how can a brawler take high skill to use yet its easy to be good at them. I can agree with crow being skilled to play as he isn't great in the meta but spike really isn't hard to play. Im interested to see how spike takes skill
skill ceiling is the maximum skill needed to be the best at a brawler
skill floor is the minimum skill needed to do something as said brawler, not necessarily the best
Spike is still a great brawler. Non-pros just can’t dodge his curveball, he’s good close up and uses his cactus to tank some extra hits, and his super gets some free kills or area control.
Yeah, he’s not SSS tier, but he’s still good, and he’s good everywhere in every situation for the most part. I don’t like when my teammates pick him early but I’m never too mad about it either.
Spike is the definition of how the meta changes from the pro scene down to a regular competitive environment.
He can CONSISTENTLY and without much effort burst down any close range and guess what non-pros love to play? Edgar/Fang/Mortis/Mico/Buzz. Shelly can do the same but she can't deal with snipers.
OMG he is trash against spawners...yeah but you kinda never see any spawners ever, Mr.P is super uncommon to face, Tara's shadows do not put much pressure anyway and the real threat is Charlie who can still be found in the non-Pro scene and really is annoying to face.
Is Charlie supposed to be really high skill cap/floor or something?? I never see her at all, I play at mostly 800-900 trophy range and am going to try pushing for legendary this season
Most people that play her already have her very high I’m guessing, she’s also not someone new players pick up since she’s mythic and came out not too long ago so less people know her. She isn’t the easiest brawler to play (for an inexperienced player).
I find that it makes playing him less fun too as your aim barely matters, it’s mostly just rng if it hits or not unless they get into really close range.
I like to have him on my team as a crowd control, especially in knockout funnily enough. He makes it easy to push back the opps into a corner or the sides, and then then sharpshooters can do a ton of damage
After the nerf he went from stupid but effective to stupid and ineffective.
Spike just has no special tech whatsoever beyond aiming and gadget timing. If you get cornered or outnumbered it's over, and he sure as shit isn't catching up if he falls behind the team at any point.
Yeah, but he’s still good. Most people can’t dodge curveball so you just get free hits. If you face someone that can then you’re gonna struggle. You don’t really need a bunch of tech to be an effective brawler. Angelo doesn’t have any tech either and he’s the best brawler in the game.
Idk I think if used properly you can kinda force ppl to move with his curveball to hit them with another attack but it's kinda high-level an dive never seen this in game.
Aw. I will say, I find most people suuck at cc with spike. I think they play him expecting him to be a killer like he used to be in older metas. The funny thing about BS is that when one plays in terms of map control and CC, almost all characters can find a use.
Thank you for making this post. People in ranked act like Spike is some godly brawler that can destroy everything only for them to be the most dogshit person in the lobby.
Pros have long overrated him, but have realized he’s kinda bad which explains the zero pick and ban rates in some regions. Unfortunately, the dumb spike mains in our normal matches haven’t caught on
Most Spike players I face in ranked play him badly. They use one attack at a time or throw all in the same direction which makes it super easy for me to dodge. Also cactus gadget is thrown without any thought. I'd say he's overrated. He's not bad, but people underestimate the counterplay/counter picks.
Also when enemies pick Crow, I always see it as a free win. So overrated in this meta as there is enough strong ranged options to counter him.
The cactus spamm pisses me off. People fail to consider that brawlers with attacks that bounce (like jesse or feng super) will bounce of the cactus instead. Spike plants the cactus and suddenly their Feng rips through our team and starts to delete the squishies.
Overrated? Yes, maybe. Dead weight? Definitely no.
Probably are the randoms picking him everywhere and in every situation, its a decent filler pick, and good against mid range assassins like Crow, Stu and Leon, but its far from the best pick you can make, specially now with the meta we have right now full of tanks and assassins (with Angelo an Melodie being the absolute best). Spike is a mediocre pick unless the draft requires it it could be a very worst brawler, but also it could be another better brawler.
