Chomper: the controversial plant assassin
Ah the chomper, gw and bfn's generally despised character but is he all bad? well kinda?
As @Iron_Guard8 mentioned in another post this is a retread and building on old class discussions.
Is goop really problematic or is it simply his only weapon in a mad world?
Goop is a controversial ability to some and i get it. I'm not really a fan of stuns that take way my control in any shooter.
It's why I got annoyed quickly at overwatch. Regular goop simply prevents zombies from using abilities but they can still roughly move to defend themselves. It deals 5 damage on hit but also deals damage overtime strangely enough.
I can actually see what they were trying with goop in that they wanted players to use it stun zombies for allies to have an easier time to pick them off and ensure that chomper has a way to close the gap to a target and ensure their fate with a swallow. However the problem is that almost everyone uses goop selfishly to ensure kills, its not wrong to use goop this way but it definetly doesn't benefit the team to use it this way.
In fact the game kinda forces you to use it selfishly, let me explain: all the zombies in gw1 due to the nomadic attacking design philosphy all have movement options that prevent them from being easy to steatlh chomp. Soldier has his rocket jump, engineer has his jackhammer, all star has his tackle, and scientist has his warp and healer speed like sunflower. Goop is the only reliable means chomper has to close the gap with his lack of range. Gw2 added to this in that imp is a slippery little guy who has destroyed the jump button on his controller irl and superbrainz is undeniably gw's king of mobility with his twister speed, fast kicks, and jump height that can leap tall building in a single bound.
Its why all chompers with enhanced speed or abilities to close the gap are the best in gw as it overcomes his main weakness. Ironically enough this was spy's biggest problem in tf2 before he was buffed a few years ago to move at 107% speed instead of 100% since he could never close the gap with people of equal speed and medics would simply outrun him. Its the reason chompers best variants powers got used in bfn like hot rod and chompula.
Now head to bfn with grody goop. It has a large radius, slows zombies but doesn't reduce them to a crawl, deals damage to zombies overtime represented by a toxic but can now be healed away by healers.
40 damage will be dealt to them every few seconds as well as dealing 4 damage over time, even when said enemy escapes the cloud. Enemies inflicted with the toxic effect will spread the effect when nearing teammates, dealing 40 damage again and giving them the toxic effect.
I have issues with this: It has an even bigger aoe than gw goop because it can spread between zombies. That makes it more spammable too, since when it spreads that extends the lifespan. By the time that chain runs dry, your next grody goop is ready and with upgrades it can be even more effective.
Plus, there is no risk involved in the ability. It recharges fast and the effects it has last for a long while with 7-12 seconds (upgrades), so you can really just throw it down whenever and you are rewarded for doing so.
It doesn't have any reason to be this powerful, since chomper has a ranged attack for free now and plant team already has plenty of good ways to deal with groups of enemies. It literally does more damage than chomp cannon could in a few seconds. I remember it being a lot more balanced in founders.
That said, the other parts of chomper's kit aren't useful for helping him with groups on his own. If he wants to deal with them usually he must harass zombies while his team is attacking. That way, zombies must focus on him or his team and either way they are at disadvantage if they don't reorganize away from it.
This says it all without words from Mr Jt:
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Spikeweed is a good idea on paper. It's a trap that chomper can place to snare zombies to hold them in place and devour them If he is close by.
Sadly I think gw1 is the only one that got this right. It blends into the environment the best and has a true arm time. It deals 25 damage twice which is enough to * most zombies. In gw1 it also shreds zombie armor.
Gw2 could've been a simple copy paste of gw but they butchered the arm time so it activates the milisecond chomper places it down so rather than a trap it became a instawin button against anyone who is hyper aggresive against chomper such as superbrainz or deadbeard in a barrel as spikeweed forces him out. It baffles me how this was never patched.
Vampweed is awesome though and i can't praise it enough since you can just place and forget and get free heals from a random browncoat yet also losing kill potential as a balanced tradeoff.
And then there's the bfn spikeweed. You can throw it a fair distance to plant it. This isn't a bad idea honestly but the execution is very lacking. The bouncing and arc can make it annoying to get it perfectly where you want it. It's especially aggrevating when you just want to put it down right at your feet. I feel like this would be better if we held the the button to launch it and only press it to simply place it like in gw.
Sadly this wasnt the only change as now spikeweed does 100 damage total why? This is enough to kill an imp even with overheal and a scientist without it. It can put most zombies on life support so was this meant to be the compromise since he can no longer them?
I think I realized what the problem with bfn spikeweeds looks are and thats that the middle portion with the eyes is completely bare dirt and not grassy like it was in gw it just makes it stand out horribly, like its bald and trying to compensate with a comb over.
Slobber shot is a pain. Gw chomper had no ranged options besides goop while gw2 gave him yeti chomper and chomp cannon but both were relatively still mid range options at best. I feel bfn overcorrected this with slobber shot. Chomper having a ranged option is not a bad idea but its far too good. It can deal 41 damage and have splash capabilities and even do 50 on headshots with upgrades. This allows chomper to two shot Imp, deadbeard, TV head and scientist. He only needs 4 shots to kill and all star thats only 1 more than what cactus needs through head shots. It does drop off over a fair distance but due to bfn maps size youve already hit your target. It's far too effective of a ranged weapon for a supposed melee character.
