The current issues of Kernel Corn and how to improve his situation.

So, I've dedicated my last 10 hours of playtime solely to the Kernel Corn, in order to find out what makes him so appealing to newbies AND hardcore GW veterans (at least on console). I've compared his gameplay to the other damage dealing class on the Plant team, the Peashooter. If this speaks for anything, I prefer the Kernel because he has a bullet based primary, which I prefer over the boring splash damage peas, and the fact that Corn is better at range and has the potential to be more effective then the Peashooter when played strategically. However, their are some problems in his design that hold him back from unleashing his true power, and I'd like to propose some solutions to those problems. One of the main points why this class is not as effective as it could be are the abilities, but some variants suffer from primaries that are just mediocre.

The Shuck Shot

The Shuck Shot is the plant counterpart to the ZPG. The main differences are that Kernel Corn fires out two cobs with the potential to deal up to 150 points of damage per cob while the Footsoldier fires one single rocket that deals 250 points of damage. Another difference is the firing position, as the Soldier ducks and makes himself harder to hit, while the Shuck Shot has the Corn remaining the huge target that he is. The biggest problem I have with the Shuck Shot is it's incredible inaccuracy. While the ZPG remains pinpoint accurate, even when fired on the move, the Shuck Shot is inaccurate at medium and long range, even if it's fired when standing still and ADS. Another problem is that the slightest motion can ruin your accuracy and makes the Shuck Shot incredibly inaccurate, even at close to medium range. This mechanic needs to be removed, as it basically defeats the purpose of the Shuck Shot as an install explosive that works over longer ranges. The only things that can even be hit with one out of the two cobs at longer ranges are camping Deadbeards, Cannon Rodeos and Big Bolt Blasters because they are immobile (or they have the tendency to be immobile). To improve this, I suggest that both cobs are fired in a straight line (one shortly behind the other) when fired during ADS to make them useful outside of face punching Super Brainz and the All-Star.

The Butter Barrage

Currently, their is no reason to use the Butter Barrage over the Bigger, Badder Butter. This is not due to the Bigger, Badder Butter being OP, but rather because the Butter Barrage is one of the most ineffective abilities in the entire game, if not the most ineffective. The problem with the Buter Barrage is the damage, the splash radius and the slow deploy time of the butter pieces. The Butter Barrage can deal up to 240 points of damage, but it never doe this much damage. The max amount of damage on a single target in a match would be 120 points, as a player can only be hit 6 times, even if he stands right in the middle, because the splash range of the other butter pieces is to low to hit the player. To make matters it usually deals around 60-80 points of damage, because players have a tendency to avoid damage. This makes it ineffective at killing anything besides Imps and low HP targets. The Bigger, Badder Butter on the other hand does 200 damage at close range, has a high lethal range, deals good damage outside of the lethal blast radius (enough to kill the mid and low HP Zombie classes) and it's biggest advantage, it comes down with only one big airstrike instead of twelve tiny ones. As a result, the Bigger, Badder is far better at taking out crowds on objectives, especially tombstones in Gnome Bomb. This basically leaves the Butter Barrage as an area detail tool, but even then the Bigger, Badder Butter is far better, as it's higher damage and bigger range scare off event tankier Zombies from an objective.

Kernel Corn

I like Kernel Corn. He is my second favorite out of all the Corns. He has good damage at any range, decent accuracy and a generous magazine. However, their is one problem that I have with him. His range is pitiful. He has a lower max damage range than the Chemist has range, and falls to his minimum damage quite quickly. A slightly higher range would help to make him more competitive.

Pops Corn

This is my favorite variant. With his damage upgrade, he becomes a killer at medium range and I don't have any problems with his performance

Mob Cob

In my opinion, this guy is the worst Conrad a worthy competitor with Frost Rose in the fight for the worst Plant. His Focus seems to be at medium range with the increased performance at this range, but if I really wanted to be effective at medium range, I would use Pops Corn. Equipped with an useless gimmick, awful accuracy and no real advantage over any Plant or Zombie, the only reason I was able to rank him somewhat well was the Husk Hop.

BBQ Corn

BBQ Corn is another good variant, but I prefer the default and Pops Corn because they just feel better. He can still be considered one of the best Plants in the entire game

Party Corn

Without the damage upgrade, Party Corn is terrible outside of Party mode, but decent in Party mode.With the damage upgrade, he becomes somewhat usable and is actually very good in Party mode, but his ineffectiveness outside of Party mode make him almost useless in most scenarios