Skill

Max with every skill available.

Skills are a mechanic introduced in Advance Wars: Dual Strike, giving COs benefits depending on what skills are used.

Up to a maximum of 4 skills may be used at any time, however the CO used must be Rank 4 or higher, of which can be obtained through winning battles in War Room or using the CO in the Campaign/Hard Campaign (some COs can't be used in the normal version of the campaign, namely Andy, Nell, Hachi, Drake, Olaf, Kanbei and all Black Hole CO's except Lash and Hawke).

While only 4 skills may be used at a time, getting COs to rank 9 is most effective, as some of the best skills are at ranks 7-9, although any ranks above 9 yield no benefits except if you are going after Medals or a special look for your CO, which do not yield anything in battle.

There are also 5 Star Rank Skills that are acquired through beating the campaign and hard campaign, and those can be used even by rank 1* CO's as long as the normal/hard campaign has been beaten at least once. A CO whose rank is 0 cannot use any skills at all, however at rank 1 a CO can use 1 skill, a rank 2 CO can use 2 skills, up to rank 4 where they can use 4 skills. Any rank above will only unlock stronger skills.

List of Skills

Rank	Name	Description	Bonus	Notes
1	Bruiser	Direct Attack	+5%
1	Sharpshooter	Indirect Attack	+5%
1	Slam Guard	Direct Defense	+8%
1	Snipe Guard	Indirect Defense	+8%
1	Combat Pay	Damage foes to earn cash	+2%	Unit Price x 0.H (HP damage) x 0.02.
1	Luck	Random Damage	+10%
2	APC Guard	Transport Unit Defense	+10%	All Transport Units.
2	Tower Power	COM Tower Effect	+5%	Javier's Defense Boost also takes effect.
2	Sneaky	Dive/Hide fuel cost	-1	Submarine and Stealth only.
3	Teamwork	Tag CO's Attack	+5%	Always active in Team battles.
3	Scout	Vision	+1	Fog of War only.
3	Mechanic	Base Repair	+1
3	Invader	Capture Rate	+1	If Sami is CO, Invader takes effect after.
3	Sale Price	Production Cost	-5%
4	Road Rage	Road Attack	+10%
4	Ranger	Woods Attack	+10%
4	Urban Fighter	City Attack	+10%
4	Mountaineer	Mountain Attack	+10%
4	Seamanship	Sea Attack	+10%
4	Backstab	Dive/Hide Attack	+15%
5	APC Boost	Transport Unit Movement	+1	All Transport Units.
5	Missile Guard	Damage from silos	-1
5	Cannon Guard	Damage from cannons	-2
5	Star Power	Power meter fills quickly	+10%
6	Bodyguard	Tag CO's defense.	+10%	Always active in Team battles.
6	Prairie Dog	Plain movement	1	No penalty movements.
6	Pathfinder	Woods movement	1	No penalty movements.
6	Stealthy	Dive/Hide fuel cost	-2	Submarine and Stealth only.
6	Gold Rush	Funds from bases	+100
7	High and Dry	Attack in rain	+20%
7	Icebreaker	Attack in snow	+20%
7	San Scorpion	Attack in sandstorm	+20%
8	Brawler	Direct Attack	+8%
8	Sniper	Indirect Attack	+8%
8	Slam Shield	Direct Defense	+12%
8	Snipe Shield	Indirect Defense	+12%
9	Synergy	Tag CO Attack	+8%	Always active in Team battles.
9	Fire Sale	Production Cost	-8%
*N	Eagle Eye	Vision	+2	Fog of War only.
*N	Gear Head	Base repair	+2
*H	Conqueror	Capture	+2	If Sami is CO, Conqueror takes effect after.
*H	Mistwalker	Hides units during Super CO	!	A mistranslation. Makes your units attack first during opponent's turn.
*H	Soul of Hachi	Deploy units in cities during Super CO	!	Grounds units only.

*N means Rank 10 during Normal Mode. *H means Rank 10 in Hard campaign.

Tips

• You can stack all 4 of the skills. For example: Having both Bruiser (+5%) and Brawler (+8%) will net you a 13% increase.
• Brawler and Slam Shield will give you a net 20% boost on direct units (108/112), which is similar to Von Bolt's 110/110 day to day.
• Prairie Dog and Pathfinder are recommendable on most land maps because they allow you to get your units to the center of the board faster, as well as the attacking range of your direct units. This will make you similar to Sturm.
• The majority of the money powers are very helpful: Sale Price (-5%), Sale Price (-8%) and Gold Rush (+100) in allowing you to build stronger units in earlier turns. Gold Rush is almost like a -10%, math-wise Kanbei would most benefit from this as having to spend around 93% instead of 120% while having the 120/120 stats.
• Combat Pay is negligible since it only grants you 2% of the damage you inflict. In the long run, it won't generate enough funds.
• Star Power is of minimal benefit since it only adds 10% to the charge rate.
• Luck adds up to 1 damage to your attacks, but considering it affects all of your units, it will add up to a lot of damage over the course of the game.
• The enemy AI will often avoid attacking your units while Mistwalker is active.
• The tag skills do not require a tag break to be active in order to utilize, but you do need two CO's. When your CO's are separated in a dual screen battle, the tag skills will not apply until the 2nd CO wins the top screen front.
• It's generally recommended to use skills to build on your strengths rather than shore up your weaknesses. For example, giving Kindle "Urban Fighter" will let you one hit KO units more easily, clearing up the enemy's unit count.
• The invader and Conqueror skills stacked will ensure you have an extra 3 on Capture, and most likely guarantee a capture in 2 turns like a full soldier's 2-day capture without interference. Usually, when a common unit attacks a soldier during a capture, that soldier will have between 4-6 HP thanks to the building's defense. With Invader and Conqueror stacked, you would capture a building with 13 Capture, but having at least 4 HP left would guarantee a capture (4+3). If Kindle is your opponent, you will still have enough to capture that city in that turn. If Sami stacks with these 2 skills, she is guaranteed a capture in 2 turns in most situations.
• Javier having the Tower Power stacks with his ability makes 1 Tower giving him a +15 Attack and Defense (115/115 Direct and 115/135 Indirect). Giving him Slam Guard + Shield and Snipe Guard + Shield will ensure his defenses are nearly untouched at 115/135 Direct and 115/155 Indirects. At this point, his SCOP won't be needed as he can spam just his COP with almost the same results. If Javier is able to capture a 2nd Tower, there's no way the opposition can defeat such high defense.
• In Tag CO battles, Max having Bruiser (+5%), Brawler (+8%), Teamwork (+5), and Syngergy (+8%) will make him almost as powerful as he was in Advance Wars 1 with 146% Directs.