Brawl Stars balance changes only matter when they change the meta, so we check every patch against our live win rates. The latest big one is the June 29 update, which went after an aggression heavy meta. It buffed struggling marksmen and throwers like Piper, Mandy and Dynamike, and nerfed the assassins that had taken over the pick screen: Mortis, Edgar, Crow and more. Three weeks on, our live data has a clear verdict. The marksman buffs landed, most of the thrower buffs did not, and the assassin nerfs trimmed win rates without loosening the class’s grip on the top of the pick rates.
What Supercell said they wanted
Supercell was unusually direct about the intent. On the slow brawlers, the June notes say throwers and marksmen were "struggling in an aggression heavy meta." On Piper specifically: "Piper has been outshone by other marksmen for some time." On the assassins, the notes single out the class leader: "Mortis is often the go-to assassin and has been for some time. He has incredibly high burst potential with his gadgets so these changes will bring that down."
So the plan was simple. Give the zone-control brawlers a reason to exist again, and take some of the burst away from the assassins that punish them. The same update also expanded the Buffies system, a separate set of permanent per-brawler upgrades we break down on its own. Here is what our data says happened.
The marksman buffs landed
Supercell’s notes gave 
Piper +300 health and +100 max attack damage, and it worked. She now sits at a 49.9% win rate on 2.23% use, good for B-tier and 12th out of 104 brawlers in our rankings. 
Mandy, who got +100 attack damage and a bigger Hard Candy shield, is doing even better: a 52.0% win rate, B-tier, 11th overall. The notes admit both had fallen out of consideration among marksmen. Both are solid mid-meta picks again.
The thrower buffs mostly did not
The throwers are a different story. Dynamike got a faster reload and is still at a 42.9% win rate, D-tier, 45th. Barley got a faster Super projectile and sits at 44.9%, D-tier, 80th. Sprout got a reload and damage bump and posts a 51.9% win rate, but almost nobody plays him: 0.22% use, the lowest in this group, so that win rate rides on a small pool of dedicated Sprout mains. Gale and Shelly, both pitched as anti-aggression answers, are stuck at 49.5% (C-tier) and 44.1% (D-tier). The buffs were real, but none were big enough to pull these brawlers back into the meta.
| Buffed brawler | Class | June change | Win rate | Use rate | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piper | Marksman | +300 health, +100 damage | 49.9% | 2.23% | B |
| Mandy | Marksman | +100 damage, bigger shield | 52.0% | 1.44% | B |
 Gale | Controller | Super 600 to 800 | 49.5% | 0.45% | C |
 Shelly | Damage Dealer | Stronger slow, faster gadget | 44.1% | 1.07% | D |
 Dynamike | Artillery | Faster reload | 42.9% | 1.80% | D |
 Sprout | Artillery | Faster reload, +damage | 51.9% | 0.22% | C |
 Barley | Artillery | Faster Super projectile | 44.9% | 0.32% | D |
The assassin nerfs bit, but assassins still rule the pick screen
The nerfs did land on win rates. 
Mortis dropped to 48.2%, 
Edgar to 46.9%, 
Crow to 46.5%, all under the 50% break-even line. Leon fell all the way to D-tier at 44.2%. But look at the use rates. Edgar (4.98%), Mortis (3.16%) and Crow (3.08%) are the three most-picked brawlers in this entire patch, and Mortis and Edgar are both still A-tier despite the sub-50% win rates. Players did not put the assassins down. They just win a little less with them now. Chester barely felt his nerf at all, still 51.5% and B-tier. Colette is the one clear casualty, down to 45% and D-tier.
| Nerfed brawler | Class | June change | Win rate | Use rate | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mortis | Assassin | Gadget cooldown up, burst down | 48.2% | 3.16% | A |
| Edgar | Assassin | Gadget cooldown up, slower Hyper | 46.9% | 4.98% | A |
| Crow | Assassin | Weaker poison, less health | 46.5% | 3.08% | B |
 Leon | Assassin | Gadget health 1500 to 1000 | 44.2% | 1.28% | D |
 Colette | Damage Dealer | Gadget and Super nerf | 45.0% | 1.38% | D |
 Chester | Damage Dealer | Super 1880 to 1600 | 51.5% | 1.31% | B |