Willow Brawl Stars: Complete Guide, Best Build & Tips (2026)
Quick answer: Willow is a Mythic Brawler in Brawl Stars classified as a Thrower and Controller. Her main attack, Lantern’s Curse, deals area damage and slows enemies with a ground puddle. Her Super, Hex, fires a tadpole that fully heals an enemy Brawler while taking control of their movement for 4 seconds, giving Willow a 50% damage reduction shield in the process.
As of the August 2026 balance patch, her live kit runs on the Spellbound gadget and Obsession star power for most game modes, not the “Honey Molasses” and “Scorched Earth” names this guide carried in earlier versions, which were never her actual abilities and have now been corrected below.
Who Is Willow in Brawl Stars?
Willow is a Mythic Brawler developed by Supercell for their multiplayer mobile arena game Brawl Stars. She fills a Controller and Thrower role, combining area-denial attacks with one of the most disruptive Super abilities in the game: the power to take full control of an enemy Brawler and steer them wherever you want for 4 seconds.
According to the Brawl Stars Wiki, while Willow is mind-controlling an opponent she can fire that Brawler’s own basic attack and even walk a controlled ball carrier straight into their own goal in Brawl Ball, a detail most build guides skip because it only shows up if you actually read the ability text instead of copying an old summary of it.
Unlike straightforward damage dealers, Willow’s value is strategic. She does not win fights through raw HP or burst damage. She wins them by slowing opponent movement, creating dangerous ground zones with her Lantern’s Curse attack, and using Hex at critical moments to flip the course of a round in objective-based game modes like Brawl Ball or Gem Grab. She works across different maps and team compositions, though she requires practice to time her Super correctly.
As part of the broader Brawl Stars roster of over 100 playable characters, Willow stands out as one of the few Brawlers who can completely neutralize an enemy’s actions mid-fight. That makes her uniquely powerful in the right situation, and, as the tier breakdown further down this page shows honestly, currently a tougher pick to justify in competitive lobbies than she was earlier in her release cycle.
Willow’s Lore: Species, Age, and Release Date
A lot of players search for Willow’s backstory rather than her build, so it’s worth covering directly instead of leaving it to fan wikis. Willow is designed as a half-humanoid amphibian, and that frog-and-tadpole motif runs straight through her kit: Lantern’s Curse is a literal lantern throw, and Hex fires a tadpole at the enemy she’s about to mind-control.
According to her in-game bio, Willow works as a gondoliera in the game’s Swamp of Love setting inside Starr Park, and the flavor text describes her giving couples looking for a romantic evening the creepiest, most unsettling experience they could imagine, which tells you a lot about her personality: she’s playing along with the romantic theming of her surroundings while quietly working against it.
On the two questions people search for most and can’t easily find an answer to: Supercell has not published an official numeric age for Willow, which is normal, since most Brawlers don’t have a stated age either, so treat any specific number you see elsewhere as fan speculation rather than confirmed lore. Her release date is easier to pin down: Willow joined the Brawl Stars roster in April 2023 as the 66th Brawler added to the game, according to the Brawl Stars Wiki’s version history.
Willow’s Stats and Base Numbers
Willow’s underlying numbers have moved more than most Brawlers’ since her release: Supercell has adjusted her HP at least four separate times through 2024 and 2025 balance passes. Rather than print a single frozen figure that will be wrong again by next patch, here is what’s actually confirmed and where the uncertainty sits:
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Rarity | Mythic |
| Class | Thrower / Controller |
| Max-level HP | Raised repeatedly since launch (2,800 to 3,100 to roughly 3,300 through 2024-2025 patches, per community trackers). Some live stat sites currently display a higher aggregate figure; check your in-game stats screen for the exact current number, since this is the stat most likely to have shifted again by the time you read this. |
| Main attack | Damage on impact, then damage-over-time from the puddle (exact per-hit number fluctuates by patch; see live tier trackers rather than a fixed figure) |
| Movement speed | Normal |
| Attack range | Medium-long (Thrower arc) |
| Hex duration | 4 seconds of mind control, or until the controlled Brawler drops below 30% HP |
| Hex shield | 50% damage reduction while controlling an enemy |
Her HP is lower than most front-line Brawlers, which reinforces her role as a backline thrower. Keeping Willow at the edge of her range is not a preference, it is a requirement. Engaging enemies directly at close range will get her eliminated quickly given her moderate HP pool. Position her behind walls and use her arcing trajectory to land Lantern’s Curse in areas enemies cannot easily escape.
