I'm compiling strategies here for every character to hopefully help people learn the game, whether they be speedrunners or just learning. If you have anything that's worth adding, please let me know, I can add or change something here. First, some definitions for playstyle categories I'll be mentioning:

Ratings for difficulty of use for each character in order from easiest to hardest are beginner, novice, intermediate, advanced, and expert Balanced: Character has average health and speed Tanky: Character has enough health that they can initiate fights more than others, but is slower than average Close range: Character's special is most effective up close Long range: Character's special is most effective when fired from a distance Spacing: Character's special is most effective from a specific distance that is neither close nor far, so the player must gauge the distance on their own Bruiser: Rams are an important part of the character's playstyle, to be paired with their special Spammer: Character's special is effective when used in rapid repetition Party crasher: Character's special has an area of effect that is most effective when used against multiple opponents in a group Wanderer: Character's playstyle is most effective when their time is spent traversing the map in near-constant movement Keepaway: Character's special can be used to push opponents in a certain direction Driveby: Character's playstyle is most effective when firing specials or other weapons as you speed past the opponent without stopping Burst: Character's playstyle is most effective when combining their specials with other abilities, either simultaneously or in sequence, for a high damage combo

Roadkill Advanced, balanced, spacing Worthwhile abilities: Freeze

Roadkill has the median speed and armor for the game and is intended to be the balanced character that everyone learning the game can play, but his special, while easy to use initially, is much more difficult to use to its full potential. The boomerang blade has very little homing ability and only does as much base damage on initial firing as a homing missile, which makes it one of the weakest weapons in the game, and not something that ought to be relied upon. However, as the name implies, it boomerangs back to the player after traveling forward a certain distance, by changing direction to be perpendicular to the player, then once again to return to the player. If the blade strikes an opponent after changing direction, or on the return trip, the damage quadruples to 40 damage and becomes one of the most powerful weapons in the game. This means that Roadkill is a spacing character needs to be fighting from a specific distance that is neither close range nor long range. Playing Roadkill takes a lot of practice to not only memorize the distance of the boomerang's return trip, but to also consistently keep an opponent within that specific range and path so that you will achieve the damage boost with little homing assistance. You can do this by intentionally firing past an opponent, then turning and moving forwards or backwards to position yourself to be between the blade and the opponent. It can certainly be done consistently if you're a skilled enough player, but if an opponent is moving around too much, freeze missiles come in handy to ensure that they stay put when you fire. This is a similar strategy to Thumper's where it's important to freeze an opponent before using the special for additional combo damage, but the difference between them is the cooldown time. Roadkill's special cooldown is 35 seconds, versus 80 seconds for Thumper. Although Thumper's special damage is over 1.5 times greater than Roadkill's max damage, Roadkill has more attempts at his disposal, so it's not as crucial that he not miss. Another unique aspect to his special that gives him even more attempts is that if the boomerang does not make contact with an opponent, object, or wall, and returns to the player intact, it is added back into your inventory, an advantage no other character has. However, it's not common for this to happen, because depending on the stage, there are a lot of things that can stop the boomerang. Walls and objects like destructibles easily get in the way and can block you not only from reaching the opponent, but from recovering the boomerang if it misses. This means Roadkill needs to played in open spaces. For example, you should avoid playing in the streets and alleys in Los Angeles or Paris and favor LA's central flatlands and Paris' ravine and tower area, which allow more space for the boomerang to travel uninterrupted.

Twister Expert, close range, wanderer, party crasher, burst Worthwhile abilities: Shield, mines, freeze

