Brawl Stars: A Competitive Guide to Every Brawler in Solo Showdown

Chromatic: Surge (8/10)

User-friendly: 7/10
Damage: A ridiculous amount/10
Survivability: 7.5/10
Likelihood of defeating Edgar: 4/5
Any Edgar that dares jump on a Surge with super is beyond stupid. Even if the Edgar has 20 cubes, the Surge will still win 1v1 interaction. However, Surge might need to watch out when he doesn't have a super 😐

Box-breaking abilities: 3/5
He still needs to use a moderate amount time to open boxes and doesn't have splash.

Solo Showdown: 8/10 the epitome of tank counter

Surge has been really good in solos for a long time now because of how easy it is to kill meta tanks like Buzz and Primo and how broken his fourth stage is. Due to his instant burst (probably the highest in the game) and super, the mere sight of him will make any tank shake with fear!

Best build:
Gadget: Power Shield
Within the next 5 seconds, Surge consumes 80% of the damage of the next incoming hit and uses the energy to reload 2 ammo.
This gadget is so good. You can tank single dps shots from brawlers like Fang and Bea very easily, instant ammo, and proceed to burst down enemies. You can deal 3000+ dmg in less than 1 second. I've seen Surges at the brink of death pop this gadget, deal 4K with damage gear, and effortlessly win before enemy even has time to react. Alternatively, you can use Power Surge if you're having a really hard time charging super and are willing to forgo the benefits of Power Shield for easy stage 1.

Star power: To the Max!
Surge's main attack now splits when hitting walls
There is no reason to use the other one since there is no respawning in solos, therefore using Serve Ice Cold is literally useless. Using to the max gives you the ability to shoot enemies hiding behind walls if there's a wall. His attack splits into half at 2 right angles when it hits the walls. It takes a little bit of time to get used to and master, but the ability to bounce of walls makes Surge an even bigger menace.
(Hitting a split deals half the normal damage and charges half the normal amount of super, which is 1/6)

Gears: DAMAGE
DAMAGE.
(anything will go for the second slot, but probably speed/shield)

He is literally the perfect solo brawler to kill tanks. Knockback for melee situations, AN ABSURD AMOUNT OF DPS, shield to use in sticky situations (comes with free ammo!) and most of all, he gets better the later you are in the game. A well-timed super will send a supering Buzz to its death, Primo can't do anything if you jump before he lands, gadget and super completely counter Fang. Let's be real, the only problem you might have comes in the form of ranged brawlers and other Surges, and if you pick the correct map to push, the problem is completely negated! He's essentially unkillable if you don't mess up at stage 1.

He's also really good at ambushing/coming back on low hp due to his shield gadget and instant burst damage combo (his attack fires so quickly). Free comeback.

A large part of what makes him so good is his instant damage. His reload speed may be slow, but when you're full ammo, three taps of the red button, one tap of the super and everything is suddenly dead. If they aren't dead, gadget gives free ammo and suddenly they're dead as well. You can kill stuff in the blink of an eye before opponent even grasps what is happening. This also makes him excellent at backstabbing (you're also guaranteed to get a super!)

However, his first stage kinda sucks. The durability of his first stage can be compared to wet tissue paper. He's slow, squishy, and doesn't have range. A way to combat this is farm off teamers early game (and preferably pull off a quick backstab).

Main Attack: Juice of Justice
Deals lots of instant damage and splits in half when it hits an enemy. No splash. Can hit three targets at once if they bunch up. Slow-ish reload but very quick unload.

Super: watch as he slowly becomes a menace to society
Charges in 3 hits (also known as one full bar!)
There's a pretty big chance you'll get the super by backstabbing someone while charging super off of them, so... (wink wink nudge nudge)
When using it, Surge jumps up (cannot be hit for a very short period of time), deals damage and knockbacks when he lands, and gets an upgrade. He progressively becomes more broken. (The art of backstabbing is very important if you want to master Surge).

Super Upgrades
Stage 1 (no supers): no range, slow movement speed
Leave this stage as soon as possible, preferably from teaming. If you can't get this super, you're gonna have a really hard time surviving because it's really hard to dodge shots. (Tip: if you're not playing surge, don't let a teaming surge hit you more than once before healing up)
Stage 2 (1 super): SPEED BUFFED TO VERY FAST
Essential for not dying. Movement speed buff helps you to dodge easily and charge more super.
Stage 3 (2 supers): RANGE BUFFED
People can't dodge you now.
Stage 4 (3 supers): ATTACK SPLITS INTO SIX
world domination.

Counters and how to not die
Buddy up with tanks and other Surges! (Screw everyone else).
Be aggressive! The best way to Surge is to get stage 4 as early as possible, then proceed to melt the lobby.
Threats are brawlers like Max who don't fear your burst and anyone that outranges you.

How to team:
Tanks and other Surges. Anything is perfectly fine early game as long as they are willing to feed super. If you're teaming with someone random (say, a Piper) and there's tanks in the lobby, kill your Piper and team with them! You get free cube, easy super, and people you can farm off on.
Backstabbing is extremely important. When you're charging super off someone, take note if you can kill them within 4 hits. If you can (and no one is watching), hit them once, pretend to let them heal, and proceed to unload three shots quickly. If you intend to do this, discreetly move closer to the enemy to block their escape route, lest it backfire. Just because someone saved you before doesn't mean that that someone is a friend. If an opportunity is given, you take it.

About Primo:
His super is a little bit dangerous, so keep your guard up if you're dealing with multiple Primos/Primos with lots of cubes.

About Buzz:
Easy supers to farm off of. If he randomly decides to hook you, time your jump so that you don't get stunned, while preferably knocking the Buzz back and getting an opportunity to kill him (extra cubes!)

Skull Creek, Scorched Stone and Hard Limits should work pretty well.

Skull Creek:
Tank meta here, while Surge is also quite popular. This map is infested with Primo Buzz, so you'll get plenty of opportunities to team. Walls also facilitate hitting split shots.

Scorched Stone:
The usual. Tanks aren't as common here, but I find it pretty easy to charge first stage on this map.

Hard Limits:
Apparently this map is currently tank meta, so surge is the obvious choice. Lots of walls that Surge can hop over with super. Very much facilitates ambush play. Rush mid.

How to counter:
Very, very weak without a super. If there's a surge who's struggling to charge his first stage, kill him early so you can eliminate a late-game threat early.

Don't team with Surge unless you really have no other viable options. They love backstabbing.

Also, try to learn to dodge his super. If you fight in close quarters with Surge, he will definitely super the moment he gets one (and most of the time auto-aim). Try to learn to react fast enough to move backwards to dodge the knockback and your winning odds in that 1v1 will be much better.
You have lots of powercubes:
People will probably start running away. Just pick off vulnerable brawlers early game because less people is always good.

Metas
Very much still happening. If it's a tank meta, there's usually Surge. If there are multiple Surges, just ignore the tanks and start killing, though don't mess up and show weakness because again- Surges love backstabbing.
You can also charge supers off each other m, but take care not to let other Surges hit you more than once before healing!

I'm actually a pretty bad Surge XD last I checked he was at 706, which is really bad considering how good he's supposed to be.
I just really hate playing slow brawlers.
Mostly Surge, 8bit and Frank since I barely touch them. Also, my second favourite brawler is Max (after Janet).
Btw if you team with an RT, remember not to get in his attack radius! (About the same as Jacky)
Fr these chapters getting longer and longer. 1.5k words.