5 best combos for 200cc in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

✓ At a glance

Best 200cc combos in Mario Kart 8

• Newer players should focus on combos that have low speed and high handling
• Try using small characters with karts and bikes like the Biddybuggy and Mr Scooty
• For more experienced players, the Waluigi Wiggler combo is still a great option

While it’s only a 50cc increase on 150cc, things really ramp up when you get to 200cc. You’ll drive much faster and if you aren’t careful, it’s easy to spend the entire race ramming into walls and falling off the map. And if you want to conquer the fast and frenzied 200cc races, you’ll need a kart combo that will be able to deal with all that.

Instead of prioritising speed like you would on lower cc races, at 200cc you want to make sure you’ve got great handling and fast acceleration before everything else. As such, if you were using some of the faster combos from our 150cc guide, you should think twice about trying them out at this difficulty.

Best builds for 200cc in Mario Kart 8

You will be able to master 200cc with almost any build, including the standard kart, some time and practice. However, when starting, the speed can be overwhelming, and we recommend using lighter characters with a maximum of a 3 stat in the speed. Over time you can increase the speed stat as you grow more comfortable with the build.

Baby Handling Build (Best handling build for newbies)

• Character: Baby Mario, Baby Luigi
• Kart: Mr Scooty
• Wheels: Leaf Tires, Roller Tires
• Glider: Paper Glider

If you’re new to 200cc and the speed is overwhelming you, don’t worry as there are ways to make it easier on yourself. 200cc can make some turns frustratingly difficult, and our method of handling this has you use a kart of bike that specialises in handling.

Baby characters, along with lighter bikes such as Mr Scooty, will be able to turn these corners much more easily compared to heavy characters while also maintaining some good acceleration. At no point will the speed feel too much to control or handle. It’s an excellent setup to learn the ins and outs of 200cc on.

Link Bike Build (Balanced newbie build)

• Character: Link
• Kart: Standard Bike, Yoshi Bike
• Wheels: Slim Wheels
• Glider: Super Glider

This build is a bit of a speed upgrade to the Baby Mario setup mentioned above. We ditch the kart for an easier-to-handle bike that is capable of drifting around corners while maintaining good speed. The build tries to spread stats as evenly as possible, and the goal is to get you high speeds without sacrificing anything in the control department.

This setup lacks a bit of acceleration, but if you know how to manage your Turbo Boosts, you won’t be struggling too much with that. Just be aware that the added speed will make things harder to handle.

Dry Bones Turbo Boost (Quick Turbo Boost build)

• Character: Dry Bones
• Kart: Biddybuggy/Buggybud
• Wheels: Roller, Azure Roller
• Glider: Paper Glider

This is a build that is very popular on 150cc, but instead of using a heavier character like Waluigi, we’ve swapped him out for Dry Bones. It has excellent handling, and some of the best Mini Turbo stats of any combination, and by using a lighter character, you can ensure that you’ll be able to more consistently round corners while still being able to benefit from the speed boosts your drifts will create.

Morton Race Car Build (Top speed build)

• Character: Morton
• Kart: Circuit Special, Gold Kart
• Wheels: Roller, Azure Roller
• Glider: Paper Glider

We know we said that 200cc is about handling over speed, but if you’re really confident in your abilities, then this Morton build might be for you. Thanks to the Roller Wheels, you still have a decent Mini Turbo and handling, but the higher speed from the karts means you’ll go faster on straights. One for the expert drifters, we don’t recommend using this unless you’re already confident driving on 200cc.

Wiggler Build (Best overall build)

• Character: Waluigi
• Kart: Wild Wiggler
• Wheels: Roller, Azure Roller
• Glider: Paper Glider

You may have seen this build before in our top five 150cc combos list. This is because the Wiggler combo is one of the most popular competitive builds in Mario Kart 8 and comes up all the time online.

Unlike the rest of the builds in this guide, this build does not excel in any single department. However, it has solid stats across the board. Waluigi Wiggler will provide you with some really fast performance without being too hard to control in all the important departments, such as speed, turbo boost, acceleration, and handling. In particular, the Turbo Boost for this build is one of the highest on this list.

If you’re really struggling to play on 200cc, then we recommend sticking with our very first choice. The key to winning 200cc races isn’t going the fastest, it’s being able to consistently make turns without crashing into walls or falling off the map, so remember to use your brakes and take things slow.