The past few weeks have seen us focusing heavily on Brawl Stars, and sharing a plethora of character guides that take a good look at what you can expect from each of the many Brawlers available in the game. And it shouldn’t surprise you that we’re giving this game so much love — it’s the newest release from Supercell, and while it’s a stylistic diversion from Clash of Clans or Clash Royale, it’s still very much a social game like any MOBA worth its salt should be. You’ve got four game modes, 3-on-3 battles where you team up with real players against other real players, and a decent number of Brawlers to play as, and unlock. And if you feel like you need to brush up on your skills, you’ve also got the option to play against computer enemies, which isn’t as fun, but nonetheless necessary if you’re experimenting with new strategies.
For this new Brawl Stars character guide, we’ll be looking at another female Brawler. Last time around, we had featured Shelly, but now, we’re moving on to Jessie, a character whose most defining feature is the ability to summon Scrappy, her turret, and add an extra member to the team, giving you a clear manpower advantage in the battlefield. Read on if you’re looking to learn everything there is to learn about Jessie, her turret, and how you can take the fullest advantage of her skills!
Overview
Jessie is another common Brawler in the rarity tier, and like most of the characters we’ve profiled so far, she is a ranged Brawler. And when it comes to her range, the best way to describe it would be solid, but unspectacular — she won’t blow you away with an impressive ability to hang far back and take out enemies from a distance, but that range isn’t too bad if you look at the big picture. Her range is, at the very least, far more impressive than any melee character in the game, while definitely not as impressive as that of Brock, Colt, or Ricochet.
Her primary attack, which is an orb, has her looking for the next closest target to deal more damage, after she’s already dealt damage on her initial target. In a sense, you can say that this ability is all about guile and faking out the enemy — you might not think of her primary ability as much, but that also means she can work without fanfare and do her thing quite well. As for her Super, that’s something which likely won’t disappoint you one bit, as it allows her to summon a turret that supports her by dealing out a ton of damage; if left alone, that turret can spell trouble for any team that faces it in battle.
Strengths
Jessie’s obvious strength comes in the form of her Super, as this is what makes her useful to any Brawl Stars team — that turret, much like Nita’s bear, is essentially a fourth member of the team, and gives opponents even more to worry about when facing a team that has a player using Jessie. If you’re using her and activating that Super, you can easily lock down key points of the map, and gain a formidable tactical advantage over any given opponent.
In terms of the overall package, there’s little to complain about Jessie — she’s as close as you can get to an all-rounder, and doesn’t have any glaring weakness that could make her a big-time liability to her team.
Weaknesses
Although we did mention earlier that Jessie doesn’t have any real weaknesses that should be of major concern, we should also add that her hit points aren’t what you would want them to be. She’s in the lower half of Brawlers in terms of HP, and that means she can be overwhelmed by a more powerful Brawler who may get within her range. That’s something you want to avoid when playing as Jessie.
Then again, the fact that she’s a “Jill of all trades” could also work against her at times. Her range, as stated, isn’t bad, but it isn’t anything to really write home about either. And her single target damage isn’t that high either — she’ll do decent damage against enemies, but if you have her attack a bunch of enemies together, that’s where you can make the best use of her primary ability, even with the lack of overpowering damage.
When And Where To Attack
When using Jessie’s primary attack, it’s best to do so at the start of a battle, as that’s when your opponents will likely clump together in the middle. As she can seek out the nearest enemy after her attack hits the first enemy, having all enemies bunched up together will work to your advantage. Take note that her attack can damage multiple brawlers (not just two) after the first hit lands, you may end up damaging all three of your opponents — just think how good this could be if you connect with triple damage on all three shots. Once the orb hits one enemy, it could hit another, and if the enemies are bunched up particularly tightly, it could hit the third. That’s a whole lot of damage, to say the very least, even if the raw damage stats aren’t anything special!
Jessie’s gun turret is named Scrappy, and if you’re facing her in battle, you could easily avoid the bullets if you’re at a good distance. But if you’re using Jessie, you’ll want to place Scrappy wisely to avoid the possibility of enemies avoiding the turret from afar. One suggestion would be to place it right next to your opponent; once at close range, Scrappy doesn’t miss too often, as enemies typically don’t have enough time to avoid the turret from close distance. Another suggestion would be to place Scrappy far from you, but within your target’s range. This could be much trickier, as you’ll need to choose the right angle, and make sure that the turret could connect against the enemy Brawler you’re targeting at any given time.
Likewise, it’s also a good strategy to use Jessie and Scrappy to take out opponents both ways when they’re hiding beneath cover. Have Jessie flush the enemies out, and use Scrappy on the opposing side of the wall to finish ‘em off. Sometimes, this could be hard to do, as some players are experienced enough to find cover at the right place and avoid Jessie AND Scrappy at the same times.
It’s also worth noting that Jessie can make good use of an enemy’s teammates to deal out damage on a target. That means you won’t have to leave your “safe haven” where you’re well-protected from damage if seeking out a target with low HP that’s hiding behind a wall; doing so will leave you open to their attacks, and that’s where Jessie’s own unimpressive HP stats could do her in. Fire instead at an enemy that’s running in to support their teammate. More often than not, they won’t be aware that you’ve just fired off an orb that’s heading toward the intended target, after it hits the enemy that ran in to provide some backup.