As with every Brawler, spending Power Points and Coins to upgrade Willow through her power levels raises these numbers further, so a maxed-out Willow will hit noticeably harder in battle than the base figures above.
Lantern’s Curse: Willow’s Main Attack
Lantern’s Curse is Willow’s primary attack. She throws a lantern in a high arc that lands on the ground and deals initial damage on impact. When the projectile lands, it creates a glowing puddle on the ground that persists for several seconds. Any enemy Brawler who steps into or through the puddle takes continuous damage over time and has their movement speed reduced.
How the Puddle Mechanic Works
The puddle is not just a visual effect. It is a persistent area-denial tool that discourages enemies from moving through specific corridors or around objectives. Place puddles in chokepoints and narrow corridors, where enemies must either walk through and take damage or take a longer route that costs your team time.
Covering the gem mine in Gem Grab or the goal area in Brawl Ball with puddles punishes anyone who tries to contest those spaces, and dropping a puddle behind an enemy cuts off their retreat route before they realize it’s there. Puddles fired into bushes do double duty too: they reveal hidden enemies and deter ambushes at the same time, without you needing to walk in and check yourself.
Aiming Tips for Lantern’s Curse
Because Lantern’s Curse has an arcing trajectory like all Thrower attacks, it can clear walls and obstacles. This is Willow’s primary advantage over direct-fire Brawlers. You can fire into enclosed spaces, over cover, and into areas that short-range or medium-range Brawlers cannot reach safely. The trade-off is that aiming requires anticipating where enemies will move, not where they currently stand.
Practice predicting enemy movement patterns. Most players at lower ranks move predictably after taking a hit, retreating in a straight line back through the same corridor they entered from. Landing a puddle on that escape route guarantees follow-up damage without any additional aim required.
Hex: How Willow’s Super Actually Works
Willow’s Super, Hex, is one of the most unique abilities in the game, and it is worth describing precisely because so many summaries of it are slightly wrong. When it lands, Hex fully heals the targeted enemy Brawler to 100% HP and takes control of their movement for 4 seconds.
During that window, Willow, not the enemy player, is the one steering, and she can fire that Brawler’s own basic attack while doing it, though not their Super or Gadget. Willow also gains a 50% damage reduction shield for the duration, which is a bigger survivability swing than the vague “damage reduction” phrasing you’ll see on most fan sites.
Control ends early if the controlled Brawler’s HP drops below 30%, if Willow herself is knocked out, or if another Willow re-Hexes the same target. One genuinely useful piece of trivia most guides leave out entirely: if you Hex an enemy who is holding the ball in Brawl Ball, you can walk them straight into their own goal to score against their own team. It isn’t just a disruption tool, it’s a direct scoring mechanism.
When to Use Hex for Maximum Impact
Hex is at its most devastating in Brawl Ball, where grabbing control of a defender blocking the goal and steering them clear lets your teammates score uncontested, or where controlling the ball carrier directly and marching them into their own net ends the round on the spot. In Gem Grab, target the enemy gem carrier: steering them away from the safety of their base, or directly into a teammate’s attack range, is often an instant knockout, and even a non-lethal Hex costs the enemy team four full seconds of carrier control.
Because Willow is vulnerable to dive assassins who can close the gap before she lays a puddle, saving Hex for exactly that moment turns a defensive liability into a punish: an assassin who dives Willow gets controlled and walked straight back into their own team’s line of fire.
How to Charge Hex Faster
Willow charges her Super by hitting enemies with Lantern’s Curse. Landing both the initial hit and keeping enemies inside the puddle accelerates charge rate. Consistent area coverage with puddles, especially around contested objectives where enemies must pass through, naturally keeps the Super charged at a high rate throughout most matches.
