Buster Brawl Stars: Complete Guide, Best Build and Tips (2026)
Buster is a Mythic Tank among the brawlers in Supercell’s mobile game Brawl Stars. He fights with a cone of light from a borrowed cinema projector and shields his team with a reflective barrier. His whole kit is built around staying close to allies, because his Trait charges his Super while teammates stand nearby. This guide covers how his abilities work, his stats at Level 1 and Level 11, which gadgets, Star Power and gears players pick most, which maps and game modes suit him, and what beats him.
The Short Version
Most community builds run Slo-Mo Replay, Kevlar Vest and Damage Gear, and that is the safe default. Lens Flare hits hardest up close, Montage lasts only three seconds, and his Hypercharge turns the barrier into a full circle. His 30 day win rate is close to average, but it swings widely by mode. Of his two gadgets, Utility Belt becomes the better pick in supportive modes such as Gem Grab, so the mode section below matters more than any single tier list slot.
Who Is Buster in Brawl Stars?
Buster works at a movie theater and, according to his in-game description, took a film projector from it to use as a prop, which is described as dangerous and highly unprofessional. As a Tank he has high health, fast movement and strong close-range damage.
He joined the game in November 2022 as a Tier 30 reward in the Season 15 Brawl Pass. He began as a Chromatic brawler and became Mythic in December 2023, the same tier as Fang. Brawlers no longer appear in the Brawl Pass, so newer players reach him through the normal unlock progression.
Buster Stats at Level 1 and Level 11
Trackers agree on the core numbers. MetaForge lists 5,000 health at the start and 10,000 at max level, and Brawlify lists 2,760 close-range damage and a 1,600 Super at Level 11. Each Power Level adds 10% to health and damage, which is why the Level 11 figures are exactly double the Level 1 figures that Noff shows.
| Stat | Level 1 | Level 11 |
|---|---|---|
| Health | 5,000 | 10,000 |
| Lens Flare damage, close range | 1,380 | 2,760 |
| Montage reflected damage | 800 | 1,600 |
| Ammo | 3 | 3 |
| Reload | 1.8 seconds | 1.8 seconds |
| Range | 5.3 tiles | 5.3 tiles |
| Movement speed | 800 | 800 |
Movement speed drops to 650 while Montage is up, according to Brawl Time Ninja, which is the trade for carrying a barrier. Reload, range and ammo do not change with Power Level, so the only thing that grows is how hard he hits and how long he lasts.
How Buster’s Kit Works
Lens Flare is a cone of light that pierces and hits every enemy inside it. Damage falls off with distance, and the gap between point blank and maximum range is large, so the close-range figures in the table above are the ceiling, not the average.
Montage places a barrier in front of him for 3 seconds. It blocks most projectiles, including piercing ones such as Tara’s and Sandy’s, and each blocked hit comes back as a counterattack projectile with fixed damage. It cannot stop Mortis’s dash, lobbed attacks such as Barley’s or Brock’s Super, or hits from above and the side, and Buster moves slower while it is up. If he is stunned, pulled or knocked back, or if he attacks, the Super ends early.
His Trait is a 3-tile radius around him. Every ally inside it adds 5% Super charge per second, so a single ally fills the Super in 20 seconds and more allies make it faster. That is the mechanical reason he plays badly alone.
How Supercell Shaped Buster
The Brawl Stars wiki’s change history shows how much his raw numbers have moved. Within a week of release his health dropped from 5,600 to 5,000 and his close-range damage from 1,700 to 1,580. A month later health fell again to 4,800. In early 2023 Montage was cut from 6 seconds to 3, and Kevlar Vest’s damage reduction was halved from 20% to 10%.
The direction changed in September 2023, when health went up to 5,200 and damage to 1,440. In December 2023 the slow on Slo-Mo Replay was removed, so any older guide that mentions it is out of date. By early 2024 his attack was trimmed to 1,380, and the current stats page lists 5,000 health.
My reading of that history: almost every number Supercell touched was raw health or damage, while the pull, the barrier and the Trait were left alone. The community builds below follow the same split. Players invest in the parts of the kit that kept their value.
Best Build for Buster
Noff compiles these pick rates from 130 community-made builds, so they show what players choose, not what wins.
| Slot | Choice | Pick rate |
|---|---|---|
| Gadget | Slo-Mo Replay | 88% |
| Gadget | Utility Belt | 12% |
| Star Power | Kevlar Vest | 75% |
| Star Power | Blockbuster | 25% |
| Gear | Damage | 37% |
| Gear | Shield | 22% |
| Gear | Health | 15% |
| Gear | Gadget Cooldown | 14% |
| Gear | Speed | 10% |
Blockbuster adds 15% attack damage for every ally inside the Trait radius. In a 3v3 mode he can have at most two teammates close, so the ceiling is 30%. In Duo Showdown it is 15%. Kevlar Vest only works while Montage is active, but those 3 seconds are when he takes 10% less damage and ignores slows, stuns and knockbacks, which also stops those effects from cancelling the Super. That is why it wins most builds despite a smaller number on paper.
