Optimizing Brawl Stars Characters and Upgrade Path; 5 Tips
The Brawl Stars upgrade chart is the single most important reference every player needs before spending a single coin or power point. Understanding exactly how much it costs to upgrade each brawler from level 1 to max, when star powers and gadgets unlock, and how to manage your resources across a growing roster is what separates players who constantly feel broke from players who have multiple maxed brawlers ready for ranked. This guide covers the complete upgrade chart, every cost at every power level, the full progression path for star powers, gadgets, gears, and hypercharge, and the most efficient strategies to max your brawlers quickly in 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Each brawler has a maximum power level of 11, with upgrades requiring power points and coins at every stage.
- Star powers unlock at power level 9 and gadgets unlock at power levels 7 and 10, making those the most critical milestones in any upgrade path.
- Hypercharge unlocks at power level 11 and represents the final upgrade tier, providing the most significant stat boost in the entire progression system.
- Total coins required to max a single brawler from level 1 to level 11 sits at approximately 4,965 coins, not including gear and hypercharge costs.
- Prioritising a smaller number of brawlers to max level is significantly more efficient than spreading resources across your entire roster.
- Starr Drops, the Brawl Pass, and trophy road rewards are your primary free sources of power points, coins, and gems for upgrades.
- Resource management across power points, coins, gems, and tokens determines how quickly you can progress through the upgrade chart.
Overview of the Brawl Stars Upgrade System
The Brawl Stars upgrade system is built around a single core concept: every brawler starts at power level 1 and can be upgraded all the way to power level 11. Each upgrade increases the brawler’s health and damage stats, and hitting specific power level milestones unlocks entirely new abilities in the form of gadgets, star powers, and hypercharge.
Understanding the full scope of the upgrade system before you start spending resources is essential. Many players make the mistake of spreading coins and power points thinly across every brawler they unlock, ending up with a large roster of mid-level brawlers that are outclassed in competitive modes by focused players who have two or three brawlers fully maxed. The upgrade chart exists to help you plan efficiently rather than spending reactively.
The progression system in 2026 has several distinct layers. Power levels 1 through 11 form the base upgrade path. Gears add a secondary upgrade layer on top of power levels. Star powers and gadgets expand your ability kit. Hypercharge adds a final activation mechanic that transforms how a brawler plays in matches. Each of these systems interacts with the others, and understanding the cost and unlock requirements across all of them is what makes a complete upgrade chart so valuable for planning your resource allocation.
The Complete Brawl Stars Upgrade Chart: Power Points and Coins
The core upgrade chart covers the power points and coins required to advance each brawler through every power level. These costs apply to every brawler regardless of their rarity tier. The chart below shows the exact requirements at each stage of the progression path.
| Power Level | Power Points Required | Coins Required | Cumulative Power Points | Cumulative Coins | Unlock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | Stat increase |
| 2 to 3 | 30 | 35 | 50 | 55 | Stat increase |
| 3 to 4 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 130 | Stat increase |
| 4 to 5 | 80 | 140 | 180 | 270 | Stat increase |
| 5 to 6 | 130 | 290 | 310 | 560 | Stat increase |
| 6 to 7 | 210 | 480 | 520 | 1,040 | Gadget 1 unlocked |
| 7 to 8 | 340 | 800 | 860 | 1,840 | Stat increase |
| 8 to 9 | 550 | 1,250 | 1,410 | 3,090 | Star Powers unlocked |
| 9 to 10 | 890 | 1,875 | 2,300 | 4,965 | Gadget 2 unlocked |
| 10 to 11 | 0 | 1,875 | 2,300 | 6,840 | Hypercharge unlocked |
The total power points required to reach level 10 is approximately 2,300 per brawler. The coin cost to reach level 10 is 4,965 coins. Pushing from level 10 to level 11 to unlock hypercharge costs an additional 1,875 coins but requires no additional power points, making it the most coin-intensive single upgrade step in the entire chart.
Note that these figures reflect standard upgrade costs and may be subject to adjustment with major game updates. Always verify costs in-game before committing resources.
Types of Upgrades in Brawl Stars
The upgrade system in Brawl Stars covers four distinct upgrade types. Understanding each category and how they interact is essential before planning your progression path.
Power Level Upgrades
Power level upgrades are the foundation of every brawler’s progression. Each level from 1 to 11 increases the brawler’s base health and damage stats by a fixed percentage. The stat increase compounds across levels, meaning the difference between a level 1 and level 11 brawler in terms of raw health and damage is substantial enough to determine match outcomes regardless of skill.
