If you have enough resources for one Brawler upgrade, start with the Brawler you already use. A tier list cannot tell you which character's range and timing you know best.
Upgrade resources are deliberately scarce. Every level you put into a Brawler you rarely play is a level not going into the one you take into most of your matches. That is the trade the game is really asking you to make, and the rankings do not answer it — they cannot, because they do not know what you play.
The one question that matters first
Which Brawler have you played the most matches with in the last month? Start there. Not because it is optimal in the abstract, but because two things are true of it that are not true of any alternative: you know its range by feel, and you will keep playing it.
A Brawler at a higher level that you misjudge the range of loses to a lower-level one in hands that know it. This is more true in Brawl Stars than in most games, because matches are short and positioning errors are punished immediately.
Then narrow by mode
The modes ask for genuinely different things. A Brawler that controls a lane well is not necessarily one that survives in an open map, and one that excels in a mode you never queue for is not worth a single upgrade to you.
What each broad role is actually being asked to do
- Close-range
- Survive the approach, then win the fight it forced. Rewards map knowledge and cover use more than raw statistics.
- Mid-range
- Hold space and trade favourably. The most forgiving category to learn on, and usually the safest first investment.
- Long-range
- Deny ground and punish mistakes. Punishing to play under-levelled, because it relies on winning trades outright.
- Support and control
- Change what the rest of the team can do. Hardest to evaluate solo, and the most dependent on playing with people who notice.
A rule for the resources themselves
- Take one Brawler you play constantly as far as you can before starting a second.
- Only then add a second in a different role, so you have an answer when the first is a bad fit for the map.
- Treat a third as a luxury. Most players do not need one to climb.
- Do not upgrade a Brawler you unlocked yesterday because it looks strong. Play twenty matches with it first — it is a free test, and it costs nothing but time.
Where to check the current picture
Once you have narrowed it to two or three candidates you actually play, current performance is a reasonable tiebreaker. Live Brawler rankings, map performance and build data are maintained on Brawlest (opens in a new tab), which tracks them as they change.
Check it at that point — after you have decided what you play, not before.
Sources
- Brawl Stars — official game site (opens in a new tab) — Supercell (accessed )
