Legendary Upgrade: Steam Blaster (Guide)

Welcome again ...

... to more of my Legendary Upgrade series. In this series, whenever a new Legendary Upgrade is released, I will cover them in detail, but before I start that, I will first cover the upgrades that are already out.

This time, I am covering the Steam Blaster upgrade for Scientist! If you like to know how to obtain this upgrade, use it effectively, or decide whether you think this upgrade is worth equipping for you or not, or you want general notes and advice on this upgrade, then read no further than this guide!

An Overview of Steam Blaster

Steam Blaster is a Legendary Upgrade for Scientist. It gives the Scientist a modified primary weapon. Instead of shooting Goo, it shoots Steam. It is a close-range weapon that shoots Steam and has area denial capabilities ("Area Denied") and that deals hefty damage to any opponents caught in the Steam. This basically flips Scientist's playstyle upside down as he becomes more of a damage-dealer than a healer. This Legendary Upgrade means that he only has 4 ammo (instead of 10) and is limited to close-range combat only. However, his 3 warps allows him to get close to opponents or away from them much more effectively. However, I suggest that if you use this upgrade, still heal and revive teammates that are in need of those services, as you are still a Support character.

My Personal Legendary Upgrade likeness rating: 70%. I really like Melee combat, and denying area is something that I really like as well. However, you have no way of dealing damage at long range, and you have no way of healing teammates if you are not in close capability to them either, meaning that you have to sprint or use warps to get closer. This attack probably does more damage than it should. Having your abilities negated does not prevent you from using Steam Blaster, either. If your allies are closely clustered, you can get multi-vanquishes with it. It's a pretty cheesy tactic, but I like how it's a melee attack.

How to Obtain this Upgrade

To get hold of this upgrade, you needed to get it in the May Prize Map at the end of the Golden Path. However, if you are a new player and was not able to get your hands on this upgrade, or you missed out on this upgrade in the Prize Map, you may also buy it for 300 Rainbow Stars from Rux at any time. Just take note that if you did not buy the upgrade through the Prize Map, you will not get to own the Sprocket Scientist or Steam Master Costume that matches with the Legendary Upgrade alongside it. 

Once you do own this upgrade, you own it forever with no time limit, you may equip it (and unequip it) as often as you would like, for 5 upgrade points, and you can place it on as many of your Scientist builds as you want at once. Because of its expensive equip cost, you should consider whether it is worth equipping in some circumstances.

Sprocket Scientist: 

Steam Master: 

Gameplay

This is a video I made regarding the basics of the upgrade:

Disadvantages of Upgrade

• You only have 4 ammo (as opposed to 10).
• Your weapon can only deal damage close-range.
• This weapon has a slow rate of fire.

Advantages of Upgrade

• This weapon has autofire.
• You can easily vanquish unsuspecting plants.
• Fairly easy to get vanquishes using it.
• Has a lingering toxic effect.
• This attack deals high damage.
• This attack can cover you when you revive and do other actions.
• You can heal yourself quickly with Sticky Healy.

Tips for Using this Upgrade Effectively

You have got to practice with this upgrade in order to get more experienced with it. It changes the playstyle of Scientist, here, I will share my personal tips with you to help you do better with Scientist and his Legendary Upgrade:

• When you need to retreat after taking damage, try and warp to a teammate, get really close to them, throw Sticky Healy Thingy on them, then use Healing Hose on them and other nearby allies, then once you are ready, head back into the fray.
• Whenever you cannot get close to plants or there are no plants around, heal your allies instead.
• Use your Steam Blaster on enemies that are clustering. You will vanquish them unless they get out of your Steam quickly.
• You can try shooting some Steam, then Warping, then shooting Steam again, then Warping, and then shooting Steam again. Repeat until you run out of Warps.
• You cannot attack and heal allies at the same time, but your Steam has a lingering toxic effect and your Healing Hose can do lingering healing. Use these to your advantage.
• You have low health, to reduce your chances of being vanquished when close to plants, jump and move erratically as you attack them.
• You could try sticking Sticky Healy to plants while you attack them to heal when you are really close to them.
• Use your Warps or sprint away from damaging hazards, such as Chili Bean Bomb.
• Try and catch plants unaware and try not to let them know of your presence, when possible.
• Warp frequently while attacking plants to confuse them of your location. Does not work on Al.

