Hogs and GoHo

Town Hall 8


Even at level 1, hogs can be used to 3 star lower TH8s. At level 3 they become a very strong option, and at level 4, they are probably the most effective way to 3 star high level TH8s. If you want to help your clan win wars, once you have your Barb King to level 5, the best thing you can do is level up hogs as quickly as possible.

Choosing a Base to Attack:

Any bases with lots of compartments, bases where you can easily identify where the giants bombs are likely to be, and bases  where the giant bombs are clearly outside the outer walls are good bases to use hogs on. It is also helpful if the Barb King is off to one side. Bases with lots of possible spaces for double giant bombs can be dangerous; for these bases you're more likely to use a GoHo attack.

Basic Composition:

6-12 Wizards
10-26 Archers
Troops to lure enemy cc (generally 1-2 giants or hogs)
The rest hogs (including max hogs in CC. Typically a minimum of 30 total)
3 heal spells, 2 poison

Deployment Strategy: 

1. Luring the enemy CC and destroying it before starting the attack is critical. This usually means dropping 1 or 2 giants or hogs where they will trigger the CC. When the CC can be triggered from outside the outer walls, a giant is preferable because it will take longer to get killed. This can be important when the CC has a large number of troops inside, as it will take longer to empty, and leaving even a single wizard inside can ruin your entire attack.

2. Using archers or sometimes barbs to further lure can be useful if you're trying to clump together to poison. A single poison will take out loons, wizards, witches, archers, and barbs, and is usually the easiest way to deal with them. With a max poison in your CC, 2 poisons will take out a dragon, valks, or higher HP troops, HOWEVER...

3. Using at most 1 poison on the enemy CC and instead taking it out with archers and wizards means you'll still have at least 1 poison to slow down the enemy BK and/or take out enemy skellies.

4. Once the CC is dealt with, send in single hogs in any likely giant bomb spots that can be easily triggered (this can also be done first).

5. Launch your main hog attack. if you have a bunch of wizards left over from taking out the enemy CC, you may want to send your hogs ahead of them to keep them alive. Otherwise, you typically want to start by staying as far away from the enemy Barb King as possible (unless you were also able to lure and kill him). Aim for 2 to 3 defenses that are right next to each other, and try to keep your hogs in one main clump. Follow them with heal spells and drop as soon as giant bombs appear, anticipating where the hogs will go next. Use poison if they are being chased by skellies or the Barb King and you still have one left.

6. Spread out remaining wiz and archers to clean up non defensive buildings.

GoHo for TH8

For bases with one or more potential double giant bomb spots, it may be advisable to use a GoHo type attack. Other advantages of this attack are that you don't necessarily need to lure the enemy CC, and can often take out the enemy Barb King and one or more skeleton traps.

Composition:

2 Golem
9-10 Wizard
0-2 Wallbreaker
2 Witch 1 Barb (CC)
20 Hog
4 Earthquake
2 Heal

You can swap out the earthquakes for 2 poison and another heal, but then you'll need to make sure you have at least 6 wallbreakers (meaning you'll have to drop either 2 wizards or 2 hogs), but using earthquake is a simpler strategy, usually allows for deeper penetration by the golems, and in most cases is at least a effective as the alternative.

You can also drop 1 or both witches for more wizards, but the skeletons are very useful in distracting defenses and keeping wizards alive.

Against low to mid TH8s a single golem may be enough, in which case you should add 2-4 hogs and 2-5 wizards. If you only use 1 golem, make sure to save a few wizards for the end, but really 2 are recommended.

Deployment: 

If using earthquake, start by dropping all 4 in the same spot to open up the base where you plan to go in with your golems. Ideally, you want to pick a spot that will allow your golems to trigger potential double giant bomb areas, and take out the CC and the Barb King. Remember, the spells have a 4 tile radius, so plan the drop carefully to open up as much of the base as possible. If you hit an outer wall you won't need any wallbreakers, and if you don't you shouldn't need more than 2.

After the quake, set down the golems about 10 tiles apart. They will both head toward the opening, but hopefully target different defenses, and distract the outer ones while you drop a row of wizards, potentially saving 2 or 3. Then put your cc, followed by king and queen in the center. Once the enemy cc and queen have been engaged, you can start the hog attack from one side as long as you keep an eye on your heroes and time their ability.

Town Hall 9 

At TH9, you're less likely to be able to get away with using straight hogs, but GoHo can be one of the most consistent 3 star strategies against any level TH9

Composition:

2 Golem
11-12 Wizard
0-2 Wallbreaker
2 Witch 1 Wiz 2 Barb (CC)
22 Hog
4 Earthquake
3 Heal

You could swap out the earthquakes, which will enable you to bring 1 or 2 poison. You'll want 8-10 wallbreakers though, so you'll lose some wizards and maybe a witch, and you'll probably still want a jump spell. Coupled with the fact that your golems, wizards, witches, and heroes can generally handle the enemy CC and archer queen without needing a poison, you're generally better off using earthquake since it's generally easier to control your troops and you can usually get your golems further into the base.

Deployment strategy is the same as TH8.