Character Upgrades Guide: Garden Warfare 2!

CHARACTER UPGRADES

Health Regeneration Delay

Effect: This upgrade decreases the delay for your natural regeneration to begin after you have last taken damage.

Level of Unlock: Recruit (Level 5).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Every character.

Upgrade Stats

You get a 25% reduction to your Health Regeneration Delay while you have this upgrade equipped. There is a special character variant which benefits further with this upgrade, which is mentioned below.

• Health Regeneration Delay (without the upgrade equipped): 6 seconds.
• Health Regeneration Delay (with the upgrade equipped): 4.5 seconds.

Chomp Thing is a special Chomper variant that has an improved natural regeneration rate and a greatly reduced health regeneration delay. The difference in health regeneration delay for Chomp Thing are as follows:

• Health Regeneration Delay (without the upgrade equipped): 1 second.
• Health Regeneration Delay (with the upgrade equipped): 0.75 seconds.

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Benefits: I find that this upgrade pairs well with the Health Regeneration upgrade, as it further enchances your regeneration speed after you prevented taking further damage. I find that this upgrade works well with characters that have lower maximum health, as they can begin to heal sooner and will heal to full health more quickly anyway, due to having a lower maximum health pool. If you can remain in combat without taking damage and can avoid attacks from your enemies quite easily, or your enemies have a slow fire rate, this upgrade can trigger even in combat.

Drawbacks: I find that this upgrade does not pair well with characters with higher maximum health, as it only affects the time before your regeneration initally starts, and your actual regeneration rate will remain the same, making this upgrade nearly redundant. It is the first upgrade that you unlock on your characters, so you will probably want to switch it out for other upgrades when you unlock them, however I would suggest using this upgrade on any character until you unlock enough additional upgrades that you will not be able to equip all upgrades at once.

Additional Notes: On Chomp Thing, this upgrade has an interesting effect. As the health regeneration delay of the character is already low, using this upgrade can further reduce the delay, however it is even hard to notice the effect. Fire damage is dealt every 0.75 seconds and toxic damage is dealt every second, so if afflicted with those debuffs, you actually will not be able to naturally regenerate at all during this time, even with this upgrade. However, this upgrade could be worth using here, as this character is unique in having a greatly reduced regeneration delay. It is your choice!

Upgrade Facts

• This upgrade stacks with being healed, so even if you are being healed by an effect or your ally, you will still receive the reduced natural regeneration delay if you can prevent taking damage, which will allow you to naturally regenerate faster and heal to full health more quickly.
• If you are able to stay in combat and avoid taking damage for long enough, you can actually start naturally regenerating in battle without needing to flee for safe healing. If you can utilise this tactic well, this upgrade could be a great asset to you.
• You may not find this upgrade on healer characters to be as useful, which are Sunflowers and Scientists, compared to other characters, as you can generally heal yourself without requiring natural regeneration or being healed by another source to heal you.

Health Regeneration

Effect: This upgrade increases the rate of your natural regeneration after you have stopped taking damage.

Level of Unlock: Specalist (Level 5).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Every character.

Upgrade Stats

You get a 25% increased health regeneration rate while you have this upgrade equipped. There is a special character variant which benefits further with this upgrade, which is mentioned below.

• Health Regeneration Rate (without the upgrade equipped): 4 health per second (1.75 health per second, while at high HP).
• Health Regeneration Rate (with the upgrade equipped): 5 health per second (2.19 health per second, while at high HP).

Chomp Thing is a special Chomper variant that has an improved natural regeneration rate and a greatly reduced health regeneration delay. The difference in health regeneration delay for Chomp Thing are as follows:

• Health Regeneration Rate (without the upgrade equipped): 7 health per second (3.06 health per second, while at high HP).
• Health Regeneration Rate (with the upgrade equipped): 8.75 health per second (3.83 health per second, while at high HP).

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Benefits: I find that this upgrade works well with the Health Regeneration Delay upgrade, as it allows you to start receiving your enchanced health regeneration more quickly. I find that this upgrade works well on characters with higher maximum health, as it will take much longer for them to heal to full health after taking damage, and the high HP threshold, which is when you lose some of your regeneration rate, will be higher which is good. Once you get behind cover or to a safe spot when you can prevent taking damage, the high regeneration rate is greatly useful.

Drawbacks: I find that this upgrade does not really work well with low health characters, as it will not take as long for them to heal to maximum health anyway, although it could still be useful, as you can take a breather and enter the fray more efficiently. When you unlock this upgrade, I would absolutely recommend using it, although you may find it more beneficial to you to switch this upgrade out when you unlock some more of the upgrades, as you will still be able to naturally regenerate after taking damage completely fine, although it will be at a somewhat slower rate.

Additional Notes: On Chomp Thing, this upgrade is amazing. As this is the only character who has a naturally increased regeneration rate, using this upgrade will improve your high regeneration rate even more, so I absolutely recommend using this upgrade on this character, and it will allow you to survive and return to combat more effectively after taking damage. Torchwood and tank characters will greatly benefit from this upgrade, as they have a huge health pool to heal up. It is your choice whether to retain this upgrade on your characters or not! 

Upgrade Facts

• This upgrade stacks with being healed, so even if you are being healed by an effect or your ally, you will still benefit from the increased natural regeneration rate, which is great for healing you up all the way to full health at a faster rate. 
• You can actually benefit from this increased health regeneration if you are invincible at the time or if you can place yourself in a location where you are unlikely to be hit, improving the regeneration you will receive before you take damage again.
• You may not find this upgrade on healer characters to be as useful, which are Sunflowers and Scientists, compared to other characters, as you can generally heal yourself without requiring natural regeneration or being healed by another source to heal you.

Zoom

Effect: This upgrade reduces your field of view, allowing you to zoom in more accurately.

Level of Unlock: Recruit (Level 9) or Specalist (Level 9).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Every character, apart from close range characters.

Upgrade Stats

You get a 20% reduced field of view while you have this upgrade equipped. There are some characters that benefit further with this upgrade due to having naturally increased zoom, which are mentioned below.

• Zoom Field of View (without the upgrade equipped): 35 degrees.
• Zoom Field of View (with the upgrade equipped): 28 degrees.

Some characters have a naturally increased zoom, which allows them to zoom in further again when using this upgrade. These characters include Camo Cactus, Camo Ranger, Golf Star and Painter (some other characters may have naturally increased zoom as well, which I am unaware about). Camo Cactus gets a 50% reduced zoom field of view, instead of the regular 20%.

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Benefits: I find that this upgrade works well on characters that have increased zoom by default, or on snipers, as this upgrade will effectively improve your accuracy at long range. Snipers and characters that generally tend to attack from long range will benefit well from the increased zoom. You always have the option not to zoom in when you are close to your enemies or if you do not find need to, although if you are able to keep your distance from your enemies, you can use your improved zoom and reduced field of view to become more accurate at a longer range.

Drawbacks: I find that this upgrade does not work well on close and medium range characters. The zoom is almost worthless when attacking at these ranges, and even completely useless on some characters that are limited to close range combat only. Zooming can actually impair your ability in combat, as your turn and movement speed is reduced, along with not being able to see to the sides as much, when you are up close or at medium range from your enemies. It is much better to use the reduced field of view on characters that tend to fight from longer ranges.

