This guide will give you a brief overview of all the characters and the best loadouts. Remember though, sometimes practice is the only way to improve, this will just help you to be better. This is a rather large quide as you may see from the contents, so feel free to skip out the 'nauts you don't like playing or already know how to play well as. I may be puttiong out more guides on more specific characters in more detail. And remember, it's one thing to be good, but it's another to enjoy the game.

Let's start with the first character in the game. Froggy can be one of the most OP 'nauts with the right loadout.

Loadout:

Splash dash - You should get at least 1 damage upgrade/ground pound, slow and cooldown reduction. hit them with the splash at they're at mercy to your other weapons.
Tornado - The tornado depends on what you want to do with it, if you want to push turrets, then get reflect, longer lasting and damage/explode. If you just want to harass, then use shield, faster moving and damage/explode.
Fish gun - With this setup, fish gun will be your new BFF. Get damage, attack speed and range. This will do 10 damage a shot at fast speed and long range. It will do 20 - 30 DPS (Damage Per Second).
Health etc. - As Froggy's so weak you should get a health upgrade, and to make use of his overwhelming agility, extra speed and finally get either regen or piggy bank (solar tree's so underpowered these days...)

Lonestar can be a pretty good choice if you want to heavily push. He can hyperbull to tank and shoot the hell outa' it with his gun and dynamite.

Loadout:

Dynamite - The most effective dynamite should have a third dynamite, bounce and any other upgrade that suits you.
Hyperbull - Health and power is an absolute must if you want to push the turrets. The explode can also be pretty helpful and either get slow or damage to it so you can ram your enemies into walls whilst they can do nothing about it.
Gun - You can really have some fun with an OP gun, and you can get that with 3 simple upgrades; both of the damages and more attack speed. You can really spam this doing 12 damage a shot (enough to 1 shot jungle creeps) anddo 24 - 36 DPS.
Health etc. - Get the piggy bank so you can straight away buy the larger more damage on gun or dynamite and a smaller damage increase. The triple jump can be really helpful in escapes and dodging melee attacks. I would also advise more health as when you max out max health, you really get a big health bar.

Leon's one of the hardest 'nauts to play when fighting pros, but once you get the right upgrades he can really dominate.

Loadout:

Tongue - Both the damages and life steal/range should get you a decent tongue and make the enemies weak enough that after pulling them to you you can finish them with your OP blade.It will do 30 damage on hit and another 30 damge when you've successfully pulled them to you making a total 60 damage.
Stealth - If your going to make your cloak walk around, then you might aswell make your enemies fall for it. In this case, get moving, attacking and more ma health on him. If you don't bother with the cloak, then get more damage when exiting stealth, regen in stealth and explode. you can just plonk your cloak at a turret and it will explode upon it.
Blade - The best damage output would be to get attack speed, more damage and backstab. Sadly though, most people will be smart enough to not turn their backs to you so it's best to replace backstab with one of the other upgrades. Slow will let you get more hits in, lifesteal will keep you alive longer and critical hits will do more damage. NOTE: if you play practice or are new to te game then backstab will still be fine as most bots/new players will run away from Leon. With backstab you do 44 - 66 DPS, without it's about 28 - 42 DPS.
Health etc. - As with most 'nauts, health is an absolute must. regen is optional but if you have regen in stealth or lifesteal in any form you should get piggy bank instead and finally you should get speed increase so you can keep up with your victims.

Clunk can be really furstrating due to his low speed and slow attacks, but can tank like a well... tank!

Loadout:

Vacuum bite - It's important to get at least 1 damage upgrade, snare and multi-target so you can stay alive and drop damaging explodes upon your foes.
Explode - More damage is where it's at with clunk, just get more damage, slow or quicker charging and less damage to self or less cooldown. The bite should keep you alive when you hurt yourself.
Missile - More attck speed is great so that you can spam missiles everywhere. If you've got good aim you should also get a full missile string and twin missiles to bouble he damage. If you've got bad aim, get homing and possibly explode range.
Health etc. - Max health is optional as you start with a tonne of it, but if you do get it then you will have a hard timedying. If you don't get it, replace it with buff resistance or solar tree. For your other 2 upgrades, get movement speed and piggy bank so you can afford those expensive upgrades for explode.

A tip:

Don't run, fight! Even if you fight whilst edging towards your base, do it! Often bite your enemy when on the run to keep healed and I have won many fights that I would have lost had I been a coward and run.

