Advance Wars Dual Strike, CO Tier List (Old)

[@Mangs1337]

Hey everyone. I made a new and updated version of this video. You can check it out here! kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYe1qIWGetdkg8k

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

I find it hilarious that "Balanced" is effectively being used as a euphemism for "bad."

[@gran2247]

This happens a lot in generally unbalanced games. See hearthstone or yugioh where 90% of cards are too balanced or fair to be used.

[@clownplayer7265]

Yeah. I really hope if Nintendo does a non-remake (or even in the remake itself) continuation of the games, they can make a better job in the balance because the CO's are just pretty nice characters, I wouldn't say they're the most developed and depth but they all have some charm one way or another and I'd like them to get chances to shine.

[@AdamTheFanatic]

I'd say that Tier 2 should probably be the "balanced" tier and Tier 1 should be labeled "underpowered". Of course, normally Tier 1 is Top Tier, not Bottom Tier.

[@DarkSoulsSauron]

sonja's power triggers first if she and lash both super: Sonja subtracts the base terrain stars and then Lash multiplies them, and 0x2 is still 0. Sonja HARD counters Lash and can dictate when Lash can use her powers

[@BigKlingy]

One thing you forgot to mention about Drake: thy FINALLY fixed his lack of immunity to the -1 vision penalty from rain. I.e Drake no longer loses vision from his own rain like he used to. It's not like that buffs him much, but it's at least a detail to keep in mind.

[@RandalfElVikingo]

The buff with Drake is that rain now produces Fog of War.

[@WillieDangerously]

I cant believe that was a thing in the first place. Its like how Pokemon gen 1 messed up Focus Energy to lower your crit chance instead of raise.

[@BigKlingy]

@@WillieDangerously I'm hoping they fix it in the 1+2 remake too.

[@butteredsalmonella]

I never understood Drake's defense boosts in the first two games either, in a game where offense more preferrable, Drake with attack-boosted navy could've been better, especially with the awful navy within the first three games. Drake Battleships could've been worth a shot despite the near doubled cost compared to Rockets had it have been much stronger than Rockets.

[@bcoda]

(Story character tier) (Gimmick tier) (Utility tier) (One-sided tier) (Hachi)

[@mikaebert6410]

13:58 3+5=7 Mangs math at its finest.

[@renoud4093]

Darn, you posted earlier than me

[@mikaebert6410]

+Renoud *Insert evil laugh here*

[@Mangs1337]

+The Guy with the Mustache GOD!

[@LinkstaLink]

+Mangs colin is broken lol, Power of Money is OP as FUCK!

[@meathir4921]

+Matthew Hinchberger Days Of Ruin is often considered the best in the series - having a pretty good story and FAR AND AWAY the most balanced AW game ever.

[@ruthmcnally310]

I love how your description of Flak was just, "Tier 1, worst CO, moving on to Lash!"

[@DS-ff6ze]

flak is underpowered but he's not exactly the worst. when alls said and done, he has a decent but unremarkable net offense and no major weaknesses (like grit), nor are his effects useless (like javier)

[@VestedUTuber]

Javier's effects are only useless if there's no comms towers on the map. Granted, that's a bigger issue in the official games since Intelegent Systems was very sparing with the comms towers on the official maps, but on either custom maps or in unofficial games (Advance Wars by Web, Custom Wars, Commander Wars) this can become a _major_ factor, to the point where some people consider Javier to be "overpowered" or even "god" tier if he can get his hands on enough towers.

[@DarkSoulsSauron]

Javier needs two com towers to be on par with Kanbei without the extra cost. if he can get more than that he just steamrolls anything

[@jaivl1106]

Better than Kanbei, don't forget the extra indirect defense.

[@portalguy2246]

Kanbei has 20% defense or more though

[@Tizi1999]

olaf looks like an old farmer called jenkins who sits infront of his house with a rifle and shouts something not understandable in a drunken voice

[@carlossongie4165]

He shouts "get out of my property!"

[@rollfizzlebeef5384]

Get your tanks out of Blue Moon!

[@rhysofsneezingdragon1758]

Oddly specific, but oddly fitting

[@Tizi1999]

@@rhysofsneezingdragon1758 fuck, this is old

[@rhysofsneezingdragon1758]

@@Tizi1999 and yet, you're still here

[@ferociousfeind8538]

"FITE MEHH!" *samurai spirit* "I think I'm gonna just... rearrange my units... away from yours... as far as they can drive..."

[@pvt8524]

With two comm towers, Javier becomes Kanbei without the higher unit cost and +20% defence against indirect.

[@TheManofthecross]

Untill you knock them out

[@pvt8524]

Well if Javier leaves a unit on said comm towers that's +50% defence and +70% against indirect. In other words, good luck doing that.

[@BroMontana25]

Still has a massive reliance on CTs to be effective, show me Javier on maps without them and I will show you a bunch of Ls for said player/AI.

[@TheManofthecross]

@@BroMontana25 heh maybe. though i suspect there has to be a way to bypass that defence that javier has for ct's etc.

[@BroMontana25]

@@TheManofthecross Best way imo to bypass defense is gonna be skills that passively damage units. Hawke, Olaf, Drake, Kindle and Rachel being prime examples.

[@MrMarinus18]

23:30 Colin's "weakness" doesn't even hinder him that much. Since with Colin it's all about defense. Just keep the enemy at bay and keep spamming your little power until you have accumulated such a massive fortune you can just steamroll the enemy.

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

Screw the rules -- *I have money!*

[@MrMarinus18]

@@amanofnoreputation2164 I usually prefer to actually not use the money I get from the first 2 little power usages. Instead pocketing it as gold rush increases your money by 50% not your income. So if you have like 20.000 when you use it you get 10.000 just like that. At that point you can just build yourself a whole bunch of megatanks and bombers and just steamroll the enemy. In this playstyle Colin has no weakness as his lower firepower doesn't matter if you are primairily just stalling. You don't even have to pocket all of it. As long as you have more money every time you use your little power you will win as the opponent just can't keep up.