Best Gadget for Willow: Spellbound vs Dive
Willow has two gadgets, and it’s worth being upfront that earlier versions of this guide named two gadgets, “Honey Molasses” and “Bloom”, that do not exist for Willow in the live game. They’ve been removed and replaced below with her actual current kit, verified against Brawlify and the Brawl Stars Wiki.
| Gadget | Effect | Best used in |
|---|---|---|
| Spellbound | Her next Lantern’s Curse applies its full poison damage instantly on impact instead of trickling it out as damage-over-time | Finishing off a low-HP target before they can retreat out of the puddle, or burning down a healer’s sustain in one hit |
| Dive | Willow dives for a couple of seconds, becoming untargetable but unable to act during that window | Dodging burst damage from divers, buying time to reposition after overextending, or ducking a Super aimed directly at her |
The Verdict
Spellbound is the more commonly picked gadget right now, per unlock-rate data from Brawlify’s community stats, and it makes sense for most players: converting your damage-over-time into one instant hit is exactly what you want when an enemy is about to step out of the puddle or is topping up HP faster than the poison ticks. Dive doesn’t slow anyone or heal Willow; it’s a pure defensive escape, so it earns its slot specifically against assassin-heavy lineups where surviving the first hit matters more than adding damage.
Best Star Power for Willow: Love Is Blind vs Obsession
Willow’s two star powers were also misnamed in earlier versions of this guide as “Scorched Earth” and “Nest Egg”, abilities that, again, don’t exist for her. Here’s what she actually has:
| Star Power | Effect | Best situation |
|---|---|---|
| Love Is Blind | Enemies affected by Lantern’s Curse’s poison have their reload speed cut by 30% for 3 seconds | Facing reload-dependent damage dealers (Colt, Piper, Brock-type ranged threats) where blunting their next shot matters more than raw damage |
| Obsession | A Hexed enemy moves 33% faster while under Willow’s control | Getting a controlled enemy off an objective, into a hazard, or back to your team’s firing line faster before the 4-second window runs out |
The Verdict
Obsession is the star power Brawlify’s own live data flags as Willow’s current best pick, and the logic holds up: the extra speed means you can physically move a Hexed enemy much further within the same 4-second window, which matters most in exactly the situations Hex is used for: steering a goalkeeper clear, walking a ball carrier into their own net, or dragging a diver back into your team’s crossfire before the control breaks. Love Is Blind is a real pick against specific reload-heavy matchups, but it doesn’t change what Hex itself can do the way Obsession does.
Best Team Compositions with Willow
Willow’s value multiplies when paired with teammates who can capitalize on the chaos she creates. Her control abilities work best when allies can immediately punish controlled or slowed enemies. In Brawl Ball, running her alongside a high-mobility burst pick like Chuck and a long-range punisher like Piper works well: Willow sets up the chaos, Chuck closes the distance to score, and Piper picks off anything caught standing in a puddle from range.
Composition 2: Area Denial (Gem Grab)
- Willow: controls the gem mine center with puddles and Hex
- Hank: tanks the front line and pressures enemies trying to contest the mine
- Pam: provides healing sustain that complements Willow’s team-support role
This composition dominates the Gem Grab arena by making the center area extremely dangerous and costly to contest, with Hank absorbing pressure and Pam keeping everyone healthy.
Composition 3: Siege and Zone Control
- Willow: zones the approach lanes with Lantern’s Curse and disrupts enemy pushes with Hex
- Doug: healing support that sustains the team during prolonged engagements
- Barley: additional area denial through throw-based attacks that combo with Willow’s puddles
Running two throwers means every approach lane stays covered with ground hazards. Enemies need to either take consistent damage to push through or completely reroute, buying your siege robot valuable time.
Brawlers to Avoid Pairing with Willow
Avoid running Willow with multiple close-range Brawlers like Edgar or Mortis. These teammates tend to dive the front line and pull fights into close-range exchanges that do not benefit from Willow’s puddle setup. Short-range fighters need a different support structure, not a backline thrower who works best from a distance.
Best Game Modes for Willow in Brawl Stars
Willow’s effectiveness varies significantly across Brawl Stars’ available game modes.
