SHADE

Who is SHADE

SHADE is a brawler of Epic rarity, class Assassin. This article summarizes their performance in the current competitive meta: best map, hardest counters, and the weekly trend of their win rate. The numbers come from top-PRO battles over the last 90 days, Bayesian-smoothed so a brawler with a small sample doesn't show a misleading percentage.

Over the 30-day window, SHADE has shown up in 4,417 battles with a global win rate of 75.6%. That window belongs to the figure itself and is shorter than the one feeding the rest of the page, because a win rate needs recent data so it doesn't drag along a meta that already moved on.

Across the full 90 days, SHADE has a pick rate of 2.0%. That pick rate is the share of matches where a top-PRO player chose SHADE out of every available brawler, so it works as a thermometer for how meta they are right now. It uses the long window on purpose, because a brawler's popularity shifts more slowly than their win rate.

Across the full roster, SHADE's trend is among the strongest: their win rate is climbing faster than 83% of brawlers with a measurable trend this week. When a brawler rises this fast it's usually because maps or modes rotated in where their kit fits better than average.

The two figures for SHADE tell different things. The observed win rate, 75.6%, measures how often it wins in the hands of a top 200 player from its country. The discounted strength, 50.0%, estimates how often it would win against a mid-level opponent once the mix of opponents it happened to face is discounted. The first one orders the lists across the site and the second sits beside it, as context.

SHADE is an Epic brawler, a rarity where kits start to break conventions: unique mechanics, supers with special effects and gadgets that flip the whole game plan. The gem or Starr Drop investment is steeper, but in return you get a tool that defines entire lanes in draft and tends to be picked in tournaments whenever its signature map enters rotation.

As an Assassin, the pattern is aggressive burst: lean on the kit mobility to flank, eliminate a priority target and exit before the counter-attack lands. Super economy is critical because most assassins rely on it to escape after the pick. Maps with walls and blind angles amplify the playstyle; open maps punish it severely.

Best maps for SHADE

The best map for SHADE is Ball Hog in Basket Brawl, with a Bayesian-adjusted win rate of 86.8% over 202 battles. That puts them above their class average in this mode, so it's worth picking SHADE when that rotation is live. A strong run on Ball Hog usually combines favorable geometry (short ranges or cover) and a mode whose objective plays into the brawler's kit.

SHADE's performance is highly map-dependent: there are 30.6 percentage points between their best and worst map. That high variance means it pays to check the rotation before locking them in, because the same brawler swings from one of the best options to a clearly unfavorable pick depending on the map.

As a second map option, SHADE also performs well on Crystal Arcade (Gem Grab) with a 84.0% win rate, only 2.9 points off their best map. When the gap between the top two maps is this small, picking one over the other comes down to the enemy team more than the brawler itself.

Rounding out the podium, SHADE holds a 83.9% win rate on Flaring Phoenix (Knockout) over 366 battles. Having three competitive maps widens the rotation windows worth bringing them in for, not just their signature map.

Just above their worst result, SHADE also struggles on Hard Rock Mine, where their win rate sits at 64.7%. Keep this map on your radar as a second warning sign when deciding the pick.

On the opposite end, Out in the Open (Knockout) drops SHADE's win rate to 56.2%. That's the bottom tail of a 30.6-point range between their best and worst map, so if that rotation comes up during a session, consider a different brawler to avoid throwing matches.

Counters and matchups

SHADE clearly dominates the matchup against SIRIUS: across the 74 recorded battles for that pairing, their win rate climbs to 84.1%. If you spot SIRIUS on the enemy team in draft, that lane is an edge for SHADE — seek the duel out rather than avoid it.

Their second-best matchup is against NAJIA, where SHADE holds a 83.7% win rate over 41 battles. Two strong favorable counters like these give SHADE real value as a targeted pick against comps that lean on those two brawlers.

Where SHADE has a clear disadvantage is against AMBER: their win rate drops to 61.0% across the 412 battles recorded for that matchup. If AMBER shows up on the enemy team, consider not picking SHADE or changing the game plan to avoid the shared lane, because AMBER wins that exchange.

Per-brawler matchups are the smallest-sample metric on the page: for SHADE the samples range from 34 to 614 battles. Read them with the confidence that sample implies — a matchup at the low end says far less than one backed by the high one.

This section lists the matchups where SHADE performs worst and best over the last 30 days, sampled from top PRO players and smoothed with Bayesian WR to avoid noise.

Read each row left to right: brawler, win rate vs SHADE, and battle sample. The larger the sample, the more reliable the number.

Loses most against

Brawler	WR	Battles
AMBER	61.0%	412
DOUG	63.0%	104
LOU	63.9%	52
JACKY	66.3%	34
GENE	66.3%	34

Dominates

Brawler	WR	Battles
SIRIUS	84.1%	74
NAJIA	83.7%	41
TICK	83.3%	333
BUZZ	83.0%	109
EDGAR	82.8%	614

Star Powers, Gadgets and Hypercharge

To get the most out of SHADE in the current meta, prioritize upgrades by synergy with their kit, not by gem cost. Star powers, gadgets and hypercharge change tiers depending on the meta, so the upgrade priority is dynamic.

As a general rule, the first profitable upgrade for SHADE is usually the star power with the highest pick rate in PRO tournaments, followed by the gadget that best fits their role (lane, support, or pick). Hypercharge, when it exists, comes last because it costs more Coins and Power Points and only triggers with a full super bar.

By game mode, SHADE performs best in Brawl Ball, with a 72.6% win rate over 4,200 battles — the mode with the most recorded sample for this brawler. That makes Brawl Ball the context where their performance is most reliable and where investing in upgrades pays off most clearly.

Beyond the immediate meta, the upgrade path for SHADE should prioritize what moves the win rate needle the most: power 11 before gears, first star power before second, primary gadget before any hypercharge. Hypercharges cost a lot of coins and power points and only activate with a full super bar, so their real priority drops toward the end of the checklist.

Weekly meta analysis

Over the last 7 days, SHADE's win rate moved from 69.0% to 75.6%, a climb of +6.6 points versus the previous half of the window. Since each half clears the 3-battle minimum, that move isn't noise: it reflects the meta shifting in SHADE's favor, usually from a rotation of maps or modes where they perform better.

Compared with the rest of the roster, that move puts SHADE climbing faster than 83% of brawlers with a measurable trend this week — they're at the top end of the risers. When a brawler lands in that band it's often a good moment to invest in their upgrades before a possible nerf arrives.

Every percentage on the SHADE page comes from real battles played by the world's top players, aggregated with statistical smoothing and recomputed every six hours. If you want to understand why one map performs better than another or how a rotation affects the win rate, the methodology page covers the technical detail step by step.