Becoming an Advance Wars Expert- Choosing a CO in AWBW (Tier 4)

A 1350 rank AWBW player breaks down how to decide which Advance Wars COs to choose in the lowest tier (Tier 4).
Special thanks to Maleous and Go7 for production assistance.

[@Mangs1337]

Solid video

[@fernando47180]

Solid video

[@DeejusProductions]

Thanks bud, your feedback in the last one definitely helped improve the production quality lol

[@brendanwiley253]

Solid video

[@Buster_Scruggs]

Where's Tier 0 video though? I play kanbei.

[@Ricardo7250]

One important detail that you haven't mentioned: Choosing Koal not only hinges on the number of roads in the map but also wether these roads touch contested spots or not. Sometimes a low amount of roads can still be good if these few roads are adjancent to contested properties in a convenient, unavoidable way.

[@Lucrei.]

Also worth mentioning that while you get that +10% firepower from being on roads... the roads themselves provide zero additional defense, making them even worse than plains when defending.

[@JC-zn4pk]

Another man who fears CHADgrimm

[@Ricardo7250]

About your comments on Grimm: I don't think playing Grimm as a wall breaker or a surprise attacker (as you mentioned) really works, that's something that you would do if you are playing Max. But Grimm doesn't get any benefit from trading head on like that, because he's equally susceptible to these aggressions. The best way to play Grimm is focusing on counterattack and infantry-walling artilleries. Grimey Grimm Gang was a strong Grimm-only player and he played like that. There's also the fact that Grimm can/should hold on to his ready SCO to increase the pressure.

[@michaeljonathan9715]

Yeah but Grimm Guy is argueably strongest grimm alts, reaching like 4 digits elos and top 50 last time i checked in GL. Grimm need like litteral days to plan and carry out attack or defend, so if your can math trigometry *and* have the patience, maybe one day you can have riddicilous ~1200 elos mysterious grimm alts. Still not the best CO obviously due to damage calculation work with defense and offense bonus in addition the need of irl days of planning make him bad at live plays or players who have very little free time that most other tier 4 CO don't.

[@ibrahimabumustafa7335]

Damn that miss click first turn mech, I would resign directly after.

[@DeejusProductions]

I prefer to keep going, lose convincingly, and then blame my loss on the mech ;)

[@nexusquile9373]

How do you decide what a large vs medium vs small map is? You mentioned large maps in both videos. Do you look at number of turns for infantry or tanks etc. to reach the middle? If so when does it become a large? Enjoying videos so far.

[@DeejusProductions]

Great question, the rule of thumb I usually go by is 20x20 or smaller is a small map. If it is uneven, like 23x17, if the dimensions added together are 40 or less (or

[@blackleon1708]

Eggman recommended this video. Video is good, thanks

[@chillstoneblakeblast3172]

Shoutout from the egg

[@rarianomajoy57]

You have very good explanations man, really enjoyed the vid! Keep it up. Edit: typo

[@StarFlash250]

Recognized the lucifer game immediately lmao

[@Siptom369]

Finally there are so many good things coming out from AWBW

[@monsterchief117]

Jess from DS is my favorite and it's a shame they have her AW2 version only. I think she is okay for lower tier games but her DS version is different enough to add her in as a higher tier in AWBW. I think it would add more variety for casual and competitive, what do you think?

[@peterhardie4151]

I agree, used to love Jess. I think I used her once in AWBW.

[@JoseMoreno-gu2bf]

Another important factor is the amount of comm towers. See, Sonja benefits from no Comm towers since her counterattacks become more relevant. Besides, with no Comm Towers Grimm takes slightly better exchanges in terrain, compared to other CO's; when there are Comm Towers present, his exchanges in terrain are weakier than the average. Grimm's air units are very good. Since there is no deffense in the air combat, Grimm has esentialy 10% firepower advantage. But not only that, in mirror Bcopter matchup he renders enemy bcopter useless without taking almost no damage.

[@VestedUTuber]

"Since there is no deffense in the air combat" That's only the case with terrain stars. CO-inherent defense still applies. It's just not that noticeable with Grimm due to how important first strikes are with air units.

[@JoseMoreno-gu2bf]

@@VestedUTuber I know, the -20% penalty in defense is displayed as a 20% increase boost to the enemy attack. So, with Grimm's 30% attack bonus, in the air, he will have a 10% attack advantage. Besides, Bcopters still die from one AA hit.