Voltar may be considered weak and useless, but he can really help your team out so long as you all stay together.

Loadout:

Drones - It doesn't matter to mutch what you get on your drones, but personally I prefer damage on shots, damage on destruction and more drones.
Heal bot - A great heal bot should have more healing, less cooldown and more longevity so you can spam it and heal at insane speeds.
Heal wave - More solar per heal can really rack up the solar and you should get at least 1 heal upgrade. Range can also be of good use.
Health etc. - More speed is good so that you can reach to heal your allies quickly, health keeps you alive long enough when your alone to ask for help and you can get any of the other upgrades.

Personally, I am not very good as gnaw, but strategies I have seen include camping with weedlings, slowing with goo to help their team and using life steal on bite to stay alive in close combat.

Loadout:

Goo spit - More damage is really helpful so that your enemies can't escape even when they're past their turrets. Slow is helpful for the same reason; that they can't get away. Split can also do heavy damage as they have a harder time dodging the goo aswell as it doing a bit more damage on impact.
Weedlings - More weedlings is great as it increases the amount you can place by 50% so if they're all in 1 spot, they do 50% more damage. Increased damage can own many 'nauts - it's happened to me more times than I can count. More health after 15 seconds can be the difference between a weedling living and dying, and the damage increase is a nice bonus. NOTE: if a weedling kills a jungle creep then you will get the creep's health so putting weeds at jungle's can heal you remotely.
Bite - More base damage and poisond damage can really deal a large amount of pain to your foes. The attack speed bonus/life steal should also be used so you can either live longer, or win the fight sooner so you can get away and heal.
Health etc. - As usuall, get the piggy bank so you can buy OP weedlings quick. More max health will also increase the health of your weedlings so I advise if you go with the weedling camping tactic thenyou should get it. If you want, then you can get speed, but if you don't then get solar tree as gnaws upgrades can be pretty expensive.

Coco is a mean, little brawler and don't be fooled by her appearence, she can be a real killer.

Loadout:

Ball of lightning - Damage is OP as it can half Froggy's health if he has n health upgrades. Less cooldown should be purchased early to allow spamming. You should also either get knockback or range so if your ball goes behind an enemy, you can detonate it and knock them towards you.
Trail blaze - MOAR DAMAGE! You can sense a theme here can't you... Also get speed and slow to make an easy escape.
Shock attack - DAMAGE, DAMAGE, DAMAGE! Get attack speed or damage on turrets and slow to keep on your nemesis. It can really be the difference between getting a kill and dying to a turret.
Health etc. - More max health, speed and piggy bank are great for staying alive and getting the early edge in a game.

Skolldir, the overweight, annoyingly voiced (no offence Simon), space viking, is quite a pain-making machine. His attacks can be super OP against all classes.

Loadout:

Mighty throw - One of the most OP specials in the game in my opinion as it can pull enemies from behind turrets and also into your own turrets. The gnome is a woth while purchase as it will generally hit the 'naut you're throwing for 40 damage. Damage over time is also good as the one thing that will kill an enemy is damage. Thurther throwing also adds to the time you can hit an enemy with your fists.
Earthquake - Yup, more damage. Also get either range or earthquake goes behind you aswell and stun can makethe throw really painfull as you throw them into your turret and stun them to the turret's mercy.
Punch - Both the damage increases and life-steal is the best. If you can't get both then get range instead. With both damage increases, you can do near to 100 damage per third bash.
Health etc. - Max health/regen, speed and piggy bank ake a great combination as Skolldir.

Yuri, the incredibly annoying flying monkey. He sure is hard to get the hang of, but once you're good at him, you'll never be beaten again (probably).

Loadout:

Mines - By far the most OP aspect of Yuri is the mines. With both damage upgrades and less cooldown, you can do 70 damage per 3 seconds. Mines are a great way of camping and if you have a Leon or Skolldir, then getting kills is a piece of cake. For example, in Sorona, camping above the worm is in the middle of the map so it's hard for the enemy to get past to your turrets without going through your mines. The other method is to harass. If you get "carpet bombs", 1 damage upgrde and bounce, then you can litter the battlefield with un-crossable mines.
Time warp - Also a great aspectt to Yuri, the time warp is great for staying alive. Lifesteal is a must as when you're on low health, you can just time warp and laser creeps. Also, movement speed and healing/slow will benefit your fellow 'nauts as well as you.
Laser - The 2 extra base damage will keep you healed well in time warp and slow/attack speed will deal enough damage to own your escaping enemies The range ability also can make you use some almost cheaty tactics as you can see from the picture, you can hit the turret, but the turret can't hit you.
Health etc. - Max health is helpful and so is the piggy bank. Speed is not a must, as time warp can speed you up with the right upgrades, and you don't majorly need it anyway. You can replace it with whatever you want, or keep it as a nice boost.

