Bushwhack and Legendary Bushwhack - Skylander Review

Bushwhack and Legendary Bushwhack – Skylander Review

Bushwhack is a new LifeTrap Master making his debut in Trap Team. Bushwhack was part of a race of tree elves who protected the Arcadian Timberland. He was supposed to be a ranger but since he was the smallest of his clan, he was sent deep into the woods to study. He studied with the famous Arbo who had helped the Skylanders rebuild the core of Light. He looked past Bushwhack’s size and saw the heart of a warrior. Arbo taught him many secrets and even gave him an enchanted axe. Soon after his training, a legion of Lumberjack Trolls invaded the forest and overran the elves. Bushwhack was called upon to stop them. He used his enchanted axe and knowledge of the forest to capture the trolls and to destroy their tree cutting machines. Bushwhack was rewarded by becoming a member of the Trap Team. Now he uses his Traptanium axe to whack evil wherever it grows.

Since Bushwhack is an elf, he is one of the few human looking characters in Skylands. He wears brown clothes with some wood armor plating around his forearms, lower legs and chest. Despite the armor, he still runs around barefoot. He has long hair which is covered or infused with leaves. He carries some large acorns around his body and waist which he uses as weapons against enemies. He even wears an acorn helmet with antlers for added protection. Hopefully those antlers are actually attached to his helmet. Otherwise, he may be some strange elf/deer creature mix. His main weapon of choice is his huge Traptanium Axe which is easily the first thing you’ll notice about him. He is a Life Trap Master, but it wouldn’t be hard to mistake him for an Earth Trap Master as he has a very earthy feel about him. He has a Legendary variant called Legendary Bushwhack who stands in the same pose, but is colored dark blue and gold like all Legendary characters. This takes away a little of the detail in his character, but he still looks pretty cool as a Legendary figure.

Bushwhack’s main weapon is his Traptanium Axe. Pressing Attack 1 will swing the axe and damage nearby enemies with broad strokes. By itself it’s a very powerful attack, but it also comes with a built in combo. Hitting the Attack 1 button three times and then holding it down on the third time will cause Bushwhack to swing a couple of times and then throw his axe up and then catch it as he slams down on the enemies in front of him. This combo is enough to deal with most small to medium enemies. His secondary attack is called Mystic Acorn. It’s a mid ranged attack where he will throw acorns at enemies. It’s a rapid fire attack that stuns the enemies as well as doing slight damage. It can be useful to weaken the enemies a bit before they get into range of the axe. Another upgrade will unlock the Headbash. It’s similar to the axe slam at the end of his basic Traptanium Axe combo. It will damage all nearby enemies but it might not be as useful as the Axe combo attack unless you upgrade the attack later. A couple of the other upgrades will add some exploding damage to throwing the acorns and add some new armor to reduced damage taken. The last upgrade is called Thorn Trail, and it will leave behind a trail of thorns to damage enemies, each time Bushwhack swings his axe. It adds more power to an already powerful attack.

When it comes to choosing an upgrade path you will have to decide if you value an even more powerful axe attack, or if you rather heal yourself and take less damage. Both are good path’s to choose depending on how you want to play. The Axe Avenger path improves the Traptanium Axe attacks. The first upgrade simply gives the Axe extra damage. Another upgrade unlocks two other combo attacks. Unlike other characters, Bushwhack gets the rest of his combo moves in just one upgrade. Some characters use an entire upgrade path to unlock one combo at a time. The combos are pretty fun to do and do cause a lot of damage. The last upgrade in the path is called Go Nuts and will shoot nuts in all directions after the Spin and Slash Combo. If you don’t like dodging attacks, then you may want to just stick with the already pretty powerful basic axe attack and instead choose the Armor Awesomeness upgrade path. The Bush’s Shack upgrade allows Bushwhack to create a leafy hut where he can heal. It heals nicely and will heal as long as you hold the button down. It’s a great upgrade for healing in-between Kaos Doom Challenge levels. The Primal Warrior upgrade is a second upgrade to your armor which further reduces the amount of damage you take. But it also gives the Headbash attack more damage, so it’s like getting two upgrades in one. The final upgrade is called Spring Forward and by holding the Attack 3 button down, Bushwhack will dash forward and perform a super Headbash attack which is very damaging. It’s great for delivering knock out blows to the larger enemies. Finally we have the Soul Gem Ability called Timber! If you press attack 1 while jumping, Bushwhack will plant a giant tree which he then cuts down upon landing. This giant tree falls over and damages anyone in it’s path. It’s a cool looking attack for sure, but in practice we found it wasn’t very practical. At times it just doesn’t work, and it also takes a while to set up meaning that the enemies you were trying to hit might be out of range by the time the move completes. You’re better off just going with a stronger combo attack or upgraded Headbash attack.

Overall Bushwhack is a pretty good Trap Master. He’s powerful out of the box, and you can’t really go wrong with either upgrade path. He is very similar to the other Life Trap Master Tuff Luck, but has a slight edge due to his ability to have a small ranged attack and a better healing ability. He’s just slightly easier to use and slightly more powerful. The wide arc of his axe attack makes him someone you will always want to have nearby when the enemies start to mount up. Even though the Soul Gem ability isn’t very practical, it sure is fun to use. Also, you know a character is probably pretty good when more than one upgrade is a combination of what would be single upgrades on other characters. If you can only get one Life Trap Master go for Bushwhack.

SkylanderNutts gives Bushwhack and Legendary Bushwhack…