[@zhaoyun255]

@@JoseMoreno-gu2bf I'm glad they didn't allow bigger tier vs low tier because I'm sure Eagle would annihilate Grimm if air unit allowed.

[@Davy-kw3yy]

A fellow Flak enthusiast, lets goo

[@ibrahimabumustafa7335]

Really waiting for the eventual tier 0 comparison to see your opinion on the hachi vs sensei delima and who is better

[@megarotom1590]

wait...sensei is THAT good...I knew he was tier 0 but competing against Hachi...whew that's crazy

[@monsterchief117]

It's hachi. Mechs are too slow and Hachi can afford to throw recons into mechs to build up power for better and cheaper units.

[@a.velderrain8849]

Hachi wins that easily. His Scop doesn't take long to charge, his Scop allows him to match Sensei's numbers with his own, Hachi's units are better than Sensei's on average since only inf, mechs, and b copters are good for Sensei and everything else is worse. Hachi has the ability to hold out early game and will inevitably win in the late game.

[@DrDrao]

The fact that awbw is based on aw2 really bites sensei here. The DS power charging mechanics completely change the matchup.

[@scotterboi9]

@@DrDrao Not really. Well, yes, it is a huge nerf to Sensei, but let me explain. In Advance Wars 2, Hachi kicks Sensei's ass. In Dual Strike, Hachi kicks Sensei's ass. Either way, Hachi wins. HE ALWAYS WINS

[@DiegoHernandez-ok7fc]

Great videos! I love how you breakdown the ranking of the CO’s. I would love it if you could also make a video elaborating how to use each CO’s? That way, we are not tied down to only using the “best” CO’s like Adder or Jake. For example, I was analyzing different aspects of the game. Sonja (strong counterattack) & Grimm (weak defense) prefer “No” com towers. Koal & Adder prefer com towers since they need to 2HKO. They need that extra boost offensively. Defensively, both players are affected by it. Jake & Jess can go either way with the comm tower. They don’t need the extra boost offensively to 2HKO but wouldn’t mind a com tower to break through hard terrain. Defensively, they will have stronger counters which will offset a stronger attack by the enemy due to com tower. Sonja plays Defense and conservatively due to her weak powers. Koal & Adder play offense and aggressively due to their reliance on their powers. Grim plays offense due to strong D2D and powers. He uses a combination of aggressiveness (powers are devastating if used correctly) and conservativeness (not reliant on his powers). Jake can play offense or defense and aggressive or conservative. The same goes for Jess. The difference is that she prefers her vehicles to play offense and her infantry (walling) defense. Sonja, Jake, & Jess prefers land while Adder, Koal, & Grimm prefer air or sea.

[@LordMay0]

A fellow Flak fan? I see you're a man of culture.

[@TheZintastic]

Grimm might honestly be the posterboy for how much defense actually matters in AW... Surprisingly enough, damage ain't everything and it truly hurts that if he can't end up finishing the opponents - but leave 'em with 1-3 HP left after an assault - then the counterattack is gonna deal surprisingly more damage than it should... Or even worse, it might even allow the enemy to retaliate on their turn if the opponent is tanky enough. Not to mention CO's like Hawke who thanks to their CO power(s) can also not only replenish themselves, but also weaken Grimm's units devastatingly on a wide global range at that... The Dual Strike mechanic, for example, SHOULD be the PERFECT tool for him. It allows him to lead the assault on the enemy and then go hide behind his tag CO's back and let them do the tanking for him. ...Then you realize that in order to do that Grimm has to be the initiator, which in turn means there has to be one turn where he is gonna need to do the tanking OR be able to set up the units in a way that the opponent can't hurt 'em too bad WHILE still deciding to open themselves up so Grimm can lead the assault on his next turn... Your other option with him (far better one imo) would be to use him as a finisher instead. Letting his partner initiate and also move units in position for him to come in and unleash hell the foe (hopefully) won't be able to recover from. But if he's gonna hide the whole match only to pop in at the very end should you really be using him instead of simply using someone else? I get they intended him to be the high-risk / high-reward kinda CO, but the sad truth is there's just WAY too many factors to play Grimm effectively (I feel like) thus making him a high-risk / A reward CO instead... Even his rock 'n' groovy CO theme isn't able to save him... Think about that for a second!