Additional Notes: Camo Cactus has a very small field of view of 16 degrees (without the upgrade) or 8 degrees (with the upgrade), giving her a 50% reduced field of view, making this upgrade almost essential on her, due to her very long range nature. There are different characters that have reduced field of view by default, although they will generally only benefit from a 20% reduced field of view. It depends from which range you actually intend to use these characters, however these characters generally benefit from long range combat. The choice is yours to make!

Upgrade Facts

• No Chompers ever receive this upgrade as they are completely limited to close range and zoom will not benefit you in any way. The exception in Yeti Chomper, that is able to zoom due to it being a ranged Chomper, and it does indeed receive this upgrade. I would suggest that you use it, as it is quite interesting to use on a Chomper.
• Super Brainz do actually receive this upgrade, due to them having a ranged attack. It is not very useful, however, due to it only applying to the beam and because Super Brainz is a melee character. Captain Deadbeard absolutely does get this upgrade, although it only ever applies to the sniper weapon, due to the shotgun requiring you to not aim for you to use it.
• You can actually zoom in on some close range characters, such as Chemist, Zoologist and Roadie Z, although this is completely pointless, and you do not get the zoom upgrades for these characters. Characters that do not get the zoom upgrade generally receive some cool or stackable upgrades to make up for the lack of this upgrade.

Speed

Effect: This upgrade improves your general movement speed in all situations.

Level of Unlock: Recruit (Level 9) or Specalist (Level 9).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Every character.

Upgrade Stats

You get a 5% movement speed boost while you have this upgrade equipped. Each character has varied amounts of base speed, with normally faster moving characters moving at a quicker pace, therefore further benefiting with the upgrade.

Characters such as Hot Rod Chomper, Twilight Chomper, Moto-X Star and Breakfast Brainz have the highest base movement speed, so they would benefit more with this upgrade. If your character has an ability that boosts your movement speed, this upgrade will stack with these abilities and will allow you to move even faster. Armored characters have reduced base movement speed compared to their base characters, except for Roadie Z, so this upgrade will have less of an effect on those characters as a result. 

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Benefits: I find that this upgrade works well on characters that have a high base movement speed or on characters that have abilities that improve their movement speed, as the speed increase is much more significant, and it can allow you to chase your enemies, avoid attacks or to retreat. If you want to close the distance on your enemies, this upgrade will allow you to achieve that more easily. The additional speed will allow you to be faster than other characters of the class, and you will benefit from if you are trying to get back into combat or to an objective.

Drawbacks: I find that this upgrade does not work well with armored characters or characters that have a low base movement speed, as the speed upgrade does not provide very much of a movement speed boost overall, to the point where you might not even notice the difference in speed. Snipers do not really need additional speed, as they normally lack mobility anyway and keep distance from enemies. You could use it on those characters if you want to, or if they have abilities that improve movement speed, although it unfortunately will not make much of a difference.

Additional Notes: Hot Rod Chomper actually receives 2 speed upgrades, which can both be equipped to stack the effect and provide additional speed. I recommend using both of these upgrades on this character, as it is the fastest character in the game (tied with Twilight Chomper, although it only gets a single upgrade). Hovergoat-3000 has an ability that improves his movement speed and nearby zombies when activated, which can stack with the additional speed, meaning you can improve your speed even further. All legendary characters have a meter, which when filled, will grant a speed buff, along with other buffs. This upgrade stacks with the additional speed from the legendary meter and you can move around even faster. Choices!

Upgrade Facts

• This additional speed will be useless while you are rooted in position. This upgrade will not be worth using if you often tend to use rooted abilities, such as Pea Gatling, Sunbeam, Big Bolt Blaster or Cannon Rodeo, as you are unable to move around in these forms. 
• This upgrade can be a minor counter to chill and freezing effects. You can still be frozen and slowed down, however this upgrade will reduce your movement speed penalty slightly, which could prevent you from being frozen if you can get to cover.
• As this upgrade stacks with almost any source of movement speed boosts, it is very beneficial if you can utilise abilities and effects that improve your movement speed, as it will allow you to get full use from this upgrade. Having improved movement speed will allow you to dodge enemy attacks more often.

Damage

Effect: This upgrade improves the damage you deal with your primary weapons.

Level of Unlock: Elite (Level 5).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Every character, except elemental characters (not including electric). Toxic characters do recieve this upgrade if they do not have a toxic aura. Some other characters generally lose this upgrade, if they get a replacement upgrade.

Upgrade Stats

You get a 10% damage boost to your primary weapons while you have this upgrade equipped. The damage increase that your characters gain can actually vary, depending on which character, so this increase is not always fixed. Not all characters receive this upgrade, with exceptions including elemental characters and characters that gain unique upgrades will generally lose this upgrade as a result, however electric characters and toxic characters that do not have a toxic aura still receive this upgrade.

This upgrade only applies the damage boost to primary weapons, and it only affects the direct damage of a character (splash damage and extra damage properties of the attack will not be included). However, this upgrade does affect the arc damage of electric characters, which makes this upgrade even more effective against enemy groups when using an electric character. 

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Benefits: I find that this upgrade works well on almost every character that receives this upgrade. Charge-up characters hugely benefit, as it affects their uncharged damage and the overall charged damage, which can equal huge damage buffs. Characters that deal high damage per shot, characters that have a fast rate of fire and electric characters will benefit significantly as well, as the damage of each shot will be buffed, including arc damage if you are an electric character, and the damage being increased further if your primary weapons deal high base damage. 

Drawbacks: I find that while this upgrade is beneficial in many situations, there may be some occassions where it is not as useful. Characters that have significant splash damage does not work as well with this upgrade, as the upgrade only benefits the direct damage aspect, which means you must land a direct hit to gain the additional damage and the added splash damage part on a direct hit will not be benefited. Characters that have significant damage drop off at range will likely not benefit from additional damage when fighting at long range, due to rounding in damage.

Additional Notes: Critical hits will stack with this upgrade, allowing you to deal even higher damage on successful critical hits, which synergises really well with characters that have enhanced critical damage, including Agent Pea and Camo Cactus. Some Chompers and Roadie Z receive 2 damage upgrades, due to lacking some other more common upgrades, which can be stacked to provide even more damage. Nec'Rose is able to jinx enemies, making them take around 75% more damage from all attacks, which stacks with this upgrade. Hovergoat-3000 can buff the damage of their allies, which stacks with this upgrade as well. All legendary characters have a meter, which when filled, often provides additional damage, along with other effects, which stacks with this upgrade as well. This upgrade is great and useful in nearly all situations that you will encounter! It is up to you which characters you decide to use this upgrade on! Plumber only deals 1 more total damage with this upgrade, and only on direct impacts, due to most of its damage being dealt through splash damage, so this upgrade is almost completely useless on him unfortunately.