[@Victimxofxprogress]

Sonja's power absolutely destroys Lash. Which means if both of their powers go off at once, Lash will have 0(!) defence on cities and only two on mountains/HQ. Also, if you play in a tag game with Sonja. Her terrain nerf applies to the enemy even if she isn't on the field

[@103035icle]

wait. wtf. even if shes not commanding they get nerfed... wtf.

[@randomguy-tg7ok]

That is, unfortunately, untrue.

[@103035icle]

random guy ok. Was gonna say. That would makes the kenbei sanja pairing even more broken then it already is.

[@Kylesico912x]

Heck, Lash Sonja as a pairing is pretty strong. Start with Lash and have a strong offense and end with Sonja for the counter attacks. Or start with Sonja to reduce defense stars on the enemy and end with Lash to utterly obliterate her enemies. Pretty versitile dual strike.

[@screwtokaiba]

I remember there was a Tier list discussion that puts Grit as the absolute worst CO in the game

[@Mangs1337]

+screwtokaiba Why on earth would Grit be any worse in Dual Strike?

[@MrEntinen]

+Mangs tanks are the best unit in normal campaign

[@Adderflail]

+Mangs TL;DR: Inf OP. Fast defensive charging for infantry. Infantry charges your COP stars something like 3.5 times as fast as it did in AW2, so the dominant strategy is literally 75% infantry to get your SCOP by day 6. This makes the game pace way to fast for Grit, because building arty means ceding position early and ram their shit into his. Infantry is so essential that him having no way to boost that is problematic enough, and he is really hurt by weak recon tanks and md tanks/copters (other 25%). He can't harass and make up the difference because of that. What really seals the deal is that artys just get hard countered by black bombs in general, which you can easily bank for with inf spam, and copters on the maps that have them. What defines a good CO in this game is 1) Unit Count -impossible for your opponent to catch up if they cant keep up the unit count -Inf defense is a part of this as your unit count won't fall if your units can't die. 2) Inf attack -You better believe the attack strength of 3/4s of the army is important. 3) Mass damage -Makes things die quicker, which affects the most important thing (Unit Count) -Black bomb is essential because it's the one unit with splash damage. -Every CO with mass damage is high tier its that good. 4) Direct vehicle boost -Direct vehicle as opposed to arty because the black bomb, while never being cost efficient, makes everything 1hp, which means they are dead from anything or running away. So the best way to play around that is to play to keep both sides unit count as low as possible, which means your army has to be mobile. Arty isn't mobile, and won't be useful outside of backing up your other vehicles in a push. Grit is the worst CO in this game because he literally has none of the qualities that make a good CO in this game. He himself hasn't changed, but the game mechanics did, and that really screwed him.

[@Adderflail]

+MrEntinen Pretty sure this list was made with a PVP focus.

[@screwtokaiba]

+Mangs Found it, basically its a combination of Black Bomb being actually too overpowered combined with the extreme speed of CO power charging in DS screwed Grit more than other CO since he can't keep up

[@paragon359]

I've been playing this game for about 7 years now... ZAK AND CANDY WHAT ARE THOSE

[@hennyzhi2261]

+Fire310 Judging by your profile pic are you also a fan of Radiant Haar? lol

[@paragon359]

Do you mean THE TRUE HERO? Then yes, I am a huge fan!

[@GreyWind1988]

+Fire310 Zak and Candy are European translation names for Kindle and Koal.

[@paragon359]

GreyWind1988 Yeah, I know. It just caught me off guard when I saw it. At least it's not AW:DoR where like everyone's name is different.

[@Vodriorap]

candy is not bad at all

[@SirThane13]

33:24 Not sure if anyone has pointed this out, and I pronounced it the same in when I was first playing the game, but Javier is pronounced HAH vee AIR.

[@dangerx69]

Thats nothing i used to pronounce sonja as son Jaa ........about 2 years ago i realized she is pronounced as sonya ...

[@daemon2470]

i am hispanic and it is true: ha bee air ( Ja vi er).

[@paragon359]

I've been playing this game for about 7 years now... ZAK AND CANDY WHAT ARE THOSE

[@TakedaYuuki-8SFL]

European version names of Koal and Kindle

[@len5630]

@@TakedaYuuki-8SFL They changed the names? So that's why younger me was confused why people don't know who Kindle was in an old AW forum.

[@renoud4093]

13:57 Mangs... 3+5=8! not 7! Mangs math strikes again...

[@bleh212]

Id love to see how you would rebalance the co's in dual strike, like the video you did for AW2.

[@theicycharmander3324]

*looks at description* Sensei Jess?! Kakashi move over!

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

I am annoyed that Sturm isn't in the game. Especially when the CO list got an empty space. A way more threatening final boss than Von Bolt. Then again, the older campaigns are better designed as well. The first game gave you three characters with different playstyles in order to tackle a large number of different enemies in different scenarios. Then the second game focused on the individual nations and gave a fair bit of character developement to some of them. Then we get DS, where you get a huge list of COs regardless of map, and the enemy either use the overpowered pipe gun, or they use various other annoying features, there are plenty of timed missions and eventually they start using their broken two superpowers and an extra turn deal.

[@RandalfElVikingo]

Advance Wars DS gets something better for your own CO: the perk system that allows you to pick four skills for any character, including 1+ vision, 1 terrain cost etc.

[@whichDude]

Sturm is cool, but he needs to always be an AI unit. He is way to strong for any pvp since he will always be good on any map. Von Bolt is tough, but he really only has stronger units (110/110 vs 120/120 compared to Sturm). His Super is crazy expensive for just 3 damage and paralysis, and he suffers normal movement penalties like everyone not named Sturm.

[@ranaashhad8040]

@@whichDude Is Sturm more overpowered than Caulder??

[@whichDude]

@@ranaashhad8040 Depends on the map. Caulder can definitely spear his way into Sturm with his heals, but he's only a firepower match in his CO zone whereas Sturm is everything. If it's a big map with alot of units I would say Sturm since he will have more units with higher firepower, and his units have no movement penalties. Caulder's heals on smaller-some medium maps would easily give him the edge.

