“Bo the Eagle Hunter is the greatest bowman the Tribes have ever known. His arrows are simply explosive!”
Introduction
Bo is a semi-long range brawler with relatively high health and mediocre damage. Bo is currently one of the worst overall brawlers in the game, but that doesn’t mean he’s unusable. As a matter of fact, Bo can be very useful to your team, the problem with him is that he requires a very high skill cap to be useful. The one key tactic in playing Bo is strafing. Bo’s arrows don’t fire towards the same direction, they all travel slightly away from each other, this makes it hard for you to consistently hit all three arrows. Strafing allows you to manipulate the arrows’ direction, making them travel in a straight line. When shooting upwards you want to walk from right to left. When shooting downwards you want to walk from left to right. When shooting left you want to walk from up to down. When shooting right you want to walk from down to up. All these movements allow you to manipulate the direction of Bo’s arrows, making them travel in a straight line, making it easier for you to hit all three arrows. Bo isn’t the best in any gamemode, he’s decent to good in most modes though, due to his tankiness, range, and mediocre damage. His mines can make or break a game, you don’t want to drop the mines immediately, you want to be careful, positioning on your mines matters a lot. One key thing to note when placing your mines is if there are any opponents near you. This is because at higher levels most opponents go and trip your mines right away, they do this by going just at the edge of the mines’ range then running back, wasting the mine. When there are no opponents nearby when you place your mines, them tripping it and taking damage will be much more likely, as they will have less time to react, as they wouldn’t know where your mines are. As said above, mine positioning is key, you want to place mines where you know where your opponents have to go in order to either get to the objective or kill you.
Star Power: Circling Eagle
“Bo gains the ability to spot enemies hidden in bushes from an uncanny distance. Shared with teammates!”
Bo’s star power allows him to see opponents in bushes from 6 tiles away. In comparison the regular view distance in bushes is 2.5 tiles. So Bo gains approximately 2.5X more view distance in bushes. Allies get to share your view distance. That doesn’t mean that they also have 6 tiles view distance, it just means that they see all the extra things you see in said bushes. This star power can be very powerful in maps like Snake Prairie, Outlaw Camp and Terracotta square in bounty, Bone Box and Hard Rock Mine in S&G, Feast or Famine in Showdown, and to a certain extent Pinhole Punt in Brawl Ball. While being almost useless all others maps. Bo’s star power has the potential to be extremely overpowered, but it can also be extremely underpowered, all of this matters on the map.
Stats and Upgrades
Health: 3600-4860
Damage Per Arrow: 400-540
Arrows per Attack: 3
Max Damage per Attack: 1200-1620
Attack Range: 8 tiles
Reload Speed: 1.7 seconds
Damage per Mine: 1440-1944
Number of Mines: 3
Max Damage per Super: 4320-5832
Mine Radius: 1.5 Tiles
Super Range: 8 tiles
Movement Speed: 2.5 tiles per second
Rarity: Super Rare
Skins: Default,———, ———
- Each Health Pin increases his health by 90
- Each Health Badge increases his health by 180
- The Health Medal increases his health by 270
- The Health Crest (available once all pins are unlocked) increases his health by 360
- Each Damage Pin increases his damage per arrow by 10
- Each Damage Badge increases his damage per arrow by 20
- The Damage Medal increases his damage per arrow by 30
- The Damage Crest (available once all badges are unlocked) increases his damage per arrow by 40
- Each Super Pin increases his damage per mine by 36
- Each Super Badge increases his damage per mine by 72
- The Super Medal increases his damage per mine by 108
- The Super Crest (available once all medal are unlocked) increases his damage per mine by 144
- The Star Power increases his view distance in bushes by 3.5 tiles (from 2.5 to 6 tiles)
Upgrade Priority
Health —> Attack —> Super
Game Modes
Bounty: Good
Bo is decently good in Bounty, his health and range makes him decided in maps like Star Gulch and Shooting Star, while he can be usable in bushes maps like Outlaw Camp and Snake Prairie without his star power he can still be usable, mainly due to his mines.