Slo-Mo Replay makes the next Lens Flare pull enemies toward him. Combined with the cone, that drags a group into point-blank range. In Brawl Ball the wiki notes it can pull the ball carrier off the ball. Utility Belt heals him and every ally inside the Trait radius, 450 health per ally at Power Level 1 on Noff’s listing, so it fits supportive modes like Gem Grab and Bounty better than aggressive ones.
Damage Gear gives 15% extra damage below 50% health, which suits a brawler who fights at point blank. Shield Gear adds a 900 health consumable shield that regenerates after 10 seconds at full health. The rest of the pick rates are spread thinly across Health, Gadget Cooldown and Speed, so there is no clear second answer.
Hypercharge: Plot Armor
Plot Armor is Buster’s Hypercharge. While it is active the barrier wraps 360 degrees around him instead of facing one direction, reflected projectiles hit harder, and Noff lists +5% damage, +25% speed and +25% shield. The speed bonus helps with ball control in Brawl Ball. The wider barrier is the more interesting change, because shots from the side are the usual way past Montage. My reading is that Hypercharge removes his biggest positioning weakness for as long as it lasts.
Mode by Mode: Where the Numbers Say Buster Works
On Noff’s brawler page, Buster’s last 30 days show a 52.4% win rate at a 0.2% pick rate, which Noff calls about average. By mode, the strongest numbers are Hot Zone at 81.5%, Trio Showdown at 77.2%, Brawl Ball at 64.6% and Duo Showdown at 60%. Knockout (48.4%) and Gem Grab (48.8%) sit just under even. The weak modes are Showdown at 36.2%, Bounty at 25.6%, Wipeout at 18.2% and Heist at 0%.
Treat the extremes carefully. No mode has a pick rate above 0.32%, and Hot Zone and Heist sit at 0.08% and 0.02%, so those figures come from small samples and should be read as signals, not promises.
The pattern still makes sense once you look at what each game mode asks for. Hot Zone and Brawl Ball keep fights inside a small area where the barrier, the pull and the cone all apply, and Hypercharge’s speed bonus helps with ball control. Bounty, Wipeout and Heist give enemies room to poke from range without ever needing to engage, which is the situation Buster handles worst. That last explanation is my reasoning from his kit, not something the data states.
Which Maps Suit Buster?
No two trackers agree on his best maps. Brawlplanet names Call of the Water, Stroke of Luck, Goldarm Gulch, Net Presence and Deadlock. MetaForge names Truth, Starfruit Supernova, Crossing the Coast and Rockwall Brawl. Brawl Time Ninja points to Feast or Famine in Trio Showdown and Triple Dribble in Brawl Ball. None of those lists overlap, and map rotations change, so a map name from a tracker is a weak reason to pick him.
The wiki’s advice lasts longer: use bushes, obstacles and thin choke points to close the gap. Pick maps that offer them, and avoid open maps with long sightlines, which take those tools away. That second half is my inference from how Lens Flare loses damage with distance.
How Strong Is Buster Right Now?
It depends on who is counting. Noff shows a 52.4% win rate over 30 days. Brawl Time Ninja shows 71.2% at a 0.25% use rate across 420,000 recorded picks. MetaForge places him in B tier, 38th of 107 brawlers. A gap of nearly 20 points means the sites sample different pools of matches, so compare Buster with other brawlers on the same site and never across sites.
Brawl Time Ninja also breaks win rate down by item, and the results are odd. Players with no gadget win more (73.7%) than players running Utility Belt (70.3%) or Slo-Mo Replay (69.3%), and players with no Star Power (72.0%) beat Kevlar Vest (69.4%) and Blockbuster (68.8%). Among gears, Vision shows 72.3% against 67.8% for Shield and 67.7% for Health, even though Noff lists Vision as the least picked gear at 3%.
My reading is that the gadget and Star Power gaps reflect who has unlocked what, not item strength, so I would not drop Slo-Mo Replay on this evidence. Vision is different. Pick rate and win rate point in opposite directions there, which makes it the one gear worth testing for yourself.
What Beats Buster
| Threat | Why it works against him |
|---|---|
| Lobbed attacks | Barley’s attacks, Brock’s Super and Willow‘s lantern arc over the barrier instead of hitting it. |
| Mortis’s dash | The barrier does not stop it. |
| Long range | Belle fires very long-range bolts, while Buster’s damage falls off the further he is from the target. |
| Crowd control | A stun, pull or knockback cancels Montage unless Kevlar Vest is equipped. |
| Angles | The barrier only reflects what hits it, so shots from the side or above still land. |
Playing Against Buster
Montage lasts 3 seconds, and Buster ends it early if he attacks, so waiting it out costs you nothing. The wiki also notes that projectiles from enemies standing inside his 3-tile Trait radius and aiming at him are not blocked, so a brawler who can get that close ignores the barrier. At range his cone loses most of its damage, which gives longer-range brawlers free shots while he walks up. Stuns, pulls and knockbacks cancel the Super unless he runs Kevlar Vest, so check his Star Power before you commit a crowd control gadget.
