Clan Castle Donations - Defence

Clan Castle Donations - Defence

Leaving your Base unattended at any point in, even only few a few seconds, can cost you Trophies, and even more valuable, $$$ Resources $$$. So having a good defence is extremely important. A good defence is having the correct base layout. A great defence is having the correct base layout, AND the correct troops in your Clan Castle.

Ok, so there are some basics we need to cover first, before we get to the fun part. If you know the basics, just run them through again, maybe there is something new for you too.

PS I am not making this up as I go, did a lot of research, and the information below was extracted from a variety of sources.

Basics

Clan Castles

The most important thing to know about a Clan Castle is the capacity, for example level 3 Clan Castle has a troop capacity of 15. (Meaning it can't house a dragon) 

Placement of Clan Castle

• CENTRALIZED! This is the most important step of Clan Castle Defense.
• Having your Clan Castle centralized makes it difficult for the opponent to lure them out.
• If centralized, Troops within will respond to attacks quickly from any direction.
• To place your Clan Castle in the center of the base makes it difficult for your opponents to lure out your Reinforcement troops easily.
• Keep in mind that once enemy Troops that have no favorite target become aware of defending Clan Castle Troops, they will target those Clan Castle Troops before they target any buildings. This urge will even prompt them to break through a Wall if necessary to get to the defending Troops. As such, placement of a Clan Castle full of Archers behind an interior Wall will force attacking Troops to break the Wall before attacking surrounding buildings, whether this is desired or not.
• When enemies come within a 12 tiles radius of your Clan Castle, any troops donated by your clanmates will file out to attack.
• However, If you get attacked by air units, only the Troops that can attack air units will come and defend. All other Troops will stay inside the Clan Castle until ground units are deployed.
• While defending, Troops from your Clan Castle are able to jump over Walls.
• If the Clan Castle is destroyed while defending, any Troops remaining inside will not be able to deploy; they are not destroyed, and will be available for use in the next battle.

Lets look at some bases of the top player is the world:

The first 3 images are currently top 3 in COC, the 4th image has the most defences won in the top 200. Can you see what they all have in common? Yes, the Clan Castle is cetralised!

Ok, but they have super powers, and are playing at a totally different level to us. So lets look at people on the Local (ZA) top 200, closer to our levels.

Yes, same thing, Clan Castle in the middel of the base. Talking from personal experience, I have had how many dragons donated to me, just to have them drawn out to the side of the base, and then surrounded by archers. Poor dragon doesn't even get one puff in....

PITFALLS!

Ok, so there are some pitfalls to be aware off. This section is not so nice, but has to be discussed.

Our clan has some guidelines and rules about donations, please follow them. However, when it comes to defence, our tournament time, there are some basics to consider....

• Don't be trigger happy! Think before you donate! (elders are not trigger happy with kicking people...)
• Read the request before donating! 
• If the person is not clear in his request, ask him if it is for defence or raiding.
• Do not donate to gain maximum donations or experience, rather donate to benefit the person requesting troops!
• Consider the level of the person requesting, and the level of your troops.
• Be considered. What you give, you shall receive....
• If you don't have anything good to donate, don't.

Gains

So what exactly do you gain from donating troops?

• Players receive experience points for each troop they donate. The number of experience points earned depends on the housing space of the troops donated, for example; donating 1 Archer earns 1xp whereas a Giant will earn 5xp and a Dragon 20xp. Players can donate a maximum of 5 troops per request. Example, donating 4 Giants takes up 20 housing spaces earning you 20xp. But donating Giants for defence is not a good idea.
• Every housing unit of troops donated counts towards the "Friend in Need" achievement.
• In tournaments, it could win you the most donations prize.
• 150 Donations per season secures your place in the clan (this is specific to our clan)
• Upon reaching 250 donations enables you to request Dragons and dark elexir troops (this is specific to our clan)

However, donating 150 level 1 tier 1 troops, wall breakers or goblins will not get you any favours :)

Unit Stats

Ok, lets get to the interesting stuff. Troops. I got a lot of this information from other blogs and forums. Remember google is your friend. This information is not final, it is just to give you some guidance in deciding what troops or troop combinations would be best in defence.

The following table is a summary of troops, displaying max level information, for comparison. Highlighted are some key considerations like air/ground attack ability, speed, Damage per second per housing space and Hit Points per second per housing space:

HS = Housing Space

DPS = Damage per Second

DpHS = Damage per Second per Housing Space

HP = Hit Points

HPpHS = Hit Points per Housing Space

Note that this matrix is on based on MAX level of every unit, if the unit is on a lower level, the unit will become less effective. Thus, the level of the unit is very importamt.

