as possible try to create a very slim path towards the Giant Bombs. This will significantly reduce the chances of one of the Giant Bombs are going to get dismantled.
====Positioning====
Double Giant Bombs spots must follow the criteria to not be tripped by the opponent's KS.
*Not parallel to the Queen's area, should be opposite.
*Must be in the second layer and not around the CC. X-Bow=>DGB=>Air Defense shouldn't be used as it's easy to identify.
====Other type of settings====
*2 DGBs
*2 Singles and a DGB
*4 Singles(more on the Defensive Alternatives section)
*Three Way DGB(more on the same section as well)
Note: Remember to make other possible DGB spots to try and trick attackers.
===The Queen Zone===
When utilizing the strong 3 star war attacks, the main objective of the KS(Kill Squad) is to take out the enemy Archer Queen. Thus when centralized, the attacker can come at any angle and disable the DGB threat. By offsetting the Queen from the center it will limit the opponent's choices on where to attack and mostly confined on the area where the Queen is nearest to the first layer.
Remember that the Archer Queen paces around her altar within a 2-tile radius, so the island must be designed to have Walls three tiles away from the altar itself, this is to prevent the Queen from hopping over a wall to snipe enemy troops and to prevent a suicide BK in exchange for the Queen.
Important Note: Buildings that can be attacked by an enemy Queen around the Queen Zone is still connected to it. Defenses shrouded between Walls surrounding the Queen Zone doesn't mean they're already safe.
====Defenses Required====
*Archer Tower(x2 optional)
*Cannon (x2 optional)
*Mortar
*X-Bow (Set to Ground only)
*Air Defense/Air Sweeper/Seeking Air Mine (Only one is required, putting 2 or more will weaken other sections of the base.
*All or if not majority of the Bombs two tiles away from the nearest wall, this is to disrupt Wall Breakers and increase chances of a fail.
====Single Layered====
Pros
A lot of Walls are still to be used.
Less buildings needed to be protected.
Kill Zones are stronger.
Cons
Queen is easily accessible.
Jump is not needed, extra slot/s for Heal/Rage/Haste.
More than 4 high HP buildings to stall the KS.
Allows enemy to use less troops to kill the Archer Queen.
====Double Layered====
Pros
The Queen is well protected
The Queen Zone is more like a mix Kill/Queen Zone.
The Queen cannot be ignored or consequences must be faced.
Forces the enemy to use a Jump Spell or if not risk Wall Breaker fails, fail to funnel the King inside.
Cons
Less Walls remain in usage.
If the Kill Squad enters, a lot of buildings can be taken out.
Kill Zones are nerfed while aiming to strengthen the Queen Zone.
===Groups, Sections, Territories===
*Groups are generally defined as the interaction of 2-5 defenses within a specific area and stresses importance of Spring Traps.
*Sections are defined as the interaction of 2 groups which requires a DGB in between.
*Territories are the relation of sections across the map, include the Queen Zone and Kill Zones.
===Defensive Alternatives===
There's no "standard" way in creating a war base otherwise they'll end awfully the same with other bases. Each has to be unique so the attacker will be forced to have a different approach.
====Dual Wizard Towers and Air Bombs====
When it comes to resistance against GoLaLoon(more on that on the Offense section of the article), stopping the Balloons is a major sign the base will succeed against it. Dual Wizard Towers and Air Bombs can completely WIPE OUT all Balloons in their vicinity, but it's a bit tricky to do since they shouldn't overlap with an Air Defense otherwise the Lava Hound will just soak up all of the incoming damage.
====Tesla Farms====
Zap, zap, zap. Bacon here, popped Loons there. Tesla Farms are very dangerous when an attacker isn't prepared. They pack a surprise factor and may cause the attacker to panic and it holds well on a fresh hit. Tesla Farms pack a lot of dps which makes it very dangerous combined with other groups.
====Spring Farms====
A first hand defensive measure against Hogs, surgical Hogging is very widespread which is done by sending a small amount of Hogs at first and reinforcing them along the way. Making Spring Farms(2 Spring Traps side by side sandwiched by defenses) can cut the amount of Hogs an attacker has prepared and ultimately be killed off in a high dps Kill Zone even without the assistance of a DGB.
====Open Core====
With the Max Attack, bases find it hard to defend key defenses such as the DGB, Tesla Farm and so on. With the appearance of the Open Core layouts, troops tend to path around instead of jumping to the other half to get the objectives that the KS supposedly should meet to make the attack work.
====7 Tile Compartments====
Queen Walks are holding high presence in Clan Wars. A Queen Walk can single-handedly annihilate the base's key components such as Air Defenses, DGB spots and much more. With 7 tile compartments, you can put buildings(commonly Air Defenses) in such a way that the Queen won't be able to reach and save more defenses and the Queen Walk is questioned if it will get its value.
====Three Way DGB====
This is relatively new meta and a healthy alternative yet more potent to the standard DGB, to exert its full potential, at least 2 Teslas must be used to make it near impossible to predict this in a first attack. This is way trickier as you'll need to utilize the hourglass effect in all 3 structures. The bonus of adding Teslas are that it makes Hogs pause while triggering the DGB while they peel off to the other defenses ensuring that a majority of them will get smoked.
