If you’ve ever queued for a Brawl Stars match with friends who are way higher or lower rank than you, you’ve probably seen the little orange dog icon pop up next to your name right before the game loads. Many players brush it off as a random fun label, but it’s actually one of the fairest balancing mechanics Supercell has added to the game in recent years. If you’re asking how does underdog work in Brawl Stars, you’re in the right place: we’re breaking down exactly what triggers it, what benefits it gives, and how you can use it to make your trophy grind easier without exploiting the system.
Core Rules That Trigger the Underdog Mechanic
The Underdog mechanic only activates in specific scenarios, not just whenever you’re facing a stronger team. After testing hundreds of matches across every game mode, we’ve narrowed down the only three conditions that will give you Underdog status:
- You’re queuing in a pre-made team where your individual trophy count for the selected Brawler is at least 200 trophies lower than the highest-ranked player on your team
- You’re matched against an enemy team whose average Brawler trophy count is 200 or more higher than your team’s average
- You’re playing in Power League, and your individual rank is two or more divisions lower than the lowest-ranked player on either team in the match
It’s important to note that Underdog never activates for solo showdown matches, no matter how wide the trophy gap between players is. Supercell excluded this mode because it’s a free-for-all, and balancing individual players against 9 others would make matches feel unearned for top players. You’ll also never get Underdog if you’re queuing with a full team of players within 100 trophies of each other, even if you face a much stronger opponent team. Underdog only applies to 3v3 modes and Power League, so don’t expect to see it in solo or duo showdown queues.
How Does Underdog Work in Brawl Stars: Buffs and Perks Explained
Many players think Underdog gives you stat buffs to make your Brawler stronger, but that’s not true at all. Supercell designed the mechanic to reward players for taking on harder matches, not to unbalance the gameplay itself. The only benefits of Underdog status are related to trophy gains and losses, not in-match stats like health, damage, or reload speed. You won’t hit harder or survive longer just because you have the little dog icon next to your name, which keeps matches fair for all players involved.
If you win a match where you have Underdog status, you’ll earn 30% more trophies than you would for a standard win of the same caliber. If you lose the same match, you’ll lose 50% fewer trophies than you would for a regular loss. For example, if you would normally earn 8 trophies for a win and lose 10 for a loss, an Underdog win would give you 10 or 11 trophies, and an Underdog loss would only take away 5 trophies. That’s a huge difference for players who are grinding lower-ranked Brawlers and want to minimize their losses when playing with higher-ranked friends. For Power League matches, Underdog gives you an extra star point bonus if you win, and protects you from losing a rank progress star if you lose the match. I’ve tested this myself when playing Power League with my friend who is 3 divisions higher than me, and I lost 3 matches in a row without losing a single progress star, which saved me almost 2 hours of re-grinding my rank back up.
Common Misconceptions About Underdog You Should Stop Believing
There’s a ton of wrong information floating around Reddit and Discord about the Underdog mechanic, and most of it comes from players who only saw the icon once and made assumptions about how it works. First myth: Many players think that having an Underdog on your team means the enemy team has worse players, but that’s the opposite of true. If you see an Underdog icon on your teammate, that means either your team is way lower ranked than the enemy, or that one teammate is way lower ranked than the rest of your team.
Another myth: Some players think you can exploit Underdog to get unlimited easy trophy gains by queuing with a friend who is 1000 trophies higher than you. But Supercell has anti-exploit rules in place to prevent this. If the trophy gap between you and your teammate is over 500 trophies, you won’t get Underdog status at all, and you’ll face opponents matched to the highest-ranked player on your team. That means you’ll be facing very strong players with no trophy protection, which will make you lose trophies way faster than you would playing on your own. Another common myth is that Underdog is a punishment for playing with lower-ranked friends. It’s not a punishment at all: it’s a safety net for the lower-ranked player so they don’t get discouraged by losing tons of trophies while playing with more experienced friends. You don’t lose any rewards or get matched against harder teams just because one of your teammates has Underdog status, so there’s no reason to kick lower-ranked friends from your queue for this reason.
Smart Ways to Use Underdog to Boost Your Trophy Grind
Now that you understand how the mechanic works, you can use it to make your trophy grind way less frustrating, as long as you don’t try to exploit it. First tip: If you’re trying to level up a new Brawler that you only have 200 trophies on, queue with a friend who has that same Brawler at 400-450 trophies. You’ll get Underdog status for every match, so you’ll earn more trophies for wins and lose fewer for losses. You’ll also face opponents around the 400 trophy range, which is a great way to learn how to play the Brawler against more skilled players without risking too many of your own trophies. But don’t queue with someone who has that Brawler at 700 trophies, because the gap will be too big to trigger Underdog, and you’ll face way too strong opponents.
Another tip: If you’re stuck at a trophy wall with a Brawler, play a few matches with a slightly higher-ranked friend to get Underdog buffs. The extra trophy gain for wins will help you push past the wall faster, and the reduced loss penalty means you won’t drop back down if you have a few bad matches. Just make sure you’re playing a game mode you’re comfortable with, because Underdog won’t make up for lack of knowledge of map mechanics or team compositions. One thing to avoid is queuing for Power League with friends who are more than 2 divisions higher than you just to get Underdog protection. You’ll be facing players at their skill level, which will make it almost impossible to win matches, even with the loss protection. You’re better off playing Power League with players around your own rank to get consistent wins.
At the end of the day, the Underdog mechanic is designed to make Brawl Stars more accessible for new players and more fun for groups of friends with different skill levels. It’s not a cheat code, and it’s not a punishment, it’s just a simple balancing tool to keep trophy grinds fair for everyone. Whether you’re playing casual 3v3 matches with friends or pushing for a higher Power League rank, understanding how does underdog work in Brawl Stars will help you make smarter queue decisions and avoid unnecessary trophy losses along the way.