I am a new TH 9.5 currently working on army camps (They are currently level 7), traps, and DE troops, and I have had difficulty holding on to loot. I have tried silver, gold and crystal, but all of them have their advantages and disadvantages.

Silver

Pros: Loot is great, especially for GiBarch, easy to farm, and a good mix of DE and collector raids

Cons: Getting a shield takes a long time, and as a result a lot more TH10s have the chance to attack me, which they do unmercifully

Gold

Pros: Good for DE Farming and for finding weak TH9s with good amounts of easy to get storage loot with GiBarch

Cons: Collector raids are less common, more TH10s than silver league, shield is still hard to get and I get attacked often by TH10s

Crystal

Pros: Loot bonus helps with DE farming, TH9s are plentiful, and have good storage loot for GiBarch, get attacked very quickly after I get off

Cons: Weak TH9s are relatively uncommon, collector raids are increasingly hard to find, more people farming with more expensive armies

Masters

I haven't tried to farm in masters league yet because most people farm with Loonian, max GiBarch, or war armies. I'm sure the bonus helps out a bit but I don't think it's worth the risk when I regularly have max elixir/DE showing

With almost max traps, getting attacked is expensive, even on failed raids. This leads me to ask, is it worth upgrading some TH9 defenses such as teslas, or adding 1 inferno tower? What can I do to help hold on to my storage loot better? Is any one league best for TH 9.5s?

Thanks for your help!