Awakening is a rare mechanic in Free Fire that not many characters are eligible for - currently, there are only 2 characters with the capability: Kelly and Hayato. This is probably related to their backstory of being in the Shimada Clan (all member of this clan has hidden powers).

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In this article, we would go through the skills of Hayato Firebrand and Kelly the Swift to find out which is the stronger character.

1 - Hayato Firebrand's Art of Blades

Hayato Firebrand is the awakened form of Hayato... with a new ability that focuses on melee combat. When active, Art of Blades would reduce all frontal damage taken by 40% - this means you are supposed to activate this and run at your enemies swinging. Overall, it is moderately useful if you are going to do some melee - firing your gun once would stop the effect.

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2 - Kelly the Swift's Deadly Velocity

After awakening, Kelly would get a new ability named "Deadly Velocity". After running for 7 seconds, you would get a buff that increases the damage of your first 2 shots to 125%. The buff lasts for 5 seconds. There is no cooldown for this skill - you can activate it again after running for another 7 seconds.

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3 - Kelly vs Hayato

Overall, Kelly the Swift is the better awakening skill - it is one of the few skills that outright boost damage dealt by all weapons (other skills like Shirou or normal Hayato only boost Armor penetration, which is useless in the early game).

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However, Kelly's Deadly Velocity is pretty hard to use - it requires you to be able to aim and fire while on the move. While you can definitely stop to aim, the short duration of the buff (5 seconds ) requires quick reactions.

However, this is still stronger than Hayato Firebrand's ability, which is even weaker than normal Hayato. Art of Blades only works on melee weapons (the effects would end after you fire any shots) and nobody brings a blade to a gun fight.

Interested in more of our articles about Garena Free Fire? Please check out this post for Free Fire: Top 5 Best Magic Cube Bundle 2021.