Character Guide - Citron!

Hey there,

This guide series aim to go over each character in the game. In this guide, I am going to cover Citron. I am yet to add a little bit of more information to all of my recently made guides.

The following link was used for part of the information: https://plantsvszombies.fandom.com/wiki/Citron_(PvZ:_BfN). The rest of the guide consists of my own information, and you may refer to the link if you would like more information on Citron.

Overview of the Character

Citron is a Defend character on the Plants faction that protects the team against enemies, and he has 200 health.

Primary Weapon

Primary Weapon: Juice Cannon. It is a weapon that shoots 3 projectiles at a time, and each seperate projectile deals 3 damage for regular hits or 4 damage for critical hits. It can deal 3 splash damage to enemies that are really close. It has a medium rate of fire and the maximum ammo capacity is 50.

Peel Shield: Peel Shield is a special tool that Citron has, which is activated by aiming. This shield can be activated at any time by aiming, but you are unable to attack while it is up, and you move slower with the shield deployed. However, the shield has 600 health, is wide and can protect you and allies, and you restore 8 ammo for your Juice Cannon each time you successfully block enough damage, making the need to reload much more redundant.

Abilities

E.M.Peach: This ability deploys a device that stuns enemies that are hit by it for a limited time, making them unable to attack or use their abilities, and their movement speed will be greatly reduced during this time. Any enemy that you affect with this will be vulnerable to you and your allies' attacks, as they will not able to fight back and will be easy to hit. The device has an area of effect, which allows you to still stun enemies that are close to where your stun landed, and it is possible to affect multiple enemies at a time, meaning that this can be more effective when used against groups of enemies. This device projectile is affected by gravity after a particular distance, so consider that when you use this ability. You can use this ability when sprinting, by activating the ability and starting the sprint quickly, and it will travel further which may sometimes be useful. It has the added effect of immediately depleting some fuel of any Z-Mech that is affected by E.M.Peach, making it even more useful against the Mechs, which are also easy to hit.

E.M.Peach Character Upgrades:

• Peachy (2 upgrade points): Stunning enemies using your E.M.Peach restores 200 health for your Peel Shield, which is 1/3 of its total health. This effect can stack if you can stun multiple enemies at once, so try and stun multiple enemies together to restore even more shield health, or stun at least 3 enemies to restore your shield health completely. You can use your shield to block attacks, and quickly let go and activate E.M.Peach to bring your shield health back, and then deploy your shield again. This will allow you to continue protecting yourself and allies for longer, while stunning your enemies which makes it easier for you and your allies to take down. If you need your shield health back quickly, quickly stun enemies if using this upgrade. 
• Peached (3 upgrade points): Enemies are stunned for longer if you hit them directly with your E.M.Peach. This will leave those enemies affected for even longer, making them more vulnerable to attacks from you and your allies, however for this to work you must directly impact the enemy with your device. You are still able to stun enemies with the splash effect of the E.M.Peach, however those enemies will not be stunned for longer. When using your E.M.Peach, try and aim it at the enemy you want to stun for a direct hit, possibly with other enemies nearby to indirectly stun other enemies. It may be possible to directly stun multiple enemies, but this will not be practical as this will be really hard to manage,

Spin Dash: This ability propels you forward through bowling, giving you lots of distance and dealing lots of damage to all enemies that are in your way as well. The Spin Dash deals 75 damage to any enemy hit, and you can hit any amount of enemies that are in the way of your Spin Dash without your Spin Dash being disrupted, so this ability is great against dealing damage to multiple enemies at once, especially if you can line up your Spin Dash to hit multiple enemies. This can be used to retreat from a tough situation, as the travel distance is massive and you can get away really quickly. This ability can be used while you are sprinting, and will not cancel your sprint once you have used your Spin Dash if you are still holding the sprint down, which can give you even more distance. The Spin Dash takes a moment to resolve after you activate it, so try and use it without your enemies noticing or when they are not paying attention if you can.