[@ranaashhad8040]

@@whichDude But Caulder Co zone gives him a 160/160 stats which is insane. Another thing is that if you fail to destroy his unit in his CO zone in one strike. You may As well forget about taking that unit down.

[@minnick66]

I think you're missing the point on Olaf and comparing him to his prior play style. Speaking from having played him quite a bit that he substantially improved in dual strike and its in great part due to the unique circumstance of his star setup and his skill proccing over 2 turns instead of 1 for everyone else. Because he has an extra star on his super over his standard power he can daisy chain his regular power over way more turns than anyone else. He gains star energy on his second turns of snow which results in 6 *continuous days of snow* with a very high level of certainty. That means 3 turns of 130/110 stats and 3 days of 120/100 for all units with no strategic negatives for full strat flexibility. You mentioned opponents using ice breaker but if you are playing with skills on it actually leans even further into his favor. Don't forget you get to control *when* that snow falls and get that first strike at a whopping 150/110 and they need to attack into you on their next turn with damaged units into a buffed defense unit with a 150% counter waiting for them. We know how critical first strikes are in advance wars. Basically, if you play Olaf like you play him in aw1 and aw2 you are going to have a bad time. He's now a hyper aggressive stat superior type in aw:ds that intentionally aggressively trades units in early turns to set up a stat storm for a 6 turn power rush and can even beat broken tier on smaller maps. He's an awful version of his prior game play style but in return became a way stronger CO now due to the stat superiority. The increased gas cost is pointless to his new strategy since he's a rush-down CO now.

[@VynalDerp]

This video is five years old. I think the info is a bit out of date and he does come at it with a classical gameplay style in mind. Personally, I find COs like Jake to be pretty decent against COs like Candy, if I have to choose between a City or a Plains to attack one of Candy's units, 9 times out of 10 I'll probably take the plains lmao. Have literally lost all of my money in a single turn because of that little power BS. Some of the maps don't give you a delicious choice between a city, a forest, and a plains. edit: He also doesn't take into consideration the dual strike powerups for each CO, which have their on spiel of advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes two mediocre COs breach a higher rank due to the power combo.

[@minnick66]

@@VynalDerp Totally. I got excited about the reboot and started revisitng some videos and was a bit surprised by the Olaf assessment since I remembered he was one of the better COs in dual strike in standard play in a variety scenarios. As you mentioned, some tags and abilities shift the ranks all over the place so it's almost like you need multiple rankings depending on context (solo/no skills, solo/skills, tag/no skills, tag skills). There are situations even beyond those that shift usefulness, including FoW which makes Sonja and Grit way better and Max and Jake way worse. Also map size: Olaf and Adder are particularly good in small-mid maps where they can apply pressure while Hachi, Colin, Kanbei, and Candy have room to snowball on large-extra large maps. Definitely agree that the ranks are pretty heavily situational.

[@DennisJosephin]

I tried playing Olaf like you said still is pretty bad old Olaf was Much stronger

[@maniger98]

Think you'll ever do a tier list on days of ruin?

[@BusterBeachside]

+maniger98 I want this pretty badly. From my experience, I can at least say that the STRONGEST CO is the main bad guy... the blue guy... (I'm blanking on his name right now, clearly). Although I'll admit I'm one of many Advance Wars fans out there who doesn't have any friends who play the game with.

[@BurningVAP]

+BusterTheFox Caulder/ Stolos is incredibly OP, even more than Sturm i would say (he can counter the damage of a meteor strike with his passive ability!) it would be interesting to see how a battle between Hachi and him would go, the two most OP COs of any Advance Wars games.

[@so0meone]

+BusterTheFox Caulder is pretty much the most broken CO in Advance Wars and I believe the general consensus is that Isabella is the best legal CO because of Deep Strike.

[@BusterBeachside]

Isabella is SO good. If not for Lin's awesome theme, she'd be my main CO in DoR/DC. She's basically Gage, but without everything that makes Gage awful. Which means she's pretty much unstoppable in a full CO zone War Tank if supported by plenty of rockets and anti-tanks.

[@Shazam1998]

+Alejandro Villada You can't really compare Sturm and Caulder because they come from 2 games with very different game mechanics

[@GoldieTamamo]

Alone, Zak is pretty weaksauce. He was definitely made with the Dual Strike maneuver in mind. The character requires a strong understanding of how much CO power you'll build in any given situation, and which CO you want to end your turn as in order to build the correct CO Power, as well as recognizing when to use a CO power, Super CO power, or Dual Strike for the most value. Not an easy character to play. One important trick with Zak is determining whether you need his speed for reaching key targets, or retreating out of attack range, in any given situation. His powers are very 'either or', you either rush in for an attack fully committed, or beat a full retreat. A dual strike with him on the offensive will allow you to move neotank units in adjacent to cities to open up holes in the enemy's perimeter, stationing ranged attack units on cities you have cleared of enemy forces, whereupon you can switch to Candy with High Society and exploit her massive offense gains on said cities, using the extra turn to make up for the shortcoming of ending your units moves on roads and going all out on targets from whatever buildings you've managed to clear, OR alternatively, you can also open with Candy and then retreat to cover with Zak after you strike your enemy's forces, using Trail of Woe's movement speed to retreat completely out of range, foregoing the attack bonus from the ability altogether. The rest of the time when Candy isn't ready, you use Zak's Forced March power either for the reach or the attack bonus, as the situation warrants, to punish enemy moves with your own expendable units, and to prevent things like join-capping. Naturally, you still want to observe the normal use of high-defense terrain when you can't risk ending units moves on roads. You want to look at the passive attack bonus on roads not as the main purpose for using Koal, but just as an occasional bonus means to build extra CO power or close the gap in a very close fight (mainly vs infantry caps and the occasional light tank battle). He's a terror with a network of AA guns, Recons, and Neotanks, backed with Candy setting up artilleries and rockets on her cities--it becomes very difficult for the enemy to approach anywhere near your territory without being punished by either a Forced March counterattack or Candy using +40% damage ranged units (her passive practically makes up for Koal's, and I think this may be by design), so the trick is that you use him to build CO power on turns where you're not worried about needing to defend (basically any turn you have superior visual intel to strike without risk, or in which the enemy has made a misplay), then switch to Candy whenever you're scouting or expect the enemy to come in range of your artillery/rockets/do anything unpredictable, activating Urban Blight on turns when the enemy is recuperating from your attacks to stall them and hurt their economy, or else activating high society when they move in to try and attack, in order to quickly wipe out any heavier units to prevent their escape. Once you have Trail of Woe ready, you turtle with Candy and spam periodic urban blights to discourage both repairs and unit production (scout their manufacturing buildings first for juicy targets so you don't just hit infantry; although forcing infantry to wait an extra turn to be able to cap is devastating in its own right, it's better to wait until they move onto neutral buildings and hit some more valuable units instead like artilleries/rockets that'll have to hang behind if they want back their full attack power), until your enemy is forced to either commit or bleed out, since they're basically being forced to spend 30% of any unit stationed for repairs on top of what they're already spending (Candy is an incredibly punishing defender who wins out via biting hard with Zak's help, and then winning out the battle of attrition). If you're running Adder, the strategy is similar, minus the heavy use of ranged units--you move in with Zak on roads, then back out with Adder, able to hit the enemy and retreat out of their range before they can do anything about it. When you need to fight a battle away from the Road, then you flip to using Adder more predominantly. Where Zak/Candy is best described as "Build up power, then lunge in, then Candy salts the earth afterward", Zak/Adder is "Repeated Hit and Run til your enemy runs out of funds, Koal handles roads, Adder handles everywhere else". Of course, the entire point of Zak is to win a ground war on a map with plenty of road--if your environment lacks road, you probably want a different CO altogether.

