,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------, | ,-------------------------------------------------------------------------, | | | | | | | Plants Vs Zombies Game Guide v0.70 | | | | by Curby | | | | | | | | Copyright (C) 2009 Michael Lee, licensed under CC BY-ND 3.0 | | | | | | | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------' | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' ,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------, | 000: Table of Contents | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' To jump to a section, search for its section number followed by a colon instead of a period. 000. Table of Contents 400. Mini-Games Walkthrough 100. About this Guide 500. Puzzles Walkthrough 110. Availability 120. Copyright and License 600. Survival Walkthrough 130. Status and History 610. First Stage (Flags 1-2) 140. Searching the Guide 620. Second Stage (Flags 3-4) 150. Links in the Guide 630. Later Stages (Flags 5-10) 640. Location-specific Tactics 200. About the Game 650. Survival Endless 210. Gameplay Overview 220. Game Modes 700. Zen Garden Walkthrough 230. Secrets 240. Unlockables 800. Plant and Zombie Armies 250. Other Items 810. Plants Overview 260. Tips 820. Zombies Overview 300. Adventure Walkthrough 310. Stage 1 - Front Lawn, Day 320. Stage 2 - Front Lawn, Night 330. Stage 3 - Back Yard, Pool 340. Stage 4 - Back Yard, Fog 350. Stage 5 - Roof ,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------, | 100: About this Guide | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 110: Availability --------------------------------------------------------' Whether you found this guide on the Internet or through email, please know the latest version is always available for free from my site [1] and GameFAQs [2]. [1] http://curby.net/docs/games/plantsvszombies.txt [2] http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/959255/56545 _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 120: Copyright and License -----------------------------------------------' This guide is Copyright (C) 2009 Michael Lee, and released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives License [3]. This license gives you my explicit permission to email, repost, republish, and even sell this guide as long as it remains unchanged and in whole. In all cases, this copyright and license statement, and the notice above that the latest version is always available for free, must remain intact and unchanged. All trademarks used herein that are listed at [4] are owned by PopCap Games, Inc. or its licensors and may be registered in some countries. Other company and product names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners and are used for the benefit of those owners. [3] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/ [4] http://www.popcap.com/trademarks.php _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 130: Status and History --------------------------------------------------' This guide was started because Plants vs. Zombies was the most requested FAQ on GameFAQs. It is a work in progress, focusing on a walkthrough of Adventure mode for beginners and advanced strategies for seasoned players. 2009-06-29 Stage 5 of Adventure, Plant and Zombie armies, etc. 2009-06-11 Stage 4 of Adventure, etc. 2009-05-28 Stage 3 of Adventure, etc. 2009-05-18 Stage 2 of Adventure, changed license, survival mode, misc changes 2009-05-15 Initial release _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 140: Searching the Guide -------------------------------------------------' To jump to a section, type its number as listed in the table of contents, fol- lowed by the colon symbol. If you wanted to go to section 1064, you'd search for "1064:" without the quotation marks. Each level in the Adventure mode has its own section number consisting of 3, the stage number, and the level number. The third level of the second stage is at section 323, and the tenth level of the fourth stage is at section 34F (F indicates the final level of that stage). _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 150: Links in the Guide --------------------------------------------------' URLs are often too long to place in-line with the main text, so they will be placed at the end of each section as footnotes. For example, see the links in the Copyright section above. ,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------, | 200: About the Game | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' Plants Vs Zombies [5] is a tower defense [6] game in which you defend your house from a horde of Zombies by placing plants in areas around your house. This guide is not an instruction manual. While many walkthroughs spend time repeating controls and other introductory material, this guide will focus entirely on how to play the game effectively, not how perform basic functions. Therefore, the following introductory sections will often refer to the game's readme file [7]. If you don't have access to the Internet while reading this guide, you can also find the readme file in the game's installation directory. [5] http://www.popcap.com/games/pvz [6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_defense [7] http://www.popcap.com/faq/plantsvszombies/1033/pc/readme.html _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 210: Gameplay Overview ---------------------------------------------------' For information on the controls of the game and the basics of how to play it, see the "Playing the Game" section [8] of the game's readme. The game itself also gently introduces players to new game mechanics with in-game instructions. [8] http://www.popcap.com/faq/plantsvszombies/1033/pc/readme.html#PG _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 220: Game Modes ----------------------------------------------------------' There are five game modes in Plants Vs. Zombies: Adventure This is the primary mode, and consists of five stages of ten levels each. Adventure mode must be completed to fully unlock the other modes. For more information, see section 300. Mini-Games This consists of 20 varied mini-games, which test your speed as well as your strategy. For more information, see section 400. Puzzles This consists of 20 levels of two puzzle modes: Vasebreaker and I, Zombie. For more information, see section 500. Survival This consists of 11 levels spanning the five locations first seen in Adventure mode. For more information, see section 600. Zen Garden This stress-free mode allows you to collect plants from other modes and earn money by growing them and keeping them happy. For more information, see section 700. See the "Game Modes" section [9] of the game's readme for more information. [9] http://www.popcap.com/faq/plantsvszombies/1033/pc/readme.html#GM _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 230: Secrets -------------------------------------------------------------' There are special codes that can be typed in during a level to enable graphical effects in the game. These codes are discovered from the sayings of the Tree of Wisdom, and some require the Tree of Wisdom to be of a certain height before they can be activated. They have no in-game effect other than changing the appearance of certain elements or characters and a sound effect confirming their activation. Code Effect '''''''''''''''''''''''''' ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' pinata Dying Zombies give a shower of candy trickedout Lawn mowers get big engines future Zombies wear sunglasses dance Zombies dance instead of walk across the field sukhbir Zombies have a different call for brains sound daisies Dying Zombies leave small daisies on the ground mustache / moustache Zombies get mustaches Note that "daisies" requires a Tree of Wisdom height of 100 or more, "dance" requires 500 feet, and "pinata" requires 1000 feet. After the first play-through of the Adventure mode, there is an empty spot in the Zombie Almanac. This last Zombie is unlocked by playing through Level 4-10 of the Adventure mode a second time. _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 240: Unlockables ---------------------------------------------------------' Some items and game modes are unlocked by accomplishing certain tasks. Here they are with the prerequisites for each: Item/Game Mode Unlock Action '''''''''''''''''''''''''' ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Shovel Complete Level 1-4 Suburban Almanac Complete Level 2-4 Mini-Games (Game Mode) Complete Level 3-2 Crazy Dave's Shop Complete Level 3-4 Puzzles (Game Mode) Complete Level 4-6 Yeti (Almanac Entry) Find in Level 4-10 during 2nd playthrough Zen Garden Complete Level 5-4 Survival (Game Mode) Complete Adventure mode Seed Packets Complete levels in Adventure mode (the walkthrough notes what seeds are awarded for each level) Silver Sunflower Trophy Complete Adventure mode Gold Sunflower Trophy Earn all Mini-Game, Puzzle, and Survival trophies If you purchased your game from Steam [10], you can earn Steam achievements by accomplishing certain tasks [11]. Achievements have no in-game effect other than the notification that you have received them. Steam Achievement Unlock Action '''''''''''''''''''''''''' ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Ask Me About Mustache Mode Enable Mustache Mode Better Off Dead Get a streak of over 10 in I, Zombie Endless China Shop Get to a streak of 15 in Vasebreaker Endless Cryptozombologist Discover the top secret zombie (Yeti) Explodonator Blow up 10 Zombies with a single cherry bomb Home Lawn Security Complete Adventure mode Immortal Get to 20 flags in Survival Endless Morticulturalist Collect all 49 plants Nobel Peas Prize Get the golden sunflower trophy Spudow! Blow up a zombie using a potato mine Towering Wisdom Grow the Tree of Wisdom to 100 feet Walk This Way Hypnotize the lead dancer zombie [10] http://store.steampowered.com/ [11] http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/code/959255.html _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 250: Other Items ---------------------------------------------------------' Additionally, many items can be purchase from Crazy Dave's Shop. These include seed packet upgrades, defensive items like pool cleaners, and items for the Zen Garden. See the readme file