Spin Dash Character Upgrades:

• Emergency Exit (1 upgrade point): After you have used your Spin Dash, you get a movement speed increase of 50% for about 3 seconds, which can be used to your advantage to escape a tough situation more easily, or even to travel around faster, as you can activate your Spin Dash and use the speed boost afterwards to get around even faster. This speed boost will trigger and remain in effect whether you are sprinting or not, so you could make use of this upgrade to flank your enemies, or to reduce your chances of being hit by your enemies for a short time. The speed boost will be useful in many situations, so simply use your Spin Dash when the increased speed is important to you.
• Bowling (4 upgrade points): For each enemy you deal damage to using your Spin Dash, you get a cooldown reduction of 5 seconds on your next use of Spin Dash. If you can hit multiple enemies with a single use of Spin Dash, this effect will stack and you may be able to use your Spin Dash again almost immediately after the first use if you can damage lots of enemies at once. Try and aim for multiple enemies to make the most out of this effect, and note that this upgrade will not provide any bonuses if you deal no damage to your enemies, so your Spin Dash would be best used to damage enemies, rather than escaping. If you can activate this without your enemies knowing, they will be less likely to avoid your attack as they will be unaware.

Navel Laser: This ability fires an automatic laser, which continues to increase in damage during the use of this ability until it ends. This laser starts by dealing around 5 damage (6 damage for critical), then will automatically increase to 10 damage (12 damage for critical), and finally it will max out at about 14 damage (17 damage for critical), in which after this it will end on its own. This ability is best used at range and not against multiple enemies, as this ability does not specalise against multiple enemies. There is a delay before the ability starts, and you are unable to cancel the ability or use other attacks or abilities during this time, so be mindful of when you use this ability, as you may leave yourself vulnerable. You could hide after activating this and wait for the damage to increase, and then leave cover and attack your enemies with more damage, as they will be less likely to be able to react to it, and you will not be vulnerable as long.

Navel Laser Character Upgrades:

• Juiced (3 upgrade points): Your Navel Laser is wider than normal and will always deal critical damage, as well as reducing the delay before the ability begins. The improved wideness of your Navel Laser will make it easier to hit your enemies, you will always deal critical damage regardless of where you hit the enemy which will improve your overall damage and the reduced startup time before you start firing will not leave you as vulnerable for as long. These changes will make the Navel Laser more powerful, and you can make use of this by shooting into tight spaces with enemies, with extra damage and reduced vulnerability. These effects will make this ability more versatile as well, which is a bonus.
• Pulp Powered (4 upgrade points): Your Navel Laser will last an additional 2 seconds every time you get a vanquish with it. If your damage has charged up completely on your Navel Laser and you are dealing maximum damage, you will retain this maximum damage and the laser will not begin to charge up again. You will continue doing maximum damage, which can allow you to get loads of use out of this ability. You can get vanquishes more easily by aiming for critical hits and attacking enemies that are on low health, but try to focus the same enemy rather than switching targets as this ability is not particularly well suited to multiple enemies at a time. If you can keep getting the vanquishes, you can wreck havoc for longer.

Exclusive Character Upgrades

The exclusive character upgrades for Citron are as follows:

Freshly Squeezed (2 upgrade points): Whenever you vanquish an enemy, you gain a 30% increase to your sprinting movement speed for 5 seconds, which allows you to escape and regenerate health more easily after defeating an enemy, or to go to your allies. This speed boost only applies to your sprinting and your movement speed will not be increased normally, although you could use this improved sprint speed to approach another enemy for an attack. This upgrade would be better if you are being more offensive, as you must vanquish enemies to trigger this effect. To improve your chance of earning vanquishes, you could attack enemies that are on low health or enemies at closer range as your weapon is more effective at that range.

