We went through the entire deal when we gave you our Brawl Stars ultimate guide, as we talked you through more than 20 different tips and tricks that cover just about every area of the game, every game mode, and every option available in this new iOS game from Supercell. And just in case your mind is in need of a refresher, this is a new MOBA game where you take part in 3 vs. 3 battles against real players from all over the world — your teammates and opponents are all real, and you’re going to need the right choice of brawler, on top of the standard teamwork, to make sure you win most of the brawls you take part in, if not all of them.
That being said, we’re kicking off a new series in which we talk about the different characters in Brawl Stars, and what’s in it for you if you choose to use them in battle. So in this Brawl Stars character guide, we shall be taking a closer look at Brock, the Rocket Assassin. Read on if you want to know about his strengths, weaknesses, and the strategies you need to employ to get the most out of this character.
Overview
Brock is one of the common Brawlers you can utilize in Brawl Stars, and as you can see from the rocket launcher slung over his shoulder, he’s a ranged character. This weapon fires one rocket at a time from an impressive range, and once the rocket hits its target, that can deal out a ton of damage. His Super Ability is the Rocket Jive, which allows him to shoot a series of rockets in succession, allowing him to destroy walls, blow the cover of enemy Brawlers, and take as many of them out if they happen to be hiding behind those walls. Needless to say, Rocket Jive is one of the most powerful Supers in Brawl Stars, so you’ll want to avoid it if an opposing player happens to be controlling Brock. And that applies in any case, regardless of how many HP you have.
Strengths
As mentioned above, Brock’s strengths primarily include the ton of damage he could deal out, as well as the impressive range of the rockets he fires. You might not even realize it, but you may be getting fired at from out of the screen — that’s how impressive that range is. That said, Brock’s rockets/missiles don’t exactly extend from one end of the map to the other. But long range is long range, and that’s how it is if you’re using him as a Brawler, or if somebody else is.
Brock’s Super is another strength worth mentioning — targets with solid to less-than-solid HP figures can instantly be killed by that Super. As such, you can have him alongside Bull, El Primo, and other close-contact/tank characters — they soak up the damage while doing some of their own, while he deals it out.
He’s a fantastic Brawler to use when trying to establish early position and trying to keep enemies away from certain objectives, but he also does have his fair share of weaknesses that may make him more of a liability than an asset in certain game modes, or against certain Brawlers.
Weaknesses
You’ve got to love that damage, range, and Super. But on the other hand, you also have to deal with the fact that it’s fairly easy to avoid his rocket launcher. The rocket moves slowly and in a straight line, and that means you can easily duck out of its way if an opposing player happens to be using Brock. He also doesn’t have any crowd control skills, and isn’t exactly stellar when it comes to avoiding damage or performing evasive maneuvers. He is also on the squishy side, and that means he could easily be taken out by other high-damage characters.
When And Where To Attack
When using Brock, one thing you have to do is to predict where your enemies will likely be headed — more often than not, you’ll find them in the bushes. You want to fire at the bushes before your enemies can actually get there — no need to worry, because opposing Brawlers tend to walk straight into Brock’s rocket. And when talking about where you should be attacking as Brock, it should be from a distance, and not up close — remember that this is a squishy Brawler, and that he could easily be killed by high-damage Brawlers. You don’t want him dead at any point of the battle. Stay at your maximum range, and launch your rockets from there, but do so while taking into account whether you’re aiming at melee or ranged Brawlers, as well as the positioning of your close-contract Brawlers and/or tanks. If your enemies are melee fighters, then they should, of course, be focusing on the heat of the battle up close, while if they are ranged Brawlers, they’ll naturally be hanging out in the back.
Another simple, yet very useful tip would be to follow your tanks and use them to soak up the damage, providing support through your ranged attacks.
When To Use His Super
As we have established above, Brock’s Super, Rocket Jive, is very useful when it comes to taking down walls. That could, in turn, allow you to kill some enemies, while denying them a path to escape and giving you a clearer line of sight. Without any walls to hide behind, they’re all yours for the killing in many a situation.
Best And Worst Game Modes
We’re going to have to go with Smash & Grab and Heist as the most ideal game modes if you’re planning to use Brock as your Brawler of choice. He’s especially good in the latter mode, because as we had mentioned several times earlier, his Super is capable of destroying walls, as well as other obstacles too. And that certainly includes the wall that’s protecting the safe. Once you’ve taken out the wall, you can then attack the safe quickly, without having to move up close and risk getting attacked by the defensive team.