Power level upgrades require two resources: power points and coins. Power points are brawler-specific, meaning points collected for one brawler cannot be transferred to another. Coins are a universal currency shared across your entire account. Managing both resources simultaneously, while balancing multiple brawlers in your upgrade queue, is the central challenge of the progression system.
Star Powers
Star powers are passive abilities that unlock at power level 9. Each brawler has two star powers, and both become available simultaneously when you hit the level 9 milestone. Star powers fundamentally change how a brawler plays in matches. They are not cosmetic upgrades but genuine ability expansions that can completely alter a brawler’s role in team compositions.
Star powers can be obtained through Starr Drops, the Brawl Pass reward track, or purchased directly with gems from the shop. Reaching power level 9 is the unlock requirement, but obtaining the star power itself requires a separate resource transaction. This two-step process catches many players off guard who assume reaching level 9 automatically grants both star powers without additional cost.
Gadgets
Gadgets are active abilities with a limited number of uses per match. They represent some of the most powerful tools in any brawler’s kit and can dramatically shift the outcome of individual engagements. Each brawler has two gadgets. The first gadget unlocks at power level 7 and the second gadget unlocks at power level 10.
Like star powers, gadgets require a separate acquisition step after hitting the relevant power level milestone. They are available through Starr Drops, the Brawl Pass, or direct gem purchase. Prioritising the first gadget unlock at level 7 is generally considered one of the most important milestones in any brawler’s upgrade path because active abilities provide immediate match impact that passive stat increases cannot replicate.
Gears
Gears are a secondary upgrade layer that sits on top of power levels and provides additional stat boosts or special effects. Gears are equipped in dedicated slots rather than being automatically applied, meaning you need to actively select and equip the right gear combination for each brawler based on your playstyle and the game mode you are playing.
Gear options include speed boosts, shield effects, health regeneration, and damage bonuses among others. Each gear has its own upgrade path with multiple tiers, and the coins and resources required to max out gear can be substantial on top of the base power level upgrade costs. Planning your gear investment alongside your power level progression is important for accurate resource budgeting.
Hypercharge
Hypercharge is the highest upgrade tier in Brawl Stars and unlocks at power level 11. It activates during matches when the brawler’s hypercharge meter fills, triggering an enhanced version of the super ability with additional stat boosts applied simultaneously. The model and visual effects change when hypercharge activates, making it visually distinct from the standard super in any match.
Hypercharge skins represent a separate cosmetic layer on top of the functional hypercharge upgrade. The functional hypercharge must be obtained first through gameplay progression, while hypercharge skins are cosmetic purchases that change the visual appearance of the activated hypercharge effect. Understanding this distinction is important for budgeting because the functional upgrade and the cosmetic skin are entirely separate transactions.
Star Power and Gadget Unlock Requirements Chart
| Upgrade | Power Level Required | Acquisition Method | Additional Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gadget 1 | Level 7 | Starr Drops, Brawl Pass, Shop | Gems or Starr Drop luck |
| Gadget 2 | Level 10 | Starr Drops, Brawl Pass, Shop | Gems or Starr Drop luck |
| Star Power 1 | Level 9 | Starr Drops, Brawl Pass, Shop | Gems or Starr Drop luck |
| Star Power 2 | Level 9 | Starr Drops, Brawl Pass, Shop | Gems or Starr Drop luck |
| Hypercharge | Level 11 | Starr Drops, Shop, Events | Gems or Starr Drop luck |
Ranking Up Brawlers: Trophies and Trophy Road
Power level upgrades improve a brawler’s stats but ranking up through the trophy system is a parallel progression path that tracks your skill and match performance. Trophy ranks progress from Bronze through Silver, Gold, Diamond, Mythic, Legendary, and Masters, with each tier requiring a higher trophy count to maintain.
The relationship between power levels and trophy ranking matters because higher trophy lobbies consistently feature brawlers at or near max power level. Entering high trophy matches with a power level 6 or 7 brawler against power level 10 and 11 opponents creates a stat disadvantage that even high skill levels cannot fully overcome. This makes upgrading your main brawlers to at least level 9 before pushing ranked trophies aggressively a sensible priority for any competitive player.
Trophy road rewards also provide coins, power points, and other resources that feed directly back into your upgrade chart progress. Maintaining active play across multiple brawlers to collect trophy road rewards is one of the most consistent free pathways to upgrade resources in the game.
