The Unbeatable 5: Best Brawlers For Oni Hunt In Brawl Stars (December 2025 Tier List)

The Oni Hunt challenge in Brawl Stars remains one of the most demanding Player vs. Environment (PvE) modes, requiring not just raw damage but highly specific brawler synergies and strategic builds to conquer the highest difficulty levels, especially Insane XVI. As of December 15, 2025, the meta has stabilized around a few key brawlers whose unique mechanics—like stalling, healing, and damage over time (DoT)—are essential for surviving the Oni Boss’s relentless attacks and massive health pool. Forget general-purpose brawlers; success in this mode hinges on using a specialized team composition that can lock down the boss and sustain the team.

To consistently beat the Oni Hunt, particularly in the most recent rotations, you must focus on brawlers that provide either immense, sustained damage, critical healing support, or unparalleled boss control. The following list details the top five brawlers and their precise, current optimal setups that are proven to clear Insane XVI, offering a fresh, unique, and authoritative guide to mastering this intense challenge. This updated strategy leverages the latest balance changes and Hypercharge dynamics to maximize your team's survivability and damage output.

The S-Tier Dominators: Top 5 Brawlers for Oni Hunt (December 2025)

The core strategy for high-level Oni Hunt is a three-pronged approach: Staller/Tank, Sustained Damage/DoT, and Healer/Support. The best teams combine one from each category, but the brawlers below often fulfill multiple roles simultaneously, making them indispensable.

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1. Spike: The Unstoppable Staller and Sustained Damage Dealer

Spike is, without a doubt, the most crucial brawler for clearing the highest Insane levels of the Oni Hunt. His ability to control the boss's movement and provide constant healing makes him the ultimate Staller. The long-standing strategy of "corner-stalling" relies entirely on his Super.

• Primary Role: Staller, Area Control, Sustained Damage.
• Optimal Star Power: Fertilize. This is non-negotiable. It heals Spike for 1200 health per second while he stands in his Super, allowing him to tank the Oni Boss's melee attacks indefinitely in a corner.
• Optimal Gadget: Life Plant (or Popping Pincushion for more damage if healing is covered). Life Plant adds another layer of healing and tanking, especially useful for teammates or when Spike needs to reposition.
• Optimal Gears: Health Gear and Damage Gear. The Health Gear enhances his tanking, and the Damage Gear boosts his already high DPS.
• Why He Works: Spike's Super traps the Oni Boss and constantly heals Spike, effectively holding the boss in place. His main attack, with its spreading spikes, deals massive, consistent damage to the large hitbox of the boss.

2. Crow: The Hypercharge DoT Machine

Crow’s value in the Oni Hunt comes from his unique ability to apply Damage over Time (DoT) and to constantly spam his Super and Hypercharge, which is critical for dodging the boss's wide-area attacks and maintaining damage output.

• Primary Role: Sustained Damage, Damage over Time, Utility.
• Optimal Star Power: Extra Toxic. This Star Power reduces the Oni Boss's damage output by 20% while poisoned, which is a massive defensive boost for the entire team.
• Optimal Gadget: Slowing Toxin. This provides crucial slowing utility, helping to keep the boss in Spike's Super or allowing teammates to escape.
• Optimal Gears: Damage Gear and Shield Gear. The Damage Gear enhances his DoT, and the Shield Gear provides extra survivability during his Super jumps.
• Why He Works: Crow's poison prevents the boss from healing and, with Extra Toxic, significantly debuffs the boss. His Hypercharge allows for rapid Super cycling, enabling him to deal burst damage and become briefly invincible, making him an excellent choice for a high-risk, high-reward attack pattern.

3. Poco: The Ultimate Healing Support

For any team pushing past Insane X, a dedicated healer is necessary, and Poco is the current undisputed champion. His ability to heal teammates through walls and his massive burst healing potential make him an S-Tier Support brawler.

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• Primary Role: Healer, Support, Survivability.
• Optimal Star Power: Da Capo! This is the key to his support role, healing teammates for 800 health with every main attack. Constant healing mitigates the passive damage from the map and the boss's area-of-effect attacks.
• Optimal Gadget: Protective Tunes. This provides a temporary shield for himself or a critical teammate (like Spike) when the boss is dealing high burst damage.
• Optimal Gears: Health Gear and Damage Gear (or Shield Gear). Damage Gear helps charge his Super faster, which is the team's emergency "panic button" heal.
• Why He Works: Poco’s Super is a full-team emergency heal, capable of saving a run. When paired with his Da Capo! Star Power, he offers continuous, reliable healing that keeps the Staller (Spike) alive and the Damage Dealers in the fight. Some high-level players also use the Wasabi Power Star Power for extra damage output, but Da Capo! is generally safer.

4. Nita: The Tanking Summoner

Nita, specifically with her Hyper Bear and healing Star Power, is a surprisingly effective and highly underrated choice. She acts as a secondary Tank/Summoner, diverting the Oni Boss's attention and providing a constant source of damage and healing.