Jessie’s orb is also able to strike Scrappy (if you’re playing against someone who’s also playing as Jessie), as well as Nita’s bear. That bear can be a pretty enticing target, because you could easily kite the bear and Nita — as anyone who’s familiar with the term should know, that would have you avoiding their damage. You’ll also be preventing the bear from adding to Nita’s super juice, and once your orb hits the bear, it will likely bounce back toward Nita, as most players tend to have her follow the bear when both are active.
Summing everything up, it’s best to use Jessie whenever there are enemies closely clustered together, as hitting the primary attack at the right place and right time could weaken everyone on the enemy team. Even if you get killed, your teammates can come in to finish what you had started.
When To Use Super
We should probably rename this section “when to use Scrappy,” because summoning the turret is, in essence, what Jessie’s Super is all about. We did say that you can position Scrappy next to an enemy you’re targeting, or throw him anywhere that’s still within the range of your target. But you can also throw Scrappy to the other side of a wall, as we had briefly stated earlier, so as to take out an enemy in hiding. Make sure to time your attack while the target is busy dealing with Scrappy, as that will allow both of you to attack the enemy at the same time.
As a bonus tip for Scrappy, here’s one instance where you should NOT use it. Don’t place the turret in any place where it lines up with your path toward the enemy. That’s going to allow that enemy Brawler to fire at you and Scrappy at the same time; you want them to choose between you and the turret, instead of having their way against the two of you.
Best And Worst Game Modes
As Jessie is an all-rounder, she should do well in three out of the four Brawl Stars game modes — Smash and Grab, Heist, and Bounty, in that order.
You should prioritize Jessie when playing Smash and Grab and Heist modes — the two modes that have objectives attached to them. Summoning Scrappy can be very useful in any mode that comes with an objective, as it has the ability to establish control over a map and put pressure on enemy Brawlers, while acting as an extra member on your team — a 4-on-3 advantage for you, if you’ve activated Jessie’s Super.
Jessie is also quite useful in Bounty mode, as this is a mode where Brawlers would often clump together in the center of the game map. Use your primary ability to do damage on as many enemies as possible, just as we had instructed in the other sections.
Jessie’s low HP and lack of overwhelming strengths would work against her in Showdown mode, as she wouldn’t normally last too long in a mode where it’s one of you against nine other Brawlers controlled by nine different players. She won’t have the HP required to last the long haul, so you’re better off going with someone like El Primo in Showdown.
Best Matchups
Nita is the very obvious choice as a favorable opponent for Jessie, as she is the only other character in the game whose Super allows her to summon a fourth member to the team. You’ve got Scrappy, while she’s got her Bear, and in either case, you’ve got an extra Brawler of sorts on your team that can also do damage against the enemy and distract them by giving them someone (or something) else to worry about. In this battle of similar characters, Jessie arguably has the advantage in most cases.
Poco is a second character due to his HP stats being similar to Jessie’s, while having offering less by way of damage. Obviously, he doesn’t have a turret either to match up against Scrappy, and while he could make up for this with his healing ability, the catch when using Poco is that you can only heal if you activate his Super.
Bull and Shelly are two other favorable matchups, as Jessie has better range than either of these two shotgun-wielding Brawlers. Jessie can also do a decent amount of damage, and when she’s got Scrappy summoned, it’s easy to flank these two enemies in particular and get them in big trouble. Then you’ve also got Dynamike, who’s not that good when compared to Jessie — you can use your orb and your turret to throw him off, and unlike Barley, who’s a similar character to him, he doesn’t have any AOE (area of effect) attacks that can do damage over a period of time.
Worst Matchups
We’ve talked about several Brawlers whom Jessie is strong against, now let’s move on to a few who may give her trouble in Brawl Stars game modes.
Barley, as mentioned, has his AOE attack — his whiskey bottles, which explode and do damage to multiple characters over time. That could include Jessie and Scrappy, so you might want to find a safer spot to move to if the opposing team has Barley on it.
Brock is one of the harder characters to play against, as his attacks have an impressively long range, while being capable of dealing a ton of damage. The rockets he launches can, in fact, take Scrappy out in just two shots, and since it can get destroyed very quickly by Brock, that leaves Jessie with no source of Super juice. If you’re looking for a quick way to deal with Jessie, then look no further than that rocket-slinging Brawler named Brock.
Bo is a regular of these “worst matchups” lists, and it’s easy to see why. The damage he does with his attacks — the exploding arrows, in particular — could easily trump Jessie’s orbs. He’s also got more hit points than Jessie, which means it won’t be easy to deal with him, even if you’ve already summoned Scrappy and it’s the two of you against just one of him.
Last, but not the least, we’ve got Mortis, another staple of these “hardest” or “worst” matchups sections. In all fairness, Mortis isn’t as hard a counter as some of the others mentioned in this section, because Jessie does have Scrappy’s assistance, and you’ve got to take that into account if you’re using Mortis. But Jessie will have a hard time getting within the right range, and when she does, she’ll likely have lost a good deal of HP, thanks to Mortis’ attacks, making her essentially useless in short order.