Quick Links
- Stripe’s Progression Unlocks
- Stripe’s Signature Perk Overview
MultiVersus is really going all in on its Gremlins representation. But while Gizmo and Spike may be from the same property, they couldn’t play more differently. While Gizmo likes to set traps, bop on his enemies in the air, and then flee, Spike is all about aggression.
Fear. Dread. Hopelessness. These are all the feelings that will wash over your opponents once they see that you are rocking Spike. And so they should! Spike is an excellent character with an incredible moveset that has a surprising amount of versatility. His mobility in the air is fantastic, and to top it all off, he has some of the easiest, and cheesiest, early kills in the game.
Ability Overview
Remember when MultiVersus characters used to fit their classes like a glove? Yeah, we don’t either. However, there have always been a few that were perfectly aligned with their class. We hadn’t received one of those characters in a long while. However, with Spike, we have a very assassiny assassin. Spike has great moves for closing the distance, his attacks are powerful, and his gameplan is inherently aggressive. If you are playing a passive Spike, you are doing something horribly wrong.
He is a Hybrid fighter, and with good reason. Spike has excellent moves for ringing opponents out on any side of the screen. He really is a threat no matter where you are.
His passive ability—Grudgeholder—makes it so that every time you hit with a melee attack you will put a target on your opponent. When there is a target on them, you will be able to shoot them with your pistol no matter how far away they are. Which is extraordinarily potent! So, then, what constitutes a melee attack? Well, the better question is what isn’t considered a melee attack, as nearly every Spike move will put this target on your opponents.
Grounded Attacks
| Name | Command | Image | Additional Properties | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bouncin’ Buzzsaw | Attack |  |
Projectile | This attack sees Stripe toss a saw blade at his opponents. This may seem like a pretty standard projectile, but this saw will curve around a platforms edges. This does make it a pretty nasty edge guarding tool.
The saw blade will travel around a floating platform’s entire perimeter. The saw blade will also circle your partner if you toss it at them. |
| Nasty Swipes | Forward + Attack |  |
Applies Targeted Debuff | This is a Stripe’s combo. It is fast. It is rangy. And it hits five times. Needless to say, this is an excellent combo attack. The final hit has enough knockback that you may be able to secure a kill with the Sharpshooter followup if your opponent is injured enough. |
| All Claw’d Up | Up + Attack |  |
Applies Targeted Debuff | This is an anti-air that hits multiple times. It has a decent amount of knockback if you land the final hit.
This attack will combo off of a number of his air attacks. It also combos into his Ride ‘Em, Cowboy special. So, it is a great attack to help bridge combos. |
| Shh, It’s A Surprise | Down + Attack |  |
Applies Targeted Debuff | This is one of Stripe’s sneakier attacks. It sees him set the boombox down, then dash back and shoot it. If an opponent is close enough to the boombox, they will be blown upward a decent amount.
If you land an aerial attack (like Spike’s Comin’ Atcha), then you can followup with this attack. Even if it doesn’t combo, it is tricky enough to catch opponents off guard. This does count as a melee attack! So, it will apply the Targeted Debuff! |
| Sharpshooter | Special |  |
Projectile | This attack sees Stripe fire his gun. If your opponent is not targeted, it has miserable range. However, if they are targeted, the gun will reach from fullscreen.
The gunshots do have a small amount of knockback. If you knock your opponent close enough to the edge of the screen, you will be able to unload into them and get a kill. This is an amazing source for cheesy kills! Spike can hold three bullets at a time. You should probably save them for a kill. |
| Savage Tricks | Forward + Special |  |
Chargeable, Applies Targeted Debuff | This attack has two parts to it. The first part of the move is a ram attack. This part is chargeable. However, you can also input the special again while charging and Spike will stop and kick his skateboard upward.
If you hit them with the second part of the attack, you will pop them into the air (a similar amount as the Shh, It’s A Surprise attack). If you do land that second hit, you should be able to follow up with a number of attacks, including the Ride ‘Em, Cowboy. |
| Ride ‘Em, Cowboy | Up + Special |  |
Applies Targeted Debuff | This is a great upward attack. It is fast and does solid damage. However, keep in mind that his Chomp attack is better for knocking opponents upward. Ride ‘Em, Cowboy will send opponents flying horizontally.
However, Ride ‘Em, Cowboy’s range is better than his Chomp attack’s and is easier to combo into. If you have the Feeding After Midnight perk equipped, this becomes one of Stripe’s most important tools |
| Dynamite Boom | Down + Special |  |
Applies Targeted Debuff | Stripe’s Dynamite Boom sees him pull out a bundle of dynamite. If you enter the command a second time, Spike will detonate it. As he flies through the air any opponent he collides with will take damage.
This is a great attack for finishing off a weakened opponent, as it has great knockback. It will send everyone flying. You can, of course, also follow up with his Sharpshooter attack. This attack does ignite Stripe. So you will take some damage. |
Aerial Attacks
| Name | Command | Image | Additional Properties | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aerial Buzzsaw | Attack |  |
Chargeable, Applies Targeted Debuff | This is pretty much the same attack as the grounded version, though this version is chargeable. |
| Comin’ Atcha | Forward + Attack |  |
Chargeable, Applies Targeted Debuff | This is a pretty typical aerial forward attack. However, it is fast, and it has great range. So, while it may be pretty typical it is also very good.
