A complete guide to every character in Bleeding Edge

There are plenty of characters to get to grips with in Bleeding Edge. With our complete Bleeding Edge Character Guide, you can understand each of them, and how to get the most out of them.

Daemon

Daemon is a stealthy melee fighter with huge DPS potential. Using his Stealth to get the drop on a low health enemy can devastate a team unprepared for his power. His Shift ability can be used to close the gap between foes and can be exited at any time with a hugely damaging spin attack. It’s Daemon’s most powerful basic manoeuvre and can be used to finish a foe off with even a hefty amount of health remaining.

Stealth is a great ability for both escaping and ambushing enemies, although if a clever enemy hits your invisible character, you’re stealth will be broken. If Daemon emerges from stealth next to an enemy, they’ll be put to sleep for around 5 seconds (or until they take damage). Use this to stun a healer while you decimate their low health teammates. This is not only incredibly effective but also immensely satisfying.

The Shuriken ability is our sneaky ninja’s only projectile attack, which causes damage over time and slows enemies. Use it on a fleeing enemy to catch up to them and finish the job. His Shadow Strike super causes all enemies in its radius to be slowed and take significant damage for as long as they remain in its zone. The damage taken is a percentage of their health, making it all the more deadly against tanky characters. Used in a busy brawl, it can be used to great effect, decimating the slow foes surrounding you.

For a more focused assault, the Death Mark super grants bonus damage to any enemy you target with it. If you kill the target while they are marked, you can use it instantly on another target for another 5 seconds. Marking each enemy and murdering them one by one can end an encounter in a flash. This can often take opponents by surprise as they’ll expect you to stick to his Shadow Strike special instead.

Gizmo

Armed with a minigun and turrets, Gizmo is the ranged attacker with by far the most damage output potential. With a limited health pool and some tricky abilities to master, she’ll need a skilled player (and a coordinated team) to utilise effectively. Her GG gun basic attack increases its fire rate for as long as you continue to shoot it. Getting into an advantageous position (usually the higher ground) and focusing it on opponents can cause massive damage to your opponents.

The T-RUT is a turret that can be used to help defend objective points and provides an extra chunk of damage to enemies. By placing them in unexpected places you can help your allies, and even distract foes, giving you the upper hand. The Bouncer is a jump pad that can be used to boost you and your teammates out of trouble. It’s one of Gizmo’s only options for escaping trouble, so using it to fall back is crucial. Alternatively, you can use it to get your team back into the action quicker by taking advantage of your environment.

The Sucka bomb is a tricky ability to utilise effectively in Bleeding Edge. This mildly damaging, enemy sucking projectile has to be manually aimed and takes a surprising amount of time to land in its location. The key is predicting an enemy’s movement to enable you to reposition them. You can also use it strategically to help you or your teammates escape a sticky situation.

The Mini Mech super transforms Gizmo into a powerful, armoured mech, complete with high damage flamethrowers. It can deal some huge damage to opponents, but you can still be killed while using it. Compared to other supers, this isn’t one you can activate when facing down an enemy team alone. The Rock-It super sees Gizmo riding a huge rocket into your opponents. The longer you ride the rocket, the more damage it will deal. Although hard to control, when used correctly this can decimate foes incredibly quickly. It’s large radius of its explosion means it can be damage multiple enemies, but it’s important that you time it when your foes are distracted or you’ll end up hitting nothing but wall.

Nidhogger

Nidhogger is a pretty simple to use melee fighter, who deals damage over time to opponents by setting them alight. Any foe that’s on fire will grant Nidhogger health with each guitar strike you land on them, so focusing on a burning baddie will provide you with a little vitality.

The quickest way to set an enemy aflame is with a swift Powerslide. This dash attack can help close the distance while also providing all the benefits of a burning foe. Fire Breath is a difficult attack to use on an evading enemy but it inflicts a lot of damage when it hits. If you or someone else are able to keep a foe still, this is the ability to use.

The Boomitar sees Nidhogger throw his axe at an enemy, with it slowing an enemy on contact or, even better, stunning on the return journey. It’s the perfect way to catch a fleeing foe and you can follow up with Fire Breath for massive damage. And if damage is what you’re looking for, then the Ride the Lightning super is the move for you. All enemies in a radius around you are stunned for the duration while taking regular damage. If used with allies nearby, they can attack your trapped foes for the duration for some easy kills.