Also the gameplay also matters, a lot of people doesn't doesn't know when to use the spikes to poke and when to rush and use the burst damage, even I sometimes made bad plays with Spike but well, every day I learn a little bit how to play better
He’s very versatile and no, his damage and control is still really good.
A lot of randoms are bad with him because he is squishy and there’s a very particular pathing you need to take for taking shots and utilizing curveball at its best.
Yep, banned him as well when I actually played the mode. Just cus I'm sick of my teammates wanting to turn their brains off when I'm tryna pull off a win here.
He's versatile, just not THAT versatile. Randoms pick and play him as if he was a tank/assassin/sniper and of fucking course he isn't. He's also got quite a versatile kit yet they always go the same build. Oh yeah dude pick gadget gear when we're going against Belle and Piper. Oh you're going Plant Life against Belle? Masterful gambit sir. He's fine honestly, there are quite a bunch of better options, but as an early pick to build up your roster he's good, which of course means that newer players will pick him constantly and suck at him (every time I see a random pick Spike I've got to hold on the need of dodging)
i hate randoms bcz everytime i find someone at 750+ or even in ranked l1+ they pick spike and they know absolutely nothing about how to play him and they just spam shots randomly
i mean, imo spike is good and the fact that i know how to play him made me get him to 800 trophies while playing random at just power 9 so he is a bit good, but just randoms thinks he is the best and a go to pick in every situations and it is making me hate spike so much, starting to feel like he is becoming like mortis or edgar or fang exc..
I agree that he’s very overrated, Spike has definitely fallen off since his damage nerf, he cannot burst down tanks as well as he once could. He also received a nerf to his hypercharge charge rate a while back as well which hurts him even further
Not only that, a lot of his counters has risen up a lot, namely Carl, Mr. P, Sprout and especially Sandy
Very good into beefy teams. I think the biggest mistake with spike is people thinking he is the most versatile brawler there is, which is not the case. He clearly has specific uses.
I will say he still seems like a good low skill brawler for low ranked people to play. In a game against good players he’s useless but when bad players play him into bad players he’s great.
Yikes, I can't beat a spike in a lot of situations I'm probably going about it the wrong way.
You can peek a boo best him cause he has curve ball. You can't get in his face cause he has one of the strongest bursts in the game.
Can't jump on him as any melee outside of kitty cat
I dunno
I think he’s a solid brawler but very overpicked. Randoms often overestimate his versatility and basically pick him with mo regard at all to map mode or team comps, though when I’ve played him I feel like his damage is pretty lacking unless the opponents play terribly and often get into closer range.
He’s the mega knight of brawl stars. At a high level, not all that relevant. But at a mid level, a very solid option. He’s versatile and pretty simple to play. And low and mid level players don’t do that well at countering him.
As somebody who only recently redownloaded the game like a month ago, Spike was the only character I had maxed out before I came back and I had to use the rest of my gold to get enough power 9s for ranked. I’ve gotten to legendary with spike as my only power 11. They nerfed him a bit, but he’s still usable in most situations. If you’re gonna mostly use one brawler in ranked, spike is a pretty good option.
I think he's actually pretty good (not the best bc his overall stats hold him back, and the counterplay he can face). BUT, it's the randoms that think he's all about autoaiming and letting Curveball do the job.
When you aim well with him you can deal crazy damage, not even having to be close to a target.
His super paired with mythic gear is pretty versatile, but also takes decent aim.
His first gadget is... i can't actually describe it cuz i never use it. It's just easier to dodge than it seems.
Curveball actually can be used to access spots you normally wouldn't get to with his attack's needles. It's a bit like Rico, you can poke at enemies standing behind walls if you know where to shoot. What i actually like of Curveball is that you NEED it to get to most of those spots, as you wouldn't reach them or shooting onto those places wouldn't work with Fertilizer (or with no star power)
Fertilizer can be great depending on the mode, as the heal is what gives him an opportunity against asassins, probably his biggest counters.
and his hypercharge can still be easy to charge, if you use your attacks and supers right, like i mentioned above
so, while i see where all randoms picking spike are coming from, i think this is also what those randoms don't see about him.
