1) Army Composition:
A lot of people love using Balloons and Minions, but I like to add 1-2 dragons into my composition after disco infernos came out to counter them. So my build varies depending on the loot I am going for and the amount of troops per type varies slightly from 1 battle to the next since I run all barracks non-stop, and I donate troops while I cook troops:
a) When I am going after both gold & DE, I have 3 barracks making balloons non-stop, 1 barrack making dragons non-stop, and 2 dark barracks making minions non-stop. My elixir would accumulate about 1 million per day with this build. Usually I would end up with about 12 balloons & 1 dragon & 70 minions & CC troops.
b) If I start to face a lot of lv 2+ disco inferno towers, and that I don’t need to save up elixir for upgrades, then I would have 2 barracks making dragons non-stop instead. My elixir would stay about constant doing this build. Usually I would end up with about 8 balloons & 2 dragons & 70+ minions & CC troops.
c) If I am in no disco land, and that I want to save up elixir fast, then I would have all 4 barracks making balloons. Usually I would end up with about 16 balloons & 70+ minions & CC troops.
d) For CC I always ask for balloons so that I always have enough balloons for the attack.
e) The time for this build is usually around 28-30 minutes
2) Cup Range
a) For mostly gold and some DE to sustain the minion army I would stay in low Crystal 3
b) For balanced gold and DE income I would stay in high Crystal 3
c) For mostly DE and some gold to keep upgrading walls and defenses I would stay in mid Crystal 2.
3) Strategic Concerns
a) Remember that dragon is slow moving and has slow rate of fire, it is weak vs. Air Defenses, but strong vs. xBows pointing up, archer queen, disco infernos, and CC full of archers.
b) Remember that minions are strong vs. Air Defenses & Archer Towers due to their sheer number (the swarm), but weak vs. air bombs, Wizard Towers, and xBows pointing up, also weak vs. CC full of archers because they target archers one by one while being slaughtered by other defense towers.
c) Remember that balloons target defenses, so you have to watch out for Anti-Hog base designs, but they are beatable with my favorite deployment method called “sandwich attack” – will talk about it soon.
d) Remember that lightning is great for killing CC full of archers, but weak vs. Dragons & high level wizards. I always try to have a lightning spell in my arsenal just in case.
e) Remember that rage speeds up your balloons and is the most effective spell for this strategy.
f) Keep in mind that you should be upgrading heroes almost constantly when you farm DE in TH 9, so you need to learn to raid without them. If you have a free hero, try to save him/her to use when you have no spell for the raid. One of them could provide enough extra strength to help you get the loot.
g) Remember that if you drop your troops separately or have long delay between dropping of different waves of troops, the DPS you apply to the enemy base will be low. It is better to concentrate your fire and maximize your army’s DPS on the battlefields, so that they kill enemy troops and turrets faster, thus making them surviving longer. So I always prefer to drop troops together, from the same deployment zone (but not at the same exact spot), and do a blitz. The only exception is when all the loot are near or on the outside.
h) Picking your deployment zone: you want to pick the side where you can maximize your loot profit (either getting most storage tanks or the loaded DE drills), with good confidence of getting them too. So this takes practice and experience. Remember to avoid attacking from the TH and CC side unless the DE storage is near outside, because those 2 buildings have a lot of HP and will slow down your army significantly.
i) When and where to send in reinforcements: you will need to send in reinforcements at different spots depending the progress of the battle. For example, if a lot of loot is on the right side and your army is slowing down on the right side, then you need to send most if not all of your reinforcement troops to the right side, etc…
j) Think about where you want your army to go to or spread to. Remember the targeting AI of various units and try to “guide” your units to where they should go. I will talk about this in my “sandwich attack” deployment.
Because there are so many different base setups out there, you should have all of these strategic concerns in mind, assess the enemy base, then quickly formulate an attack plan within 30 seconds right before the battle. Even if you take 60-90 seconds to think through exactly how to lure their AQ and/or CC, and where to attack from, how to deploy, it would still be okay because Balloonion/Dragloonion army only lasts about 90-120 seconds on the battle field. Your attack plan and how you execute the plan is very important to determine if you will succeed in getting the DE (and some gold) or not. It takes practice to be perfect, so just keep at it and you will soon become an expert in the loonion combo. Also there are so many variations to deploy this army, so it is a very interesting and quite fun 
4) Deployment Tactics
There are many ways to deploy the troops for this very versatile army, and I will show you my favorite few.
a) Surgical strikes:
For collector raiding or storages near outside (master 1 farming), you can do this.
Please refer to Zach’s guide HERE
b) Sweep attack (usually without spell):
This attack is very basic, because you want to maximize your army’s damage without using any spells, so you want to drop all of your troops as quickly as possible. So spread out the balloons in a line or L shape (if you attack from a corner), then follow up with minions. The balloons should tank for the air bombs, and the minions clean up buildings behind. It is super simple and only works on easy bases or collector bases.
Please click on the link to view the VIDEO
c) Fan Shape Attack (for reaching multiple storage tanks):
Some times the defense in the core is weak with TH in the center, while all the storage tanks surround the core. So an attack style you can use would be an attack style that absolutely fails coring the base – “Fan Shape” attack. With fan shape attack you send balloons into the base in a line, follow up with minions deploying in the center, batch by batch but quite continuously, and because the buildings on the sides were not cleared, your minions will be attracted outwards and “spread” around the center instead of going deep into the center.
So it is very simple, just try not to send in all minions due to air bombs, and HERE is a replay to show the deployment.
