Brawl Stars is a multiplayer online battle arena[1] and third-person hero shooter[2] video game developed and published by Finnish video game company Supercell.[3] The game was released worldwide on December 12, 2018, on iOS and Android platforms. The game features a variety of game modes, each with a distinctive objective. Players are able to choose from a large selection of unlockable characters, called "Brawlers", whom each have different abilities and playstyles.[4][5]

In Brawl Stars, players battle against other players or AI opponents in multiple game modes. Players can choose between different Brawlers, who can be unlocked through the Starr Road or purchased through the Shop to use in battles.[6] In December 2022, a new progressive unlock system called the "Starr Road" replaced Boxes as the main method to unlock Brawlers.[7][unreliable source?] The cost to unlock each Brawler on the Starr Road depends on its rarity.[8]

During a match, players can use their Brawler's normal attack or their Super, a special attack that charges up through damaging opponents or in some cases through additional means. Players can also equip their Brawlers with power-ups known as Gadgets, Star Powers, Gears, and Hypercharges; Gadgets and Hypercharges can be activated during a match[9][10], while Star Powers and Gears are passive abilities.[11][12]

Game Modes

Brawl Stars has a variety of different permanent and temporary game modes that players can choose from, each having different objectives and maps. Players can invite friends to play with them while staying under the maximum team size of the game mode. Most modes involve two teams with three players each, other modes can involve either five or two player teams.[13][unreliable source?][14]

  • Showdown: A battle royale-style game mode involving one (solo), two (duo), or three (trio) players per team. Ten (twelve in Trio Showdown) players battle for survival, with Power Cube boxes scattered across the map providing boosts to attack and health.[15][unreliable source?][16][unreliable source?][17][unreliable source?][18]
  • Brawl Ball: A soccer game mode where two teams of three (or 5 for 5v5 Brawl Ball ) players attempt to score points by shooting a ball into the opponents' goal. The game ends if one team scores two points, or if one team has a point advantage after two minutes. Some other variants of this game mode were added later, each modeled after a different sport.[19][unreliable source?][18]
  • Gem Grab: Gems spawn in the middle of the map, and two teams of three Brawlers must collect the highest number of Gems possible. A team wins if they is able to accumulate ten or more Gems and stay with them while not dying for 15 seconds, if both teams have the same amount of gems and both have more than 9, the countdown will restart when one gains more gems than the other.[20][unreliable source?][18]
  • Wipeout and Bounty: Deathmatch game modes. In Wipeout, two teams of either three or five must defeat 10 or 20 enemy Brawlers. In Bounty, teams must earn 20 points by defeating Brawlers, who become worth more points for each kill, with a blue star deciding the draw from overtime.[18][21][unreliable source?][22][unreliable source?][23][unreliable source?]
  • Heist: Two teams of three Brawlers each attempt to destroy the opponents' highly durable safe located near their spawn point, before the enemy team can destroy their own safe.[24][unreliable source?][18]
  • Hot Zone: A king of the hill game mode. Two teams of three Brawlers each must stay in all Hot Zones for a combined total of 100 seconds. The match ends if this requirement is met or one team had stayed in the Hot Zones longer than the other throughout the time limit. with a 2v2 version added later on in events[25][unreliable source?][18]
  • Knockout: A deathmatch game mode where players cannot respawn and rounds are won by defeating the entire enemy team. The first team to win two rounds wins the game. A variation with five Brawlers is unique in that each elimination causes the remaining teammates to gain extra damage and health.[26][unreliable source?][18]
  • Duels: A game mode involving two players playing against each other. Each player assembles a team of three Brawlers; after one of the players' Brawlers is defeated, the player plays the next. The goal is to defeat all three of the opponents' Brawlers while not losing your brawlers in the process.[18][27][unreliable source?]
  • Basket Brawl: Similar to Brawl Hockey, Basket Brawl is another Brawl Ball variant. In this mode players are split up into two teams, each trying to shoot the ball into the other's moving hoop. In this game mode, there is a 3-point line, where players can try and shoot from within (scoring 2 points) or from outside (scoring 3 points). The game is ended when the first team reaches 5 points, this game also has some bugs along with Brawl Hockey where Sprout can stop the ball from going into the goal.[18][28][unreliable source?]
  • Volley Brawl: A game mode where players on 2 teams try to defend against enemy attacks by standing on a circle. The circle indicates where the ball will land, if the player successfully parries the ball, it will fly towards the enemy side. When the ball lands on one side with no players on the team to parry it, the opposing team gets a point.[29][unreliable source?]
  • Mega Pig: Players can join clubs or create them[30] to participate in Mega Pig, an event that occurs around once a month over a weekend. Each win adds to a club's points, which increases the Starr Drops they get at the end of the event,[31] with a mega Tree event during Christmas.[32] Each player has 15 tickets they can use to play games, each game costing one. Once a player runs out of tickets they can't contribute to the pig anymore (unless they help someone else in their club win games).[31]
  • Map Maker: A mode where players can freely create maps and may apply custom modifiers to various modes in the game. Players can submit their maps into candidates of the day, allowing for a selection of random player-submitted maps to be played by other players, who can give the map a like or dislike, increasing or decreasing their chance of being selected. The map with the most likes becomes the winner of the day, which becomes available for everyone in a second Map Maker slot.[33]