GoWiPe and GoWiWi

For those unfamiliar with the lingo, GoWiPe stands for Golem Wizard Pekka, and GoWiWi stands for Golem Wizard Witch. Variations of these armies are some of the most popular attack strategies from late stage TH8 through the end of the game.

It should be noted that while GoWiPe and GoWiWi combinations are some of the most consistent attacks for 2 starring on or above your level, they are mostly considered 2 star strategies, especially at TH9 and up, and have difficulty achieving the 3rd star on well-designed bases without highly strategic troop placement, and/or a contingent of cleanup troops, usually involving hogs or balloons.  

BASIC STRATEGY

- Start by Luring the Clan Castle (optional) 

This isn't a necessary step, but it can help avoid having your troops get distracted, or take too much heavy fire while in the thick of battle. If you encounter smaller troops, you may want to use poison. If dealing with larger troops, most players lure to the outside, drop their golems to distract, and then put down wizards and sometimes their Queen to take out the cc.

- You Don't Necessarily Want to Waste Your Poison on the CC

Many players are tempted to poison the CC before or during the first part of their attack, and at TH8 in most cases this is your best bet. At higher levels though, you may be better off saving it for the enemy Queen depending on what's in the castle. If you're dealing with a ton of barbs and archers, wizards, or witches, you may want to use it, particularly if you don't have witches of your own and/or only have 1 rage spell (which you don't really want to waste too early either). If you're dealing with a bigger troop, like a dragon or lava hound, however, you're probably better off poisoning the Queen when the time comes.

- Spread Golems out about 6-10 Spaces Apart

If you're attacking from a corner, they may be closer together, but the idea here is to distract as many outer defenses as possible while your attack troops take them out.

- Drop a Row of Wizards behind your Golems

A typical GoWiPe or GoWiWi has a minimum of 12 wizards, and you don't ever really want to go below that. It helps to start by putting them on the sides first. and work your way to the middle, as it will be easier to create a funnel and direct your main attack squad to the middle. You also don't want to drop them too far outside the golems, as they may start attracting additional defenses and die quickly. You also don't want to drop all of them...saving 2-4 at this point could make a huge difference later in the battle. If you're using witches, you can drop some or all of them now if you choose as well, usually in a more compacted row behind the wizards.

- It can help to Rage Early

Particularly if the base has high level walls or lots of compartments, getting a rage spell down early can help your wallbreakers open up the base better than they would otherwise. You want the rage ahead of where your main squad is going, with the back edge just touching 1 or 2 of your golems. This will ensure you get maximum effect from the rage, and your golems stay ahead of your troops to set off any traps or bombs. This is mostly a strategy if you've got more than 1 rage spell, however. If you're limited to 1 rage, it's best to use it near the middle.

- Wallbreaker Timing and Placement is Key

Throwing down all your wallbreakers at once pretty much guarantees that at least a couple of them will die before blowing up, and makes them less likely to go where you want. Since you're typically only going to be able to fit 6-8 of them in your army, you don't really have any to spare. Typically, you want to drops them in groups of 2-3 depending on the level of wall. You also want to wait until your golems are approaching the wall so they can trigger any defenses on the interior. You may also need to wait to drop your last few until your attack troops take out some buildings in neighboring compartments if you're using them to get deeper into the base. Avoiding mortars is key, and a level 5 wallbreaker can live through a level 6 wizard tower blast and still blow up, but will get taken out in 1 shot by a level 7 wizard tower.

- Funneling Your Main Force Toward the Middle

Once the outer buildings are cleared and the wallbreakers have opened 1 or 2 compartments, you want to get your main force headed toward the middle. This can be tricky--if you don't clear enough side buildings or wait until your troops have taken out all the buildings in the open compartments, your main force could end up wandering off to the side. It helps to test with a single troop first to see where it goes (generally a PEKKA), and then drop the rest if it goes where you want it to. If it doesn't, this is where those wizards you saved can come in handy...using them to clear more side buildings can end up saving your attack by helping funnel the rest of your main force toward the middle.

