(I know there has been a thread on this but sorry can't seem to find it so posting a new one :/ )Holy cow this character needs help. I've played through to Super Elite recently as my continued quest to get all to Master, but find him so underpowered. Primary Weapon is weak and high precision needed.Shield is useful for objectives but you can't shoot or do anything, just sit and wait for it to break and then die.Navel Laser, good damage but like threading a needle to hit anyone. Also you can't shield so sitting duck.Spin Dash takes too long to activate, meaning useless in middle of fight (contrast with All Star dash which you can use mid fight).EMPeach is an average ability.How on Earth are you meant to do well with this character?I've played several hours with them all now and I think Citron needs the most help in the next balancing. Or maybe I just don't know how to play him? I struggle with them all at first but eventually it clicks and I do well.. not happening for our orangey pal so far.

https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion/Citron-Feedback-Needs-to-be-reworked-warning-this-is-very/m-p/8510830#M9364@34975634954957 you’re absolutely correct... the only way to play Citron is cowardly to be effective against most formidable teams. Roll, roll, roll, dash, roll, etc...EDIT: @GutmanSca sorry - didn’t read your reply till I replied to the first post.I understand your perspective but even playing Battle Arena, Citron is one of the lesser used characters for a reason; he isn’t even good at shielding in most modes outside of TT and in BA specifically, his shielding is near useless compared to All Star.... you can’t shield all angles the same. I’m not saying he needs to be able to tank people with a godlike naval laser again but his shield could be made to mimic an encompassing protection much like All Star and then he (Citron) would play like the tank he was intended to be? Right now, he can’t shield, he can’t shoot, his laser is no good outside of 1v1 (minus funnel points in TT/playing from afar), and all he can do is roll more freely than other characters. I agree he doesn’t need to be a 1 stop shop. 😊👍

I disagree whole heartedly with shielding and firing for Citron unless other major nerfs are applied (to dash of 50% or more).The problem with Naval Laser isn’t the damage or firing concept that needs work, it’s the ability to end the laser, if you’re exposed to incoming enemy fire.Just my two cents but giving Citron the ability to ONE SHOT characters (with dash) ... is bad enough... give them the ability to dash and then throw up a shield during Naval Laser? There goes Soldier, Scientist, Pirate, and most likely all other characters caught off guard by the inaudible dash.I think more people need to play Battle Aren and Team Vanquish to truly understand the balance of these characters. Sure a little drop off is needed for some but speaking for Citron, solely, he’s very near being at a good point I just don’t think shielding while shooting is the answer ( @realitysquared ) ...

@TheSprinter85That’s exactly it- for character clearly designed to be able to shield others the shield he’s been given just isn’t capable of taking enough punishment in a PvP match which leaves you feeling ineffective when you try to play him according to his role.

Spin dash is just sprint tackle if it had counterplay. It's definitely much easier to duke as it has a little spin animation + sound effect to warn people it's coming. I don't think its really underpowered. if anything its citrons only good feature. it's his main source of damage output. his juice cannon cannot get kills (against competent players) without landing spin dash. If his juice cannon does get a damage or fire rate buff, I do see spin dash's damage being nerfed a bit. For this current patch that we are in tho, it's all he's got. (It actually did less damage while also taking longer to activate in garden warfare 2. Bfn spin dash is a direct improvement from gw2 spin dash).I have already seen far too many people play citron completely wrong. too many people stand still and shield and use naval laser during fights. they're all Christmas noobs but the game has done nothing to teach them how citron works. so they shield, then die, without contributing much to the team, then eventually switch to an easier, more unga bunga character like sunflower or snapdragon (who are straightforward and simple to get the hang of). Most cases, I don't think its the player's fault. it's kinda the citron's fault for being so "wonky". something needs to be done about the peel shield and naval laser. the naval laser is barely useful ever. primary fire is more reliable than it. it's on a fairly long cooldown and punishes the citron for using it (makes him much MUCH easier to hit as he cant shield or jump. He also cant even aim the thing. can only hipfire it for some unknown reason). The peel shield reduces his movement speed alot. protects a decently average area in front of his face a bit, but only for a short while when under fire. and gives him ammo for soaking damage. The peel shields existence has made it so Citron cannot aim. he can only hipfire. Implying he would be most effective at close range. Which is true, but literally every single other character in this game (except maybe super brainz, who sucks at all ranges atm), is effective at close and long-range. Even Imp, who was once a close range trigger happy midget john wick, has now become the sniper from team fortress 2. Every single character (except super brainz cuz bad hit detection) is a dps machine. Citron cannot fight anyone long range. he has to get up close. everyone else tho (except scientist and sb) have the freedom of high dps across the map. Even in close range Citron barely gets by with his damage. Heavily relying on spin dash, empeach and his sprint to win fights. They seriously need to consider making naval laser synergise with the rest of his entire character. having a noodle beam that hits barely any damage in a micro-sized hitbox does not work with his close-range juice cannon, peel shield, empeach and spin dash. Even with juiced the projectile size of naval laser is pitiful. it needed to be bigger. They need to rework/ replace naval laser badly. Peel shield needs to be bigger and maybe give a movement speed buff (super brainz gets a move speed buff for pushing forward with the shield, maybe citron could get movement speed buff while strafing left and right or moving backwards with the shield). he goes from the super agile bouncing ball, to a sluggish wall slowly pacing around soaking damage.For playing him, all I can recommend is- that you use his ball form as much as you can (more than peel shield). treat sprint like an ability. jump constantly. jump directly over peoples heads to throw off their aim. Citrons sprint is amazingly good.spam spin dash and empeach off cooldown aswell. even if you yourself arent in a fight, if you see a fight in the distance, chuck an empeach over to help the plant(s) in that area.NEVER USE NAVAL LASER EVER. Pretend its not there honestly. dont ever think about using it. it only reveals where you are and makes you extremely vulnerable to all attacks. the damage it does along with its terrible projectile size make it not worth using at all.

