Getting your first TH8 War Base built and Approved: The first significant challenge you will face as a TH8 entering OneHive is getting your first war base approved. Most people coming in will tell us how their base has never been three starred and how their giant bombs work every time. I will tell you that since I have been in OneHive, I have only seen one base approved as it was coming in and we still tweaked it some before the first war. We strive to build bases that are capable of defending well against ourselves. Because this can be a daunting task due to its learning curve, little time to get it done, massive amounts of information, and the excitement of the environment to which you are being immersed in; I want to offer you a guide on building your first OneHive base and getting it approved. If you have been finding it difficult to get things approved in your design, I believe you may find it easier to build a new base from scratch. The following are the basic steps we will go through in this guide: Important focus points: Anchor points Giant bombs Hog pathing Loon pathing Protecting defenses High/Low value heals Compartment sizes Lure points Spring traps Primary attacks to defend against How defenses work together Multiple DGB locations which are viable How to get started Clan Castle ring Iceman's Penta Archer tower setup Defining the first compartment and its purpose Initial pathing to DGB Fake DGB Air defenses Working outward No anchor points Which defense where? No Holes test Spring traps Checklist
The intention of this guide is not to be a comprehensive TH 8 base building course, but merely a funnel to getting your first war base built and approved. I believe you will; however, discover several tips and tricks that will help you with your base building efforts going forward. Important focus points: Anchor points Anchor points are the places where a single troop can be placed without being killed by a defense and pull the defending clan castle troops out where they can be easily killed. There are two anchor types that we will consider, but only one of those that we will be particularly concerned with. Archer anchors are the ones you need to be sure that you do not have and that it will take an investment of offensive troops for the attacker to create (such as killing a cannon on the lure.) Minion anchors are also important to be mindful of, but will be seldom seen in normal wars. Also, with the current popularity of placing a balloon in the defensive clan castle, using a minion to anchor may not be effective as it will not pull the balloon. White Area The white area is the area of the maps that turns white when you touch on a building and shows you where troops cannot be dropped.
Giant bombs Your giant bombs are the single most important defense against the TH 8's pinnacle attack troop, the Hog Rider. The DGB (double giant bomb) is when two giant bombs are setup so that a group of hogs will path over the area of the DGB setting both off simultaneously. Even when under a max heal, a properly setup DGB will instantly kill hogs. For an in depth guide to DGBs, please refer to our DGB Explained guide. For this base, make your DGB like the following: Hog pathing When we talk about Hog Pathing in the TH 8 base building realm, we are primarily referring to the pathing into and through your DGB. Hogs should have a clear and precise path that they will follow into and through the DGB without being able to come into the side of the DGB. Loon pathing Just as with Hog Pathing, Loon Pathing refers to the path balloons will take to reach one of your Air Defenses. As a general rule, force balloons to kill at least two defenses before they will target an AD (Air Defense.) Loon pathing through three defenses is much better than two.
Protecting defenses There are two situations outside of Troop Pathing where you must protect certain defenses with other buildings. The first is anytime you have a defense against the outside walls of your base or sitting outside of the base. You must force attacking troops to clear a way first before they can attack your defense. The second situation is using high hit point buildings in front of your AD's which will cause dragons to spend a considerable amount of time clearing these building while the ADs are firing on them. Your highest hit point buildings are the Town Hall, Clan Castle, and Dark Elixir storage followed by the Gold and Elixir storages.
High/Low value heals It is advantageous to force an attacker to use a heal in an area where he had not expected to need it and in an area that has fewer defenses hitting the attacking troops. A High Value Heal is one that heals a large number of hogs at once or covers a large number of defenses at once. Low value heal High value heal Compartment sizes There should be an absolute maximum of five buildings per compartment throughout your base. Using a limit of four buildings per compartment is much better. Lure points The area inside of your Clan Castle radius is its lurable area. This area can not only be reached by defense seeking troops, but also goblins and wall breakers who will run past many building to get to their target. You must be sure that there is not an area inside of the CC radius where the attacker can get the lure without first having to clear a defensive building.
