The best Bullets in Super Bullet Break

Super Bullet Break is out today, and as we’ve already seen, it’s an absolutely top time if you enjoy 1) beautiful waifus and 2) extremely solid roguelike deckbuilder gameplay.

We’ll have more detailed impressions on the final release version of the game soon — but in the meantime, we thought we’d share a handy guide for some of the best Bullets in the game that you’ll want to add to your Magazine if the opportunity arises. Note that these are our purely subjective opinion; you may well develop a play style that favours other Bullets instead!

With the way Super Bullet Break works, some of these Bullets need to be unlocked before they’ll be available in the pool of Bullets to draw from. Some are simply unlocked by repeatedly playing the game, while the cards that represent the game’s bosses are unlocked simply by defeating them. Variants of the bosses will become available once you have the main boss card also.

Don’t be discouraged if you find yourself losing a lot in your first few attempts at Super Bullet Break — this is a game designed to be replayed as you expand your collection of Bullets over time. The longer you play, the more waifus you’ll have! Now doesn’t that sound like a good deal?

All right, let’s get started.

Marcel

Marcel is a Bullet you’ll have right from the beginning of Super Bullet Break, and while she’s pretty simple in terms of mechanics, she’ll form the backbone of your attacking strategy in the early game. With a base attack power of 8 and an affordable cost of 5, she’s already a pretty good card — but add her “Burst” ability, which adds 1 to her attack power for every other Bullet you play that turn, and she makes an amazing combo-finisher.

To make best use of Marcel, play a bunch of cheap Bullets first, then hit ’em hard with Marcel and a charged-up Burst.

Claude

To get Claude, you’ll need to encounter her in an event on Super Bullet Break’s Monochrome Tactics board, so keep trying those events until you’re able to recruit her. She’s an amazing Bullet thanks to her low cost of 3 but her devastating attack power of 15 across all five enemy positions.

The only downside is that she’s an “Exclusion” card, meaning that you can only use her once per battle; after you’ve used her, she’s taken out of your Magazine until your next combat.

Queen Veresov

Queen Veresov is a costly Bullet to play, but well worth it. Her 10 cost gets you 15 attack power across the three central enemy positions, plus three turns of poison on all of those enemies.

Poison is an absolutely excellent status effect to inflict on bosses in Super Bullet Break — particularly those who summon additional supporters — as it means you can chip away at their life while taking care of more pressing threats.

King Duchtoli

King Duchtoli, who you’ll get for beating Super Bullet Break’s Monochrome Tactics board in its entirety, might look kind of rubbish at first glance. Her cost of 20 is very high and her base attack power of 3 is low. But look more closely: she hits all enemies, she attacks five times (meaning that attack power of 3 is actually 15 in total) and she has the same Burst ability as Marcel, meaning her base attack power increases by 1 for every other Bullet you play that turn.

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that this combination of factors makes King Duchtoli an amazing Bullet to finish off a combo with, and she can often be the Bullet that wins tough battles for you. Just be careful, though; that 20 cost means that if you don’t finish off your enemies with King Duchtoli, they’ll be able to get a good couple of hits in on you before you can play again.

Maki Hinaka

Many of the Seasons of Love Bullets in Super Bullet Break are quite dependent on you having other Seasons of Love Bullets in your Magazine thanks to their Heartsplosion mechanic; build this up to 100 and all enemies will be delayed, and Seasons of Love Bullets will temporarily have their cost reduced.

While Maki here is obviously most useful when used as part of a Seasons of Love-centric Magazine, her high attack power of 20 and the fact she hits all enemies means that she’s also quite a good general purpose attacker, particularly when confronting a large group of enemies or a boss supported by henchmen.

Seina Fuyuki

Seina is a solid Bullet to have in your Magazine even if you’re not focusing on Super Bullet Break’s Seasons of Love characters. This is all thanks to her strong Draw ability and decent attack power. With her, you can play a bunch of cheap Bullets for buffs and defence, play Seina to refresh your hand, then keep tossing out Bullets for as long as you have time slots remaining.

When put in a Seasons of Love-centric Magazine, she excels even more, since Heartsplosion’s enemy delaying and cost-reducing properties mean you can take even greater advantage of the extra Bullet draws.

Squeaker

A great addition to any Magazine in Super Bullet Break, but particularly an Aquarhythm Deep-centric Magazine, Squeaker has it all. Good attack power, a decent amount of armour and a not-unreasonable cost — though if you have the means of reducing that a bit, it can be helpful to.

If you’re running an Aquarhythm Deep-centric Magazine, then Squeaker is even better, as gaining 2 on your Combo Beam meter brings you that much closer to those all-important multiples of 10 which deal additional damage to a random foe.

Octie

Octie, who you’ll get after defeating her and Eelie on Super Bullet Break’s Aquarhythm Deep board, may be a wet fart of an attacker, but 7 cost for 20 shield is not to be sniffed at, particularly if you know the enemy is about to do something particularly unpleasant.

On top of that, adding 2 to the Combo Beam meter really benefits an Aquarhythm Deep-centric Magazine, too. So while she may not appear to do that much by herself, she plays an extremely helpful supportive role to most Magazines.

Hawkeye

The sniper of Super Bullet Break. Hawkeye is very useful under specific circumstances, as her high attack power and ability to prune your hand can be extremely useful if you’re trying to cycle through the Bullets in your Magazine. Despite being a Phoenix Gunner Bullet, she also doesn’t have any Phoenix Gunner-specific mechanics, either, meaning she can fit easily into any Magazine.

Her main downside is her relatively high cost, but if you can find means of reducing that by playing other Bullets, she can become an extremely useful addition to your arsenal.

Lady Mira

Super Bullet Break’s ultimate poisoner. Lady Mira is a great Bullet to play early in a boss battle, as inflicting 10 turns of poison on a boss means you can chip away at their health while dealing with any additional foes that might have appeared.

On top of that, she offers some modest healing — and all for a pretty low cost. Definitely a Bullet to add to your Magazine whenever you see her — particularly if you have some other cards that can boost the effectiveness of poison.

Sara Senya (Moonlit)

10 cost for 10 attack and a massive 100 points of shield is enough to survive most hard-hitting boss attacks if you time playing Sara right. She may not do that much damage herself, but she most certainly will protect you.

Unfortunately, she’s an Exclusion card, so you can only play her once during a battle. Think very carefully before using her — can you survive the incoming attack via other means?

Estella

And finally, we have Super Bullet Break’s ultimate “risk versus reward” Bullet. Estella grows massively in power if you’ve taken lots of damage, so she makes an amazing Bullet to play in a “last stand” sort of situation. If you can finish off a fight by playing Estella at low HP then hit a Coffee Break space on the board immediately afterwards, you’ll put yourself in a good situation.

It’s handy to have more than one Estella in your magazine if you can wangle it. That way she’s more likely to cycle through your hand during particularly dangerous parts of a difficult fight.

Super Bullet Break is out now digitally for PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. Physical versions for PS4 and Switch are set to arrive in early September.

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