Gameplay discussion: armored variants and health upgrades

I generally don't play these as much as the regular character or other variants, with a couple exceptions. They are a basic idea for variants, but they do work, and being basic isn't a bad thing really. One of the main reasons I like variants in GW and GW2 is how variants can have such different looks and effects, something that was sorely missing in BfN. I'll mostly be speaking from the GW2 perspective here.

Armor Chomper: This one got some alterations in GW2, but largely for the worse after they lowered his health and his bite effectiveness. Never had a big issue with this guy as even with his older, nastier bite and higher health were fine. It's a variant I play fairly often although I don't play Chomper that much.

Iron Citron: Love the metallic sounds and the way his weapon releases those large shell casings. In his normal form I find him alright, but he's mean in Iron Mode, and devastating against large groups of AI. Not sure if he would a nerf in a new game, but wouldn't be that surprised.  Not my most played Citron, and I play Citron reasonably often.

Jade Cactus: My favorite cactus from GW, with Zen becoming my favorite in GW2. Leaving the needles behind like mini mines is quite useful, especially against AI and objective modes. I tend to use her more at mid than long range, partly due to her weapon and the extra health is nice.

Metal Petal: Her sound effects are great, her reloading has that metallic effect that's cool. One reason I liked Sunflower so much in GW and GW2 is her greater speed, something that really hurt BfN was taking different speeds for different characters away, so she's my 2nd least played Sunflower (Mystic is least), but i play Sunflower a lot, so I do play her fairly often.

Petrified Cactus: I vastly prefer Jade over this one. Looks cool for sure, and she's the least obnoxious manual detonation character, but still not one I really like to play much. I don't see her all that often in PvP matches either.

Rock Pea: Despite his loss in speed, I actually play him more than Electro-Pea or Plasma Pea. I'm not a fan of the speed loss, but he's not as annoying as E-Pea, and I'm not a big fan of charged characters, not saying they're bad, just that I don't like them all that much. The rock effect is well done on this one.

Roadie Z: This guy not only has more health but totally changes up the Engineer playstyle. I don't play him often for the same reason I don't play Chemist all that much (the short range), but I can't deny they did a good job on his presentation with the speaker effects and sounds.

GW upgrades were random via packs and automatic, so like you post, we don't have a lot of  choice there.

In GW2, I don't use the health upgrade often, in fact I only use it on Vampire Flower and Count Chompula right now as that takes advantage of their vampirism.

Hardened in BfN got nerfed, but it needed it. It should only apply to the Oak and not the Acorn as well, or just get removed. I love Acorn, it's my favorite new plant, but being so small, having a weapon that's actually very good, and the 2 dashes means they really don't need extra health, even if one could argue that they are nuts so could have a hard shell. If BfN had variants, having a larger nut with more health and slower (coconut?) would make more sense and could used in the next shooter.

I actually really like the armored characters and being able to give your characters additional health, in fact I wish there were even more ways to do so! I suppose this is because I like being tanky though, and it can be satisfying being able to survive certain attacks and abilities that you would not be able to survive otherwise.

I notice that when a character has additional health, they normally only gain a 25 health boost, but still at the cost of an even slower movement speed. I would personally prefer if armored variants always gained at least 50 health instead. At first, I thought the health upgrade in Garden Warfare 2 would give you a percentage of additional health, so I was a bit disappointed when I figured out Torchwood would only gain 10 health. Imagine if Torchwood went up to over 300 health, I would like keep that upgrade on most of the time!

Now in these discussions I will go over the applicable characters briefly as well. As a note, I am adding Torchwood to this discussion as he has the most health out of any character in the game in Garden Warfare 2, excluding a Z-Mech.

Rock Pea: Has 150 health (instead of default 125). His attack deals more splash damage than normal, but shoots at a slower rate and has less ammo. You can simply aim for dealing splash damage to your enemies if they are grouping for additional damage. You can use Hyper to basically negate your reduced speed, as well as retaining the extra jump height, or try out Super Pea Jump so you can jump really high instead. The enhanced health is great when you are in gatling mode!