for a complete list [12]. [12] http://www.popcap.com/faq/plantsvszombies/1033/pc/readme.html#SC/CDS _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 260: Tips ----------------------------------------------------------------' The readme file contains a list of helpful tips [13] for both general gameplay and the Zen Garden. Here are a few more: o Disregard most of the plant upgrades for the Adventure mode. They are generally too expensive for the effect they will have on the game. For example, use two Repeaters instead of a Gatling Pea. While it will take two physical spaces instead of one, you save sun by planting more plants. Also, having more plants can be beneficial as they will absorb more chomping by Zombies. o Don't bother using Marigolds during the Adventure mode, when time, space, and sun are precious resources. Instead, finish Adventure mode more quickly and use other means [14] to earn money later on. o Gloom-Shrooms are very powerful, and should be the first upgraded plant that you buy. Once you get them, use them in all available levels. During the day, use coffee beans to wake them up. Yes, it's worth three slots! o The golden rule of any real time strategy game is to ramp up your resource production as quickly as possible while barely surviving early attacks. To do this, try to kill each of the early Zombies as late as possible and with as few attacking plants as possible. This will mean that you are spending more sun on sun-producers, so that you'll have more income for the difficult later parts of the level. o Use the rake to take out the first zombie on each level. This allows you to use more early resources on sun-producers. o If you don't have the extra gold to buy rakes, you can use Potato Mines, Tangle Kelps, and Squashes for a similar effect. Instead of spending 100 sun on a plant to take care of the early Zombie, you spend half that and free up enough sun for another Sunflower. This is not an issue at night when you have free plants to provide an early defense. o Use Garlic to divert enemies onto other rows. Instead of defending 5-6 rows on the field, you can divert them onto 3 rows. Having less effective area to defend means that you can concentrate your defenses, and efficient plants such as Fume-shrooms and Gloom-shrooms are even more effective against large swarms as they hit every Zombie within range, whether there's 1 or 100. o It is much easier to defend the water because the most powerful enemies are all land-locked. For the more difficult games such as Survival mode, you can group your more fragile and expensive plants, such as Cob Cannons, in the water. o There are tons of tips and techniques scattered throughout this guide too! [13] http://www.popcap.com/faq/plantsvszombies/1033/pc/readme.html#GT [14] http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/959255/56559 ,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------, | 300: Adventure Walkthrough | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' The Adventure mode can be considered the primary mode of the game. Here are level descriptions and tips on completing each level. _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 310: Stage 1 - Front Lawn, Day -------------------------------------------' The first of five stages takes place in your front yard during the day, and is known as the "Day" stage in the game. The field has a maximum size of 5 rows by 9 columns, though the first stages are made smaller to give a gentle introduction to the game. The field sizes will be noted whenever they are smaller than the maximum. This first stage is easy, but it provides a good time to learn and practice more advanced techniques that will be required later on. Even if you've already beaten stage 1 in your game, skim the "The Key" lines for useful tips and strategies. If you don't understand those summaries, read the "Notes" for further explanation. The listed flag count is the number of large waves of Zombies that attack on that level. The first number is the number of flags the first time playing through Adventure mode, and the second number is the number of flags on subsequent times playing. --- 311: Level 1-1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Size: 1x9 Enemies: Zombie Flags: 0 / 2 Reward: Sunflower Seed Packet The Key: Keep Peashooters far from the enemy. Notes: Follow the tutorial tips and place your Peashooters at the far left. As the name implies, ranged units work best at long range, so we put them far away from the right edge where the Zombies spawn. The Zombies are typically melee (close combat) units so this strategy keeps your plants safe for as long as possible. --- 312: Level 1-2 ------------------------------------------------------------ Size: 3x9 Enemies: Zombie Flags: 1 / 2 Reward: Cherry Bomb Seed Packet The Key: Save the two leftmost rows for sun production. Notes: Place 4-5 Sunflowers at the far left before the first Zombie shows up. Your first Peashooter should be on the same row as that first Zombie and on the third column from the left. In general, set aside the two left-most columns for sun-producing plants. Here's our first level