Journal of a Rusher Part Two - Introducing our new, L1 BH8!

The Clashifer Hyper-Rush project turned BH8 on 5/1.  From a brand new game in mid-March, the final BH upgrade was completed just 45 days later.  The defenses are largely level 1 and the only money spent on the game has been to buy the level-up bonus packs that range in cost from $5-$20, providing a pre-built version of the strongest/new defense at each level (such as the MultiMortar, Roaster, Giant Cannon, and MegaTesla).  The Battle Machine is still level 1 and extra gold was typically thrown into walls or collectors along the way.

Here's the BH7 Base just before....

This is my favorite BH7 base layout and it's served me well through all of my Builder Base games.  Of course, I have a few favorite BH8 base layouts as well.  For an early BH8, I use this one....

The upgrade path from this point will be different from what has been done on my previous games.  Normally, I would take all defenses to a level equal to 2 less than the BH before upgrading to the next level; for example, before going to BH6, I would make sure everything was at level 3, then at BH6 I would take it all to level 4 before making the jump to BH7, and so on.  In this case, though, I left the defenses at level 1 and focused strictly on getting to the top level BH (BH8).  As such, I have a whole bunch of super low cost upgrades I can do over the course of just a couple days.

It doesn’t make sense to focus in on the key defenses yet because these lower cost defensive upgrades will add far, far more wallop to my defenses than the high cost key defense upgrades.  Consider the Roaster - 1.2M gold to go to just level 2.  That 1.2M gold will take a LOT of other defenses to level 3 (maybe even level 4 in some cases).  As such, it just makes sense to upgrade the lower cost defenses first.

Although the game was updated on 5/1, I wanted to work on it a few days to establish the beginnings of the upgrade path.  I think it also shows how powerful the additional defenses and Army Camps are to overall player success.  I’m posting this article on 5/5 - just 4 days later - and the game is almost fully on a level 3 defense.  I’ve gone from 2536 trophies to 2954 trophies in that time as well.  Here’s the current upgrade plan….

2536 trophies to start

5/1/2018

3X Cannons to L2 (5m, 20K each)

3X Archer Towers to L2 (15m, 30K each)

3X Double Cannon to L2 (1H, 50K each)

2X FireCrackers to L2 (2H, 80K each)

2X Crushers to L2 (5H, 180K each) (Overnight)

(2713 trophies)

5/2/2018

2X FireCrackers to L2 (2H, 80K each)

3X Hidden Teslas to L2 (3H, 100K each)

5X Push Traps to L2 (5m, 3K each)

1X Guard Post to L2 (8H, 240K) (Overnight)

(2775 trophies)

5/3/2018

3X Double Cannon to L3 (3H, 80K each)

3X Cannons to L3 (2H, 50K each)

3X Archer Towers to L3 (2H, 60K each)

3X Hidden Teslas to L3 (5H, 150K each) (Overnight)

(2862 trophies)

5/4/2018

4X FireCrackers to L3 (4H, 120K each)

1X Guard Post to L3 (12H, 280K) (Overnight)

(2954 trophies)

5/5/2018

1X Crushers to L3 (12H, 220K each)

1X Crushers to L3 (12H, 220K each) (Overnight)

As you can see from the image above I am on the L3 Crusher upgrades at this point.  From here, it’s simply a matter of bringing all, general defenses to level 4…

Cannons to L4 (8H, 200K each)

Archer Towers to L4 (8H, 250K each)

Hidden Teslas to L4 (10H, 280K each)

Double Cannon to L4 (12H, 300K each)

FireCrackers to L4 (12H, 300K each)

Crushers to L4 (1D, 350K each)

Guard Post to L4 (1D, 320K)

…and then working on getting the key defenses to level 4 as well….

AirBombs to L2 (12H, 320K)

MultiMortar to L2 (12H, 700K)

Roaster to L2 (12H, 1.2M)

AirBombs to L3 (1D, 340K)

MultiMortar to L3 (1D, 800K)

Roaster to L3 (1D, 1.4M)

AirBombs to L4 (2D, 360K)

MultiMortar to L4 (2D, 1M)

Roaster to L4 (2D, 1.5M)

All defensive buildings will be L4 at this point and it will take just about 3 weeks to achieve it (sans Books), meaning a L4 defending BH8 base in roughly 2 months’ time.  At that point, I’ll switch gears to my normal upgrade paths - key defenses to L7, everything else to L7, key defenses to L8, everything else to L8; key attack strategy in place, BM in between.

Mines and Traps will be upgraded as filler, dependent primarily upon my schedule.  Although I’ll be setting alarms so I can sign in real quick to launch a new upgrade, there will be instances when the completion lines up poorly with my schedule; that’s where filler upgrades and gems come in handy.  Likewise, I will adjust the order to maximize sleep times (starting an 8 hour upgrade before bed rather than, say, a 5 hour upgrade).  Case in point - I upgraded to BH8 in the afternoon and completed L2 upgrades on all Cannons, Archer Towers, Double Cannons and 2 FireCrackers before starting a Crusher and calling it a night.  The next day, I just picked up where I left off with the FireCrackers.

As for how to use elixir...I’ve decided to upgrade the Star Laboratory and gem the timer.  Purchasing the bonus pack provided some gems, and I also have reward gems from both the Builder Base and the Home Village that I can use as well.  (I will pick up 1000 gems as soon as I hit 3000 trophies on the BB and that’s just a few days into BH8.)

The first question you might be wondering...can a totally F2P player do this?  The short answer is yes but with a caveat - it takes about a month longer.  All told, I’ve spent around $100 on this game - that’s BB and HV combined, roughly half and half.  The money spent on the BB side has been spent on level-up bonus packs which provide a key defense, some resources, and gems.  In other words...all time savers.  My earlier hyper-rush game (Phoenix Abyss) did not have the benefits of level-up bonus packs and has done just fine.

The next big question...can normal players do this?  I am a more advanced player, true, but remember - I simply spam my attacks on this game.  Unlike my primary game, I’m not putting much time into planning attacks or even changing out the army (I just use Mass Beta Minions all the time) and I have only a level 1 Battle Machine.  I am relying solely on the breadth and depth of the game to keep it afloat with the expectation that I will only see 50:50 win:loss ratios and a slower build rate due to lower trophy ranking (which means a lower loot bonus).

As to why would I do this...well...because it’s entertaining and that’s what games should be all about.  😎  I really do think the typical player would be better served with the more conservative upgrade path on his/her primary game (as I’ve discussed in the past), but this is certainly a good way to get an alt/mini to the endgame quickly and efficiently.

I’ll post additional updates on this game in the next few weeks and again at the 3 month marker.  Here’s the companion video to go with this article....