Spring traps Don't waste your spring traps by putting them at the entrance point of your DGB. There is no reason to fling the hogs that are about to be killed by the bombs. Hogs can run past springs before the springs can be fully triggered. You need to place springs where hogs will stop on top of them. You should try to place springs at the center of a defensive building on the side which hogs will path to it. Primary attacks to defend against There are three attack types your first base needs to defend against well. These are Dragons, Hogs, a nd GoWiPe. Smaller compartments help defend against GoWiPe, storages against dragons, and DGB against hogs. How defenses work together There are several ways to use different defenses together to create very lethal combinations. The DGB is one example. Another is using a wizard tower next to a single giant bomb. A Tesla Farm is another deadly combo where multiple teslas are placed next to one another. You will typically want to try to get a fairly uniform coverage across your base with any specific defense type. This refers to not only spreading like defenses apart from one another, but also more generally splash and point. It is often a good idea to have at least one point defense located close to the core of your base. Typical Tesla Farm
Multiple DGB locations which are viable An attacker should not be able to tell, with any certainty, where your DGB is located. To achieve this deception, you must employ multiple locations for a DGB that not only are the correct size, but offers pathing that works. You should be able to move your bombs into multiple locations and maintain their effectiveness. For a location to be viable also means that it cannot be easily accessed to defuse it. The locations need to be deep inside of the base and not close to the outside. How to get started Clan Castle Ring The first thing to do is place the Clan Castle in the center of the map. Next use wall segments to mark the CC radius. Place the walls one tile out from the ring. This lets you know where your defensive buildings need to be placed so as to not be easily lurable. Save your work early and save often.
Iceman's Penta Archer tower setup Defining the first compartment and its purpose The first compartment will house the Clan Castle and the DGB. This will be the core and the deepest point of the base for which to place your DGB.
Air defenses Based on the first AD's location (as pa rt of the DGB) triangulate the expected position of the other two. Place two storages outside of each AD. This configuration will also help deter the use of a HoLo against you. Fake DGB Determine where you will put your fake DGB at. I recommend using a combination of the 3rd giant bomb with 4 of the smaller bombs to act as a less powerful "mini" DGB. The damage from this bomb combination coupled with a wiz tower works very well. Initial pathing to DGB Place two building at the side of your DGB and fake DGB. This will help keep you from placing a defensive building too close to the side of the DGB. Place defensive buildings at the ends of each location which is where a group of hogs will be approaching from when coming into the DGB. Work the DGB and Fake DGB at the same time. Working outward Start placing walls keeping each compartment limited to four buildings. As you place defensive buildings, be mindful of how that defense changes the pathing both into and away from the DGB locations. You don't want a nice big group of hogs about to go straight into your DGB just to have a tesla pop and pull the group back away from the DGB. You will find yourself moving stuff one or two tiles as you go which is fine, but double check the pathing each time.
DO NOT PLACE A DEFENSE AT THE SIDE OF YOUR DGB This may allow the bombs to be triggered one at a time. No anchor points The best strategy to use for this base is to place each camp directly in line with an Archer Tower. Keep working with the outside buildings until there are no archer anchor points. Which defense where? When all buildings and walls have been placed, look at the base as a whole and move any defenses with other defenses so that you reach a reasonable coverage of splash damage across the base and point defense across the base. Don't clump too many of the same defense together such as two cannons next to each other. No Holes test Save your work. Next, pull out all of the teslas, bombs, and any traps you may have. DO NOT save at this time. Touch a building to bri ng up the white area and make sure you do not have any holes in the base. If no holes are present, exit without saving and your bombs, teslas, and traps will be automatically put back in their respective place. If there is a hole, make any necessary changes to correct the issue.
Spring traps Place your spring traps in front of defenses that are behind outer ring defenses when possible. Do not put springs at the DGB or in the compartment containing your Town Hall if the TH is close to the o utside. A GoWiPe attacker will be focused on the TH and the golems/king will trip them rendering them useless. Skeleton Traps and Air Mines/Bombs Set your Skeleton traps to ground. They just don't affect dragons enough to warrant using them for air. Place the skeleton traps deep enough into th e base so they will not get tripped during the lure. Look at your base from the perspective of how you would attack it using Dragons. Initially place your Air Mines and Air Bombs accordingly. Checklist No archer anchor points No Holes Multiple DGB spots DGB spots not easily accessible No defenses placed to allow short siding a DGB Pathing into the DGBs work from all angles Loon pathing requires killing 2 or more defenses first Air Defenses have high hit point building protection from all outside angles No more than 4 buildings per compartment CC not lurable without killing a defensive building Skeletons set to ground and can't be triggered on the CC lure Trash buildings in front of all outer ring defenses When you are happy that your new base properly meets the checklist requirements, submit it for approval. Once your first base has been approved, start working on your next base using everything you have learned from building the first. For your second base, start with the clan castle, lure radius, and DGBs, and then work your way outward focusing on your checklist.