Most good players are hard to kill as citron...shield until emp reloads then rinse repeat or run away...I agree naval laser is useless now but this char if anything needs a shield nerf still.

The State of Citron | EA Forums

36 Replies

GutmanSca
6 years ago
@34975634954957 Can people just stop wanting every single character to be a DPS and a "do everything" type character? Jesus Christ, Citron is meant to be a Tank for his team, he doesn't have bad damage, his Spin Dash + EMPeach combo is really strong and he is not meant to camp and do Billions of damage with high accuracy and have a broken stun. He is a Mid Tier character that does what the game says in his description, the only thing that I really should be looked in him is Navel Lazer, because it's really bad right now, but if buffed, it would be a really nice option for Citron in Long Range when his shield is broken.
34975634954957
6 years ago
Just asking for help and opinions. Sorry if that upset you.
spIash_damage
6 years ago
https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion/Citron-Feedback-Needs-to-be-reworked-warning-this-is-very/m-p/8510830#M9364

@34975634954957 you’re absolutely correct... the only way to play Citron is cowardly to be effective against most formidable teams. Roll, roll, roll, dash, roll, etc...
EDIT: @GutmanSca sorry - didn’t read your reply till I replied to the first post.
I understand your perspective but even playing Battle Arena, Citron is one of the lesser used characters for a reason; he isn’t even good at shielding in most modes outside of TT and in BA specifically, his shielding is near useless compared to All Star.... you can’t shield all angles the same.

I’m not saying he needs to be able to tank people with a godlike naval laser again but his shield could be made to mimic an encompassing protection much like All Star and then he (Citron) would play like the tank he was intended to be?

Right now, he can’t shield, he can’t shoot, his laser is no good outside of 1v1 (minus funnel points in TT/playing from afar), and all he can do is roll more freely than other characters.

I agree he doesn’t need to be a 1 stop shop. 😊👍
mikepal19
6 years ago
I think he needs his primary buffed 1 damage and have his naval laser have aim assist if you use LT (on xbox).
Speaking of aim assist, does anyone else notice you get less, if not none at all, aim assist against a citron while he is in his sprint?
TheSprinter85
Hero
6 years ago
@34975634954957 As a person who's favourite character is Citron and that favours support and defend characters, I think he seems to be relatively fine. I can sometimes struggle with him when shielding, but generally it's alright! I don't really use his Navel Laser because I'm a sitting duck and feel all weak when using it. If there was an upgrade like Super Brainz where he automatically put up his shield. His main job is to shield teammates, you gain ammo when successfully blocking damage. Considering he has the fastest sprint speed in the game and is unaffected by the sprinting nerf, His spin dash is very effective. Also, Citron hard counters imps. 🙂
@mikepal19 Seemingly, yes, but I don't find it that hard to hit Citrons in their sprint anyway! 🤔
34975634954957
6 years ago
@TheSprinter85 thanks for the input. I didn't notice his sprint was faster.
Yeah if just Navel Laser were somehow buffed it would work better. Not great sign to have players never using what is meant to be a special ability.
realitysquared
6 years ago
I only ever play Citron in Ops.
I’ve tried in PvP and I just don’t find him to be terribly great at his job for all the reasons already mentioned here.
When in Ops I’m more than happy to shield my teammates during Boss waves because it feels worthwhile and effective to get in between a Pea Gatling and the Sensei boss so he’s not knocked out of his rooted state or to block the Gargantuar lightning stream so a Night Cap can safely strike. The character really shines there.
But in PvP I don’t get that same feeling of being effective because there are actually very few situations where you can play that same defensive roll to the same extent. In PvP the limited arc of the Citron shield matters a lot more than it does in PvE and instead of feeling like I’m effectively shielding in PvP most of the time I feel more like I’ve just delayed the inevitable by a few seconds.
Since you can’t shield and fire at the same time when you pull that shield out you need to feel like it’s making a difference and in PvP those times are few and far between. I use the shield all the time in PvE but in PvP I wish I could swap out the shield for the ability to zoom and aim like with every other character.
TheSprinter85
Hero
6 years ago
@realitysquared I'd say that Citron is super effective in the PvE side of the game, but quite ineffective in PvP, because the Al can't particularly break the shield easily, whereas in PvP the shield can be broken quickly because of damage output of players. 👍
realitysquared
6 years ago
@TheSprinter85

That’s exactly it- for character clearly designed to be able to shield others the shield he’s been given just isn’t capable of taking enough punishment in a PvP match which leaves you feeling ineffective when you try to play him according to his role.
PineapplePiano
6 years ago
@GutmanSca I understand your frustration but please watch your language, this is a public forum and a safe place to give helpful feedback about the game. 🙂