Rico

Rico is more of a Generalist Brawler, which is why he’s classed as a Damage Dealer. One Key thing about Rico is that he is map-dependant; He excels on certain maps, even against his counters, which makes him really versatile. This is also why his playstyle varies so heavily - he should be played highly offensively on some maps, but should go on defense on others.

Rico is extremely useful on Gem Grab , Brawl Ball and Bounty due to his long range, his ability to rebound shots off the walls to hit opponents more easily, and the damage he can deal. His best gamemode though is Heist, due to him being able to dominate multiple lanes at once, as well as his amazing damage boost with the Super Bouncy Star Power, which enables him to be a Damage Dealer as well as a long-range control brawler and a defensive-minded brawler.

An easy way to recognize maps good for Rico is seeing if any of its lanes are closed. If there’s not a lot of space for enemies to dodge in it, Rico will most likely be a good choice. Some examples would be: Hot Potato, Triple Dribble, Retina, Goldarm Gulch, Belle’s Rock, Stay in Your Lane, Hard Rock Mine, Ring of Fire.

Speed Gear (Effective) - Useful on bushy maps where a wallbreak isn’t provided by your teammates.

Shield Gear (Situational) - Heavily Situational and can be used when playing with high damage brawlers that can 2 shot Rico.

Damage Gear (Effective) - Vital on all modes as he can deal extra damage with addition to the Super Bouncy Star Power.

Vision Gear (Ineffective) - Generally Ineffective as Rico is more of a Lane Brawler and doesn't need to see the enemy to lock down the lane, but it can be used on more bushy maps where he plays as a Mid or Lane

Health Gear (Situational) - This Gear is key if you are continually being pressed by opponents and need to recover health quick to dominate lanes.

Reload Gear (Effective) - as his reload speed isn’t the greatest. This can help increase his reload speed to help win lane/mid against his counters.

Extra Gadget (Effective) - can give you that final boost in the last moments of the game where you have no hope to win. Also allows to maintain pressure and lane control even better.

Rico's unique trait is his ability to make his bullets bounce off walls. To excel with Rico, players need to master the art of bounce shots. This involves predicting enemy movements, positioning yourself strategically, and angling your shots to utilize walls for increased damage.

Rico can shoot around corners, catching opponents off-guard and dealing damage even when they're out of direct sight.

His Super is a piercing attack that is particularly useful when playing against a healer and 2 tanks, as they will most likely be closely compact to receive instant heals, which is why Rico’s super is extremely useful as he can counter this and continuously recycle his shots to teamwipe an entire team.

An important part of his super is that only the enemy’s first contact with a projectile deals damage - this means that even if you trap the enemy with the super bouncing all over them multiple times, they will only get damaged once for each ball.

One art players need to master is to dodge. Although Rico has a relatively slow/medium movement speed, it’s still vital to keep a distance and learn how to rebound shots to increase shot projectiles distance - every bounce adds about 2 tiles of range to the attack, which means that even getting 1 bounce makes it far easier for Rico to reach the enemy.

When standing right next to a wall, instead of shooting into the open to catch the enemy you can aim with the exact same angle, but mirrored to look at the wall - this makes Rico’s attack keep the exact same angle while gaining an extra tile of range and a damage boost from his Super Bouncy star power.

When checking bushes around a corner, you can aim right at it and move sideways, bouncing a few projectiles off into either side. This makes it a lot easier to gain information with Rico.

Using Gadget + Full Health when you are about to score and there is an opponent attacking you will replenish Ricos health bar back to normal, effectively healing through the defenders.

Rico can deal up to 40% Damage on the Heist Safe with his Normal Shots + Super + Damage Gear Activated + Gus Damage Boost Shield.

Rico can also deal about 20% Damage on the Safe with just 1 gadget. If all else fails, you can try to get the safe down by yourself!

Rico’s Robo Retreat + Max Super makes him the fastest Brawler in the game - don’t underestimate his star power!

Rico + Tara is one of the most key synergies. Tara can pull a whole team by using her super and Rico can teamwipe by using his super, if Tara doesn’t have enough damage. They’re both great lane brawlers, which makes this very common on some maps.

Rico + 8-Bit is used on modes such as Gem Grab. This Duo is particularly powerful as they play the slow game to gain control of the whole game and win. Many people underestimate this synergy and can be paired with any passive brawler.

Rico + Ruffs is an underestimated synergy as most people like to pick tanks into this, hence the reason why Rico excels in this synergy. Once he gets that damage boost from Ruffs, paired with the Damage Gear he can ultimately make his normal attack deal ~1000 Per Hit. This can easily teamwipe ‘squishy’ brawlers and ultimately kill tanks with high Health Points