I created this guide for my clan to help them learn and understand GoHo (Golem + Hog strike, or GoHo for brief) to make my clan stronger (and also because I really like GoHo). I figured I'd post my guide within case other people would like to learn GoHo or understand some of the more tips of using GoHo, and what is essential to have consistently good episodes. This guide is mainly centered on TH9, but can also be extrapolated out to early TH10, as all of the major concepts still apply until you're attacking into inferno towers. The 3 major parts are: funneling, getting your kill squad to the primary, and the hog attack. As you can see, 2/3 of the most crucial parts of a successful strike don't involve the hogs whatsoever, and also mainly happen within the first 1-1.five minutes of the attack.
TROOP SELECTION
Let's break down the troops of a GoHo. You have: funnel soldiers, wipe out squad (which may also contain some/most of the funnel soldiers), hogs, clean-up troops, and the CC.
Funnel troops: 2 golems, 1-4 wb, and usually 4-7 wizards. 4-7 wizards is quite standard, but this is all about maximizing value for troop space. If you can use a couple minions to snipe some end structures rather than a wizard, that's more efficient. Have to create a wide funnel where your wizard would get wiped out before it got the building down? Consider using a valk or baby dragon instead. You will most probably still just use wizards (I really do 90%+ of the time), but I wish to throw in other soldiers so you at least start to consider it. Don't go ahead with the way of thinking that you have to use wizards.
Wipe out squad: 2 golems from the funnel, maybe 4 of the wizards from your funnel (expect some to pass away), your king, your queen, your CC, and maybe another few wizards for good measure. THE COMPLETE goal of the eliminate squad is to destroy the CC, eliminate the queen, and get to the core. Declining any one of these 3 things could wreck your attack, but fortunately most bases are set up in such a way that you can certainly get a queen and CC draw from some position. The primary is just a leap spell away from there (or you could trend through it if the walls are level 8 or lower).
Hogs: 20 hogs. I don't believe less than 20 hogs is a good idea, and more hogs could detract from your destroy squad being effective or leave you with not enough clean up troops. After many many war and raid attacks with hogs, I came across 20 hogs to be the sweet spot at TH9. HOWEVER, the one time I may take more than 20 hogs (not many more - something similar to 16-18 hogs + 6 in the CC) would be on really spread out bases where it's improbable you'll receive your KS much into the primary. 99% of the time 20 can do the trick.
Clean-up: This varies, but maybe it's anything from a few wizards to 3-5 minions to 4-10 archers. Small soldiers that can choose off garbage buildings
CC Troops: for GoHo, the only options you should certainly consider are (1) bowlers, (2) golem, (3) more hogs - in that order. (1) 2 golems with bowlers in the CC is the most powerful version of GoHo, but I believe it works better with more impressive range heroes. Since you're only taking 2 golems, you need to have the DPS to drive out defenses, the CC, the queen, and anything else on the way to the center prior to the defenses remove your 2 golems (that are also weakened from funneling) and then the rest of your KS. It might be counter-intuitive to believe that taking less DPS and more tank is worse when you yourself have weaker heroes, but don't underestimate the strength of a fresh golem + 2 weakened golem behind a good level 15 queen + a few wizards. You are not taking a rate run, you're taking a 3 superstar. (2) I believe a golem in the CC is probably the best option for anyone that has around 15/15 heroes (queen is more important than king). Like I described above, you need the extra tank to keep your KS alive since you will be going through everything more slowly with lower level heroes. (3) As I explained in the troop section, this will really only be looked at as an option on disseminate bases where you don't think that you'll be able to get the KS very significantly into the primary. Usually you'll be choosing option (1) or (2).
FUNNELING
Your attack begins with funneling. Even though you take 3 golems, I believe you really only need 2 to create a good funnel, and I drop the third one right before I drop all of those other KS, as a brand new container. For the placement of the two 2 golems, I drop them just a little wide (right and left) of where I want to enter. This will be maybe 5-ish squares from the idea I anticipate WB into. Any further and the golems won't see the hole and you'll only need a 30 troops space golem beating on a wall, not really providing much value. WHEN I drop the golems, I drop my 4-7 wizards (or whatever you're using for funneling) to clear the original trash structures. You should clear garbage buildings within 9-11-ish tiles on either part of where you're going to be entering. The complete point of the is to remove all the garbage buildings that might attract your king, queen, or CC. After your funnel soldiers have attended work, drop your wb in between your golems where you want to enter. Getting the WB to break through the initial wall is an integral part of nearly every effective strategy. If you don't feel comfortable with having the ability to WB effectively, take more wbs. I would rather see someone take 10 wbs and assurance they complete the first wall effectively than see someone take 4 wb and fail. That is a remarkably important area of the assault - don't underestimate it. Once you've effectively wb in (and NEVER before - ever), drop your CC, your ruler, your queen, and a couple wizards once and for all measure. Unless you wait around to drop everything until after you wb in, you risk getting your soldiers wander (despite your funnel) and ruin your strike.
