Balloon/Minion

The Balloon/Minion strategy uses high level Balloons to destroy defenses and Minions behind to clear everything else.

Since a pure Balloon/Minion army is weak against enemy Clan Castle troops, some provisions should be used against enemy troops. This can be including Archers and a few Barbarians (as well as the Barbarian King) in the army. A Dragon should always be included in your Clan Castle in case the enemy has a Dragon in theirs. A higher level Dragon in your Clan Castle as well as some Archers in your army should be able to take care of any enemy Clan Castle troops. If not, some of the normal Balloon/Minion army must also be spent before the real attack can begin.

Note on Balloons
The biggest threats to Balloons are Air Defenses and Wizard Towers. Balloons should be deployed to go after the Air Defenses while keeping in mind the position of the Wizard Towers. If all Air Defenses can be hit relatively soon as well as a Wizard Tower, it is probably a good base to hit with the Balloon/Minion strategy. In other words, if the core of the base has the Air Defenses on one side, that is the side to deploy on.

Note that the level of the Air Defenses and Wizard Towers should also be taken into account.

To avoid mass damage from splash and/or to mass damage the enemy, the Balloons should be spawned in a wide half moon on the outside of one half of the enemy base nearest to the most of core Air Defenses.

The Balloons naturally start clumping together to inflict high damage and a Rage spell should be at the ready as well as a Heal spell. Both Heal and Rage are important but it is situational to have 2 Heal spells and 1 Rage spell or vice versa.

Note on Minions
Minions are weak to any damage and should trail back behind the Balloons so that the Balloons can get the aggro, leaving the Minions virtually untouched. Whatever wide attack pattern the Balloons were spawned in, the Minions should be spawned the same at a later time.

Note on the Enemy
Not all bases should be attacked with a Balloon/Minion army. These include bases that have higher level Air Defenses and Wizard Towers compared to your Balloons, bases that have too many Air Defenses and Wizard Towers, and bases that defend the path to the Air Defenses and Wizard Towers or spread them out too much.

In general, Balloons should be at least level 3 to attack a Town Hall 7 and level 5 to attack a Town Hall 8.

Videos
This video shows level 6 Balloons and level 3 Minions as a high end example. Note that with the low level Wizard Towers, the Balloons really don't need Heal spells.

This video shows level 6 Balloons and level 5 Minions going after high level Wizard Towers and Air Defenses with Heal spells.