Upgrade Facts

• This upgrade will apply to both of Captain Deadbeard and Super Brainz's attacks, as they actually have a primary and secondary weapon. They can use either attack at any given time without losing the benefits of this upgrade. The upgrade suits them well and it allows them to have an overall improved damage per second.
• Count Chompula actually receives additional healing, based on the amount of damage upgrades it has equipped. You will heal 62 health per digested enemy (instead of 50) if you equip both damage upgrades. This may not seem like that much of an increase, however it gives the damage upgrade an additional effect on him.
• This upgrade does not apply to abilities, only primary weapons. This is not particularly that large of a problem, although do keep this in mind when you use your abilities for additional damage on your enemies. Your legendary meter and additional damage boosting effects will generally apply to your abilities though!

Health

Effect: This upgrade increases the base maximum health of your character.

Level of Unlock: Super Elite (Level 5).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Every character.

Upgrade Stats

You gain an additional 10 maximum health while you have this upgrade equipped. This amount of bonus health will always be the same on every character, and it will not be affected by the base maximum health of your character. This is the only way to actually improve the maximum health of your character in the game, so using this upgrade will make you more defensive and will allow you to take more damage before you are vanquished. 

The additional maximum health does stack with indirect effects, such as damage reduction effects, healing and natural regeneration, allowing you to essentially take more damage at any given time. It does assist against elemental effects as well, allowing you to sponge the elemental damage more easily.

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Benefits: I find that this upgrade works well on characters that have a low amount of maximum health, as the health increase will be more significant and it will improve your survivability on those characters. This includes healers, supports and high damaging characters, as they are generally more fragile and will benefit from improved health. This upgrade pairs well on characters that have ways to reduce or prevent damage, including legendary characters, which while in legendary mode, you are granted with damage reduction, which will stack with the increased health.

Drawbacks: I find that this upgrade does not work well with characters that have high maximum health, as the health increase will not be as significant and it might not actually benefit you at all in certain situations. This being said, though, Torchwood and some high health characters could benefit, as they can reduce or prevent damage, which stacks with the improved health. Snipers and characters that attack from long range will not particularly benefit from the additional health, as they will generally be located a distance from the enemies and they do not need extra health.

Additional Notes: Armor Chomper actually receives 2 health upgrades, which can both be equipped at the same time to stack the effect and to grant even more additional health. This may not have much of an impact, although equipping one of both of them could be useful for survival, especially when digesting an enemy. Legendary characters will heal to half of their maximum health when their legendary mode activates if they are under half health, so you will actually heal to a higher amount of health if you use this upgrade, and the additional health stacks with damage reduction as well, improving your survivability when using your legendary modes.

Upgrade Facts

• You can pair the additional health with your natural regeneration to have enhanced maximum health in between a fight, however it will take you longer to heal completely. Being healed or having access to healing effects will reduce the time for you to heal to full health.
• This upgrade does stack with damage reduction as well, meaning that if you are using effects or abilities that provide you with damage reduction, the health upgrade is actually going to technically increase your maximum health further during this time. 
• If you are using this upgrade, if you ever find yourself at 10 or less maximum health for any reason, remember that the likely reason that you were not vanquished was due to this upgrade. Appreciate the upgrade for that, it may happen to randomly save you in particular situations.

Ammo

Effect: This upgrade increases the maximum ammo capacity for your primary weapon.

Level of Unlock: Advanced (Level 9).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Most characters that use ammo (not overheat). There are exceptions to this, as not all characters that have ammo actually do receive this upgrade, for various reasons. 

Upgrade Stats

You get a 20% maximum ammo capacity boost to your primary weapon while you have this upgrade equipped. The maximum ammo increase that your characters gain can actually vary, due to rounding, so this increase is not always fixed. Not all characters that use ammo actually recieve this upgrade for various reasons, such as having a low amount of maximum ammo, they get a replacement upgrade, due to the way the character works or even for different reasons.

The upgrade only applies to your primary weapons. There are some abilities that use an ammo system, which will either be automatically consumed as the ability is resolved or it will be manually used, however this upgrade does not work on these abilities and will not increase the ammo capacity of the abilities. 

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Benefits: I find that this upgrade works well on characters that have a high amount of base maximum ammo, and even on most characters that receive the upgrade in general. It will be more beneficial on characters that have high maximum ammo, as the ammo capacity increase will be greater and you can shoot for a long time before you even need to reload at all. You are able to use this upgrade to reduce the frequency of needing to reload, and you will be able to deal higher damage to your enemies in a single clip, effectively providing a small damage increase as well.

Drawbacks: I find that this upgrade does not work well on characters that do not have as much maximum ammo, or if it will take a long time to even burn through your ammo. The maximum ammo capacity increase will not be as significant if your character has less ammo capacity, and you can generally reload manually in between combat if it takes a while to consume all of your current ammo. It may not provide as much of a difference if your character burns through your ammo capacity quickly, although it may still be useful for more damage and sustained fire per clip.

Additional Notes: This upgrade synergises well with burst fire variants, as you will be able to unload additional bursts of fire before each reload, so if your burst fire character receives this upgrade, I would recommend using it. Sun Pharaoh, Pops Corn, Super Commando and Pylon Imp are all burst fire variants, although only the former 2 characters mentioned here do actually receive an ammo upgrade. I would generally suggest using this upgrade on any character that receives this upgrade, as it will benefit you most situations and provides a significant effect for your character.

Upgrade Facts

• Chemist actually receives 2 ammo upgrades, and even gets a reload upgrade as well. Zoologist receives an ammo upgrade as well, despite having 2 reload upgrades. They are both melee characters, so these additional upgrades replace the zoom upgrades, and they all stack and synergise nicely together. Chemist is the only character in the game to receive more than a single ammo upgrade.
• If your character does not receive the ammo upgrade, however it uses the ammo system, they will likely receive 2 reload upgrades to make up for this, which stack together. These could be used together to provide a similar effect, although not the exact same effect, to having increased ammo.
• If your character never overheats and does not use an ammo system, they will receive completely different upgrdes to these mentioned upgrades. This would make sense, as these upgrades have no effect on the character and would never benefit those characters.

Reload

Effect: This upgrade reduces the reload time for your primary weapon.

Level of Unlock: Advanced (Level 5) and sometimes Advanced (Level 9).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Most characters that use ammo (not overheat). Many characters will receive an additional reload upgrade, if they do not receive an ammo upgrade. Each of the upgrades stack to further reduce reload time.

Upgrade Stats

You get a 20% reduced reload time for your primary weapon while you have this upgrade equipped. If you equip 2 reload upgrades at a time, you will have a total of a 36% reduced reload time instead. The potency of this effect can actually vary, as characters have varied reload times. This upgrade only applies when you are using your primary weapon and you are reloading, however it will work when you either manually reload or you automatically have to reload. 

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Benefits: I find that this upgrade works well on characters that have short or average reload times, or on characters that find themselves needing to reload often, as the change in reload time will be significant and you will benefit from the quicker reload more often. It works when you manually reload as well, which is useful if you decide to reload and then get attacked as the process will be quicker. This will benefit with characters that have low ammo and characters that get 2 of these upgrades, as the effect will be more frequent and will prove to be even more useful.

