Billy Best Build Guide

Billy is a Physical Attacker who relies on an improv, reactive playstyle to control the pace and the space of any fight he is in. He is one of the few Agents who can move around and and damage enemies at the same time, which allows him to catch enemies that run away, or force enemies to approach. Additionally, his extended range lets him attack all surrounding enemies, excellent for clearing low-level enemies. 

His kit provides many tools that appear to be weak at first, but allows him to do some really cool tricks.

Damage Fall-Off

As a ranged character, Billy is affected by the damage fall-off mechanic. This means that if he attacks enemies from too far away, this will lower the final damage of the attack.

So while there is benefit to keeping enemies away (like with his Signature W-Engine), try to to avoid moving too far away so as to not get this penalty!

Core and Additional

Billy’s Core at max level provides 50% DMG bonus on all his attacks while he is Crouching.

This is related to his Basic Attacks and is covered in more detail in its section, but it’s worth flagging that it’s a very important buff to manage as part of his gameplan.

His Additional also gives a 50% DMG buff to his Ultimate, stacking twice, for each Chain Attack he uses. This resets after using his Ultimate.

As a result, it’s often best to have Billy use his Chain Attack twice before every Ultimate, but it isn’t always optimal. Depending on the situation, it can be worth letting other Agents Chain instead, especially if they provide useful buffs or if charging up their Decibels is needed.

Basic

Billy’s Basic Attack is called “Full Firepower”, but in reality it has 3 distinct parts:

• Standing Fire

• Rolling Shot

• Crouching Fire

• Finishing Shot

Holding or repeatedly pressing Basic will begin with Standing Fire, with Billy continuously firing bullets, then after a short while it will transition into Rolling Shot. This causes Billy to move, with the direction being influenced by directional inputs, and then immediately places him in the Crouching state outlined in his Core Passive.

This leads into Crouching Fire, where Billy returns to continuously firing bullets at a target, but now gets his Core Passive’s bonus applied to his attacks.

If the Basic Attack button is let go of during Crouching Fire, Finishing Shot then follows, doing a negligible amount of damage.

It’s important to note that the 50% DMG bonus from Crouching isn’t exclusive to Crouching Fire, but that it functions as a state. It’s applied to all attacks that follow it.

If he’s Crouching and then an EX Special or Ultimate is used, the DMG bonus will carry over to these attacks. As such, it is very important to always be in this state before using any high damaging skills!

As part of his M2, Rolling Shots can trigger a Perfect Dodge when timed correctly, which follows up with a Dodge Counter automatically.

Although the Basic Attacks themselves don’t do much damage, managing them is key to doing well with Billy.

Special

Billy’s Special is a 3-part move, where repeatedly pressing Special will cycle between all 3 hits. 

These hits will pierce, hitting all enemies in a line, and every single attack counts as a Heavy Attack for the purposes of Chain Attacks. Their damage is rather disappointing, but they do have some utility, like for animation cancelling.

EX Special is a high-powered, long range, piercing move. As part of Billy’s Mindscape 4, this can get up to 32% more CRIT Rate the closer he is to the target, being a decent way to pad out his damage in combos.

Dodge

Billy’s Dodge is unremarkable, but he is one of the few Agents with 2 Dash Attacks.

Using a Dash Attack without moving will give a normal Dash Attack, which the game calls “Straight Shot”. This can be used twice in a row.

Using a Dash Attack while moving the joystick in any direction will give a 360 Dash Attack, which the game calls “360-degree Shot”. You cannot use this 360 Dash Attack twice in a row: attempting to do a Dodge into a 360 Dash Attack twice will lead to a Straight Shot on the second use instead. Multiple uses must be separated by using another move.

Dodge Counter is straightforward, but it’s one of Billy’s primary damage tools, especially as his M2 further increases its damage by 25%. It’s used often against aggressive enemies and also pierces through enemies in a line.

His M2’s automatic Dodge Counters also help in making them more accessible.

If his M1 is unlocked, then all of his Dash Attacks and Dodge Counters restore an additional 2.7 energy, with a 5 second cooldown, helping Billy get more uses out of his EX.

Assist

Billy’s Quick Assist is generic. But his Evasive Assist Follow-Up is powerful, and allows you to take back control against most enemies. However, since Billy wants to be on-field for the majority of a fight, there aren’t many opportunities to use it often depending on the team and encounter.

Chain Attack and Ultimate

Billy’s Chain and Ultimate are basically the same move, but with different damage numbers. Big powerful moves that hit in a wide area around him.

These make up the majority of his in-stun damage, and maximising his Additional Ability’s effect can go a long way at making them better.

Billy does not have dedicated combos that he needs to use. There isn’t a “combo” list to memorize. Instead, Billy wants to react to enemy attacks, hit back with his Dodge Counters and EX Specials, and control the space around him while moving with Dash Attacks.

This aspect of Billy’s improv gameplay is hard to convey in a written guide, because a lot of it relies on the enemy you are facing, what they are doing, where you are in relation to them, and the teammates you have. I highly recommend you look into gameplay from some dedicated Billy players, to better visualize how it looks.

Beginner

There are 3 key steps when trying to learn how to play Billy to optimize him, but mastering these makes learning intermediate and advanced techniques much easier.

1. How to Crouch

Billy’s Core gives him a 50% DMG buff while he is Crouching, and as mentioned before, this applies to all attacks done in this state.

To Crouch, simply hold Basic - that’s all. He will transition from Standing Fire, into a Rolling Shot, and into Crouching Fire. As long as you hold or repeatedly press Basic, he will continue to use Crouching Fire.

