What class would you say can manage the best?
Who has the best tools and mechanics to survive?
Also who do you think is the worst one?
I know it has alot to do with personal skill, but we all also have our own favourite ones that we think does the job best or worst.
I think the "best" or "worst" characters are highly situational; the game mode, selected map, roster of the opposing team and the skill level of the players both on your team and the opposite team makes a huge difference in what character might survive better or worse.
In the current Mystery Portal event, Rando's Revege (Vanquish Confirmed), I've had some really large vanquish streaks when the game has randomly spawned me as a Sunflower and the opposite team is mostly "average" players. By finding a decent semi-long range vantage point with a steady stream of Zombies approaching it's pretty easy to drop a Rainbow Heal Flower, snap your Heal Beam to it and start blasting away. The Sunflower's high accuracy means that the longer range has little effect on your shot placement and you can hit consistently while many of the Zombies who might return fire will miss a percentage of their shots due to the range involved and having your Heal Flower at hand will remedy the damage that you do take. On a map with a fair number of choke points, like the Colizeum, and with the Electric Sunflower variant you can do a lot of damage very quickly and survive well if you can keep the opposition from closing the range.
By the same token I've had horrible experiences trying to play the Camo Cactus in the same game mode because the Camo Cactus needs longer ranges and a decent guarantee that enemies won't randomly spawn at their back or flanks to surprise them when the Cactus' peripheral vision is limited while scoping in on long range targets.
The biggest variable is who you're up against, how good they are and what their favorite character might be and how well either team functions together.
A few weeks back I was in a Turf Takeover game with a highly skilled pair of Players; one had obviously invested hours and hours of practice into Captain Cannon and he had a knowledgeable partner playing the Astronaut by his side at all times with his Heal Beam of Science engaged to keep the Cap'n alive and vanquishing. The pairing made it really difficult to survive if you didn't keep their position in mind at all times and they were difficult to counter if you didn't have the right character and experience. More than 95 percent of the Captain Cannons which I've encountered have been terrible at worst and average at best but this was a guy who had invested the time and effort and because he had teammates actively supporting and protecting him he was easily the top performer every game.
In terms of survivability, Vampire Flower is the best character, due to the health regen. on hit and the good speed. Peashooter is also great because of the high damage, splash damage, high speed and even useful abilities.
However, not every character has good stats. Hover-Goat 3000 is the (un)living proof. His low damage is his biggest weakness, and even with good abilities, they're terrible when playing on your own. Rose and her variants also have terrible survivabilty. Low health, low damage, slow recharge. Party Rose is (right now) a joke character for me. The only useful Rose right now is the Frost Rose, since she deals massive damage for a low cost.
I've got to say that Rose has been one of the few classes where I have been able to run a "Perfect Game" of Turf Takeover; my last one was actually with Party Rose going 27/0 despite having a fair number of Zombies specifically trying to take me out for revenge. Some players act like tactics don't matter but they, along with knowing your character, have a huge impact on how long you can keep going before being vanquished.
In this game you really can't dismiss any character out of hand and just because a character is quirky, tough to use or snugged quite deeply into their role doesn't mean that they can't really shine under the right circumstances.
WAIT, WHAT??? HOW DID U DO THAT??? PARTY ROSE IS USELESS FOR NOW!!!!!!
Rose becomes more effective once you've leveled her up to Elite and you unlock the Homing Upgrade. After that using her effectively relies on a few other tactics.
First you need to use her at the proper range, right around the maximum range where her Homing is able to lock in on a target. Second you need to keep aware of when you are receiving enemy fire and taking damage and be prepared to use Arcane Enigma to retreat back towards your spawn. The third, and also crucial, tactic is to keep yourself reasonably close to some teammates on your flank(s), far enough away that you don't also receive fire directed at them but close enough that if you need to retreat and are pursued you can lead those pursuers towards more of your team.
After that it's just honing your skills and making sure that you don't repeat mistakes.
