Builder's Base Attack Strategy - "Mass Beta Minion"
This write up is long overdue. I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the spammiest, but probably most effective overall, attack strategy for late BH4, all of BH5, and much of BH6...
MASS BETA MINIONS
(Hear that in your head with your best John Cena announcer voice....)
Mass Beta Minions (MBM) is a very simple strategy - you just drop 4 camps of Beta Minions on the base and let them do their thing. Air defenses typically can't stop them from pulling out a solid one star and at least a low percentage two star win. In fact, at BH4 and early BH5, you can drop them all in one place, exit the game, restart the game, and will often have 60% or better destruction when you come back. (The AI takes over and runs the attack; saves time if you use the Clock Tower to get through your attacks more quickly.) Of course, those with a level 5 Battle Machine (or higher) would never do this for obvious reasons.
That said...there actually IS a little strategy involved in Mass Beta Minions if you want to get the highest destruction percentage possible and typically win the battle.
The first and most important rule of Beta Minion deployment - avoid the AirBombs. AirBombs are Weapons of Mass Beta Minion Destruction. Beta Minions like to attack in groups and the AirBombs have an effective range capable of taking out 5 or more at one time. As you might guess, this can be devastating to your attack, especially since AirBombs tend to be something you encounter toward the end of the attack when your Beta Minions have dwindled.
At BH6, you'll also want to minimize exposure to the Roaster. As a splash damage defense, the Roaster will toast your Beta Minions within two blasts. You can't avoid it altogether, but at least try to angle your deployment to put it towards the end or get the Beta Minions spread around it.
Of course, if you can take either of these out early in the attack with your Battle Machine, by all means consider that as an even better option. (The Battle Machine is also great at distracting the Roaster while the Beta Minions shred it too.)
The second rule of deployment - deploy in groups. As I mentioned earlier, Beta Minions work best when their numbers can overwhelm a defense. Sometimes, you'll want to deploy all in a line, other times with just one or two fingers, and still others it may make sense to deploy in groups of 6 or 8.
Which brings us to the third and final rule of deployment....
Know thy base...er, thy enemy's base! Mass Beta Minions can be made to work against nearly any base design, especially at BH4 and BH5. It works particularly well against narrow bases and bases where the air defenses are easily accessed (i.e., exposed). At BH4 and BH5, it also works well on compact bases - especially those with the BH as one of the outer ring buildings - and even most diamond bases. I have to admit, though, I particularly like using it against the elongated bases the most. These designs aren't very "ground troop friendly" but all the things that are rough on ground troops are of no consequence to air attacks. I often pull a three star win on rectangular bases.
Base analysis is key to successful attacks and there's really no reason to not do it considering how much time you have before the attack clock starts. Having the ability to choose an army composition after seeing the base you're attacking is awesome for your odds of winning. I look not only at layout but also the level of the defenses; a base with a poor design AND low level air defenses is absolutely aces for an air attack.
Look at the location of the air targeting defenses - AirBombs, Roaster, Hidden Tesla, Archer Towers, FireCrackers, and even the Guard Post (Archers shoot at air troops). Consider the positioning of high HP structures like the resource storages, Star Laboratory, and Clock Tower. It's not at all uncommon to find AirBombs and Roaster right next to each other at one end of the base but nothing to really protect the other end of the base.
Of course, defending against the MBM attack is the other side of this coin. When building your base, try to separate the coverage areas of the Roaster and AirBombs; place high HP structures in front of air targeting point defenses so the Beta Minions are busy attacking them while defenses behind them take down the Beta minions; place FireCrackers toward the center of the base with their effective range covering toward the outer perimeter (especially covering high HP structures); set mines and mega-mine to air and position them right in the path of enemy troops. All of the things you DON'T want to see when deciding whether or not to use this attack are things you DO want to put in your own base design.
The Beta Minion first comes available at BH3 and it has some uses there, but it doesn't really start to shine until you get it upgraded to level 10. At level 10, you can have 8 in each camp - that's a total of 32 in a single raid. Level 12 Beta Minions at BH6 are even better with 10 in each camp (40 in all).
I first start using MBM as my dominant attack strategy toward the end of BH4. I mix it up with Mass Baby Dragons when I come across more advanced base designs, but the vast majority of my attacks at BH4 and BH5 will be all Beta Minions and I'll typically achieve my 3 daily wins in 5 attacks or less. At BH6, I use it early on as I'm getting my Night Witches upgraded and as soon as I have level 10-12 Night Witches, I switch to Mitch (see one of my other articles about this strategy). Even then, bases that do not do well with Mitch are usually well targeted by MBM.
When attacking a diamond base design with MBM, be sure to feel out the corner where you deploy for any mines set to air. The deployment corner is usually the one opposite the AirBombs (this is generally the case with all MBM deployments). If AirBombs are on a side rather than a point of the diamond, attack from the opposite side instead.
Box bases almost ALWAYS have the AirBombs at one end of the rectangle; you just deploy at the opposite end. If the AirBombs are in the middle, consider opening two fronts and/or coming in from one or both opposite angles.
Today's video has 5 replays at BH6 as I discuss the strategy in general. Watch the points of deployment against each base, how the troops path, and how the Battle Machine is used as a supporting troop.