Twister is one of the hardest characters to play in that she has the second lowest health in the game and her special leaves her very vulnerable. For her special to work, she needs to be moving very slowly or at a complete stop for its duration, otherwise she will toss the opponent away for a meager 4 points of damage. She also has the devestating disadvantage of having her special potentially deal damage to herself, as she is prone to ram and crash damage during the tornado spin, which is especially likely if an opponent caught in her special bounces off a wall and makes contact with her, which happens frequently if you don't use the special in open spaces. Also, although the special cannot be shielded by opponents caught in it, they are still free to fire weapons. Most will miss, as the opponents spend their time spinning and not aimed at Twister, but occasionally there is a window where a well placed ricochet bomb can knock her away. However, even with the disadvantages, she is the game's glass cannon in that if she is played properly and able to survive, she can kill virtually any opponent with one inescapable, unshieldable combo, which makes her more than viable. Here's how the strategy works: Step 1: Use her advantage of having the highest speed in the game to travel around the stage as fast as possible to avoid getting hit by stray weapons or targeted by opponents. Don't stop, just keep moving. Eventually, you will rack up three specials in your inventory and hopefully, a full energy meter, which you will need.
Step 2: Find an isolated opponent that is stopped or moving slowly, or, preferably, a group of opponents in a close-range battle, as her special can capture multiple opponents in her tornado. Approach the opponent or group, using a freeze missile if they are moving.
Step 3: Activate your shield, then activate the special. This prevents the risk of taking ram damage or weapon damage if aimed properly. You can do this without the shield to save energy, but it's risky. Step 4: While you have the opponent(s) trapped in the special, lay down a drop mine, and very slowly back up so that you retain the opponent in the tornado, and they will trip the mine and take 15 additional damage on top of the special's damage, which can be up to 30 damage. You can do this twice during the special's duration, creating a maximum damage of 60, which is half life for anyone with an armor rating of 2. If your shield runs out during the special, activate it again if you feel it's necessary. Step 5: When the special ends, the opponent(s) will lightly fall to the ground next to you, still in range of your special. Immediately activate the special again, catching them in another inescapable tornado. Repeat the process of step 4 for a maximum of 60 more damage on top of what you already dealt. You can do this a third time if you have enough specials and energy, which will kill every character except Minion. Step 6: If you are out of specials or energy, speed away and return to step 1. It will not be long before you recover your specials because she has the fastest cooldown time in the game at 18 seconds per special. Another strategy you can use during the tornado is to plant a remote bomb and immediately detonate it at the end of the spin, after you activate a shield so that you don't take the damage yourself. This is more effective for times when you catch more than one opponent in your special, as it will deal about 20 damage simultaneously to all cars caught in your spin, rather than 15 damage per mine per person. One very important thing to note is that Thumper can activate his special during the tornado, quickly draining Twister's health almost completely. Avoid using this combo technique against him unless you're confident you'll be able to shield all of his special's damage. Use your longer range weapon pickups against him instead. Outlaw can also use her special against Twister, but does significantly less damage than Thumper, so it's less risky.

Axel Novice, close range, bruiser, spammer, burst, party crasher Worthwhile abilities: None

Axel is arguably the best character to use in speedruns because of his ramming power. Where other characters' base ram damage is 3 or lower, Axel's base damage is 15 at low speed and can increase to up to 45 at high speeds, depending on the opponent. This means that even without weapons in your inventory, you still have one of the most powerful abilities in the game at your disposal. Even just nudging an opponent a few times can do serious damage. This should be the focus of how you play Axel. Search for a character and rush them down with rams. His ramming ability is good enough to make him one of the best characters in the game, but he also has an effective special weapon. Although it doesn't do much damage alone, it can hit multiple people simultaneously, dealing 15 damage to everyone caught in the shockwave. This means you should focus less on isolated opponents to chase down, and spend more effort searching for groups that you can catch. On top of that, the special knocks the opponent upwards, making it easy to use the special again when they land on the ground nearby, or in the same spot if they were stopped when the first special hit. If you rack up several specials, you can spam all of them in one burst that you combine with rams. To sum it up, the general strategy to use with Axel is to find an opponent, preferably in a group if you have specials in your inventory, ram them at full speed, and activate your special immediately after the ram makes contact. Use all the specials you feel are worth using, while still ramming whoever is closest.

Mr. Slam Advanced, tanky, close range, burst Worthwhile abilities: Freeze, machine gun, mines, E. napalm, quick weapon change

