Gameplay discussion: Toxic variants

I generally enjoy these characters. While fire also gives enemies a DoT (damage over time) effect, Toxic also spreads around, so can be used kind of like electrical attacks and damage foes you can't even see, especially with splash damage characters, speaking of which...

Toxic Pea is one of the reasons that the meta in GW is a mess. He feels much better to face in GW2, while still being useful. I've always liked this character, but I won't play him in multiplayer GW matches anymore. Still nasty in GW2, but not as bad and not as common, although E-Pea has taken that spot unfortunately.

Toxic Chomper is decent and burrowing by zombies and infecting them with toxic damage has its own appeal.

Toxic Citron is my favorite Citron. I know a lot feel he's an underperformer, and he's one of the best characters to get assists with, but there's so much I love about him that he's my go-to Citron.

Druid Rose is my favorite Rose too, although I've been playing her less in multiplayer as she feels rather crazy good in TT. She's great at getting that 10 vanquish streak craaazzyy quest done, but I imagine she'd be annoying to go against. She's amazing against Imp players due to how she works.

Sanitation Expert is underrated. Not saying he's amazing, but he's not bad. Mine in GW2 has an old burger on his head because of course he does!

Doctor Toxic has a cool default look although I love using weapon skins (speaking of which bring back all the GW weapon skins for a new game!), and I usually alter the hat. Being able to teleport around and spread the toxic effect makes him quite the terror. Decent if not amazing main weapon.

We've gone over Captain Squawk before of course. I really like this character, and he's not as bad as some say, but he could use a buff; maybe something simple like lower shot dispersion between attacks and making flem thrower just a bit better would work. Sometimes all you need is a subtle change to make things a lot better.

Toxic Brainz is too good as he gets his meter from punching (although shields, like Super Bean's shields do not raise the meter), and not vanquishes. He was one of the best at boss hunt and is devastating in Ops. He's not as bad in multiplayer matches where players tend to shoot at him from long range where he's not so good, but he still needs a nerf as he's the absolute best character to take out multiple bosses on his own, which is a bit much. 

I recall hearing about a toxic zombie character in BfN, but of course we never got them. Grody Goop is already its own toxic effect and then there's Dill Pickle's similar attack. I often wonder how much better BfN could have gotten over time if they had it kept it alive, and new characters would have really helped, like that toxic zombie we never got.

@stukapooka I would love to have a PvZ shooter that was like Destiny or Warframe with solid multiplayer like the GW games. In fact, that's exactly what I'd want GW3 to be. PvZ needs a game that is immersive and supported for the long term like those games. Every time I jump into my Backyard Battleground I admire how great it is, but want more, same with the BfN free roam zones!

I think the biggest issue between Toxic Brainz and Disco Chomper is how they approach the meter from the exact opposite directions (every punch giving meter, while only swallowing gives meter). I fully agree that he's not as bad as the GW meta, and is in fact overrated for multiplayer where I rather enjoy showing people that he's not invincible, especially on something like Rock Pea.

I mentioned the toxic aura, it's great for toxic chomper's burrow and Dr. Toxic's warp for example.

Damage drop off is so visible when you jump from BfN to GW2, I'm still flabbergasted that they never put something that is so critical into BfN, and even that friction drop off mechanic that wasn't as good of a solution, was never fully implemented. 

@Iron_Guard8The pve areas were easily the best part of Bfn and them being more in line with the gw games style and expanded would be the best.

Yeah disco and toxic are on the opposite ends on the scale. Toxic is too easy to build while disco has to go through such a tedious process to basically get what other chompers like hot rod or chompula get in a single swallow.

Gotta love how other toxic brainz can dive right into a group kill 3 people before being noticed and pop off the perfect overload and yet when I go for a single cactus they grow eyes in the back of their head and activate ultra instinct.

I really hate how Bfn ignored such a major part of the balancing of fall off and weapon spray in Bfn.

