TROPHY STRATEGIES

The following strategies ignore the cost or need for loot and focus solely on gaining trophies. Trophy hunting is a very different game to farming and in the higher trophy levels you will begin to encounter much stronger bases, until near the top you will see many bases that are completely maxed or close to it.

There are two primary strategies for trophy hunting. The first is to focus on a high quantity of 1-2 Star wins that provide you with a small amount of trophies at a high frequency of attack - the strength of this is the lower cost of troops, however you do need a lot more time available to use it and a single loss can set you back a long time.

The second strategy is to build stronger and higher cost armies and attempt to 2-3 star every attack at a much lower attach frequency. The advantage is that you achieve more trophies per battle and require less game time, however the cost can be very high and you won't necessarily make enough loot per battle to keep building troops and spells unless you use Gems. Another advantage is that miscalculating a battle will often lead to getting 1 star instead of a complete loss so it can be less risky.

1. GoWiPe

The GoWiPe army is a high cost 2-3 star attack army. It has a very long build time, particularly due to the wizards which take up a huge amount of time per space. Often people will use variations of GoWiPe that do not include the Golems (WiPe) or the PEKKAs (GoWiz). Generally people will add in a few wallbreakers too for good measure.

The overall strategy is to use the very high hit points of the Golems and Pekkas to attract the enemy fire and the wizards to add the high Damage per Second to take down the towers fast.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The obvious strength of the army is the overall high hit points and high DPS - these enable you to often 3 Star bases and get lots more trophies. However the long build times and high cost (particularly of DE for the Golems) discourages many players from using it. It is a great overnight build because then time is not an issue.

Bases to Target
If possible, look for bases without inferno towers, and obviously the lower level of splash damage towers the better! PEKKAs have a nasty habit of walking around bases that have lots of buildings on the outside, so either avoid those or take them out with wizards before you deploy the PEKKAs.

Attack Tactics
Drop your Golems first to attract fire and then deploy your wizards behind them in a line. Optionally drop wallbreakers to get through the first few line of walls. Once distracting buildings have been cleared, drop your PEKKAs for some extra DPS. Try to focus your attack on one side and attack at the point with the highest concentration of splash damage or very exposed Mortars and/or Wizard Towers.

Watch out for!
Inferno Towers are the Nemeses of the GoWiPe army. They will very quickly take down a Golem or Pekka and leave you without a meat shield. If you must attack Inferno Towers try to take them out as fast as possible. To a somewhat lesser extent, high level Teslas can wreak havoc with your Pekkas as they 2x damage. As with the Healer/Giant strategy, bases with well spread out and high level splash towers are harder to take down.

2. Dragons+

For a long time (before the 4th Air Defence) the All Dragon Army was a central feature of the game. An attack with all high level dragons can still be very deadly and although it has a high cost and long build time it is still a very popular army. Many people supplement their dragon army with a handful of Archers and/or Giants to take out exposed Air Defence towers before deploying the Dragons

Strengths and Weaknesses
The major strength of the Dragons+ Army is that they cannot be targeted by many towers (ie: Canons, Mortars and Ground targeting X-Bows) and hence they can last longer and do more damage. They also have a great balance between high damage and high hit points and there is no need for meat shielding or tricky deployment strategies. However they do have a major weakness in that high level Air Defence towers will take dragons down really fast

Bases to Target
The only thing you need to look for are bases with low level or exposed Air Defence towers. However watch out for Inferno Towers as well as they will take dragons down at a reasonable speed too. Even high level X-Bows set on air targeting don't take dragons down particularly fast - however combined with Air Defence or Inferno towers they can cause a problem.

Attack Tactics
If you have additional Archers and/or Giants then use these to take out exposed Air Defence towers first and then drop your dragons closest to the highest concentration of Air Defence to try and take them out fast. Use Rage or Heal spells to make your dragons last longer. Some people like to spread their dragons out to protect them from High Level Wizard splash damage, however personally I find they are better clustered together because they take down the air defences faster and are easier to use spells on.

Watch out for!
The major problems for the Dragons+ army are high level, well spaced Air Defence towers and Inferno towers. Air Mines can hurt the Dragons but due to their high cost you generally won't encounter these until the much higher trophy ranges

3. Witch Wipe-out

A relatively recent addition to the game is the new Witch unit. This has spawned a new attack strategy that consists almost entirely of witches with the occasional meat shield troop thrown in (such as Giants or Golems).

The idea behind the attack is to utterly overwhelm the enemy's defences with a huge quantity of skeletons created by the witches. The meat shields when used are there to keep the witches back from the action and make them last longer and hence spawn more skeletons.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The strength of the attack is the unending supply of skeletons that simply swamp the defences and take them down with sheer quantity. However it has two big weaknesses - the first being that it is incredibly expensive (5000 Dark Elixir for 20 Level 1 Witches and 7000 Dark Elixir for 20 Level 2 Witches) and the second being that you can often run out of time before the skeletons finish wiping out a base - leading to a 1-2 star instead of 3 star attack (which isn't great when you have spent 7000 DE!)

Bases to Target
Bases that have defences that are very concentrated in one area are good to attack because you can keep the witches away from the action for longer and hence create more skeletons.

Watch out for!
The biggest enemies of the Witch Wipe-out Army are well placed high level Wizard Towers (because they take out Skeletons faster than they are created) and long range point defence towers - particularly X-Bows set to ground defence (because they target and kill the witches from afar before the skeletons can get in the way

4. Trophy Barb/Arch & BAM

It is actually possible to use the BAM or Barb/Arch Armies for Trophy Hunting up to a moderately high level of trophies. The concept behind it is to use a low cost and high frequency of attack to 1 star bases for a small amount of trophies each time.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Because of its low cost and fast build time, if you have the free time to employ this strategy you can quickly jump up the trophies by attacking weaker bases and going for a 50% win (or taking out exposed townhalls at the lower levels). The weakness is that if you fail to get the 50% it can be a huge setback in trophies, so you want to make sure you really know you can win before you attack!

Bases to Target
Look for bases with lower level Mortars and Wizard towers. You can often do really well against people who have upgraded their Townhall just to get the X-Bows or Inferno towers and haven't maxed out their Splash Defence. The Inferno towers in particular are very ineffective against the BAM and Barb/Arch Armies. Also be on the lookout for farmers who have exposed Townhalls that you can snipe with very few troops.

Attack Tactics
Use the same strategies as farming, however target defences instead of collectors where possible.

Watch out for!
As with farming, look out for high level Mortars and Wizard towers and make sure you know you can win before you attack. Traps can often be a huge problem because they can kill enough troops to prevent the 50% win.