Suicide chomper: deliberate or unlucky?
The most controversial thing is that he often can kamikaze with burrow into an enemy team and ensure one kill before getting vaporized, however ive noticed a lot playing chomper.
When I tried sneaking around the Enemy team i was quite effective at building up vanquish streaks as picking off stragglers with goop and chomp was easy, however, I often found myself finding perfectly vulnerable targets and proceeding to eat them only for another zombie to immediatly round a corner (usually scientist) and fill me full of holes. Similar things happen in tf2 as spy as ill kill a single target than try getting away only for a pyro or scout to round the corner and turn me into swiss cheese.
G&G had a lot of these as camping teleporter entrances was very effective until multiple zombies respawn at once while chewing on another one. Another problem is that i could still being chewing on a fresh victim and they immediatly mash the respawn button to come kick my butt.
Bfn was the exact opposite problem in that since modes outside of turf only have 8 players or less I often found myself looking for the enemy team half the time when trying to flank (what is it with bfn maps being so empty despite not really being big even with 8v8?) , even when I did it was barely a fight as the more powerful bites in bfn can destroy smaller characters or a branium bashers sneezes in my general direction. I found myself having better luck just sniping soldiers to death from range or posioning them. Most of the time I could also just be flanking as another class and the outcome wouldnt really change.
In gw however a common problem always arrived which leads us to the chomp itself:
I think bfn removing back chomps overall was steering the course of the character too far in one direction to try and correct the complaints of backchomps getting players killed through bad timing. I can't tell you enough how many times ive been killed because I swallowed someone over simply chomping them to death than running for it.
Its especially aggravating in gw2 where you've gooped an opponent but they pulled out rodeo, BBB, or the barrel as the only way to not get shot to death is to attack them then from behind but then you end up swallowing their ability and they proceed to beat the tar out of you as your munching down the inedibles.
I agree with many that chomp should be synced to the aim button since all but yeti chomper lack range anyway so it would make sense and would overall cause much less frustration like trying to bite an enemy only to get a chomp that gets cancelled but also cancels your bite. Its why many prefer spray chompers as you no longer have to try and bite multiple times and can just hold the trigger.
This is why I agree with many who say chomper does take skill as its hard to do well as chomper much more to flat out excel as him.
Gw1 vs Gw2 chomper
Chomper balancing is wierd in gw.
Gw1 chomper starts at 150 health which puts himat a disadvantage at first as it allows him to get one shotted by imp punt. He does get a upgrade that raises it 25 points but his gw2 counterpart starts out with 175 and can get a health upgrade on top of that.
Gw2 chompers bites are also alot more generous in hit detection playing gw1&2 back to back is painful because of the needle thread bite detection in 1.
Most things stayed the same ability wise but the armor piercing of spikeweed is gone in 2 and chomper bypassing armor is gone as well. I miss this as gw2 chomper can no longer deal with armor in a simple manner without burrowing. It seems like bfn tried to rectify this with burrow instead just killing everything regardless which i think was a little overkill like with deadbeards barrel, especially since bfn has less armor and anti chomper weapons.
A lot of points are well represented here by chump sizzle: https://youtu.be/wJXBm87olU8
Burrow
Same in gw1 and gw2 although gw1's meter design is superior. Bfn removed the ability to completely hide yourself in the ground of you stopped moving and i feel that was a bad change as it takes away some strategic postioning applications. Bfn also gives burrow a shorter cool down if you dont eat anyone. I know many like this change but it makes it easier to escape with.
It's also the only way to swallow enemies in bfn. Gotta say im not a fan of the new swallow animations. In gw we see chomper completely takes zombies into his mouth than shuts on them. All star for example is halfway in chompers mouth with his legs folded and then gets closed on where as in bfn he stands on chompers mouth with his feet than just kinda gives up and dies somehow?
Bfn chomper can also destroy robozombie with burrow now much like all other armor/heavy zombies. I dont know how to really compromise here as I dislike so easily removing threats yet also reintepreting gw1's armor piercing. I think for some things it shouldn't be an instakill but should either have no swallow penalty, give health for eating it, or stun the zombie to give chomper time to swallow and escape. Its also wierd how his chomp is better than ever but they removed a lot of the things it be viable against and the back chomp.
Wierd chomper facts
Stars in lunchtime to the lab gamemode which started in gw2 and later on bfn where he fought scientist. Ngl I didnt really enjoy it in bfn due to their reworks.
He had an entire scrapped mode in gw1 called chomper virus with two supplies maps in garden center and chomp town.
The zombies in one version of the mode had to roam around the map collecting antivirus to avoid chompification where they would die if they didnt get the antivirus they were still revivable in a short window of time.
The second version had them gathering radio parts so they could call for evacuation.
You can find some modded pc gameplays on youtube.
Extra damage and movement speed effects were added and every zombie that falls adds another chomper, however AI sill supply the initial bulk. Wait a minute? Gw1 had AI plants? Could it have been a potential singleplayer zombie mode then?
It could have been troublesome with abilities but I'd love to see this mode realized someday as a nice take on infected game modes, especially since gw needs more game modes and it propably be more interesting/unique than vanquish confirmed.
Tldr: chomper is wierd. Bfn tried to make him better but imo overcorrected and also removed some of what made the character stand out for better or worse. The mechanics such as armor piercing arent well handled or explained.
Some memes from the internet.