Drawbacks: I find that this upgrade does not work well on characters that already take a long time to reload or on characters that take a while to empty a clip before they need to reload. If your character takes a long time to reload, the change will be helpful, although not that significant. If your character takes a while to empty their clip, you may not find yourself needing to reload in combat often and you should simply be able to reload in between a fight, as well as the quicker reload not activating as often. It could still be useful though in some cases, so the choice is yours!

Additional Notes: You can use this upgrade on nearly all characters that use an ammo system, as it will generally benefit them in some way. It will assist in combat, and could serve as an alternative to ammo. When you have access to 2 reload upgrades on a character, you can stack them for even quicker reload time, although it will cost 2 of the 3 upgrade points, which normally have a significant benefit.

Upgrade Facts

• Zoologist actually receives 2 reload upgrades, while still getting an ammo upgrade as well. Chemist receives a reload upgrade, even though he has 2 ammo upgrades. They are both melee characters, so these additional upgrades replace the zoom upgrades, and all of these upgrades stack and synergise nicely together. Zoologist is the only character in the game to get an ammo upgrade along with 2 reload upgrades.
• If your character never overheats and does not use an ammo system, they will receive completely different upgrdes to these mentioned upgrades. This would make sense, as these upgrades have no effect on the character and would never benefit those characters.
• Captain Squawk is the only character in the game to have the reload and overheat upgrade. This is because he has multiple primary weapons, with his close range attack using an overheat system and his long range attack using an ammo system.

Overheat

Effect: This upgrades increases the amount of time you can fire your primary weapon before it overheats. 

Level of Unlock: Advanced (Level 9).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Characters that have infinite ammo, although are susceptible to overheat. There are limited characters and attacks that have infinite ammo, although they will not overheat, so they will not receive this upgrade.

Upgrade Stats

You get a longer firing time for your primary weapon before you overheat while you have this upgrade equipped. The amount of additional firing time before you overheat with this upgrade depends on which character you are using, as the time duration increase varies significantly. In general situations, however, the longer time before overheating is significant and will allow you to fire for much longer. This upgrade will benefit you when you take short pauses while shooting, as you will further improve your firing time as a whole before you end up possibly overheating.

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Benefits: I find that this upgrade works well on almost any character that is able to receive this upgrade. The time before you actually overheat is generally significant, and it will almost always be useful to you in combat, even if you tend to take small pauses constantly. Taking small pauses and using this upgrade will allow you to continue firing your weapon for a very long time, so pause shooting when there are no enemies you can deal damage to at the time. You will still be unable to shoot for a while if you overheat, so try your best not to overheat where possible.

Drawbacks: I find that this upgrade does not work well on characters that overheat really quickly, or on Super Brainz variants. The improved overheat time will not provide a significant increase to overheat time and you will generally still overheat quite fast. For Super Brainz, this upgrade only applies to the ranged beam attack, which is not as powerful as their melee attacks, which never overheat. The beams overheat very fast as well, so this upgrade is not going to provide a significant difference, and you will still likely overheat anyway, even if taking pauses.

Additional Notes: Torchwood will never overheat while using Smoldering Madness, and activating the ability while you have overheated will completely reset the overheat, meaning that this upgrade is not as useful. It will still be beneficial in general situations when you are using your primary weapon, so you can decide whether to equip it or not. Breakfast Brainz can actually overheat with his melee attack if he continues attacking for a long time without a pause. It takes a very long time to overheat his punches already, although this upgrade is very beneficial as he will take even longer, and will additionally increase the overheat for his ranged attack slightly. Characters that have infinite ammo and that never overheat will not receive this upgrade.

Upgrade Facts

• This upgrade provides one of the most significant bonuses in the game. There are some characters that get more than a 50% increase to their firing time before they overheat, which means that this upgrade is very powerful and has a great impact.
• If your character uses an ammo system, they will receive completely different upgrades. This would make sense, as this upgrade has no effect on the character and would never benefit those characters.
• Captain Squawk is the only character in the game to have the overheat and reload upgrade. This is because he has multiple primary weapons, with his close range attack using an overheat system and his long range attack using an ammo system.

Overheat Penalty

Effect: This upgrade reduces the amount of time after you overheat before you can use your primary weapon again.

Level of Unlock: Advanced (Level 5).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Characters that have infinite ammo, although are susceptible to overheat. There are limited characters and attacks that have infinite ammo, although they will not overheat, so they will not receive this upgrade.

Upgrade Stats

You get a 20% reduced duration before you are able to use your primary weapon again after you overheat while you have this upgrade equipped. Some characters will not receive this upgrade if they gain a replacement upgrade. This effect will not reduce the heat on your weapon if you stop firing, it will only apply when you have actually overheated. Since this is the case, it will only assist you in certain situations, although it will reduce the amount of time that you are left vulnerable in a fight, if you have overheated.

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Benefits: I find that this upgrade works well with characters that tend to overheat quickly, or if you struggle to control the overheat of your character. Some characters may overheat quickly, although if this is the case, they will generally have a reduced overheat penalty, so use this upgrade alongside and you will be able to start firing again more quickly. This upgrade will be useful as well if your overheat penalty duration is quite long, as this upgrade will significantly reduce the penalty and you will be able to start firing your weapon again more efficiently. 

Drawbacks: I find that this upgrade works well if you are actually able to prevent your character from overheating often, which will especially be the case if you use the other overheat upgrade. As this upgrade will only apply once you actually overheat, it will not come into effect until you have actually overheated, and you will still be left vulnerable if you overheat during combat, although not for as long. Super Brainz will not really benefit either, as this upgrade only applies to their beam attacks and the overheat penalty is still many seconds before it can be used again.

Additional Notes: Torchwood will never overheat while using Smoldering Madness, and activating the ability while you have overheated will completely reset the overheat, meaning that this upgrade is not as useful. It will still benefit you if you overheat in general combat, so whether to use this upgrade or not is your choice. Baseball Star has a very quick overheat time, although his overheat penalty is very short, so using this upgrade is excellent on this character, to take advantage of this mechanic. Characters that have infinite ammo and that never overheat will not receive this upgrade.

Upgrade Facts

• Any Chomper that can overheat actually does not receive this upgrade, although they still receive the regular overheat upgrade. Captain Squawk does not receive this upgrade either, as he instead gets a reload upgrade, which assists for his long range weapon.
• While this upgrade and its use is relatively situational, you can actually deliberately get more use out of it. Rather than trying to take pauses while firing to prevent overheat, instead, when you are in combat, you can deliberately shoot until you overheat, and you will trigger the reduced penalty effect more often.
• If your character uses an ammo system, they will receive completely different upgrades. This would make sense, as this upgrade has no effect on the character and would never benefit those characters.

The upgrades are to be continued in the next post below. This post was too long, so this guide had to be made in 2 parts. I will be covering the less common upgrades there!

CHARACTER UPGRADES (CONTINUED)

These are the less common upgrades.

Fire

Effect: This upgrade increases the amount of fire damage that you deal to enemies.

Level of Unlock: Elite (Level 5).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Fire elemental characters only. 

Every character has a fire variant (except for Citron and Super Brainz). The fire variant of every character will receive the fire upgrade (instead of the damage upgrade).

