Sooner or later a Super Animal is going to get shot at. Its armour or self will get damaged or hurt.
This will likely happen in the middle of a fire fight, and the SuperAnimal might also be low on clip ammo. Then again, hopefully there is another weapon with ammunition in its clip ready to go.
Taking out your opponent before they take you out will eliminate that immediate threat, though this is more relevant in a one versus one scenario, and this will not always be the case.
In any more complicated scenario it will be the case that you will need to use sources of cover to buy you the space and time you need to replenish resources.
In many scenarios it will be more important to reload or switch out your weapon. Being a threat is what keeps pursuers from abandoning caution and treating you as prey to be chased down and finished off.
Beyond reloading, it is generally a good idea to heal up or tape up as needed, but there ‘are’ situations where this can do more harm than good, plus there will be situations where it is more correct to juice up than to tape up, and vice versa.
In general, it is only a good idea to consider juicing or taping if one is pretty sure that one won’t be interrupted. It takes roughly a second to start drinking and it takes around three seconds to complete use of a supertape. Doing either can subtly give away your position, so keep that in mind.
The kind of weapon that one is facing should also influence your choice. If you are likely to get hit by poison-based dart damage then taping up could prove to be a fatal mistake. On the other hand, a single tick of armour would be really helpful for blocking the multitude of pellets from a shotgun blast, or a high powered rifle round.
If one is low and unsure of what one is going to be facing then it is generally a good idea to restore at least one tick of armour and then drink up to better or full health. If the threat is known to be using a weapon that can knock out multiple ticks of armour then it can be clever to not fully repair armour, conserving one’s limited supply of super tape in the process.
The presence of edibles in the area can also help one to optimize.
A further consideration is any upgrade equipped, whether such enhances juice healing rate, tape application or reload times.
And last but not least, the imminence of the final collapse of the skunk gas circle is also a factor, as armour does not protect against gas and, should it come to a drink-off, then the other superanimal only needs to outlast your health bar. So stay healthy.
Of course, being healthy and well protected is important, but so is keeping your weapons reloaded.
Once again, if you have a situation where you are low on health, armour ‘and’ clip ammunition then you will find that reloading your weapon is the correct choice, at least most of the time.