Brawl Stars: August 4, 2026 balance changes, who to play in Ranked after the Crow and Starr Nova nerfs

The maintenance of August 4, 2026 delivered the second balance patch of the Ramen Rebellion update, with a particularity that jumps out: in the general balance section, not a single brawler was buffed. Eight appear in the list, eight come out weaker. All the gains of the patch are elsewhere, in the 23 adjustments to Nano-boosts.

The consequence is direct for the Windstock season, which opened on August 6: the meta wasn't rebalanced by bringing weak profiles up, but by cutting down the top. This month's winners are therefore the brawlers buffed at the start of July and never touched since. You just need to know which ones.

A useful clarification: as of August 9, the FR patch notes page still doesn't include the August 4 maintenance, published only on Supercell's English blog. Hence its very low visibility.

The eight brawlers trimmed on August 4

The lineup isn't surprising: these are the profiles that dominated the end of NanoNoodles. The angle of attack, however, is telling — Supercell is targeting super availability more than raw damage.

Crow and Starr Nova: two back-and-forths in five weeks

Crow's case reads in sequence. The early-July update had offered him a trade-off: main attack damage from 320 to 420, but poison duration shortened from 4 s to 3 s, reload slowed from 1,400 to 1,600, HP lowered from 3,000 to 2,800. On July 8, that damage was brought back down to 380. On August 4, to 320. He therefore returns to his starting value while keeping all the trade-offs, hypercharge included, whose return damage went from −30% to −40%. He's the biggest loser of the month.

Starr Nova follows the same path. Her HP, raised from 3,700 to 4,000 in early July, drops back to its original value; her main attack damage had already been cut from 540 to 480 on July 8; her reload is now extended from 1,400 to 1,600. Above all, her star power Power Level: Max loses a third of its ceiling — 4% damage per stack instead of 5%, i.e. 20% instead of 30% — and the Magical Floating gadget now lasts only 7 seconds out of 10. Together, these four tweaks close the window during which her transformation remains worthwhile.

Damian, Bolt, Max, A.R.K.A.D. and Surge: the hunt for free supers

Damian is the only one taking a hit across the board. His super was buffed in early July, with the speakers going from 600 to 800 damage; the recoil drops back to 400, below its pre-update value, and the speakers lose 500 HP. His flaming punch and explosion drop from 1,000 to 800. On top of that, there's the reduced scaling he's had in Brawl Arena since the July update (damage 3 → 1, healing 750 → 500): he's currently the most nerfed brawler in the game.

For the other four, the logic is about frequency, not damage. A.R.K.A.D. sees its super charge drop from 99 to 80, Max from 92 to 80. Bolt loses 23% of the charge he simply gained by rolling — a tough blow for a brawler whose whole identity is speeding up while moving — and the damage reduction on his super drops from 40% to 30%. Surge now only recovers one ammo with Overclocked Shield, when the gadget's cooldown had already gone from 18 to 22 seconds on July 8.

These five remain perfectly playable, but they can no longer engage counting on a super that recharges right after. This is especially true in Knockout and Brawl Ball, where chaining two supers often decides an entire round.

Griff, the only truly ambiguous case

His Piggy Bank gadget loses a quarter of its explosion radius (800 → 600), with the buff partially compensating via 30% bonus radius instead of 25%, and the spread of his star power Tip Toe increases by 55%, which dilutes his damage at medium range. Yet Griff had received three buffs to his other gadget, Robbin' Hood, in early July: damage from 200 to 300, cooldown from 20s to 15s, duration from 5s to 6s. The message is clear: if you were playing him with Piggy Bank, switch.

Nano-boosts rebalanced, and why they still matter during Windstock

This is the part almost nobody's covering, and it's where all the August 4 buffs actually are: 23 adjustments, including 14 buffs. A reminder is in order, since how it works changes between the two seasons. Nano-boosts obtained through Nano prizes stay active during Windstock; if you unlock a fusion for a brawler that already had one, it replaces it, since it's a more powerful version. As long as a brawler doesn't have their fusion, these numbers directly affect you.

Two takeaways. Buzz stacks a solid July patch (super charge 96 → 100, hypercharge 25 → 30) with a third Nano-boost that doubles the hypercharge charge bonus: it's currently the best effort-to-result ratio around. And Damian, Starr Nova, and Max show up on both sides of the patch, trimmed in general balancing and on their Nano-boost.

Ranked: Brawl Ball featured for the entire Windstock season

A detail the patch notes don't highlight but that weighs heavily on your choices: for the second season of the Ramen Rebellion, the featured mode in Ranked is Brawl Ball, on the maps Backyard Bowl and Sunny Soccer. The free brawler rotation becomes Trunk, Willow, and Kaze.

The overlap with the nerfs is clear: Damian, Bolt, and A.R.K.A.D. drew their value in Brawl Ball precisely from zone control and chaining supers around the goal. They lose consistency exactly where they were played the most. Add to that an often-overlooked change — speed boosts no longer stack — and the ball carrier under double acceleration is now a thing of the past.

Who to level up now

The brawlers that made it through both waves of nerfs unscathed are the ones that the early July update had buffed and that haven't moved since.

• Sharpshooters — Piper (HP 2,500 → 2,800, max damage 1,700 → 1,800) and Mandy (damage 1,300 → 1,400, Hard Candy shield 40% → 50%). Meanwhile, Piper's counterpart, Pierce, had both his gadgets pushed to 22s and 18s cooldowns: the dominant sharpshooter lost his safety margin.
• Throwers, the best-served group — Dynamike now reloads in 1,400 instead of 1,600, Barley saw his super's projectile go from 1,504 to 1,700, Wally gained in attack speed and damage (1,700 → 1,500 and 1,040 → 1,100), Larry & Lawrie got back 300 HP on Lawrie. Barley and Wally also had their first Gadget's range widened on August 4th.
• Control and support — Tara (reload 2,000 → 1,800, second Nano Boost at 10,000 shadow HP), Juju (Gris-Gris at 4,000 HP) and Gray (+120 base damage points).
• R-T — his main attack damage in Ecstatic form goes back up from 740 to 1,240 now that the tagging bug has been fixed. The update's biggest numerical change, which went almost unnoticed.
• Counters to aggression — Gale (super 600 → 800) and Shelly (Fast Forward 20s → 16s, Dazed slow recalibrated to 55%) are solid again now that assassins have been trimmed down twice.

What to do before your next session

If your Ranked roster relied on Crow, Nova, or Doug, rebuild it now: the Windstock season runs until September 3rd, and the last two balance passes landed on July 8th and then August 4th, four weeks apart.

Three moves left to make. Switch Griff over to Porte-monnaie. Bring Buzz back out, whose third Nano-boost doubles the hypercharge gauge. And check, for each main brawler, whether it's still running on a Nano-boost or already on a Gear fusion: since the fusion overrides the Nano-boost, the answer determines whether the August 4th adjustments affect you.