I'm already seeing people use many of the tactics described in this topic, I'm quite overjoyed to be perfectly honest. I had actually engaged in a 2 minute or so shoot out with someone who made it very difficult to hit his hand behind a wall. I got him, oh yes, but at the cost of my vanquish number total due to hyper-fixating on a target who should've been left alone or approached by route of "However he got to his nest" ;3 I'm such a dork.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Basic Quality of Life Tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-The Jackhammer-
As Engineer, your Jackhammer actually gives you a slight increase to your jump height as well as your speed, thereby with practice allowing you to jump over fences and ledges which are slightly too tall to leap over when not riding the jackhammer. A good example of this would be on Zen Peak (Let us use Gnome bomb as a reference):
At Zombie side-Tombstone "C" (The one under the Gazebo/Pagoda,) you can only access by running through Zombie spawn, taking the bridge, or waterfall side stairway. There is also a little Ledge located along the creek bed that Roses and Citron can jump to due to their incredible jump right! Well, while operating a Jackhammer, you can actually make this jump too, effectively allowing you to hop up "Behind" the point, possibly even snagging a vanquish (Or getting vanquished yourself if they see you coming)... the point is, you can hop higher on that Hammering tool of yours!
Speaking of the Jackhammer, it's a very useful tool for making the life of a Plant really hard to cope with! Ramming a plant while riding the Jackhammer will knock them back. If you ram a Chomper while he's trying to burrow and you're on the hammer, it will knock them back AND cause them to lose their burrow cooldown entirely! You can also ram into rooted Sunflowers or Peashooters to cause them to get knocked out of their super damaging Gatling Pea or Sunbeam skills, and cause their cooldowns to be wasted too! (I do not know if they have to fire first for this to be true).
Not only that, but let us go into detail about "Aggressive Engineer tactic". A glance at the random tips while loading will clue you in to hop around on your Jackhammer to outmaneuver your foe and make yourself hard to hit, but while riding the Jackhammer and jumping around (Possibly while ramming the enemy) you can be shooting the ground during this entire ordeal and overwhelm plants who have no idea how to back up and aim at this offensive style of play. (Which isn't all that easy to do either if the Engineer is locked onto you, they will chase and continuously stun you).
This is very useful as the Default Engineer, as his concrete launcher cracks out 20 damage in a very generous splash radius per throw. Couple this with you bouncing around and running into people, possibly even jumping over them to make yourself as har dto hit as possible, it will only take 5 shots to the ground to vanquish a sunflower. 7 for a Peashooter who doesn't try to use his hyper. -- WHILE AIMING THOSE DIRECT HIT 36-40 DAMAGE CRITICALS IS KEY TO REALLY BEING A MENACE AS ENGINEER, AND TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION HE MAKES A MUCH BETTER DEFENSIVE PLAYER IN MY OWN OPINION, THIS TACTIC GOES AGAINST EVERYTHING I KNOW TO BE TRUE ABOUT THE ENGINEER. But there is no doubt that Aggressive Jackhammering can take players by surprise, especially ones who aren't knocked over by the hammer that often or have difficulty chasing their target in circles while being moved.
Lastly, your Jackhammer will actually deal REALLY STRONG damage to Tallnuts and Potted plants. Ramming into an enemy deals 5 damage. Ramming into something that doesn't move when you bump it causes that 5 damage to occur at a very rapid rate. As always, be mindful of Potato Mines, remember that jumping over obstacles can be more quick than trying to destroy them, and that the entire mention of this is so that if you do decide to destroy a tallnut and are riding on a jackhammer at the time, you can conserve precious ammo simply by ramming the barricade.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Really cheap tip for Sunflower ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunflower when behind "Low cover" that you can jump and get a free shot out of just to land and be safe again, can actually drop their Heal/Dark Flower, and jump on it. An example would be the All-Star Mansions fencing, (The Marble/Stone, not the Picket/Wood). As a Fire Flower, hopefully with friends because you really won't last long if 2 or 3 people come looking for you to punish you for your annoyance -- Plop down that Heal Flower, hop on its head, and peg the poor little defenders with that ultra-sweet Fire damage burn as they hide in the corner attempting to ambush players trying to capture their point. It is NOT wise to keep your head above cover on top of your flower for too long. Once you take a hit or two, hop down and hide in cover as per usual, allowing your fire damage to whittle the enemies health away while your Heal flower recovers your health, giving you little downtime, and more time to hop back on your flower and continue your assault until you draw enough attention to have to flee.