Mr. Slam is a crowd favorite for his grab-and-slam special, which is satisfying to land, does massive damage, and can be aimed in such a way that it can toss opponents into pitfalls for instant kills, but there's a lot more to his strategy than most people realize. While his special does enough damage on its own, it's similar to Twister in that it's full potential is reached when used in combination with other abilities for one huge burst combo. It's unlikely to instant kill anyone other than maybe Mr. Grimm, but is still devastating. First off, Mr. Slam is the slowest character in the game, and his special has a long startup animation, so it's worth it to freeze your opponent before activating your special, as you have a high chance of missing your target, even if they're directly in front of you. Once the frontloader picks up the opponent with the first hit, there are three things you'll want to do: 1: Hold down the machine gun button, as most bullets will hit the opponent as they're being slammed. 2: Quickly switch your weapon to a forward facing missile and fire at least one of them during the slam animation. 3: Similar to Twister, lay down a mine and slowly back up so that you slam your opponent down on top of it, triggering an additional 15 damage. You may be able to lay down 2 mines during the animation if you're precise enough, and even if the opponent doesn't trip the mines when you slam them to the ground, they can still be tripped after the fourth hit from the special that tosses them forward. 4: Finally, after the opponent is tossed away, they are at the perfect range for an energy napalm to hit them. Fire one as soon as the fourth hit makes contact for one more potential hit. Please note though, that the napalm is not guaranteed to hit unless the opponent doesn't make a getaway after being tossed. Instead, it's similar to an okizeme move in fighting games, in which the opponent is at a disadvantage and forced to make a decision on where to move, which may result in them walking into the line of fire. Regardless, the napalm is still worth using in this instance, especially against AI. If all of these moves make contact, that is, one freeze, four slams, two mines, one napalm, and three seconds of machine guns, that's approximately 90 points of damage, plus fire damage and whatever weapons you manage to fire during the animation, which can bring it up to at least 120 damage if you fire two power missiles. This isn't all guaranteed like it is with Twister's burst combo, but it's incredibly devestating nonetheless. There is one major disadvantage to this, however. If you play against a human, the combo can immediately be shielded for almost its entirety. Even if you freeze the opponent beforehand, the freeze is broken after the first hit of the special, so only about 17 damage is guaranteed, and only the finishing napalm can still do damage by the time the shield ends. AI opponents generally don't use shields, so there is nothing stopping the combo in tournament mode. Lastly, the special isn't always guaranteed to use 4 slams. Supposedly it's random whether there will be 2, 3, or 4 hits. Also, Hammerhead and Minion are partly immune to Mr. Slam's special. Instead of 4 hits at 10 damage each, they take one hit worth 25 damage before being tossed, so the combo won't work.

Shadow Novice, balanced, long range, party crasher Worthwhile abilities: None

Shadow has similar stats to Roadkill- median health and just under median speed. His special makes him shine, as it's relatively easy to use and does area-of-effect damage, so multiple enemies can be hit simultaneously. Its damage is above average at 24 on direct hit, but decreases with distance from the point of detonation, and has the potential to hurt Shadow himself if it's detonated too close, which is an easy mistake to make because it's slow moving. This means that you need to slow down or stop when you fire, and account for the time it will take to reach the opponent before detonating. You can shield yourself if you feel you need to fire from up close, but generally you won't need to fight close range very much with Shadow. One of the most important things to note about his special is something typically overlooked, as it is likely an unintentional glitch. If you detonate the soul shadow on a sloped surface, like the inner silo surface in Moscow, the sides of the roads in Los Angeles, or the edges of the walkways in Amazonia, 24 damage is added onto whatever damage you already would have dealt. This means that a direct hit to a character on a slope will be 48, or if a character was far away from the detonation that they would normally take 10 damage, they would now take 34 damage. This means that even if the opponent is not on the slope, it will be more damaging to detonate it on the slope, even if you have a clear opportunity for a direct hit. This may not work if you fire the special while your car is already on the slope, though. To sum up his basic strategy, focus on groups, slow down when firing, fire from long range, and try to detonate on slopes when possible.

Sweet Tooth Intermediate, tanky, keepaway, spammer Worthwhile abilities: Rear attack