diagram, representing the beginning of the game. Each dot represents an open space on the field, and other symbols are explained to the right of the diagram. After we plant four Sunflowers, the first Zombie appeared in the middle row. We place our Peashooter in the same row and in the third column. S S . . . . . . . S Sunflowers S . P . . . . . Z P First Peashooter S . . . . . . . . Z First Zombie Towards the end, you should flesh out the two columns of Sunflowers and build up two columns of Peashooters. This will be more than enough firepower to take down the "flag" wave at the end. Flags on the progress bar at the lower right of the screen indicate large groups of Zombies that attack at once. By keeping an eye on the progress bar, you can better prepare your defenses for these waves. --- 313: Level 1-3 ------------------------------------------------------------ Size: 3x9 Enemies: Zombie Conehead Zombie Flags: 1 / 2 Reward: Wall-nut Seed Packet The Key: Maximize your early sun production. Notes: You'll only have enough time to plant 3 Sunflowers before the first Zombie, but try placing a fourth. If your reflexes are fast enough, you'll still be able to kill the first Zombie with your first Pea- shooter without taking a single hit. This goal of early resource production should be kept in mind on every level. As before, set up two columns each of Sunflowers and Peashooters. That should be enough to beat the level, but you may want to try a Cherry Bomb to see how it works. As they have a 3x3 area of effect, try not to place them at the edges of the field or you'll waste some of their power. --- 314: Level 1-4 ------------------------------------------------------------ Size: 5x9 Enemies: Zombie Conehead Zombie Flags: 1 / 2 Reward: Shovel The Key: Get used to a larger field and to laying defenses. Notes: Your first defensive plant, the Wall-nut, can be used to stall more durable Zombies and larger groups. As Zombies stop and gnaw at a Wall-nut, your Peashooters and other offense plants will have the time and protection they need to dispatch them. The strategy for this level follows that of the previous two: build Sunflowers, and support them with Peashooters. Use Wall-nuts just in front of your Peashooters. There, they will stop Zombie groups but single Zombies will be killed by the Peashooters before being able to damage the Wall-nuts at all. --- 315: Level 1-5, Mini-Game: Wall-nut Bowling ------------------------------- Enemies: Zombie Conehead Zombie Flags: 1 / 2 Reward: Potato Mine Seed Packet The Key: Kill Zombies as late as possible. Notes: The fifth level of every stage is a special mini-game. After teaching you how to use the shovel, Crazy Dave introduces you to the first: Wall-nut Bowling. This is also the first conveyor belt level. Instead of being limited by recharge timers and sun costs, you only get to use the seeds that slide in on the belt. Keep in mind that unused seeds stay at the left side of the belt, so you can keep some there for emergencies. Your first thought might be to kill Zombies as soon as possible, but it is difficult to win that way for two reasons. First of all, by allowing Wall-nuts to ricochet around the field and hit multiple Zombies, you won't need as many Wall-nuts to kill Zombies. Also, seeing what's coming up allows you to plan your resources more care- fully. Instead of wasting an Explode-o-nut on two Zombies, you may wait a few seconds and see a larger group. --- 316: Level 1-6 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Conehead Zombie Pole Vaulting Zombie Flags: 1 / 2 Reward: Snow Pea Seed Packet The Key: Plant Wall-nuts early, but place them carefully. Notes: Pole Vaulters are easily stopped by two defensive units, but the recharge time on the Wall-nuts is very high, so there's no way to build two full columns of them before the flag. The best bet is to start building them early so you can at least have one full column of them, and to position them to the right so that post- vault Zombies have some open ground to cover before reaching your Peashooters. I used the following setup: S S P P . . W . . S Sunflower S S P P . . W . . P Peashooter S S P P . . W . . W Wall-nut S S P P . . W . . S S P P . . W . . That gives you more sun than you need towards the end of the level, so you may start to replace Sunflowers with more Peashooters, especially on rows that don't have a Wall-nut yet. Alternately, you can use extra sun on Cherry Bombs. Cherry Bombs make a good "panic button" by killing Zombies that get past your defenses, or those who get within melee range of your fragile plants. --- 317: Level 1-7 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Conehead Zombie Pole Vaulting Zombie Flags: 2 / 3 Reward: Chomper Seed Packet The Key: Plant Wall-nuts early, but place them carefully (yes, again!) Notes: The last level gave us a great plant, the Snow Pea. By slowing down Zombies while also damaging them, this creates a very useful hybrid offense/defense plant. Since Zombies are slowed down, we don't need as much space between our Wall-Nuts and our shooters. Try to finish this setup before the first flag: S S P s P . W . . S Sunflower