By all accounts Brawl Stars will be the next hit by Supercell. The team-based real-time fighting game is by the makers of both Clash of Clans (Free) and Clash Royale (Free) and has attracted quite a player base in soft launch. Supercell is continually tweaking the game to get things as fair and balanced as possible before release. They announced some character balances coming soon and this time, they are undoing some prior changes that put too much emphasis on adjusting based on win rate. They are now looking more at how often a particular brawler is used across all of the game’s modes of play and trophy ranges as a better gauge on what needs tweaking. To this end, they announced a slew of changes to nine different characters. It looks like a solid attempt to make the less popular characters more inviting and to knock some of the super stars back to the pack.
Here are the changes posted on reddit by Supercell:
Shelly
- Reload time increased to 1.5s (from 1.25s)
- Main attack range decreased to 6.66 tiles (from 7.66 tiles)
- Main attack shells are spread further apart
These changes to Shelly will make her less useful as a generalist who can survive all situations. The reload time increase will make sure she cannot fight endlessly. A bit less range and larger spread to her main attack will make her less effective at medium range and poking.
Piper
- Main attack damage decreased to 440 (from 460)
- Super damage decreased to 200 (from 300) per grenade
Decreasing her damage should make her a bit weaker and more manageable. We also felt that her Super was too devastating for an escape, and this should reign it in a bit.
Jessie
- Main attack damage increased to 160 (from 140)
- Super rate of fire improved. Scrappy (her turret) now shoots faster, time between shots to 0.25s (from 0.35s) and bullet speed increased by 33%
With Scrappy’s new charge up time, this boost makes Scrappy more powerful and versatile with more effective area control. Increasing Jessie’s main attack damage now makes her a more viable Brawler.
Crow
- Both main attack and Super damage increased to 80 (from 60) per knife.
- Poison damage decreased to 80 (from 90)
We found that Crow lacked great finishing power after his targets were poisoned. This buff makes Crow’s knives more deadly each time they hit.
Dynamike
- Main attack damage increased to 180 (from 160) per dynamite stick
- Super damage increased to 540 (from 500)
- Both main attack and Super projectiles deploy faster; explode time decreased to 1.4s (from 1.5s)
We think giving him more firepower and a faster deploy time will make him more fun to use.
Barley
- Main attack and Super damage increased to 140 (from 120) per tick
- Main attack bottles fly 16% faster
- Super bottles fly 8% faster
Beefing up his firepower should make Barley more viable in every game mode. His bottles felt a bit too slow before and now they are much punchier.
Bo
- Reload time decreased to 1.7s (from 2s)
Decreasing Bo’s reload time gives him more area-denial ability and strengthens his role as a ranged, area-denial tank.
Colt
- Main attack bullets fly 9% faster and range increased to 10.66 tiles (from 10 tiles)
Colt was a little bit overshadowed by Ricochet and we think these changes give his main attack a bit more punch (and his ego a little boost!)
Bull
- Reload time increased to 1.6s (from 1.5s)
Giving Bull a slight increase in his reload speed will keep his attack a bit slower than Shelly’s.
No ETA was given in the post on exactly when the tweaks will go in place, but it will likely be soon. For those currently playing, what do you think of the latest changes in the Brawl Stars balancing act? For those not, are you looking forward to giving this one a try? Head on over to our forums to discuss and find out more about the game.