There are other places to use this, and you can even use this flower like a Tallnut to access areas you normally wouldn't be able to AS a Flower. (Keep in mind that this comes at the expense of your Flower Cooldown.) These locations aren't many (There's lots of spots that aren't "That good" which are open and allow easy visibility of your dainty little flower self, beware!)
The right Fire Flower in the right place can make all the difference, since she can spray 10 or so pulses onto a point in Herbal Assault and nearly FORCE players to leave that capture zone.
The same is true for any character played just right however. :D Take care out there P's & Z's! And thanks for contribution to the Strategy thread reality. We should all try to enlighten our fellow players. For stronger teammates. FOR BETTER OPPOSITION! lol
You can pull a burrowed chomper out with one of the Z7-Mech?!?! I can see how that'd be really tough to pull off, but if there's that one chance you can keep your buddy from getting chomped it's worth a cooldown to try. Thank you I'm gonna grab a friend and practice with that reality :o
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quick Cactus Tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Cactus is very tough when played to her strengths. Turns out her staying power in a firefight isn't really as fragile as catching a Cactus by surprise in Multiplayer may lead you to believe! When I first played the Garden Warfare 2 Cactuses, I felt they were very underpowered and took too many shots to vanquish a zombie. However, this came because I was an experienced Garden Warfare 1 player who had fully unlocked the upgraded to his variants in the previous game.
Growing used to an upgraded character is dangerous - The Camo Cactus with her damage upgrade in GW2 can actually vanquish a foot soldier with 2 Head shots, whereas when she is not leveled to have a damage upgrade, it will take 3. Remembering this is important as seeing 60 damage with such low firing speeds and magazines will lead you to dislike a character, simply because two shots on a Foot Soldier will land them with 5 health left - Usually allowing someone else to take your vanquish. Patience and determination truly pays off when you find that Cacti that you enjoy playing despite what she may do in terms of damage.
(Here's the tips sorry)
~ Slow aim? ~
Camo Cactus when zooming in will have a slower aiming speed. Remember this if you choose to fall back on her to get revenge on someone giving you a hard time, as tracking faster moving players becomes a chore when faced with ultra slow aiming.
~Garlic Drone Tips~
The Garlic Drone, cute and cuddly as it may be has a few things about it that I seem to find interesting to note when using it. Many of you may already know these things, but the fragility of the drone could possibly leave people scratching their heads as to what the thing may even be used for, if players (Or AI for that matter) don't give them time to play with it in the air!
~Battery Power Saving~
The Garlic Drone when standing still consumes far less power than it would if you were moving or adjusting altitude. Holding both altitude buttons down will not move your drone and will consume power. Touching movement in anyway even if you aren't moving (Running into a wall for example) will drain your battery. The drone also drifts in the last direction you were moving, so remember this when attempting to get the drone to completely stand still by tapping your stick around!! I have also noticed that moving your camera stick does not drain battery, but it does cause your drifting to change (Sort of how it would with a real Helicopter I think. The swivel changes which way you'll be floating). In PvZGW 1 this was much worse and it would cause movement. Fortunately they've toned it down a bit.
This means that, if you can navigate your drone successfully to a spot you find well hidden with good visibility of an objective point, you can in actuality have your drone out for up to two whole minutes. Firing from a good position with the drone in short bursts can give you incredible stealth, since many players don't seem to be able to spot the drone without following its projectile trail back to its position. Choosing not to fire will allow you to survive longer, shelling out a Corn Strike when the chance strikes you. Staying out of well lit spots with your drone is a good tip too, as the Drone is easy to spot when it is in blue sky and it's just like this huge booger easy to see.
~ Drone Physics ~
The Drone also has some interesting physics to it. In the first game (PVZGW 1), placing your Tallnuts in a V shape pattern, standing inside of it, then slowly pushing into your front with the Drone would actually place Cactus on top of her Drone, allowing for fun and quirky antics as well as very strategic placement of Sniper Nests.