A tip:

The best tactic I've found so far is to get piggy bank, then buy mines and 2 of the smaller damage increases. This should help you to get started. Also sometimes it's better to sit and fight it out rather than run as Yuri can deal some pretty strong damage whilst standing/flying still.

Raelynn, the sniper of Awesomenauts. She is both highly threatening whilst also vulnerable without her team.

Loadout:

Time rift - One of the most annoying specials against a turret mode Derpl or another Raelynn who is readying her snipe. Quicker damage speed will whizz through the damage and slow complements it as the time they are in the rift doubles. Either height or bot spawn is also useful as more enemies get caught in it or your bots go to storm the enemy base. NOTE: You can only have 1 active humming bot at a time so if you already have one when you deploy a time rift, it will be destroyed.
Snipe - More solar per successful snipe can get the solar rolling in and damage will beat up your foes. Either get cooldown reduction or range bonus just to make sure you get the maximum ammount of kills out of your snipe. Snipe can be a good getaway on maps like Sorona as when going through the "cannons" you have time to ready your snipe and by the time you've landed your snipe is ready to fire.
Gun ("Cuddles") - More attack speed combined with damage is great for destroying turrets. You should either get both of the base damage increases or 1 of them and more damage vs enemy Awesomenauts.
Health etc. - There is no need for money items as you can gain money from your snipe, but if you really want then you can get piggy bank. Otherwise, get health, speed and debuff reduction/regen.

What. A. Guy. Shoots cats and has a portable turret to fight in. How else do you enter combat?

Loadout:

Grid trap/nuke - Quite good when you stun someone and finish them off with a nuke... Funny to watch them rage as they repeat this for the 100th time. Personally though I prefer the nuke upgrades to grid trap; but if you're a cat spammer then go for the grid trap upgrades. With a turret Derpl, get all the nuke upgrades, and with a cat spammer, get all the grid trap upgrades. SIMPLE!
Turret mode - Get one of the shield upgrades, bullet damage and missiles/range to make the most out of that short time when the enemy's in your trap and you have some damage to do. A loadout like this will get you about 42 DPS as well as the occasional 95 with a nuke.
Cat shot - CATS! Clawing me to death... With cuteness! Yes, Derpl loves cat hunting, don't we all? Both damage increases and attack speed can get you a good 40 - 60 DPS and decent damage on turrets. Range or Splitting cats is a good replacement if you don't have the levels for both damages.
Health etc. - Finally, a normal thing that Derpl has. Either max health or regen should keep you alive in turret mode. Speed is not required too muc as half the time you're standing still, but feel free to get it if you're really impatient. Also get piggy bank and debuff reduction if you can.

A tip:

Don't shoot a Froggy with reflect fire except with the nuke as everything else just bounces back at 'ya and kills you. Tank is key, keep your post and shoot, you'll probably win or at least not die. As I like to say, "Keep calm and nuke everyone!"

Vinnie and Spike, the intergalactic criminal... Fish. He is one of my favourite characters as you can make his bubble gun do 9 damage per bubble. There are also many different ways to be OP.

Loadout:

Right, like I say there's 2 main loadouts that can work well as vinnie. Here's the turret pushing vinnie but it's also good for kills.

Spike dive - Get the damage increased by 10 and the damage increased by 15 if you have 150 solar and also get lifesteal/range.
Smoke screen - Personally, I don't like smoke screen as it's effects will not last long once they leave it, but you may feel differently. Silence, size and movement speed is good though as itmakes the area larger, thus more enemies getting silenced and you can makea quick escape.
Bubble gun - Get the 1 extra damage and the 3 extra when there's wealthy enemies nearby (as most people group together, 1 of them probably will) and attack speed. Now, so long as there's a wealthy playeer nearby, thrive in the glory of piercing bubbles doing around 54 DPS.
Health etc. - Health, speed and piggy bank should keep you alive well enough to push turrets.

