The Problem
A problem with recent Brawl Stars Gadgets is that some of them put a useless, or at least overshadowed healing ability next to a good gadget.
There are a few examples of this, and today I'd like to address all of them.
Poco - The First Success
When Gadgets were released, Poco recieved his Tuning Fork Gadget. This Gadget is great, because it offers good over-time healing for Poco as well as nearby allies.
In fact, the only reason why this gadget is good is because it's on Poco.
Let's say I put this gadget on let's say, an assassin, like Mico. The gadget would instantly become terrible. Why?
Since Mico is an assassin, a random heal for him and his teammates wouldn't fit him. It doesn't cover a major weakness like Clipping Scream does, and thus it would get easily outshined by anything this Gadget is placed next to.
Now why do I bring this up?
The Only Exception in the Trend
For every recent healing Gadget released, there is only ONE which isn't outshined, and that is Larry and Lawrie's "Order: Fallback" Gadget.
This is because it helps Larry heal a decent amount as a thrower, and heal Lawrie so that he doesn't die as quickly. This Gadget also pairs well with "Protocol: Protect" and helps increase Larry's effective HP.
More importantly, Order: Swap isn't used much.
(ignore that I put Charlie's, hers isn't for healing teammates)
Eve: Motherly Love
Oh Eve, being blessed with a Gadget that allows her to escape any sticky situation, and being a necessity when playing her.
That's right, I'm talking about "Gotta Go!". This Gadget suits her very well, as she is a ranged shooter with almost zero defense.
Now, when it comes to Motherly Love, it almost confuses me on why they added a SUPPORT ability on a NON-SUPPORT brawler.
Not a single part of Eve's kit has to do with Support except this Gadget, making it very outclassed and out of place. And the heal isn't even that good either.
Yes, it can heal a crazy amount. However, the Gadget can't be used instantly, as the egg still needs time to hatch, and the hatchlings need time to get to the ally. Which means by the time they get there, the ally would not need the heal anymore.
And sometimes the ally doesn't even get healed, because of how hatchlings always target the person closest to them that isn't on maximum health.
Which means you could be on 1% health but get bitten by all 3 hatchlings, completely wasting a Super and a Gadget.
What's even worse is that the hatchlings decay in health AND can be defeated by enemies, which means they might not even end up healing an ally at all.
Very out of place Gadget that isn't useful for Eve.
Gus: Soul Switcher
Gus has one problem: his ghosts don't work.
Let me make this clearer: There isn't really a situation where the ghosts would land in a reachable spot. This is because all ghosts would spawn on the enemy's side of the field, and this is also why Kooky Popper took the spotlight.
When Kooky Popper got nerfed, Gus fell in the meta due to his reliance on its knockback. This shows how much Gus does not need Soul Switcher at all.
If this Gadget covered the problem of ghosts being reachable, it would be a lot better.
Has some potential but doesn't work on Gus in his current state.
Buster: Utility Belt
Let me get this clear: this Gadget is NOT BAD.
Being a Tank-Support hybrid who gets close to teammates often, this Gadget actually gets a lot of use in many cases. However, the problem is that "Slo-Mo Replay" (which doesn't even slow anymore, bruh change that name) outshines this Gadget. Buster's inability to deal heavy damage and cancelling abilities can be fixed with Slo-Mo Replay, and since it can be clawed or used instantly, it is a very strong aggro gadget.
On the other hand, Utility Belt heals Buster and his teammates, which isn't bad, but it doesn't really compare to Slo-Mo. Remember when Utility Belt used to heal A TON?
This shows how much potential Utility Belt has.
Doug: Double Sausage
I'll make this as short as possible: Doug doesn't need extra healing.
He already heals quite a bit, and to heal others means you'd have to give up your lane. Plus, allies can heal naturally.
Doug would benefit a lot more from the extra damage from Extra Mustard, especially since he does not to be right on top of an enemy to deal max damage anymore. Compared to Double Sausage, it's just better.
Of course, that doesn't mean Double Sausage is bad, it's just Extra Mustard helps Doug more than it.
Pearl: Made With Love
This is the second example of a Support Gadget on a NON-SUPPORT Brawler.
Pearl is made to deal damage. She has a bar that makes her deal damage, an attack that deals lots of damage, and a Gadget that makes her deal overtime damage.
Heck, even a Hypercharge that raises her damage stat by 25%.
So why, WHY does she have a healing gadget?
Overcooked simply overshadows Made With Love because of how Pearl is played, and no one plays Pearl to be a Support (except breaking walls).
I'm convinced all the gadgets with "Love" were just rushed.
Charlie: Personal Space
Look man, Spiders offers protection AND offense already. Why use this? Sure, you can save yourself from piercing attacks-
Oh what's that? You aren't even safe from piercing attacks?
Yeah apparently Personal Space can't really save you that much, because a piercing attack that breaks the cocoon will also hit you the moment you emerge (trust me, I learnt the hard way when I died from a Sugar Ray this way.)
Now the healing might be useful, but if the enemy simply waits by your cocoon before you emerge, you're screwed either way.
Additionally, if you break out of cocoon too early, there is a bug that makes you unable to move and attack for a while!
This Gadget can come in clutch sometimes, if not just use it for that Showdown cheese with Mico.
Kit: Cheeseburger
This Gadget is pretty niche and works best with a tank. The Gadget isn't bad, but Cardboard Box helps Kit approach and assassinate* enemies who are defenseless, which helps Kit's team a lot.
Plus, the enemy you're latched onto already receives some healing, and you're gonna get off them after a while anyways.
All in all, this Gadget's okay and not really used that much, but is really niche.
Final Words
Nerf Hank