Resource Management for Efficient Upgrading
Power Points: How to Collect Them Efficiently
Power points are the primary bottleneck in the early and mid stages of the upgrade chart. They are brawler-specific and cannot be transferred, which means every brawler you decide to upgrade is drawing from a separate power point pool that must be built independently.
Primary sources of power points include Starr Drops, the Brawl Pass reward track, trophy road milestones, and occasional event rewards. The most efficient approach to building power points for a specific brawler is to focus your Starr Drop openings and Brawl Pass progress around that brawler rather than distributing drops randomly across your full roster.
The amount of power points required scales significantly as you move through the upgrade chart. The jump from level 8 to level 9 requires 550 power points and from level 9 to level 10 requires 890 power points. These upper levels consume the majority of your power point resources and require sustained farming over multiple seasons rather than casual play.
Coins: The Universal Bottleneck
Coins are the universal upgrade currency in Brawl Stars and become the primary bottleneck once you have sufficient power points for a given brawler. The coin costs scale steeply through the upgrade chart, with the final two upgrade steps from level 8 to 10 costing 3,125 coins combined. Pushing a brawler to level 11 for hypercharge adds another 1,875 coins on top of that.
Across a roster of 10 brawlers all being pushed to max level, the total coin requirement is approximately 68,400 coins excluding gear costs. This scale illustrates why coin management is critical and why many players find themselves sitting on enough power points to upgrade but lacking the coins to execute those upgrades.
Primary coin sources include the Brawl Pass, trophy road progression, Starr Drops, and seasonal events. Avoiding unnecessary gem-to-coin conversions at unfavorable rates is important for maintaining efficient coin income. The Brawl Pass provides one of the best coin-per-gem values in the game when purchased during sale periods.
Gems: When to Spend and When to Save
Gems are the premium currency in Brawl Stars and can be used to purchase power points, coins, star powers, gadgets, and skins directly from the shop. Free gem income comes primarily from the Brawl Pass free track and occasional trophy road rewards, with paid gem income available through real money purchases.
For upgrade chart efficiency, the highest value gem expenditure is the Brawl Pass itself rather than direct shop purchases of power points or coins. The Brawl Pass provides a volume of resources that significantly exceeds what the same gem amount would purchase in the direct shop. Reserving gems for the Brawl Pass and spending them directly on star powers or gadgets only when a specific brawler unlock is time-sensitive is the recommended approach for resource-efficient players.
Tokens and Starr Drops
Tokens are earned through daily match play and event participation, and they are used to open Starr Drops. Starr Drops are the primary random reward mechanism in Brawl Stars and can contain power points, coins, star powers, gadgets, skins, and other resources. The rarity tier of a Starr Drop determines the quality of its contents, with Legendary Starr Drops offering the highest value rewards.
Maximising your daily token collection through consistent match play is one of the most impactful free actions for accelerating your progression through the upgrade chart. Players who play daily and collect tokens consistently accumulate Starr Drops at a rate that compounds significantly over the course of a full season compared to irregular play patterns.
Best Upgrade Paths for Each Brawler Type
Tanks and High Health Brawlers
Tanks like Frank, Darryl, and El Primo benefit most from a direct push to level 9 to unlock star powers as quickly as possible. Star powers on tanks frequently provide survivability bonuses that directly amplify their health advantage. Prioritising gears that enhance health regeneration or shield mechanics compounds the benefit of star powers and creates a survivability profile that is significantly harder to defeat in extended engagements.
For tanks, the gadget unlock at level 7 is also critical since gadgets frequently provide escape tools or engagement initiators that allow tanks to control the range of engagements rather than being kited by opponents.
Sharpshooters and Long Range Brawlers
Long range brawlers like Brock, Piper, and Colt rely on damage output and accuracy to deliver value in matches. Their upgrade priority should focus on reaching level 9 for star powers quickly, since long range star powers frequently boost projectile speed, damage output, or reload mechanics that directly enhance their primary strength.
Damage-focused gears are the priority for sharpshooters at the gear upgrade layer. Speed gears can also provide value by improving repositioning ability, which is critical for maintaining optimal range engagement against opponents who try to close distance and force close-combat scenarios where long range brawlers are at a disadvantage.