Now for the stay-in-the-battle-for-eva loadout. I cannot take credit for this, I saw another guy use it, but it's definitely worthy of sharing with you guys!

Spike dive - Range, 10 extra damage and cooldown reduction.
Smoke screen - Solar per enemy in cloud, size and speed.
Bubble gun - Both damage increases and extra solar per kill.
Health etc. - Max health, speed and 5 health per solar picked up.

Now, the beauty behind this is there's loads of ways to get solar, but not by just adding it to your solar count, it flies to you and therefore, it's a pickup. so whenever you get a kill, you also get tonnes of health, especially with the extra solar per kill. And if an enemy's in your cloud, then you get even more solar for health. Works pretty well actually...

Genji the pollen prophet. I know, he's a flying worm in a costume who like butterflies. Nothing unrealistic there then. Putting that aside, he's very hard to play and rubbish at fighting turrets. But he can brawl...

Loadout:

Cocoon - Ewwww, looks horrible. Anyway, you want turns enemy bots into friendly humming birds so that you can build up an army and storm turrets. You also want lifesteal and either slow or something that does damage.
Monarch blessing - Not very useful untill it's upgraded. If you d get it, get sheild increase ASAP and also get something that heals your team and the move faster.
Butterfly shot - Ooooh, pretty! Damage, attack speed and storm is where it's at. Cant beat the 9 damage there and back. Does about 36 DPS.
Health etc. - Max health, piggy bank and speed (he's pretty slow). Make sure to buy the piggy bank and as mutch damage and attack speed as you can when you first go to the shop. Don't get the specials untill later as they won't do anything other than slow the enemy's escape. It wont get you any more hits in!

Wow, so angry. Wish she'd calm down a bit. Hard to talkabout her owning you when she's so busy going "Lalalala lalala lalalala".

Loadout:

Evil eye - increased damage is a must. That's the whole point of it! Also damage over time is good as well as increased slow. This should keep you alive when on the run.
Rage - Just what your enemy's do once they're in it. Get damage, speed and either size or attack speed. That'll make most people focus wholy on escacping, whch they can't do because you're so fast.
Chain wack - Damage, attack speed and anything else is good on a chain wack.
Health etc. - Max health as she's so weak, speed so you can keep up with those who you are chasing and piggy bank to give you the upper hand in early game.

Is she OP?

Ok. So you say she's OP. But have you not noticed everyone's OP in their own special way? That's the idea of the game. It's just that Ayla's a bit harder once she's got the solar. To counter her just stay away, she will run out of health from rage before she gets to you. If you're clunk, then explode or bite her, that'll get her away. Most 'nauts have an escape special or ability. If she gets to you, use a special like skoll's throw or splash dash. Any amount of heavy damage on her will make her run, and then the rage will have almost killed her by the time she's back again. Just remember, you're OP too, so use it!

Admiral Swiggins, some of the most annoying taunts around, and the best theme ever. "I'll have my tea with cream if that's oooooook" And not to mention his extremely insulting nickname "OP-Topus". I mean, seriously, he's a squid, not an octopus!

Loadout:

Grapple - Damage, range and cooldown reduction's always good as you keep up with youe enemies so you can enjoy your evening of whacking people with "Homobolt".
Homboldt - Duration, some kind of damage and health on Homobolt will keep your enemies stuck in place for a while whilst taking daage.
Anchor swing/ink spray - Damage, attack speed and shield when not holding Homobolt is by far the most OP combo as you can anchor people with Homobolt, then own them with a SMG squid ink gun (it does shoot pretty fast).
ealth etc. - Max health is again, optional since he is a tank. Speed is good because he's so slow without it and piggy bank is always worthwile.

Now, just look at thet space squid below (scmitchell used to be my name. The proof is that I had 0 ping) that's just what Swiggins can do if you let him, but just like with Ayla, keep him away and fight back when he anchors you or at least break Homobolt. Breaking Homobolt breaks Swiggins's heart...

Ted McPain, the 1 man army.He is the first Starstorm 'naut. He needs some pants. I say he has pants but that's because I'm British. He needs trousers, get it right! (no offense if you are American, but we don't call them pants). Anyway... Moving on!

