As you work through the story of Mario & Luigi Brothership, you’ll slowly unlock new mechanics and abilities that will tweak how you approach the unique turn-based combat in the game. Arguably, the most impactful new mechanic that is introduced a few hours into the game is battle plugs.
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Throughout Brothership, you’ll be able to craft more and more of these passive buffs that can be equipped and switched out in combat. Each of these has a finite amount of uses before they need to recharge, and this limit is scaled based on how useful they are, but which ones should you prioritize crafting?
9
Performance Bonus
Put On A Show
If you have BP to spare, then using Bros. attacks against your enemies is a great way to deal more damage and get a cinematic show while doing it. These animated attacks are a lot of fun to pull off, and you’ll deal more damage if you can pull them off perfectly.
If you’re building your brothers to rely on this class of attacks, then you’ll want them to have as much BP as possible so they can use these abilities as much as they can. Using the Performance Bonus battle plug will restore 50 percent of the BP used for a Bros. attack if you get an Excellent rating, which is pretty easy if you know what you’re doing.
8
Damage Shield
The further you get into Mario & Luigi Brothership, the more you’ll realize just how heavy hitting the enemies are. While you can try and dodge these attacks as much as possible, sometimes you’re just going to end up taking damage.
While building your brothers with defence is one method of avoiding taking too much damage, you can also use the Damage Shield battle plug as well. This simple buff will reduce how much damage you take from hits, making your party last longer in combat.
7
Easy-Peasy Counters
Give Yourself A Break
The main aspect that helps Mario & Luigi Brothership stand out from other turn-based RPGs is the ability to deal extra damage, dodge, or even reflect attacks if you can pull off timed button prompts. These can be incredibly rewarding, especially if you manage to dodge a big hit, but they are also quite challenging to pull off correctly.
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If you find yourself struggling to dodge certain attacks when enemies aim at you, then try using the Easy-Peasy Counters battle plug. When equipped, you can activate the plug by holding the counter button, making it easier to pull off a proper counter with a longer jump or bigger hammer.
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Boomerang Items
Keep Up Your Stocks
In longer, more arduous fights in Mario & Luigi Brothership, it’s easy to drain your resources, and if you’re on an island for the first time, you might not even have the opportunity to easily backtrack and stock up on your favourite healing items.
This is why Boomerang Items is such a useful battle plug to use if you’re trying to be more frugal with your item use. Instead of all your items being one and done, this battle plug will return all of the items you use straight back into your inventory so you can use them again.
5
Fiery Attack
Get Your Flame On
While there are specific attacks in Mario & Luigi Brothership that have a chance of dealing status effects to your enemies, it’s usually not the kind of thing you can build your characters around. However, if you use the Fiery Attack battle plug, you can increase your odds of giving enemies a specific status condition.
If you get an Excellent rating on your attacks with this plug equipped, then your target will become burned, and even better, all the damage you deal with both jump and hammer attacks will have an automatic 15 percent bonus damage.
4
Anti-Flying Specialist
Grounded
There are specific classes of enemies that will show up again and again in Mario & Luigi Brothership that can cause trouble. One of the best examples of this is flying enemies, which are immune to certain attacks and can often deal extra damage if you aren’t careful.
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Mario can do many things, but sometimes he needs some extra help to achieve his goals.
If you are struggling with these enemies, then using the Anti-Flying Specialist plug will make them go down much quicker during battle. This plus will ensure that jump attacks against these enemies will always deal extra damage.
3
Kaboom Attack
AOE On The Enemy
One advantage that enemies have over the brothers in Mario & Luigi Brothership, is that many of them have attacks that can hit both of the brothers in one turn, but the brothers are usually limited to just hitting one opponent with most of their attacks.
This all changes if you unlock the Kaboom Attack battle plug. This plug will deal extra damage to all nearby targets when you get an Excellent rating with either your jump or hammer attacks. This can also be combined with other battle plugs for some easy synergy.
2
Attack Boost
You’ll find that you rely on your simple jump and hammer attacks quite often in Mario & Luigi Brothership, since BP is quite limited, so Bros. attacks aren’t always the best course of action. While the damage you deal with these simple combos is useful, it occasionally feels underwhelming.
This is why you should try using the Attack Boost plug, since it makes these standard attacks a lot more impactful. For either your jump or hammer attacks, you’ll get an extra chance to add an attack onto the combo, adding some useful bonus damage.
1
Auto Mushroom
Save Time Healing
With how little HP the brothers have to work with through Mario & Luigi Brothership, it’s common just how often they can be drained of almost all of their health in just one turn. You can easily get trapped healing the brothers and wasting precious time during each of your turns.
To save this time and keep up the aggression without compromising the health of either brother, you can use the Auto Mushroom battle plug. This plug will let the brothers use mushrooms to heal either themselves or each other once per turn without actually using up their action.
- Franchise
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Mario & Luigi
- Released
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November 7, 2024
- Developer(s)
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Acquire
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
- ESRB
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E For Everyone Due To Mild Fantasy Violence
- How Long To Beat
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37 hours
- Prequel(s)
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Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey
, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions
, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
, Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time - Number of Players
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1
- How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs)
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60 hours
- OpenCritic Rating
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Strong
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
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November 7, 2024