Talk:Guards/@comment-25058525-20160509040101/@comment-25856498-20160509115217

For one, Guards can distract an area damage troop, say the Bomber, for longer. While the Goblins go down in one hit, the Guards take two hits to destroy since their shield prevents them from getting killed easily. They will, in their initial state, survive any Spell damage, even from a Rocket or Lightning. For that matter, Poison that does damage over time are best (yet still don't yield an Elixir profit unless it is also used to take out other troops).

A downside is that the Guards are a bit more expensive than Goblins. They also deal less damage. And are probably much harder to obtain than Goblins.