Sweet Tooth is tied with Mr. Slam for being the slowest character in the game with the second highest HP, not counting Minion, but his playstyle is much different. While Mr. Slam tries to rush the opponent down and get in close, Sweet Tooth is comfortable fighting from a distance with his special, which is essentially a slow moving power missile with slight homing ability and fairly strong knockback property. He is tied with Twister and Minion for having the fastest special cooldown at 18 seconds, so he can quickly stock up to five specials and spam them at one opponent. This isn't a reliable combo or burst, as it can potentially be escaped, but a persistent Sweet Tooth player can chase down a staggering opponent. To explain the knockback property of his special, its power is proportional to the opponent's speed at the time of impact. Firing them at a frozen or stopped opponent will only nudge them back a few feet, but if an opponent is charging at you, they will be knocked away at a speed almost equivalent to their initial traveling speed, which can send the them into an uncontrollable spinout, opening them up to more pressure from Sweet Tooth's spamming strategy. Also, if you are being chased, which isn't uncommon, since Sweet Tooth is so slow and easy to pursue, a rear attack with his special is a good way to shove pursuers off your tail, and may shift the advantage in your favor, allowing you to pressure them with more weapons. Also, the knockback ability allows Sweet Tooth to excel on New York and Antarctica, as it gives him a chance to use it against opponents near a pitfall and get an easy instant kill. Please note that Sweet Tooth's special is so slow moving and obvious to see (unlike Shadow), that it's easy to avoid. Try not to fire at a fast moving opponent that is too far away, as they can easily dodge it. Anyone moving away from Sweet Tooth can likely outrun it as well, unless they were knocked back by one of his specials already, as they will be slowing down when they regain control of their vehicle.

Minion Beginner, tanky, long range, bruiser Worthwhile abilities: None

Minion is obviously the strongest character in the game due to his boss status, so there's little to discuss with him. He has high ramming power that is worth taking advantage of, similar to Axel but with a lower base damage, so simply nudging won't deal 15 damage. His special is strong as well, with a maximum damage of 37 when all four missiles hit. Be aware though, that the freeze missile on his special comes out a bit high, so if you fire at close range, it will probably travel over the opponents head and miss, only dealing damage from the three homing missiles. Your best bet is to fire it from a long distance, but not too long, as much like Warthog, the homing missiles will decrease to 2 damage each when they travel a certain distance. This distance appears to be approximately 1/3 of the radar's length from the center, or half a city block in Hong Kong, so you'll want to gauge the distance to be slightly closer than that. Although his cooldown is the shortest in the game, it may not be wise to spam it unless doing so will quickly end the match. Since it freezes the opponent, it's probably more worthwhile to use that opportunity to use a different attack while they're frozen, like a ram or a remote bomb. You can save the next special for when the opponent thaws or when you want to engage a fight with another opponent that you can freeze while they're on the move. This way you don't end up hopelessly chasing down an opponent if you wasted all your specials on one person.

Hammerhead Beginner, close range, bruiser Worthwhile abilities: None

Hammerhead is a very simple character that amounts to only utilizing Axel's ramming strategy without his special. Their maximum ram damage is roughly the same as Axel's, but with a base damage similar to the rest of the cast. The difference is that Hammerhead's special is a passive ability that supplements an additional 15 damage to a ram that comes directly from their front end. It won't activate if the ram comes at an angle; the animation requires that the front tires both run over the opponent. So depending on the opponent, the maximum damage Hammerhead can do with a special-infused ram is 55 to Mr. Grimm, the lowest armored character, or 35 to higher armor characters. This isn't always the case, as full speed rams that deal that maxiumum damage are difficult to acheive with Hammerhead, who is noticeably slower than Axel. Most of the time, you'll get 20-25 damage from a decent ram, but it's still worth positioning yourself in ways that will allow the big damage. An unorthodox word of advice is that, although Hammerhead is perfectly viable, unfortunately, aside from taking slightly less maximum damage from Mr. Slam's special, Hammerhead does not have any advantages over the rest of the cast. They don't have a special weapon outside of their ram, and their special cooldown is 60 seconds, so the big damage ram won't come often. Essentially, there is no reason to play Hammerhead over Axel, who is faster, has the same health, has higher ram damage, has faster special cooldown, can use the special on multiple people at a time, and can use it at the same time as a ram to supplement the ram with the exact same amount of additional damage as Hammerhead. Honestly, Hammerhead is only worth playing to learn the basics of the game, or to have fun and challenge yourself.

