What I Would like to see in The Last Balancing Patch

A while a back I did a large list of suggestions to balance plants and I never got around to doing such for the zombies. Since the upcoming balance patch will be the last, I wanted to do a list for both sides. I'm going to presume falloff will not be added because it would be a bad idea at this point because any problems with it will not be fixed. I will also restate any suggestions from my plant list if I feel they are still needed. Unlike the plant list I made Ill try to only explain myself if I feel I need to in order to reduce text.

General: Remove jump height penalty when hit.

This penalty, I find is rather unnecessary since there is already a penalty to sprint speed when hit during a sprint and I don't find it makes a difference in a fight so all this penalty does is screw up simple jumps that players know they can make.

Remove walkspeed speed penalty after sprinting..

Its less pronounced after the increase to general movement speed but its still there, I don't see any reason for it to be and it seems to punish use of sprint for repositioning and outmaneuvering

Reduce effect of Health Regeneration Delay upgrade by 0.5 seconds.

This upgrade makes Citron,All Star(with a suggestion I have) and Acorn overly difficult to vanquish because of their shields and mobility respectively. This upgrade is also rather unimpactful to snipers because of their general fragility and Oak/Space Station because they are intended to rely on team ups for survivability so nerfing this upgrade would tone down the intended characters while not really affecting the others.

Ghosting abilities (arcane enigma, outta fight, burrow) no longer contest objectives but are no longer affected by speed changes like goop and double time Add start up time to arcane enigma and outta fight

Imo I just find it unfair that a burrowing chomper stops five guys on a objective though this is debatably about game mechanics rather than abilities. I also find it weird that an escape ability with invincibility can be slowed.

Have overhealth decay by ~10%/second so all characters can hold it for equal length.

Fix low life and Ready Up upgrades. They currently don't seem to work

Peashooter: Reduce pea cannon projectile speed by ~15% Decrease ability of bean bomb to be pushed around so its better at bombing the intended area

I actually think Peashooter is really balanced in terms of damage output across both his abilities and primary but he seems too good at directly hitting enemies from long range.

Pea Suped partially reloads primary.

A nice QoL improvement for self buffs

Side note: I think the homing pea dealing 54 damage might be because of damage overlap similar to how a direct hit with a pea does 20 direct damage and 14 splash but shows one total number instead of the two separate numbers so the increase may only be visual because a turning shot and straight shot hit at almost the same time.

Chomper: Reduce rate of fire of slobber shot by ~30%.

This change would maintain the slobber shots ability to finish a fleeing foe while reducing his ability to simply snipe foes at long range, making players use the character's kit as intended rather than simply sniping.

Add health regen effect on melee equal to Super Brainz's. Double on bite vanquish. Reduce effect of Chomp Thing upgrade by 0.5 seconds to compensate for better survivability

I feel that Super Brainz's has alot more going for him than Chomper even without mentioning SB's legendary upgrade so giving him some of SB's health regen. I would also like less reliance on Chomp Thing and burrow for Chomper's survivability

Refill health regen delay bar on burrow vanquish (Chomper doesn't regen health till after swallowing). Increase cooldown of burrow by ~4 seconds or reduce speed of burrow by ~15%.

Mentioned this before but I think giving a mechanic based reward for using burrow to eat isolated targets would incentivize its use for this rather than "suicide chomping". That being said this ability recharges really quickly for a near instant vanquish threat that can't be outran so I think it should either be a bit slower so it can't be used to bum rush an attacker or have a longer cooldown.

Increase Spikeweed range to fit model. Reduce cooldown/charge by 2 seconds

Reduce goop tick damage to 1, revert reduction to tick number. Honestly this ability never needed to be buffed because its strength lied in how long the poison lasted, preventing health regen and lasting long enough to spread around. Though the initial damage buff is nice and would be fine even at 45.