Support and Healer Brawlers
Support brawlers like Poco and healers prioritise gadget unlocks at level 7 since support gadgets frequently provide burst healing or shield effects that have immediate team-wide impact. Star powers on support brawlers often enhance the range or effectiveness of healing abilities, making level 9 the secondary priority milestone.
Gear selection for support brawlers should consider team role. Health regeneration gears allow support brawlers to sustain themselves in prolonged engagements while continuing to provide utility for teammates. Speed gears can improve the ability to reposition and reach injured teammates across larger maps.
Assassins and High Mobility Brawlers
High mobility brawlers like Leon, Crow, and Mortis have star powers and gadgets that are often transformative for their playstyle. Reaching level 7 for the first gadget is a high priority since assassin gadgets frequently provide additional burst damage or repositioning that enables the hit and run tactics these brawlers rely on.
Speed gears are typically the highest priority gear investment for assassins since maintaining superior mobility relative to opponents is their primary survival mechanism. A speed gear combined with high mobility star powers creates an engagement pattern that opponents find extremely difficult to punish.
Tips for Efficient Upgrading in 2026
Focus on One Brawler at a Time
The single most impactful upgrade tip for any Brawl Stars player is to focus coins and power points on a single brawler until it reaches at least level 9 before starting the next upgrade project. Spreading resources across five brawlers simultaneously means none of them reach the critical star power milestone at level 9 quickly, leaving your full roster underperforming in ranked modes.
Choose your most-played brawler from the current tier list as your first max project. A fully upgraded brawler in a strong meta position delivers far more competitive value than five half-upgraded brawlers across different roles.
Complete the Brawl Pass Every Season
The Brawl Pass is the most resource-efficient upgrade investment in the game. The rewards across a full Brawl Pass season include coins, power points, gems, Starr Drops, and exclusive cosmetics that would cost significantly more to obtain through direct shop purchases. Completing the full pass reward track every season is non-negotiable for players who want to progress through the upgrade chart efficiently.
The free tier of the Brawl Pass provides meaningful resources even without purchasing the premium track, making consistent play valuable regardless of whether you spend gems on the premium version.
Prioritise First Gadgets Before Second Star Powers
When you have limited gems and face a choice between obtaining a second star power or a first gadget for a different brawler, prioritise the first gadget. Active abilities with match usage charges deliver more immediate impact than a second passive star power on a brawler that already has one equipped.
This prioritisation changes once your primary brawlers have both gadgets. At that point, completing star power collections on brawlers you play regularly becomes the next priority in your upgrade path.
Leverage Events for Resource Acceleration
Seasonal events and special challenges provide coins, power points, and Starr Drops as completion rewards. These event rewards can provide meaningful acceleration in your upgrade chart progress, particularly during major game updates that introduce special reward events tied to new brawler or feature launches.
Participating in every available event during active play sessions maximises your free resource income without requiring any additional gem investment. Event token multipliers also increase the Starr Drop income from casual match play during active event windows.
Never Buy Power Points Directly With Gems
Buying power points directly from the shop with gems is one of the worst resource conversions in the game. The gem cost per power point in the direct shop is significantly higher than the effective gem cost of equivalent power points obtained through the Brawl Pass or Starr Drops.
Reserve gems for the Brawl Pass, direct star power or gadget purchases when a specific unlock is critical, and occasional Starr Drop bundles during promotional events. Power points should come exclusively from Starr Drops, Brawl Pass rewards, and trophy road progression for maximum resource efficiency.
Common Upgrade Mistakes to Avoid
Spreading Resources Too Thin
Distributing coins and power points equally across your entire roster of unlocked brawlers is the most common mistake that slows progression. Players who focus resources on their top three brawlers consistently reach competitive power levels faster than players who upgrade twenty brawlers simultaneously to level 5.
Ignoring Gear Upgrades
Many players focus exclusively on power levels and overlook the gear upgrade system. Maxed gears on a level 9 brawler can provide a competitive advantage equivalent to one or two additional power levels in certain matchups, particularly health regeneration gears in sustained engagement modes.
Upgrading the Wrong Brawler First
Investing heavily in a brawler that does not fit your playstyle or sits low on the current tier list wastes resources that could accelerate a stronger competitive pick. Check the current meta and tier rankings before committing to a long-term upgrade project. The brawler you enjoyed most last season may not be the most efficient investment for the current ranked environment.
Ignoring Trophy Road Rewards
Trophy road progression provides coins and other resources at milestone intervals. Players who focus exclusively on a single brawler for ranked play and neglect to push trophies on other brawlers miss a consistent free resource stream that compounds significantly over a full season of play.
