Is the Night Witch dead at BH7?

So...some say that the Night Witch is dead at BH7.  I hear it on the forums all the time - players complaining that one troop or another is OP (over-powered) and attacks with the Night Witch are not the answer.

I couldn’t disagree more.  I think the the Night Witch is just now really coming into her greatest use.  I can hardly wait to see her at BH8.

As I look through my Battle Logs for my BH6 and BH7 games, on any given day I will see 3 or 4 out of 10 attacks had the Night Witch in the attack.  Most are Mitch, GiWitch, and there’s even the occasional Mass Night Witch.  I suspect we’ll start seeing Drop Mitch here soon, and Baby Mitch pops up periodically.  Some players are testing new hybrid army comps - I had one last night that used Boxer Giants, Night Witches, and Beta Minions.

In a combo army composition, you need to decide which troops will carry the weight of the attack and that’s usually the stronger of the troops.  This troop will get the much cherished fifth camp at BH7 and control your deployment.  

For example - Mitch uses Beta Minions and Night Witches.  My Beta Minions are always maxes first at each BH level.  Initially, I ran BH7 Mitch with 3 camps of Beta Minions and 2 camps of level 12 Night Witches.  At BH6, I ran 3 camps of Beta Minions and 1 camp of Night Witches initially as well.  As the Night Witch matures, I switch that up - at BH6, when she hits level 12, I move to 2 camps each and at level 13 Night Witches on BH7, she takes over the fifth Army Camp from the Beta Minions.  (I do the same with Drop Ships and Beta Minions in the Minion Drops strategy.)

Let’s talk briefly about each of three, common Night Witch attack strategies….

Mitch - Beta Minions and Night Witches

The Mitch attack strategy is strongest against bases with weak air defenses, box-style bases off in one corner, and others where your Night Witches’ bats can both distract and destroy.  The most common deployment is to drop a tank in the corner opposite the AirBombs (often the one with the most direct route to the MultiMortar), then all of the Night Witches go down in the same corner so they can send Bats into the base in multiple runs.  The tank goes down to clear the path of any nasties (Mines, MegaMines) and start opening a wall.  The first volley of Bats will clear any Mines/MegaMines set to air so you can safely deploy the Beta Minions.  In some versions, the Night Witches are deployed in a line opposite one of the long walls of the base rather than putting them all in a corner.  Beta Minions are deployed in advance of the Night Witches, typically once they reach about midway from their deployment spot to the base’s walls.

The composition can be either 3 Army Camps of Beta Minions/2 Army Camps of Night Witches, or 2 Army Camps of Beta Minions/3 Army Camps of Night Witches.  I recommend switching to 3 camps of Night Witches when they turn 13.  Try both to see which works best for your attacking style.

GiWitch - Boxer Giants and Night Witches

At BH6, one of the first attacks players will run after they unlock the Night Witch is Mass Night Witch.  A well advanced Night Witch (say…level 8-10) dropped en-masse against an early BH6 is a solid spam attack.  However, this does not last very long and since Night Witches are such a fragile troop, even using the Battle Machine to tank won’t be enough.

Enter the Boxer Giant.

The Boxer Giant is a solid tank for ground troops.  It has high HP and will absorb a lot of beatings from enemy defenses, keeping your Night Witches alive.  You can drop them in a corner to first clear the path, then drop the Night Witches in the same corner; you can drop them closer to the base as you line the Night Witches up along a weaker side of your opponent’s base.

The key is to focus on using the Boxer Giants as your Night Witches’ tanks - that means a patient deployment, typically one at a time, replacing each as it goes down.

GiWitch uses 1 Army Camp of Boxer Giants at both BH6 and BH7.  It is strongest at BH7.

Baby Mitch / Drop Mitch

BH7 presented us with a unique opportunity by providing a fifth Army Camp.  Mitch was already a solid attack to use at BH6; that fifth camp made it stronger and provided more options.

Baby Mitch uses 2 Army Camps of Night Witches, 2 Army Camps of Beta Minions, and 1 Army Camp of Baby Dragons at BH7; at BH6, with just 4 Army Camps, simply omit one camp of Beta Minions.  Baby Dragons go down first to tank against air defenses for the Beta Minions and Night Witches.  Ideally, the deployment is slow and very particular - you want the Baby Dragons to either take down or isolate the key defenses - MultiMortar, AirBombs, Roaster, and/or Giant Cannon.  In the case of air targeting defenses, they tank as well as damage these buildings.  The deployment pattern is standard Mitch but with the Baby Dragons leading the way into the base.

Drop Mitch is the same attack but with a single Army Camp of Drop Ships.  Drop Ships provide superior tanking to Baby Dragons, but not as much attacking capabilities up front.  They’re particularly helpful in clearing low HP, junk buildings along a wall.  Deployment is usually along a wall - Night Witches as far away as possible, followed by 1 or both Drop Ships along the wall (aimed at AirBombs or Roaster most of the time), and Beta Minions in between.

There are a number of other, hybrid attacks out there like Beta Bat Drops (Beta Minions/Drop Ships/Night Witch), Whip (Drop Ships/Night Witch) and some that combine Raged Barbarians or Sneaky Archers with Night Witches as well.  I’m working on a few of these right now, as I get my level 14 troops.

I’ve linked to some of the previous videos I did on each of these attack strategies, and below is a link to a new, more general video on Night Witches with 6 or 7 replays as well.  Hope you find it useful.  Comment below on your success/issues with the Night Witch!