S S P s P . W . . P Peashooter S S P s P . W . . W Wall-nut S S P s P . W . . s Snow Pea S S P s P . W . . --- 318: Level 1-8 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Conehead Zombie Pole Vaulting Zombie (?) Buckethead Zombie Flags: 1 / 2 Reward: Repeater Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Chomper Peashooter Wall-nut Snow Pea Cherry Bomb The Key: Choose an appropriate selection of plants to fill your seed tray. Notes: Starting at this level, there will be too many seed packets for the seed tray. In the walkthrough, there will be a new section called "Plants." The notes assume that the listed plants were chosen for that level. In general, I choose a sun-producing unit (e.g. Sunflower), an early attack unit (Peashooter), an advanced attack unit (Snow Pea), a defensive unit (Wall-nut), and a "panic button" (Cherry Bomb). Any remaining slots are filled with plants that are good against certain special Zombies for a given level, or plants I want to use for fun. To fully streamline your game, also consider where in the seed tray you place each packet. The goal is to reduce the time and distance necessary to choose and then plant a certain seed, so get a feel for what plants you place in which columns, and position their seeds closer to those columns. For example, my sun producers always go to the left, so I place those seeds in the left-most slot of the tray. This level plays out like the last one, except that you can place Chompers behind Wall-nuts to take care of Bucket-heads that make it to your front lines. Chompers will eat Zombies that are up to two columns ahead, so they can reach over Wall-nuts to eat a Zombie. Note: In one of my profiles, this level did not have Pole Vaulters. --- 319: Level 1-9 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Conehead Zombie Pole Vaulting Zombie Buckethead Zombie Flags: 2 / 3 Reward: Zombie Note Plants: Sunflower Repeater Peashooter Wall-nut Snow Pea Cherry Bomb The Key: The Repeater's good, but the Snow Pea comes first Notes: An early defense relies heavily on stalling tactics while it builds up its resource production. In the early parts of the game before there is time to plant a full column of Wall-nuts, preventing fast or high-toughness Zombies from reaching your plants is more important than raw power. For this reason, start with a Peashooter in each row, and then plant a Snow Pea before planting Repeaters. This can be played the same way as the last two levels, but you can replace Peashooters with Repeaters towards the late game if you have extra sun. --- 31F: Level 1-10, Conveyor Belt Level -------------------------------------- Enemies: Zombie Conehead Zombie Pole Vaulting Zombie Buckethead Zombie Flags: 2 / 2 Reward: Puff-shroom Seed Packet Plants: All plants except for Sunflower The Key: Plan your setup before planting, even for the conveyor belt levels! Notes: The last level of each stage is a conveyor belt level. Instead of placing plants based on recharge timers and sun costs, seed packets slide in on a conveyor belt and collect at the left. You can keep "panic buttons" such as Cherry Bombs on the belt indefinitely while you place permanent plants such as Peashooters on the ground. Just like before, you can see how the Zombies spawn and what plants you get before you start planting. The more you wait, the more you will know and the better you'll be able to plan your first moves. Plant your assorted Peashooters in columns 1-4, your Potato Mines and Chompers in column 5, and Wall-nuts in column 6. To prepare for the second flag, replace normal Peashooters with extra Repeaters. Towards the end of conveyor levels, sometimes the seed tray has extras of plants such as Peashooters when you've moved to Repeaters. While keeping an extra on hand can be useful to rebuild after an attack, these extras are usually useless. Simply plant them towards the right as ablative armor [15]. The point is to make room for more relevant seeds, and to stall the Zombies a little. [15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablative_armor _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 320: Stage 2 - Front Lawn, Night -----------------------------------------' The second stage takes place in your front yard when night falls, and is known as the "Night" stage in the game. There will be no sun falling from the sky during these levels, which limits your early expansion rate. Since it is the front yard, levels are still 5x9 in size, but there are now gravestones in the yard. You cannot plant on graves, and Zombies will spawn from them during the final wave in each level. The level descriptions below note which columns will have gravestones at the start of the level. On most of these levels, you will want to start out by planting Puff-shrooms as your early attacking plant. Since these are low-range, you'll eventually want to place long-range support plants behind them. For this reason, we'll break the "attackers at the left" rule and plant the first Puff-shrooms in columns 4 or 5 depending on the situation. Lastly, Zombies will occasionally drop coins when destroyed, starting in this stage. Silver coins