Upset Stomach upgrade: also reduces cooldown to compensate for longer active time during which there is no cooldown

Symbiosis: Change effect to "burrowing an enemy with both spikeweed charges ready instantly consumes enemy and charges.

Corn: Increase Cob Buster damage by ~1. 

This primary feels too weak for the amount of aiming required.

Highlight assists refill 20% of magazine

Shogun Guard: While aiming convert 5 points of direct into splash damage with 75% pea cannon splash radius. (Total damage is the same whether aiming or not.). Increase damage by ~0.5.

I think the splash damage while aiming would make this upgrade alot more interesting by doubling down on his front line gunner aspects, giving him a better weapon against groups at the cost of slight single target dps.

Snap Dragon: Change burn damage to always be 8 damage.

First of all I think the amount of damage from burns is a bit much so I think it be toned toned down slightly but not too much since it can't get a vanquish (though Pumpkin Squash's can for some reason). Secondly it seems like an oversight that burns from a flare ball headshot deal extra damage.

Flame Blower: Reduce range by ~5m. Increase damage by ~0.4 to compensate for the fact this would be the second range nerf.

Blue Blazes: Reduce casting time by ~0.25 seconds. aiming during casting greating reduces the targeting reticle.

This ability feels a bit slow and that I can do more damage with the Flame Blower by the time it launches. I also feel these types of abilities have issues targeting someone farther away in a dispersed group so I feel there should be a way to better control the lock on.

Nightcap: Add crits to Spore Strike when hitting from behind, increasing damage by ~4. 

Allow canceling of shadow sneak but have slightly longer delay till next action if manually canceled

Citron: Reduce natural health regen rate while shield is raised, reduce damage/pellet of juice cannon by ~0.5. Reduce casting time of em peach by ~1/3 seconds to better blend with shield use

First of all I've found when using the hp regen delay upgrade with this character, he is incredibly hard to vanquish and imo it just seems unfair he can regen health normally while blocking attacks and still being able to move freely unlike All-Star. Secondly I think the damage increase to his primary was needed but it was a bit too much and he is the greatest flanker on the plant team in combination with his stun and spin dash for burst. A slight decrease in primary damage would make him fall in line as team player and he was intended.

Acorn: Increase maximum spread and spread/shot by ~20%. Increase delay between shell dashes by ~2 seconds and increase cooldown by ~1 second . Acorn's primary is simply to accurate for his size and allows for fighting and long range with the smallest hitbox in the game.

Add ~15 damage to outer radius of sap trap.

Oak: Increase radius of Super Sap Trap maximum damage area by ~25%. Add ~40 damage to shockwave radius of SST. Re-Add armor to acorn passengers or make them straight up invincible to better incentive lumber support for oak survival. Add lock on to Treetop Turret. Add delay between uses of Lumber Support for all members when one member uses it to prevent wasting it.

Cactus: Reduce damage of gatling needle by ~1, Reduce critical damage of full charge spike shot by ~9. Gatling needle seems really powerful for something uninteded to be her primary source of damage. As for the spike shot nerf, I think Bfn in general has a burst damage primary vs. sustained damage primary (machine guns) balance issue in general but that's a different issue.

Increase splash damage of Bulb barrage by ~10-15 and radius by ~15%. Increase general speed of drone by ~10%. In reality I just find the vertical speed too slow but an overall speed would help to improve its ability to attack enemies behind cover.

Increase drone weapon damage by ~1 and cooldown by ~8 seconds

Looting upgrade has double effect if vanquishing shot empties clip but no longer activates from gatling needle.

Rose: Reduce cooldown of Arcane Enigma to 45 seconds,

Jinx highlights enemy but not though walls and overrides Wizard's armor buff and up to 2 levels of TV Head;s passive.

Remove crits from homing thistle and increase damage by ~half current critical bonus because of how hard it is to get crits with this primary.

Pollination now always works with or without crit vanquish.

Remove slow down while hit during arcane enigma. Why is this a thing?

