This post will focus on mass hog rider strategy, which I feel is one key strategies to understand and master in clan wars. Although after the recent increase to giant bomb damage to hogs, this strategy is riskier than before. Also more and more players are now learning how to design their war bases against hog attacks
Army composition
I tend to make some variations to the army composition depending on enemy base.
Basically you want to have
- 30+ hog riders to do most of the work
- Giants or barbarians (or more hogs) to pull enemy Heroes and clan castle troops
- Enough archers / wizards to take out potential dragon from clan castle
- Troops to help cleaning the base after defenses are taken out by hogs
Below is one general purpose build I use in case the enemy has clan castle in very center of the base.
Army
- 32 hog riders (full number that fits to dark barracks)
- 2 giants
- 2 wall breakers
- 20 archers
- 6 barbarians
- 10 wizards
Spells
- 5 healing spells
Things to watch out for
There are also some bases that are very hard to take down with hogs and things to watch out for.
1) Inferno towers with multitarget mode enabled.
Multitarget inferno towers wreck the hogs army for two reasons. First the damage output of inferno tower is massive when it goes against several hogs. Secondly inferno tower disables healing from the healing spell, which is the key component of keeping the army alive.
If you must attack the TH10 bases with hogs you need to replace some of the healing spells with freeze and/or rage spells. Also in that case you better attack bases where you know that your hogs can and will go to the inferno towers directly.
(My best advice how ever is to use GoWiWi or GoWiPe strategies against TH10 bases with infernos)
For those not familiar with inferno towers the below picture shows what single target (right side) and multi target (left side) inferno towers looks like.
2) Anti-hog bases.
This is a base design that causes your hog army to circle around the base, while being attacked by defenses from the center. Notice the base below where there is outer circle (red) that has lots of defensive buildings. Then there is inner circle (green) that only contains non-defensive buildings. Basically this causes the hogs to circle around the outer defenses and only after they are destroyed enter to the center. Usually the outer ring is also filled with different types of traps.
(Thank you for our clan leader for this excellent example of anti-hog base)
3) Giant bombs
What you need to be on eye for always when going with mass hog is giant bombs. Try to see were they could be before you attack. Take them out with single units if you can, but if not be ready to cast a healing spell right when they trigger. If you fail to heal your hogs that have taken damage from giant bomb, you risk loosing the whole attack.
One base design strategy is to place two giant bombs next to each other. If your hogs run into that there won't be that much you can do - instant death.
Healing spells
Final note to say is that healing spells are the key for successful hog attack. Learn how to place them in correct locations at correct time.
- Always place your healing spell in a way that maximizes the time hogs are healed. Basically place the spell in front of the hogs.
- If large group of hogs are damaged by giant bomb, you need to heal them asap.
- Don't heal hogs in full health, but wait until they have taken some damage that needs to be healed.
- If your hogs split up focus on healing large groups, don't waste your spells on single hog.
Execution
1) Pull clan castle troops using your giants and barbarians
2) Kill clan castle troops in a corner / area that is safe from defensive buildings.
- Use all other troops than hogs to do it (not necessarily all of your troops though if you can spare some)
- You can also use clan castle troops for this
3) Send out your hogs from one location
4) Follow your hogs and make sure you cast your healing spells in time and in front of the hogs
- Be ready to cast healing spells if your army is hit by giant bombs
5) If you had some extra units use them for cleanup
- Place them to areas that are safe from defenses
