With the new update bringing us six new Buffied Brawlers, some are bound to be stronger than others. Who did we predict would take the biggest W, and how wrong were we?
6th Place
Chuck
We hope nobody is surprised by this selection. Chuck's kit got a massive overhaul this patch. All the stat nerfs, buffs, changes, and reworks are just a massive question mark, and as such, he's bound to be last on our list.
Admittedly, there's a good chance he deserves to be higher. We simply cannot tell until the update releases. We'll be on top of it the second it's there, though!
That's what we wrote at the start of this post yesterday. And somehow, it still holds up! Chuck's changes were helpful for him, but he is still very obviously last on this list.
5th Place
Gus
This one, on the other hand, might come as a surprise. After all, just seeing Gus' Hyper Buffie allowing him to attack through walls, you might think he's got to be S tier... and, frankly, this is likely correct. The same goes for Chuck and everyone with Buffies this batch.
The difference with Gus is that the vast majority of power in his Buffies has been added to his healer build. How often do you run into this one when you play the game? Five bucks says you've never seen it in Ranked!
Of course, this doesn't mean they aren't strong. It just isn't what people are used to playing on Gus, and at least for now, that weighs his ranking down.
Yeah, about that... Who would have thought that giving Gus so much more spirit-spawning potential, doubling their healing, and making them automatically home in on teammates could be insane? Especially with the ability to shoot through walls from the Hyper Buffie? Apparently not us. Gus is easily taking second place for us now. Lesson learned.
4th Place
El Primo
First Brawler from the other trio! While El Primo's Buffies might look slightly underwhelming, once mathed out, they show their true strength.
Most of it resides in his "Meteor Rush" Buffie, which, on top of granting him 25% bonus movement speed, will now also grant him a 20% shield for the same duration, giving him over 16,000 effective HP after every Super. That alone is enough to warrant this placement.
On top of that, though, come both Gadget Buffies and the Hyper one, giving him even more damage and survivability.
An interesting one here: our assessment was correct. We just didn't realize Gus would be SO much better than we could ever have assumed, and Primo would not be better at all. Easy fifth place.
3rd Place
Amber
Opening up the podium, we've got Amber. This spot is honestly a very close race between her and Primo, but Amber's versatility gives her the edge in our view.
This is because not only is "Dancing Flames" no longer dodgeable by standing on top of Amber, which fixes her number one issue versus aggro, but her "Scorchin' Siphon" Buffie synergizes incredibly well with the Hypercharge Buffie. The second one makes Amber's main attack light enemies on fire, while the Star Power's Buffie grants Amber ammo every time an enemy takes burn damage.
This means that while Hypercharged, not only does Amber summon a massive oil field to light on fire, but she also has infinite ammo as long as she's hitting enemies. And that is just insane.
And insane it indeed is. So much so that Amber would now rank as our number one pick in the "biggest winners" category. Not number one overall, since the others are still stronger, but definitely the biggest jump in quality. Yes, even more than Chuck. Somehow.
2nd Place
Shade
First and second place may also seem like a close fight, but in our ranking, Shade is not taking first place despite how powerful his kit seems now.
For starters, his "Long Arms" Buffie now knocks up enemies, effectively giving him an animation cancel that is crucial against some of his counters, like Hank. His reworked "Jump Scare" is now also viable, letting him jump over walls to try to get his Super if he's playing into a matchup that can otherwise easily starve him of it.
Both of his Star Powers are now great, and the Buffies make them even stronger. If you struggled with cycling Supers before, the two-second duration increase on "Hardened Hoodie" will nearly guarantee you get them consistently. If you already had a very easy game ahead of you, "Spooky Speedster" can now help you cycle your "Long Arms" even faster, simply dominating even harder.
Of course, the new Hypercharge effect is a slight nerf to his offensive capabilities, but the Buffie makes up for it very easily, leaving Shade even healthier than before while still destructive.
Again, our takes here are correct! "Jump Scare" is, like we claimed, incredibly viable, and even though his reworked Hyper still slightly nerfs his offense, the Buffie makes up for it more than enough.
Despite that, we would rank him at number three right now. Not because he's weak, but because Gus and Amber are just different.
1st Place
Poco
Honestly, is this a surprise to anyone? Poco with his Buffies is just beyond the scale.
"Screeching Solo" was already incredible ever since Poco's buff to charge his Super in just four shots, but now, with his main attack healing as a baseline ability instead of requiring "Da Capo!" and his Super also muting enemies thanks to the Buffie, he is bound to be simply unstoppable. That one Buffie alone is enough to rank him as number one for us, and it isn't the only part of his kit getting one.
Both Gadgets are also ridiculous now, with "Protective Tunes" possibly being one of the best zone-controlling abilities in the history of the game. On top of that, there's also the Hyper Buffie, which, even though it isn't the biggest change, is still helpful.
In short, expect emergency Poco nerfs, and be sure to check out our updated tier list once the patch arrives!
Probably the funniest one we've got, because it's still true. Poco is still crazy strong. The three Brawlers above him, though, just got such impossibly powerful Buffies that, despite being so good, he can only rank number four.
To be brief, we were kinda right and kinda wrong... but now that the update is here, we will be on top of things.
In fact, we already are. Check out the updated tier list!
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