Death Growl is a much more difficult super to take advantage of. It also affects all nearby foes, but this time silencing them from using all special moves for around 6 seconds. When timed effectively it can turn a fight around, and help defend a crucial area. It’s important to realise that some heroes rely on their specials more than others, so targeting a Maeve, Gizmo, or any of the support characters will be much more effective than a tank that will keep all of its standard melee attacks and health pool.

Maeve

Maeve is a ranged attacker that excels at trapping and finishing off foes. A good Maeve can disrupt and dismantle an unprepared team, as long as she utilises her teammates correctly. She’s also really hard to kill thanks to her Vanish ability. Her basic attack is a projectile with a long range. It’s very useful for adding a little damage to an enemy your team is pummelling and great for finishing off a low health foe from distance.

Cage traps an enemy for a couple of seconds, enabling you and your team to dispatch a fragile foe with ease. There’s little more satisfying than getting the drop on a healer, and having your team obliterate them as they sit helplessly in one spot. Cage can also be used to trap a foe in the path of an incoming train, or other environmental hazard for huge damage or even instant death. Although only immobilising a foe for a few seconds, it can be upgraded with mods to shut down an opponent for longer. Enemies can still parry and attack while in the cage, so when helping out with a captured foe, it’s worth still being careful with your attacks. Maeve’s Vanish makes her invisible and invulnerable for a short time. It’s the single best escape tool in the game, but it’s important to choose a route the enemy won’t predict so they don’t follow you waiting for you to pop back into reality. If there’s an obvious health pick up in one direction, a clever opponent will assume you’ll pop back into reality there – so don’t give them the opportunity to finish you off.

Siphon Life is a short-range, but powerful beam that drains the health of a foe. Used in conjunction with the Cage it can be extremely deadly, and the healing it provides means that even in a big brawl you shouldn’t take too much damage. The beam can be interrupted if you need to escape, and survival is always more important than damage for a Maeve. The Toil and Trouble super fires a huge homing ball of energy, that causes massive damage to anyone unlucky enough to be near the blast. It’s a very slow projectile, but if you catch the enemy team unaware (or just cage them) it can be devastating. If you’re attacked while charging the orb, you’ll be prevented from sending it into the enemy. You’ll be able to try again after a short cooldown, but it’ll cost you some precious time and leave you vulnerable.

Peek-a-brew is a much harder super to use effectively, in which you teleport to any enemy on the map, lightly damaging and stunning them on arrival. If used effectively, it can make the difference between victory or defeat, but timing the perfect Peek-a-brew is much harder than firing a huge ball of energy into a crowd. Targeting enemies through walls with this super takes some getting used to, so practicing in the Dojo is key.

Finally, Maeve’s passive ability means that any time you land the killing blow on an enemy, all of her cooldowns will reset. A good Maeve will take advantage of this in a group setting, systematically picking apart each enemy one by one with her most powerful abilities. As this includes her Vanish, it can also be more beneficial to your survival to finish a weaker foe to enable your escape from a group setting.

Cass

Cass is the only character in the game with both ranged and melee attacks without cooldown. Although one of the most powerful heroes in a multitude of situations, she has a low health pool and is perhaps the hardest character to master. She is extremely maneuverable, with a chargeable high jump and a constantly increasing run speed (without the need to mount a hoverboard). This is the key to both keeping her alive and hunting down the most vulnerable enemies. As she has such a high potential for damage, any characters with buff would be wise to put them on Cass.

Her Swoop attack dashes through enemies in a straight line, damaging them while closing the distance between the pair of you. If left unused, you can store two charges of this – perfect for confusing and out-manuevering the enemy team. While Swoop is useful for closing in on a foe to melee attack them, Hightail is perfect for creating distance against a powerful tanky foe. Using it causes Cass to jump backwards, and allows you the room to use your projectiles in safety.

To finish off foes from afar, the Dive Bomb super causes Cass to dive into the air. Then you can choose where she’ll land (with a good range) to smash into as many of the rival team as possible. It’s a great way to target weak links in the enemy lineup. The Blade Dance super is an incredibly simple super move to use. Cass throws knives in every direction, damaging foes within range. There’s not much else to say about it, although its simplicity doesn’t mean it isn’t powerful and useful in a range of situations.