[@TCM.Reviews]

9:49 is it just me? or does Nell look pregnant?

[@vkaa3k190]

massive pelvic tilt

[@brandongreenland9632]

That’s actually what I was going to mention too. Considering the time skip that seems to have happened between advance wars 2 and Dual Strike...

[@markusjagering7449]

Can you please also make CO tierlists of advance wars 1 and days of ruin? That would be interesting.

[@shigerufan1]

I wish he made more Days of Ruin videos in general, the balance of that game is so much different from the others with the amount of hybrid units that exist.

[@BoboMagroto26]

More requested now with the AD 1+2 Reboot on the switch now

[@elmohead]

Sasha + Colin is the best combo ever. You get unlimited money and your opponent cannot use their powers.

[@DarkChaosKaxi]

Nothing can compare to a cross-map HQ capture from Earth and Sky. My friend had to keep that in mind every time we played. When not playing the insta-cap tag (and banning Hachi), I would play mostly with Sonja+Lash or a combo of any of Sami/Grit/Sensei/Javier. My friend loved abusing Colin+Jess for stupid strong tanks, and the battles were really fun and challenging, overcoming those odds with smarter play.

[@apocalypseofplush]

Everyone: *talking about stuff related to the tier list* Me, looking at Jake: ✨ b e a n i e ✨ Edit: 3 likes! I’m actually quite surprised.

[@0ctopusComp1etely]

Just for future reference: Javier is pronounced "Ha-vi-err". Spanish names, yo. Also, Kanbei is "Kahn-bay". Japanese doesn't really do the European "ei = eye" thing. As for the actual video, yeah I think you pretty much nailed it. Financial COs are just stronger than everyone else. Hachi is a god. Colin is a demi-god. High-five for Adder love. He's basic and he's simple, but he just feels so gooood to play. Like playing the purest test of skill and feeling like a smug douche for doing it, win or lose. I miiiight argue that I think Hawk should be a Tier 3, mostly cause that Super Power can give him an instant 4 point potential lead in health depending on the situation, but that is really circumstantial and his powers are crazy costly. I'm okay with him in Tier 2. My personal main is Rachel, and I'm honestly surprised you put her in Tier 3. I completely agree her Super Power is brutal, and if performed "properly" (basically wait for a juicy moment to blast a bunch of peeps without wasting a missile- you get used to "aiming" with practice) it can tip the game pretty heavily. However, I feel like her weak CO Power (I still use it even if it's pretty worthless) and her double-edged day power make her not as strong as a lot of Tier 3s. You can use the extra repair to give yourself an edge, especially when defending key locations, but it's a very easy "weakness" to have exploited as well, especially against COs that have map-wide damage powers (Urban Blight is the bane of all things holy. Namely money). I want her in Tier 3, but I feel like she's too hit-or-miss for it and should be in 2. On the other hand, I'd bump up Andy by one. He's not really special, but that Super power is crazy sexy. Universal extra movement on top of a half full-heal and attack boost can turn a game so easily. Plus it makes capturing (HQ's specifically) a breeze. Again, I accept a Tier 2 though for lack of day power though.

[@celrokproduction]

Yeah exactly Andy is tier 3 for me. His Super power is too good for the number off star it cost. Thing is, him not having date power isn't a issue if since a majority of the cast doesn't have def boost meaning the damage he'll deal will be the same. Also, i feel like he put Kanbei tier 3 for the wrong reason. Him having+20 atk and def on all unit is still broken, and his Super Power is... But The thing is : he can't invest on a black bomb. Cost waaaay too MUCH for him and that unit counter him really hard cause he can't count on his stat beforer this unit. In term of capacity, he's borderline Tier 5, but this weapon alone is The reason you can't put it Tier 4. Lash is tier 3 free she's super weak. The boost she gain from the field is minor and her super power also boost the ennemis def on field since it affect directly the field. So he get the 6 star défense one city. Sonja with fog is borderline Tier 4. Geting that much more info than your oponnent with her vision is CRUCIAL. Tier 2 without fog. I wonder about Grit because you don't have anti-tank in Dual Strike and that is big. I think hes borderline tier 3

[@Jfrost9101]

I personally feel the same about Lash. I *really* want her to be Tier 3, but... halving her terrain star firepower boost CRIPPLED her in Dual Strike. She's really fun in 2, but in DS her main gimmick is pretty much just done better overall by Kindle, and even easier to boot. poor girl got ruined, very sad