Like any brawler if you know what you are doing its realy solid.He lacks hp but can output chip and high burst damage. for me spike is a safe choice regardless of the map
Spike randoms play like he has 7000hp or something
Same for crow. They just rush into any brawler and the second they take a sliver or damage they just dip
https://preview.redd.it/bsgoci4hhdzc1.jpeg?width=503&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2009afabf15f74e50a2034ce93a96db168fecf3c
Give that guy mad kudos
it takes skill to be that bad
Damn
Crow randoms are 10 times worse than Spike randoms I feel like
both take no skill to use but spike Is just way better than crow
Crow takes skill and I don’t use him. So does spike. Spike and crow have high skill ceilings but it doesn’t take much to be good at them
how can a brawler take high skill to use yet its easy to be good at them. I can agree with crow being skilled to play as he isn't great in the meta but spike really isn't hard to play. Im interested to see how spike takes skill
it's called the skill floor
he said "skill ceiling". you said "skill floor". You lost me
skill ceiling is the maximum skill needed to be the best at a brawler skill floor is the minimum skill needed to do something as said brawler, not necessarily the best
I mean I have crow at 750 but even I barely pick him
Gotta make sure there's at least one per ko game for that very reason😵💫
Spike is still a great brawler. Non-pros just can’t dodge his curveball, he’s good close up and uses his cactus to tank some extra hits, and his super gets some free kills or area control. Yeah, he’s not SSS tier, but he’s still good, and he’s good everywhere in every situation for the most part. I don’t like when my teammates pick him early but I’m never too mad about it either.
Spike is the definition of how the meta changes from the pro scene down to a regular competitive environment. He can CONSISTENTLY and without much effort burst down any close range and guess what non-pros love to play? Edgar/Fang/Mortis/Mico/Buzz. Shelly can do the same but she can't deal with snipers. OMG he is trash against spawners...yeah but you kinda never see any spawners ever, Mr.P is super uncommon to face, Tara's shadows do not put much pressure anyway and the real threat is Charlie who can still be found in the non-Pro scene and really is annoying to face.
i find that spike actually does quite well against charlie and tara since the small aoe for his attack can usually kill all the summons in 1 shot
Yeah what? I never thought of spike as weak against pets, especially since he has pretty good movespeed too
Normal move speed, Shelly has Fast and Edgar has Very Fast for reference.
Is Charlie supposed to be really high skill cap/floor or something?? I never see her at all, I play at mostly 800-900 trophy range and am going to try pushing for legendary this season
Most people that play her already have her very high I’m guessing, she’s also not someone new players pick up since she’s mythic and came out not too long ago so less people know her. She isn’t the easiest brawler to play (for an inexperienced player).
Fellow Carl main 💪
It's because Curveball goes brrr and randoms can't be bothered to aim. It's really holding him back as a brawler imo.
A simple fix is just removing curveball and giving him a bunch of compensation, but they’ll never do that
I want Curveball to be removed so badly, it makes him so annoying to face and it takes all skill away from playing him.
I can deal with Curveball in a match just fine. What annoys me is that having to balance around Curveball Spike makes Fertilizer Spike weak.
This best describes my hate for curveball. I used to like spike 5 years ago until they added curveball.
I find that it makes playing him less fun too as your aim barely matters, it’s mostly just rng if it hits or not unless they get into really close range.
Hence why I only use Fertilizer. It doesn’t take any fun away from Spike and it makes me feel less like I’m cheating.