Outlaw Novice, close range, wanderer, driveby Worthwhile abilities: Freeze, rear attack, quick weapon change

Despite having median health and median special damage, Outlaw is the third fastest character in the game, making her one of the most versatile characters, and one of the simplest to understand. Much like Spectre, Twister, or Mr. Grimm, her playstyle is focused on speeding around the environment without stopping, but without the disadvantage of low armor. You'll need to get used to the range of the taser, because there is no indicator to suggest if an opponent is within the range to be targeted. It's not wide enough to use the radar to discern if someone is close enough to be hit. The best way to utilize her special is not necessarily to walk up to someone and get in a close range battle, but to speed past an opponent, lock her taser onto them when you're directly next to them, and just keep moving past them, because the second hit of the special is guaranteed to land (excluding shielding opponents), regardless of how far you are from the opponent. The taser knocks the opponent up, so one of the best places to use it is in tunnels or areas with low ceilings to do a little extra crash damage. The cooldown is 55 seconds, so it is not spammable; be frugal with it and avoid using them all at once up close. Instead, if you lock onto someone, it might be a better choice to switch weapons and fire something else at them while the taser is still attached. Because she is focused on near-constant movement, switching weapons and then rear attacking once you've landed her special and driven past the opponent is advisable, as the knockup prevents the opponent from staying in control and making a quick getaway. Much like Mr. Slam, it's possible for an opponent to shield the second hit of her special, giving her a meager 10 guaranteed damage. If you suspect it will be shielded, hit the opponent with a freeze missile first to guarantee the second hit will land. Her special lasts about 2 seconds, while freezes last 4, so if you time it right, it won't be broken. AI opponents don't use shields, so this isn't a problem in tournament mode.

Warthog Beginner, long range, wanderer, tanky Worthwhile abilities: None

Warthog is one of the easiest characters to play. He has the highest health in the game, excluding Minion, his speed is slow, but manageable, and his special is nothing more than a powerful homing missile, which anyone can use with ease. His high armor already makes him difficult to kill, which is useful if the player is bad at avoiding damage, but his homing ability means he can fight from a long distance, making him even harder to kill because he doesn't need to get up close to fight and can avoid getting caught in damaging battles. Because his armor is so high, you can play Warthog almost any way you want. His ramming power is above average so you can play close range if you feel like it; it's not too high risk. You can use a driveby playstyle for a similar, safer result. The easiest is to simply wander around the stage and fight from afar, but remember that his special decreases to 1/3 damage if you fire it from more than 1/3 of the radar's length from the center, or half a city block in Hong Kong. Acclimate yourself to the distance and you should be good to go.

Mr. Grimm Advanced, long range, wanderer, driveby Worthwhile abilities: Freeze, shield

Mr. Grimm has the lowest health in the game, but makes up for it somewhat with his above average speed and his special, which has the highest single-hit damage in the game. The special has the second longest cooldown time in the game, however, so you cannot rely on it, nor can you afford to miss when you fire it. Your best bet for surviving (when combos from a few other characters can kill you instantly) is to stay in constant movement, traversing the stage and avoiding any and all fights. Always raise your shield when you go near an enemy or group. This is worth doing with all characters, but it's especially important for Mr. Grimm. If you have a clear shot for an attack, try to stay at a relatively far distance, or mid range. Using his special is tricky because you'd have to be a crackshot to land it from long range without the assistance of a freeze missile. Definitely use your energy for freezes before firing your special, because it's a tragedy to whiff your precious special just because the opponent was moving a little bit. If you're confident that approaching your enemy won't kill you, either because they're frozen or non-threatening, it's often best to keep moving and hit them with the special close up as you drive past them, so you don't have to worry as much about aiming. One more tip is that if you are speedrunning with Mr. Grimm, because his special cooldown time is so long, it might be worth it to sacrifice a life after using up your specials if you can afford to do so. This makes it so that you will immediately respawn with two specials in your inventory and skip the cooldown wait time.

Grasshopper Expert, spacing, wanderer, burst Worthwhile abilities: Shield, freeze, machine gun, quick weapon change, E. napalm, mines