Buster Matchups: What Three Trackers Say
Named matchups are where the trackers disagree most. Power League Prodigy, MetaForge and Brawlplanet each publish a list, and only a few names repeat.
| Brawler | What the trackers say |
|---|---|
| Rico | Easy matchup on all three sites. |
| Shelly and Colt | Easy matchup on MetaForge and Brawlplanet. |
| Doug | Threat on Power League Prodigy and MetaForge. |
| Sirius | Threat on MetaForge and Brawlplanet. |
| Wendy | Threat on MetaForge and Brawlplanet. |
| Bolt | Threat on Power League Prodigy and MetaForge, easy matchup on Brawlplanet. |
| El Primo | Threat on Power League Prodigy, easy matchup on MetaForge. |
Power League Prodigy also lists Bull, Darryl, Frank and Jacky as threats, all close-range Tanks. That fits the idea that brawlers who stay inside his Trait radius, or ignore the cone’s falloff, give him trouble, though none of the sites say why. Treat the split names, Bolt and El Primo, as unsettled.
Best Teammates for Buster
The trackers disagree here too. Brawlplanet lists Emz, Leon, Jessie, Edgar and Crow as his best partners, MetaForge lists Wendy and Bolt among others, and the two lists share no names. Brawlplanet’s weakest partners include Charlie, Darryl and Pam. Wendy is also one of the brawlers MetaForge says he struggles against, which shows how noisy partner data is at this sample size.
The Trait radius is the deciding factor, so pick partners who stay near him. The wiki calls Byron outstanding at supporting tanks because his dart heals friendly brawlers over time. Max‘s Super speeds up allies, which should help teammates stay inside the radius while rotating, though that is my inference and not a tested pairing.
Playing Buster Well
Close the gap using bushes, obstacles and narrow choke points, because the cone is weakest at range. Aim at grouped enemies, since the cone pierces and every enemy it hits also charges the Super. When Montage is up, point it toward the likeliest incoming fire and strafe in the same direction as the enemy, so the shots hit the barrier and not your flank.
Kevlar Vest has one clean use case worth knowing: if a Bo mine knocks you back, the Super cancels, but with Kevlar equipped you can activate Montage and walk through it unmoved.
If Buster is not for you, Bull is another Tank worth a look.
Buster’s Skins
Buster has seven skins besides the default, according to MetaForge and Brawlify: Biker, Blessed, Chainsaw, Crocodile, Equilibrium, True Silver and True Gold. Chainsaw arrived with him at launch, Crocodile came with the Rumble Jungle Heroes set, and True Silver and True Gold were added in early 2023. Brawlify lists unlock routes that include the Brawl Pass, Brawloween, gems, coins and special events. None of them change how he plays.
Conclusion
Buster is a team-first Tank. His barrier, pull and healing all depend on teammates being close, and his best results come in small, contested modes such as Hot Zone and Brawl Ball. Run Slo-Mo Replay, Kevlar Vest and Damage Gear as a starting point, switch to Utility Belt when the team needs sustain, and remember that lobbed attacks and long-range pressure are the problems the barrier cannot solve.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you unlock Buster in Brawl Stars?
Buster is a Mythic brawler. He started out as a Tier 30 reward in the Season 15 Brawl Pass, but Supercell stopped putting brawlers in the Brawl Pass in 2024. Today he comes through the game’s regular brawler progression, which Supercell has changed over time, so check the Brawlers screen in the game for his current cost.
Is Buster good for beginners?
He is easy to understand but easy to misuse. Lens Flare needs you to get close, and his Super only pays off when you aim it at incoming fire, so he rewards players who can stay near teammates and read where attacks are coming from. A player who treats him as a point and shoot brawler will struggle.
Can Buster’s Super reflect every attack?
No. Montage blocks most projectiles, including piercing ones, and reflects each blocked hit back as a counterattack. It does not stop Mortis’s dash, lobbed attacks such as Barley’s, or hits that come from above or from the side.
What is the best build for Buster?
On Noff’s community data, the most picked setup is Slo-Mo Replay as the gadget, Kevlar Vest as the Star Power and Damage as the gear. Utility Belt and Blockbuster are the alternatives for supportive team compositions.
How much damage does Lens Flare deal?
Noff lists 1,380 damage up close at Power Level 1 and Brawlify lists 2,760 at Level 11, which is exactly double because each Power Level adds 10%. Damage drops off with distance.
Which brawlers counter Buster?
Trackers disagree on the names. Doug, Sirius and Wendy are each listed as threats on two sites, while Rico is listed as an easy matchup on three. The mechanical weak points are consistent: lobbed attacks, Mortis’s dash, hits from the side or above, and stuns or pulls while Montage is up unless he runs Kevlar Vest.
Is Buster a good brawler right now?
He is about average. Noff shows a 52.4% win rate over 30 days and MetaForge places him in B tier, 38th of 107 brawlers. He does best in Hot Zone, Trio Showdown and Brawl Ball, and he needs teammates close by to charge his Super.