KILL SQUAD
The next part of the attack is the Eliminate Squad. At this point, you ought to have made a funnel, damaged into the first wall structure with your wb, and dropped off your eliminate squad troops. If you're running a stoned GoHo (3 golems), drop your golem first (which should maintain the CC), then the rest of your eliminate squad. With a brand new golem as a container and your ruler, queen, and some wizards behind it, you can really do some harm and clear a great deal out. Your soldiers should be proceeding into the bottom and you ought to be at the idea that you're sketching aggro from the queen and the CC. It's now time for the level 5 poison. On the GoHo, you should always take 2 poisons. First you are for the CC, second you are for any ground skeletons that pop up to eliminate your hogs. Don't forget about poisoning the CC. When not in poison, they'll have twice as much DPS, which can put some halting power on your destroy squad - not at all something you want. When you can also snag the queen in the poison with the CC, that's cool, do it, but ALWAYS make sure you get all of the CC. If you're not sure you can get all of the CC + the queen, don't even try to get the queen. 95% of the time you'll finish up with all/mostly air CC, and your king will beeline for the queen and wreck her in the first 10 mere seconds. The only exclusion to shedding your poison on the CC is if which lone golem or lone hound. For the lone golem drop the poison on the queen and for a lone hound drop the poison after the hound has popped. I always take a leap spell with GoHo to make sure my KS reaches where I'd like them to go, but sometimes you can also opt for rage (if you are looking to get past level 8 or lower wall space). Whichever you take, immediately after you drop your level 5 poison is enough time to drop your jump/rage spell. This will effectively destroy both the CC and the queen, and bring your KS in to the core of the bottom, right where they have to be.
To recap up up to now, your drop order should be: [Funneling soldiers] 2 golems, then funneling troops, then wb, [Eliminate Squad] CC, then Ruler, then Queen, a few wizards [Spells during Eliminate Squad] Level 5 poison, then Rage/Jump It will almost always be in that order. When you have to write it down before you attack to help you keep in mind, do it. Keep in mind: Funneling soldiers, Kill Squad, Spells during Wipe out Squad. Or Funnel, KS, Spells for short.
HOG Strike - DOWNFALL + SURGICAL DEPLOYMENT
FINALLY, we get to the hog part of the strike. At this time, you have established yourself up for success, and you'll have a good idea if you're going to absolutely crush the bottom or not. Everything you are actually doing up up to now is making a "U" form of the bottom. Bases are usually in a square or group formation, you're eliminating a line on one side to the middle, turning the circle/square into a U (this is important to identify, so if you're having trouble seeing this, PM me and I can explain it further). Your hog strike should start on one end of the U and end on the other end of the U destroying every defense, then clean-up will go in the precise reverse. At this point, what I've seen from many people attempting GoHo is what's known as a Medical GoHo. This implies you are surgically deploying 3 or so hogs per point defense so you eventually add more and more hogs to make an unstoppable power. How you deploy these also naturally drive the hogs across the U that you created. Medical GoHo is difficult to pull off, and I think more of us should first be learning a more simple GoHo. I'll first explain the major downfall of the hog assault, then why medical GoHo is difficult (hint: it's easier to hit the major downfall point), and finally explain what I think is better.
The BIGGEST downfall of the hog attack is your hogs breaking up and going in different directions. Jointly, hogs are amazing and can mow through everything, but independently they're relatively squishy and can expire pretty easily. The power in GoHo episodes comes from the strength of the pack of hogs moving collectively throughout the bottom. This is why you want to begin your hog assault using one end of the U and end on the other end - because it's an all natural path for the hogs to follow. When you have half your hogs heading left and then half going right, which hogs in the event you heal? Odds are, you choose the larger pack and leave others to die. If you heal both, you will likely go out of heals (TH9 only get 3 heals + jump/trend) and you also finish up prolonging the inevitable choice of leaving a pack of hogs to perish. These are the scenarios you want to avoid and why you must never voluntarily split your hogs (i.e. strike from both ends of the U). Your goal is to maintain your hogs continuing to path in a single path (either clockwise or counter-clockwise), deploying more as they go around, and curing when necessary.
Now onto why Surgical GoHo is difficult. When you deploy only 3 roughly hogs per point defense, and deploy lots of groups of 3, you open yourself up to more opportunities in which a group of 3 hogs will fail, and you're still left with some defenses up in the middle of your hogs. This hurts you two-fold: (1) This creates a parting in your hog pack. Operative GoHo relies on all groups of hogs taking right out their point defenses and becoming a member of together into a major pack. When one part of the operative deployment of hogs fails, you're remaining with a separation in your pack, that may leave you with 2 unique groups. click here This is actually the first way you hit the major failure point for hog attacks. Which group do you decide to heal? The bigger one, so you leave the smaller one to pass away. You merely voluntarily killed off a few of your hogs, hurting your assault. (2) If you're trying to maintain your hogs moving in a single direction, when a operative hog deployment does not take out all the expected defenses, you now have defenses pulling your main pack of hogs in two separate directions. Which way do your hogs go? Hopefully in the path that you want them to, but they'll likely partially divide, further hurting your assault. When one surgical deployment of hogs fails, you open you to ultimately a two-fold major failure in your hog assault. Yes it looks prettier, but no, it isn't worth the much bigger potential failure rate. Which explains why I would recommend switching to a typical GoHo.
