Doug

Doug is a support-tank— he has the HP and speed of a tank, yet heals like most supports. Because of this, his best position on the map is near his team. He should be played as a hybrid brawler. He can tank damage that his teammates take and is able to heal them up after. He is strong when his team is with him, but he can be good against low-HP brawlers on his own.

People often push too far with Doug; the limit for moving without his team before it becomes overextending is much less than an average tank. Do not push alone, as it benefits no one on your team to do so. DOUG IS NOT A BRAWLER THAT CAN PUSH FAR. He is antithetical to, say, Pam, who is a tank-support that can deal with brawlers while pushing forward alone. Doug cannot because of his range and low self-preservation. Don’t do it.

Use him in maps where he can help his teammates with pushing the most. The lanes should be defined but moving between them should also be easy, so that he can switch quickly between them if needed. In terms of gamemodes, he is best fit for faster modes such as Heist, Wipeout, and Brawl Ball.

Speed (Effective) - Provides an extra boost, allowing him to move with his team much easier so that he can heal them up.

Shield (Situational) - Helps Doug tank certain forms of damage (multi-projectile attacks mainly) for his teammates.

Health (Effective) - Allows Doug to stay alive more often in lower-pressure situations where he and his teammates are being attacked with a less consistent stream of damage

Damage (Situational) - Has its uses, mainly giving Doug the ability to kill off assassins. Otherwise, it is less justifiable in the face of other, more versatile Gears.

Vision (Ineffective) - Completely useless, since Doug’s play style should never be to ‘scout enemies out’ in bushes due to his attack range.

Gadget Charge (Effective) - Helpful, since Doug’s gadgets are designed to be versatile and usable in different situations, in which case having more of it is better than not.

Use your super on your teammates while you help them push, as this is important in game modes such as Hot Zone, Gem Grab, Brawl Ball, and Heist. In these modes, you’ll be helping your teammates move up the map by healing them. If you have your super in those moments where you are able to push up, use it on your tankiest teammate so they can go up the map, doing massive amounts of damage without having to worry about dying as much.

Against multi-projectile low-damage brawlers (the ones listed in the ‘Counters’ section), Doug can move in front of his teammates to tank the damage from those attacks, then using the healing kit (Double Sausage and Fast Food) he can heal himself and his teammate back up quickly to regain control. Be mindful when using your super on yourself; you typically should be using it on your teammates.

If Eve has Doug’s super on her, she will respawn on water if she is standing on it when she dies.

When brawlers are in the air while under the effect of Doug’s super, they will respawn on the ground even if they should still be in the air (think Janet or Mico’s super).

If Ash kills himself with his ‘Rotten Banana’ gadget while Doug’s super is active on him, he will not respawn.

A brawler with Doug’s super on them that dies while in Cordelius’ dimension will respawn while staying in Cordelius’ dimension.

Doug + Agile tanks — The perfect combination: Doug doesn’t have to always tank the damage that tanks get, while they are reliant on the healing Doug does. When together, tanks do the damage while Doug keeps them alive as much as he can.

Doug + Long-range damage dealers; sharpshooters — In open maps, Doug is able to heal up brawlers like Brock and Piper while they chip away at the enemy team’s health, and he can tank all of the damage they take while healing them.

Doug + Diving brawlers — Brawlers that dive into the enemies (or their general territory) benefit the most from Doug’s super; they need to get right up into their face and risk dying a lot, which Doug’s super is good at preventing (in tandem with his burst healing).

Doug + Belle — Probably one of the better sharpshooters to pair with Doug, Belle’s main purpose as a sharpshooter is to ‘trap’ enemy brawlers in small areas, in which Doug and their third teammate can easily swoop in to get a kill.

Doug + Hank — Hank gives Doug the area denial needed for Doug to be usable, and Doug can heal Hank up as Hank pushes forward to restrict the enemy team’s movement.