Spike has low health and a slow reload speed. Because of this, it's best to practice shooting around obstacles, predicting his shot pattern, and predicting the enemy's movement to prevent opportunities for the enemies to damage you. However, his devastatingly high damage output compensates for his low health and allows him to defeat enemies easily.
Spike's attack can deal devastating damage. One way to deal that maximum damage is at point-blank range of the enemy where his attack and Popping Pincushion Gadget work best at that range. This makes him an excellent counter against close-ranged Brawlers like El Primo and Mortis who need to get close to Spike to damage him.
Spike is capable of dealing extremely high damage to grouped-up enemies due to the multiple spikes shot out from his attack on impact. His Super's area damage can also spell trouble for grouped-up enemies since they can't easily escape from Spike's attack or Popping Pincushion Gadget due to the slow effect. This becomes more effective using Spike Mythic Gear Sticky Spikes.
The 6 spikes that fly out from his attack always spread out in the same pattern (60-degree angles, or 75 degrees with Curveball) no matter your position or rotation. You can use this to know where the spikes will land, making it easier to hit enemies around corners and obstacles or to check bushes. Because of this, having the cactus explode near a target is vital because this increases the chances of multiple spikes hitting the same target.
When defending a critical objective or controlling an area, Spike's Super and his Fertilize Star Power are useful for area denial, slowing and damaging enemies while healing himself. If the enemy team is fleeing with Gems in Gem Grab or attempting to score a goal in Brawl Ball, you can hamper them from doing so with your Super.
Spike's Fertilize Star Power and Life Plant Gadget are useful for healing if your team lacks healers. If you find yourself charging your Super too often, don't hesitate to use it on yourself to heal you fully while you keep attacking enemies. If you or teammates are low on health and your Super isn't charged up, you can spawn your Life Plant Gadget down, hide behind it, and heal up. The extra healing his Life Plant provides when it's destroyed makes it even better for supporting Spike and teammates. These mechanics are also useful in Showdown when facing high-damaging enemies or in self-defense, especially in Showdown when being ambushed or pinched.
Spike is versatile in Heist thanks to his high damage output he can either play defensively by defeating tanks such as El Primo or Darryl and offensively his Fertilize Star Power allows his Super to cover more area denial in certain choke points on the map thanks to the healing effect it provides. If Spike is positioned correctly or is at point-blank range of the safe, he can deal devastatingly high damage to it with his Popping Pincushion Gadget along with his high-damaging attack and his Super's high damage, which justifies using him in Heist. Popping Pincushion can also serve as a fourth attack or during defense since Spike reloads slowly.
Changelog
27/06/17 Spike's health was decreased to 600 (from 700).
04/09/17 Spike's Super's slow duration now decreases once out of it's area of effect.
05/10/17 Spike's Super projectile speed was increased.
07/12/17 Spike's Fertilize Star Power was added. The health and damage statistics of all Brawlers were multiplied by 4.
18/12/17 Spike's Fertilize Star Power healing was decreased to 500 (from 600) per second.
16/01/18 Spike's reload time was decreased to 2 seconds (from 2.2).
21/03/18 Spike's main attack projectile size was increased. Every Brawler's movement speed was increased by 70 points, increasing Spike's base movement speed to 720 (from 650). All Brawlers' projectile speeds were increased by 9%.
05/12/18 The range of the spikes in Spike's main attack was decreased to 4.33 tiles (from 5). The spikes now split in a set pattern (instead of randomly split).
29/01/19 Spike and Pinky Spike were remodeled, and Pinky Spike was renamed to Sakura Spike. Sakura Spike shoots flower-like projectiles instead of the normal Spike's needle grenades. Sakura Spike's Super was retextured and now has flowers. Spike's spikes were also retextured. Sakura Spike now costs 80 Gems (from 30).
15/04/19 Quickfire now takes into account the added range from the projectile splitting. Spike's main attack effects were polished.
10/07/19 Spike's Curveball Star Power was added.