You can get detailed troop information here:
http://cocstrategy.com/coc-troop-guide/

and here:
http://clashofclans.wikia.com/wiki/Troops

Advantages and Disadvantages

Ok, so lets look at some Advantages and dis-advantages of the troops defending your base.

I have done a lot of reading, and everone has a slightly different opinion, I guess you will also have your own. In that case, please request specific troops to match your strategy. This guide is for people donating defensive troops when the requester did not specify troops.

Tier one:

-Barbarians
Advantage: They could distract the opponents troops for a few seconds to allow the other defense buildings to land a few shots.
Disadvantage: They can be quite slow to charge at the opponents troops and are easily targeted by opponents troops as it is unable to defend behind Walls. Therefore it should be used with a mixture of other Reinforcement troops as it can act as a distraction.
Do I want him in my CC? They can be used as a filler if 1 or 2 slots are left, and only with other slow troops (witch, wizard, dragon). This way, they keep pace as a lightweight meatshield for more valuable defenders.

-Archers
Advantage: They are troops with ranged attack, which allows them to shoot behind Walls, making them well protected. They are fast to charge at the opponents troops. They can attack ground and air targets.
Disadvantage: They have the lowest health and attack points. Due to their ability to hide behind Walls, they lure troops who target anything to attack the Walls instead of the buildings in the open just to attack the Archers, and when the wall is destroyed, the opponent has successfully broke open the middle of the base, and can do an all-attack in the middle of your base, taking out the most important buildings.
Do I want her in my CC? Yes

-Goblin
Advantage: They are the fastest units. They can charge into the battle quickly.
Disadvantage: Same as Barbarians, except that they are fast moving. They also have low hit-points in comparison with Barbarians.
Do I want him in my CC? I will rather have an archer, but he is better than a barbarian, unless the barbarian is a meat for slow moving units.

-Minions
Advantage: They can fly, making Barbarians unable to attack them. They have the higher damage than barbs, archers and goblins. They work just like Archers, except that they don't hide behind Walls.
Disadvantage: They take up 2 Clan Castle spaces per Minion, while archers take up only 1.
Do I want him in my CC? Yes, they are better than archers.

Tier Two:

-Wall Breakers
Advantage: Uhm... splash damage?
Disadvantage: Its quite obvious, they will die upon 1 attack, and the attack is weak. Why am I even explaining this? Achmed the suicide bomber...
Do I want him in my CC? NO! NEVER! NO WAY!

-Giants
Advantage: They are great for tanking, as they have a rather high amount hit-points in comparison to the amount of Clan Castle space they take up. Pretty much like Barbarians, except that they are more effective. They are quite lightning resistant, it takes at least 2 Lightning Spells to eliminate them.
Disadvantage: They are slow in charging to battle. They have low attack points.
Do I want him in my CC? No. Bad Defender.

-Balloons
Advantage: They have a significant amount of health and damage.
Disadvantage: They are very slow in charging to battle, and sometimes before they could even drop a Bomb on the opponent's troops, Archers would have probably taken them out.
Do I want him in my CC? They are too slow, so no.

-Wizards
Advantage: Wizards deal a lot of damage, and their attacks do splash, meaning that their electricity can damage multiple troops at once in a small area. They are great in taking out all types of troops.
Disadvantage: When Wizards attack a group of Tier One troops, they do not target the entire group, they target 1 of the group of troops. Unfortunately, defense buildings around will most possibly also target that one similar troop and one shot it before letting the Wizard shoot, as the Wizard is not fast enough. The Wizard targets another, the defense buildings will eliminate that one, never giving the Wizard a chance to throw its splash damage electricity. Wizards have low hit points and take up 4 housing spaces.
Do I want him in my CC? Yes

-Hog Riders
Advantage: Hog Riders are just like Giants, except that they exchanged some of their health for damage. They are also quite fast to charge at the opponent's troops.
Disadvantage: About the same as Barbarians, except that they are fast and it's still okay to have just Hog Riders in your Clan Castle.
Do I want him in my CC? Not really, there are better units to choose from

-Valkyries
Advantage: Some may say that Valkyries are complete uselessness, I say that there are the combination of Giants, Hog Riders and Wizards. They actually have the highest statistics of all of the Tier Two troops, and they have splash damage, which is great. They can also charge into battle fast.
Disadvantage: Same as Barbarians, except that they are fast. Valkyries also take up 8 Clan Castle space, more than most of the other Tier Two troops.
Do I want her in my CC? Dissapointingly, no. Even though she is stronger than a giant and fast, and has a splash attack... she dissapointed me every time.