In gw2 torchwood had bloom and dropped off hard past mid range while all star was so straight he could suppress you at range, ya know to balance out their massive health difference to make sure all star doesn't get steamrolled and could help his team in gw1's massive sightlines against cacti. Now look at him, His weapon spread is all over the place.

Snipers suffered extremely from this as characters like chomper could know shoot a straight projectile at them but classes like imp got such recoil and bloom that they're useless at anything beyond right in your face.

The fact that some people even try to justify this decision staright up insulting.

Feel the poison! These characters are referred to as "elemental characters" and they have the ability to deal continuous and lingering toxic damage to the enemies. The toxic damage will deal 2 damage to the enemy at a continuous rate while they are inflicted with it, which will stop their natural regeneration in addition. You can reset the toxic effect on an enemy by hitting them with your primary weapon again.

This toxic damage can spread to multiple enemies if an enemy that is inflicted with the toxic effect gets close to their allies. Most characters have a toxic aura which will instantly inflict the toxic effect on nearby enemies without even needing to hit them with a primary weapon. These characters will generally deal less damage, although the toxic abilities should more than make up for this.

Toxic Pea: Dealing damage with your attacks will inflict toxic damage on the enemy for a few seconds, dealing 2 damage each time. He has a toxic aura as well, which will immediately inflict the toxic effect on enemies that get too close to you. Your shots will deal 17-25 damage, depending on distance from you and the enemy, and you can deal 10 splash damage as well. Any direct hit that you inflict is a critical hit as well. You can inflict the toxic effect on enemies by dealing damage with a direct shot, splash shot or with your toxic aura. You deal significantly less damage compared to regular Peashooter.

Toxic Chomper: Dealing damage with your attacks will inflict toxic damage on the enemy for a few seconds, dealing 2 damage each time. He has a toxic aura as well, which will immediately inflict the toxic effect on enemies that get too close to you. Your weapon is limited to only close range, and you have a spray attack instead of a chomp. You will deal 8 damage at a continuous rate to any enemies caught in your spray, along with dealing the toxic effect which will linger on enemies. You can inflict the toxic effect on enemies by dealing damage with your spray or using your toxic aura. You will overheat after a while of continuous shooting, so try to take a small break from shooting occassionally to prevent this.

Druid Rose: Dealing damage with your attacks will inflict toxic damage on the enemy for a few seconds, dealing 2 damage each time. She does not have a toxic aura, so you will need to deal damage with your attacks to inflict the toxic effect. Your shots will deal 5 damage each and they have a small area of effect as well, making it easier to land hits on enemies. Your shots have homing capabilities when you are close enough to enemies, making it easier to land shots and inflict the toxic effect on enemies. You can only inflict the toxic effect on enemies by dealing damage with your primary weapon, but use the homing to assist with this. You deal significantly less damage compared to regular Peashooter.

Toxic Citron: Dealing damage with your attacks will inflict toxic damage on the enemy for a few seconds, dealing 2 damage each time. He has a toxic aura as well, which will immediately inflict the toxic effect on enemies that get too close to you. You will not get this toxic aura while you are in ball form. Your shots will deal 2-7 damage or 3-8 critical damage, depending on the distance from you and the enemy. He is a cloud on impact character variant as well, so each shot will leave temporary poison clouds which will deal 2 damage at a continuous rate to any enemy while they are caught in it, which will inflict the toxic effect as well. You can inflict the toxic effect by hitting your enemies with direct shots, by dealing damage to an enemy caught in a poison cloud, or using your toxic aura when not in ball form. You deal less damage and shoot at a slower rate compared to regular Citron, but the toxic effect is greatly useful.

Dr. Toxic: Dealing damage with your attacks will inflict toxic damage on the enemy for a few seconds, dealing 2 damage each time. He has a toxic aura as well, which will immediately inflict the toxic effect on enemies that get too close to you. Your shots deal 15-20 damage, depending on the distance from you and the enemy, although when extremely close to an enemy, you can deal an additional 25 damage to nearby enemies if they are close together. You can inflict the toxic effect on enemies by dealing damage with a direct shot, a blast shot at extremely close range or with your toxic aura. You deal much less damage compared to regular Scientist, although the toxic effect can be great when there are multiple enemies around.

