The August update introduced a Healer Nerf to the popular mobile strategy game Clash of Clans that cripples popular attack strategies including the Queenwalk. As Supercell explained in a blog post:
“There are concerns especially regarding how it might affect the “Queen walk” or “Super Queen” strategy, where an attack begins with a high-level Archer Queen flanked by at least four Healers.”
Supercell goes on to explain how healers have long been difficult to handle in terms of “risk versus reward”:
“In the past, ground armies reliant on Healer support were far too risky. Healers were prone to getting fixated on isolated troops, or wandering needlessly across the enemy Village and getting shot down. To top it off, wandering Healers triggered air traps, which could spell instant doom. They were far too risky, and thus their usage was extremely low!
Since that time, we’ve made several changes to try to make Healer usage less risky and more rewarding. We made Healers not trigger traps, and later did several improvements to Healer AI to make her less prone to wandering and better at sticking to the troops that need her.
Now, we find ourselves with the opposite problem. In the hands of a skilled attacker, it is not uncommon for a group of Healers to survive the entire battle, hidden behind the Archer Queen and groups of Bowlers. Healers have become far too safe!”
They further clarified that they had no intention of removing the Queenswalk “A well-executed Queenwalk is incredibly powerful, though it is still a strategy of skill that we have no intention of removing,” Playtesting showed only one additional healer was lost to maxed out air defenses after the new patch.
Bowlers attacks were also set to perform well after the addition of the Healers. “With air traps in play, however, the more effective the attack, the more air traps Healers will encounter, thus providing a natural defensive “push back.”
What do you think about the strategic benefits to CoC after the addition of the Healer? Let us know in the comments.