-Witches
Advantage: They are like Wizards, their attacks do splash damage. They also keep summon skeletons around them until the maximum number of skeletons still alive have been reached. The skeletons help to shield the witches, making it difficult for the opponent to eliminate the witches unless he uses a Lightning Spell.
Disadvantage: Witches have low health and damage, not a big deal because the skeletons can protect her. They are also slow, not a big deal again as the skeletons are as fast as Archers. The big deal would be that 1 witch take up 12 space, which is the most of all the Tier Two troops.
Do I want her in my CC? YES! With her summoned skeletons acting as a shield, and doing most of the damage, she is a worthy defender.

Tier Three:

-Healer
Advantage: Heals other Reinforcement troops or buildings. It can fly and is unable to be targeted by ground troops.
Disadvantage: 'If you are considering using a Healer in your Clan Castle for defensive purposes, it is strongly discouraged to do so. While Healers can and do heal buildings, in practice the amount the Healer can restore is far less than the buildings are taking, even from just a few troops. Archers or other offensive troops are much better in this situation, as Healers really don't end up affecting anything given the time it takes to heal and the fact that their large housing requirement (14) take up most or all of the available Clan Castle space.' said Clash of Clans Wiki.
Do I want her in my CC? This depends on your strategy. Usually she does not heal the buildings fast enough, and she takes up a lot of space.

-Dragons
Advantage: They have high health and damage, and are unable to be targeted by ground troops due to their ability to fly. They also deal splash damage. Dragons are great in taking out a group of Giants.
Disadvantage: The same as Wizards.
Do I want him in my CC? Yes, but they can be drawn out easily and taken out by a bunch of rangers quite easily

-P.E.K.K.A
Advantage: They have the highest damage of all troops (except for heroes) in the current version of the game and have a significant amount of health. Having a P.E.K.K.A in your Clan Castle is like having another defending Barbarian King.
Disadvantage: P.E.K.K.As are slow and have to run around the base by themselves just to protect the base, unlike a horde of Archers or Minions who can travel as a group. This disadvantage can only be countered by having a fully upgraded Clan Castle, with 5 more space to put in more other troops.
Do I want him in my CC? Uhm, not really, she sttacks one unit at a time, and loses badly against a bunch of archers.

-Golem
Advantage: Golems have the highest health of all the troops (including heroes) and are able to tank a lot of damage, distracting the opponent's troops, and the other defense buildings can land many shots on the opponent's troops. Upon death, Golems deal damage to opponents troops in the surrounding area, acting like a Giant Bomb, then splitting into two Golemites to tank more damage.
Disadvantage: Same as P.E.K.K.As, except that Golems will fill up a fully upgraded Clan Castle, making it unable to place in more troops.
Do I want him in my CC? YES! If you have enough space :)

Once again, lets look at some examples of top players...

Here is an example of a indipendant poll that was done by some unknown ppl somewhere else in the world :)

This was clearly before Golems and Witches. (and giants didn't even make the list!)

 

Conclusion

So what am I actually saying? 

If you decide to donate archers, make sure everyone donates archers and fill the requesters Clan Castle up with archers. Same count for minions. (you can combine archers and minions, because they move at the same speed).

Do not donate archers with dragons, they move at different speeds, rather donate a giant or barbarians as a filler with a dragon, as a meat shield. 

Do not fill up a clan members Clan Castle with giants, wall breakers, balloons, and other crappy units before thinking about it first.

Think before you donate :)

Lastly, you are welcome to ask me directly for troops, if I do not have them available immediately, I can train them for you and have them available in a short time. For me it is about helping clan members get stronger. (remember the clan rules, 150 donations per season, and 250 donations to request any troop)

Barbarian - lvl5
Archer - lvl6 (max)
Goblin - lvl3
Giant - lvl6 (max)
Wall Breaker - lvl4
Balloon - lvl3
Wizard - lvl5
Healer - lvl3
Dragon - lvl3
P.E.K.K.A. - lvl2
Minion - lvl5
Hog Rider - lvl5 (max)
Valkyrie - lvl4 (max)
Golem - lvl2
Witch - lvl2 (max)

Please leave comments below, so that we can always do a part 2 to this post :)

Have an awesome day, with peace of mind, knowing someone elses troops are defending your base!