Brawl Ball: Her strongest mode
Willow shines in Brawl Ball. Using Hex on a defending goalkeeper to steer them clear of the goal, or walking a controlled ball carrier into their own net, is a reliable scoring method that most opponents cannot counter unless they anticipate it. Her puddles also cover the central arena, slowing any attacker trying to charge the goal.
Gem Grab: Strong
Gem Grab rewards area control above almost everything else. Willow’s ability to make the gem mine area dangerous and to instantly neutralize the enemy gem carrier with Hex makes her a consistent pick here. Position her so she can see the mine from a safe distance and rain puddles on anyone contesting it.
Knockout: Good, situationally
In Knockout, the value of Hex increases because eliminated Brawlers cannot respawn. Using Hex to steer a lone enemy into your teammates’ fire for an instant knockout removal gives your team a permanent numbers advantage in that round. With Obsession equipped, the extra movement speed on the controlled enemy makes it easier to actually drag them into position before the window closes.
Outside those three, Willow becomes a much more situational pick. Solo Showdown isn’t kind to her: low HP makes her vulnerable when isolated, and there’s no teammate around to capitalize on a landed Hex. Bounty and Siege are playable but not where she stands out: Bounty’s kill-credit tracking undersells her damage-over-time attacks, and while her puddles do zone Siege approach lanes reasonably well, several other Throwers and Controllers do the same job with less setup risk.
How to Counter Willow in Brawl Stars
Playing against Willow requires understanding her two key windows of power and denying both of them.
Brawlers That Counter Willow
Community counter-pick consensus (per noff.gg’s build data and Brawl Time Ninja’s matchup stats) points to high-mobility divers as her sharpest answer. Leon‘s invisibility lets him close the gap before she can react with Hex, and his damage output can drop her moderate HP pool in one or two hits.
Mortis plays a similar game: he has the mobility to dash into melee range fa
ster than Willow can respond. Sirius‘s long-range pressure and passive defensive kit make it difficult for Willow to safely set up puddles in the first place, and Colette‘s percentage-based damage ignores how much HP Willow actually has, which is exactly the kind of matchup her moderate health pool can’t absorb.
Counter Strategies
- Deny her Hex charge: Stay out of puddle range. Willow charges Hex by hitting enemies. If you avoid her ground zones, she stays Super-depleted and her impact drops dramatically.
- Spread out as a team: Hex can only target one Brawler at a time. A spread team forces her to choose one target, freeing the rest to push objectives. Grouping up near Willow is exactly what she wants.
- Dive her from multiple angles: Willow cannot lay puddles in every direction simultaneously. Coming from two or more angles forces her to choose which threat to respond to, creating an opening.
- Save healing for post-Hex: If she uses Hex on a teammate, that teammate is briefly out of your control but also unable to act on their own. The rest of the team should push aggressively during those 4 seconds while Willow’s shield is up, rather than standing still.
Ambush Tactics with Willow
In Showdown and modes with dense bush coverage, Willow’s arc throw allows her to fire into bushes from behind cover. She never needs to reveal her own position to lay a puddle on a bush. This makes her an effective ambush-spotter and bush-checker without the risk of walking into a close-range fight she would lose.
Willow Skins and Customization in Brawl Stars
Willow currently has 7 skins including her default, per Brawlify’s live skin tracker, a completely different lineup from what earlier versions of this guide listed. Skins are purely cosmetic and don’t affect gameplay, but they do change her animation and attack visuals:
| Skin Name | Theme / Rarity | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Puppeteer Willow | Default | Free |
| AXL Willow | Rare | 29 Gems |
| Scorpion Willow | Super Rare, Wasteland theme | 79 Gems |
| True Silver Willow | Collectors | 10,000 Coins |
| True Gold Willow | Collectors | 25,000 Coins |
| Demon Willow | Epic, Angels vs. Demons theme | 149 Gems |
| Lunar Lotus Willow | Epic, Lunar New Year theme | 149 Gems |
Shop and event availability rotates, and Supercell periodically adds new skins outside of this list, so treat the pricing above as a snapshot rather than a permanent catalog. To check what’s currently purchasable, open Brawl Stars, navigate to Willow’s profile in the Brawler collection, and select the Skins tab.
