Best time to use a gag

Toon-up - best time to use: ideally when the cogs are lured and/or the other toons will be able to finish off un-lured cogs. I've seen bad uses of toon-up: when the toon would have served the team better by assisting in the defeat of a high-level cog, than to toon-up some small laff point loss. The result is that a cog lives to inflict more damage on another or all toons, and the small laff restoration is fleeting. Obviously, if a toon is in danger of going sad, there should be a toon-up - but sometimes it is hard to determine which toon should be doing the toon-up. Ideally, it should come from the healthiest toon, as toon-up doesn't affect the one giving the toon-up. If all toons need toon-up, then a second toon may use a targeted toon-up on the one giving the group toon-up. (targeted toon-up gags: feather, lipstick, fairy dust. group toon-up gags: megaphone, cane, juggling cubes)

Trap - best time to use trap: anytime a lure gag is being deployed. Also, keep in mind that trap also increases the chance of lure working - especially low-level lures. Even one deployed trap will increase the chances of a group lure working. So if lure has been missing, deploying a trap in the next round will increase chances of lure working. I've experienced low-level lures missing 3-4 times in a row. When there is a trap deployed, lures miss only 1 out of 4 times or even less often.

Sound - the best time to use: when other toons can also use sound, and when the sound gags can defeat at least one of the cogs. Sound can be used on lured cogs - but you won't get the bonus damage points as you would with throw or squirt gags. Sound is also seems slightly better for stunning cogs for increasing drop accuracy than throw or squirt - but this is a casual observation on my part.

Lure - best time to use lure is when there are several cogs in a battle, or one high-level cog which you can't defeat in one round. However, another often overlooked reason is simply to eliminate the risk of a gag missing. Throw, squirt and sound gags almost never miss on lured cogs. This can be critical if toons are low on gags or laff points and may not last another round of battle.

Throw - best time to use throw: last round to defeat a cog. Throw gags are the staple, along with squirt. But even early in a toon's life, throw gags are more powerful than squirt, and so, many toons use throw more than squirt. However, it is wise to try to keep a balance in using throw and squirt. Squirt will miss less often than throw, and is good to use when the previous round of throw has missed.

Squirt - best time to use: as a last resort. Squirt is the most accurate but least powerful of the gags, and is the second to last to be deployed (drop being the last) - so the best chance of it being deployed is when all the toons use it in a round. It can also be used to stun cogs for drop or lure. Since squirt has high accuracy, it is also good to use when you want to minimize risk of a miss and another round of battle.

Drop - best time to use: in the same round as a trap and lure on the cog being trapped. Trap will do lots of damage to a cog when there is a successful lure, but don't stay lured. So if the trap doesn't finish off the cog, it should be hit with another gag (throw, squirt, sound or drop). And since trap does leave the cog stunned (if it survives the trap) - it really increases the chances of drop hitting - though still not 100%, maybe about 75-90%. If you plant a drop gag, it slightly increases it's accuracy and damage (once the tree is fruiting). In practice, you need to estimate whether a deploying trap will finish off the cog or not - or you won't get the chance to deploy your drop gag. You also want to try to finish off the cog with your drop, if you can, so judicious selection of which drop to use is helpful to minimize damage from all cogs.