You'll find the video here....
MASS BETA MINIONS
(Hear that in your head with your best John Cena announcer voice....)
Mass Beta Minions (MBM) is a very simple strategy - you just drop 4 camps of Beta Minions on the base and let them do their thing. Air defenses typically can't stop them from pulling out a solid one star and at least a low percentage two star win. In fact, at BH4 and early BH5, you can drop them all in one place, exit the game, restart the game, and will often have 60% or better destruction when you come back. (The AI takes over and runs the attack; saves time if you use the Clock Tower to get through your attacks more quickly.) Of course, those with a level 5 Battle Machine (or higher) would never do this for obvious reasons.
That said...there actually IS a little strategy involved in Mass Beta Minions if you want to get the highest destruction percentage possible and typically win the battle.
The first and most important rule of Beta Minion deployment - avoid the AirBombs. AirBombs are Weapons of Mass Beta Minion Destruction. Beta Minions like to attack in groups and the AirBombs have an effective range capable of taking out 5 or more at one time. As you might guess, this can be devastating to your attack, especially since AirBombs tend to be something you encounter toward the end of the attack when your Beta Minions have dwindled.
At BH6, you'll also want to minimize exposure to the Roaster. As a splash damage defense, the Roaster will toast your Beta Minions within two blasts. You can't avoid it altogether, but at least try to angle your deployment to put it towards the end or get the Beta Minions spread around it.
Of course, if you can take either of these out early in the attack with your Battle Machine, by all means consider that as an even better option. (The Battle Machine is also great at distracting the Roaster while the Beta Minions shred it too.)
The second rule of deployment - deploy in groups. As I mentioned earlier, Beta Minions work best when their numbers can overwhelm a defense. Sometimes, you'll want to deploy all in a line, other times with just one or two fingers, and still others it may make sense to deploy in groups of 6 or 8.
Which brings us to the third and final rule of deployment....
Know thy base...er, thy enemy's base! Mass Beta Minions can be made to work against nearly any base design, especially at BH4 and BH5. It works particularly well against narrow bases and bases where the air defenses are easily accessed (i.e., exposed). At BH4 and BH5, it also works well on compact bases - especially those with the BH as one of the outer ring buildings - and even most diamond bases. I have to admit, though, I particularly like using it against the elongated bases the most. These designs aren't very "ground troop friendly" but all the things that are rough on ground troops are of no consequence to air attacks. I often pull a three star win on rectangular bases.
Base analysis is key to successful attacks and there's really no reason to not do it considering how much time you have before the attack clock starts. Having the ability to choose an army composition after seeing the base you're attacking is awesome for your odds of winning. I look not only at layout but also the level of the defenses; a base with a poor design AND low level air defenses is absolutely aces for an air attack.
Look at the location of the air targeting defenses - AirBombs, Roaster, Hidden Tesla, Archer Towers, FireCrackers, and even the Guard Post (Archers shoot at air troops). Consider the positioning of high HP structures like the resource storages, Star Laboratory, and Clock Tower. It's not at all uncommon to find AirBombs and Roaster right next to each other at one end of the base but nothing to really protect the other end of the base.
Of course, defending against the MBM attack is the other side of this coin. When building your base, try to separate the coverage areas of the Roaster and AirBombs; place high HP structures in front of air targeting point defenses so the Beta Minions are busy attacking them while defenses behind them take down the Beta minions; place FireCrackers toward the center of the base with their effective range covering toward the outer perimeter (especially covering high HP structures); set mines and mega-mine to air and position them right in the path of enemy troops. All of the things you DON'T want to see when deciding whether or not to use this attack are things you DO want to put in your own base design.
The Beta Minion first comes available at BH3 and it has some uses there, but it doesn't really start to shine until you get it upgraded to level 10. At level 10, you can have 8 in each camp - that's a total of 32 in a single raid. Level 12 Beta Minions at BH6 are even better with 10 in each camp (40 in all).
I first start using MBM as my dominant attack strategy toward the end of BH4. I mix it up with Mass Baby Dragons when I come across more advanced base designs, but the vast majority of my attacks at BH4 and BH5 will be all Beta Minions and I'll typically achieve my 3 daily wins in 5 attacks or less. At BH6, I use it early on as I'm getting my Night Witches upgraded and as soon as I have level 10-12 Night Witches, I switch to Mitch (see one of my other articles about this strategy). Even then, bases that do not do well with Mitch are usually well targeted by MBM.
When attacking a diamond base design with MBM, be sure to feel out the corner where you deploy for any mines set to air. The deployment corner is usually the one opposite the AirBombs (this is generally the case with all MBM deployments). If AirBombs are on a side rather than a point of the diamond, attack from the opposite side instead.
Box bases almost ALWAYS have the AirBombs at one end of the rectangle; you just deploy at the opposite end. If the AirBombs are in the middle, consider opening two fronts and/or coming in from one or both opposite angles.
Today's video has 5 replays at BH6 as I discuss the strategy in general. Watch the points of deployment against each base, how the troops path, and how the Battle Machine is used as a supporting troop.
You'll find the video here....
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