• Primary Role: Secondary Tank, Summoner, Area Denial.
• Optimal Star Power: Bear with Me. This Star Power is the core of her strategy. Every time Bruce (her bear) hits the Oni Boss, Nita heals, and every time Nita hits the boss, Bruce heals. This synergy allows both to tank for extended periods.
• Optimal Gadget: Bear Paws. The stun effect is invaluable for interrupting a dangerous boss attack or buying time for teammates to heal or reposition.
• Optimal Gears: Health Gear and Super Turret Gear. The Super Turret Gear is essential for getting Bruce out faster and more frequently.
• Why She Works: Bruce acts as a powerful distraction and a significant source of damage, especially with the Hyper Bear Star Power (though Bear with Me is often preferred for survivability). Nita's ability to heal herself and her bear simultaneously creates a self-sustaining cycle that absorbs huge amounts of damage from the Oni Boss, making her excellent for random team compositions where a dedicated healer might be missing.

5. Pam: The Defensive Anchor

Pam is a classic choice for PvE modes due to her defensive utility and sustained damage. In Oni Hunt, she functions as a powerful Defensive Anchor and secondary healer, providing a safe zone for the team.

• Primary Role: Defensive Anchor, Sustained Damage, Secondary Healer.
• Optimal Star Power: Mama’s Hug. This Star Power turns her Super (the Healing Turret) into a constant area-of-effect heal for the entire team, making it a crucial component of the team's defensive setup.
• Optimal Gadget: Pulse Modulator. This burst heal is a fantastic panic button that can instantly restore a large amount of health to all teammates within the turret’s range, often saving a run from a wipe.
• Optimal Gears: Health Gear and Damage Gear. Her Damage Gear boosts her main attack, which has a wide spread and deals excellent sustained damage to the Oni Boss.
• Why She Works: Placing her Healing Turret strategically allows the team to have a permanent, safe healing zone. This is especially useful for brawlers like Crow or Spike who need to quickly duck in and out of the line of fire. She provides the defensive stability needed to survive the late stages of Insane XVI.

Advanced Oni Hunt Strategy: The Insane XVI Blueprint

Successfully defeating the Oni Boss at the highest difficulty, Insane XVI, requires more than just picking the right brawlers; it demands perfect execution of a specific strategy. This strategy focuses on boss control, damage uptime, and constant healing.

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The Corner-Stall and Sustain Tactic

The most effective and widely used strategy involves the Corner-Stall. This tactic is built around Spike and a designated healing support (Poco or Gus).

• Phase 1: Corner Lock-Down: At the start of the match, the Spike player must rush to a corner and immediately charge their Super. Once the Oni Boss approaches, Spike drops the Super and stands in it with the Fertilize Star Power. The boss will be locked in place, constantly attacking Spike, who is constantly healing.
• Phase 2: Damage Uptime: The Crow player (or another high-DPS brawler like Griff or 8-Bit) positions themselves safely to apply maximum sustained damage. Crow should prioritize keeping the poison on the boss at all times to maintain the 20% damage reduction from Extra Toxic.
• Phase 3: Healing and Utility: The Poco or Gus player (the primary healer) stays behind the damage dealer, constantly healing the Spike in the corner with their main attacks (Poco’s Da Capo!) and using their Super (Poco's Super or Gus's shield) for emergency saves. Gus, with his healing spirits, can also provide continuous health regeneration.

This team composition—Spike (Staller) + Crow (DoT) + Poco (Healer)—is widely regarded as the most reliable combination for pushing to and clearing Insane XVI in the current meta. The synergy between Spike's tanking, Crow's debuffing, and Poco's healing creates an impenetrable defense that the Oni Boss simply cannot overcome, regardless of its health or damage output.

Essential Entities and LSI Keywords for Oni Hunt Mastery

To deepen your understanding of the Oni Hunt meta, mastering the following entities and terms is crucial. These are the underlying mechanics that make the top brawlers successful:

• Oni Boss: The central antagonist of the mode, known for its massive health pool and high burst damage.
• Insane XVI: The highest difficulty level of the challenge, requiring perfect execution and top-tier brawlers.
• Corner-Stalling: The technique of using Spike's Super to trap and tank the boss in a map corner.
• Damage over Time (DoT): Damage applied by effects like Crow's poison, which is highly effective against the Oni Boss's large health bar.
• Fertilize: Spike's Star Power that provides essential self-healing in his Super.
• Da Capo!: Poco's Star Power that provides continuous healing to teammates with his main attack.
• Hypercharge: The enhanced Super ability, which Crow can spam to deal massive burst damage and gain brief invulnerability.
• Summoner Brawlers: Brawlers like Nita and Jessie, whose pets (Bruce and Scrappy) can tank damage and distract the boss.
• Defensive Anchor: A brawler like Pam who provides a static, safe healing zone for the team.

By focusing on these specific brawlers and executing the corner-stall strategy, you can confidently tackle the Oni Hunt challenge and secure all the rewards up to Insane XVI, proving your mastery of Brawl Stars' most demanding PvE mode.