Sunflower: Double healing allies receive from sunny side-up.

I would like to see Sunflower be better at healing groups. Because sunny side up shoots a set number of drops everywhere allies pick up very little health unless they actively go for them and it looses power with more people and if the sunflower is hurt. Because buffing the drops themselves would make sunflower harder to vanquish I think the drops should heal more just for allies.

Reduce cost of blossom by 1. Fix heal assists not being rewarded from secondary blossom beam.

Fix blossom healing self at beginning of sprint

Increase fire rate of sun pulse by ~10%. Just a minor tweak I'd like to see.

Wildflower Dandelion: Reduce max damage radius by ~20%. Reduce max damage by ~35. Add slowing effect. Add sound effect when moving at near top speed. Add 1.0 second delay between trigger and explosion. Imo this ability does too much damage for something that is silent and with complete control. It is also way too good at singling out someone even if they have full health. I personally find it unfun to fight against this class and TV Head because they hang back and get way too much out of this ability when they're intended to be on the frontlines with other swarmers( so I can say the ability itself doesn't fit the playstyle but that's a different discussion). Anything I say about dandelion can be applied to TV Head's yeti imp

Foot Soldier: Increase primary weapon damage by ~1. Reduce spread/shot and recoil by ~10%

Change rapid fire upgrade to be the same Corn's super spin upgrade.

Smakescreen assists refill 20% of magazine

Foot Soldier has the same primary weapon issue as corn but was his accuracy was nerfed as well because of the rapid fire upgrade. As for this upgrade itself I think it would make more sense to urn it into Corn's fire rate upgrade rather than its current state or a flat fire rate up and accuracy down because normal upgrades in this game don't do a give and take system.

Imp: Revert damage nerfs to Imp blasters, maintain current fire rate.

Increase radius of gravity grenade by ~33% and duration by ~1 second.

Increase movement speed during impkata by ~10% to better chase enemies.

Imp has always felt weak because while he can flank like Acorn and Nightcap, he lacks the burst damage to exploit it and the ability to escape like the both of them and the ability to single someone out like nightcap. I also think gravity grenade is just bad because of its small radius, too small of a duration for others to utilize and how many plants can counteract it through escape or protection..

Z-Mech: Increase  primary damage by ~1, increase number of shots fired before overheating by ~12. Revert missile madness nerfs. Bionic bash now flicks enemies away with enough hangtime to follow up.

For an ability to push through heavy blockades and tackle multiple opponents its not very good at it because of a lackluster overall damage output.

Action Hero: Increase cooldown of Rocket Ride by ~5 seconds and reduce spread by ~15%.

Increase cooldown of dynamite dodge by ~2 seconds and radius by ~10%.

Decrease casting time of Can't Missile by ~0.5 seconds. Add orange crosshair display on enemies who have 3 tags.

Increase splash of full charge shot by ~10 but reduce direct full charge shot damage by ~20 to better fit the idea of a splash damage focused character.

The two issues I have with rocket ride is how much it gets used as an ability for one on ones and how I can literally stand still and not get by it at times. I think these changes would make players use the ability more wisely yet make the ability easier to use. As for Can't Missile, this ability locks the user in place for too long imo. Adding an easy display to notify players of who and how many the ability will target will also make it easier to use on groups.

Electric Slide: Reduce cooldown of Disco Tornado by ~4 seconds, it just seems overly long. Disco Tornade does 5-10 damage.tick around the clouds, the radius seems small for area denial and the clouds part of the area seemingly does no damage. Fix issue of Disco Tornado getting stuck in place.

Reduce arc damage by ~2

Super Brainz: Reduce radius of turbo twister by ~15%.

Increase splash radius of super ball by 20%, increase splash damage by 25, reduce direct damage by 30.

