Fall of the Inferno

The Inferno Tower rose to the top Defense of Clash of Clans the day it was introduced. Not even the mighty Eagle Artillery provoked the type of fear that the Inferno Tower has demanded from all players. The elite of Clash of Clans studied and overcame these menacing obstacles but for everyone else... they would avoid the Inferno Towers at all costs. Based on this premise and in an effort to promote the top levels of the game to a much wider player pool Supercell decided to play the Nerf card of one of their favorite game pieces. Keep in mind, it's a huge success to create such a dominant and iconic piece like the Inferno Tower and the decision to nerf them must have weighed heavily on the "Dev" team's hearts for months leading up to the release of the Winter 2017 Update.

Who is really to blame for the loss of arguable the most important defensive structure in the game? Well.. we are of course. Between players leaving the Inferno Towers off of their base completely due to their hulking "war weight" and others advancing to TH9 and camping out in 9 as what we call a "perma9" developers thought they had little choice but to Nerf the Infernos down to a regular defensive piece. (BTW Nerf means to weaken and Buff means to strengthen) Unfortunately the Inferno Towers lose quite a bit of luster once you remove the "anti healing" effects of its searing beams of heat.. lava or laser... of awesomeness!

The biggest question I've been asked is "what now? How are we supposed to defend in TH10 and 11?" this was already a challenge especially from the dominant attacks from TH110 from the precision strikes from the Archer Queen and her band of Healers and in TH11 with the Grand Warden pushing his invincible troops through TH10s like they were made from cotton candy.

The answer is as simple as the problem to be honest. 1st let's consider why Supercell would even consider removing the Inferno Tower's special ability... that would be the Inferno Tower's Single Target mode. If you have ever taken your eye of a troop for a split second and look back to find a pile of dust there instead of your troop there will be a single target Inferno Tower standing over the dust smiling at it. It's damage is so intense that Raging Healers or a pile of Heal Spells will not prolong the inevitable for much more than a second or two. So.. as players scramble to find the correct War Base configuration to compliment a pair of single target Inferno Towers we can just sit back and enjoy the drama... the drama of being a clasher right after an update. There will be plenty to go around too.

What should you do?

First thing you do is change both Inferno Towers to single Target Mode and rebuild your war base. Move the Giant Bomb locations to assist the Tesla Farm or place them between a pair of Bomb Towers. Then think long and hard about relocating your heroes . Set them up all around you single target Inferno Towers to slow the attacking army down enough to catch as many of their troops in the single target beams as possible. Be sure to set your Skeleton Traps as close to the Inferno Towers as possible too. The more moving parts you place around the Inferno Towers the better. Next thing is to consider splitting the Inferno Towers up. By placing them on polar opposite sides of the base you may force attackers to either split up their attack force or try to hold onto a spell for most of the attacks. We all know how good it feels to watch someone attack our base and end the attack with a rage or Heal spell left unused at the end. Last thing to consider (I know there are many other considerations but no one reads a 14 page guide) will be what troops you will use in your defensive Clan Castle.

This will sound a little crazy at 1st but I have a little experience with this...Place your Clan Castle in the midst of the Hero altars, next to the Inferno Towers and then use of Healers in the defensive Clan Castle. Healers do not act like other Clan Castle troops once they are triggered. The moment they pop out of the Clan Castle they will sit over your Heroes if they are close by. They will also assist the Skeletons if they are close by (and yes they actually will heal buildings while they are healing your defending troops. I have personally witnessed this in the past during a brief Healer in CC experiment that I ran.) No one will ever see that coming! Just imagine the cliesha' of using Healers in the defensive Clan Castle because the Inferno Towers can't burn through the Heal Spell/ Ability any longer.

As I've mentioned in all of our Winter 2017 Update videos... this is not the end of the world here.. try not to panic and then quit over one change in the game even when it seems like it's a HUGE change that may impact your quality of life as a clasher. Try to use this change to your advantage as much as possible.

Final thoughts... if you're collecting a check due to your participation in CoC then this message is NOT for you, for the rest of us remember that this is a game... relax and try have fun. If things get ugly for a while rest assured that Supercell with fix the problem to avoid losing the die hard faithful players.

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