Frogmind, better known as the company behind the Badland franchise, which had most recently included Badland Brawl, is back on iOS with Rumble Stars Soccer, and for the past few weeks, we’ve been discussing this game and offering you tips on how to win more often and survive the different leagues. Unlike most of the soccer games we usually cover, this title is neither too hardcore fan-centric like the FIFA or Football Manager series, nor too casual like many other soccer games available for iOS and Android players. This is a game that plays out a lot like Badland Brawl, but on an association football field, and its goal is to test your strategic skills as you figure out which players, or Brawlers, you should be using, and which ones you should be leaving on the bench.
Our first two Rumble Stars Soccer guides were written for beginner and intermediate players respectively, so if you’re an expert at this point, this guide might be for you — definitely, you want to be reading this if you’ve accumulated your share of experience in El Dorado at the very least, or if you’re now playing in Zen Palace or Frozen Valley. This is our Rumble Stars Soccer strategy guide for the advanced player, so keep on reading if you want to know how to use some of the rarer, more skilled players in the game, or if you want to find out some new and possibly innovative ways to use the Rumblers whom you were able to unlock early on in the game.
1. Meet Even More Rumblers
Once you reach the point where you’ve got about a thousand Trophies for all of your Rumblers (as seen in the upper middle portion of your screen), you’ll likely have all but three or four Rumblers unlocked, maybe all but five. So we might as well give you the lowdown on these characters, and what they can do for your team if you include them in the lineup.
We’ll be talking more about this unusual little Rumbler later on in the guide, but Fake Ball works simply by impersonating the ball, and tricking Rumblers into kicking him into the opponent’s goal. He’s a Core Rumbler, so you should have no problem upgrading him with the cards you win from the chests.
For the Pro Rumblers we haven’t talked about yet, Turtle Spinner is one of the available Rumblers that only become available at El Dorado, and again, we’ll discuss him in greater depth later on in this guide. He’s a big, fast defensive Rumbler who spins around the field and deals out damage against opposing Rumblers. And once you make it to El Dorado I, you’ll be able to unlock Royal Dung, who “repels everyone” except the goalie — as the name suggests, this is a stink bomb which you can throw toward opposing players, much like Mr. Fire, but only more effective.
For the rest of the Superstar rarity Rumblers, let’s start out with Mammoth, whose job is to throw enemy Rumblers back to their side of the field — in other words, he’s strictly a defensive Rumbler who won’t be counted on to score (unless it’s by some sort of accident), and that’s especially true because Mammoth cannot go past the halfway line. Stamina and Mass are among Mammoth’s strengths, he’s very much on the massive side, his field time is a whopping 26 seconds, and he can even deal out some impressive Hit Damage. Once again, the only thing he can’t do is score.
Friendly Seal is also of Superstar rarity, and she “always passes the ball to friends through air” with her flip kick. She’s not much of a goal scorer, as her skills are all about keeping the ball out of danger with that impressive flip kick and Shot Power. Lastly, Croco is like a more intense version of Raging Bull, as he “bites furiously” at enemy Rumblers, smashing them away and serving as another good defensive option.
As a bonus tip, Fast Monkey becomes unlockable once you reach Zen Palace, so that should be worth looking in to once you get there, assuming you didn’t unlock him early on in the game during the tutorial stages, as is often the case.
2. Do Not Buy Superstar Rumbler Cards Unless You’re Totally Loaded
Rumble Stars Soccer, like Frogmind’s very similar Badland Brawl, allows you to buy player cards in the in-game store, usually selling one Core, one Pro, and one Superstar rarity Rumbler each. Most of the time, these would be for Rumblers whom you’ve already unlocked, though there may be some times when you can buy a player who’s yet to become available for selection on your team. Typically, Core cards cost 2 coins, Pro cards cost 10, and Superstar cards cost a whopping 2,000 each.
In general, we don’t think it’s a very good idea to buy these cards, regardless of cost or rarity — for Core and Pro cards, you’ll likely get them anyway whenever you open those Silver or Gold chests. As for Superstar cards, that prohibitive 2,000-coin cost should be reason enough for you to avoid them like the plague. The only exception would be if you’re flush with coins, and the Superstar card being sold corresponds to someone whom you haven’t unlocked yet. Otherwise, you’re best being as patient as possible and unlocking new players by opening chests.
3. You Can Watch Your Own Matches On Rumble TV
Rumble Stars Soccer’s Rumble TV feature’s main purpose is to allow you to watch some of the best matches recorded in the game’s system, meaning those featuring other players. This is a good way to see how other human managers utilize certain Rumblers you may not have used or unlocked yet, or those whom you aren’t too familiar with using. However, you also have the option to watch your own matches, simply by tapping on the My Matches tab on the upper portion of the Rumble TV screen, right beside “Featured.” In here, you’ll see your most recent matches, the teams that took part (your team and your opponent’s, of course), the number of times your game was shared, and the options to watch the replay or share it. You’ll also see the number of times a replay was viewed; all these options are also available on the Featured screen. Watching your previous games is probably the best way to passively improve, as you can see what you did right, while also pinpoint the mistakes you made that may have led to the other team pulling a fast one on you and winning the match.
4. Moving Up From One League To The Next Gets You Better Rewards
This should have been mentioned in our previous guides, but you may or may not have noticed that the type of chests you can receive or buy change with each time you move from one league to the next — from Greenfield to El Dorado to Zen Palace to Frozen Valley. That means you should have a better chance at rarer Rumblers as you move up the rankings and go from strength to strength, though at the moment, it would seem that Frozen Valley is the uppermost league of them all, barring updates that might add another league or two. We also haven’t seen a case where you could demote yourself to a lower league, though you don’t really have to do this for the sake of unlocking characters — for example, if you haven’t unlocked Hipdozer once you reach El Dorado, you can still unlock him in the higher leagues/divisions.
