The secret to the Tortodrone Guns

Many of you know that the tortodrone gun is horrible. it may be pretty OP but that ungodly style has gotten you defeated. Well, I have recently discovered how to actually USE this basic attacks! It's not supposed to be an actual weapon, it's a tactical trap and counter weapon. The attacks the make you scoot into an enemy's attack is supposed to be for when the enemy finishes their attack and you counter it with a full out combo, then you back away with the maneuverable yet ungodly reload time. The charge is, yes, OP, but it is not supposed to be used in actual combat (the weapon itself isn't used in actual combat.) it's used to set up a trap before triggering enemies (though it is great for narrow passages if you can judge distance.) It's best used upon any enemies that are hard to attack, such as those dreadnauts, 360 degree slime, and others like that.

One thing I like a lot about the Torto-Fists is that the shards deployed from the charged shot do not last forever, forcing the player to somewhat time the use, position, and situation (two different things) of when to use it. As an addition to that severely limited barrier, the charge time is also notable, disallowing evident spam like someone trying to corner the Royal Jelly King with those shots.
I know I am not too keen to weapon switching no matter how much I practice so I cannot make full use of its regular attacks as I bet there is some measure of efficiency to it. But given that it pushes some enemies away from you, leaving you safe ENOUGH from one sort of melee hit if not another, I would like to see how well or poorly it works out with the Winmillion. (depositing mental notes, mind me not)
Lastly, like the two above me have pointed out, it is not a primary weapon regardless of how much I would like to imagine otherwise.

When I meant "to trigger enemies" I meant when you shoot out the charge and you get knocked back onto a button that spawns the enemies like in Jelly King. the moment they spawn, the crystals would land the same time the enemies spawn and give out the discharge (and that annoying invinci-tinks like the Seraphinyx)

I gathered that but did not know whether to follow up on it. And I have seen that worked sometimes, like when one backs up onto the party button from a charged shot from the very first active floor of the Royal Jelly Palace; I see there that it does not pass the gate that retracts only after I slide on it. But I'll have to see again.

I've had luck with the weapon when I know what sorts of play styles people have and can predict what will happen. If Skepticraven were to bring alchemers and switch shoot them (which of course draws aggros and does moderate crowd control), I could wait a second while charging, and then launch the charge wherever she will be. This allows me to deal that heavy damage onto the enemy and throw up a temporary wall just long enough for me to set up some sort of charge attack to keep the ball rolling, without having to do the funky chicken to get the enemy where it needs to be for the shards to hit. Likewise, other tactics would require different use of the charge.
I think you're all right about the normal shots. They're pretty weak, but can be used to deal some single target damage on occasion and can be combo'd with other weapons to some extent, which is a huge get for a weapon focused on dealing heavy damage to crowds.

You say the charge isnt supposed to be used in regular combat?
With some CTR and proper aiming it works extremely well. But barely anyone knows how to use it, since it is brand new after all.
Charge does 3k+ dmg to mobs easily during combat, and the normal attack can push enemies into the charge.
Unless you are gullible and got the piercing one. Still isnt good against wolvers and fiends, since those enemies dodge, making the gun inconsistent compared to the other guns. You're dealing with two rNGs instead of one.

I think this is really the only issue I have with the gun: http://i.imgur.com/LY5Fp14.png (I'm really bad at drawing and it's not even drawing but you get the point, 2 minutes of making yay)
It's a bug and really needs fixing because silkwings are unaffected by this and it makes what could be a skilled gun really good into a potentially skill-based charge into something that makes it sub-par.

@Fettuccine-Alfredo
I find that the dodging makes them hit the fallen shards even more than if they didn't dodge (T1 vs T3 monsters).

One question I do have is toward the expansion especially. Just as they eat away at mender shields, do the shards also eat away at the battle pod's shields as well? I thought about using them against that and to where Seerus dashes to expedite the process.
@Glacies: And that and I have watched as some of the smaller enemies that get hit by the initial drop simply path-find their way around the shards. And between the Silkwings and the Gorgos, it is difficult to really get a touch of how to use it against them.

The dodging isnt the problem with fiends and wolvers, its the fact that they move quickly and erratically, making them unlikely to run into the crystals.
Savage Tortofist is still awesome on Trojans. You chan charge in their faces and the shards will basically land right on to of them without having to run in circles. Sadly not as efficient as blitz still.

Savage Tortofist is A LOT better than Blitz Needle in fight with Vanaduke!
-Charge damage is kinda the same as Blitz Needle
-Player runs with full speed while charging and reloading. Needless to say about attacking.
-Theres no need to be that close to attack mask, like with Blitz you have to do
-Free dodge while charge attack
-Vana gets stuck between crystals.
Now solo vanaduke is walk in a park.

In addition to Glacies' drawing, my take:
http://i.imgur.com/on0XygZ.png
This is how I see Valiance Charge working (and similarly way, how I see the tracer/crystal radius work for the tortofist charge), and IMO the main thing that discourages direct aim with those attacks.
Thanks to the randomization of tortofist charge, you can sometimes get some of the crystals to spawn around/next to the enemies, but they never choose to spawn directly on top of any without the enemies walking over them (which is why they only ever show up next to vanaduke).
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@Mtax:
Sort of true. It is pretty nice if/when you can get Vanaduke to walk over the charges, and it's pretty safe for that fight, so I can see why you like it there. In team runs, Vanaduke is often standing still, which leads to the positioning issue that Glacies and I mentioned and makes the fist less effective.

Tortofist charge isn't random. While attacking with charge the character sents invisible bullet that marks the landing spot. If bullet hits wall of enemy, it's stopped and charge is shooted here.

Another annoyance is that enemies like Mecha knights will treat the shards as barriers and path around them, thus not actually taking any damage from them at all. That, and the long deploy time once you release the charge means it's only effective on slow targets.

oops, didn't catch this:
Tortofist charge isn't random. While attacking with charge the character sents invisible bullet that marks the landing spot. If bullet hits wall of enemy, it's stopped and charge is shooted here.
I wasn't clear about it, but I'm treating the tracer shot the same way as the valiance bullet: It will stop there (and possibly move the entire radius forward), but the places the crystals are still randomly chosen within that radius.
Another annoyance is that enemies like Mecha knights will treat the shards as barriers and path around them, thus not actually taking any damage from them at all. That, and the long deploy time once you release the charge means it's only effective on slow targets.
Pretty much any enemy will do this - to get them to run over it, they need to be "attacking" to have enough momentum to ignore pathfinding and go through it. The only enemies that constantly seem to do this are like, the mini enemies and those slime things.
However they, as you say, are not to be used as a primary weapon. This is pretty much similar in usage to a callahan at close range. When used with a quick sword, it works great. I've had a great amount of fun smacking a zombie with my DVS then switching to a tortogun and and firing a close range attack before switching back to my DVS and moving around them. Rinse and repeat.
The tortogun is a utility, similar to a pulsar. Use it to enhance your playstyle, not make it.