Basic Effects of Fire Damage

Fire elemental characters deal additional fire damage to their enemies whenever they deal any damage with their primary weapons. The fire damage deals 5 instances of 4 damage over 3.75 seconds, with each tick of fire damage having a delay of 0.75 seconds. This will deal a total of 20 additional fire damage to enemies when you deal damage to an enemy, however hitting an enemy already on fire will reset the fire effect and it will not stack. The fire effect will always be applied when dealing damage, and this is unaffected by the amount of damage that you deal. Effects such as splash damage and penetration will still trigger fire damage. Enemies will be unable to regenerate naturally while being inflicted with fire damage. As a cost to this bonus fire damage, fire characters generally have a lower damage per second and deal less damage to enemies when compared to their regular counterparts.

Upgrade Stats

You deal 25% increased fire damage to your enemies while you have this upgrade equipped. It will not improve the time the fire damage lasts or deal the fire damage at a quicker rate, although the increased fire damage will enhance your fire elemental damage as a whole.

This is your fire damage per tick:

• Fire Damage Per Tick (without the upgrade equipped): 4 damage.
• Fire Damage Per Tick (with the upgrade equipped): 5 damage.

This is your total fire damage:

• Total Fire Damage (without the upgrade equipped): 20 damage.
• Total Fire Damage (with the upgrade equipped): 25 damage.

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Tips: This upgrade is useful on any fire character, as it is exclusive to those characters only and it improves their unique fire effect to deal more damage to enemies. You should attempt to spray your attacks to hit multiple different enemies at once, spreading your fire damage and to greatly improve the fire damage that you are dealing. The primary weapons of fire characters work differently, however you can use the fast rate of fire, splash damage, penetration or different effects to improve your fire potential, so that you can be constantly be dealing fire damage to multiple enemies at a time. You can play fire characters at any range, as even having damage dropoff will retain the fire effect, meaning you can keep your distance from enemies. Fire characters can be played with a supportive nature, to deal additional damage to your enemies so that you and your allies are able to vanquish affected enemies more easily. This upgrade is great on any fire character, as it provides the characters with a direct upgrade and improves the total damage that your fire characters are able to deal to your enemies.

Additional Notes: Captain Flameface is able to stack his total fire damage, normally fire damage is reset when an enemy is hit by a different fire attack, however as Captain Flameface has 2 primary weapons which each deal fire damage, you can hit your enemy or enemies with each primary weapon at least once each to stack the fire damage and to enhance his total fire potential. You are required to be at close range to your enemies to achieve this, however, as one of his primary weapons are limited to close range only. The Drake Mech for Lil' Drake deals a total of 5 damage per tick for 3 seconds (which is effectively the same effect, but reversed, so it is more damage over less time). Torchwood can deal fire damage when he hits an enemy with Blazin' Blast or Smoldering Madness, however Torchwood does not receive this upgrade (he does get the damage upgrade instead).

Toxic

Effect: This upgrade increases the range of your toxic aura.

Level of Unlock: Elite (Level 5).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Toxic elemental characters only, except for Druid Rose, Toxic Citron and Sanitation Expert.

Every toxic character receives this upgrade (except Druid Rose and Sanitation Expert as they do not have a toxic aura. Toxic Citron does not have a toxic aura while in ball form, however he does not get this upgrade anyway. This upgrade replaces the damage upgrade, however characters that do not have a toxic aura will still get that upgrade.

Basic Effects of Toxic Damage

Toxic elemental characters deal additional toxic damage to their enemies whenever they deal any damage with their primary weapons, as well as having a toxic aura, which instantly inflicts the toxic effect on enemies that get close to you while they remain close. The toxic aura deals 1-3 damage per second, depending on proximity to you, while they are near you. The toxic effect that you deal to enemies when you hit them with your primary weapon deals 3 instances of 2 damage over 3 seconds, with each tick of toxic damage having a delay of 1 second. This will deal a total of 6 additional toxic damage to enemies when you deal damage to an enemy, not including toxic aura, although hitting an enemy already afflicted with the toxic effect will reset the toxic effect and it will not stack.

This toxic effect will always be applied while near an enemy or when you deal damage to them, and this is unaffected by the amount of damage you are dealing. Effects such as splash damage and blast damage will still trigger toxic damage. Enemies will be unable to regenerate naturally while being inflicted with toxic damage. As a cost to this bonus toxic damage, toxic characters generally have a lower damage per second and deal less damage to enemies when compared to their regular counterparts. Your toxic damage that you deal to enemies can spread to their allies if they get close to each other while inflicted with the toxic effect, making this elemental effect excellent against enemy groups and for additional supportive damage.

The toxic aura will be applied to enemies while they are within 7m of you. When this toxic aura is activated, they will take damage per second depending on how close they are to you.

The amount of damage per second will depend on proximity of you:

• 3 damage per second while within 4m or closer to you.
• 2 damage per second while within 4-8m of you.
• 1 damage per second while within 8-12m of you.

When an enemy was inflicted with the toxic effect from your toxic aura and they move 12m or further away from you, the effect will be immediately removed, and they must get within 7m of you before this effect will even trigger again. This same mechanic applies to spreading toxic damage between the enemies you affect and their allies.

Upgrade Stats

You gain a 10% to your toxic aura while you have this upgrade equipped. It will only improve the range of your toxic aura, and it will only apply to the range to actually trigger your toxic aura effect. The upgrade does not work when your enemies spread the toxic effect to each other, it does not improve the total range of your toxic aura radius once you have triggered the toxic aura on an enemy and it does not improve the amount of toxic damage you are dealing. In other words, this upgrade is only useful when trying to initially inflict an enemy with your toxic aura.

This is your toxic aura trigger radius:

• Toxic Aura Radius (without the upgrade equipped): 7 meters.
• Toxic Aura Radius (with the upgrade equipped): 7.7 meters.

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Tips: Unfortunately this upgrade is close to being worthless. It only benefits your toxic aura, and only when initially applying your toxic aura. This being said, it is exclusive to toxic characters that have a toxic aura, so it could be worth using in some cases. It will be most effective on eligible characters that benefit further from attacking enemies at close range, or if your character is almost completed limited to close range combat, as you can trigger this toxic aura often and more efficiently, and your enemy will continue to take damage while you remain up close and continue to attack them. There are abilities that allow you to retain your toxic aura while using them, such as Energy Warp or Barrel Blast, so you can easily get up close to your enemies and be inflicting the toxic aura while being resistant or immune to damage. If you engage up close with a group of enemies, you can more easily inflict the toxic aura on those enemies and maintain toxic damage on them for longer. If you are in combat and are close to an enemy, you could use cover to inflict the toxic aura more easily while avoiding enemy attacks. This upgrade is not great overall, although it can have its uses in certain scenarios.

Additional Notes: Toxic Brainz has an increased range for his toxic aura while he has his legendary mode, so this upgrade will stack and improve the range of his aura further and could be useful if you are not sure what to equip for an upgrade, which is especially useful as he specalises in attacking up close. Toxic Citron does not receive this upgrade, even though he does have a toxic aura, as he gets different replacement upgrades, although the toxic effect does not apply while he is in ball form. If your character has 2 primary weapons, you have 3 ways of dealing toxic damage, through toxic aura and each of the primary weapons. The toxic effect will still apply and is able to benefit from this upgrade when you are using abilities, however there are small exceptions such as Citron Ball.