With his star power you want to mainly play him as a support brawler, you stay near to one teammate at a time and give them vision in bushes so they can spot opponents better. He mainly shines in Snake Prairie and Outlaw Camp, in Snake Prairie you want to be staying in important parts of the map, for example you can stay near one side of the map not allowing them to get close, and a Bull/Darryl stays on the other. This makes it easier for your team to get kills, as you can see opponents without them seeing you. In Outlaw Camp you want to be staying center, Bo’s star powers radius is so large that you can see the entire center compartment of the map just by going middle and staying slightly in your side. This allows you to control the middle, while your teammates assist you in getting kills. In both maps you want to try and find a pattern in your opponents, by this I mean in what location they are approaching you pretty much every time , that’s where you want to place your mines, it makes it much easier to get the mines to explode on the opponents, as they wouldn’t expect the mines. In other maps like Shooting Star and Star Gulch, you want to be staying central with two other long rangers on your sides, long range shines on these maps and Bo’s semi-long range and high health makes him decently good on those maps.
Without his star power, you mainly want to focus on Terracotta Square, Star Gulch and Shooting star. In Shooting Star and Star Gulch you want to be going middle, with your high health you’ll be able to stay alive more than let’s say a Piper would. You want to use your mines behind their walls, this forces them to either not go behind cover at all or go behind it only for the cover to be destroyed. During countdown you want to drop your mines right behind you, then attempt to bait them towards the mines, this can often lead to getting easy kills on unsuspecting opponents.
Smash and Grab: Good
Bo can be a good gem carrier for S&G, due to his high health, range, and map control with his mines. Bo is arguably the third best gem carrier in the game falling behind Poco and Pam. You want to be staying center but closer to your half. As a Bo you don’t want to fully commit to being a Gem Carrier, you want to have a secondary gem carrier, this can often be a Crow, Spike, Jessie, Dynamike, Barley or even a Tara to a certain extent. You want to be supporting your other gem carrier, this makes it easier for your team to control the middle, but it also makes it easier for your team to get flanked. That’s where his star power comes into play, his star power allows you to see opponents in bushes much easier, making it very hard for tanks to sneak up on you. This is what you want to do with his Star Power.
Without his Star Power, you want to be the main Gem Carrier in your team, this is much riskier but is the best option if you don’t have his star power. You want to be staying center all time, before a match tell your teammates to pick up as little amount of gems as possible. You want one of your teammates to be a flanker, while the other should be a support, this can very from long range to throwers to a Crow. You don’t want to place your mines right in front of the gem mine, you want to place them in their base, behind obstacles that they usually go to hide behind. This can even be effective during countdown if you’re losing, as most opponents will trip the mines just trying to escape. If you have all the gems, drop the mines slightly behind you when you’re trying to escape during countdown, this also makes it probable for opponents to trip them.
Showdown: Bad
Bo isn’t a good option in showdown, this is mainly because of his low DPS. In showdown you’re not going to find a lot of good matchups, as it’s often filled with tanks and throwers, Bo isn’t good against tanks because of their higher speed,and and high damage up close, in showdown tanks will most often get close to you, and with Bo it’s almost impossible to survive a tank and point blank. The same goes for throwers, Bo can easily win a one on one against a thrower in an open field, but showdown is filled with a lot of walls in most maps, and battling a thrower in an open field can be a hard thing to find.
With Bo in showdown you want to save your mines for a specific situation, mainly in the center, the reason for this is that your mines often go to waste as the map shrinks, placing them close to the center almost guarantees that they’ll get maximum value. You also almost never want to go for one box at a time, in maps like Feast or Famine, Stormy Plaines and Skull Creek you want to go for the double boxes, by this I mean two boxes placed right next to each other. You want to shoot in the middle of the boxes and hit both of them at once. His star power doesn’t change many interactions in showdown, it helps of course but it’s not much to go into detail, it allows you to get the boxes in the edge of Stormy Plaines easier, or you can go into the middle of Feast or Famine and scout the whole central compartment. Once you get one or two power ups in showdown, you want to find a team as fast as possible, this may be hard because not a lot of people would accept a Bo as he doesn’t provide much value in a team.
Heist: Bad
Bo is one of the worst brawlers overall in Heist, due to his low DPS and the fact that it’s hard to break walls due to his mines not being instantaneous, he’s not really usable on offense. He’s also bad on defense due to his low damage, and not many good strategic locations to place his mines. The main suggestion I can give is to not use him in heist at all. But just because he’s horrible, doesn’t mean you can’t win with him, it’s just way harder than if you use anyone else.
With Bo on defense you want to stay in front of the safe, but not too close, you want to cover one of the choke points to the safe with your mines, this way if they do break through your defense, your mines can stall them for a couple extra seconds and potentially deal damage to them. With Bo on offense is a lot harder, you want to place your mines behind cover they’re hiding, but make sure that destroying that cover also opens up a new choke point to go through to reach the safe, with Bo on offense your going to have to rely on your teammates a lot more than any other brawler.