[@anatnis]

Great vid. Couple things I disagree on tho. Colin should be God Tier. Imo he's the best CO in the game. Yes, better than Hachi. It's mainly because of the amount of funds he's able to amass. In large maps he's unbeatable, in medium maps he's nearly unstoppable, and even in small maps with skill and strategy he practically can't lose. Small open maps is the only time he really struggles. If he can take a few properties, set up a blockade, stack cash, and hold spawn points, it's over. Once he reaches the $50-$80k range he's got you. Gold Rush at that point grants incredible gains, more so with "Double Stacks" when you fill his meter and can use Gold Rush twice in a row. Once he's over $100k with meter he survives on PURE self-sustained cashflow. He doesn't need properties anymore (aside from spawn points), and it's nothing for him to gain hundreds of thousands of dollars from Gold Rush. Sure Hachi can kick out $14k megatanks with his COP and put them on the front lines with his SCOP but a steady stream of Megas, Neos, and Rockets can deal with that. I can often take matches off Hachi and I often best my Hachi War Room records with Colin. Colin shouldn't be in a Tier with Von Bolt. I CRUSH Von Bolt with Colin. Colin and Von Bolt aren't in the same league. I get way more of a challenge from Kindle or even Sasha, who should also be higher. Sasha should be Overpowered Tier if not Broken Tier, mainly because she can SHUT DOWN THE BEST CO'S IN THE GAME. Von Bolt, Sami, Eagle, Hawke, Lash, Nell and other strong CO's who are reliant on their SCOP get shut the Hell down. With +50k or more in you pocket you will completely empty their gauge, severely crippling them. They're essentially forced to play without Powers at all or constantly settle for COP which largely isn't a threat. There isn't anyone in the Overpowered tier or lower that she can't take, although I admit her day-to-day ability isn't spectacular (though it's amazing on large maps) and I agree she sacrifices her power to kill her opponent's, often that's all it takes as many CO's rely on their powers to be effective. Sasha rocks. Sonja's bad, bro. You have to play situational (FoW), with handicaps (no animations), or Counter play (vs Lash) in order for her to be good. A decent player who knows her mechanics and has a solid memory can beat her, and once you understand how her SCOP works (she attacks first) she goes down like a hooker on the first of the month. She's "Balanced" aka Trash tier. No way she's better than Adder or Koal. Don't sleep on the speed guys. +1 or +2 movement can be the difference between that rocket unit that's holding back a full on charge living or dying....or the difference between those 3 infantry reaching those 2 cities and that factory this turn (which you're not prepared for) or the next. Adder and Koal should be strong tier. Especially Adder. He builds meter SO fast. Grimm hits hard, bro. HARD. Sure he's a glass cannon but that can be offset with artillery....which also hits HARD. He's all about initiative so playing a defensive game is difficult, but he's dangerous in good hands. I hate fighting against Grimm players. Strong Tier. Well, that's my opinion. Sorry for the long post.

[@KetxGaming]

AW video in 2016 :O god i LOVE THIS GAME

[@empyrean6274]

Can't wait till the AW:DS CO Style Tier List.

[@E4439Qv5]

Jugger won.

[@Rin_husband]

Javier>>>>>>> anything else

[@antiradiationsnowy1536]

This video walked so the new one could run

[@SlitheringStevePhilips]

Tier list rules: 1v1 Final destination only No items

[@darkesttimeline7026]

Hachi only

[@randomyoshi]

I would put Lash a tier lower in Dual Strike. Her day-to-day ability got nerfed in that game. Instead of a 10% firepower increase per terrain stars like she got in AW2, she now gets a 5% firepower increase per terrain stars.

[@lydenbrock1631]

Yes and I was so disappointed she was nerfed.... I loved her in ADW2 but I never play her in DS

[@huron994]

I know this is pvp tier but the jess/megatank level was the hardest level in the game for a 2v2. Her power plus static day to day is Op

[@laughingman7467]

Friend: Hachi is kind of weak... Me: would you like to test that theory? Quantity > quality(firepower, CO power etc...)

[@anonyme4881]

You should invite him to play a pre deployed map lmao Its impossible to win against Hachi in those Also, Medium Tank priced as a Tank is pure balance

[@laughingman7467]

@@anonyme4881 that's like challenging them to an arm wrestling match... But your arm is a hydraulic press.

[@anonyme4881]

@@laughingman7467 Thats the point

[@jamesreveley5998]

I remember my friend said he was useless I laughed and said I can beat any CO with Hachi he picked a pre deployed map and picked Sensei and I just 😈 when he picked a map with tons of cities.

[@pvt8524]

Can I just point out you gave von bolt tier 4 with +10% attack and defense but you said Javier with one com tower is tier 2? Mangs do you even math?

[@furret8456]

007PVTKILLER he included the 1 com tower with Co powers Von Bolts Co power just shuts down a huge part of your army while dealing dmg wich still is more important than javier with 1 tower and his powers, what does invincibility do if u cant move?

[@KingUnKaged]

Hachi in his alt outfit: "I killed FITTY MEN!"

[@Nick3lass3]

Rachels passive ability that gives her +1 repair should come free of charge. This would make her even stronger but do we really care? ^^;

[@MrMarinus18]

6:05 Maybe in balancing you could also give him 10% defense on plains so that plains go up to 2 stars.

[@Zoular]

Good vid man, game is still one of my favourites of all time, glad to see someone who knows what they talking about make a post like this. Keep it up!

[@hehepoopoo]

Need a link to your avatar for...science.

[@Zoular]

+Chronic Pÿrø (ⓚⓘⓡⓘⓣⓞ) the artist name is naoso4 but he closed his Deviantart account :( danbooru.donmai.us/posts/937008

[@sauce4279]

What's up with your profile picture?

[@Zoular]

@@sauce4279It's Sami dude

[@austinwhite3012]

Why am I here I never even played this game

[@michaeljonathan9715]

AW Tier List based on Campaign & War Rooms only with new player PvP is weird (and also hilarious with amount of swears without threat of YT start become angry and demonetize when 1 swear word is heard at first 2 minutes). Also Max getting CO Power movement removal nerf is Tier 1 and "almost Tier 0" while Lash literally nerfed to halved Day to Day power get Tier 3.

