Golem is a 30 housing space tanking troop that specifically targets defenses. They are slow and do not do much damage per second. If a Golem starts attacking a wall to try to bust through it, it will take the entire length of the attack for it to damage the wall enough to break through (not literally but it will seem that way). They are a Dark Elixir troop and take more Dark Elixir to train than any other troop. They take 5 minutes to train which is one of the longest time of any troop. Yet, with all of these seemingly negative attributes they are one of the most used and most important troops in Clash of Clans. Why? Lets start with the 6900 Hit Points for a maxed Golem and then another 500 Hit Points for each of the Golemites which, by the way is what happens to the Golem when it finally dies. The Golem splits into two smaller versions of itself, still slow and doing very low damage. So again, why is the Golem such a key troop? They are the damage sponges. They lead the attack and soak up loads of damage for the more fragile but much more volatile attackers like the Wizard.

       Golems take a lot of practice before player reap the rewards of the meandering rock monster. They are slower than almost every other troop so as players 1st start using them they do what's natural to them and treat them like Giants, which are the Tanking troop that most everyone uses on ground attacks before they acquire the Golem. The problem is that there are significant differences in how those two troops behave in an

attack. For example players using Giants will usually

have 10-15 Giants in play at once which allows the

Giants to break through walls will little hesitation.

Then they get the Golem and use 1-2 and quickly find

out that the walls are a major obstacle for the Golem.

They will spend most of their time during an attack

watching their troops get annulated as the Golems

slowly chop away at a wall far behind the pack. So,

how do we use the Golems in an effective manner?

That’s the most common question I have to answer for

all of our 1st time Golem users. The answer is not a

complicated one to say but can be quite tricky to do. You make good use of complimentary troops and spells. Here are some techniques that have worked for Damage Inc.

• Use Wall Breakers on the outer walls to get you Golems into the base

• Bring spells like Earthquake and Jump to any raid or war attack that you plan on using Golems

• Use other troops that CAN NOT shoot over walls and that have to break through the walls themselves… as the Golem is grunting on a defense the other troop (like P.E.K.K.A. or Valkyrie) will polish off the other buildings and then breach the next wall before the Golem starts attacking the wall himself

•  Hold on to one Jump Spell just in case a Golem gets stuck on a wall

       These all sound like simple, common sense tactics and they are, but they are all vital to the Golem's success. To go a little further into the use of spells, here's a great pointer. Spend a little more time scouting the base before you attack it. Find a section of the walls that have several different compartments all joining within close proximity to each other. Use you Earthquake Spell or Jump Spell in these locations with one goal in mind… see how much of the base you can open up with one spell. You will be surprised to find that many bases are designed to force players through several sections of walls and because of this all of the walls are close enough together to expose 25%-50% of the base with just one Jump or Earthquake spell. If you are fortunate enough to possess both Earthquake and Jump bring them both and open up 50-75% of the base. Your Golems will love you for it and reward you by staying off of the walls and on the defenses.

        Golem has been frowned upon and shunned away from the defensive Clan castle since shortly after their introduction. Their slow movement speed and slower attack speed makes them last on anyone's list for the best troops killers but SuperCell has an amazing way of making the small little details that they have intentionally programmed into their troops have residual impacts in the small intricate parts of the game. The day that the Valkyrie got their super buff and became the valiant warriors that they are today was the same day that the Golem found rejuvenation in the defensive Clan Castle. This is why…

       We will use the most common scenario for the Golems best argument for Clan Castle Troop of the year. Your base is being attacked by Mass Valkyries, 20 of them to be exact in this example. They quickly make their way to the core of the base where they trigger the Clan Castle Golem. They also start taking on damage from other defenses common to the core of bases like the X-bows and Hidden Teslas. To sweeten the deal a little lets say that the 20 Valkyries trigger a Giant Bomb on their way into the core, they are taking on damage and here comes the Golem. 1st thing is that the High HP of the Golem will take the Valkyries a few seconds to Whirlwind attack down to Zero which allows the defenses that much more tome to weaken the Valkyries, their remaining Hit Points have dwindled down to 700 each (still plenty strong enough to clear out the base under normal circumstances) as the Valks take their last swing at the Golem it Dies, splitting into two Golemites and also sealing the entire group of Valkyries fate. As the Golem splits into the Golemites it deals Death Damage of over 500 (550 to be exact for a Maxed Golem) which just happens to be splash damage effecting the entire group of Valkyries. The Valkyries Hit Points drop to under 200 and they still have Golemites to deal with and defenses are still peppering their position. The Valkyries will quickly destroy the smaller Golemites one at a

time. As the 1st Golemite dies it deals 110 (also for a

Maxed Golemite) Finally the last Golemite gets

destroyed and deals another 110 splash damage

and just like that, in one final Whirlwind swing,

the Valkyrie kills the Golemite and themselves at

the same time. The Valkyrie Buff that all Clash players

have come to love also revitalized the Golem as a Clan

Castle troop because they die, deal out death splash

damage and manage to kill the Valkyries much more

often than most players ever realize.. They just wonder where the Valks

ran off to. Thankyou SuperCell for making the smallest details of the game play out for big overall impacts in game play!

       Upgrading Golems are  no small task. They are extremely expensive starting at 60,000 Dark Elixir for level two Golems and peaking out at 200,000 for maxed. Amassing this amount of "DE" is no small task which makes Golem upgrades a taxing event for all players. The problem is that this game is balanced so well that the 4,500 hit points of a lvl 1 Golem is not going to be sufficient past TH8. You will need to upgrade your Golems BEFORE you go to TH9 or you will have some serious regrets to deal with. I suggest to all of my players that troops are too important to allow to remain at their base levels and that upgrading them to Max for whatever TH level they are at should always be top priority, even higher that upgrading the defenses. Golem is no exception. They go up a whopping 500 Hit Points, the most of any troop for the 1st three upgrades and another 300 for the final two upgrades. These 500 HP will have an unprecedented impact on every raid from the time the upgrade is completed forward so don't hesitate or think they are bulky enough to remain where they are.. Honestly I would strongly suggest minimizing this screen and upgrading you Golems right now!

       Overall the Golem may be the slowest troop in your army, they do the lowest damage per second per housing space at just over 2 DPS but they more than make up for that with their hulking size that is abundantly evident from their enormous maximum hit point count of 6,900. Use your Golems to lead your attacks and soak up damage from all of the defenses… except for single target Inferno Towers which will fry the Golem into a charred piece of glass within a few short seconds. Make sure you scout bases a little better than you would using Giants and use your spells much more liberally with the Golem to keep them moving forward. You can not afford to have a 30 housing space troop off in a corner kicking at a wall for 2.4 minutes of your attack. Try the Golem in your Clan Castle on defenses if you have 30 or more troops capacity and watch what happens as most of the attacking troops kill your Golem and themselves at the same time. Remember that Golems only attack defenses so make sure you bring in some heavy firepower with them to clear out the rest of the base and help punch through the walls. Oh and one last thing.. Stop being so cheap and donate a Golem to your clan mates once and a while. Now that they only take 5 minutes to build you can use a boost on your Dark Barracks and have Golems for the whole clan!