In Smash & Grab, Brock excels as he’s able to effectively provide coverage around the gem mine in the middle of the arena. Aim your rockets wisely, and do so in such a way that you’ll be hitting an enemy that’s just about to grab the gems on the ground. We’d call that a good example of using the techniques we taught you in the ultimate guide — trying to read the patterns and tendencies of opponents.
Showdown, on the other hand, is probably Brock’s worst game mode. As Showdown has every Brawler looking out for themselves, with the last Brawler standing in a group of 10 winning this mode, you don’t want low-HP guys like Brock, even if he could deal out a ton of damage. Expect to be squished if someone takes you by surprise, and expect as well to be hunted down and flanked, as other players try working together in a strange and temporary alliance to take out certain targets. Again, Brock doesn’t have much to speak of in terms of evasive maneuvers, so it wouldn’t be in your best interests to throw him out there in a free-for-all game mode like Showdown.
As far as Bounty goes, Brock is a rather “meh” performer — there are reasons why he could potentially be successful, as well as reasons why he most probably won’t. Stick to him for those objective-type modes, but avoid him like the plague if you’re trying to succeed in Showdown.
Good Matchups
Moving on to Brock’s best matchups, we’d say he works best if any one of these Brawlers (or more) are on the opposing side — Bull, Crow, Colt, Jessie, and/or Shelly.
Bull is a close-contract Brawler who doesn’t have much range on him, and since he’s also slow on his feet, you can sit back with Brock, and have him fire away at Bull before he could move close enough to be in attacking range.
Colt and Crow are both ranged characters who need to stay back in order to avoid getting damaged or killed. In both cases, you’ve got the advantage of both additional range and damage, so you can stand your ground, dodge their fire, and attack them from where you’re stationed.
Moving on to the ladies, Jessie is a brawler with a turret dubbed Scrappy that gets summoned when she uses her Super. As you could probably guess, she’s also an easy target to take out if you’re playing as Brock, but you should make sure you get rid of her before she could launch her Super. Lastly, Shelly is another short-range character who wouldn’t be able to catch up with Brock, just as long as you move back at a similar speed, hitting and running as you go along.
Bad Matchups
If Brock has some good matchups, he also has some bad ones, namely Barley, DynaMike, El Primo, Nita, and Ricochet. Let’s take a look at each of them, again going along in alphabetical order.
Let’s start out with Barley and DynaMike, who are both tough matchups with short range, but enough quickness to avoid Brock’s rockets. They are also AOE (Area of Effect) Brawlers who could make use of whiskey bottles and dynamite respectively to control crowds. Of course, that includes crowds that Brock is a part of, and since he’s slow on his feet, he might not be able to get away in time.
El Primo is a great Brawler to team with, but if he’s on the opposing team while you’re using Brock, then you are likely in trouble. That’s for the very simple reason that he is practically flush with HP, a classical tanky melee fighter (though not a pure tank) who isn’t much of a threat offensively as he is difficult to take out. That means you can run out of ammo while trying to blast him into kingdom come, and while you’re doing that, he could close the gap on you. Also remember why we stressed that Primo isn’t a pure tank — he’s not too shabby on offense, and could wipe you out while he reduces the distance from you if you’re not careful!
Likewise, Nita is a hard Brawler to go up against, mainly on account of her pet bear. The presence of a pet gives you two characters to worry about, all in one brawl, and since your ammo is limited, you’ll need to work first on the bear before you work on Nita. That could put you in a compromising situation if you don’t have enough ammo to deal with Nita once her bear is out.
Then you’ve got Ricochet, who fires more bullets than Brock does, while having a similarly long range. As he’s capable of launching more bullets than Brock can launch rockets, he could land a couple hits on you and do a bit of a number on your health. Meanwhile, if your rocket misses, it’s essentially wasted, as it doesn’t do any damage.
Your Worst Matchup
We probably should include Mortis in the above list of bad matchups, but there’s a reason we list him separately as your absolute worst matchup in Brawl Stars, if playing as Brock. So why is Mortis such a bad matchup for Brock anyway?
Well, let’s start out with the fact that Brock doesn’t have too many HP, and with that in mind, he’s easy game for Mortis once he’s in melee range. Believe us, that’s something he can easily pull off. He also has a swipe ability that he can use to quickly move out of the way and avoid the rocket. That means you may find it really, really hard to land anything against this guy — there may be times when he may walk into your account, but don’t count on that happening all of the time.