[@KINGD353]

sami looking surprisingly cute and feminine in her alt outfit lol

[@kentknightofcaelin4537]

I agree, she's really cute!

[@JustAnotherPest]

It's been more than ten years since I hung around whichever AW forum I visited, but from what I remember, someone did the experiments and determined that you're right about how Rachel's missiles work. Missile 1 prioritizes foot soldiers with more weight given to capturing units. Missile 2 tries to hit as many units as it can. Missile 3 looks for the most expensive missile-shaped clump of units on the map (your units count as negative value).

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

You forgot to mention Sasha has one of the most powerful day to days in the game: Getting to listen to Sasha's theme (Which means she can count herself among the ranks of Rachel and Sturm) :P

[@YOSHIERIDER]

Javier is a Spanish name, I think. So the J is pronounced like an H.

[@OlleLindestad]

YOSHIERIDER Well, depending on the version of Spanish it's sort of a hissing sound. But it's usually pronounced as an H in English because English doesn't have that sound.

[@rpgnerd7610]

Only a few more hours bois before we get an updated list

[@DrunkDudley]

Advance Wars Dual Strike is my single most played DS game i have in my Collection, i played it over 328 hours 42 mins, been trying to unlock everything and i finnaly did get all 300 medals. most annoying medals to unlock is Hard & Brutal Combat, & the C rank mission.... WTF i had like 2 legit C rank when i started going for the medals

[@Jokerecho3540]

Personally, I've been waiting for this video for a long time.

[@Greil9]

Too bad Eagle is so low. He used to be my favorite CO when I played Advance Wars. But I didn't get much PVP action since I didn't know anyone else who had the game, online or offline. So I'm not saying he should be higher, just that I'm disappointed he is low.

[@screwtokaiba]

+Greil9 His COP is actually op enough to make him high tier

[@103035icle]

i say hes the second highest tier myself. hes my main. neutral land with strong air helps him cover against everything. also if you pair him with andy who gets an extra 10% bouness ontop of moving 3 times and healing all units by 5 HP... ya.

[@brandonshelby6614]

Disregard this guy making this video. Eagle is tier 4.

[@golddust7095]

@@brandonshelby6614 nah eagle really isnt that good in 1v1 but he does have a certain conditioning built into him as most build anti air against eagle which is abusable but aside from that his super takes too long to charge to be consistent and air units have poor defense in general

[@golddust7095]

@@brandonshelby6614 but still play the cos you like as thats who you enjoy just use this as a way counter play against others or something lol

[@h0m3st4r]

I'll say this. Excluding Hachi, Sasha and Colin are probably the most broken duo in the game. Colin increases your coffers, Sasha wipes out the opposing CO bar, and the cycle keeps going until it's time to close the curtain with your Tag Power. By then, you'll have so much money that Colin's infantry can blow up megatanks, and if anything does survive, Sasha can just get even more money.

[@insertnamehere6659]

also I'm fairly certain Lash's day to day got changed from added fire power bonus, to a per-star damage multiplier, so technically a nerf.

[@lydenbrock1631]

Yes she sas nerfed. In ADW2 each star gave her a 10% attack bonus bit in DS each star only give her 5% attack bonus

[@budgetproductions1178]

Sturm did not die, he just took of her mask and got back to her previous job.

[@feasibilyheretical]

Sasha Is my favorite of the new COs to this game.

[@Aleph3575]

33:55 Javier's main strength is that he's the only Green Earth CO that doesn't have some kind of malus on a kind of units. IE, you know how Jess is really good with land units but sucks with Naval and Air or how Eagle is good with Air but sucks with navy? Javier doesn't have that, which is kinda neat in and of itself. He's basically a Green Earth Andy with a goofier personality.

[@kentknightofcaelin4537]

I don't get it. What does him being green earth have to do with anything?

[@laughingman7467]

Olaf superpower buff(Avalanche)... Whenever Olaf's units attacks an enemy unit in snowy weather the unit that was attacked by Olaf's unit, that unit cannot move on the next turn.

[@garra123454]

I wonder when duel strike will be remade for switch

[@Edubbplate]

Who has friends? I wish I had friends.

[@Nick3lass3]

Whats worse with rachels super CO power is that the missiles doesnt fill up the opponents co-gauge. Its free damage that doesnt fuel your enemy.

[@uzernamefail]

Some comments on your list: -I think people rate Koal/Zak above Adder for the firepower bonus. His COP/SCOP increase firepower on roads, if memory serves, so he works best when he looses a squad of recons on a road, slaughtering the infantry on/beside it. -The big thing I think you aren't taking into account is how much power charging changed after AW2. Namely, infantry (not mechs) give you MASSIVE amounts of power for relatively little cost. A strong COP/SCOP is much more useful in AWDS because of this, and plays a part in what I'm about to say. -Sensei is tier 4. SCOP not coming quick enough? Use his COP and sacrifice the infantry as a costless way to build stars! Though, I will admit, Sensei becomes weaker without a lot of cities, and relies on copters for raw firepower. The infantry spam is really strong with him though, and makes him super annoying to fight. -Grit isn't so good, especially in infantry spam games. He's good at taking out high-value units, but needs good terrain to deal with a flood of infantry/mechs. I would demote him to tier 2, maybe tier 1 if it's a larger map with airports (go around his walls) and no ports (Grit's battleships and carriers are pretty strong) -Kindle/Candy is more probably tier 4 than 3. I see why you place her there, but she deserves a bump for being able to snipe money from her opponent if FoW is off. Let's say, for example, Haichi pops his SCOP and builds lots and lots of units. Sounds bad, right? It is, but our girl has the best answer! The repair cost imposed from her COP takes effect AFTER the power expires, so Haichi pays 68% (50 + .2(90)) after its all said and done, and functionally pays even more because all those units are left at 9 HP! You can pull similar tricks on Colin after his COP, and using it on Kanbei in general hurts him pretty bad. -Remember what I said about infantry? Imagine Nell spamming her infantry against your units now. She builds power quickly, AND takes off a few hit points from luck damage. By the time her SCOP is ready, you don't need 100% when 80% or 70% does the trick too. -Von Bolt isn't that good. Day to day, he's still weaker than Jess, Kanbei, and Lash (forests/cities), while not raising an army the size of Colin, Haichi, or even Sensei.His SCOP is really good once you have it, but it has the same cost as Hawke's without a COP to use more urgently. Sasha absolutely shits on that part of him, and she's tier 1! I can't see him any higher than the top of tier 2 with Hawke.