12/07/19 The Robo Spike skin was added.
29/08/19 Spike's Fertilize Star Power healing was increased to 600 (from 500) per second.
23/10/19 Spike's Fertilize Star Power healing was increased to 800 (from 600) per second.
07/11/19 Spike's Curveball Star Power angle was decreased to 50 (from 100) and the distance was decreased to 100 (from 200).
19/02/20 Spike's main attack damage was increased to 520 (from 480) per spike.
17/03/20 Spike's Popping Pincushion Gadget was added.
07/04/20 Spike's Curveball Star Power angle was increased to 75 (from 50).
13/05/20 Spike's Popping Pincushion Gadget is no longer affected by his Curveball Star Power.
02/07/20 Spike's Popping Pincushion Gadget was retextured.
10/09/20 Spike's main attack damage was increased to 560 (from 520) per spike. His Super recharge rate was increased slightly.
18/09/20 The Mask Spike skin was added.
15/12/20 Spike's reload time was increased to 2.1 seconds (from 2).
19/02/21 The Dark Lord Spike skin was added. It was featured as a Lunar Brawl 2021 skin.
07/04/21 Spike's reload time was decreased to 2 seconds (from 2.1). Spike's True Silver and True Gold skins were added.
08/07/21 Spike's Life Plant Gadget was added.
28/09/21 Fixed an issue where Spike's Life Plant Gadget would not get launched by jump pads.
27/10/21 Spike's class was changed to Damage Dealer (from Sharpshooter).
23/12/21 The Logmas Spike skin was added. It was featured as a Brawlidays 2021 skin.
27/04/22 Spike's Life Plant Gadget health was decreased to 1750 (from 3500).
13/05/22 The Pyro Spike skin was added. It was featured as a Stunt Show skin.
12/12/22 Spike's Sticky Spikes Mythic Gear was added.
25/04/23 Logmas and Pyro Spike now cost 79 Gems each (from 49).
27/06/23 Spike's Popping Pincushion Gadget damage was increased to 800 (from 520) per needle. Spike's Fertilize Star Power healing was increased to 1000 (from 800) per second.
05/09/23 All Brawlers' health and damage were increased from 5% to 10% with each Power Level.
08/09/23 Spike's Blooming Season Hypercharge was added.
27/06/23 Spike's Popping Pincushion Gadget damage was increased to 896 (from 800) per needle and now scales with Power Levels. Spike's Life Plant Gadget health was increased to 1920 (from 1750), and its healing was increased to 1152 (from 1000). They now scale with Power Levels. Spike's Fertilize Star Power healing was increased to 1008 (from 1000) per second and now scales with Power Levels. Spike's flavor text was changed from "Spike throws cactus grenades that send needles flying, and a show-stopping Super: a field of cactus spines that slows down and damages enemies!" to "Most people think Spike is Colt and Shelly's cute sidekick at the Ranger Ranch. Nobody could begin to guess the depths of his trauma"
12/12/23 Spike's Sticky Spikes Mythic Gear slow was decreased to 30% (from 50%).
18/12/23 Fixed an issue with Spike's Popping Pincushion Gadget damage.
12/01/24 The Toon Spike skin was added. It was featured as a Cartoon Studios skin.
27/02/24 Spike's Blooming Season Hypercharge damage boost was increased to 25% (from 20%). Spike's Blooming Season Hypercharge multiplier was decreased to 35% (from 40%). Spike's Blooming Season Hypercharge speed boost was decreased to 26% (from 30%). Spike's Blooming Season Hypercharge shield boost was decreased to 5% (from 20%). All Brawlers' Hypercharges duration can no longer be extended.
01/04/24 The Poop Spike skin was added. It was featured as an April Fool's skin.
23/04/24 Spike's main attack damage was decreased to 540 (from 560) per spike. Spike's Popping Pincushion Gadget damage was decreased to 864 (from 896) per needle. Poop Spike's main attack sound effects were reworked.