- Having a Contingent Going Around One Side

You don't really need your full force in the middle. It actually helps to have 1 pekka and a few wizards, or a couple witches and some wizards going around 1 side. This is somewhat less effective with witches, as there is a greater risk they will be taken out by the defenses, but can work with 2 or more, especially if there are golems or other troops distracting the defenses.

- Don't Wait too Long to Heal

If you're bringing a heal spell (and in most cases at TH8 or 9 you should have at least 1), you want to use it as your troops get to the middle, mainly to keep your wizards and witches alive as long as possible while you're taking the heaviest fire. The second rage should also be used in the middle of the attack to get through the central defenses.

- Save Some Troops for Support

At TH9, holding back a few troops for later on in the battle is an important element of most pretty much every 3 star strategy (otherwise you're relying mostly on luck). Even at TH8 it can be an important part of the attack, and will help prevent running into time issues, or having your last few troops die while hacking at walls and non-defensive structures after destroying 80% while a lone archer tower or tesla takes them out.

At TH8, it may be enough to save 2-3 wizards, and place them at the back of the base once the remaining few defenses are distracted by golems or PEKKAs. At TH9 it more commonly means adding a small contingent of hogs or balloons to take out defenses on the side or back once your main force has made it to the middle.  This is particularly important on larger bases, where your attack troops cannot reach the remaining defenses without first breaking through one or more walls.

- Clean Up

If there are buildings in the corners, make sure you plan for them. It's usually easiest to take them out first with archers, but you can also save archers and/or wizards for the end. There's nothing worse than running out of time at the end of an attack while your troops run all over the base.

TOWN HALL 8

At TH8, GoWiPe with level 3 PEKKAs is going to be your most consistent way to guarantee at least 2 stars against high level TH8s, and your best bet for going up against most TH9s. In many cases, it will also be your best shot at 3 starring higher TH8s. Your typical composition will look like this:

• 2 golems
• 3 PEKKAs 
• 12 Wizards
• 6 Wallbreakers
• 30 additional spots for a 4th PEKKA/2 Witches/6 hogs or loons/a couple giants/more wizards and wallbreakers/a handful of archers
• 2 Rage 1 Heal 1 Poison

- Four earthquakes can eliminate the need for wallbreakers, but at most you gain 3 wizards, and you now only have 1 spell to help your troops (usually rage). Plus, if the base has a lot of compartments, you should probably be using a hog attack anyway, so unless you're trying to 2 star a TH9 and think you would otherwise have trouble getting to the TH, you're better off with 2 rage 1 heal. 

TOWN HALL 9 

At TH9 you'll have access to witches and the jump spell, as well as 2 more spell spots, 20 more army camp spots, a 30 spot CC, and an Archer Queen. This opens up many more possibilities for GoWiPe and GoWiWi style attacks, which is good because higher level bases usually require more complex strategies, particularly if want to 3 star.

Here are some things to consider:

- You really need 3 golems. In most cases, 2 is simply not enough to soak up the damage coming from all the added defenses you'll encounter at TH9.

- Even at level 1, witches are in many ways superior to level 3 PEKKA. They hang back even behind wizards while their skeletons can do significant damage, distract defenses, and set off traps.

- Don't underestimate the importance of the jump spell. You typically need at least 1, and in some cases 2 is your best option.

- Support troops like hogs or balloons are highly important if you're trying to 3 star, This typically means you're using a maximum of 3 PEKKA or 6 witches. And with witches in particular, you can often get away with 5 or even 4, which makes adding support troops easier. 4 to 8 balloons dropped in groups of 2 to target specific defenses, or 6-10 hogs dropped in groups of 3-4, will help take pressure off your troops in the middle. Balloons work best when the air defense is pulled tight and can be easily eliminated before the time you want to deploy your balloons. Hogs work best if you can be sure you won't be running across any spring traps or giant bombs before they take out at least a couple defenses, though if the air defense is sufficiently spread out, you may not have much choice. Your final option is a couple wizards, maybe a witch, and potentially even some barbarians or a couple giants to help keep the more important troops alive. Whatever you choose, as soon as the defenses you're targeting lock onto a golem or other troops in the center of your attack, you can release your support troops.