[@DS-ff6ze]

1) Koal's road boosts are negligible. 2) Nell is overrated. Battle-based powers are situational because if you get it during a turn where not many units can attack, you have to wait (and be a turn behind on the opponent), plus the luck factor adds to the situational. 3) Von Bolt is very good. His 110/110 stats makes him a net 20% for all units. Very few CO's in the game have a net 20% without any day to day weaknesses, and even so, it's only for specific units and not all units.

[@SilentDragonite149]

I can confirm that Sonja's ability to decrease Terrain Stars takes occurs before Lash's Prime Tactics doubles them.

[@MrxD-cg5xs]

Hey Mangs! I’ve played Advance Wars: Dual Strike for over 300 hours now and it was one of my first Nintendo games I ever had. And believe me or not, but I still have a lot of fun with this game. But there is still one question I can’t find an answer to: What happens if you get 300/300 medals? I heard a lot of rumors: one say that you unlock the black canons and the boltrum in argement (at least it’s called like this in my game, it’s the place where you can build your own level), some others say that you unlock storm as a playable commander (I want both of it, since I love the boltrum AND storm) Do you know what happens? Pls tell me if you know (I got 285 medals and I really struggle at the last 15 :/)

[@VestedUTuber]

One thing with Sasha, having a monetary advantage is HUGE. While 100 per property may not seem like much, with just five properties that's enough to buy an extra infantry every two days, which means a numerical advantage. Alternatively, it means you can tech up quicker. Doesn't make her broken, but she's definitely above Balanced Tier.

[@furret8456]

VestedUTuber cheaper repairs? ;)

[@VestedUTuber]

@@furret8456 Repairs are kinda irrelevant in most cases.

[@furret8456]

@@VestedUTuber yet it makes deffensive tactics more considerable since the repaircosts dont hurt that much

[@VestedUTuber]

@@furret8456 The problem is that you're not really going to be repairing units on the front line. Front-line cities are often too dangerous to use for repairs, and retreating further back takes units out of action, weakening your overall position. Defensively, you want numbers over health, as even a 1hp infantry in a choke point will stop an enemy megatank in its tracks simply because it has to stop and shoot the infantry before continuing to advance. Said 1hp infantry can't do anything if it's sitting on a city waiting to be repaired, though.

[@furret8456]

@@VestedUTuber true

[@emotional_st0rm]

WE HIT 5,000 SUBS!! WOOOOO!

[@Mangs1337]

+Lucina, Time Traveller (SuperNerdyD) :D

[@emotional_st0rm]

Mangs ^_^ omg I'm so happy for you! I hope your channel keeps growing!

[@xilencered7788]

+Mangs I initially watched this video thinking that it was a couple years. Nice to see that there are other people who still play this game. I found my old copy in my car trunk yesterday and I have become re-addicted to it.

[@marth5308]

+Lucina, Time Traveller (SuperNerdyD) I guess 3 times now.

[@emotional_st0rm]

Israel Salazar Wut?

[@OwGash]

Someone thought hachi was bad, wut. Olaf dressed like he's 10 xd

[@dxlvs1]

God, the sprites in this game are hideous compared to the first two.

[@BenFM]

dxlvs1 these are all the alternate outfits

[@laughingman7467]

Adder new CO Super power... He can teleport 4 units he chooses on any tile on the map. "Nothing personal kid" **Teleports 4 bombers on your rockets**

[@VenerabIe]

Love your channel Mangs, keep up this incredible AW content. Always find myself coming back here now and again. Now, 6:55 for veichles.

[@kawecknius1499]

mangs Rachel's missiles all target the biggest clump of the most expensive units i tested this by having two clusters of units the first cluster was infantry the second cluster was rockets and later on i actually added a cluster of neo-tanks every single missile targeted the rockets until i added the neo-tanks where they started to only fire at those and they hit an infantry one time but that was collateral damage

[@Mangs1337]

I know that the three missiles have different AI's and priorities, but I'm not sure excactly how they work.

[@kawecknius1499]

Wow didn't expect you to reply. I actually found those results by accident i was playing by myself because I'm very lonely and i had just at least 15 rockets and i used the superpower and every single missile hit those rockets despite there being a cluster of infantry and a smaller cluster of rockets somewhere else and when i used it again same thing and also this is unrelated but eventually that team's entire army was 49 rockets and a single battleship blocking an entire island

[@benjamincuevas9627]

With the remakes of one and two I think this list should be updated.

[@83cuicui]

Earth and sky is so broken x)

[@LuisFelipeSimmonds]

Days of ruin tier list. It is needed your opinion on Caulder and TaBITCHta.

[@doopness785]

In looking forward to the remake of this video.

[@JoseMoreno-gu2bf]

Com Towers was a very good feature. However, it should be, 5% offense and 5% deffense, instead of the +10% offense. Because, the game turns out to be almost one shoting everything. It would be very interisting, having a slightly buff on deffense. Just because, if you and your enemy have each one a Com Tower, they should cancel each other Com Tower.

[@ElManReborn616]

The tag break should've been taken into consideration, albeit they wouldn't have broken the mold, probably. Anyway, having access to a 130% tag increases attack power by an additional 30% and luck is increased by 5% per the number of stars, which makes Nell's units more likely to score 1HKOs, for instance

[@lancepruitt8617]

Colin has always been my favorite

[@blackdragoncyrus]

"Jayvier"

[@marksalvador9651]

Hi I am playing this game since 2007 this is my favorite game as a kid recently I have replayed it in my phone again I agree on most of your arguments especially max being trash ahahah but I think rachel is not that overpowered especially on big maps and fog of war her super power is useless if she cant see a thing (Missiles will be targetted on your hq). very nice video though I enjoyed watching it.