Willow Tips and Strategies for Every Skill Level
Beginner Tips
- Never walk into close-range fights. Willow loses nearly every direct close-range exchange. Stay at her maximum effective range and use walls and terrain as shields.
- Aim puddles at chokepoints, not where enemies are standing. Enemies move. Choke points do not. Landing puddles in doorways, corridor exits, and around objectives means they will land value even if your aim is not perfect.
- Use Hex to rescue your team, not just for kills. If an assassin is diving a low-health teammate, Hex the assassin immediately. The 4-second control window, plus the full heal it grants your teammate’s attacker, often saves the teammate and negates the entire dive.
- Reveal bushes proactively. Before your team pushes a bush-heavy area, land a Lantern’s Curse on the bush. The puddle reveals any hidden Brawlers and deals damage if they are there.
Advanced Strategies
Landing multiple Lantern’s Curse puddles in the same spot creates an extremely difficult zone for enemies to move through; in a 3v3 fight over an objective, stacked puddles can completely halt an enemy push. The most decisive use of Hex in Brawl Ball is targeting a goalkeeper and steering them clear of the goal, or better, walking a controlled ball carrier straight into their own net; practice the timing so you activate Hex right as an enemy moves to defend.
Don’t use Hex the moment it charges. Hold it until a decisive moment approaches, such as when the gem carrier appears or a knockout opportunity opens, since a Hex used at the wrong moment wastes its window entirely.
One combo worth drilling specifically: Spellbound’s instant-damage conversion pairs well with a Hex that’s about to expire. If a controlled enemy is close to breaking free of Hex at low HP, a Spellbound-boosted Lantern’s Curse landed the instant control ends can finish them before they get a chance to fight back. The timing window is roughly the half-second right after the 4-second Hex duration runs out, since that’s when they’re both still low on HP and haven’t yet regained their bearings.
Use Hex’s 50% damage-reduction shield proactively too: if you’re in danger of being eliminated, Hexing any nearby enemy gives you survivability regardless of the target, so sometimes the tactical choice is using Hex for self-preservation rather than the highest-value target on the field.
Willow in Competitive Play and the Current Meta
It’s worth being straightforward here rather than repeating a stale claim: as of the August 2026 balance patch, multiple community tier-list trackers place Willow toward the bottom of the roster, not in the solid mid-tier position earlier versions of this guide described. One current tracker lists her in D-tier alongside other situational picks like Meg, Kenji, and Pearl.
Tier lists shift with every patch and vary by methodology (top-200 win rate versus broader community voting), so treat any single ranking as a snapshot rather than gospel, but the direction across trackers is consistent enough that “she’s currently a tougher sell competitively” is a fairer summary than “solid B-tier.” If you want to see where she stands for your own region, most of these trackers also run a live leaderboard you can filter by trophy range rather than relying on a single global number.
Where She Still Has Real Value
High-rank Brawl Ball lobbies remain where Willow has her strongest case. A well-timed Hex on an opposing goalkeeper, or on the ball carrier directly, in the final seconds of a tied match is a win condition few other Brawlers can replicate. Teams that respect this will sometimes ban her in Brawl Ball drafts specifically to avoid dealing with it.
Why She’s Struggling at High Rank Right Now
At higher rank levels, opponents adapt: they maintain spread formations to minimize Hex targeting options, pick Brawlers with mobility counters, and avoid puddle zones more consistently. Combined with the current meta favoring more aggressive, mobility-heavy picks, Willow’s setup-dependent playstyle has less room to operate than it did earlier in the season. Skilled players can still make her work through map-specific angles and combo timing, but she is not currently a Brawler you can pick on autopilot and expect to carry a lobby.
Frequently Asked Questions About Willow in Brawl Stars
Who is Willow in Brawl Stars?
Willow is a Mythic Brawler in Brawl Stars created by Supercell. She is classified as a Thrower and Controller who deals area damage with her Lantern’s Curse attack and can temporarily hijack enemy movement with her Hex Super. She plays best in objective-based multiplayer modes like Brawl Ball and Gem Grab.
What is Willow’s super attack?
