I’d say spitters are the worst/least fun matchup as rifleman. Either they are smart and keep their distance, pelting you from safety with much better ammo economy and healing, or they get caught flat footed and die instantly with little inbetween.
On the times when you are fighting one in a less populated area, you have maybe a handful of marines near you, and nobody has explosives, how should you actually go about killing the former? Most smart spitters will just kite you to death unless you have some way to stun them. They have enough armor and speed to make it to safety if they aren’t too far out of position, and their spray is a great personal defense against shotgunners.
If you dodge the combo they only have regular spit which takes around 8 to 12 hits to do actual damage that slows the marine down. If the spitter doesn’t tail you when you rush it after missing it’s combo it’s likely dead if you have a modicum of aiming prowess and is completely alone.
I want to say Spitters are even more reliant on weeds than most xenos. They can fire what, 4 combos without having to refill their plasma reserves?
If you’re dueling backlines and can’t give ground to drag them off weeds, break nodes when they retreat to kite and hope they don’t have a drone. Evens the attrition game and helps you punish overextends, chasing is easier if you don’t have weed slowdown.
Fun fact, 90% of hives don’t have anyone but queen and her healbot able to weed.
Also, shoutout to the underbarrel attachment on the flamethrower for being really strong at ranged sniping weed nodes and casting light without blocking marine pushes. Underrated AF.