Billy leaves the Crouching state when you:

• Use his Basic’s Finishing Shot.

• Get knocked back by enemies.

• Start to move around normally.

• Switch to another Agent.

As a result, this means that it isn’t possible to get Chain Attacks to benefit from the Crouching state, as he has to be swapped out of. Keep this in mind, as it’s important to Crouch again before using Billy’s EXs or Ultimate after Chains.

Aside from the above, as long as you continue to attack enemies, Billy will stay in the Crouching state.

Managing this is very important to access Billy’s full damage output. Not only in ensuring that it is up for hard-hitting skills, but also when not to use it. Considering how long it can take to start Crouching and how saturated Billy tends to be in DMG bonuses, against certain enemies - like those with a short Stun duration - it can be optimal to ignore it altogether and prioritise getting damaging skills in instead.

2. How to Move While Crouching

Another problem with Crouching Fire is that it makes Billy sit in one place, but there are ways around it.

While using Crouching Fire, moving the joystick in any direction will cause him to use a Rolling Shot. This is the simplest way to move him around while Crouching, but it’s not the recommended solution.

Instead, we want to utilize Billy’s Dodge and 360 Dash Attack.

As before, while using Crouching Fire, move the joystick in any direction to use a Rolling Shot. Then, during the Rolling Shot, release Basic and press Dodge. Immediately afterwards, start holding or repeatedly pressing Basic.

In short: Hold Basic → Move → Dodge → Hold Basic. 

These moves are Crouching Fire → Rolling Shot → 360 Dash Attack → Rolling Shot → Crouching Fire.

Repeat as many times as needed and as quickly as you like. If you are just starting out, the timing to do this sequence is lenient. Conveniently, this is also Billy’s highest DMG output when he has no resources and enemies are not attacking. Furthermore, Billy can only use Rolling Shot while Crouching, so keep that in mind.

3. How to Aim while Crouching

The last major flaw with Billy’s Crouching Fire is that he cannot aim his attack. If an enemy moves to the side, Billy will keep firing where he was originally aiming towards, making all his subsequent shots completely miss.

To solve this, simply use any attack. This can be moving the joystick for a Rolling Shot, pressing Special or EX Special or using any Dash Attack.

Intermediate

It’s worth emphasizing that while Billy’s Crouching state is useful, his Crouching Fire - the attack that he performs by default while Crouching - is weak. Instead, we want to use his 360 Dash Attack into Rolling Shot and his Dodge Counters.

Billy’s Mindscape 2 helps with this. It transforms his Rolling Shot into a dodge, so that it automatically links into a Dodge Counter when used to Dodge an attack. This transforms one of Billy’s best movement tools into one of his best offensive and defensive tools as well.

As a result, Assist Counters are much easier to perform. When you are about to be attacked by a Yellow Flash, simply use a Rolling Shot and swap Agents. This will give you Billy’s Dodge Counter and your next Agent’s Defensive or Evasive Assist.

Lastly, Animation Cancels can make Billy quicker than he normally is.

As soon as Billy goes from Standing Fire into Rolling Shot, he is already Crouching; no need to wait for Crouching Fire. Because of that, it’s possible to skip the animation of Rolling Shot into Crouching Fire by using any Dash Attack or a Special. This lets us use EX Special or Ultimate immediately after using a Rolling Shot with the full Crouching DMG buff.

Combo

Billy’s combos can vary wildly depending on the team and encounter. Astra could provide additional Chain Attacks but not Sunna, or Dialyn’s presence with a Puffer Electro set can give early Ultimate conversions.

Although combos do vary, trying to get 2 Chain Attacks before Ultimate and 2 EX Specials with the Crouching Bonus is a good start. For example:

• Nicole EX Special

• Billy Chain Attack

• 360 Dash Attack

• Swap to Nicole

• Nicole Directional Dash Attack + Standing Dash Attack

• Billy Chain Attack

• 360 Dash Attack

• Swap to Nicole

• Nicole EX Special

• Swap to Billy

• Basic Attack until Crouching Fire

• Billy EX Special

• Billy Ultimate

• Basic Attack until Crouching Fire *

• 360 Dash Attack

• 360 Dash Attack

• Billy EX Special

* Psuedo-Crouching

One final last piece of advice: Billy’s kit can be buggy, but this can work in your favour.

Billy has different animations for his Standing Fire and Crouching Fire. This would imply that he should not be able to get the Crouching state buff when using Standing shots.

As it turns out, that’s… technically not true.

After using an Ultimate, Billy is forced into using his Standing Fire Basics; he is no longer  visually Crouching, but if you are Crouching before an Ultimate, the game will treat Billy as still Crouching. As long as he keeps attacking, the rules required to exit the Crouching state are not broken.

As long as you Crouch before Ultimate, everything afterward will have the Crouching state buff. Even though Billy is visually Standing, he is actually Crouching.

This means Billy can use his Standing Shot into 360 Dash Attack while in the Crouching state, and this is his true strongest DPS option. Standing Shot, the move right before Standing Fire, auto-targets enemies, has more DMG and hits more consistently than Rolling Shots. This unique state lasts as long as Billy does not use a Rolling Shot.

So, the end of an Ultimate Combo can look like this: 

• (while Crouching) Billy Ultimate

• Standing Shot

• 360 Dash Attack

• Standing Shot

• Billy EX Special

• 360 Dash Attack

• Standing Shot