Gameplay discussion: charge up variants

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.