[@GlobalPokemonSociety]

Sub'd! Would love to see some tournament play too even with tier 4 COs! I'm trying to get ready for Re-Bootcamp so I can beat my college rival... lol

[@GlobalPokemonSociety]

Also that thumbnail should be a t-shirt

[@briankelly1240]

Great video! Are you going to review fog co rankings as well?

[@DeejusProductions]

Thanks! Yeah I will, the next vid will delve more into fog for Tier3, since Adder and Jake usage doesn't really change with fog imo

[@Gatitasecsii]

I hope you start making commentaries because I CRAVE THEM

[@jonahkluger6136]

Sonja is my favorite CO and it sucks to see her in a purgatory. I will say that she loves maps with lots of terrain and few comm towers. She also does particularly well against COs without constant damage boosts. She has lots of room to play around Kindle, beat out Andy, Out-capture Rachel early etc. I wouldn't say she is a better CO than her opposition, but her 50% firepower on counterattack is REALLY good in any isolated battle where an opponent normally would get a good first strike. If she has a tank/infantry on a city, if you initiate with the same unit you will take more damage even if you are on plains yourself.

[@PICADALOL]

my dude!

[@napalmcannon2513]

Friendship ended with Sonja, now Flak is my best friend

[@GreyWind1988]

Here's a question Deejus. What changes would you make to the T4 Co's to make them a bit more even in their tier? I'm not asking for complete game balance. I actually like the tiers. But what would you do to make say Sonja, Koal and Grimm more competitive against Jake, Jess and Adder

[@Gatitasecsii]

To be perfectly honest I'd rather have all the COs be only from AW2.

[@IceDarkBen]

Do you have any advice on what strategy to use with Sonja ? Mangs says she doesn't want to take the initiative and has a strong capture game due to it's Dtd power. He also sees her as quite strong CO, so I don't really know how to play her.

[@JoseMoreno-gu2bf]

Just abuse her counter attacks. You can go for more agressive caps, skip recon agression, spam tanks. If possible don't build bcopters until necessary and answer copters with copters. Don't tech up first than your opponent, don't allow the game to get to indirects. Most of the time just mirror their builds. And of course, use your SCOP.

[@nooneinparticular3370]

Nice analysis overall, but you completely neglected Jess' biggest strength is that she's THE cutest of all the COs.

[@peterhardie4151]

Racheal??

[@thereallifesaiyan]

Nell??

[@HrHaakon]

Olaf?

[@caesersseizrs]

Waiting with baited breath

[@alexlee4154]

If youre going to do a short focused video you might want to consider using a few more cuts and a script if you arent already Its more engaging if you can keep a tight pace

[@DeejusProductions]

Thanks for the tip, I don't have a script...yet

[@amiasg9305]

I actually didn't know flak and jugger were banned from global league. I'd love to see flak return

[@solairefan5420]

10/10 You should sell washing machines

[@Techy_fin]

quick question: if AWBW would've used dual strike Jess, where do you think she would sit in the tiering?

[@DeejusProductions]

Oh man, at least tier 2 I'd imagine. She'd be quite good!

[@Techy_fin]

yeah quite surprising how much only a 10% increase in firepower for all ground units between aw2 and awds affects her, but then again ground combat, especially with vehicles is the most common kind of combat on most maps. also having weaker infantry is obviously a big hinderance

[@Carrottime]

I wish I could understand why AWBW opted to go with AW2 Jess instead of AWDS Jess, where her most critical flaw was addressed...

[@maleous1745]

When AWBW was created, AWDS wasn't released yet. When AWDS came out, they decided to keep the current COs as is so that they didn't change how existing COs were played or rated in the tier list. You can see artifacts of this design philosophy in the fact that the AWDS units use their damage/damage taken values. Cruisers can actually attack black boats and carriers because those units could be damaged by them. They didn't change that cruisers couldn't attack the other sea units. Jess gets left out with this design philosophy unfortunately.

[@wei270]

i think awbw should define buff Koal to get bonus on bridges

[@LopsidedMoz]

Flak gang represent

[@flaminghotstreak]

make a lets play advance wars

[@gxtmfa]

So is AWBW dual strike or AW2? Because I could have sworn Jess got buffs in dual strike.

