DESCRIPTION

The Giant Cannon was introduced in September 2017 during the Builder Hall 7 update.  It is the elite defense for the new Builder Base level. There is a big difference between the Giant Cannon and the normal Cannon. To start with the normal Cannon's Cannonball stops as it impacts it's target. It damages that target and then either continues to shoot at it if it's still alive or re-targets the next ground troop closest to it. The Giant Cannon fires massive Cannonballs that do not stop when it collides with the 1st target.. or the 2nd or even the 3rd target. It continues to damage all targets in its path. The Giant Cannon does not fire nearly as fast as the normal Cannon so there will be inherit weakness with this powerhouse too. There will be times where it becomes completely over run by hordes of troops, that is if they do not group up and attack it from a single location.The Giant Cannon will have the capability of vaporizing large numbers troops unless they are all attacking it from different angles. 

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STRENGTH

At first the Giant Cannon will remind players of the Crusher. Like the Crusher large groups of Raged Barbarians will be at a disadvantage. If they are in its direct path of fire, they will all go down in 1 quick shot. This will make it very difficult to 3 star any Builder Hall 7 with all ground troops. Between the Giant Cannon and the Crusher there will be carnage for ground troops. Players will have to use more diverse armies in theory. The Giant Cannon has another advantage over all other defenses as well, range. It is unlimited. The Giant Cannon's cannon ball continues until it disappears from the screen. This is NOT the Giant Cannon's range however. It's range is only 9 tiles. This means that the Giant Cannon can target a troop 9 tiles away but as soon as it shoots troops that are over 9 tiles away can get damaged but the cannon ball. Troops like the Cannon Cart that deal high damage but have low hit points are the most vulnerable to the Giant Cannon. Placing the Giant Cannon directly behind the Air Bombs would be a great starting place for this defense when you 1st get it in Builder Hall 7. Watch all of the attacks on your base to see how the attacking players are dealing with it and move it around accordingly.   

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WEAKNESS

like the Crusher and the Cannon, the Giant Cannon will be limited to the ground troops so the air troops will have the luxury of flying over it and destroying it without every taking one ounce of damage. On defense be sure to group the Giant Cannon with air targeting defenses so they can watch each others backs. The Giant Cannon shares all of the weaknesses of it's little cousin the Cannon only it shoots much slower. Be sure to keep it as far away from the outer walls as possible. The Sneaky Archers will be able to take it down with little resistance. They will have a full second to second and a half after their cloak runs out due to the Giant Cannon's slow rate of fire.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

The Giant Cannon is the second to last of the defenses that we know about in the Builder Base behind the presently unreleased Super Tesla. Unfortunately for those who were looking for a solution to some of the powerhouse raids coming through your Builder Base, this defense will not be the one. Don't get me wrong it does a fine job for what it is but at 85 DPS which ends up being just over 240 damage per hit it is not enough to hold back the Battle Machine or Boxer Giants. The key to using this defense and making a positive impact for your base will be in the location that it sits. This will not be easy either. If you can manage a design the forces troops into the base down a long path single file, heading directly at the Giant Cannon then you have got yourself a winner. It does have fairly high hit points which will help slow down the troops and I have already seen the Giant Cannon get off what I would consider some lucky shots where it took out 6 Night Witches at 1 time because they all happened to cross over it's path at the same time. Personally I would like to see the firing rate increase to the same as the Cannon, this would boost its overall effectiveness.