Watch some footage of me and my brother doing some gameplay of Steam Blaster upgrade below if you are interested, you may learn some more interesting tips for Steam Blaster:

You have 2 extra upgrade points that you are able to use once this upgrade has been equipped. My suggestions for upgrades you could equip include:

• Super Savior and Refreshing Revive (1 upgrade point each). Your abilites are really good with improving your survivability with this upgrade. By using these 2 upgrades, you can use your abilities at any time (even while reviving) and you can gain back your abilities faster when you get a revive, while warding off nearby plants. It also makes you feel more supportive - feels good, doesn't it?
• Evolution (2 upgrade points). You start with maximum overhealth whenever you spawn, meaning you have more durability when you first enter a fight after spawning or respawning! Scientist has low health so this will most certainly help.
• Reanimate (2 upgrade points). You revive players faster when near your Sticky Healy Thingy. Throw it down before you start to revive to revive allies faster and become more supportive, also get healing as you do so during the revive.

Who does Steam Blaster Hard Counter (opinion)?

Kernel Corn. Kernel Corn in general is not a very mobile character, while Scientist is, possessing 3 warps, so he can easily catch up to Kernel. Also, by default, Kernel Corn does not deal that much damage, compared to many other Plants. Once the Steam Blaster gets close, he should be able to make pretty short work of Kernel Corn. Use your Sticky Healy Thingy to heal as necessary, Warp to get closer or away and Healing Hose, well, when you heal other Zombies (so maybe not in this instance).

You can last out Butter Beacon quite easily or work around it by defeating Kernel Corn quickly before he benefits too much off of it, however it can alert his other allies of your presence, so be mindful of that. Husk Hop is something you can avoid of with a single Warp, if you think you can manage it, try to Warp, then quickly shoot Steam where he is approximately going to land as he is vulnerable for a bit at this time. Otherwise, just sprint out the area, then use your weapon on him. Shuck Shot has a delay, so you have time to avoid it, again, just use a Warp to do so if you can, or jump and sprint out of the way if you cannot. A single direct hit does not instavanquish you, so can quickly get behind a wall and heal quickly. 

Using Abilities in Sync with Upgrade

Sticky Healy Thingy: A way of using this ability is to get around a corner when you lose a lot of health, then quickly get up against a wall and regenerate your health with this ability. This way, you can get back into the fight quickly and can deal even more damage with your Steam Blaster. It has a long cooldown, so you should take care of when you decide to use this. Other times, it may be more viable option to wait it out until you have naturally regenerated to full health, but in some instances you can use this option. Another way you can use this ability, if you want to be supportive but also want to work on vanquishing enemies (which you should do a bit of both) you can throw the Sticky Healy Thingy at your teammates, especially if they cluster, and support them that way. You can give your team a top-up of health, while vanquishing plants. 

Warp: This is probably the most important ability that you have in conjunction with Steam Blaster. You have 3 of these and they have a relatively short cooldown, so that's something. Because your Healing Hose only works at close-range, and the same applies to your Steam Blaster, if you are not near anyone, you cannot do anything. So Warps are useful to getting to allies or getting up close to enemies. Along with sprinting. You can Warp close to an enemy or multiple enemies, shoot some Steam and possibly try to get vanquishes, then Warp out. You can also use your Warps to retreat when you reach low health. You can use your Warps to get to your team so they serve as a line of defense while you heal up (especially if you do not have Sticky Healy Thingy recharged). Make sure to heal your allies though with your Hose. This ability is very versatile with your Steam Blaster, and very important, so having none could easily get you vanquished. For this reason, be mindful of when you want to use them and how many you have.

Healing Hose: This does nothing to assist directly with Steam Blaster, you cannot even use it while using this. But Healing Hose can heal any number of allies at one time, and allows you to also be supportive. It is good to use this ability when you have multiple allies near you to keep their health filled up. Take turns using Steam Blaster and Healing Hose. If there are no enemies nearby or you need protection, use your Healing Hose to heal your allies as much as you can. This way, you can still be doing something as you regenerate, before heading back into the fray. Now, while you cannot attack and heal at the same time, keep in mind that your healing is lingering, and your Steam Blaster is lingering, so consider that. meaning that to an extent, you can do both at once. Also, you can heal any amounts of allies you want at once.

Conclusion

Now, while this upgrade can take a lot of points to equip and can be hard to obtain in the first place, but with practice and good use of Steam Blaster (which should have another nerf) it will be worth it. Consider what you equip for your last 2 upgrade points to maximise your output, and remember, do not abuse this upgrade too hard, it may get a nerf!

I suggest trying out this upgrade if you have not already, and deciding whether you like it or not.

Hopefully this guide was helpful and fun to read!

Later, lovely community!

Signed

@TheSprinter85