How to counter citron:

With his nuw recent buff. Citron pretty much rolled his way into bring a top threat against the zombie team. While he still got to keep his high hp count, he got a better mobility from coming in and out of ball form. As well as a buff to his already very versatile primary weapon which can leave a mark at just about every range. Add that the rather obscure splash damage that most of his variant have as well as a stun CC and you have one tough cookie to deal with. But despite all his strength, he still have some weakness you can abuse. And his guide will cover what to do to have the best bet to turn it back into orange (juice)!

General :

Citron is slow and easy to hit at assault form while he's vulnerable in ball form (although he can't be crit'ed). You can take advantage of the former by using hard hitting but not always accurate variant or abilities like mechanic or super ultra ball. Just don't forget to hit some pot-shot while he's in ball form too.

Additionally at both form,he's very vulnerable to flanking,as all his abilities take time to activate and he can't protect itself well with peel shield against multiples target,it a good tactic to deal with every char, but it even more true for citron.

As his primary weapon generally have a splash,is always a good idea to take the high ground to prevent him to abuse that.

Ice variant are good against tank due to the freeze rate being unrelated to enemy hp as well as them being easy to hit and citron is no exception. Bringing a Ac perry, Goalie star and arctic soldier against bunch of citron is not a bad idea. Watch out of peel shield still though.

Abilities :

EMPeach : A dangerous ability, after a small wind-up time, it shoot a projectile with a rather large radius that stun and damage you overtime. Because of the small wind-up time,he's vulnerable for a bit using it,so you can take advantage of that by taking cover or just shooting at him,maybe even kill him if he low enough.

Citron ball : Citron primary movement ability,he can't be crit in that form and is rather fast. But isn't much of a threat during it neither. Watch out for ball charge as he can charge it at the air and/or can knock you back into a pit if you aren't careful. Any form of crowd control is good against against it too as it will generally make it a sitting duck.

Oh yeah and there is hyper ball which is just citron ball that jump higher and roll faster,expect it tied to a cooldown time. Like with normal ball, Crowd control are good against it.

Peel shield : A 75 hp shield that protect citron from the front. For some reason splash damage is particularly effective against it as the shield wear off faster AND it hit the citron hiding behind it. Outside of that flank him or just shoot the shield down if you can afford doing that. Watch out when using a high damaging single target skill in front of him like zpg as he can just activate it to tank it (although he would still take splash damage)

Variant specific:

Ice : Because he don't have a splash, dodging is more important against him. But it also make getting high ground a tad less important, outside of that,general strategy to deal with ice char. The freeze rate didn't care about healing and damage resist so careful about using those although the latter can help you survive if your eventually in freeze. If you can survive said freeze though,you can take back the advantage from here due to the lower damage he do compared to basic.

Electro citron : Like with most shock variant,don't stay near someone as he can just spread the arc otherwise. He struggle to kill tank class too as his weapon consume bunch of ammo and his uncharged shot,while they're still a good deal better when before, aren't that dangerous neither.

For basic citron,check general,dunno for iron citron, party citron is worse then basic,so check general too.

Match-up :

Imp : In assault form,citron have a big advantage here,as he have everything to deal with a imp,which is a stun CC and a high damage splash. However,throwing a gravity grenade at him is still a good idea,especially if he's unaware of you, as it would prevent him to throw a EMPeach at you and also disable his peel shield if it up. Just move out of the way at the end of it if he's not dead. Z7 imp is particularly effective as he have enough DPS to outright kill a citron before gravity grenade end. Outside of that if you're 100% sure his EMPeach is at cooldown,you can still attempt fight him, double jumping alots help alots to dodge his splash.

Also he's in ball form and you can hit a gravity grenade at him,he's toast. Just watch out for ball charge otherwise.

In a Z-mech : You don't want to be hit by a EMPeach here neither, not only it stun you normally,but it also apply the DOT for a longer and disable your abilities. Ice citron is especially problematic. As he can pretty much lock you on very easily with the EMPeach + freeze combo. Your best bet here is to stay in range until you kill him or until he pop EMPeach. Not much else you can do otherwise.

Superbrain : Fair match-up,there multiple tactic that could help you here :

• Only use turbo twister if you're sure citron used his empeach already as otherwise you'll just waste it and make yourself vulnerable. He can still hyper ball away if caught inside,but by the time he do that you would still have removed a good chunk of his hp already.

• Your punch go though peel shield (or not? Not sure here) so don't worry too much about it in close range

• Don't forget to finish him off with laser if he attempt to escape the fight with citron ball.

• Super -ultra ball'ing a unaware citron isn't a bad idea,as his extra large hitbox is extra easy to get a direct hit against. If he's aware of you though,don't attempt it,as he can punish it at any range and use peel shield to negate most of his damage afterward.

Pirate : With the recent buff citron got,pirate got a notably harder time to deal with him,but he still have some options :

Both his shotgun, barrel blast as well as cannon rodeo go though peel shield,however I wouldn't recommend using the bareel blast against him unless he's blissfully unaware of you as he have way too much way to deal with it (EMPeach and both citron ball abilities)

Parrot is also a good way to deal damage with airstrike,but don't expect to last for long if he see you as he can still destroy parrot easily with his primary.

Deadbeard also have the easiest time to hit citron in both form,fall back if he start shooting at you,especially if he have peel shield up.

Foot soldier : Tough match-up, as foot soldier will generally need to reload at least once to kill a full hp citron (especially if he pop his shield) and citron generally outclass his at any range. A ZPG can kill him at a direct hit,but a sassy citron will just put his shield up to survive.Taking him by surprise would work pretty well in his case. Don't forget rocket jump/leap to get some high ground too.

Additionally a good combo as Foot solider is to just take arctic soldier,shoot him enough to trigger freeze and finish him off with a zpg,watch out for shield before the freeze still.

Engineer : Engineer have a decent amount of tool of make a citron life hell, His primary splash ignore shield,but he can still use it to tank the bonus damage from a direct hit. Stun grenade is great against him too,disable shield,can be used to trade against EMPeach and stop him from bouncing around in ball form. Big bolt blaster is a godo options to do alots of damage to him but it hard to find a good place to deploy it. Watch out for EMPeach if jackhammering as he can disable it with it.

Scientist : Scientist match-up heavily depend as if citron have EMPeach up or not,if he do and use it, scientist low hp won't allow him to last long,if he don't though, Scientist have the DPS to kill him quickly. Wouldn't recommend Chemist or zoologist against him,as they both lack the ammo count or the damage to kill him quickly and because doing maximum damage with his other shotgun variant is more effective (and easier) to do

Also shotgun splash and sticky bomb go though peel shield so don't worry much about it. Heck peel shield make it overall easier to stick a sticky to said citron.

All-star : Best counter for him,especially the ice variant,goalie star. All-star have a answer for anything citron have, If a EMPeach is coming,he can protect itself with a dummy shield. Imp punt is easy to place against him due to his big hitbox and ignore shield in top of it. Sprint tackle is sprint tackle,use to close distance,start the fight,finish it if your weapon overheat, your choice. Finally,All-star should generally do enough damage to kill a citron,and are viable at any range against him cus citron is fat.

And that should be all,again if you guy have some more tips to share,feel free to post them here.