Citron (Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville)

For other uses, see Citron (disambiguation).

Citron is a playable plant class in Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville. He is a Defend class who specializes in providing mobile defense though his ally protecting Peel Shield or his enemy stunning E.M.Peach.

Description

In-game description

Citrons are the mobile team defender. The Peel Shield provides cover for allies. Best to hold strategic locations or help the team break through tough chokepoints.

Weapons

Primary Weapon

“	Rapid-fire, triple-barrel cannon.	”
—In-game description

Citron's primary weapon is the Juice Cannon, which fires 3 projectiles at once. It deals 3 damage per projectile (4 critical) and fires at a medium rate of fire with a high amount of bloom. Additionally, the cannon's muzzle flash also deals 3 damage provided enemies are close enough.

Secondary Weapon

“	Raise a shield by holding [Zoom] and gain ammo by blocking damage.	”
—In-game description

The Peel Shield makes a return as Citron's secondary weapon. Instead of zooming in, Citron instead puts up his Peel Shield in front of him. The shield boasts 600 health, and it regenerates its health when not in use. Citron moves slower while the shield is out. Additionally, Citron also gains ammo when blocking damage.

Abilities

Left ability
E.M.Peach	Shoots an E.M.Peach that stuns enemies and depletes Z-Mech fuel.
Center ability
Spin Dash	Ball dash forward to hurt enemies and knock them back.
Right ability
Navel Laser	A precision beam that grows in power.

Upgrades

	Emergency Exit		● 1
	Move faster for a short time after exiting Spin Dash. Move 30% faster for 3 seconds after exiting Spin Dash.

	Refreshing Revive		● 1
	Faster refresh time for all abilities by reviving an ally. Reduces ability cooldown by 30% when a teammate is revived.

	Rough Patch		● 1
	Spawn with more health after suffering multiple vanquishes in a row. After dying three times in a row, spawn with the maximum amount of overhealth for the currently used class after respawning or being revived.

	Quenching Cover		● 2
	Gain ammo for Juice Cannon when blocking damage with Peel Shield. Adds 7 rounds to the magazine when blocking damage with Peel Shield.

	Best Defense		● 2
	Briefly reduce incoming damage by earning a critical vanquish. Can stack 3 times. Reduces incoming damage by 15% for 5 seconds upon vanquishing an enemy. Stacks up to 2 times for a total of 30% damage resistance.

	Health Regeneration		● 2
	Faster health regeneration. Doubles health regeneration rate.

	Health Regeneration Delay		● 2
	Reduced time between taking damage and when health regeneration activates. Reduces the time required to start health regeneration by half.

	Freshly Squeezed		● 2
	Momentarily increase sprint speed after vanquishing an enemy. Sprint 30% faster for 5 seconds after vanquishing an enemy.

	Critical Blow		● 3
	Faster refresh time for all abilities by earning a critical vanquish. Reduces ability cooldown by 3 seconds upon critically vanquishing an enemy.

	Kinectic Energy		● 3
	Gain Peel Shield health by dealing damage. Gain 12.5 points of Peel Shield health by dealing damage.

	Peel Out		● 3
	Move Faster when Peel Shield is deployed. Move 35% faster while using Peel Shield.

	Peached		● 3
	Longer stun duration by hitting enemy directly with E.M.Peach.

	Juiced		● 3
	Navel Laser has larger width and always deals critical damage.

	Fallback		● 3
	Move faster when at low health. Increases movement speed by 20% upon reaching 20% HP or below.

	Speedy		● 3
	Move faster, except when sprinting. Increases walking speed by 12.9032%

	Leveling Up		● 2
	Earn XP faster. Earn 10% more XP.

	Bowling		● 4
	Knock enemies farther away with Spin Dash. Spin Dash knocks enemies 7m (22.97ft) upward and forward.

	Pulp Powered		● 4
	Extended Naval Laser duration by earning a Vanquish with Naval Laser. Vanquishing enemies with Navel Laser extends its duration by 2 seconds.

	Peachy		● 4
	Gain Peel Shield health by stunning enemies with E.M.Peach. Gain 100 points of Peel Shield health by stunning enemies with E.M.Peach.

	Adrenaline Rush		● 4
	Move faster for a short time by earning a vanquish. Increases movement speed by 55% for 3 seconds upon vanquishing an enemy.