are worth $10, and gold coins are worth $50. Quickly pick up dropped coins by clicking on them before they disappear. The rest of the guide assumes that you are collecting money, as it will be used later on to buy important upgrades and items. --- 321: Level 2-1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Graves: Columns 7-9 Enemies: Zombie Newspaper Zombie Flags: 1 / 2 Reward: Sun-shroom Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Snow Pea Puff-shroom Cherry Bomb Repeater Wall-nut The Key: Plant Puff-shrooms relentlessly. Notes: In the last stage, I recommended that you wait until the first Zombie appears before placing your first attacking plant. However, since Puff-shrooms are free, you are only limited by the recharge timer. To make your force as strong as possible, you'll want to start planting them right away and keep planting them whenever possible. Instead of placing my first Puff-shrooms in column 3 like I usually do for attackers, I place them in column 4. This is because I expect to place some Snow Peas to slow down Zombies, and Snow Peas have long range and can fire from the back, whereas Puff-shrooms have a range of 3. This will be true for most of stage 2: start your Puff-shrooms further to the right and place long-range support between them and the Sun-shrooms. Target the following setup: S S s P P W . . . S Sun-producing plant S S s P P W . . . s Snow Pea S S s P P W . . . P Puff-Shroom S S s P P W . . . W Wall-nut S S s P P W . . . If there were any more Puff-shrooms, they couldn't shoot far enough to get past the Wall-nuts and to the Zombies anyway, so we only use two columns' worth. Reality check: It is probably possible to complete this level with nothing but two or three columns of Puff-shrooms. The point of discussing and practicing more advanced tactics, as always, is to prepare for the harder levels to come. --- 322: Level 2-2 ------------------------------------------------------------ Graves: Columns 7-9 Enemies: Zombie Newspaper Zombie Conehead Zombie Buckethead Zombie Flags: 2 / 3 Reward: Fume-shroom Seed Packet Plants: Sun-shroom Snow Pea Puff-shroom Cherry Bomb Repeater Wall-nut The Key: Decide on Sun-shrooms or Sunflowers; I prefer the Sun-shrooms. Notes: I use Sun-shrooms for Adventure mode but not because they produce sun more quickly. Both sun-producers can end up completing the level 2-1 setup above in three minutes and fifty seconds, at which time the Sun-shrooms will all be matured (so future production would be comparable to Sunflowers). However, the tenth Sun-shroom can be planted at around 1:30 versus 2:20 for the tenth Sunflower. Getting your resource production squared away earlier is desirable as you'll be able to concentrate your attention on your front lines sooner. Additionally, you're at the mercy of a single random source when using Sunflowers. Having additional sun producers smooths out the curve, so you'll be able to better anticipate your income and build up more consistently. The counterargument is that during Survival game modes, upgrading to Twin Sunflowers costs more if you start with Sun-shrooms. If you're expecting to upgrade to Twin Sunflowers in Survival mode, definitely use only Sunflowers even on night levels. Anyway, back to the task at hand. Start with the setup shown above for Level 2-1 with a Snow Pea, two Puff-shrooms, and a Wall-nut in each row. To prepare for the last wave, gradually replace the Puff- shrooms with Repeaters. --- 323: Level 2-3 ------------------------------------------------------------ Graves: Columns 7-9 Enemies: Zombie Screen Door Zombie Conehead Zombie Flags: 1 / 2 Reward: Grave Buster Seed Packet Plants: Sun-shroom Snow Pea Puff-shroom Cherry Bomb Fume-shroom Wall-nut The Key: Piercing attacks are great against swarms. Notes: You've probably noticed that when several Zombies spawn at once in a single row, the lead Zombie will absorb all the damage allowing its followers to arrive at your plants at full health. Fume-shrooms and other plants with "piercing attacks" negate this tactic by damaging all Zombies in a group at once. Their damage output actually goes up when they're attacking bigger groups! They also nullify screen doors. The one disadvantage is their limited range of 4 spaces. Again, start with the setup from Level 2-1 but plant Fume-shrooms in place of Snow Peas. As funds permit, start replacing Puff-shrooms with more Fume-shrooms, for a final setup similar to the following: S S F F F W . . . S Sun-shroom S S F F F W . . . F Fume-shroom S S F F F W . . . W Wall-nut S S F F F W . . . S S F F F W . . . --- 324: Level 2-4 ------------------------------------------------------------ Graves: Columns 6-9 Enemies: Zombie Screen Door Zombie Conehead Zombie Pole Vaulting Zombie Flags: 2 / 3 Reward: The Suburban Almanac Plants: Sun-shroom Grave Buster Puff-shroom Cherry Bomb Fume-shroom Wall-nut Snow Pea The Key: Use the Grave Buster to expand the buildable area. Notes: You have probably noticed that each unused lawnmower is worth $50 at the end of a level, so you can earn $250 just for finishing a level without letting Zombies get to the left side. Between lawnmowers