Miko

Miko is a healer who can handle herself in one on one combat. She’s the perfect choice if you’d like to support your team while also getting into the thick of it. Her basic attacks even drain health to you or nearby allies, for added survivability and support.

Chain Heal (surprisingly) chains to nearby allies, which includes you. You can also target yourself by double-tapping the ability button, which coupled with your ability to freeze enemies makes you very tough to kill. Your Kinetic Shield is really helpful for blocking projectiles, especially around objectives. In a situation without many ranged characters on the opposing team, it’s not worth wasting your time placing the bubble. There are also however handy mods that can grant enable it to buff your allies and slow your foes.

The Statis ability is the easiest freezing ability to use out of all the characters. It’s ideal for chasing down an enemy or escaping a hairy situation, especially when coupled with some self-healing. The Life Force Super heals a huge amount of health to an ally and can be retargeted to more than one teammates. It’s the single quickest way to top up a team’s health.

As helpful as the huge healing is, the Stalker Ultimate is one of the most powerful super moves in the game. It makes all of your allies invisible, heals them mildly, and even reveals the location of all enemies. This enables your team to plan some particularly nasty attacks, especially on voice comms.

Kulev

Kulev is by far the most complex support character to play, with great potential to buff your team while weakening the enemy. With a lot of practice, a good Kulev player will make their team seem invincible – with his shields, healing ability and passive healing to nearby allies. He isn’t great at escaping, so keeping close to your allies is key.

Sacred Ground is by far Kulev’s most important ability. By using it, you choose where to place a ward, which heals all allies surrounding it and damages all enemies within its thrall. It can simply be thrown down to surround and defend an objective, or placed in a narrow corridor to deter enemies from approaching. As it doesn’t require your attention once placed, you can help dealing damage or buffing allies while providing a benefit to your team.

Good Omen casts a shield on any allied player or yourself, granting them temporary bonus extra health. It’s a simple but effective way to ensure you and your friends are far harder to kill. As it can be self cast, it can help you survive that little bit longer on your own. For something a bit more aggressive, Kulev’s Curse ability causes a foe to take 25% more damage from your entire team. By getting your buddies to focus on a single target, Curse will ensure that a targeted enemy won’t have long left to live.

There are few super moves more entertaining than Bamboozle. Targeting an enemy with this powerful spell will allow you to control them directly, which means you’ll be able to walk them into all sorts of danger. Walking a powerful tank into the path of a train for an instant kill can win you the game, while also providing a chuckle. The Boon super move option is a less entertaining option, but still incredibly effective. Boosting an allies damage, defense and speed, Boon can swing a battle in your team’s favour, especially when combined with all the other passive effects at your disposal.

ZeroCool

ZeroCool is exactly what you’d expect when you think of a healer. His main ability is a healing beam, so if you’ve played any class-based game, you’ve seen a “ZeroCool”. He’s easy to learn and very effective in his role. Recharge is the aforementioned healing beam. As you might expect, the tankier the target, the harder they’ll be to kill if you’re healing them. It has no cool down, and you can switch targets at the push of a button, to help restock the health of whoever needs it most.

While healing you can also use your Bot ability to give an ally (or yourself if the situation calls for it) a little floating orb that automatically shoots nearby enemies. Remembering to provide this little helper to your healing target can really tip the scales in your favour, even if it doesn’t feel particularly impactful. ZeroCool has a few ways to try and keep his flimsy body alive, and one that can’t be underestimated is his Nitro jump. At the cost of some stamina, ZeroCool can boost over almost any obstacle to create distance, or even to rush to an objective in the rare circumstance that you arriving first won’t cost you your life.

His other escape ability is the Firewall. This wall of tetrominoes prevents you from being followed but doesn’t stop projectiles. This means that if you’re close to killing an enemy with melee only attacks, you can safely finish them from your safe space. It’s also especially useful when defending objectives, as you might expect. Alongside your healing, the ultimate way to protect your team is with the Upgrade Protection super move. Any ally in its wide range (which is centred on and always includes you) is given a huge boost to their armour. It’s important to still defend a ZeroCool using this super, as if targeted by multiple foes you’ll get little value from this potential game changer.