[@ghosty918]

Its a merge of all of them, but AWBW predates dual strike so they didn't update Jess I wonder if they could add a Jess2 on a higher tier with the dual strike version

[@royalghost4914]

You interpreted Jess wrong. She gets +20% firepower from her normal power +10% from her d2d and +10% firepower and defence every co gets during cop/scop for a total of +40% firepower for her vehicles during her cop. Similarly, she gets a total of +60% firepower for her vehicles during her scop. Combined with their movement bonus, turbo charge and overdrive are one of the best powers for their cost in tier 4

[@DeejusProductions]

Nah, I thought the same at first, but you can see her increases here and it shows how bad she is ;s awbw.amarriner.com/percent.php

[@royalghost4914]

@@DeejusProductions so, I checked the damage calculator and the amount of damage Jess's vehicles do during her normal power is the same as the damage done by a 100/100 co with 3 com towers. And the damage done by her vehicles during her scop is the same as the damage done by a 100/100 co with 5 com towers. So her vehicles are 30% stronger during her cop and 50% stronger during her scop

[@DeejusProductions]

@@royalghost4914 Hah,I double checked and you're right! I must have kept the CO power on for the other CO I was comparing too, good catch! That being said...I still think Jess sucks ;)

[@TGMug]

RELEASE JUGGER!!!

[@yaiirable]

Why are flak and jugger banned if they're so bad

[@thenesttem6733]

Grimm sweep e z

[@phog7375]

Its kinda sad that Jess get almost nothing special I kinda like playing her even if she is bad

[@alex_zetsu]

Honestly I'm pretty disappointed in AWBW. The thing with not trapping transporter units when you try to unload them onto an enemy could be excusable since this was a fan project and programing is hard, but it was deliberately left in "because it's meta." The whole concept of comm towers I think was stupid since it enhances the first strike advantage more than the first games. A Mech on a city in AW2 can survive an attack by an infantry and a tank, albeit barely and the tank will often take 0 damage. In AWBW, if the infantry rolls 3 to 9 on its luck roll, the Mech is just dead. In AW2 you can concede an area of the map if you get a much larger area, but in AWBW you're stuck defending the tower to avoid the other side having an insurmountable advantage. oh and in AWBW many maps have you starting with _2_ bases. One thing I will give AWBW credit for is that Sonja and many other COs are their AW2 version and not Duel Strike. I don't want AW1 Max in multiplayer, but he needs that movement bonus from his power to have any use.

[@AlphaSquadZero]

Not every map has a comm tower.

[@DiegoHernandez-ok7fc]

How is Sonja’s SCO different than her CO?

[@DeejusProductions]

For her SCOP she attacks first in all attacks (without her 50% increased counterattack) and also gains the vision

[@DiegoHernandez-ok7fc]

@@DeejusProductions how come the damage calculator does not reflect that? Since she attacks first, it’s technically not a counterattack. Is that why she doesn’t get the extra 50%?

[@DeejusProductions]

@@DiegoHernandez-ok7fc Exactly, it would be super broken if it was. Idk why regarding the damage calc

[@DiegoHernandez-ok7fc]

@@DeejusProductions thank you! By the way, love your videos. Would love to challenge you in AWBW.

[@joshuaturner4602]

why are jugger and flak banned ? they dont seem very good ?

[@DeejusProductions]

People don't like the luck COs, regardless of how bad they typically are. Even Nell would probably be like tier 1 or 2 at best

[@joshuaturner4602]

right, are they banned because AWBW has them banned or are the banned because there is a CO strike system in league matches ?

[@DeejusProductions]

@@joshuaturner4602 AWBW bans them in global league matches, you can still use them in casual play

[@MTGWolfMan187]

So why flak banned?

[@chillstoneblakeblast3172]

Luck Rolls are usually frown upon in competitive Scenes. Even If Flak is worse than Nell and other picks, You don't want people to win out of sheer luck

[@longhunter1252]

Which advance wars is this?

[@DeejusProductions]

Advance Wars by Web which combines 1 and 2 awbw.amarriner.com/

[@darq7000]

and DS

[@imnotnarcian]

The bad batch

[@godiris4691]

Solid video