At the time of writing, Bolt has just been released into early access, and we are here to provide our first thoughts on the newest brawler in the game.
Bolt Is Here... And He Is Really Good
When we saw the first snippets of this brawler, we had very mixed feelings - from "meh" to "worst brawler in the history of the game".
Today, we've got to admit - we were wrong. We were SO wrong. This guy is so good.
Best Loadout
Considering how unique Bolt is as a brawler, it has been quite obvious ever since his announcement that his kit will be very versatile and that is precisely what our observations are: both of his gadgets are very viable, and so are his star powers - from our tests, Unstoppaball is generally more useful in a ladder setting, but Toss Up is still very much playable, just less flexible as it hinges on a lack of crowd control in the enemy team composition.
Back to his gadgets though, the choice between Bouncy Ball or Oil Change is almost arbitrary for a ladder setting - both are very much good choices and can get value in all settings. In draft though, Bouncy Ball should be the preferred option into squishy brawlers, while Oil Change is reserved for matchups that require the extra durability, such as into tanks.
Before heading into matchups though, we've got to tackle gears - and Bolt doesn't have a wide array of options. Due to his unique mechanic of dealing damage without actually attacking, he is very quick to start healing back up after a skirmish. This, of course, makes him the best user of the Health gear in the entire game, getting value from it almost the entire match. As a secondary gear, the only real choice is Damage, as not only does Bolt often leave interactions on low health, but he also just doesn't benefit much from the rest; the only really playable choice other than the aforementioned two would be Shield, but with how often Bolt's HP fluctuates through the match, he will rarely ever get to actually charge up the shield.
Gameplay
Despite how unconventional Bolt's design is compared to all other brawlers, he plays surprisingly well and is really fun - granted, it takes A LOT of care and attention not to randomly lose all the built up momentum, but when steered properly, he really shines at running into and out of the enemy lines, dealing heavy burst damage in short timeframes. His super, combined with the Unstoppaball star power, also leaves his biggest weakness out of play, which lets him perform some really nasty plays into most enemies.
The only gripe, really, is that - even though his damage and health are through the roof - he feeds the enemy team incredibly quickly. Now, for most matchups, he doesn't even have to care - over 10,000 HP, fantastic burst, and near-constant healing effectively let him roll over most brawlers that would typically benefit from this, like Surge or Gene. However, in a 3v3 setting, this can be really dangerous, as a Nita bear, Otis Hypercharge, or Stage 3 Clancy (which is REALLY easy to get against Bolt, and he has to physically roll through Clancy to deal damage, giving him free tokens), can easily mess up the lane state for Bolt's teammates. Roll fast, yes, but carefully!
Besides these, it should be noted that his main attacks can be timed with his damage tick at top speed, doubling the damage - this is especially helpful into tanky brawlers, as it lets him deal with them much more quickly. Make sure to be smart with using those attacks, as not only do they reload slowly, they also stop his healing - while Bolt is fast, he is almost completely unable to dodge incoming enemy attacks... without losing momentum, that is. And in his case, tanking a bit of damage is still better than being completely defenseless for a few seconds, so make sure to stay healthy before committing to a play!
Based on the aforementioned gameplay description, one might think he doesn't particularly synergize with most brawlers in the game - this assumption is for the most part correct, although it should be noted that Kit is easily Bolt's best friend - not only does the constant healing, on top of Bolt's already phenomenal healing, easily overwhelm opponents, but his high movement speed also lets Kit trivially dominate the enemy territory by swarming it with his explosive yarn. Ouch.
Matchups
Due to his mechanics, Bolt's 1-on-1 interactions are comically unpredictable - even current top meta picks, like Chester or Lumi, can really struggle with Bolt; Chester does win his first interaction - before either has a super - but after that, the luck factor of Chester's super determines the winner: Jawbreaker or Pop Rocks easily let Chester finish Bolt, but Strong Mint or Salmiakki mostly lets Bolt roll Chester down. His last super, Candy Popper, is actually the skill-dependent one - Chester wants to aim it behind himself, so that Bolt is forced to roll into it after attacking him, or lose all his built up momentum. Surprisingly close for such a dominant brawler in the meta!
...Lumi, of course, doesn't have this luck - her morningstars simply don't have enough burst damage to deal with Bolt.
Another surprising interaction would be against Melodie - Bolt wants to roll into her, while Melodie wants to circle around him. The result is a very peculiar set of movements, with either Bolt chasing an escaping Melodie or the opposite - a Melodie desperately trying to triangulate the perfect path to cut off Bolt and finish him with the notes. A less complex, but still interesting interaction is with Cordelius - while his super doesn't stop Bolt's momentum, it does temporarily stop his damaging trail from his super, which is very interesting. Due to how Bolt's attacks work, Cordelius can also time a very precise jump gadget, in order to avoid 2 ticks of rolling damage. Difficult, but very rewarding if performed properly!
Of course, as Bolt is reliant on his speed, he is a victim of any brawler with a slowing attack and by that - gets completely shut down by Gale. Funnily enough, not only does he get his speed reduced from Gale's slowing star power, and gets pushed back by his super whenever he tries to approach, but if that wasn't enough - Gale's Twister gadget completely prevents Bolt from dealing any damage to Gale. It is, quite possibly, the most one-sided matchup in the game as of writing.
Besides slows though, Bolt also suffers from enemies that have high enough attack spread to hit him regardless of speed - brawlers like Meg or Clancy simply don't have to try hard aiming at Bolt, as they can simply burst him down the second he even tries to enter their range. An honorable mention in this category is Charlie, which - despite having a thin, single projectile - also does really well into Bolt, as the lingering hitbox of her yo-yo works really well with leading shots against him, not even mentioning her super (which, with the Slimy star power, completely shuts Bolt down) or her Personal Space gadget, which completely invalidates Bolt's charge.
Modes And Maps
To (hopefully no one's) surprise, Bolt excels in open maps where he doesn't necessarily have to lane and play the objective, but simply skirmish the enemy team periodically. As such, his best mode is Bounty - the lack of a constant point of interest on the maps, but rather a simple kill-related goal without the heavy punishment of Knockout's lack of respawns, makes him the prime candidate for a Bounty brawler. Of course, he is still playable in Gem Grab or Brawl Ball, but we strongly advise against forcing Bolt in Hot Zone or Heist.
His gameplay pattern also makes him really playable on all sorts of maps, as long as there is room to maneuver and ramp up momentum - personally, we've really enjoyed him in Hideout, but any map with similar characteristics should be a paradise for him.
Viability, Early Meta Predictions, And Final Thoughts
Ranking Bolt on a tier list is simply difficult. His non-obvious gameplay combined with a lack of the traditional laning ability, replaced with the ultimate skirmisher toolkit, makes judging his placement in the meta very tough. However, due to how excellent he is in what he does, we expect him to place around the middle of A tier - very much playable and to consider in draft, but not a must-pick-or-ban monstrosity... provided Kit is banned, of course. Keeping that synergy in mind, he certainly has S tier potential in the right hands.
Because, in the end, a lot of Bolt's power comes from how high his skill ceiling is - navigating through the map without losing momentum, timing super, gadget and even main attacks, dodging enemy projectiles while maintaining speed, all on top of a complete lack of ranged attacks and extraordinary stats - all of these factors combine to make Bolt one of the most skill-demanding and difficult to master brawlers, but with an extremely high payoff if one learns how to roll with it. Have fun balling with Bolt!