If single target protection is more your style, then the 1up super may be what you’re seeking. An ally targeted by this powerful ability will be respawned instantly at full health if they die in the next 8 seconds. Used in the right situation, this can confuse and overwhelm an enemy team. If an enemy realises this strategy however, they can just avoid attacking the buff recipient and your super will be almost worthless. Timing is key, and hitting 1up on an ally who’s going to be killed by a combo that’s already begun will prevent this.

El Bastardo

A bulky powerhouse with plenty of survivability, El Bastardo is a great character to start out playing as. His Empower move takes health from nearby enemies and transfers it into a shield for you, and is by far your most important skill. Use it to give yourself the advantage at every opportunity. The Leap of faith ability is great at stunning and finishing off enemies with low health, but it’s almost impossible to land if you’re not locked on. The speed of this stunning strike can also be crucial in preventing an objective from being utilised by a foe.

Death Spiral is great in a huge brawl, where there are multiple enemies to damage at once. It is less useful on a single enemy though, given its slow pace. The Overload Super replaces your shield with a constant stream of damage to nearby enemies. This can cause havoc to groups of enemies in your vicinity. However because you have sacrificed your shield, you are vulnerable, so use this with caution.

His Unbreakable super, however, allows for much more bravado. It makes you invincible for 5 seconds but can be extended by dealing damage to enemies. This can be incredibly useful if used in the right scenario. Often it can turn the tide when the odds are stacked against you.

Buttercup

As Buttercup, holding your basic attack button charges up Launch, a dash attack perfect for closing the gap on opponents. Yank is Buttercup’s single best skill. You can use it to bring flimsy healers into the thick of it, stop low health foes from escaping, and even drag enemies into environmental hazards.

Whiplash is similar to El Bastardo’s Death Spiral, useful against a group of foes but less so in a chase. If an enemy foolishly wander into a corner however, Whiplash will damage them for long enough to warrant its use. Buttercup sacrifices evasion for extra maneuverability, so escaping multiple opponents isn’t always easy. Oil Slick can help you out in these situations and parrying is even more important for Buttercup’s survivability.

The Burnout super deals a lot of damage to nearby foes but has a very short range. This means perfect timing is critical, and combining it with an allies stunning ability will lessen the risk of it missing. A much easier to use super option is Turbo Charged. It turns you into an unstoppable force, granting buffs to damage, life steal and max health. Killing a Turbo Charged Buttercup is almost impossible, especially if they are dealing constant health boosting damage. If you find yourself against this formidable foe, just make as much distance from her as possible until the buff runs its course.

Makutu

Makutu is the most complex tank character to play as, but when mastered he is both hard to kill and quick to move. He sacrifices the ability to parry and evade, for the ability to change which passive buff he has active. One mode regenerates his health constantly, while the other boosts his speed.

Ensuring that in a melee encounter you are constantly passive healing is the key to success for Makutu, whereas in chase you need to switch to the speed boost immediately. The constant shifting of buff is the most important part of playing effectively as the big Kiwi. His Barge ability causes him to crash into and carry an enemy away. This deals damage, and more importantly, if you smash your victim into a wall it stuns them too. Breaking apart an enemy team can really make it hard for a support character to work their healing magic.

Depending on your passive buff, you have access to two different abilities. In speed mode, you can use Leg-It to enable you and your allies to move faster, while also disabling enemy effects that slow you down. As it effects allies too, you can use it to rush everyone over to an objective for the immediate advantage. In healing mode, this ability changes into Healthy, which gives you and all nearby allies a quick little health boost.

In what might be the least exciting ability in the game, Repellent sends out a wave of force around Makutu. This lightly pushes enemies back, and never feels particularly impactful. You might as well use it if you’re surrounded, but don’t expect it to win you the game.

Fans of the King of all Cosmos will enjoy using Makutu’s Katamaori super moves. As you’d expect, this ability transforms you into a ball, which damages and knocks back enemies. The damage dealt is definitely less impressive than the knockback effect, which is a great way to force the enemy team apart and away from the precious capture points.

The simpler super to use is Can’t Touch Us, which prevents all damage to you and nearby enemies for a short while. This helps keep everybody healthy in a big scrap but is also a great way to bypass environmental hazards. Thinking outside the box with Can’t Touch Us can really pay off against a team that doesn’t expect it.