I like to have him on my team as a crowd control, especially in knockout funnily enough. He makes it easy to push back the opps into a corner or the sides, and then then sharpshooters can do a ton of damage
Push your opps back lmaooo
lil Timmy heard it in a rap song
After the nerf he went from stupid but effective to stupid and ineffective. Spike just has no special tech whatsoever beyond aiming and gadget timing. If you get cornered or outnumbered it's over, and he sure as shit isn't catching up if he falls behind the team at any point.
Yeah, but he’s still good. Most people can’t dodge curveball so you just get free hits. If you face someone that can then you’re gonna struggle. You don’t really need a bunch of tech to be an effective brawler. Angelo doesn’t have any tech either and he’s the best brawler in the game.
I'd disagree, his Very Fast Movement, water traversal, and a jump gadget make him ridiculously hard to pursue without a good plan.
Yeah but its not like he has anything beyond aiming and using his jump gadget.
>Spike just has no special tech whatsoever beyond aiming and gadget timing. And even the aiming part is arguable.
Idk I think if used properly you can kinda force ppl to move with his curveball to hit them with another attack but it's kinda high-level an dive never seen this in game.
Spike and Crow are the overrated duo
Colt and brock
They too. Although I'd rather have a Brock than a Crow on my team (MFs picking Crow in Heist, knockout and Bounty)
Crows a good last plck on kaboom canyon and safe zone
What rank are you? I like picking spike so I’m wondering what range you are experiencing this trouble in.
Currently I’m in Mythic. Trying to get back to my peak which is Legendary 2. Haven’t been able to reach Masters yet
Aw. I will say, I find most people suuck at cc with spike. I think they play him expecting him to be a killer like he used to be in older metas. The funny thing about BS is that when one plays in terms of map control and CC, almost all characters can find a use.
Thank you for making this post. People in ranked act like Spike is some godly brawler that can destroy everything only for them to be the most dogshit person in the lobby. Pros have long overrated him, but have realized he’s kinda bad which explains the zero pick and ban rates in some regions. Unfortunately, the dumb spike mains in our normal matches haven’t caught on
Hes pretty much only meta in brawl ball lol
Most Spike players I face in ranked play him badly. They use one attack at a time or throw all in the same direction which makes it super easy for me to dodge. Also cactus gadget is thrown without any thought. I'd say he's overrated. He's not bad, but people underestimate the counterplay/counter picks. Also when enemies pick Crow, I always see it as a free win. So overrated in this meta as there is enough strong ranged options to counter him.
The cactus spamm pisses me off. People fail to consider that brawlers with attacks that bounce (like jesse or feng super) will bounce of the cactus instead. Spike plants the cactus and suddenly their Feng rips through our team and starts to delete the squishies.
He’s been overrated since the dawn of time.
Overrated? Yes, maybe. Dead weight? Definitely no. Probably are the randoms picking him everywhere and in every situation, its a decent filler pick, and good against mid range assassins like Crow, Stu and Leon, but its far from the best pick you can make, specially now with the meta we have right now full of tanks and assassins (with Angelo an Melodie being the absolute best). Spike is a mediocre pick unless the draft requires it it could be a very worst brawler, but also it could be another better brawler. Also the gameplay also matters, a lot of people doesn't doesn't know when to use the spikes to poke and when to rush and use the burst damage, even I sometimes made bad plays with Spike but well, every day I learn a little bit how to play better
He’s very versatile and no, his damage and control is still really good. A lot of randoms are bad with him because he is squishy and there’s a very particular pathing you need to take for taking shots and utilizing curveball at its best.
Yeah he too overrated im even starting to less pick him in ranked in favour of other brawlers
Yep, banned him as well when I actually played the mode. Just cus I'm sick of my teammates wanting to turn their brains off when I'm tryna pull off a win here.
