Supercell, the company behind some of the most iconic mobile titles for your favorite Android gaming phone (like Clash of Clans and Brawl Stars), has created a fresh crossover competitive 10-player party game. In Squad Busters, you build an army of heroes to brawl your way to the top against nine other players. But you’re not provided instructions on how to win and survive. Instead, the game will drop you inside matches with little to go by. So, to ensure everyone’s on equal footing, we’ve created a guide showing the ins and outs of Supercell’s new arena brawler.
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How to play Squad Busters
Explaining the objective and controls
The controls are straightforward: You tilt your phone to attack and swipe to move, then tap-hold a direction to speed up your movement.
The objective of the game mode is to collect the most Gems while staying alive. Killing players eliminates them from the game while destroying monsters nets you Coins. You will also need to spend Coins to grow your army and create fusions (this occurs when you collect enough character copies). It’s all about keeping a competitive balance between your army’s power and having reasonable map control.
You can queue into matches by tapping the Play button and create pre-set parties (up to 10 people) by tapping the Party Up! button; if you plan to play with friends, you may want to dabble with this option after you’ve finished the tutorial.
How to progress in Squad Busters
Obtain Portal Energy, Coins, and Chest Tickets
You need to earn Portal Energy (the purple currency) to unlock worlds and open chests to acquire more characters; you obtain Portal Energy just by playing, and you can get more through achievements.
As you play, you will passively acquire Coins. You can only hold up to 5 million Coins at a time. Spending Coins is how you acquire Chest Tickets, reset Win Streaks, and buy items in the Shop. You will also receive chests just by playing, no matter your score — as long as you have Chest Tickets.
Which Squad Busters characters should you deploy?
Including top character picks in each category
Squad Busters’ characters offer six categories: Supplier, Defender, Attacker, Healer, Speedster, and All-Rounder.
- Suppliers: Good at getting you more Coins; great choices of heroes in this class include Goblin and Penny.
- Defenders: Good at taking damage and buying your squad time; some of the best in this class include Barbarian King and Royale King (or El Primo when starting out).
- Attackers: Good at eliminating threats; some of the best include Witch and Archer Queen (or Colton for starting out).
- Healers: Keeps your squad alive and kicking. Medic and Battle Healer are some of the top choices.
- Speedsters: Gets across the map with ease. Hog Rider and Max are fantastic choices.
- All-Rounders: Jack of all trades, master of none, but provides nice padding to your army with balanced stats. El Tigre and Barbarian fulfill this class well.
You also start in the base form (baby) before ranking up; once you’ve earned enough character copies (three or more) from chests, your character will rank up or “evolve” into a new form, which will be a more powerful version (think how you’d prefer sending out Venasaur instead of Bulbasaur in Pokémon) than the previous — though abilities may change ever so slightly, so keep that in mind.
Who you deploy and focus fusions on will ultimately decide your strategy. For example, creating a team with Suppliers and Speedsters means you’re likely focusing on looting rather than fighting; an army composed of Greg and Hog Rider will have you cut down trees and move across the terrain more efficiently.
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Keep a look out for Squad Busters
Squad Busters launches globally on May 29th. We already know Supercell holds a solid record for games; many of the Finnish company’s previous games are a blast to play in a sitting. These games also offer plenty of replayability, so time is always well-spent while. If you’re curious to see what Squad Busters is all about, we’ve prepared the download widget below.