Do Upgrade Costs Vary by Brawler Rarity?
The power point and coin costs shown in the upgrade chart apply equally to every brawler regardless of their rarity classification. A Rare brawler costs exactly the same amount to upgrade from level 1 to level 11 as a Legendary or Mythic brawler. Rarity affects acquisition difficulty and the prestige associated with owning the brawler, but has no impact on upgrade costs once the brawler is in your collection.
This means that a high tier brawler from the full character roster that suits your playstyle is always worth upgrading over a lower tier brawler simply because it is a lower rarity unlock. The upgrade chart cost is identical regardless of how hard the brawler was to obtain.
How Game Updates Affect the Upgrade Chart
Supercell adjusts upgrade costs and reward rates periodically through game updates. Major updates historically have included adjustments to power point costs at specific levels, changes to trophy road reward quantities, and modifications to Brawl Pass resource allocation. Checking the official patch notes after each major update is recommended before committing to a large upgrade project.
The introduction of hypercharge as a level 11 upgrade tier significantly extended the upgrade chart beyond its previous maximum of level 10. Future updates may introduce additional progression layers beyond hypercharge, which means treating the current upgrade chart as a snapshot rather than a permanent system is a sensible approach to long-term resource planning.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Brawl Stars upgrade chart?
A Brawl Stars upgrade chart is a complete reference table showing the power points and coins required to advance each brawler from power level 1 through level 11, including the milestones at which gadgets, star powers, and hypercharge unlock. It is the primary planning tool for efficient resource management in the progression system.
How many levels can I upgrade a brawler in Brawl Stars?
Each brawler can be upgraded from power level 1 to power level 11. Levels 1 through 10 require both power points and coins. Level 11 requires only coins and unlocks hypercharge. The full upgrade path from level 1 to level 11 requires approximately 2,300 power points and 6,840 coins.
What are power points in Brawl Stars?
Power points are a brawler-specific upgrade resource required to advance brawlers through power levels 1 to 10. They cannot be transferred between brawlers. Power points are primarily obtained through Starr Drops, the Brawl Pass reward track, and trophy road milestones.
When do gadgets unlock in the upgrade chart?
The first gadget unlocks when a brawler reaches power level 7. The second gadget unlocks at power level 10. Both gadgets must be obtained separately through Starr Drops, the Brawl Pass, or direct gem purchase after reaching the required power level milestone.
When do star powers unlock in the upgrade chart?
Both star powers for a brawler unlock when it reaches power level 9. Like gadgets, star powers must be obtained separately after hitting the level 9 milestone. They are available through Starr Drops, the Brawl Pass, or direct gem purchase from the shop.
How much does it cost to max a brawler in Brawl Stars?
To reach power level 10, a brawler requires approximately 2,300 power points and 4,965 coins. Pushing to level 11 for hypercharge adds 1,875 coins. Star powers, gadgets, and gears each carry additional costs on top of the base power level upgrade expenses. Full max including all extras significantly exceeds the base power level cost shown in the upgrade chart.
How do I prioritise which brawler to upgrade first?
Prioritise brawlers that appear in the upper tiers of the current Brawl Stars tier list and that match your preferred playstyle and the game modes you play most frequently. Upgrading a brawler you play regularly in a strong meta position delivers the highest return on your coin and power point investment.
Is there a difference between star powers and regular upgrades?
Yes. Regular power level upgrades increase base health and damage stats at every level step. Star powers are unique passive abilities that fundamentally change how a brawler functions in matches. They are unlocked at level 9 but must be obtained through a separate acquisition process. The gameplay impact of a well-chosen star power typically exceeds the incremental benefit of one or two additional power levels.
How often does the upgrade system change with updates?
Supercell has historically adjusted upgrade costs, reward rates, and the upgrade chart structure with major seasonal updates. The introduction of power level 11 and hypercharge was the most significant change to the upgrade chart in the game’s history. Monitoring official patch notes after each major update is recommended for players who actively plan their upgrade progression.
What are the fastest ways to collect upgrade materials?
The fastest free methods are completing the Brawl Pass reward track every season, maximising daily token collection for Starr Drops, participating in all available events for bonus resource rewards, and pushing trophy road milestones on multiple brawlers for coin and resource drops. The fastest paid method is purchasing Brawl Pass Plus for additional gems and Starr Drops on top of the standard pass rewards.
