At the time of writing, to our horror, Wendy has just been released into early access.
Best Loadout
To be completely honest, this section is nearly irrelevant to this post. Regardless of the selected kit, Wendy is a monster in almost every situation.
But if you're lucky enough to unlock her early and find yourself short on coins, or you simply want to min-max your resources, the no-brainer choices from our testing are Wind-Powered for the Gadget and Solar Shield for the Star Power.
The first one optimizes the fun out of your opponents' gameplay by letting you make a five-tile jump every 18 seconds. It's perfect for escaping just when everyone thinks you're done. The Star Power is simply a massive buff to Wendy's already overtuned Super, making it useful in every situation.
The other options aren't unviable by any means. In fact, Green Grenade and Slowing Shield, the other Gadget and Star Power, are still top tier. They just don't get value in 100% of situations, only 99%. Tough luck.
As for gears, Wendy benefits from nearly all of them, with the exception of the Health gear due to how her HP and attack work. During our testing, we primarily ran Shield and Damage, but Speed and Vision are also perfectly fine choices. Speed is perhaps more situational, but Vision will be your friend in modes like Gem Grab.
Gameplay: How Do You Not Go Crazy When Teammates Run Into Your Shots?
Unfortunately, we can't answer the question in this section's title, but we can explain why you'll be frustrated. It all comes down to how Wendy functions.
Her main attack is a non-piercing, 1.66-tile-wide single shot that reaches eight tiles and deals 2,200 damage. On top of that damage, it grants Wendy a little over 1,200 shield health, capped at the same amount as her normal HP. If the attack hits a teammate instead, it grants them an expiring 2,000 HP shield. Think of it as Byron, but for bonus health.
But wait, what self-shield, and what cap?
That's right, Wendy's HP is also quirky and special. Her total health pool of 8,000 is split across two bars: her actual HP and a shield, both at 4,000. Her main attack is the only way to replenish that shield health.
On top of that, the shield pairs with her Trait. Taking damage to it grants Wendy Super charge, adding up to half a Super when the shield is completely depleted. Combined with the self-shielding, her Super, the Shield gear, and the Wind-Powered Gadget, taking her out is nearly impossible.
Speaking of her Super, it's time to explain the best part of her kit. Planet Protector is a throwable spawnable that acts as the center of a ten-tile-radius area. Within that area, 75% of the damage taken by Wendy's teammates is transferred to the Super.
The protector starts with 7,000 HP, but Solar Shield boosts it to 9,000. It charges in five shots, or three after gaining all the Super charge from Wendy's shield health, without accounting for any extra self-shielding.
Because the Super doesn't expire, this creates one of the most powerful offensive tools in the game. Simply throwing the protector farther up the map and pushing is often enough to win a fight or even the whole match. The extra tanking, combined with how quickly Wendy can recharge it, overwhelms opponents very easily.
To summarize Wendy's gameplay pattern, she charges her Super by hitting shots or dying twice, throws the Super up the map, pushes forward, and wins.
Yes, that's obviously an exaggeration, but it's also the truth. Wendy is ridiculously powerful and makes the game completely miserable for the enemy team, keeping her whole team alive with almost zero effort.
Matchups
Thankfully for us, Wendy isn't prime Sprout, Rosa, or Larry & Lawrie. She can still be countered.
The main weakness to exploit is her low damage output over a prolonged fight, which makes her vulnerable to high-damage tanks that can break through her shields. She also lacks piercing attacks, so she struggles against pets and other spawnables.
Naturally, those two facts make Ash the number one counter to her in any situation where he can be picked. He combines high DPS, high HP, and spawnables. Tara and Nita are other notable choices for close-quarters fights for similar reasons.
Of course, we can't always pick close-range aggro. What can be done in modes like Bounty?
While Mr. P might immediately come to mind, he doesn't have enough damage to pose a real threat to Wendy. The actual number one choice against her in this context is Charlie. She forces Wendy to deplete ammo on her spiders while dealing plenty of damage over time, which is perfect for breaking through the shielding. If that isn't enough, Charlie can always cocoon anyone trying to help Wendy.
Other viable long-range options include Carl and Lola thanks to their HP, range, damage, and additional tanking tools, such as Carl's Shield Star Power and Lola's Ego.
There is one more option that sits between those two categories. She isn't only excellent against Wendy one-on-one, but also great against her in a full 3v3: Jessie.
After her recent buffs, Jessie has enough damage to threaten Wendy, her bouncing projectile works wonders against Planet Protector, and her turret is the perfect cherry on top. It tanks for Jessie, deals damage to Wendy, and, most importantly, forces Wendy to back off. The alternative is getting slowed by Jessie's Gadget, which is basically a guaranteed death for most Brawlers. Wendy is no exception.
Modes and Maps
With how versatile and powerful Wendy is, she can be picked on nearly any map, in any mode, and in almost any situation.
That might sound a little extreme after we just went over her counters, but they aren't enough to deal with Wendy consistently. Her support capabilities are simply unbelievably overpowered right now.
The only mode where we don't actively recommend playing Wendy is Heist. That isn't to say she's bad there. With a good team composition, it's quite the opposite. It is still by far her worst mode and requires coordination with your team, which means you might struggle in solo queue.
Viability, Early Meta Predictions, and Final Thoughts
Frankly, Wendy is the best Brawler in the game right now.
Every element of her kit feels designed to make the enemy team consider quitting the match, or the game as a whole, every second they play against her. We really felt it in our tests. The number of people who simply gave up after seeing Wendy in the lobby was immense.
We're ranking Wendy number one in S tier on our tier list, and we're hoping for emergency balance changes.
Check out the Wendy guide for her recommended build, best modes, and complete matchup lists.
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