[@p-z3209]

Rachel with the gear plus gold rush and luck

[@laughingman7467]

I think max's buff should be his passive on his front line units firepower can ignore up to 2 terrain defense stars and his tier 2 super power(7stars) should be whenever a close combat unit kills a unit they get a second turn but the units movement can only move 2 tiles on the 2nd turn.

[@joeschmo6637]

What are some of your favorite CO Tag Team options? Personally I prefer Eagle/Andy (in that order), I mean who doesn't like 3 turns in a row (1 regular with Eagle, 2nd Tag w/Andy and then Andy's turn) with the last turn healing units from the previous 2 turns. (Also they get a 15% power bonus on their tag power turns as well ;-).

[@BossyArio]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Earth And Sky (Samy and Eagle) and O.P.A (Colin and Sasha), easily the two most broken Tag Team of the game. One just insta steal victory by capturing the HQ way too fast, the second just gain a hell of money while stopping the enemies from using their powers

[@joeschmo6637]

@@BossyArio Sammy and Eagle is kind of over used and overrated, imho. Still a good team, just not my choice. I would like the second option.

[@KnownAsKenji]

The balance in this game was always awkward but interesting to me, primarily due to Tag mode and selectable skills, that let you have 2 COs as well as a potential double turn with any combination, and further change that up with the boosts to promote a COs strengths, make up for their weaknesses, or just make more money to become a pseudo-Hachi or something. There's still clearly broken COs and combos but I liked the extra wrenches thrown into the system. I guess my point is I can see why it wouldn't be covered in this video, because it's just too many wrenches for a straight-up Tier rating.

[@FosukeLordOfError]

oh my goodness adder is just richmond from it crowd

[@fredfuchs9112]

My tier list Tier 1 (Broken): Hachi, Kanbei,Colin, Nell, Javier (if with 2 or more com towers) Tier 2 (Overpowered) Grit, Sensei,Jess,Rachel, Kindle, Eagle,Von Bolt Tier 3(Situationally Strong/Moderate) Andy,Sami,Sasha,Jake,Sonja,Hawke,Olaf,Lash,Drake Tier 4 (Balanced/Weak) Adder,Max,Grimm,Koal,Jugger,Flak

[@DS-ff6ze]

i'd switch max and grit. tanks are far more useful than artilleries.

[@fredfuchs9112]

+??? ??? It depends on how you play and I say: Artilleries for the win

[@Sho-np2qz]

My favourite sasha, no co power for you!!!!

[@jacobd6613]

Do you think you could have a multiplayer battle? It'd be cool to see 4 (or 8 if you could) players all fight at once. I've had battles like that before, and man, the salt was real!

[@КосаревДмитрий-ж1щ]

Where i can get codes to open all characters? Cant find anything, like i can find for advance wars 2.

[@marine76a]

Grimm is a general of Pegasus Knights.

[@amarynte]

Sami is overpowered at my opinion, especially in team with Eagle, it's possible to instantly win a game by HQ Capture, or just really impact ennemy economy/ backlines as you said.

[@segafreak2000]

Good luck in ever getting that to trigger considering how popular Sasha is in the meta.

[@TheArcbettle]

You clearly never been i a Competetive Tournament alot of your suposed tier 1 and 2 CO’s are the ones Ending wining and you just seem that play really sloppy

[@crawfy48]

Do you have a video or a link of such a tournament?

[@zero3858]

Tier 5: Hachi. So Hachi is the meta knight of Advance wars: Dual strike (When MK was in Brawl) Nell looks pregnant. Candy = Kindle? You forgot one of these , between Sensei and Jess.

[@bestzora7612]

+0 subs as for long as possible Mangs needed to use the Trojan brand when he broke Nell.

[@Mangs1337]

+0 subs as for long as possible Forgot who?

[@zero3858]

Mangs You forgot a coma in between Sensei and Jess. Candy = Kindle?

[@brandongreenland9632]

Andy: “Hey Eagle, whatcha got there?” Eagle, pulling out his old lightning drive: “A Smoothie.” 45:13 (Hawke watches on while hiding Sturm’s corpse in the fridge)

[@Mixa_Lv]

I love all COs that actively change how the game works, like Andy, Adder or Eagle, and which actually require clever power usage, whereas I don't really see the point of Hawke, Grimm, Jugger or Rachel really existing. You still play the game as you would normally do, maybe stressing a specific unit type building, but nothing much beyond that. If the character perks just almost automatically make you worse/better without any additional thought needed, I'd say too that these characters mainly exist just because of handicapping and story purposes. When they make the new AW title, I really wish that they'd put more effort in the character designs, not just in the balancing issues. Good list and explanations.

[@fullanalysis93]

Dual Strike _is_ Advance Wars 3 tho

[@xilencered7788]

some players actually like COs that don't change your playstyle. It can be seen as a benefit to be able to spam powers carefree instead of deciding wether to save it for one extra turn because it will be slightly more useful next turn

[@Mixa_Lv]

+FullAnalysis94 It didn't have the number, possible reboot might as well be just labeled 3. Or 4, or I don't know, companies often do this that they label all the sequels at first and then just stop doing it.

[@Mixa_Lv]

+Ralph Valencia I don't blaim people for doing that, but I still find that some COs are pretty lazily designed. Mangs' balance patch video had a good rework on Eagle and Sensei, and I really appreciate those kind of little effects that actually change how the game is played.

[@Mixa_Lv]

+FullAnalysis94 Or maybe it'll be AW Triple Strike if it comes out for 3DS :p

[@M1America]

Jake is Canadian?!?!?!?!

[@andrewwood8056]

I still really want to see the alt clothing... but great vid nonetheless in 2017!

[@truegamer_007]

I'm watching this again :D

[@angelmacias9345]

I wish these co's would have been in days of ruin. Days of ruin was the best. But no tag team powers