Ice

Effect: This upgrade decreases the amount of shots from your primary weapon required to freeze enemies.

Level of Unlock: Elite (Level 5).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Ice elemental characters only.

Every ice character receives this upgrade. The ice variant of every character will receive the ice upgrade (instead of the damage upgrade). 

Basic Effects of Ice

Ice elemental characters are able to slow and freeze enemies by dealing damage to them with their primary weapon. Every shot you land on an enemy will slow them down further until they are frozen, the slowing will reduce their movement speed and the freeze will stop them completely, making them completely unable to move or shoot. When you freeze an enemy, the freeze will last for 2.1 seconds and there will be a 10 second cooldown before you are able to freeze that enemy again. The amount of shots required to freeze an enemy depends on the fire rate of a character, characters with a faster rate of fire will require more shots before they are frozen. The freezing and slowing effect interacts differently with different ice characters, if multiple of the same ice character is attacking an enemy, each shot of either of the same ice character will count toward freezing the enemy, although different ice characters will not have their ice effect stacked, however they can each freeze the enemy once each before they have to wait the freeze cooldown. As a cost to this additional ice effect, ice characters generally have a lower damage per second and deal less damage to enemies when compared to their regular counterparts. 

Upgrade Stats

You gain a 20% faster freeze rate while you have this upgrade equipped. You will require less hits on your enemies before you successfully freeze them, and it will reduce your time to freeze as well. Each successful shot you land on your shot will slow them down more than normal, as you will be freezing them more quickly, which will be great as you can quickly slow them before they have time to escape. This upgrade will not improve the time that your enemy is frozen for or reduce the cooldown before you can freeze affected enemies again. The amount of shots that are reduced before you freeze an enemy and the rate of slowdown with this upgrade depends on which character you are using, as the amount of shots to freeze an enemy varies with each character.

Upgrade Tips and Suggestions

Tips: This upgrade is useful on any ice character, as it is exclusive to those characters only and it improves upon their unique ice effect further to make your enemies more vulnerable. You should focus on a specific enemy at a time, as consistently suppressing them will freeze them more quickly, will reduce their chances of escaping from you before you freeze them, and force the enemy to be completely vulnerable to attacks from you or your allies for a short time. You can repeat the process on a different enemy after you freeze an enemy to basically ignore the cooldown before you can freeze the same enemy again. The primary weapon of ice characters work differently, however you can use splash damage, fast rate of fire or different effects to improve your freeze efficiency. You can use ice characters from any range, as even having damage dropoff with retain the ice effect, meaning you can keep your distance from enemies. Ice characters can be played with a supportive nature, to make enemies vulnerable to attacks from you and all allies. This upgrade is great on any ice character, as it provides the characters with a direct upgrade and improves the potency and efficiency of your ice effects.

Additional Notes: Frost Rose is able to charge her shots which will actually slow enemies down significantly if hit by a charged shot, almost instantly freezing them, and you can stack this effect with this upgrade for even better results. AC Perry will get a point toward freezing an enemy if hit by either a direct or splash hit, although different ice characters with splash damage will get 2 points if a direct hit is landed on them. Yeti Chomper will get the damage upgrade as well as this upgrade, which you could use together, or simply focus on this upgrade, so that you can slow your enemies as you approach and then you can digest them. Freezing an enemy will make them vulnerable to your abilities which deal high damage, so use this upgrade to freeze them faster and set them up for an ability vanquish.

Digestion

Effect: This upgrade decreases the amount of time to digest an enemy.

Level of Unlock: It depends on the character.

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Chompers only.

Upgrade Stats

You gain a 20% faster digestion time while you have this upgrade equipped. Many of the Chompers actually receive 2 of these upgrades, which can be stacked together to further reduce digestion time to a 36% faster digestion time. This is useful for a Chomper in many situations, as digesting them more quickly will improve your survivability and you will not be left vulnerable for as long.

This is your time to digest an enemy:

• Digestion Time (without the upgrade equipped): 4 seconds.
• Digestion Time (with the upgrade equipped): 3.2 seconds.
• Digestion Time (with both of the upgrades equipped): 2.56 seconds.

This upgrade is useful on Chompers that receive benefits for digesting an enemy, such as Hot Rod Chomper, Count Chompula and Disco Chomper, and using both of the upgrades will provide a greater effect. It will trigger your effects more quickly, and this upgrade will not leave you vulnerable for as long when you are in the process of digesting your enemy. It is useful on all Chompers, although you should decide which Chom

Homing

Effect: This upgrade improves the homing potential of your primary weapon.

Level of Unlock: Advanced (Level 9).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Roses only.

Upgrade Stats

You gain a 25% improved homing range and a 50% lock on angle increase while you have this upgrade equipped. The homing range improves the range that your projectiles will home into targeted enemies and the lock on angle is the angle that the enemy must be within for the homing to activate on the enemy. In an overall note, this upgrade improves your homing potential and allows you to benefit further from the homing. 

This is your homing range:

• Homing Range (without the upgrade equipped): 45 meters.
• Homing Range (with the upgrade equipped): 56.25 meters.

This is your lock on angle:

• Lock On Angle (without the upgrade equipped): 1.5 degrees.
• Lock On Angle (with the upgrade equipped): 2.25 degrees.

This will apply to your charge up shots as well, which benefits from the homing. You must be aiming toward the enemy to trigger the homing and you need to be about 7m or further from the enemy for your homing to actually trigger. This upgrade is useful on all Roses, as the homing is a significant part of their primary weapon and the improved homing makes it easier to deal damage to enemies and to keep your distance from your enemies.

Super Meter

Effect: This upgrade requires you to earn less vanquishes, digestions or punches before filling your legendary meter.

Level of Unlock: Elite (Level 5).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Legendary characters only. Only some legendary characters receive this upgrade at that though, with none of the party characters receiving this upgrade. The legendary characters that receive this upgrade include:

• Disco Chomper.
• Iron Citron.
• Computer Scientist.
• Toxic Brainz.

Upgrade Stats

Your meter gets filled further when you earn a vanquish, or if you digest or land punches on an enemy, depending on your character, while you have this upgrade equipped. The significance of this effect actually varies, as the legendary meters vary between characters and they generally require different conditions to fill your meter. Vanquishing hero enemies will fill up your meter more than weeds, browncoats and summonables will, however the upgrade increases the fill rate of each to an extent. 

Upgrade Tips

This upgrade is similar between each of the legendary characters that actually obtain it, however it has some differences between each character depending on how you fill your legendary meter. 

Computer Scientist and Iron Citron require direct vanquishes to fill your meter, so shared vanquishes do not count, and vanquishing enemy heroes will actually give you more of your meter, compared to vanquishing weeds, browncoats and summonables. It normally takes 10 total vanquishes on summonables or 5 total vanquishes on heroes to get your meter filled, although this upgrade will not quite reduce the requirement to 4 heroes, although you can vanquish 4 heroes and a summonable to fill your meter if you use this upgrade.

