Killer Queen is often hailed as helping resurrect a new generation of arcade gamers. With the release of Killer Queen Black on consoles, gamers can get in on the berry throwing, snail racing, queen killing action in the comfort of their own home. Killer Queen Black pits two teams of five in a head-to-head battle of ultimate supremacy. Each team has a single queen and up to three workers, all fighting to win the match in three different ways. Working together as a team is the key to victory.

The queen may be the most coveted role in Killer Queen Black, but the real power lies in the proper use of workers. These little guys are the backbone of any quality Killer Queen team. This guide will provide you with tips & tricks on using the workers effectively.

Plan Your Attack in Killer Queen Black

The single most important aspect of winning a match in Killer Queen Black is having a plan of action. There are three different ways to claim victory and the workers control two of them.

  • Military: A military win is achieved by defeating the enemy queen three times. Workers can help achieve this victory by using the power-up pods and turning into soldiers. Worker soldiers gain most of the powers of a queen, including the ability to fly and kill other characters. Economic: The most popular worker winning condition. Economic victory is achieved by collecting berries scattered through the maps and bringing them back to your home base. There are holes in your hive that must be filled before the other team does the same. Snail: Snail victory is a tricky one on most maps. Each map has a snail and two goal posts in it, one for each team color. The goal is to jump on the snails back and ride it to your team’s post. Workers are the only characters that can ride the snails. Beware though, riding a snail makes workers an easy target for a queen to kill.

Ensuring your team has a solid plan in place is the key to victory. Everyone needs to be working toward the same goal. If an economic win is the preferred victory method then the queen needs to be protecting her workers while killing and slowing the other team’s workers down. If the team wants a military victory than the workers need to act quick and become soldiers. It doesn’t matter what the goal is as long as the team is working together to achieve it. Knowing the maps is another important aspect of being prepared. Certain maps are much easier to win with the snail than others. Learning which maps work best will come with time and practice.

Berry Handling in Killer Queen Black

Learning to handle berries in Killer Queen Black is important to any economic win. Simply grabbing a berry and running it into the hive won’t be enough to secure victory. Workers have the ability to throw berries which opens up many different tactics when playing.

Throwing berries can be useful if an enemy soldier or queen is guarding your hive. Avoid the possibility of death by shooting them into the hive holes from a distance.

Another use is having one worker go to a berry bush and throw the berries into the hive area. This way a different worker can put them into the hive manually, as not all maps make it easy to just throw berries in with one person. This cuts down on the time it takes running berries back and forth.

Throwing berries can also be used to ruin the enemy team’s plans. If the enemy team is going for an economic win, head to the berry bushes nearest to their hive, grab them and throw them far away. This slows their progress. If the enemy workers are stockpiling berries near their hive, simply run over to their pile of berries and scatter them all over the place.

Getting comfortable with controlling berries will lead your team to victory quickly and efficiently.

Using Bump Techniques in Killer Queen Black

This is one of the most underrated tactics in Killer Queen Black. Whenever you run into an enemy worker, it knocks both of you back in opposite directions. Normally, this will result in both workers bouncing off each other repeatedly. This bumping technique can be used to your advantage though. If you see that the enemy team is going for an economic win, guard their hive entrance and bump any worker trying to bring in berries. This will knock them down and force them to work their way back up, leaving your team more time to achieve victory. Bumping is also useful in a snail win. If your team is on the snail, bump enemy workers out of the path of the snail so it doesn’t get slowed down.

Power Up Your Workers in Killer Queen Black

Workers are multi-faceted characters and power-ups add even more to a worker arsenal. There are two types of power-ups and both require that a worker bring a berry to a power chamber. Shield and speed. Shields are used in helping to avoid a single death. Keeping a worker alive and working is important to any good victory plan.

The speed boost is a much more useful power-up. It will increase the worker’s movement while running, jumping, or on the snail. Using speed on a snail will usually put a big target on the worker from the other team, avoiding that is a good idea. However, utilizing speed for an economic win is especially useful and can make the difference between a quick victory or a sad defeat.

With so many different paths to victory, it’s important to learn how to master the worker class. These little guys will be the key to victory in many rounds of battle in Killer Queen Black.

More: Killer Queen Black Is Proof That More Bar Games Should Come To Consoles

Killer Queen Black is available on Steam for PC and Nintendo Switch.