Squad Busters detailed guide to “git good”

So, the goal in Squad Busters is very simple. Either be the last man standing or (more likely) have the most gems. You start off with a single squad member (barring special modifiers) and then have to defeat enemies to get gold, use gold to unlock chests, unlock chests to get more characters, get more characters to slay more enemies and get more gold.

Of course, the main theme in this game is building your squad and fusing them together. But what you also need to do is evolve your characters so they start off stronger, and thus produce stronger fusions. Note that fusions don’t become evolved characters, just stronger versions of themselves. Rule of thumb is to ensure you evolve frontline units like the Barbarian first, as they ensure your survivability. After that you should evolve Gatherers so they can survive any engagements, and backline units like Colt to provide more consistent damage.

The thing about Squad Busters is that often, other players are just as vulnerable as you are. While (early on at least) avoiding being busted by regular NPC enemies is easy, Squads are always dangerous. We recommend avoiding players until you have at least one fusion, and ideally avoiding taking them on altogether unless you see an easy one to bust, as you can usually get just as many if not more gems by sneakily farming the gem mine while others are occupied.

While Supercell lays out the different gatherer units and their purposes (Greg cuts down trees, Mavis picks Carrots and Penny finds Buried Treasure) they don’t emphasise just how important these are. If you find one of these in a chest, get them immediately, and be sure they’re your second choice for evolution behind your mainline units. Consistent gems and gold from resource points allows you to easily get back into the fight even if you’re behind, and lets you do so with minimal risk as you won’t even need to fight enemies or other players to do so.

Spells are quite potent in Squad Busters, allowing for either speed, damage or even just blowing your enemies to smithereens. But they also tend to pop up in a variety of frequencies, so it’s best to use them or lose them. Using them to dispatch powerful enemies is usually the best way to get rid of them in a pinch, and you should really only save spells like Rage and Heal for other engagements, as these can be the difference between victory and defeat against other Squads.

Gathering Portal energy is a vital way to upgrade and get new characters, and one of the easiest ways to get it is not just to complete missions but to complete the achievements book. These, early on at least, are all extremely easy and consist of just finding and busting enemies, discovering modifiers or other simple tasks. The only issue is that you can’t compete two at the same time; for example if you find the Loot Goblin Rush modifier, even if you finish top 3 for the second achievement, you won’t be able to unlock it until you first claim the achievement for discovering the modifier. Asinine, we know.

Modifiers to matches can drastically change how the game is played. Pinata Party for example offers easy ways to get more loot, and this lets you discard gatherer units in favour of higher-damage units that can more effectively bash these open. Spell Overload means you should be ‘using or losing’ your spells even more than usual, while Gem Overload means high scores are inevitable.

While it’s easy to passively collect gems from farming enemies and other resources, the main way to get them is at the top of each match, when the gem mine at the centre of the map opens. Camping is an easy way to get a huge number of gems at once, especially when it explodes at the very end. So even if you’re not about to jump in and try to nab them, scaring off other players or driving them into each other should be your endgame.

Turbo is your friend. That is all. Well, alright, basically Turbo is your sprint and your fast attack button. Collecting more ‘boot’ spells gives you more uses of turbo, and ensuring you have charge is key to getting out of engagements easily. But it’s that aforementioned fast-attack option that’s key to getting the most out of turbo, as this allows you to dispatch weaker enemies and mine resources faster. Speed is essential in Squad Busters, for dispatching enemies fast so you can move onto the next set of resource-points.

Certain enemies are mini-bosses which will telegraph their attacks with the familiar red markers on the ground. Getting these to attack other squads is a sure-fire way to bring down their health, and rushing those that are distracted means easy damage and easier rewards. However, be careful of knockback or other unintended consequences. You can see particularly dangerous enemies by looking out for the skull next to their health-bar.

One last thing to remember are hazards. Rickety bridges will collapse once you stand on them, and the battle arena will slowly shrink as vines grow towards the centre. Avoiding these, and further hazards as you enter more maps, is something that may be relatively minor, but can rapidly become a big problem if ignored. Also note that chests become unavailable when vines grow onto them, even if you have them open, so think twice before trying to clutch an extra character at the edge of the arena.

If you’re new to the game and you have trouble picking the right characters, maybe it would be wise to advise our tier list for Squad busters or the best ways to unlock new characters.