and collected coins, you should have $750 by this point, so buy the 7th slot in your seed tray from Crazy Dave. You don't really need it for this level, but there's no other need for cash so you might as well get it now. Our new plant is the Grave Buster, which eats graves. Note that the Zombies can attack the Grave Buster while it's working, so make sure the coast is clear before you use one. By the end of each level, try to make sure that all the Graves have been destroyed because a Zombie will rise from each grave for the final wave. This level sees the return of the Pole Vaulting Zombie, so again we need to push the Wall-nuts out to the right to give our attacking plants some breathing room. Unfortunately, graves are starting to spawn closer to our house, so we'll need to use the Grave Buster to chew them away. Start with Puff-shrooms in columns 4-6, and replace the ones to the left with Fume-shrooms. Column 6 Puff-shrooms remain as cannon fodder for Pole Vaulters. The final setup is: S S s F F P W . . S Sun-shroom S S s F F P W . . s Snow Pea S S s F F P W . . F Fume-shroom S S s F F P W . . P Puff-shroom S S s F F P W . . W Wall-nut --- 325: Level 2-5, Mini-Game: Whack a Zombie --------------------------------- Graves: Columns 4-9 Enemies: Zombie Buckethead Zombie Conehead Zombie Flags: 1 / 1 Reward: Hypno-shroom Seed Packet Plants: Grave Buster Potato Mine Cherry Bomb The Key: Use the Grave Buster to push back the spawn area. Notes: There's not much to it. Just click Zombies like mad, and use the Grave Buster whenever you have 75 sun to destroy the left-most Graves, working your way to the right. Alternately, destroy graves in rows with the least number of graves. The goal of this alternate strategy is to be left with graves in 2-3 rows, preferably adjacent rows, so Zombies spawn closer together and can be killed with less movement of the mouse pointer. If you're playing on a laptop, attaching an external mouse will make this level easier as it involves a lot of movement and clicking. --- 326: Level 2-6 ------------------------------------------------------------ Graves: Columns 6-9 Enemies: Zombie Football Zombie Conehead Zombie Flags: 1 / 2 Reward: Scaredy-shroom Seed Packet Plants: Sun-shroom Grave Buster Puff-shroom Cherry Bomb Fume-shroom Wall-nut Hypno-shroom The Key: Use Hypno-shrooms on Football Zombies Notes: Start as normal, except you may want to use Hypno-shrooms now and then to get rid of tougher enemies. Converted Zombies fight for you and may destroy several other Zombies before dying. Since this is a short (1-flag) level, you won't have time to set up a full defense. My final setup looked like this: S S . F P W . . . S Sun-shroom S S . F P W . . . F Fume-shroom S S . F P W . . . P Puff-shroom S S . F P W . . . W Wall-nut S S . F P W . . . --- 327: Level 2-7 ------------------------------------------------------------ Graves: Columns 5-9 Enemies: Zombie Football Zombie Conehead Zombie Screen Door Zombie Flags: 2 / 3 Reward: Ice-Shroom Seed Packet Plants: Sun-shroom Grave Buster Puff-shroom Cherry Bomb Fume-shroom Wall-nut Hypno-shroom The Key: Plant a bunch of Fume-shrooms, just like Level 2-3 Notes: I don't use Scaredy-shrooms because every niche is already filled by a better choice. As an early attacker, the Puff-shroom's zero cost makes it superior in spite of its lower range. In the late game, the Fume-shroom's piercing attack makes it superior. As a last- ditch defense, the Scaredy-shroom is useless because it hides. The only good thing about it is that it looks like the little alien from Pixar's "Lifted." Since there aren't any Pole Vaulters we need to slow down, we will just plant 3 columns of Fume-shrooms behind Wall-nuts. Footballers can be met with a Hypno-shroom, or let them die from Fume-shrooms. --- 328: Level 2-8 ------------------------------------------------------------ Graves: Columns 6-9 Enemies: Zombie Dancing Zombie Conehead Zombie Flags: 1 / 2 Reward: Doom-shroom Seed Packet Plants: Sun-shroom Grave Buster Puff-shroom Cherry Bomb Fume-shroom Wall-nut Hypno-shroom The Key: Hypnotize the lead dancers Notes: Here we have Dancing Zombies that raise Backup Dancers from the ground. By Hypnotizing the leaders, you can get a whole army on your side for only 75 sun! Other than that, it's Level 2-3 again. --- 329: Level 2-9 ------------------------------------------------------------ Graves: Columns 5-9 Enemies: Zombie Dancing Zombie Conehead Zombie Screen Door Zombie Flags: 2 / 3 Reward: Zombie Note Plants: Sun-shroom Grave Buster Puff-shroom Cherry Bomb Fume-shroom Wall-nut Hypno-shroom The Key: Business as usual for stage 2 Notes: Since this is a two-flag stage, there will be plenty of resources for 3 full columns of Fume-shrooms (shown above in Level 2-3). --- 32F: Level 2-10, Conveyor Belt Level -------------------------------------- Graves: Columns 4-9 Enemies: Zombie Dancing Zombie Conehead Zombie Screen Door Zombie Newspaper Zombie Football Zombie Flags: 2 / 2 Reward: Lily Pad Seed Packet Plants: Puff-shroom Grave Buster Fume-shroom Hypno-shroom Scardey-shroom Ice-shroom Doom-shroom The Key: As in all conveyor belt levels, save your