Comin’ Atcha is much, much quicker than Chain(Saw) Reaction. So, make sure to use it when you are already close to your opponent. This is a great move, and it has an important role to play! |
| Chomp | Up + Attack |  |
Applies Targeted Debuff | This is your typical upward aerial attack. However, it is another one you don’t want to sleep.
Chomp has solid knockback, and is a better option for knocking an opponent out at the top of the screen than the Ride ‘Em, Cowboy special. It also does more damage when fully charged. |
| Look Out Below | Down + Attack |  |
Applies Targeted Debuff | And to round out his aerial attacks, we get another pretty typical attack. This is just another spike. However, like all of Stripes attacks, it is fast, powerful, and has great range. Basic? Sure. But effective? Absolutely! |
| Sharpshooter | Special |  |
Projectile | This is the same attack as the grounded version. |
| Chain(Saw) Reaction | Forward + Special |  |
Applies Targeted Debuff | This is a lunging attack that will hit multiple times, cause a sizable knockback, and deal very respectable damage. It is also the move that is going to make everyone hate you.
You can fastfall during the attack’s startup, which will allow you to perform it very close to the ground. If you catch an opponent off of the platform with this attack, even most healthy characters will be knocked far enough that you will be able to get the Sharpshooter kill. This is a very powerful combination. |
| Ride ‘Em, Cowboy | Up + Special |  |
Applies Targeted Debuff | This is the same attack as the grounded version. |
| Dynamite Boom | Down + Special |  |
Applies Targeted Debuff | This is the same attack as the grounded version.
One thing worth noting is that if you have the Boom, Boom, Bounce perk equipped this attack effectively becomes a dive bomb attack that creates an explosion where you land. Pretty potent. |
Battle Strategy
Before we get into his overall strategy, we need to first talk about his Sharpshooter special. This is a big, big part of his game. While it is great for adding on extra damage after landing a melee attack, its most potent use is finishing off opponents. Any attack that leaves your opponent close to an edge (while also being targeted) is a kill with three shots from your Sharpshooter, even if they have otherwise barely been hit. So, if you want ready access to that kill, you are going to have to show restraint if the attack isn’t a kill.
So, how are we going to get our opponents near those edges? Well, we are going to get up in their grills, slash them with our claws, and cause utter chaos with our specials. So, the first thing we want to do is get close. Your Chain(Saw) Reaction is an excellent way to do this. Otherwise, dashing in from the air, and landing your Comin’ Atcha attack is another excellent way to close distance. You can also close the distance with the Savage Tricks skateboard attack, but this one leaves you a little more vulnerable. That being said, the second hit of this attack leads to some easy air combos, so it is worth approaching with this one occasionally.
When it comes to Stripe’s basic attacks, they are just good. All of them. His upward hitting attack (Chomp)? Very good. His spike (Look Out Below)? Great. His combo attack (Nasty Swipes)? Incredible! Basically, if you are close to your opponent, swiping at them with your claws will be highly effective. So, once you are close, you are going to do just that. Once your opponent gets some distance, you are going to repeat the process.
As for killing opponents when they are clinging to the side of the arena… Your Bouncin’ Buzzsaw is an excellent tool for this, as it will travel alongside the wall. Stripe’s spike is also excellent, so make good use of it. Finally, if your opponent is off the platform, try to hit them with the Chain(Saw) Reaction. If you do, they are almost certainly dead (especially if you have enough bullets to finish the job).
Teamplay Strategy
Stripe doesn’t have a ton of things he can do to help the team move-wise. However, his buzzsaw attack, if thrown at your partner, will circle them. Thus, giving them a shield of sorts. So, make sure to give this to your partner whenever you can. Beyond that, your job is keep on your opponents, batter them, and kill them.
Stripe’s Progression Unlocks
Stripe’s Signature Perk Overview
When it comes to Stripe’s signature perks one thing becomes abundantly clear: all of them are good, but one of them is pretty situational. So, let’s delve into the situational perks first. He’s The Leader gives Stripe a huge boost to his jump when he hops off of projectiles. While you can do this with your own sawblade, you are really only ever going to want to choose this perk if you are teamed up with a projectile focused partner.
So, what of the other two perks? Well, the Boom, Boom, Bounce! makes Stripe’s aerial dynamite attack far more potent. Now when you collide with the ground you will cause an explosion. This is an absolutely fantastic way to deal big damage to your opponents (if you dive bomb an opponent with this perk it doubles the damage) and is another fantastic tool in Stripe’s already impressive arsenal.
Lastly, Feeding After Midnight will make it so that your Ride ‘Em, Cowboy attack transfers all your debuffs to your opponent. At the moment, this seems to be the most popular perk among Stripe players online. And for good reason, it is really strong. Especially if you are fighting opponents who have an easy way to hit you with those status effects.
So which one is the best? Honestly, we think it is a tossup between Boom, Boom, Bounce! and Feeding After Midnight. One greatly enhances one of your offensive tools, and the other gives you a way to transfer status effects. Both are strong. However, we will say that Feeding After Midnight is probably the easiest to use (even if we often choose to go with Boom, Boom, Bounce more often than not). Honestly, you can’t go wrong with either.