5. Taking Out The Goalie Is A Great Way To Score Easy Points
This is an easy strategy to neglect early on while playing Rumble Stars Soccer, as you’ll likely be racking up win after win while playing in Greenfield and most of El Dorado. But as things get tougher in the upper divisions of El Dorado and in the other two leagues, you’ll find it harder and harder to score goals. So what better way to get some easy goals than by eliminating the goalie and taking him out.
The most effective way we’ve seen to take out the goalie is to launch Mr. Fire toward him, especially while he’s stepping out of the box to stop a shot. You can then follow up with Bomber Hen or Raging Bull, though it might take some time before they get things going — Bomber Hen, for instance, takes some time to load up her Bomb Chicks, and Raging Bull always targets the nearest enemy player; if there’s another Rumbler near the goalie, that might be the one Raging Bull targets! Once the goalie is out, you have no more than five seconds to score unmolested, so for that, it’s useful to have Sniper Wolf ready for long-range shots, or, if they’re ready to deploy, Striker Tiger or Fast Monkey for a closer range attempt.
6. Do Not Bench Raging Bull
We’ve tried taking out some of the old mainstays from time to time, Rumblers like Loyal Dog, Bomber Hen, and Striker Tiger. But Raging Bull is one core Rumbler whom you do not want to bench at any time. And it all boils down to the fact that a lot of managers make good use of Fast Monkey or Sniper Wolf, the former for close-range attempts at the goal, the latter for ranged attempts. A well-timed Raging Bull could easily take out a scrambling Fast Monkey — try launching him right after your opponent launches Fast Monkey, and watch him work his defensive heroics. Fast Monkey may live up to his name as the fastest player on the pitch, but he’s also the squishiest, and fair game for Raging Bull to take out. Sniper Wolf, on the other hand, may not be as much of a threat, but he could stay quite a while on the field (default field time of 20 seconds), and is quite a hardy player, with his base stamina at 64. Leave him on the field for too long and he’ll eventually send a shot through the enemy goal, but sic Raging Bull on him and he won’t be so dangerous anymore to your team.
7. Use Froggy For Close Range Shots, Hipdozer For Slow, Patient Goals
While Fast Monkey and Sniper Wolf are usually the top two offensive players on most teams, Froggy is sneaky good when it comes to using his tongue to shoot the ball into the enemy goal. It helps to launch him fairly close to the enemy goal, because if he’s too far away, he’ll be of little to no use to your team. But since you’ll want someone to pass the ball to Froggy so he could get those quick and easy shots going, you can send Loyal Dog or even Striker Tiger in before Froggy, as those two can pass the ball from the midfield, sending the ball to where Froggy’s tongue could reach it.
Hipdozer is quite the annoying player to plan against, and as we mentioned earlier, it’s all because of his extremely massive frame. If he hits another player, he could also do a lot of Hit Damage, but with him, it’s all about slowly but steadily pushing the ball toward the enemy goal and shaking off everything and everyone in his path. He could also force some own goals, if you aren’t careful, but if you’ve got him on your team, you’ll obviously be the one inducing those own goals. Use him if you don’t mind waiting a while to score (and also because he’s such a great Rumbler to have on your side), and when trying to take him out, use everything you’ve got as quickly as possible — Mr. Fire, Raging Bull, Bomber Hen, even Turtle Spinner, though we personally aren’t fans of the latter Rumbler.
8. Which Of The Later Rumblers Are Least Effective?
Speaking of ineffective Rumblers, this is a facet of the game where your mileage will certainly vary. Some players may like these Rumblers, and others won’t, but based on our experience playing the game across a variety of leagues and divisions, we don’t really go with Turtle Spinner so much. He’s not as targeted as Raging Bull, and while he’s certainly quicker (despite turtles being among the world’s slowest animals in real life), the lack of direction to his spinning can be quite frustrating, to say little of his limited field time. Likewise, we don’t love Love that much, pun half intended. Like Turtle Spinner, she doesn’t last too long on the field, and that also means she isn’t as effective as one would hope when it comes to making an opposing Rumbler useless for a given period of time. Lastly, since we didn’t want to leave the Superstar rarity out of this question, our least favorite Superstar Rumbler may be Mammoth. It’s cool to watch him swat Rumblers from one side of the field to the opposite, but he costs too much energy (7), and doesn’t always get to prevent enemy Rumblers from scoring, despite his best efforts.
9. Use Fake Ball To Keep The Score Low
Most players would probably be happiest with a good old fashioned shootout, where the goals get fired fast and furious and the game ends in a minute’s time or less. But we understand that there are also some Rumble Stars Soccer players who prefer a more deliberate, defensive approach, and with that in mind, we strongly suggest using Fake Ball if you want to keep the score as low as possible, at least on the enemy side of things. Simply launch Fake Ball anywhere there are offensive Rumblers from the opponent’s side, and watch him throw them off, with no exception. It doesn’t matter if it’s a jack of all trades like Striker Tiger or a close-range specialist like Fast Monkey. They will all be thrown off (in-game) and think that Fake Ball is an actual soccer ball, even if he looks nothing like one. In essence, you’re wasting these opposing Rumblers’ time, and forcing them to regroup as they struggle to keep their eyes on the actual ball after Fake Ball is done fooling them.