In Garden Warfare 2 however, this is no longer the case ☹️ Rather, if you do this, you will cause Cactus to fly in some crazy random direction. Less of a tip and more of an opportunity to be a punk (lol) you can actually use your drone to move players around. Get in their way. Even increase their speed (In the case of a Parrot pushing an All-Star). Being a nuisance has its many advantages to lightening your own mood when on the end of a rear-end kicking, but you can also use this nifty little trick to reposition yourself if somehow you had used the Drone in an open area where you are easy to be seen. While draining battery power, it could save your life to just nudge yourself behind something.
~ Drone Tactic ~
Finally, some combat tips! Have you learned how to manage flight for over one minute? Can you harass people from behind a tree, then stay there behind that very tree CAMPING for longer than they thought you would? Can you swoop to the side of the tree while they're waiting for you, pepper them once to three times and hide behind cover before they can shoot you down? O_O Good! Because here's some goodies for you to benefit from.
Your Drone has absolutely -ZERO- recoil! None! That means that when you've got the bead and can compensate for your drift, the bullets will always go where you are aiming. The Drone rewards, and it rewards very well with 12 damage close range head shots, and 9 damage from long range (Critical).
Be aware of what is in between you and your target when you are fighting from an Eagle's Eye range. The slightest sign, smallest ledge or even tiniest little line from a tree LEAF will cause your Bullet to hit the the object. It will cause your CORN STRIKE to strike AT THAT INSIGNIFICANT LEAF that's miles away from the spot you were aiming, but somehow a little piece of metal was protruding from a wall SOMEWHERE and that's where your Corns are landing. SOMEWHERE. ☹️ This is a warning/tip people. I've lost so many good drones and strikes to THIS very problem. Double check before you decide to strike.
Don't be intimidated by attempting to use battery power to take an alternate route low to the ground in order to remain hidden.This particular tactic can come in handy if you do not intend to hang back and camp with your Drone. Often times it's the drone that can get behind the player who is playing Master Spotter on top of a Roof Top without them seeing that can really tip the tides of a fight. Most especially so if you can sneak right onto them and give 'em the ol surprise hairwash from above. These Lone Wolves are dangerous and can be spotted by the way they play Hide n' Seek with you if you try to take them down with your Primary weapon.
Speaking of sniper hide n' seek, let us discuss some fine tactic with that.
If you do not have your damage upgrade, it will be very tough to engage worthy adversary at range, especially if they know where you are at and most so if they can patiently regenerate health.
While you may become accustomed to players who overextend because you've learned to dangle your head out there for a poor rookie to miss a few shots on, this will not always be the case. Players with the "Eagle Eye" come up with their own ways to lure players out of hiding because we all know (The Eagle Eye players know, that is) that it only takes a set number of shots in the right spot to get what we want. And if you're being hit once then the player is somehow missing you, it could very well be more than just a lucky shot. Play patiently. Forcing a player to come out first is what you want.
I, as one of those "Eagle Eye" players play contradictory to the above tip. It is I who can see you no matter how far you try to attack me from and it is I who will intentionally move in patterns common to new players. Health permitting I will purposely put my entire hitbox out in plain view for them to fire at, simply because I know it takes nothing more than a jump or a quick side step to take minimal damage from enemy fire. This way, I am able to see where enemy fire is coming from and essentially gauge by the fire who and where I should be aiming at. Whether I want to fire on someone who won't be able to hit me, or attempt to keep where the heaviest fire was coming from thinned down a little bit.
^---- This tip is based purely from a Defensive Stand point. And speaking as a Foot Soldier who engages cactuses like they are a mortal enemy. I have seen what a good cactus can do to a team of rookies, and if see a Foot Soldier on a Roof Top, PLAY PATIENTLY.
Thank, and hopefully these were more tip than ramble though it felt like more ramble than tip. I am in the process of leveling my cactus team and figured I would put these here before I dived right in. When I reacqauint myself to the Tallnuts and their uses I'll see what I can come up with for those.
Also, on Great White North, I pulled a Chomper out of the ground with my Z7 Mech. It was on the first point, he was one of those sneaky chompers that goop you and chomp you to death from behind. Oh ho ho he tried to burrow passed me and I hit it just right. Sweet, sweet destruction, I could feel his disdain haha reality wasn't joking about that. I suggest learning how to do it from long range as a burrowing chomper who burrows just to regenerate is so annoying, it's almost worth bringing out the mech if you were saving it, though he'll probably unburrow by the time you finish summoning :P
