How to Spend Your Elixir – (Upgrade Priority) in Brawl Stars

Hello Brawlers! Today we will be going over how you should spend your elixir! As a freemium player, it is important to hold onto your elixir and upgrade the right skills!
Pick Your Main & Backup Brawler
Now I know you will get 5-8 Brawlers relatively quickly at the start of the game if you play non-stop. Once you get to play with a lot of them, you start to get a feel of what you enjoy playing. You will want to then choose someone you would play all the time for maps like Smash & Grab, Bounty and Showdown.
You will also want to pick a backup Brawler you like playing often. For example, my main Brawler is Shelly and my back up brawler is El Primo. These are the 2 characters I upgrade.
Elixir Upgrading
For those that would like to know how upgrades works, it goes like this:
- You can upgrade 5 times each on either Health, Regular Attack or Super.
- 1st upgrade – 1 elixir
- 2nd upgrade – 2 elixirs
- 3rd upgrade – 3 elixirs
- 4th upgrade – 4 elixirs
- 5th upgrade – 5 elixirs
Recommended build path will be mentioned below for each Brawler, but here is how you should upgrade initially:
- 1 upgrade for Attack, Health and Super for a total of 3 elixir’s spent
- Spend elixir based on priority mentioned below!
Common Brawlers
Shelly
Attack > Health > Super
Shelly excels in very close combat due to her shot gun mechanics If someone is at point blank range of her shots, they take all 3 bullet shots! She is very versatile and can kite out El Primos, as long as you are not in range of him. Upgrading her attack will increase her DPS potential. Her Super is more or less used to finish off running targets or breaking walls. She also does have decent health to not die to attacks easily, compared to other ranged attackers.
Colt
Attack > Super > Health
Colt’s bullet’s does a lot of damage if it all 5 lands. You will want to utilize his damage as much as possible due to the nature of his attack. He is a straight offensive character that can’t take hits. Getting health isn’t the most efficient due to the minimal increase.
Brock
Super > Attack > Health
Similar to Colt, he is a raw offensive character that does best at long range. You will want to upgrade his Super first to increase the Area of Effect damage you deal to Brawlers. With his incredible long range attacks, you can stay safe from the battlefields and fire away. When you let El Primo get close to you, you are done anyways, so pointless trying to upgrade his health.
Jessie
Super > Attack > Health
Her super carries heavy utility, allowing your team to cover advantageous locations in Smash & Grab and Bounty. You will want to upgrade that first. Health isn’t as important as your regular attacks are long range and will keep you away from the front lines.
Nita
Super > Health > Attack
Since Nita’s regular attacks don’t scale too well with upgrading since its just a 1 hit attack, it is much better to upgrade her Super for a tankier bear. This allows you to kite from distance. Your bear will also deal more damage. Health comes second because it helps with Nita’s survival. With the recent update of nerfing a bit of her bear’s health, it is still the same upgrade process for Nita.
Dynamike
Attack > Super > Health
For Dynamike, it is all about offense. Since upgrading health won’t give you that much benefit on the offensive end, it is much better to focus on offense. You can interchange between attack or super depending on how often you use his super in maps like Heist, Bounty or Smash & Grab.
El Primo
Health > Attack > Super
For the tanky melee fighter, I suggest health first. This allows you to survive enemies (Shelly, Nita etc.) that can kite you from range. While his Super is useful, the damage increase isn’t worth upgrading until both health and attack are completed.
Rare Brawlers
Bull
Attack > Health > Super
Much like El Primo, Bull’s upgrade priority will land on either attack or health. His super is more of a positioning tool than for offense. His regular attacks are a good upgrade as it allows you to kill things…faster. Health is also a good choice to survive enemy onslaught.
Ricochet
Attack > Super > Health
Oh Ricochet. Upgrading his attack is his best option. His bouncing bullets will be more annoying to deal with. I don’t recommend health upgrades as his health is too low. An upgrade on his health only gives him minimal increase.
Barley
Super > Attack > Health
Barley shines on his super attack. A large range area of effect attack is devastating and it is very useful in Heist. His regular attacks are used to charge up his super. Your goal is to unleash as many supers as you can in a short amount of time, particularly Heist. Health is not as useful since Barley is pretty toast if someone gets in range to attack him.
Poco
Health > Super > Attack
Despite the range nerf, upgrading his health is still a good first option. This allows his super to be more effective and heal more. His attack is mainly there to charge up his super for more heals. The longer he lasts in battle, the more heals and utility that will benefit the team.
Epic Brawlers
Mortis
Health > Attack > Super
Mortis has low health as a melee attacker. So it is best to upgrade his health so he doesn’t die to long range kiting from Brawlers like Shelly/Poco. His super is ultra long range, so attack is the second upgrade priority for him.
Bo
Attack > Super > Health
Bo’s offense is very strong, so it is best to upgrade his regular attack for more potent attacks. He has great range, so it is not a priority to upgrade health when you can safely poke from distance. His super is something you can also upgrade first if you find yourself getting kills off his super. It’s hidden underground and you get some surprise skills sometimes!
Legendary Brawlers
Spike
Super > Attack > Health
Spike’s regular attack is useful and is used to hit enemies for a fast super charge up. His super does good damage is is something you want to invest first.
Crow
Attack > Health > Super
Crow’s super is more of an “invincibility frame” move, so it is much wiser to invest in attack for consistent damage.