Jade Cactus: Has 150 health (instead of default 125). Cactus is the only character in the game that has more than 1 armored variant, with the other variant being Petrified Cactus. She has a unique attack, which can deal direct and splash damage, and if you do not deal damage to an enemy with an attack, the shot will explode after about 1 second which will damage enemies that are close to the impact at that time. You can use this to your advantage on approaching enemies, and the splash damage will improve your chances of landing a hit. Due to your reduced movement speed, plan an escape route ahead of time in case you get ambushed.

Petrified Cactus: Has 150 health (instead of default 125). Cactus is the only character in the game that has more than 1 armored variant, with the other variant being Jade Cactus. She has a detonation attack, which deals more damage than normal, and it can deal direct or splash damage. Use the attack button again while one of your projectiles are in the air to detonate it. If you try to shoot another projectile while you have one already deployed, the current projectile will detonate instead before you can attack again, so focus on detonating your current shots near or at your enemies. Due to your reduced movement speed, plan an escape route ahead of time in case you get ambushed.

Roadie Z: Has 150 health (instead of default 125). Roadie Z is the only armored zombie in the game, which is sort of interesting. There should be more in my opinion. He has a unique attack, which is a soundwave based attack which is limited to close range. It deals consistent damage while an enemy is caught in its range, as well as dealing a hypnosis like effect and some knockback. It overheats instead of having ammo. I believe this is the only armored character that has no movement speed reduction, and you can use Jackhammer to get around faster and to avoid being hit while attacking, or Turbo Jackhammer for an even faster burst of speed, although more temporary. Your enhanced health is useful when you use Big Bolt Blaster!

Metal Petal: Has 160 health (instead of default 110). Her attack is similar to the regular Sunflower, although it shoots a different form of projectile. You shoot more slowly than normal, although you now have a maximum ammo capacity of 60 (instead of 50) which allows you to shoot for ages. You can continue to heal yourself with your Heal Pot to stay alive for longer, but you may find it hard to heal your allies due to your reduced movement speed. Luckily, you move faster compared to most armored characters. Your enhanced health is excellent when you use Sunbeam, and you can survive a direct ZPG in this mode if you have full health, but not by much! 

Armor Chomper: Has 215 health (instead of default 175). His Armor Chomp is fine to me as the increased damage is fun to play around with, and the slower attack speed balances it out. Due to the additional damage, that push for damage is greatly useful for a quick vanquish if you can get up to an enemy. I do not know if he is slower in burrow or not, but either way you could try using Sprint Burrow with this build to get around faster. If you digest an enemy, the enchanced health will help you to survive before you manage to digest them, as well as during the digesting time.

Torchwood: Has 275 health. This is not a character variant, but rather a somewhat secret character to unlock which has no variants, although cool costumes instead. You need to complete the Trials of Gnomus to unlock this character. He actually moves quite fast, and when using his Smoldering Madness ability, he moves even faster again, so that is great. You can reduce damage you take by half temporarily if you use your Leaf Shield ability, but you will move slower during this time. His Blazing Blast can deal loads of damage to enemies, but you must get close to them and you move really slowly during this time. Remember that now!

Basic Notes

• Use the Speed upgrade to somewhat remove the movement speed penalty on your Armored characters.
• Use the Health upgrade to give an additional 10 health to even armored characters, although all characters can use and benefit from this upgrade.
• The armored variants are excellent when you are reviving an ally as the higher health allows you to tank and the reduced movement speed is redundant at this time.
• You may find constantly moving to be useful as you can still reduce your chances of being hit by enemy attacks.
• Only your movement speed will generally be affected, but your jump height will not be.

Additional Health Boost Effects

• Health Upgrade (Garden Warfare 2 only): All characters can receive this upgrade. If you equip this upgrade, your character will gain 10 maximum health while equipped.
• Hardened Upgrade (Battle for Neighborville only, only for Acorn): Acorn gains 25 maximum health and Oak gains 75 maximum health while equipped. It costs 3 upgrade points to use.

Anyway, I find armored variants of characters to be a lot of fun to play.