Class Discussion: Citron
We arrive at Citrons as I rotate from zombie to plant in our class discussion journey. Citron has changed a LOT in BfN, so the layout will be a little different from the others.
Citrons were extremely obnoxious to deal with in GW2 for a long time, at least the beam versions anyway. They could hide most of their bulk behind a rock while using their beam at extreme range and were better at sniping than Cacti or Captain Deadbeards; Frozen Citrons were especially egregious as even if they didn’t take you out, they left you frozen and vulnerable for other plants to do so. Electro-Cirtron got nerfed a bit too much and is generally considered to be a weaker variant along with Toxic Citron (although Toxic is my favorite Citron variant regardless of that). With the changes to their damage at range, I feel they overdid it a bit, but Citron is still a decent character in GW2, even if some people just stay in ball form and just drive around like that all match. He’s less of a tank and more of a hit and run type character that can tank in a pinch when needed thanks to high health and shields.
Most of the BfN changes I like or am ok with, but Citron in BfN is one of the most annoying things in the game to play against (Rose can be worse but we’ll deal with that when we get to her soon). The shield is too good and comes back too fast, stacked Citrons can spawn camp to the point of insanity (I encountered this exact situation on Preserve Pastures where 3 Citrons took turns putting their shields up and camped like mad, we eventually got them, but that was awful), which is the worst change to the character. I actually am ok with their main weapon as it avoids what would have been the return of them using that beam at max range snipe issue that plagued GW2 before the Citron nerfs, which damage drop off could have also helped with. I’m not 100% against them being tanks, but they really did make them too much like OW’s Reinhardt, and like BfN’s Scientist, force you to attack or use an important ability instead of both like we had in GW2.
The main weapon of Citron variants in GW2 are various beam weapons, with some important exceptions like Electro, Toxic, and Iron. The damage attenuation of the beams has a huge effect on their long range damage, so they are far more effective at short and medium ranges which makes sense with their high health and shields; they’re designed to as a kind of plant answer to the zombie All-Star. The beam versions could really use the overheat indicator from BfN. The other 3 have ammo instead of overheating and Electro can charge their weapon up as well, so they play differently from their beam using brethren. In GW2 you have the Juice Cannon that uses ammo and fires low damage projectiles at a high rate of fire. I don’t mind this weapon at all, and considering the character’s health and shield again, it fits.
BfN Citron shield is handled differently as it’s not an ability but an alternate of the main weapon. BfN Citron shields are far too good; even after some nerfing, they have too much health and come back to quickly. The ‘Peachy’ upgrade can make the shield regenerate even faster, although it’s not a huge effect from my experience. I could be down with this ability if they made it less powerful overall (less health, slower regeneration), and let us zoom in with the juice cannon, but as it stands now, this shield is far too good and it’s compounded when multiple Citrons work together.
In their regular mode, Citrons have their shield, EMPeach, or they can change to ball form. Their shield in GW2 is useful but not too good, unlike in BfN. The Mood Shield alternate ability is one I don’t use all that often as while it can be good to stop an alpha strike and I like how it changes color as it’s damaged, but it just doesn’t last long enough compared to the basic shield. EMPeach is both annoying to be hit with and another of those specific counter abilities like Engineer sonic abilities and Chompers, in that it’s designed to stun mechs longer than anyone else. I’ve never been a huge fan of stuns, and this one also hurts. Like Imp’s gravity grenade (more in GW2 than BfN), it’s an ability that can be frustrating to deal with, and in GW2 is even worse when a Frozen Citron uses it on you and can stun/freeze you in succession!
GW2 Citrons swap to their ball mode where they can engage their Hyper Ball and Spin Dash abilities or change back to their normal form, but can’t attack, use their shield, or lob their EMPeach at zombies. Hyper Ball is used by Citron ‘ballers’ a lot, where they stay in ball form and just drive around, sometimes using spin dash to attack, but often just being evasive and rather useless to their team. Why this playstyle is as widespread as it is, I have no idea, but I’ve seen them on all platforms. For the rest of us, hyper ball is a great ability to get in or out of combat, maybe a bit too good really. Spin Dash is dangerous for low health zombies and is great for taking out the browncoats at the flag of power.
BfN Citrons don’t have a ball mode and instead have their Navel Laser, EMPeach, and Spin Dash available and turn into balls when they sprint. Navel Laser was too good at first, especially when you combine Pulp Powered with Juiced and get a wide laser that you could use to wipe out an entire zombie team, whereas now it’s devastating against AI in PvE, but not all that practical in PvP, especially since your main power in BfN is to use that shield and block as much as possible, which you can’t do while using the laser. Spin Dash in BfN isn’t all that different from GW2 although it does too much damage and is deadly for Imps, plus it comes back a lot more often. This encourages you to use it a lot and this makes it more dangerous than GW to the point it needs to have its damage reduced. BfN does encourage more ability usage than GW and GW2, mostly through shorter cooldowns, but I wish they would not have gone this far as you end up reliant on them over your main weapon at times, and this is one of those examples. EMPeach is again an annoying ability to get hit with, and drains mech fuel according to the wiki.
As for the model; I don’t hate the BfN version, although it looks very plastic compared to GW2’s version, but it’s not one of my favorites either. Some of the customizations for the character are excellent though, and both legendary hats are great too, I especially love the bagel trophy one.
Citron is so different between GW2 and BfN that it’s hard to know where to go with it in a future game. I’m not dead-set against them being a tank style character, but I know many prefer his hit-n-run playstyle in GW2. Now that playstyle can be obnoxious, and is why a lot of people strongly dislike Brainium Basher, among other reasons, but their shields are far too good in BfN and being given the choice to sit there with your shield on or attack makes the character less fun to play, even as it also becomes a tough nut (fruit) to crack. I really don’t know what the community would like the most from this character. I’d like variants back, but would it be best to change it again and keep some similarities from the GW2 and BfN versions, but taking it in a new direction?
