Drop it
I feel like when the devs were finalizing the lizard class, they thought to themselves:
"Huh. This class looks a little too honest."
So they decided to let every player who chose the lizard class choose one thing, one trap card, one signature move that could just be pulled
out of nowhere to turn a game around.
Like, you look at the lizards base stats and think, "Huh, yeah, these guys would probably get whooped by just about anything."
But then you think you've got one cornered, and it reveals its final form and starts running on the water, or flies across the jungle,
or shoots lasers made of its own blood, and you're just like, "What just happened!?"
So let's talk about those special moves and unique traits that lizards possess and discuss
Which ones are the most valuable and which ones aren't quite worth it.
We'll start with the detachable tail thing:
Right, so I get the idea behind it. You take a big cut to your max HP to get one more chance at escape.
That's a pretty huge cost though, and sure I know a lot of players also take the health regeneration ability,
but now that's two abilities that you had to spec into just to pull up this one trick.
I have similar issues with the horned lizard's bloodshot ability.
It's surprising, demoralizing, and has a few light debuff too, but it literally costs HP to use.
Draining your own life force is almost never the optimal play, so I'd pass on these two abilities.
Next, let's talk about advanced movement abilities.
So, the basilisk lizard has the ability to dash across water without sinking, and if used correctly, this can allow the user to completely escape
an encounter with another land-based player.
While this is extremely useful in certain situations,
of all the advanced movement techs to learn
I wouldn't prioritize this one, because relying on this ability means not only do you have to stay near a body of water at all times,
But it also forces you to put yourself at a huge risk when you use it,
Since you're deliberately placing yourself into one of the most dangerous places in the game: The surface of the water.
You know, where you can be attacked from literally any direction with no possible escape route.
A better option is, in my opinion, the glide ability, because getting to a high place is much easier than hanging out by the water your entire game.
However, if you're trying to escape from a high place, it's possible it's because you
encountered a high level bird, and in that case, slowly gliding away might not be much good when trying to escape.
Still it's extremely effective against arboreal hunters like snakes and monkeys, so it's not a bad choice all things considered.
But the best mobility trick a lizard can get is magnet hands,
which allows you to climb any surface with ease. Not only does this make for decent escape potential,
but it also allows the user to access really tough to reach platforms.
In addition, it's also the best ability to have if you're trying to break into the city meta.
Climbing flat surfaces there is key to accessing the best spots in the Metro biome if you don't have wings.
So, players that choose it have a lot more freedom to play how they want.
The last signature move I want to talk about today is a core part of the chameleon build.
Chameleons actually have three signature abilities; a choice they paid for with their extremely low base stats.
The first is their 360 degree eyesight, which gives them a massive accuracy bonus
which they really need because of their second ability, an extremely long range tether grab,
one of the best in the game as a matter of fact.
But I want to talk about their last ability: Color change.
Being able to change color is the number one most powerful stealth perk in the entire game,
and the whole reason the cuttlefish are the best stealth build of all time.
Being able to camouflage with any environment is extremely overpowered and
*RECORD SCRATCH*
WHAT!? Why would you not use your color change for camouflage!?
Let me get this straight: You've got the most powerful stealth ability in the game, and you're using it for emotes?
I give up.
See, I think the main takeaway here is that sacrificing base stats to gain unique abilities is a gamble,
and in the case of lizards, unfortunately, it holds them back.
This is why even though they're the least unique of all the lizard ability wise, monitor lizards are the only S Tier lizards in the current meta.
They have the highest base stats of the lizards,
and while a few have mild venom, most are pretty run-of-the-mill when it comes to their abilities.
And yet, they're the ones managing to break into new niches and disrupting server dynamics
Monitor lizards in the Florida servers are even causing problems for cat players.
That's right: They're suppressing one of the most overpowered builds of all time
So, to sum it up, choosing the hidden abilities on the character select screen is itself a trap,
and you're much better off foregoing these sorts of things for higher base stats.