Gameplay discussion: charge up variants

I thought some could hold their charged attacks while others could not, but I'd have to test that and I can't recall precisely. I know that for those that work these things out that charged characters are quite good, but I don't play these characters all that much as I prefer being able to shoot whenever I need to without needing to charge them up. For those that like this playstyle though, I certainly won't deny their effectiveness, and they are generally good characters. Most/all of them lose speed and the ability to jump while charging or holding a charged shot and that can be deadly!

I 100% agree too, while some may need some ammo usage adjustments, making charged attacks take more ammo than just 1 per shot makes sense and prefer the GW2 version of charged characters.

Plasma Pea: I remember when they added him into GW as part of that contest (man, I love the days with all the feedback between us and the devs, we need those days back). Great looking character, although I prefer the GW version a bit over the GW2 version. Cool charge up sound effects and certainly effective. 

Mystic Flower: Love how she looks and her 'ohhwaaa!' sound she makes when fully charged. She isn't too bad if you spam her basic no charge attack either. 

Future Cactus: Funnily enough, she's the most like the BfN cactus with the charged attack, but back when she was first introduced in GW, she felt very different from her sisters. As a sniper I don't mind her charged attack as much since you generally don't want to play her in close range engagements anyway, so can usually charge up while looking for targets.

Electo-Citron: I remember how insanely good this guy was way back, and now he's merely ok. Some say he's great, others say he's awful, I don't use him a lot though and while he can be powerful among closely packed close range targets, at long range he got hit hard when citron's damage at range got a big drop off, which did at least help with all those sniping frozen citrons!

Fire Rose, Frost Rose, Nec'Rose: Not a huge rose players and when I do it's usually the regular rose, druid, or party. All the rose effects in GW2 are really good though, and Nec'Rose looks amazing. Nec'Rose still feels a bit too good with jinx being huge, especially against mechs since they're big targets which makes them magnets for firepower and easy to see the jinx debuff since they are so large, and she's my favorite of these 3. Fire and Frost are a combination of elemental effects with charging and while they look great, I find them not all that great to use, especially in PvP.

Cozmic Brainz: Ah this guy. So many saying he's awful, others claiming he's OP. His charged fist makes kind of Chomper-like as you point out, if you vanquish a plant as they can't be revived just like being swallowed by a Chomper. I find him mostly bad to play as his non-charged fist is not that great and as its a melee attack, holding it while getting beat on, bitten, shot at, makes it less than ideal. I'm a bit confused on the automatic laser comment though, as even basic Super Brainz has a purple beam attack, and Breakfast Brainz fires a salvo of waffles that increases in fire rate as you go. 

80s Action Hero: Building on your mention of him; I do really like the character, but his basic uncharged attack is too easy to spam. So, while you lose tags and other effects of the fully charged shot (depending on your upgrades), constantly shooting his weakest attack is really effective and also annoying to be peppered with. I feel they should have made his uncharged attack a little slower and/or weaker and made the charged attack more consistent. His bow uses energy, so I get why he has infinite ammo, but maybe making him use ammo (like as you charge the weapon, more physical arrows get added to the ones he has nocked in his bow), would make him more like the older ones.

So while I'm not a huge fan of actually playing these characters, I like that they exist. I also like GW2 tried to expand on GW's variant idea by mixing stuff up like Frost Rose and then going even further with Cozmic Brainz.

@Iron_Guard8Plasma peas gw1 look will always be superior to me.

Future cactus with damage upgrades is just disgusting to fight.

If electro didn't get smacked with the fall off nerf i feel we would see much more of him.

Nec rose jinx could use a slight nerf and she aould be fine. The other charge roses aren't used as much but they are still really fun.

I mean that cozmic before breakfast came was the only super brainz to fire his secondary in a non beam like function, they technically also do the highest damage per shot. Cozmic would be great if he simply held charges while high jumping.


Agreed on 80s non charge shots.

@stukapooka yeah, Cozmic's biggest issue is not being able to hold charges while jumping. I wish that was changed and also when you're using your ranged attack, if you step on even a tiny obstacle on the ground, it will mess the ranged attack up, like when doing the A+ shooting gallery quest and crossing the threshold. Those should both be changed.

I really like the concept of charge up characters, as it can open new possibilities and strategies when you play them. If you can surprise your enemy with a charged up shot, you can possibly even vanquish an enemy in a single hit without them having a chance to react. I normally prefer having faster attacks with less damage over slower attacks with more damage, however charging up attacks is an exception. Being able to charge up an attack in many given situations is something I have always liked having the option to do, especially when no enemies are currently around.

I notice that generally charge up characters deal less damage than their normal counterparts when their attacks are uncharged, and you may not be able to jump or you may suffer a movement speed penalty while you are charging your attack. However, you may gain extra benefits, not including damage, when you manage to deliver fully charged shots, such as an additional area of effect, or the possibility of dealing an extra status effect to an enemy, for instance. All of this information generally means that you need to strategise in order to get the most out of characters that can charge up.

