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 and are stackable. 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 | CO
Reference |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bruiser | Direct Attack | +5% | Max | |
| 1 | Sharpshooter | Indirect Attack | +5% | Grit | |
| 1 | Slam Guard | Direct Defense | +8% | ||
| 1 | Snipe Guard | Indirect Defense | +8% | Javier | |
| 1 | Combat Pay | Damage foes to earn cash | +2% | Sasha | Unit Price x 0.H (HP damage) x 0.02. |
| 1 | Luck | Random Damage | +10% | Nell | |
| 2 | APC Guard | Transport Unit Defense | +10% | All Transport Units. | |
| 2 | Tower Power | COM Tower Effect | +5% | Javier | 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 Tag battles. | |
| 3 | Scout | Vision | +1 | Sonja | Fog of War only. |
| 3 | Mechanic | Base Repair | +1 | Rachel | |
| 3 | Invader | Capture Rate | +1 | Sami | If Sami is CO, Invader takes effect after. |
| 3 | Sale Price | Production Cost | -5% | Hachi | |
| 4 | Road Rage | Road Attack | +10% | Koal | |
| 4 | Ranger | Woods Attack | +10% | Lash | |
| 4 | Urban Fighter | City Attack | +10% | Lash | |
| 4 | Mountaineer | Mountain Attack | +10% | Lash | |
| 4 | Seamanship | Sea Attack | +10% | Drake | |
| 4 | Backstab | Dive/Hide Attack | +15% | ||
| 5 | APC Boost | Transport Unit Movement | +1 | Sensei | 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% | Adder | |
| 6 | Bodyguard | Tag CO's defense. | +10% | Always active in Team battles. | |
| 6 | Prairie Dog | Plain movement | 1 | Sturm | No penalty movements. |
| 6 | Pathfinder | Woods movement | 1 | Sturm | No penalty movements. |
| 6 | Stealthy | Dive/Hide fuel cost | -2 | Submarine and Stealth only. | |
| 6 | Gold Rush | Funds from bases | +100 | Sasha | |
| 7 | High and Dry | Attack in rain | +20% | ||
| 7 | Icebreaker | Attack in snow | +20% | Olaf | |
| 7 | Sand Scorpion | Attack in sandstorm | +20% | ||
| 8 | Brawler | Direct Attack | +8% | Max | |
| 8 | Sniper | Indirect Attack | +8% | Grit | |
| 8 | Slam Shield | Direct Defense | +12% | ||
| 8 | Snipe Shield | Indirect Defense | +12% | Javier | |
| 9 | Synergy | Tag CO Attack | +8% | Always active in Team battles. | |
| 9 | Fire Sale | Production Cost | -8% | Hachi | |
| *N | Eagle Eye | Vision | +2 | Sonja | Fog of War only. |
| *N | Gear Head | Base repair | +2 | Rachel | |
| *H | Conqueror | Capture | +2 | Sami | If Sami is CO, Conqueror takes effect after. |
| *H | Mistwalker | Hides units during Super CO | ! | Sonja | A mistranslation. Makes your units attack first during opponent's turn. |
| *H | Soul of Hachi | Deploy units in cities during Super CO | ! | Hachi | Ground 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 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 Sturm.
- The 3 money powers are very helpful: Sale Price (-5%), Fire Sale (-8%), and Gold Rush (+100) in allowing you to build stronger units in earlier turns. Gold Rush is almost like a -10%, math-wise, becoming around 23% reduction total.
- Kanbei would most benefit from this as having to spend around 97% instead of 120% while having the powerful 120/120 stats, thus outweighing his flaw. The 4th skill for him can vary on your needs, but you have a lot more options.
- Hachi also benefits from this as well. Having around 67% price is very good. Having around 27% purchase during COP and SCOP is insane.
- Colin also benefits from this as well. Having around 57% price is very good. Being able to 1.5x the money for reserved funds is even better. Giving him the Synergy (+8% attack) will almost outweight his attack decrease.
- 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, even in big maps.
- Star Power is of minimal benefit since it only adds 10% to the charge rate.
- The enemy AI will often avoid attacking your units while Mistwalker is active. Often times, your opponent will have to think twice about attacking.
- 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.
- 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 even more defense will make him even more harder to defeat. 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. If you really want to behave like Sturm, you can exchange 2 of the skills with Prairie Dog and Pathfinder.
- Max having Bruiser (+5%), Brawler (+8%), Teamwork (+5), and Synergy (+8%) will make him almost as powerful as he was in Advance Wars 1 with 146% Directs, if playing in Tag Battles.
- Kindle having a City attack will make her attack even more colossal at 150%.
- Sensei having Brawler (+8%), Synergy (+8%), APC Boost (+1 Transport Movement), and Conqueror (+2 Capture) makes him a near combination of his old self in Advance Wars 2, but also having Sami traits; while not having the same 140% foot soldiers, his B-copters are more beastly. Him whipping out either his COP and SCOP can be devastating.