THE BASICS

 The Cannon Cart is unlocked in Builder Hall level five. This requires Builder Barracks level seven.Cannon Carts are powerful single target troops that only attack ground troops and buildings, which is convenient because that's all there is at the moment in the Builder Base. Cannon Carts have no preferred target when attacking so they attack the closet target to them. Beware of enemy troops! The Cannon Cart will pull off of any building to start attacking the Barbarians and Archers from the Guard Post.

       Cannon Carts are most effective behind any tanking troop like the Boxer Giant or the Hero. It is built to add a big punch and like most troops with high DPS they lack in hit points to level them out. Always be very mindful of the Multi Mortar, it had to be the nemesis of the Cannon Cart. At lower levels the Multi Mortar will knock the wheels off of the Cannon Cart (starting at lvl2- in lvl1 they just blow up) with the 1st volley of cannon balls.. or mortar balls, lets call them projectiles for now.. One very effective use for the Cannon Cart is to follow the Battle Machine and target the Air Bombs (Blue Balloons) as the 1st phase of a Baby Dragon or Beta Minion attack. If you can knock out the Air Bombs with the Cannon Carts it will give you a great advantage in the air portion of the raid.

COST

The Cannon Cart starts out with a relatively low level 2 upgrade of 400,000 elixir and maxes out around the same as all of the troops which is 3.6 million for level 16. Although the War Weight is about 1/3 of the Night Witch (If you have been keeping up with the War Weight situation you will know that as of 1/20/2018 the most reputable site that was posting War Weight was the Reddit CoC Guide. This was made by Spancer who has been a huge contributor to the community with his insightful dives into the Supercell API pulling out highly sought after info like the War Weight numbers.) it is still high enough to weigh into your decision as to whether or not you are going to max out this troop. Unlike many troops in the Builder Base the Cannon Cart can be used in it's role at almost any level. Even a lvl 1 Cannon Cart can be dropped into the battlefield behind the Hero and shoot over the exterior walls to take out key defenses. This if nothing else adds a level of attraction to the overall effectiveness of the troop and may increase its odds of being added into your troop rotation. This is one troop that is worth the investment at all levels if you are willing to use it like it is designed and not try to use a mass Cannon Cart attack that is  sure fire failure in the making.

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THE LAST STAND ABILITY

The Cannon Cart's special ability Last Stand unlocked at level 2. It allows the Cannon Cart to continue shooting as an immobile Cannon once a certain number of Hit Point have been lost. As soon as the wheels come off the Cannon Cart the Last Stand timer begins and the countdown to extinction begins.  The Last Stand ability usually forces the Cannon Cart to target a different building from what it was originally shooting at unless there is no other building in range. 

       The Cannon Cart is one of the troops that players either love or don't use at all. I happen to be one of the players that usually use 2 in every raid unless I am not able to use my favorite troop, the Baby Dragon. My goal is to help keep the Hero alive as long as possible by using the Cannon Cart to provide backup for the defending Guard Post troops and to shoot over the walls and eliminate as many of the perimeter defenses as possible. These are all the secondary objectives behind destroying the Air Bombs because I'm using the Baby Dragons for the main part of my attack... If you are only using ground troops then change your focus to the biggest threat to all ground troops, the Crusher.

THE SCOUT

You can decide if the Cannon Cart is right for you during the scouting time allowed before each attack. If you notice the Air Bombs close to the edge (or outside at times) or at least one of the Crushers close to the edge than you can use the Cannon Carts to take out those key targets. Keep one thing in mind too, Cannon Carts are very powerful attackers so they can be used to take down Builder Hall in those cases where other ranged troops like Sneaky Archers won't have enough time to eliminate Builder Hall before they are destroyed. Sneaky Archers are great under cloak but once exposed they go down in 2-3 shots at best where the Cannon Cart can usually get off a minimum of 2 shots with the wheels intact and then another 2-3 shots once the wheels are blown off.

EASE OF USE

Depending on the base layout, Cannon Carts can be used in the second phase of the attack as well. I will do this if I see no way to 3 star the base. In this instance I will start off with either Baby Dragons or the GiaBarch combo and clear out as much as I can in route to the Builder Hall in the center of the base. My main concerns will be the Multi Mortar because that 1 defense can ruin the 2nd phase of the attack all by itself. Once I have cleared as much as possible I will send in the Battle Machine followed by 2 Cannon Carts. They will usually be able to walk/ roll over the rubble left by the 1st phase of the attack and either engage whatever is still standing before targeting the Builder Hall or they will often split up, the Battle Machine engaging the defenses and the Cannon Carts start shooting over the center wall at the Builder Hall.

DEFENSE 

On defense you should be able to help yourself a lot by following a few simple rules. 1st be sure that the Air Bombs are out of the Cannon Carts reach from outside the walls. Force the attacker to break through the walls before they can engage the Air Bombs. 2nd make sure the Crusher(s) are out of range from outside the walls. By following the 2 really basic guidelines you will reduce the Cannon Carts effectiveness by half! Finally the Cannon Cart will teach you that  layer around Builder Hall is a waste of walls. The Cannon Cart will shoot right over those wall and take down the Builder Hall anyway. Unlike the Home Village the Builder Hall does well with minimal walls inside the main base structure so use all of the walls to force ranged troop, like the Cannon Cart, to areas of the base that are heavily guarded.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

The Cannon Cart is a specialized high powered troop. It is a support troop that can be used at either the beginning of an attack or the end of the attack, usually along with a heavy tanking troop like the Boxer Giant ot the Battle Machine. If used correctly the Cannon Cart can help clear the way for the main body of troops at the beginning or follow the Hero into a base once the defenses have been depleted quite a bit at the end of an attack and save the day by shooting over that last layer of walls that are protecting the Builder Hall. The Cannon Cart is one of my personal favorite troops but it has its drawbacks as well. The Cannon Cart's hit points could be raised by a few % (personal request thank you) but as it stands now it has already secured a bright future for itself on the builder base.