Quenching Cover (2 upgrade points): You restore even more ammo than normal when you successfully block damage with your Peel Shield. You restore 16 ammo for blocking enough damage (instead of the regular 8) which makes utilising your shield even more effective as a way of quickly restoring ammo without the need to reload. Even if you are currently on no ammo, you will not be able to reload while holding the shield, however you can use the shield to effectively reload instead. Alternating between your primary weapon and shield will work, and without this upgrade, this will still work, however will not be as effective, so use this upgrade if you want to restore lots of ammo more efficiently without having to wait quite a while.

Kinetic Energy (3 upgrade points): Dealing damage to your enemies restores health for your Peel Shield. Every time you deal damage 30 times, you will restore 40 health for your Peel Shield. This may seem tedious, but your primary weapon shoots 3 projectiles per shot, and your Navel Laser is able to deal damage frequently at most ranges to enemies, so dealing damage this many times should not be difficult to achieve. This is really useful if you alternate between shielding and dealing damage, as you can deal damage as a way to restore your shield health at a quicker rate. The restored health may not seem that significant, but it will really start to add up after a while. It may be worth attacking enemies that are easier to hit to trigger this effect more easily.

Peel Out (3 upgrade points): You gain a movement speed increase of 35% when you are holding your Peel Shield. This allows you to keep up with your allies while trying to shield them because they may move away from your shield, and you normally have a reduced movement speed while your shield is deployed, but with this upgrade, this movement speed penalty will basically be completely removed, with possibly a faster movement speed than normal instead. You can use this to move around and exit an area while shielding against incoming enemy attacks, and holding the shield can effectively be used as a way to improve your movement speed, which is easy to do as your shield is easily accessible. Escaping while holding your shield is more possible as well.

Usefulness in Situations

General

More effective against enemies at closer ranges and with his team, due to his weapon and some abilities being less effective at longer ranges and his protective nature.

Reviving Allies

• Use your Juice Cannon while reviving against enemies that are close to you.
• Deploy your Peel Shield in front of you while reviving to make the revive immensely easier and to protect allies behind you, but remember you cannot attack if you do this.
• Activate your E.M.Peach before starting the revive to stun enemies near you and make them unable to attack you momentarily.
• Activate your Navel Laser just before starting a revive as this ability will not be cancelled and you will be able to deal lots of damage to enemies.

Contesting the Objective

• Get close to your enemies and attack them with your Juice Cannon.
• Use your Peel Shield to protect you and your allies behind you as much as possible from enemy attacks.
• Your E.M.Peach can be used to make enemies temporarily unable to attack, buying some time.
• Your Spin Dash can be used to avoid some attacks and deal damage to multiple enemies close to each other.
• Your Navel Laser can be used against enemies for greater damage.

When Abilities are Negated

• Attack enemies near you with Juice Cannon. You cannot use Peel Shield while holding an item.
• Activate E.M.Peach before collecting an item to stop some enemies near you from attacking for a short time.
• Use Navel Laser before collecting an item to deal greater damage to your enemies for a short time.

Tips

• Use your Juice Cannon to take out your enemies, which will be more effective if you are close to your enemies or if they are low health. Remember that you cannot attack and shield at the same time, so try and determine when it is better to attack and when it is better to shield attacks.
• You can use your Peel Shield when you reach low health, if there are multiple allies behind you to protect them or if you need to reload. Your Peel Shield has incredible health and covers a wide area, so make sure to make use of it. You can quickly shield if you see a highly damaging attack coming your way.
• Your E.M.Peach will be most effective against clustered enemies, and when your allies are around, as they will become more vulnerable to attacks. If you activate this ability just before sprinting, you can throw the E.M.Peach further distances, which can help your allies from further distances.
• You can line up and use your Spin Dash against multiple enemies at a time for lots of damage, or you can use it to effectively retreat due to the far distance that it takes you. Your Spin Dash can be used to enter fights or move around the map quite freely as well, so make use of this ability whenever you can.
• Use Navel Laser against a single enemy at a time. You could charge up your Navel Laser while hidden and then leave the cover at maximum charge and use it against enemies to reduce how vulnerable you are and to gives your enemies less time to react.

These are my Citron tips. Thanks for reading!

@TheSprinter85