Delay Mechanics

Delay Mechanics are game mechanics that were introduced mainly to balance out the weapon performance and to partially eliminate the Three Category Spam tactic.

Identification
Delay mechanics in weapons can be identified by both the cooldown of the previous shot weapon's fire rate while switching to the next weapon and the next weapon's slower animation before using it.

Balancing
Delay mechanics primarily exist in weapons that are associated with Three Category Spamming, such as the Thunderer, Reflector and the Sniper Exoskeleton. All these weapons emit lethal shots that supposedly take out the opponents in one shot and with the Three Category Spamming tactic, the player would shoot from all three weapons in a second or two. To balance that out, the developers introduced these mechanics so that the player would have to wait around a second or two after firing from one of the weapons to the other.

Appliance to weapons
Delay mechanics can apply to weapons in all categories, except Melee. These mechanics almost never apply to automatic or semi-automatic weapons that exist in the Primary, Backup and Special sections, since these weapons can't take out the player in one shot, unlike powerful shotguns, one-shot Backup weapons, one-shot Special weapons, powerful Sniper weapons and powerful Heavy weapons, which all can have delay mechanics of some sort.

Delay types
Delay mechanics can differ from weapon to weapon. In reality, most weapons don't have delay mechanics because these weapons are more of the unused weapons in matches.

Fixed delay
Fixed delay is a term used to refer to a weapon that always has a delay when switching to it. The player always has to wait for a second before being able to use the weapon. Weapons with fixed delay include:
 * Torpedo Launcher

Delay input
Delay input is a term used to refer to a weapon that has a delay which depends on its own fire rate. Weapons with delay input include:

Delay output
Delay output is a term used to refer to a weapon that has a delay which depends on the previously fired weapon's fire rate. Weapons with delay output include:
 * Ultimatum
 * Thunderer
 * Exterminator
 * Reflector
 * Laser Bouncer
 * Anti-Champion Rifle
 * Anti-Hero Rifle

Tips

 * Delay mechanics can be prevented and bypassed. First, use a weapon that doesn't have a delay, like the Destruction System, for example. Spamming with that weapon and the Ultimatum can work out, since there are no delay mechanics between both weapons.
 * It is also recommended to switch between a powerful weapon with delay mechanics and a melee weapon.
 * If you want to use weapons with delay mechanics, use the weapons with the highest fire rate because they would supposedly have the shortest delays.
 * Hide in a spot while switching to a weapon with fixed delay like the Torpedo Launcher.