HOG ATTACK - GENERAL GOHO DEPLOYMENT
Next is exactly what I would recommend using: only a the usual, really standard GoHo. The main difference between GoHo and Surgical GoHo is the number of hog deployments you do and the quantity of hogs you deploy in each deployment. Surgical hog deployment uses 5-6 deployments of 3-4 hogs, and a standard GoHo uses 3 (sometimes 4) deployments for any 20 hogs. coc free gems I came across this works best when you do 3 decrementing deployments. The deployments could vary depending on the point defenses you're looking to get through between deployments, but I choose something similar to 9, 6, 5 or 8, 7, 5. The simple reason behind my options: a pack of 7, 8, or 9 hogs is a lot less inclined to fail and not get through defenses compared to a pack of 3-4 hogs. The complete notion of the hog strike is creating an mind-boggling pressure of hogs that route across basics together and tear through defenses. It's much simpler to create that pack of hogs when you begin strong.
The next aspect to comprehend is where you deploy your 3 packs. You'll want all 20 of your hogs deployed by enough time your pack is fifty percent way around the U. That means the last deployment of hogs will probably happen just before the bottom part of the U, and the first two deployments may happen before that point. Obviously the original deployment may happen in the beginning of the U, which just leaves the second deployment of hogs. I'd say a good estimation is just prior to the half way mark in the middle of your first and last deployment. It'll vary a bit, but you'll basically be adding your hogs to attacking defenses on the outside, in order to keep your preliminary pack of hogs towards the inside of the base. The general concept I like to think of for (all) hog episodes is to keep adding increasingly more hogs to the pack until it becomes unstoppable. You don't want to send in the whole pack simultaneously, you want to keep adding reinforcements beyond the actual protection can handle so it seems like it's hopeless for the defense. Like in Lord of the Bands when Gandalf showed up to stomp all the orcs. You know the scene.
The last facet of the hog attack is when to deploy each of your 3 deployments. The first will go after the destroy squad has reach the core, so you really just have to take into account the second and third deployments. But truthfully there's not much thinking included, you want to deploy them when the pack has reached that period. If you drop at 0%, 25%, and 50% throughout the U, you'll want to drop the next deployment when the original group reaches 25% around the U, and you will want to drop the last deployment of hogs when the pack has reached the 50% point across the U. Fairly simple stuff - just don't deploy hogs way ahead of where your pack of hogs currently is.
CLEAN-UP
After talking with some of you in the comments section, I thought an additional section about clean-up was worth adding. Once you've gotten the basics of the GoHo down and can reliably ace TH9s (or TH10 sans infernos), you will most probably notice that the biggest cause of failing is operating out of your time. If you finish up in this category, it's likely because you didn't start your clean-up quickly enough. Unlike a great deal of other episodes (or possibly just what many people are used to), the clean-up part of a GoHo assault shouldn't start when the hogs have finished taking right out the last defenses - it should begin after the hogs took out the first set of defenses.
After you have completed your first or second deployment of hogs, you should drop several wizards (or whatever you're using for clean-up) back in the beginning where you deployed your first group of hogs to start taking down the trash buildings externally of the U. If there aren't defenses to stop your wizards from doing clean-up, there's no reason waiting around to start out, so don't wait around. Doing this one simple thing can shave over 30 mere seconds off your strike. How's that for click-baitiness? But honestly it's not an exaggeration, and can change those raised percentage 1 or 2 2 superstars that fail on time into 3 superstar attacks. You'll need to make sure you do that at a good time (don't drop your clean-up soldiers as your hogs are about to walk into a dual huge bomb un-healed), but it ought to be quick enough where you can drop a wizard or two and click back to your heal to protect your hogs. And remember, this is not about precision, it's nearly starting the clean-up. Even if you miss a building or two, it's easier for your soldiers (especially hogs) to back-track over the foundation and remove a couple buildings than it is to allow them to defeat through twelve buildings looking to do clean-up in a relatively short amount of time.
When deploying your clean-up soldiers, make sure you don't drop everything at once (keep at least 1-2 wizards + a couple archers). That is to protect yourself in case there's a troll big bomb on the outside of the map or if you have leftover part huts to drive out. With the remaining clean-up troops, I'll usually drop the others of my wizards after the hogs have mainly cleared the base, roughly equally break up between where my 1-2 wizards I slipped early are and where my hogs are starting clean-up on trash buildings. Also, always check for corner buildings before you drop your last clean-up soldiers, since those can end up being truly a huge time-sink of not dealt with.
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