Sanitation Expert: Dealing damage with your attacks will inflict toxic damage on the enemy for a few seconds, dealing 2 damage each time. He does not have a toxic aura, so you will need to deal damage with your attacks to inflict the toxic effect. Your shots will deal 35 damage each and you can deal 18 splash damage. Any direct hit that you inflict is a critical hit as well. You can inflict the toxic effect on enemies by dealing damage with a direct shot or a splash shot. You deal slightly less damage compared to regular Engineer, although remember that you do not have a toxic aura.

Captain Squawk: Dealing damage with your attacks will inflict toxic damage on the enemy for a few seconds, dealing 2 damage each time. He has a toxic aura as well, which will immediately inflict the toxic effect on enemies that get too close to you. You have 2 different attacks, which both deal toxic damage. Your close range spray is limited to close range, of course. It will deal 7 damage at a continuous rate to enemies caught in front of it, and inflict the toxic effect as well. You will overheat if you spray for too long. Your scoped attack will deal 39 damage or 46 critical damage along with inflicting the toxic effect, although you only have a single shot, meaning you will need to reload after every shot. You can inflict the toxic effect by dealing damage with either weapon or with your toxic aura. 

Toxic Brainz: Dealing damage with your attacks will inflict toxic damage on the enemy for a few seconds, dealing 2 damage each time. He has a toxic aura as well, which will immediately inflict the toxic effect on enemies that get too close to you. You have 2 different attacks, which both deal toxic damage. Your punches deal 10, 20 and 30 damage respectively if you manage the 3-punch combo, and your beam deals 2-4 damage, depending on distance. You are a legendary character variant as well, so you have a legendary meter called "Toxic Overload". Landing about 10 successful punches without being vanquished will give you "Toxic Overload", which will approximately triple your damage, give you damage reduction and improve your movement speed during this time. During Toxic Overload, your punches will deal 30, 60 and 90 damage respectively if you manage the 3-punch combo, and your beam will deal about 10 damage. Dealing damage to enemies with your beam will not add to your legendary meter. You can inflict the toxic effect by dealing damage with either weapon or with your toxic aura. You deal less damage compared to regular Super Brainz by default, but you will deal double his damage instead while you have Toxic Overload active, and you will keep all toxic effects.

Basic Notes

• The Toxic upgrade is exclusive to Toxic characters, which improves the area of your toxic aura and increases the toxic damage or duration. These effects can vary based on the toxic character. I absolutely suggest using this upgrade on the eligible toxic characters as it will make their toxic effects much more powerful against enemies. However, characters that do not have a toxic aura do not get the Toxic upgrade, and they get the Damage upgrade instead, which I do think you should use instead because it can make them deal almost as much damage, if not more, than their basic variants without this upgrade. Druid Rose and Sanitation Expert are affected by this!
• You should always try to attack enemy groups, as the toxic effect will easily spread through the group and allow you to deal much more damage. Continue reapplying the toxic effect against groups of enemies for even greater damage and to reset the duration of the toxic damage.
• You can use the toxic aura to deal toxic damage to enemies more efficiently, although you should be mindful as you do not want to get vanquished while close to enemies. Either sneak behind the enemy group and leave after applying toxic damage, or utilise this feature when enemies either get close to you or if you are a character mostly limited to close range.
• If you want to spread your toxic damage more effectively, aim to deal damage to multiple different enemies that are spread apart. It will be easier to start spreading the toxic effect once their allies start to group up or when an affected enemy gets close to an ally.
• As you will apply the toxic effect to enemies when dealing damage, regardless of how much damage you actually deal, you can attack your enemies from a long range to safely apply the toxic effect and to weaken your enemies, and then you and your allies should be able to finish your enemies more easily after that. You can quickly inflict the toxic effect on enemies as well to stop their natural regeneration.

Well, I absolutely enjoy the elemental characters and they are fun to play around with!