Fix issue of rapid fire flying fists (particularly while speed bag is active)

Reduce natural health regen while shield is up

Branium Basher: Increase max charge time by ~0.5 seconds. Reduce max charge damage by ~45 to reduce number of one shots and distance by ~20%.Increase delay when hitting an enemy with a charge by ~0.5 seconds.

Space Cadet: Increase damage of Cosmo shot by ~1. Have lock-on decay by ~33-50%/second off reticle rather than take the full time to re lock-on to smooth weapon usage.

Reduce time to slam with Gravity Slam and increase its movement speed by  ~10% to better react to groups to use it on.

Remove invulnerability during station inflation and match transformation time to Invoke Oak.

Space Station: Make Big Bang Burst full auto and increase damage by ~2/shot. Space Force reloads everyone's weapons by ~33%.

All-Star: Add ~1-2 seconds of invulnerability to Dummy Shield at the start (you still get blocking points during invulnerability period) so its not immediately destroyed by multiple damage sources or when a shot gets caught between the dummy and the shield. This will also guarantee cover for allies for a few seconds. Increase health of Dummy shield by 50 to compete with Citron's shield.

Fix sprint tackle to have reduced cooldown on vanquished as said in description. Increase sprint tackle width by ~15%.

Add multi/vanquish exp bonus to imp punt, All-Star has notably lower exp gains than other classes.

Increase Football Cannon's damage by ~0.5, reduce max spread by ~20%, increase shots fired before overheat by ~5.

Captain Deadbeard: Reduce crit full charge spyglass shot by 9. Increase damage of scattershot by ~0.5/pellet. Ik this contradicts what I said about cactus' gatling needle but this doesn't even threaten a chomper who just burrowed someone.

Allow sprinting with anchor shot armed and while arming. Increase general movement speed of drone by ~10%.

Scuttle shot upgrade must have ~75% of pellets from scattershot to hit to work

Freebie upgrade has double effect if vanquishing shot empties clip

Engineer: Increase damage of Concrete Launcher by ~6, reduce fire rate by 20%.and magazine by ~4 Reduce fire rate buff of Heavy Helper by 10% but fire rate buff lingers for 3 seconds. Signal Amp upgrade increase linger to 6 seconds. Bullhorn Swarm no longer targets vanquished foes, can switch targets if the first gets vanqusihed, stun all plants with initial blast and cancel burrow with horns. Initial placement of Double Time speeds up allies within 1.5 arcane enigma's radius and is broken after 6 uses, giving a 25 exp well placed bonus.

I think Engineer needs a rework to function as a support because right he plays best as defense character way too well, being able to lockdown entire areas by filling them with bouncy bombs from his turret. These changes would reduce his ability to lockdown areas with spam while improving his ability on offense and would support  the idea of placing Double time in places other than the spawn room so he is not relegated to defense and functions more like a support w/out heals.

Scientist: Reduce warp count by 1 but increase distance by ~20% and goo blaster damage by ~0.5/pellet.

I would rather see scientist have a decent weapon with less warps than the current warp happy one.

Revert sticky healy thing change but midpoint the heal rate between current and pre change Add targeting display for lock-on of sticky healy thing and increase projectile speed by 20%. Fix issue of sticky healy thing not healing stuck on target

To explain the Sticky Ball changes, it used to heal slower but last longer with only a 20 second. The reason I would like to see the changes revert is because the ability lacks versatility. The long cooldown limits its use to self preservation and the short duration prevents allies outside the AoE from healing not to mention the reanimation upgrade is useless because of these changes.

P.S steam blaster is fine imo.

Wizard: Reduce spell disaster damage by ~10 but reduce casting time by ~0.5 seconds during co-star. Reduce charge time of orb by ~0.5 seconds.

Increase radius of zeelixer by ~15% and invincibility by ~0.5 seconds.

Bottle bouncer upgrade causes bottle to pass through all characters or target nearest character within double radius if it initial throw directly hits another player

Change inputs for co-star so that ability trigger input can only be used to swap hosts