Examples and further information: Three-Way Double Giant Bomb Set Guide
====4 Singles====
This is a delicate concept, 4 Singles will force Heals one after the other. Say the KS will need a Rage and a Jump, 2 Heals cant handle 4 of them. That is said with the basis that the attack is hog based and only 1 Giant Bomb is triggered.
====X-Bow Islands====
X-Bow islands are the current standard way of building TH9 bases. An X-Bow island is as the name suggests an X-Bow in its own compartment with 2 extra spaces to prevent Wizards and the likes from targeting it and adds an extra little bit of deadzone and screws up troop pathing if used correctly.
===Reality Check===
*Base designs are always two steps behind attack strategies. No matter how epic a war base can get it will get three starred one way or another. Attacking has too many options such as taking a different approach, come from a different angle and it's tweakable.
*A war base design is determined by its qualities and design not by quantitative results such as defensive logs in war. It's not a good statement when you say "Oh it's a great base it can't be three starred!" when you're facing against a casual clan. The base will only gain recognition if it withstood a fresh hit from a war clan with a good reputation.
*No war base can withstand time. I'm pretty sure this is self explanatory but I'll still say it, the meta shifts overtime. The transitions in war base designing is very common. This is the evolution of war bases starting off from the beginning. Symmetrical, stresses importance on TH=>Symmetrical, shifted importance to centralized CC(concepts of DGB and anti-Lavaloon appeared here as well=>Transition to asymmetrical bases(centralized Queen and other concepts break free)=>Offset Queen=>Tesla Farms(Deadzone)=>Compact bases=>War scene focuses on TH10s=>Completely separated infernos=>Anti-Queen Walk/Queen Charge concepts.
Now you see how each progress renders the one before it obsolete? This is due to evolving attacks as well. And no matter how well a war bases has done in the past, it won't survive a good blow today.
*A base cannot be improved drastically but the skills in base design can. No matter how much you tweak a base, the concepts, pathing and other materials will still be there which serves as the general foundation but there will always be obsolete concepts. This is why in the twc a war base sees light almost every day but dies in the next.
==Offense==
Here are some of the popular 3 star war attacks that war clans use up until now and may not change in the near future. These attacks are hard to learn just from words and actual attacks will be better. Here I present just the summary of war attacks. I recommend watching these channels for more information. OneHive Raids, Powerbang Gaming, OneHive Gazette and Past Used By
===Attack Strategies===
GoWiPe, GoWiWi, Mass Golems, LavaLoonion and Mass Hogs are good attacks but they won't cut the three star especially against meta war bases. And as such it requires more delicate and more complex attacks.
====GoHo====
GoHo is a very simple strategy, in terms of 3 star war attacks. This attack is mainly used by beginning 3 star attackers and to the most advanced. GoHo is very flexible when it comes to army composition.
====GoVaHo====
With the recent buff to Valks, valks with Hogs are very powerful. They punish compact bases and large cores. GoVaHo is semi-flexible but a certain composition can handle a lot of bases.
====GoVaLo====
Same with GoVaHo. This attack is powerful but is limited to some bases. It requires all Air Defenses to be destroyed by the Valks and back-end Loons will finish the remaining defenses distracted on the Valks.
====GoLaLoon====
An old-school attack but still powerful. Preferred on bases with compact and exposed point defenses. The LaLoon portion is a fast developing phase and may take quite some time to get used to.
====Suicide Dragons====
A powerful strategy but is very base dependent. It requires that 4 Air Defenses are positioned away from the Queen Zone, a Queen Walk/Charge can take care of 1 or 2 Air Defenses and another KS usually consisting of a Golem take out the rest and Dragons head on with the Queen.
====HGHB====
Namely Healers, Giants, Hogs and Bowlers. The most powerful strategy TH9 has experienced and by far the only attack strategy with the highest rate of troop and spell swagging.
===Novelty Extras===
These can also be added depending on the situation. It's rough when being practiced at first but you'll learn to gauge what you'll need as you continue on.
====Queen Walk====
This is a mainstream initiator in an attack. Due to wide bases, meaning spread out DPS this makes bases easier to Archer Queen Walk. A Queen Walk can get good value depending on the defenses and key structures she'll destroy.
====Queen Charge====
A variant of the Queen Walk but in this scenario, it lets the Queen to bust her way through the base with Wall Breakers and take out deeper structures that in a Queen Walk can't be destroyed due to the 7 tile rule. Commonly used in Suicide Dragon attacks.
====Distracting Giant====
A common tactic of using a Giant when deploying Hogs especially on high DPS areas. The Giant serves as a temporary meatshield to prevent the Hogs from taking unnecessary damage.
==Conclusion==
This very may be the wordiest page of all my guides so I hope this guide suffices you if you finished all of it. But this is not the bottom yet. Both offense and defense will get polished as you continue on. Good luck, happy clashing!