- Spell selection will vary depending on the base. If the base has relatively few compartments, and isn't designed to keep your defense targeting troops going around the outside, you may be able to get away with 2 rage and 2 heal. If the base has a lot of compartments or high level walls, then 1 rage 1 heal 2 jump is usually your best option, allowing you to jump into the middle and then back out again, and preventing your golems from getting stuck banging on walls while your other troops die. If you can get away with 1 jump, you'll typically want to add a second rage. Four earthquake can also be an effective way to open up the base and get to the middle, but then you're working with 1 rage and 1 heal. In this case, you'll want to save these spells a little longer than you might otherwise. For the rage, you may even want to wait until you're part way through the middle to help get through the wall on the other side.


TOWN HALL 10

TH10 attacks are somewhat different in general in that in a lot of cases you're only trying to 2 star. Once you max your army camps and clan castle, you'll have enough space to effectively use both witches and PEKKAs if you want, though your choices will depend heavily on the enemy inferno tower configuration, and the base layout.

- If both infernos are set on single, you're going to want to use GoWiWi, except you'll only want 1 or 2 golems, along with 10-15 giants. The golem(s) are to soak up damage early on, and the giants are deployed as the attack starts to move toward the infernos. With the giants and golemites taking the bulk of the damage, your skeletons, wizards, and heroes will be able to take out the core defenses and town hall.

- If both infernos are set on multi, you're mainly going to want GoWiPe. The infernos won't be a huge problem if you've got 3 golems, 3 PEKKA, your Barb King, and maybe even a couple giants to take their damage. Having a couple of witches can be helpful (if you can't get golems or PEKKAs at least equal to the level you can make yourself, max witches in your CC may be your best option), but using GoWiWi is much less effective here because even with 6 or more witches, the infernos and other defenses tend to take out skeletons quicker than your witches can make them, and leaves your witches and wizards highly vulnerable unless you have enough high HP troops to soak up the inferno damage. If you want to use GoWiWi against 2 multis, you probably want to add a 4th golem or 4-6 giants. 

- On bases with a single and a multi inferno, you kind of have to pick your poison. 3 golems, 3 PEKKA, and 2 witches in the CC tends to work pretty well though, and it doesn't hurt to have 2-4 giants either. If using this, you'll probably want to target the multi first. By the time you get to the single, your troops will have lost enough health that it won't matter as much, plus you should still have at least 1 freeze spell to help minimize the damage, and be raging through the middle.

- At TH10, big open bases become increasingly common. Many of these bases have a central core with infernos, xbows, teslas, and heroes. Outside the central wall is typically a ring of storages and other non-defensive buildings, and then a secondary ring of defense. This is designed to have your defense-targeting troops wander around the big open area, and makes it extremely difficult to get them to go toward the core, which can be a huge problem, and can easily result in a failed attack. The only real way to avoid this is to get a jump spell down relatively early, and have a contingent of at least 7 or 8 hogs that can be used to target defenses that are ahead of your golems, and hopefully redirect them toward the middle. Otherwise, they'll wander off, and your wizards, witches, and PEKKA will get fried.

- Your typical spell selection for attacking TH10s will include 2 freeze, 1 rage, and 1 jump. Usually, a second jump spell is the way to go so you can jump into the middle, and then out the other side. This is particularly important if the infernos are in separate compartments. If you can get away with a single jump spell, your best bet is generally a second rage, though if the base has both infernos on single or your strategy is to target the single inferno first, a heal spell can also be useful. 4 earthquake can also be a good option, and still leaves you with 2 freeze and 1 rage.