The BASICS

The Beta Minion up is much like its cousin from the Home Village the Minion. It is a fast,  flying troop with a special ability called the Long Shot. The Beta Minion's main method of attack is throwing exploding Dark Elixir (that resembles poop…)

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Beta Minions attack the closest building to them. However, once they become aware of enemy Guard Post troops they will leave their previously targeted building and attack the enemy troops instead. Once all of the nearby enemy troops are dead they will attack the nearest building from their current location. This is a common behavior for all "attack closest building" troops.

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Beta Minions are fairly inexpensive troops to upgrade. They have a similar cost to the Bomber maxing out at 3.5 million in lvl 16. They also max out at just over 200 HP (data goes up to 15 ATM and lvl 15 is 195) so they are flimsy at best. What they do have on their side is a great number of them per camp. There is strength in numbers and the Beta Minion is proof of that.

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The LONG SHOT ABILITY

The Beta Minion's Long Shot ability (which requires level 2 or higher) allows the Beta Minion to throw its first few attacks from a range of seven tiles. As the Beta Minion progresses in level the length of time they are allowed to attack from this great distance is increased. This will become one of their greatest assets as players max them out. They are strong enough to take out most of the non defensive units like Camps in just a couple of shots. Timing is everything with the Beta Minion… we explain this in the ease of use section.

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The SCOUT

When scouting the base before the attack begins you want to look for lopsided bases. If the defender is trying to protect one side of the base with 1 Archer Tower and 1 Firecracker the Beta Minions will easily over run them. What I look for specifically is the Air Bombs near the outer wall. If the defending player has left the Air Bombs too close to the outer will try using complimentary troops like the Cannon Cart or Sneaky Archer to take out the air targeting defenses before you drop the "Beta Mini's" into the attack. If they have a well rounded defense will evenly placed air defenses throughout the base then the Beta Minion should be used in no more than 1 camp and used specifically to cleat out buildings outside of the defenses range.

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EASE of USE

Due to their low hit points the Beta Minion can be very tricky to use. I see a lot of 0-1 stars from players that either use them on the wrong base or do not understand when to deploy them. Beta Minions do a substantial amount of damage. At lvl 14 you get 10 Beta Minions per camp and each one does 70 DPS so that’s 700 DPS per camp of Beta Minions. So the damage is there but what is not there are the hit points to sustain them in any kind of hostile environment. This will call for some tankage! Try using Boxer Giants or Baby Dragons to tank for the Beta Minions. If you can get the defenses to target the tanks the Beta's will come in from behind and smash on the base like they stole something from them. Advanced players use the tanking troops and the Hero to push into the base and then use the Beta Minions in large hoarding swarms.. And they can 3 with the Beta Minions. They are a "niche" type of troop because they are as fragile as they are powerful so you will have to really practice up if you want to use Beta Minions as your main army.

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DEFENSE

To defend against a Beta Minion attack or an attack that uses a tanking troop along with the Beta Minions you will need to pay close attention to a couple of key defenses. 1st you will want to set your small Mines to air and set them up around the outer walls. This will be very effective unless they are using Baby Dragons to tank for them. In addition to that set the Air Bombs and the Roaster up in the core around Builder Hall and set the Archer Towers on long range in the 2nd row of defenses from the Builder Hall interwoven with the ground based defenses to help ward of whatever tanks they have coming in 1st. This formation allows the Archer Towers to pick away at the Beta Minions as they clear out the perimeter buildings and allows the Air Bombs and the Roaster to protect the Archer Towers. Separate the Firecrackers throughout the interior of the base and you have a good chance against the Beta Minions.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Beta Minions are very similar to the Minions on the Home Village. They may be difficult to centralize an attack with but they are great complimentary troops. They work best in sheer numbers, this is true but they can also be used to snipe out a few key trash buildings and help set up a good funnel for the rest of the troops. Sound familiar? They key to success with Beta Minions is to know when to bring them and when to leave them at home. This will all come down to a good scout and whether or not you as the player want to invest a few extra seconds before each attack to study the base and then be willing to make the necessary changes to your troop composition for that particular base.