Disco Chomper requires you to successfully digest enemies to fill your meter, and it will normally take you 5 total digestions on summonables or 4 total vanquishes on heroes to get your meter filled, although this upgrade will not quite reduce the requirement to 3 heroes, although you can vanquish 3 heroes and a summonable to fill your meter if you use this upgrade. 

Toxic Brainz requires you to successfully land 15 punches on enemies to fill your meter. This will work on heroes and summonables, and you can actually punch multiple enemies at a time if they are close enough to your fists, in which case each individual punch will contribute to your meter. This upgrade will reduce this requirement to 10 successful punches to fill your meter.

This upgrade has varying degrees of usefulness on the eligible legendary characters. Unfortunately, this upgrade does not have much of an impact on Computer Scientist, Iron Citron and Disco Chomper, as it will only fill faster if you manage to vanquish or digest a summonable instead of another hero. I would still recommend using this upgrade on these characters, as this upgrade is only available on a single other character and it boosts their legendary status by allowing you to fill their meter more quickly, so vanquish a summonable in a match if you get the chance to fill your meter faster. Toxic Brainz is excellent with this upgrade, and this upgrade should be your top piority on him, as it will require less punches to get your insanely powerful meter filled, and you can punch any sort of enemies to fill it, including grouped enemies. Just remember that using your beam on enemies will have no effect on your meter, even if you get a vanquish with it.

Penetrate

Effect: This upgrade allows you to penetrate an additional enemy with your primary weapon.

Level of Unlock: Advanced (Level 9)

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Characters with primary weapons that has penetration only. The characters are as follows:

• Mob Cob.
• Camo Cactus.
• Camo Ranger.
• Captain Flameface.

Upgrade Stats

Your primary weapon is able to penetrate an additional enemy while you have this upgrade equipped. This upgrade will only allow you to penetrate up to 1 additional enemy with each shot, although this is a significant difference as these characters are already able to naturally penetrate through additional enemies. These characters generally lose damage for each enemy they penetrate, although it allows you to shoot enemies hiding behind their allies. You can shoot through allies for 1 penetration point with these characters, although your allies will not take damage and you will deal less damage to enemies with shots that you have already penetrated. The penetration points for each character are as follows:

Mob Cob and Camo Ranger:

• Penetration Points (without the upgrade equipped): 2 enemies (or allies).
• Penetration Points (with the upgrade equipped): 3 enemies (or allies).

Camo Cactus and Captain Flameface

• Penetration Points (without the upgrade equipped): 4 enemies (or allies).
• Penetration Points (with the upgrade equipped): 5 enemies (or allies).

Upgrade Tips

This upgrade improves your penetration capabilities for characters that have penetration. Penetration is not something that will be useful that often, however, as enemies are not always going to be lined up for you to penetrate through and you lose damage for each enemy that you penetrate through. This being said, it could actually be useful in some situations, especially in circumstances and game modes where your enemies are generally grouped up. You will benefit further from this upgrade if you would like to hide behind your allies and shoot through, or if you do not want your allies blocking your shots. This upgrade will be more useful on Mob Cob and Camo Ranger, as they have a lower penetration score and this upgrade will provide a more significant difference, along with the penetration being a fairly large part of their kit, although having this upgrade on Camo Cactus and Captain Flameface could still be useful, as you can land critical hits on additional enemies, or inflict fire damage on additional enemies a time, depending on the character that you are using. This upgrade has its uses, and I would recommend it since no other characters receive this upgrade anyway, although in an overall sense, the additional effect it provides is very situational and may not end up being all that useful to you.

Damage Radius

Effect: This upgrade increases the radius of your spore clouds.

Level of Unlock: Advanced (Level 9).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Characters with primary weapons that leave spore clouds on impact. The characters are as follows:

• Alien Flower.
• Toxic Citron.
• Park Ranger.

Upgrade Stats

Your spore clouds from your primary weapon will have an improved radius while you have this upgrade equipped. The spore clouds created from your primary weapons will have an approximately 15% improved radius, which allows you to cover a larger area with your spore clouds and to improve the overall lingering damage dealt to your enemies through your spore clouds. The radius of your spore clouds will  depend on the character that you are using, as their spore clouds have different amounts of radius, depending on the character.

• Alien Flower has a 3 meter spore cloud radius (3.3 metres when using this upgrade). 
• Toxic Citron has a 2.5 meter spore cloud radius (2.72 metres when using this upgrade).
• Park Ranger has a 2 meter spore cloud radius (2.15 metres when using this upgrade).

Upgrade Tips

This upgrade is really useful on all of the eligible characters, as it improves your spore clouds as a whole. Limited characters actually receive this upgrade, so I recommend using this upgrade on every character that is able to receive this upgrade. It may not seem that useful, although you can use this upgrade to deny areas or to deal with enemy groups more easily. This upgrade provides a direct upgrade to your spore clouds, which will improve the potential of your spore clouds. Use it with the Explosion Life upgrade for an awesome combo and more spore cloud upgrades.

Explosion Life

Effect: This upgrade increases the time that your spore clouds linger for.

Level of Unlock: Elite (Level 5).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Characters with primary weapons that leave spore clouds on impact. The characters are as follows:

• Alien Flower.
• Toxic Citron.
• Park Ranger.

Upgrade Stats

Your spore clouds from your primary weapon will have an increased duration while you have this upgrade equipped. The spore clouds created from your primary weapons will last 25% longer, which allows your spore clouds to last longer and deal more overall damage to your enemies. Due to this improved duration of the spore clouds, you can effectively have more spore clouds out at once, provided that you continue shooting without needing to reload, and you can cover more areas with additional spore clouds, due to each spore clouds having an improved duration.

This is your spore cloud duration:

• Spore Cloud Duration (without the upgrade equipped): 2 seconds.
• Spore Cloud Duration (with the upgrade equipped): 2.5 seconds.

Upgrade Tips

This upgrade is really useful on all of the eligible characters, as it improves your spore clouds as a whole. Limited characters actually receive this upgrade, so I recommend using this upgrade on every character that is able to receive this upgrade. It may not seem that useful, although you can use this upgrade keep your spore clouds out for longer and to improve the total lingering damage that you are able to deal to your enemies. This upgrade provides a direct upgrade to your spore clouds, which will improve the potential of your spore clouds. Use it with the Damage Radius upgrade for an awesome combo and more spore cloud upgrades.

Vampiric

Effect: This upgrade improves the health you gain per successful shot on an enemy.

Level of Unlock: Elite (Level 5).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Vampire Flower.

Upgrade Stats and Tips

You gain more health per successful shot that you land on an enemy while you have this upgrade equipped. You will heal about 25% more health per shot when using this upgrade. Only Vampire Flower receives this upgrade, which is a life steal character who will gain health back if successfully dealing damage to an enemy. This healing is unaffected by the amount of damage that you deal to an enemy.

This is your health gain per successful shot, rounded accordingly as these figures are not exact:

• Health Gain (without the upgrade equipped): 3 health.
• Health Gain (with the upgrade equipped): 4 health.