Willow’s Super is called Hex. It fires a tadpole that fully heals the target enemy Brawler and takes control of their movement for 4 seconds, or until they drop below 30% HP. Willow gains a 50% damage reduction shield while controlling them and can fire their basic attack, though not their Super or Gadget.
What is the best gadget for Willow?
Spellbound is currently the more commonly used gadget. It makes Willow’s next Lantern’s Curse apply its damage instantly instead of over time, which is useful for finishing a target before they escape the puddle. Dive is a purely defensive option that makes Willow briefly untargetable, useful against dive-heavy assassin matchups.
What is the best star power for Willow?
Obsession is Willow’s best star power in most situations, per Brawlify’s live meta data. It increases a Hexed enemy’s movement speed by 33%, letting you move a controlled Brawler much further within the 4-second window. Love Is Blind is a situational pick against reload-dependent ranged Brawlers.
How do I unlock Willow in Brawl Stars?
Willow is a Mythic Brawler and can be unlocked through the Brawl Pass, Starr Road progression, special seasonal events, or direct purchase from the in-game shop when she’s featured. As a Mythic-rarity Brawler, she isn’t available through the standard trophy road but does appear periodically in seasonal offers and challenges.
What animal or species is Willow in Brawl Stars?
Willow is designed as a half-humanoid amphibian, with a frog-and-tadpole motif that carries through her whole kit: her main attack is a lantern throw and her Super fires a tadpole. She works as a gondoliera in the game’s Swamp of Love setting inside Starr Park.
How old is Willow in Brawl Stars?
Supercell hasn’t published an official age for Willow, which is standard for most Brawlers in the roster. Any specific age you see mentioned elsewhere is fan speculation rather than confirmed lore.
When was Willow released in Brawl Stars?
Willow was added to Brawl Stars in April 2023, becoming the 66th Brawler in the game, per the Brawl Stars Wiki’s version history.
What game modes is Willow best suited for?
Willow performs best in Brawl Ball, where Hex can directly remove a defender or walk a ball carrier into their own goal, and Gem Grab, where her area-denial playstyle and ability to neutralize gem carriers with Hex both shine. She’s more situational in Showdown, Bounty, and Siege.
Who counters Willow effectively?
Leon, Mortis, and Sirius are among Willow’s most effective counters, per community matchup data. Leon and Mortis have the mobility to dive past her puddle zones before she can react, and Sirius applies sustained pressure that denies her the safe backline positioning she needs. Colette’s percentage-based damage is also a hard matchup given Willow’s moderate HP.
What skins are available for Willow?
Willow currently has 7 skins per Brawlify’s live tracker: the default Puppeteer Willow, plus AXL Willow, Scorpion Willow, True Silver Willow, True Gold Willow, Demon Willow, and Lunar Lotus Willow. Availability and pricing rotate with events, so check the in-game shop for what’s currently purchasable.
Is Willow currently good in the competitive meta?
Not particularly, as of the August 2026 patch. Multiple community trackers place her toward the bottom of the roster rather than the mid-tier standing she held earlier in her release. She still has a genuine niche in high-rank Brawl Ball thanks to Hex’s goal-scoring trick, but she isn’t a safe pick-anywhere Brawler right now.
How does Willow compare to other Mythic Brawlers?
Among Mythic Brawlers, Willow occupies a niche that few others share. Most Mythic Brawlers deal direct damage; Willow’s identity is control and disruption rather than raw output. Chuck, for example, is a highly mobile Mythic who excels at rapid repositioning and high burst; Willow plays the opposite style, slowing everything down and controlling space from range. Doug focuses on healing support, while Willow is the only Mythic Brawler who can completely take control of enemy movement through Hex.
Other Mythic Brawlers to Try
If you enjoy Willow’s control playstyle, explore the rest of the Mythic Brawler roster or browse our complete Brawl Stars Characters Guide for a full breakdown of every available Brawler. Related guides:
- Chuck Brawl Stars: Complete Guide
- Doug Brawl Stars: Complete Guide
- Edgar Brawl Stars: Complete Guide
- Colette Brawl Stars: Complete Guide
- Leon Brawl Stars: Complete Guide
- Hank Brawl Stars: Complete Guide
