“Crow takes to the skies, throwing a ring of poisoned daggers around him both on take-off and landing.”
Stats
Health: 600
Attack: 80 per dagger (3 daggers), poison damage over time
Super: 80 per dagger
Rarity: Legendary
Speed: 750
Overview
Crow is a very versatile brawler and is pretty useful in almost every game mode. However, he isn’t overpowered in any game mode specifically. Due to his low health and slow damage, he can easily be overwhelmed if you don’t know how to use him. However, with some skill and understanding of the battlefield, he can be very strong, even despite his recent nerf in the latest balance changes.
Strategies
Showdown
Crow is hard to use in Showdown without a complete understanding of how to 1v1 with him with all brawlers and complete understanding of Showdown. You need to stay away from any and all bushes, and check the bushes from a distance. You won’t be taking too many power points in the game, but that’s okay, you just have to work on dodging. As long as you aren’t facing Dynamike or Barley, then walls are your best friends. Practice on circling around walls while you are being chased, and keeping them poisoned by hitting them right before they get to the other side of the wall. This way you can easily run away from enemy brawlers and keep poison on them, which is why you don’t need too many power points. Just focus on not getting hit, but keeping all opponents poisoned, and you’ll be set for victory. Keep in mind that a lot of the common brawlers in Showdown have a shorter range than you, and use that to your advantage. Just stay right outside of their range and consistently hit them with just 1 dagger, and you’ll be good for gold.
Heist
Offense: Crow isn’t too good at attacking in Heist due to the chokepoints. With common brawlers in this gamemode being Dynamike, Barley and Colt, you will have a lot of problems advancing to the safe. You have a very slow killing speed, and your enemies will be able to run away to safety while you are stuck on the other side of the chokepoint unable to safely cross, and you cannot deal high amounts of damage against the safe either. The only thing going for Crow is his super. If you are able to get your super up and going, you can jump right past the chokepoints and right on-top of your opponents, and with your damage and speed you will be able to confirm your kills and bring the enemy defense to chaos. Thus, Crow’s super makes him decent at Heist, but due to the fact that the super is hard to get in the first place, I wouldn’t choose Crow for Heist.
Defense: Crow is a bit better at defending compared to offense. Because of his constant threat of poison, a lot of players will fear going through chokepoints to get to the safe. Thus, you can easily control these chokepoints. Focus on chipping away anybody who is up close to the chokepoints by keeping them poisoned, while ensuring that everybody else is too scared to enter. If your teammates do not help deal damage/defend, then you will probably be overrun and the safe will be taken down before the full extent of your damage will kick in, which is why I do not recommend using Crow for Heist.
Bounty
Crow is decently good at Bounty overall. As I stated before, it really depends on your skill when using him. I’ll give pointers on how to best use him in combat universally in the “How To Use” section, but right now we are just talking about Bounty. You don’t have to push forward or try to hold anything, and that’s where Crow shines: Anywhere he is free to move as needed. This means if your opponents push, you can retreat while still keeping poison on them, and vice versa. As long as they don’t have any long-ranged brawlers like Piper, Ricochet or Colt, you don’t need to take cover to keep opponents poisoned. Do not try and kill players with over half their health left, just make sure they consistently take damage. Your teammates will do all the killing, because you are a support. Don’t be a hero, but don’t get too conservative as well. You may be in a situation where you need to get in and take out an opponent who has a lot of stars. The best way to do this, if your target is not a close range brawler, is to use your super right on top of them, hit them with all 3 of your daggers over and over, and when they go down, try to stall as much as possible while poisoning opponents when they are cornering you. If you stall long enough, your poisoning will fill your super, and you can escape with a clean kill or 2. However, only try this when it is completely necessary. If 2 guys are poisoned, or you pushed an opponent to retreat, you have done your job, and that’s all you really need to do, so don’t be a hero.
Smash and Grab
Crow shines pretty well in Smash and Grab. Because of his ability to poison, most brawlers will fear getting hit at all, and when they get hit they will do one of 2 things. Retreat and heal up, or try and attack you, when they can’t catch you. Both of these scenarios will end up in a positive outcome. The true way to beat Crow is to either bring a long-range brawler or to stay as a team, but I feel from my experience of playing Crow that normally this coordination doesn’t really get setup too often, as it takes communication, and if you are very good at dodging, you don’t get destroyed by sniping. So always provoke these 1v1 fights by keeping poison on your opponents. If you can keep poison on everybody, they can’t attack the center mine, the poison is too much damage and their inability to heal is just icing on the cake. Although you are holding the center, don’t actually enter the center without teammates, as it is too easily flanked. Remember, you have very little health, do not push to far. You will also be the one making sure you are not flanked by softening up any flankers before they face the full force of your team. Don’t get kills, but rather provoke retreats or chases, buying time for your team to collect the gems.
Brawl Ball
Crow can do pretty well in Brawl Ball. He has a good amount of speed, meaning it is hard to pass him as a Mortis trying to get ahead or a high health brawler like Bull or El Primo trying to tank their way through a small opening. Because of your consistent damage output, you can slowly chip down a team, if they can’t advance onto you. If you are Crow, or even if you are playing another brawler with a Crow on your team, keep in mind that Crow cannot stop a group of brawlers very efficiently if they work together, so you need a high health close range brawler support like El Primo or Bull to stop from getting ganged on. With this exception however, you can have a lot of success with Crow, just don’t get too close to any high health brawler, even though this is a close quarters gamemode, and, of course, keep the poison going!
How To Use
As I have repeatedly stated, keep the poison going. The only way to properly keep players suppressed, which is your true job as a support, is to make sure they are taking damage. That way, they can’t heal and will be on a consistent retreat. If they can’t heal, then they can’t formulate a good push against your team. This is why Crow is a support. You can’t deal heavy damage(for the most part), or tank many shots, but you can prevent the opposing team from attacking. This is why you always need to keep your opponents poisoned. However, there are some instances where you shouldn’t be going too far to poison. Do not get into the range of your opponents, since you are very fragile. If your opponents have a long-range unit, like Colt, Ricochet or Piper, then you will need to hide behind cover. Otherwise, just outrange your opponents and you are safe. Try to single out a brawler by provoking a fight, which naturally comes if you get to the edge of their range and poke them with a dagger every shot. You can easily 1v1 almost any brawler that isn’t long-range as long as you can hit them without getting into their range. Do not rely on your daggers for damage, it helps of course, but your main goal is to poison, poison, and keep poisoning!
The Weekly Brawler 