I absolutely recommend using this upgrade, as only Vampire Flower receives this upgrade and it improves your life steal effect further, which is useful in many situations, as you actually have the least health out of any plant in the game. You can attack enemies that are easier to hit for easier lifesteal, and using the life steal effect in a 1v1 situation will mean you will likely win the battle if you can land your shots, especially if you use this upgrade. You still have decent health gain without the upgrade, although why not use this upgrade? It gives your Vampire Flower a direct upgrade! Absolutely worth using in my opinion! 

Sonar

Effect: This upgrade improves the duration that the sonar effect lasts.

Level of Unlock: Advanced (Level 9).

Characters That Receive This Upgrade: Scuba Soldier.

Upgrade Stats and Tips

You are able to identify enemies behind walls and natural cover while you have this upgrade equipped. You will have a 50% improved duration of your sonar effect whenever you trigger it when using this upgrade. Only Scuba Soldier receives this upgrade, which is a sonar character who be able to identify enemies behind walls or natural cover whenever your shots make contact with an enemy or surface. Receiving this sonar effect is unaffected by the amount of damage that you deal to an enemy.

This is your sonar length duration:

• Sonar Duration (without the upgrade equipped): 3 seconds.
• Sonar Duration (with the upgrade equipped): 4.5 seconds.

I absolutely recommend using this upgrade, as only Scuba Soldier receives this upgrade and it allows you to make further use from your sonar effect, which will make it easier to track and chase enemies if they try to escape. This upgrade will become even more useful to you if able to communicate with your friends or allies, as you can give away the location of your enemies and track then down as a team. It gives your Scuba Soldier a direct upgrade! Absolutely worth using in my opinion! Probably is not the greatest upgrade to use, although as it is exclusive to a single character and you still are able to use different decent upgrades, I would save a slot for this upgrade, as it is useful in every mode!

The conclusion is in the next post!

All of the upgrades have now been covered. Did you know about all of these upgrades, or did you learn something new regarding these upgrades? There are some things that need to be addressed regarding the upgrades. There is a possibility that some characters did not receive the upgrades you expect, due to upgrade clashes or due to them having a different playstyle that does not suit those upgrades as well. A minor amount of this information that I have provided here may not be correct due to changes or mistakes. Z-Mechs never benefit from any of these upgrades, so only the base Imps will actually benefit from them, so ensure to keep this in mind when equipping upgrades for your Imp. Chemist actually gets negative health regeneration if you use this upgrade, probably due to a bug, so never use this upgrade unless you want a challenge.

I used some sites to assist in gathering the information for this guide. I will link these below, which you can check for more information on these upgrades if you wish:

• https://gw2-stats.netlify.app/ (this site gives information to upgrade boost stats, and character stats as well).
• https://plantsvszombies.fandom.com/wiki/Upgrades_(PvZ:_GW2) (this gives an insight to how upgrades work and what the effects of the upgrades do).

Hopefully, this massive guide allowed you to learn some more about the character upgrades. The upgrades are not talked about too much in Garden Warfare 2, and generally less information is known about their exact effects or stat changes. This guide is something that you will be able to refer back to in the future if you are deciding which upgrades you want to equip on your character.

Ultimately, it is the choice of the player for which upgrades work on which character. The recommendations that I have made in this guide is entirely based on my opinion, and you are not forced to equip any specific upgrades on characters at any point.

Anyway, I hope this guide provided interesting information!

That is it for now!

@TheSprinter85 

@TheSprinter85 

Bit of a tome to get through, but that said. An impressive piece of work and - I might add - an incredibly useful tool for someone like me who only plays GW2.

Thanks for that. It's great.

Thanks - I do appreciate that feedback! 

I did have to split this guide into multiple different parts, due to how large the guide ended up becoming, so apologies if it takes ages to get through the whole guide. I always tend to make use of the character upgrades that are available in Garden Warfare 2, including the rarer upgrades, and I always found it hard to find information on exactly what the upgrades do and how significant of a change or addition they add to a character. I used this guide to give others information on concepts that might be hard to come across regarding the character upgrades, or to give me more information on exactly how the character upgrades work, which allowed me to learn a lot more about the upgrades as well.

No worries. I read the whole thing through the other day, but in future, as I only play a fixed set of characters anyway, I can pick and choose from yr suggestions and recommendations and apply what I find most helpful to me.

Through the years I have copied walk-throughs of Boss Hunts, tips on gameplay and now this, yr Character Guide, just in case EA do intend re-juvenating the game, so really appreciate this tremendous effort of yours. Brilliant stuff. So thanks again.

I really do hope that EA does decide to update the game in the future, or alternatively, if they add some of the old events back into the town hall (I have no idea why they were discontinued). This game is still quite popular, which is why EA should continue providing the community with updates. If this was not an option, hopefully a new shooter could be made in future which would add new content and expand on existing content. Battle for Neighborville (BFN) ended up being cancelled and no longer receiving updates, so an update to this game or a new PvZ Garden Warfare shooter game would be great to see in future.

It was great fun learning about the "secret" gimmicks that the upgrades provide, especially the less known upgrades.

Re the "secret gimmicks". Absolutely! Despite having played the game since it came out and being a Max ranker in two of my three accounts (.....this is an embarrassing admission!) some of your upgrade commentary was new to me, so it was definitely worth the read.

As regards a possible GW3 (rather than a BfN2). Although there are aspects of BfN that could be transferred to an upgraded version of Garden Warfare I do find the game a regression in so many aspects of gameplay when compared to the GW series.....but of course opinions will undoubtedly differ on that one.

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@ManicMossie wrote:

Re the "secret gimmicks". Absolutely! Despite having played the game since it came out and being a Max ranker in two of my three accounts (.....this is an embarrassing admission!) some of your upgrade commentary was new to me, so it was definitely worth the read.

As regards a possible GW3 (rather than a BfN2). Although there are aspects of BfN that could be transferred to an upgraded version of Garden Warfare I do find the game a regression in so many aspects of gameplay when compared to the GW series.....but of course opinions will undoubtedly differ on that one.

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I just hit 3k on my GW2 play time but 3 accounts is dedication!

And Agreed, we need a GW3 as while I don't hate BfN like some do, and some ideas the game adds are great, it just isn't as fun as GW2 and has more issues than GW2 does on top of that. I keep eyes on here, the reddit, and Twitter for news on a new PvZ shooter, but still nothing. We really need a new one, and the sooner the better.

As always @TheSprinter85 thanks for the info! Glad you're still around and posting!

Thanks @Iron_Guard8 . Those accounts were the result of having (finally) been able to complete the Trials of Gnomus, and being so surprised that I actually managed to complete one that I had to try and do another one just to make sure that it wasn't a freak one-off piece of luck. Did the second and the third one, but never managed to max rank my last account before BfN came along.

 

I'm definitely far from hating BfN, but that said, I was doing my level best at being diplomatic recogninzing that a lot of people enjoy the game..........on afterthought, I suppose that they wouldn't be on the "Other Plants vs Zombies Games" portal anyway, so I could have been less so.