​

     Miners are a 5 housing space troop that have a unique

ability built into their normal operating behavior. They

tunnel under ground. They leave only the evidence of

disrupted dirt on they way to their targets. They

target the closest building or defense without

prejudice and then pop up out of the ground right

next to their target and start bashing it with.. their

shovels I'm guessing. They can not be targeted while

in their subterranean environment but once they surface

they are quickly targeted by any defensive turret and

are also susceptible to any traps in the area that they surface in.

       Miners do however receive the benefit of any spells

that are being used at surface level can lock

onto the tunneling troops and help keep their

moderate health up to their maximum potential.

(although we have all witnesses the Healer having

difficulty staying on the Miner which can be a setback

if trying to use them together)

       Miners are a protective troop. They will stop attacking

buildings and engage any enemy troops, Heroes or

Skeletons until they are all destroyed. Their ability to

attack and then submerge back underground makes them

particularly difficult troops for enemy troops to target

and destroy. This means that if your Miners are engaged

with 5-6 enemy Archers, the Miner will destroy his target.

While he is doing this other Archers will target him and

start shooting at him. Once the miner has killed the 1st Archer he goes underground. This causes the other Archers to immediately start looking for their next target. The Miner once again surfaces next to the next Archer and attacks again. This process causes the Archers to loose their tactical advantage every time the Miner goes under and as a result the Miner will kill many more Archers than other troops with his exact same DPS, HP, attack speed and  movement speed. Therefor you would think that the Miner is an excellent choice for your defensive Clan Castle troops and a great value at 5 housing space. BUT... Miners do act differently in the defensive Clan Castle! For whatever reason they DO NOT tunnel underground on defense. This is probably because defensive troops all have the ability to jump over walls when defending so in the Miner's case they loose their advantage of the hidden sniper on defense... maybe this will be addressed at a later date due to the complaining we have all heard!

       Miners are one of the games greatest snipers! Advanced players can clear out buildings and defensive turrets along the outer walls of a village, leaving high value targets like Town Hall or Resource Storage buildings as the next available building. Normally, due to high hit point Walls and dangerous defenses like Inferno Towers, these high value targets are still hard to reach with enough life left in the troops to either empty the resources or destroy the Town Hall.. That’s where the Miners are at their best! These advance players can deploy the Miners safely outside the walls and watch as they dive into the dirt and tunnel a long distance, popping out right next to those super valuable targets! One Rage and "down goes Town Hall!" This will take lots of practice to get the Miners to go to the core of a base instead of a distant outer corner of the base but all good troops take lots of practice. Miners are also great troops to use in combination with your aerial troops when/if the Air Defenses are fairly close to the edges of the village.

​

       The most common way the Miner has been used with optimal effectiveness is in a Mass Deployment along with 3-4 Heal Spells. Keeping the Miners in the Heal Spell like you would the Hog Rider has proven to be a devastating attack for the TH11s. Careful timing with the Grand Warden's ability is key to push the Miners through the core of those massive TH11 cores!

​

  A NEW ERA - The JUNE 2017 Update has given new life to the Miner in EVERY way. 1st the Lvl3 Miner is available to TH10s which temps all TH10s to come Down Under for their attacks. In addition to the TH10 change the Miner Lvl5 has every TH11 rethinking their ground and pound game from May 2017 biggest attack the "Slap Attack" to the Mass Miner Attack. The shift of the "Metta" (Most Effective Troop To Attack.. or something to this effect) is one of the ongoing pleasures of Clash of Clans. The game and its most delicate inner workings is a constant evolving work of art that's revered by all of its players. The shift from the "Slap" back to the Mass Miner is the perfect example of this.

​

        Try using the Miner to pull your opponents Clan Castle troops in those hard base designs where the Clan Castle is centered and all of the defensive units are outside of the CC trigger zone. 2-3 Miners will be even MORE effective as their predecessor the Hog Rider  (who also bi-passes the wall) because as the Hog Rider approaches their target they are getting pounded on by the defenses and the Miner is not.. Remember the key to these tricky CC pulls are not to reach the 1st defensive target but to eliminate it and move on to the next target thus triggering the defending Clan Castle Troops.

       Overall the Miner is a crafty troop that when used correctly will overpower your enemy's villages by tunneling under walls and under traps. Using them to snipe key targets, to attack other troops and to trip the oppositions Clan Castle Troops are some of the more useful ways to utilize the Miner. They are also efficient clean up troops as well. We have all needed 2-3 buildings to get a 3 star attack but had our troops get caught up on a wall or trip over a Giant Bomb and ruin a great attack. Miners are almost as fast as the Hog Rider and they are just as efficient as a clean up troop! It is worth having 2-3 in every army if for that purpose alone!.