Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope best Sparks guide

Nintendo Everything has created a guide for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, in which we will look at the best Sparks to use throughout the game. We’ll also tackle other aspects players may wish to consider when choosing which Sparks to take with them in battle.

All Sparks are useful in the right circumstances, and when entering a battle you should consider the Sparks you have equipped to your party members, and whether you might be better served to swap some out to take advantage of enemy weaknesses. You can take up to six Sparks – two per character – with you in battle, and the six highlighted below are the ones that would make for a good general choice regardless of the situation:

Starburst

Starburst is available from the beginning of the game, and is extremely useful, providing a boost to damage received and reducing damage taken. It is one you should prioritize upgrading throughout the game, as the boosts it provides can shorten encounters quite significantly, and make the difference between leaving an enemy with a small amount of health and killing it outright: the boost is especially noticeable when applied to stronger characters like Luigi and Rabbid Mario.

Exosphere

Exosphere comes equipped to Edge when she joins your party, and provides a significant defensive boost to all party members within range, making it one of the more helpful Sparks in a lot of maps where it is not always possible to avoid taking damage from enemies, and on maps with large groups it can help to keep your characters alive long enough for you to heal, move them out of range, or eliminate some of the enemy threat. It can also be useful to apply Exosphere when moving towards enemies that attack from long range, letting you get close without taking too much punishment.

Ethering

Ethering is one of the best Sparks in Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, hiding a character from enemy sight for up to two turns and improving their move ability damage. Most party setups will have at least one support character, such as Rabbid Peach, Rabbid Rosalina, or Rabbid Luigi, and giving Ethering to them is ideal, as it allows them to get closer to the frontlines to support your other party members with almost no risk to themselves. Ethering also pairs surprisingly well with Edge in later stages of the game if you utilise her dash attacks, as it will boost the damage of these further.

Regenesis

Regenesis provides health restoration for a number of turns and increases max health, which gives it great utility on any character: it can give a weaker character like Rabbid Luigi more survivability, or make a frontline fighter like Rabbid Mario even more difficult for enemies to take down if they all target him for their attacks. As Rabbid Peach is the only character capable of healing, having Regenesis as a backup option is always useful to have, and as it applies over a number of turns it will also allow you to spend your coins on items other than Mushrooms, such as Cooldown Clocks.

Vampastra

You will have to do a sidequest on the third planet to unlock Vampastra, but it is more than worth the trouble: it applies a lifesteal effect to your weapon-based attacks, meaning that you will be healed by a percentage of the damage you inflict on an enemy. It also increases your critical hit rate with weapon damage. Give this to a character like Rabbid Rosalina, who can hit an enemy multiple times, and you have a very effective method of recovery.

Pulser

Pulser is a Spark you won’t acquire until much later in the game, but it should always be equipped to one of your characters as soon as you get it, because it allows you to revive knocked out characters, something you couldn’t do before and is a very helpful ability to have in some of the game’s later battles. That means it’s one of the best Sparks in Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. Generally it is better to give this Spark to a character like Luigi or Bowser, who won’t be within range of enemy attacks. If you can, avoid giving it to Rabbid Peach if you use her: if she falls in combat you will lose both the healing she provides and the ability to revive her if you give her this Spark.

Other Sparks to consider

Any party that has a character who can inflict area of effect damage or a skill that affects enemies in an area should have one of their party members equip Glitter. Glitter pulls enemies towards the user, which of course means that the range you will need that skill to cover will decrease, and more enemies will be caught. Having Rabbid Rosalina use Glitter before using her Ennui technique, for example, will result in more enemies being caught up in it.

If you find yourself utilizing dash attacks a lot, especially if you are using Edge, then Vampdash is an excellent Spark to use, as it heals the user by a proportion of the damage dealt. In later stages of the game, or if you are not using Rabbid Peach in your party and are relying on healing items, you may wish to consider giving a character Vampdash so that they have a way to heal themselves.

Reflector is a good Spark for Rabbid Mario specifically due to his need to take damage to utilize Counter Blow, although in the early stages of the game where your Spark choices are limited you may wish to consider equipping it to any character who will may be exposed to enemy attacks, as it returns a proportion of the damage that character suffers back to the attacker.

Sparks that apply specific Super Effects to your weapon and or dash attacks, inflict damage across a small area, and reduce damage from those Super Effects and make you immune to them, are situationally useful. If you find yourself being hit often by Super Effects, or struggling against stronger enemies or bosses with a specific weakness, equipping a corresponding Spark to your party members is a perfectly viable option.

Sparks that summon enemy units as allies are generally less useful than other Sparks in the game: you cannot control these units yourself, and whilst they can provide a useful distraction on some maps, their damage output doesn’t really justify their presence, or picking them over other Sparks.