Related Achievement

	Zest of the Best Block 1,000 damage with Peel Shield as a Citron.

Strategies

With

With the readjustments to older characters in Battle For Neigborville, Citron has lost some of his offensive damage but has been replaced with a more defensive setup than the previous game. His new shield being able to be thrown up at anytime gives him more of a tank role, protecting you and your allies. However, his shield can be broken, leaving you defenseless, so keep an eye on it’s health at all times.

His weapon is best used at close ranges, due to the high bloom it has. Where Citron really shines is defending or pushing an objective. Using his shield, you can push through a point with your allies providing defense, Spin Dash can knock enemies out the way if they're all close together. Navel Laser is best used for aiming at a single target, rather than using it for crowd control.

Against

Due to how much health Citron has, and how hard it is to land a hit on him, you'll have to be cautious to fight. Try to catch him off guard if you can. It isn't that hard, due to how big he is. You can also get him from a distance since he's suited for close quarters. Once he puts his shield up, you'll want to move around, looking for an opening.

Watch out for Spin Dash though, as it can take out a chunk of your health if you get hit. For Navel Laser and E.M. Peach, try to avoid it, since E.M. Peach will give Citron enough time to react, and Navel Laser because the damage of it increases over time.

Tips & Tricks

Try to abuse Citron's enhanced mobility while in Ball Form. He can jump higher while sprinting, allowing him to reach vantage points that would normally be inaccessible to other characters.

Citron can cast E.M. Peach while sprinting. Simply activate the ability while walking normally, then quickly start sprinting before it fires. You can use this to shoot the E.M. Peach over obstacles that are normally to high to aim an E.M. Peach over.

Bugs

Citron Taunt Bug

Footage of the bug In-game.

Taunting while sprinting as Citron causes him to momentarily vanish for the duration of the taunt. Citron is the only character in the entire game who experiences this bug. Citron's can do this in all modes (pve + pvp). It doesn't matter if you have good or bad internet, this bug works 100% of the time. Enemies can still hear Citron and see his health bar.

Citron also maintains its usual large hitbox while invisible and can be vanquished normally (Citron is still completely visible to enemy players. He only disappears on the player's screen). This bug is still in the game as of 2019's Feastivus event.

Balancing changes

October 2019 Patch

▲ Increased the Juice Cannon's damage from 2 to 2.55
▲ Removed the Peel Shield's 0.2 second deploy delay
▲ Reduced the Peel Shield's reactivate deploy time from 0.5 to 0.3 seconds
▼ Reduced the Peel Shield's XP earn rate to 10 XP per 25 damage points blocked
Removed the Peel Shield's backpedal speed modifier

November 2019 Patch

▲ Increase base ammo gain from blocking with shield 7->10
▲ Sprint can now cancel shield
▲ Movement speed modifier with shield up reduced 0.7->0.8
▲ Bringing up the shield can interrupt reloading
▲ Add muzzle flash damage to Juice Cannon 0->2.55
▲ Spin Dash no longer cancels sprint

November 27 2019 Update (Pre-TTK)

▼ Reduced additional time earned for earning a vanquish with the Pulp Powered upgrade from 2.7->2.0
▼ Reduced Naval Laser damage __ to __->5 to 10
▲ Movement speed reduction while using Naval Laser with the Juiced upgrade removed
▼ Juiced upgrade no longer lets Citron ADS while using Naval Laser

Early December 2019 TTK Changelist

▲ Increase Juice Cannon damage per projectile 2.55->2.6
▼ Decrease Juice Cannon muzzle damage 2.55->2.2
▲ Decrease Juice Cannon projectile spread per shot
▼ Increase Peel Shield regen delay 2.0->3.5
▼ Increase Peel Shield regen delay from destroyed 2.0->5.0
▼ Decrease E.M. Peach stun duration 2.25->1.4
▼ Decrease E.M. Peach stun duration with the Peached upgrade 4.5->2.9

May 2020 patch

Juice Cannon
- ▲ Increase damage per projectile 2.6->3
- ▲ Increase damage of muzzle blast 2.2->3
- ▲ Increase total damage per shot 10->12
E.M.Peach
- ▲ Can now cancel Space Cadet’s Gravity Smash
- ▲ Can now destroy Engineer’s Bullhorn Swarm
- ▲ Can now cancel All-Star’s Sprint Tackle