Plasma Pea: Charging up your weapon will improve its damage output, and if at maximum charge and you do not deal damage to an enemy, shortly after it will explode and can still deal damage to an enemy. When uncharged, you will deal about 20 direct damage and 10 splash damage. At maximum charge, you will deal about 70 direct damage and 30 splash damage. You may jump or use Hyper while charging your attack.

Mystic Flower: Charging up your weapon will improve its damage output, and you have 20 maximum ammo (instead of the regular 50). When uncharged, you will deal about 11 damage or 12 critical damage. At maximum charge, you will deal about 60 damage or 68 critical damage. If you want to improve your damage even further, you will want to try and land critical hits. Use the time while charging to aim your attack.

Future Cactus: Charging up your weapon will improve its damage output. When uncharged, you will deal about 17 damage or 20 critical damage. At maximum charge, you will deal about 85 damage or 96 critical damage. For this reason, you want to inflict critical hits where possible, as you will improve your damage output even further. You are able to inflict over 100 damage with specific tools, which I shall explain later in this post, so keep reading.

Electro Citron: Charging up your weapon will improve its damage output, and you have 24 maximum ammo (instead of an overheat system). When uncharged, you will deal 3 damage and 4 critical damage at long range, or 7 damage and 8 critical damage at close range. If charged up further, you will deal 22 damage and 26 damage at long range, or 50 damage and 60 critical damage at close range, along with 15 splash damage. At maximum charge, you will deal 37 damage or 44 critical damage at long range, or 75 damage and 90 critical damage at close range, along with 25 splash damage. You are an electric variant character, so your shots can arc and hit nearby enemies as well. 

Fire Rose: Charging up your weapon will improve its damage output, and you have 18 maximum ammo (instead of the default 30). Your shots have homing and will lock on nearby enemies, whether the shots are charged or not. When uncharged, you will deal 5 damage. At maximum charge, you will deal 50 damage. You may release the charge shot before it is fully charged and you will deal around 20-35 damage. You are a fire variant character, so hitting an enemy will deal fire damage to that enemy for a short while, regardless of how charged your shot is.

Frost Rose: Charging up your weapon will improve its damage output, and you have 20 maximum ammo (instead of the default 30). Your shots have homing and will lock on nearby enemies, whether the shots are charged or not. When uncharged, you will deal 7 damage. At maximum charge, you will deal 50 damage. You may release the charge shot before it is fully charged and you will deal around 20-35 damage. You are an ice variant character, so hitting an enemy will deal ice damage. This effect will become more potent if you charge your attack further, and if fully charged, you will nearly freeze the enemy immediately.

Nec'Rose: Charging up your weapon will improve its damage output, and you have 30 maximum ammo (the default equivalent). Your shots have homing and will lock on nearby enemies, whether the shots are charged or not. When uncharged, you will deal 6 damage. At maximum charge, you will deal 15 damage. You do not deal that much more damage when your shots are charged, but any enemy hit by your fully charged shots will become Jinxed for a short time, which means that they will take 75% more damage from your attacks and your allies' attacks, as well as ignoring any armor that they have. You can Jinx multiple enemies at a time if they were close together at the time, as your fully charged shots has an area of effect.

Cosmic Brainz: Charging up your weapon will improve its damage output, and you do not have ammo or an overheat system. When uncharged, your punch will deal about 22 damage. If charged up further, your punch will deal about 50 damage. At maximum charge, your punch will deal about 77 damage. If you vanquish an enemy with a fully charged punch, that enemy will be unrevivable by their allies. You can send them into time and space where they are unable to be revived. Your secondary laser attack does not have a charge, however the secondary attack is different to regular Super Brainz.

Basic Notes

• Use the Damage upgrade to improve the damage of your maximum charge shots even further, as well as improving the damage of your attacks when not charged. This is how Future Cactus can deal over 100 damage with a critical hit. Note that some of these characters cannot get this upgrade!
• You could equip the Ammo or Reload upgrades to be able to attack for longer without reloading, and when you need to reload, this will be quicker so you can get straight back into charging up a shot. You cannot charge up while reloading.
• When you are charging an attack, you will generally move at a slower pace than normal. If jumping does not cancel your charge, move around a bit and jump to avoid being hit while charging.
• Use cover while you are charging up an attack, and as you are about to shoot out your attack, leave the cover and fire it at your enemy. Try not to do this for too long as your shot will automatically release after a while.
• When no enemies are around, or you cannot see any enemies around, use this time to charge up an attack. When an enemy appears, you can hit them with a fully charged shot to give yourself an advantage for that fight.

Additional Charge Up Effects

• 80s Action Hero (Battle for Neighborville only): You are able to charge up your Bow Blaster primary weapon for a more accurate shot and more damage, similar to most other charge up attacks.
• Cactus and Pirate (Battle for Neighborville only): You can charge up your secondary scoped attacks for even more damage. You will generally deal nearly no damage otherwise, so do this for maximum damage.

Well, charge up characters can open up new strategies and are great fun to use, I geniunely look forward to levelling them up.