Iguana (Green Iguana)

## Species

### Location

southern North America, Central America, northern and eastern South America, Florida (feral)

## Overview

Iguana is a reptilian build that has an intelligence stat higher than most Lizards, but is still less than other builds Their slightly more intelligence than some mammal builds grants them low level social capabilities and problem solving. Their Power stat is also above average cause their power is still higher than most lizards as they are large sized lizards, making their claw strikes and bites deal more damage. Their best offensive ability is **[Tail Whip]****.** They don't possess any special offensive abilities as they place most of their experience points through Foraging rather than PvP. Thought if given the chance they can eat meat

## Base Stats

On defense, they have the Reptile faction's standard defensive bonuses from their scale attribute which negates all damage below a certain threshold and offers a high defensive bonus against Slash type damage but being vulnerable to bashing and piercing attacks. This offers better protection than soft skin or fur though less effective than exoskeletons or shells. In terms of Mobility, the Iguana's burst movement action is incredible and as their basic walking speed is deceptively slow, Iguanas can sprint short distances quickly. However, one of the Reptile faction's signature weaknesses is their low maximum stamina due to their 3 chambered heart. As a result, this burst of speed can only be used a few times over short distances. However, even with these bursts of speed, they aren't fast enough to escape more mobile builds like Dogs or Raptors. Nonetheless, in terms of versatility, Iguanas have a lot of locomotion options for more than just land; in arboreal and aquatic zones too. Iguanas are effective climbers and have no trouble swimming even without wasting evolution points on abilities like Cling Pads or Webbed Feet which requires sacrifices in other stats. Their claw makes for efficient climbing tools and their tails make for great paddles so they are able to play on almost every environments. Regarding their HP, Iguanas are again better than most lizards but still not top of the chart. Iguanas can still tank a good amount of damage to flee difficult situations. For Stealth, Iguanas have pretty basic camouflage which works great in whatever environments they have specced on their stealth for. Obviously, they usually specced into **Green** camouflage that works great in jungles but their cover would be completely blown when they enter city biomes. Meanwhile, those with great camouflage get a stealth bonus in rocky or urban terrains and not in grasslands. Their stats appear mid tier at best and what they lack in physical prowess, they make up for their key abilities.

## Abilities and Skills

The abilities revolves around the Iguana's tail and neck dewlap.

Starting with their neck dewlap, the dewlap provides the Iguana build with a few important abilities that is mostly useful out of combat. The first is that it can be used for temperature control similar to Elephant's ears and the Spinosaurus's sail. They could be tilted towards the Sun to grant a **Cold Resistance** buff and can be flushed with blood to grant a **Heat Resistance** buff. This versatile ability can allow an Iguana to thrive in a variety of environments from Jungles to Deserts to Islands. The dewlap's second ability is that it can be used for **[Intimidation]** and by flashing their brightly coloured dewlaps, they can inflict an intimidation debuff on an aggressor or an intrusive player. This is essential to the Iguana's gameplay since its actual combat abilities are rather limited.

The Iguana's tail is integral to its combat moveset as Iguana players favour the most in battle is **[Tail Whip].** Since it comprises of half the Iguana's total body weight, these attacks have deceptively long reach and combined with its extremely low startup play makes it an excellent tool that allow the Iguana to control space quite effectively - Spacing. While it deals relatively low Blunt force damage, it does also have a chance to inflict a stun, giving the Iguana player a chance for escape in combat if necessary. This ability can be a double-edged sword though as the attacking player bait out or dodge a swing so they are wide open for counter-attacks. Overall, this attack serves its purpose decently well in keeping away Rushdown builds like Dogs, Cats and Birds. This attack punishes players who approaches them carelessly and forces opponents to respect the Iguana's space. This attack is still a slow, direct damage and tanks or players of high HP builds would just take the hit and continue their approach, usually going for a Grab.

In this situation, the Iguanas' only option is to use their other tail based ability, **[Autotomy].** This ability is very costly on the Iguana's max HP and can only be used once but functions as one of the best escape options in the game. The user drops their tail and uses it as a distraction to flee. If the attacking player falls for the bait, this can save the Iguana from certain defeat. This can be resisted by some high intelligence level builds and continue the pursue the player so it's not a surefire escape despite its high cost. The Iguana heavily relies on its tail to deal great spacing damage. Hence, Autotomy would render Tail Whip useless, causing an even greater sacrifice.

## Conclusion

Overall, the Iguana's combat strategy is solid in most situations but could fall apart against players who has a greater match up or having the right resistances to the Iguana's abilities. The Iguana is quite a balanced build while maintaining a good tier placement with strong match-ups against several relevant builds such as Cats. Not oppressive and not 'trash' like Amphibians. Earning them B tier .