Grasshopper is the ultimate challenge for a Twisted Metal player. Although her stats imply she is the worst character in the game, that's not entirely true (I'd place her at third from bottom, personally). Her stats on the menu screen are manipulated to make her look bad so that the players will pick her last in tournament mode and save her bombshell ending for the finale, which I'll admit is clever game design. That being said, she is definitely the hardest character to use, as her special, as relatively weak as it is in terms of damage, is meant to be combined with other abilities in a burst combo. Here's how to use it: Step 1: Activate your shield before firing your special, as taking damage during the jump will cancel the animation and prevent damage. If the opponent you're attacking is the only enemy around, you can freeze them instead to save energy. Step 2: Activate the special. You don't want to be too far or too close, so you'll need to practice spacing to ensure you are the right distance from the opponent for the special to land. Step 3: Hold down the machine gun button for a little extra damage when you're pointed at the opponent. Step 4: Quickly change your weapon to a forward facing missile. Step 5: Fire the weapon when her turbo boosters activate, as your grill will be pointed toward the targeted opponent, so the missile will be just about guaranteed to hit. Step 6: Fire an energy napalm at the exact moment of the body slam's impact. You'll need to get the timing right on the right, left, up command so that the up press comes just before the impact, guaranteeing the napalm will hit. Step 7: Lay down a mine immediately after the body slam impact. The opponent is not guaranteed to trip it and take damage, but the slam will leave them disoriented and they'll likely not notice that the mine is directly next to them.
Step 8: Back off. The mine will either deal the 15 damage to them if they move toward you, or prevent them from chasing you by creating a barrier that will hurt them if they try. Leave the area and repeat the process when you have another opportunity and enough resources. This takes a ton of practice to pull off. You'll need to get the napalm-mine motion memorized- make it a continuous command of right, left, up, right, left, down, with no hesitation after the napalm command. Try not to get into fights without using this combo, as her health is below average, although not as low as Mr. Grimm or Twister. Her speed is above average so getaways are fairly easy.

Thumper Intermediate, balanced, close range, burst Worthwhile abilities: Freeze, machine gun, quick weapon change, E. Napalm

Thumper has average health and slightly below average speed, but entirely makes up for it by having the most powerful special in the game by far. On its own, the flamethrower deals 60 damage when the opponent takes the full extent of it, plus fire damage. This is very difficult to land because it has such short range, but landing a freeze missile beforehand leads to the notorious "freezer burn" combo. This allows you to drive up and park your car directly in front of the frozen opponent before firing, and guarantees the full damage from the special, plus some fire damage and 7 damage from the freeze missile. It's possible to add even more damage to this combo, though. The simplest addition is firing your machine guns while the enemy is frozen. Although you can't fire any other weapons while the flamethrower is active, the special only lasts one second, so while it's firing, you can quickly switch weapons, and as soon as the animation ends, you can fire a missile from point blank just as the opponent thaws from the freeze and is still taking fire damage. Lastly, although it's not guaranteed, since the opponent will be thawed at this point, you can also fire an energy napalm for 10 additional damage immediately after the missile, assuming you're close enough to the opponent. Since it's point blank, though, you will catch fire if you land the napalm, so don't bother using it if you're low on health or can't afford the turbo required to extinguish the flames. Even without the napalm, the combo has the potential to instantly kill Mr. Grimm, depending on the missile you fire. What keeps Thumper balanced is that he has the longest cooldown time in the game, so it's very important that you do not waste your specials. Never use your special without a freeze missile first. If you're speedrunning and can afford to lose a life, it may be worth it to sacrifice a life and intentionally die after using your last special at the beginning of the cooldown counter. This way you will immediately respawn with two specials in your inventory without having to wait 160 seconds for two to generate for you.

Spectre Beginner, long range, wanderer Worthwhile abilities: None

Spectre is the second fastest character in the game, which gives him good ability to dodge incoming attacks and escape from dangerous fights. This is useful to him as his health is slightly below average. He shouldn't be getting into fights very often because his special gives him a unique playstyle that's easy to use. His ghost missile special is a long range homing missile that moves through floors and walls, so as long as the player is pointed in the direction of the opponent, it will home in on them within radar distance, which is about one and a half blocks in Hong Kong. If the enemy is within that range, it's extremely difficult (though not impossible) to escape from the ghost missile. The best way to play is to simply roam around the map freely, firing pickup weapons from long range and firing specials as soon as you have someone on radar in front of you, even if they're not visible to you. Spectre is hard to target and even harder to chase, so you'll have an easy time avoiding damage if you keep moving and only fighting from afar. That being said, the ghost missile has the lowest maximum damage of all the specials in the game and has a cooldown of 35 seconds, so with Spectre, you're playing the long game. Playing passively works well for him in that it helps him survive and outplay his opponents, but in speedruns, you'll have to put a lot more focus on pickup weapons and play riskier by getting into fights.