Gameplay discussion: single shot variants

Iron Citron is extremely nasty when his mode ins enabled, and especially when one considers how fast he can fire the mech breaker weapon in iron mode! But even in normal mode, he packs a punch, and as I posted in the earlier discussion with him, I love how the weapon ejects a heated shell casing and how it bounces around before disappearing.

I liked Tank Commander more in GW than GW2, but he's a decent character. It is satisfying to get a direct hit with his mega cannon. He needs those 2 reload upgrades in my experience, and with them he's quite good, if you can aim quickly he's even better. I'm mixed with him as my aim is decent but not the best. In the right hands he's a terror.

Captain Squawk is very odd, although I like him. Long ago when asking for some buffs for him, I went into the backyard and played the regular Deadbeard and then Squawk right after, and while Squawk has a powerful single shot hit, the default Deadbeard does more consistent damage as you have much less dispersion between shots and of course can shoot more often, so does more damage over the same time frame, but Squawk has more 'shock' value as his individual hits are very powerful. The Flem Thrower isn't great, it could've used a buff before they stopped patching GW2, but it is satisfying to take plants out with when they get too close and they're already wounded. In an ironic way, he's kind of like the BfN snipers with slower, harder hitting, single shots than most other snipers in GW2, but still less oppressive to face, and more fun to play.

These characters have an interesting gimmick, needing to reload after every single shot they make. It is like having to wait a cooldown every time you use an ability, although not as long or tedious. However to make up for their reload after every shot, they will generally deal significant damage and may have additional effects as well, and you will never need to reload automatically with these characters as it is actually impossible to do so. 

You will want to make use of each shot when you get it and not waste your shots, which you can do by avoiding shooting randomly whenever you get a shot. You should rather aim to deal damage to enemies directly and not just shoot because you have your shot ready. You may want to start by focusing on enemies that are low on health or that are easier to hit for an easy and quick hit or vanquish. Make use of your shots and additional effects and you can go to town.

Iron Citron: You will attack much more slowly compared to regular Citron due to reloading after every shot, however each shot can deal significantly more damage. Your attacks can deal splash damage, so you may want to attack groups of enemies for more damage. Your weapon will deal 15-50 direct damage and 7-25 splash damage, which depends on the distance that you are from the enemy. Any direct hit you inflict on an enemy is a critical hit as well. This character is an armored and a legendary variant as well, meaning you will have even more effects. You have 250 health (instead of the default 200) and will move more slowly than normal. You have a meter known as "Iron Mode" which will gain a point whenever you get a direct vanquish on an enemy, when the bar is full, you will gain 5 maximum ammo (instead of your default single shots) for a short time and you will gain other effects such as reduced damage and increased movement and attack speed alongside.

Tank Commander: You will attack much more slowly compared to regular Foot Soldier due to reloading after every shot, however each shot can deal significantly more damage. Your attacks can deal splash damage, so you may want to attack groups of enemies for more damage. Your weapon will deal 45 damage when at long range and 70 damage when you are close enough to your enemy. You will always deal 20 splash damage to enemies, regardless of the range between you and your enemy. Any direct hit you inflict on an enemy is a critical hit as well. Get up close to your enemies and you can likely take them out in a couple of direct impacts. 

Captain Squawk: You will attack much more slowly compared to regular Captain Deadbeard due to reloading after every shot, however each shot deals more damage. You will deal 39 damage for every regular hit and 46 damage for every critical hit you land on an enemy. You must aim while attacking to use these shots, as you have a different weapon that is used when you are not aiming. It is a spray based weapon that deals 7 damage at a frequent rate to any enemy that is caught in it. This character is a toxic character as well, so dealing damage with either of your weapon will deal toxic damage to enemies, and you have a toxic aura which will immediately apply a toxic effect to any enemies that you get close to, or that get close to you. This toxic effect will deal 2 damage to enemies per second for a few seconds, and enemies can spread this to their allies if they get close to each other. Attacking a group of enemies can be useful then as you can deal plenty of toxic damage.

Basic Notes

• Did you know that these single shot characters get 2 Reload upgrades? This is because these characters do not have the Ammo upgrade as their Ammo count cannot be increased, so they have an additional Reload upgrade to counter this. Both of these upgrades stack. I greatly recommend that you use both reload upgrades on all of these characters as there will be a significantly reduced cooldown between each shot and your rate of fire will be greatly increased.
• You can use the Damage upgrade to improve your damage of each shot further, including your splash damage, as your attacks deal plenty of damage already. Captain Squawk does not have this upgrade, and gets the Toxic upgrade instead, but you could use that as it will improve your toxic aura and how well your toxic damage can spread.
• If you want to get more overall damage and effectiveness out of your shots, you should focus on enemy groups. This is because your shots will either have splash damage or toxic damage that can spread, depending exactly on your character.
• Use the time while reloading to either move position or to travel around the map. You could try shooting once and then using cover while reloading, then leave the cover and shoot another shot. Rinse and repeat as necessary.
• You should not shoot randomly for no real reason, rather use your shots wisely. Aim your shot and track your enemies as you find necessary, and see if you can get a vanquish on enemies with low health for better results.

Well, these characters can be quite fun to use and to deliver a lot of damage on your enemies!