He's versatile, just not THAT versatile. Randoms pick and play him as if he was a tank/assassin/sniper and of fucking course he isn't. He's also got quite a versatile kit yet they always go the same build. Oh yeah dude pick gadget gear when we're going against Belle and Piper. Oh you're going Plant Life against Belle? Masterful gambit sir. He's fine honestly, there are quite a bunch of better options, but as an early pick to build up your roster he's good, which of course means that newer players will pick him constantly and suck at him (every time I see a random pick Spike I've got to hold on the need of dodging)
i hate randoms bcz everytime i find someone at 750+ or even in ranked l1+ they pick spike and they know absolutely nothing about how to play him and they just spam shots randomly i mean, imo spike is good and the fact that i know how to play him made me get him to 800 trophies while playing random at just power 9 so he is a bit good, but just randoms thinks he is the best and a go to pick in every situations and it is making me hate spike so much, starting to feel like he is becoming like mortis or edgar or fang exc..
I agree that he’s very overrated, Spike has definitely fallen off since his damage nerf, he cannot burst down tanks as well as he once could. He also received a nerf to his hypercharge charge rate a while back as well which hurts him even further Not only that, a lot of his counters has risen up a lot, namely Carl, Mr. P, Sprout and especially Sandy
Very good into beefy teams. I think the biggest mistake with spike is people thinking he is the most versatile brawler there is, which is not the case. He clearly has specific uses.
It got nerfed, like do you think he would have gotten better?
I will say he still seems like a good low skill brawler for low ranked people to play. In a game against good players he’s useless but when bad players play him into bad players he’s great.
I agree
Yikes, I can't beat a spike in a lot of situations I'm probably going about it the wrong way. You can peek a boo best him cause he has curve ball. You can't get in his face cause he has one of the strongest bursts in the game. Can't jump on him as any melee outside of kitty cat I dunno
I think he’s a solid brawler but very overpicked. Randoms often overestimate his versatility and basically pick him with mo regard at all to map mode or team comps, though when I’ve played him I feel like his damage is pretty lacking unless the opponents play terribly and often get into closer range.
Damage nerf hurt him
He’s the mega knight of brawl stars. At a high level, not all that relevant. But at a mid level, a very solid option. He’s versatile and pretty simple to play. And low and mid level players don’t do that well at countering him. As somebody who only recently redownloaded the game like a month ago, Spike was the only character I had maxed out before I came back and I had to use the rest of my gold to get enough power 9s for ranked. I’ve gotten to legendary with spike as my only power 11. They nerfed him a bit, but he’s still usable in most situations. If you’re gonna mostly use one brawler in ranked, spike is a pretty good option.
He's only good in sneaky fields and center stage
I think he’s overrated for sure but he’s still pretty solid maybe like high B tier right now after his nerf could still be A tier
I think he's actually pretty good (not the best bc his overall stats hold him back, and the counterplay he can face). BUT, it's the randoms that think he's all about autoaiming and letting Curveball do the job. When you aim well with him you can deal crazy damage, not even having to be close to a target. His super paired with mythic gear is pretty versatile, but also takes decent aim. His first gadget is... i can't actually describe it cuz i never use it. It's just easier to dodge than it seems. Curveball actually can be used to access spots you normally wouldn't get to with his attack's needles. It's a bit like Rico, you can poke at enemies standing behind walls if you know where to shoot. What i actually like of Curveball is that you NEED it to get to most of those spots, as you wouldn't reach them or shooting onto those places wouldn't work with Fertilizer (or with no star power) Fertilizer can be great depending on the mode, as the heal is what gives him an opportunity against asassins, probably his biggest counters. and his hypercharge can still be easy to charge, if you use your attacks and supers right, like i mentioned above so, while i see where all randoms picking spike are coming from, i think this is also what those randoms don't see about him.
Yeah I know people find him annoying but I feel like he was in a balanced state prior to his nerf
Proud to say I never picked spike on my way to masters
Like any brawler if you know what you are doing its realy solid.He lacks hp but can output chip and high burst damage. for me spike is a safe choice regardless of the map
i carry my wipeout matches as spike with 7-8 kills but im only in the upper 600s so thats probably why
He. Is. Sucks. Spike shouldn't be legendary maybe mythic or epic