Loadout:

Airstrike - Damage, damage over time and health pickups makes a good airstrike as it blows the enemy's pants off (see what I did there?) and also if you're poisoned to the death, you can use it to heal.
Stimpack - More attack speed, less damage to self and more movement speed is great as youcan either pelt shotgun shots at your enemies or you can quickly switch to your minigun for some super-speed shooting.
Shotgun/minigun - More damage, quicker shotgun reload time and mines shot by shotgun does heavy damage at a quick pace. The minigun will do somewhere around 50 DPS and with stimpack, do more like 80 DPS and the shotgun will shoot about once a second for 35 damage and with stimpack about 1.75 a second to do about 60 DPS.
Health etc. - max health is not 100% needed but can help. Otherwise get movement speed, piggy bank and debuff reduction.

Penny, the second Starstorm 'naut. She has got herself a mechanical claw, and she's not afraid to use it! She is fairly hard to play and will need some practice to get used to.

Loadout:

Pounce - More damage, regain a combat point per succesful once and travel 50% thurther is good as it deals heavy damage whlst being able to use the energy pulse after to finish them off. It's also good for escapes like Froggy's splash dash.
Energy Pulse - A fox with an energy pulse. What are the odds? It's good to get more damage, range and amplified damage. This means that after hitting an enemy, your next few attacks will do more damage to them. It also makes a good way to finish enemies retreating behind turrets as it can go through walls and also you should've bought extra range by now.
Claw - More attack speed/a 5th charge, damage per combat point and faster speed per point is good as it can deal heavy damage and at 4 charges it can do 36 - 54 DPS and with 5 charges 40 - 60 DPS.
Health etc. - Movement speed is great as Penny because it gives you a 4th jump and that really can make the differencewhen running from a turret. Health is good because she's fragile as a brawler and the 5% increased attack damage should help you to finish off enemies that would have otherwise escaped. If you have 4 charges and both the speed upgrades you will move at a speedy 11.6 speed (fastest normal walk in the game) and with 5 charges you can move at 12 speed. Froggy G only has 8.4 without speed boost and 9.6 with it.

Sentry X-58, really good vs bots, really hard vs online pros. It's all about getting the solar as all the upgrades are expensive, but OP. That's not even mentioning the distracting appearence (I really wasn't expecting it to look like it does after seeing pictures).

Loadout:

Black hole sun - How do people live to make robots when orbiting a black hole... Personally, I go for base damage + maximum damage, more shield and 35% increased gravity. You can replace gravity if you want to.
Teleport beacon - Well, they were going to add teleporting some day... At least it's not OP. I like to get damage on teleporting, leave a decoy behind and heal over time/attack speed boost.
Photon mine launcher - Damage, Attack speed and longer lasting is a great combination as you can have at least 10 mines at the same time in one place, doing 130 damage instantly. I recommend leaving mines in areas you don't want enemies getting past.
Health etc. - Speed, 5% more damage and either max health for longer life, or piggy bank for an easy start. Be warned! If you choose not to go with piggy bank, then you'll have to get some early kills in to be effective later game.

Skree, is it a man? Is it a robot? No! It's a wierd voodoo guy! A great assister and turret pusher, not to mention an undoubtedly cool ride...

Loadout:

Saw - An admittedly dangerous thing to only do 20 damage... Imagine a saw piercing through the middle of your brain; and then you just walk on like nothing happened! I advise a damage increase, size and a second saw. This is good for punishing enemies that want to chase and hunt you down.
Totem of Power - Or whatever it's called! it's good anyway, and that's all I care. For maximum turret owning power, obtain health and cooldown, and for living happily purposes, get height for blocking and running.
Lighting staff thingy - Dat cool staff tho... Enjoy watching your enemies die to the epic power of homing lightning. Thrash them with damage, slow and attack speed; reminds me of leon...
Health etc. - Max health, piggy bank and speed is optimal as they are technically an assassin, so should be super speedy.

Thank you so mutch for reading my guide! I hope it helped you, but remember, only practice will make you beat the best, this will merely help you to do so. If you want to see more guides in more detail on specific 'nauts, then leave a like and show in the comments what you'd like to see.

I would also like to thank Captain_Cookie for introducing me to the game, I've had lots of fun playing it! Make sure to check out his guide on how to rage in Awesomenauts. It should be at the top of the guides list in Awesomenauts. Seriously funny!

Good luck everyone! I hope you will take my advice and be as good as everyone else. Just remember - it's a game, and have fun playing!