Brawl Ball: Okay
Bo isn’t that good in Brawl Ball either, he’s better here than Heist though, mainly due to him being good as a support role.
With Bo in Brawl Ball you want to stay back at the start, you want to shoot directly at the ball, this is one of the easiest way to get hits at the start, allowing you to quickly get your mines. With your mines, you want to place them behind/in front of the walls in front of the goal, this makes it probable that your opponents will trip them, breaking the walls in front of the goal, making it easier for your team to score. If the walls in front of the goal are already destroyed, you want to place your mines behind cover that they are usually going to hide behind, even if they trip your mines without taking any damage, you are still destroying cover which can be very essential if you have another long range brawler.
Robo Rumble: Okay
Bo is decent in Robo Rumble, mainly in the beginning waves. With Bo in Robo Rumble you want to place your mines at one of the choke points, while you and a teammate control the other lane, while another teammate control the lane with the mines, this allows you to protect the safe easier getting a better time. Bo is good at the beginning waves but as the waves go by he becomes nothing but a disability to your team. His star power has no effect on this mode as their aren’t any bushes. The robots’ pathing is very predictable, so they’ll explode on top of your mines pretty much every time with proper mine placement.
Boss Fight: Okay
Bo isn’t very good at Boss Fight overall. He’s pretty good against the boss but he’s not good as the boss due to his low DPS, it can get hard to kill opponents, especially if three or more attack you at once. His star power doesn’t change much in Calamity Canyon but is very useful in Hole of The Mole King, as it allows you to spot the Boss much easier.
Against the Boss you want to be staying close to one or two teammates at a time, you don’t want to be staying close to more than two teammates at a time, because that would allow any Boss that can deal AOE damage to wipe out your entire team in a matter of seconds. You want to place your mines where you think the Boss will retreat back to, because the Boss has a higher movement speed and it’s very easy for the Boss to trip your mines without taking any damage, and if they just walk onto the mines where they think it’s safe, it will be much more likely that they’ll get hit by your mines.
As the Boss, you never want killing opponents to be your top priority, instead you want to focus on hiding, you want to stay on one side of the map, while using your mines to cover the other side of the map, so that opponents can’t sneak up on you.
Best Team Comps
Universal: Bo, Colt/Ricochet, Thrower
This composition works for bounty, S&G and Robo Rumble.Your main goal should be going middle as Bo and controlling the middle, staying central and occasionally going left or right to help your teammate, your goal as the Colt/Ricochet should be hugging one of the sides and staying there, you want to go to another side and/or central very rarely, depending on your teams condition, if you’re getting heavily pushed back it might be a good idea to stay close to the Bo as he can be a pretty strong ally, his high health and similar range makes him a good assistant to help stay alive. As the thrower you want to be staying remote, away from Bo and Colt enough that it’s very hard to hit both of you with any form of AOE damage, but still close enough that you can help each other in getting kills. As a Bo it’s important to constantly shoot at enemies making it take them longer to regenerate, as a Colt/Ricochet it’s important to have as good as aim possible, the more skilled you are at aiming, the easier it will be to hit most of your bullets, making it easier for them to accidentally panic and get hit by Bo’s mines. As a thrower you obviously want to stay behind walls and keep them away, when they start getting close start backing up towards Bo to get assistance from your allies.
Brawl Ball: Bo, El Primo, Colt
This composition isn’t that great overall since Bo isn’t that good of an option for Brawl Ball, but it is one of the best including Bo.
As a Bo you want to be staying near Primo, you almost never want to hold onto the ball, you want to make sure the ball remains with or close to El Primo most of the time, when an opponent passes you the ball to disrupt your attacks for a second, don’t pass it back unless you know you’ll kill them if you do it, usually you want to pass it to the Primo, even if he can’t pick it up at the moment, it’s a good idea to keep the ball with the tankiest brawler in your team, as they can survive longer making it more probable that they’ll score. Continuing that topic, as El Primo you want to be the main goal scorer, you can combo your super with passing the ball towards their goal, this combo has a high chance to score a goal as most often opponents can’t do anything against it. As Colt you want to be staying back dealing as much aim as possible, using your super to destroy the walls in front of the goal.
Conclusion
Bo is a brawler who’s decent at most modes, but not unusable in any. His range, health, mines and damage all make a really good combo for a brawler, he’s well-rounded and an one of the best gem carriers for Smash and Grab. He’s a Jack Of All Trades style brawler, as in decent at everything but not utterly horrible at anything. His star power is horrible on some maps while insanely overpowered in others.
The Weekly Brawler 