bombs for emergencies! Notes: I started with Puff-shrooms in column 5, then put Scardey-shrooms in columns 1-2 and Fume-shrooms in columns 3-4. This level is not very difficult as you have Doom-shrooms and Hypno-shrooms to handle the otherwise dangerous Football and Dancing Zombies. _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 330: Stage 3 - Back Yard, Pool -------------------------------------------' The third stage takes place in your back yard the following day, and is known as the "Pool" stage in the game. The levels consist of four rows of nine spaces on land, and two rows of nine spaces in the pool. Here are a few key points to be aware of: 1) Lawnmowers can't clear away Zombies that make it to the left side of the pool, so be sure to defend the water carefully. That said, Zombies don't usually try to enter the water until it's almost to the first flag, so you have more time to set up defenses there. 2) Mushrooms fall asleep during the day, so avoid them for now. 3) Levels in stage 3 have hidden, sunken Zombies that resurface in columns 6-9 during the last wave. Don't concentrate your water defenses ahead of column 6 or Zombies will pop up behind your defenses and have a straight shot to the house. A basic water defense therefore places Wall-nuts in column 6. --- 331: Level 3-1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Flags: 1 / 2 Reward: Squash Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Snow Pea Lily Pad Wall-nut Peashooter Cherry Bomb Repeater The Key: Plant 8 Sunflowers on land first, then 4 in the water Notes: As we talked about above in stage 1, it's important to maximize your early resource production. This means that we defer non-essential building as long as possible, so we'll put Sunflowers on land before building Lily Pads for Sunflowers in the water. After the night stage, let's review a normal daytime build order. We should try to get 4 Sunflowers on the field before our first Pea- shooter, and have 6 Sunflowers before our second Peashooter. If luck brings faster sun production or the first two Zombies in the same row, you can plant more Sunflowers even sooner! Treat this like the levels in stage 1: start with Peashooters, build up Wall-nuts, and fortify with Repeaters and Snow Peas. --- 332: Level 3-2 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Newspaper Zombie Buckethead Zombie Football Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Threepeater Seed Packet and Mini-Games mode Plants: Sunflower Snow Pea Lily Pad Wall-nut Peashooter Squash Repeater The Key: Learn how to effectively use the Squash Notes: Play it like Level 3-1, but put Squashes behind Wall-nuts to destroy the Footballers and Bucketheads that make it to your front lines. Note that the defenses in the water don't have to be as powerful because only a few types of enemies can swim. The Squash can act like a panic button to kill Zombies that make it to the left, but it only costs 50. Compared to the Potato Mine, it doesn't need to charge itself up and detects enemies to the left or right instead of being passive. --- 333: Level 3-3 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Snorkel Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Tangle Kelp Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Snow Pea Lily Pad Wall-nut Peashooter Cherry Bomb Repeater The Key: The Threepeater trades sun and tempo for space Notes: Planting a Repeater in each row gives a solid 2-pea defense. On the other hand, you could plant just 4 Threepeaters. This method costs 50 more sun after Lily Pad costs, but takes 2 fewer spaces on the field. Unfortunately, you pay for Threepeaters in larger chunks of sun, which leaves you vulnerable at the beginning. Since space is not usually a problem in Adventure mode, you're better off staying with the Repeater. Again, this level is mostly like Level 3-1. The Wall-nuts in the water will take more damage here because the Snorkel Zombies will attack them at full health. We choose the Cherry Bomb over the Squash or Potato Mine because it alone can kill Snorkeling Zombies. --- 334: Level 3-4 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Snorkel Zombie Buckethead Zombie Pole Vaulting Zombie Newspaper Zombie Flags: 3 / ? Reward: Crazy Dave's Car Key Plants: Sunflower Snow Pea Lily Pad Wall-nut Peashooter Tangle Kelp Repeater The Key: Tangle Kelps provide an early water defense. Notes: In the water, we only have columns 3-5 for attacking plants. We've Sunflowers in columns 1-2 and Wall-nuts in column 6 to catch all resurfacing Zombies. To make the most of the water defense, we'll use only Snow Peas and Repeaters there. Unfortunately, these take more sun to plant, so we'll use Tangle Kelps to provide an early defense until we can get the permanent solutions up. This is a long level with three flags. Try to have a solid column of Wall-nuts up for the first. By the end, have something like the following. As with level diagrams before, dots (.) represent open spaces on land. Now, underscores (_) represent open spaces in the water. S S P R s R W W . S Sunflower S S P R s R W W . P Peashooter S S R s R W _ _ _ s Snow Pea S S R s R W _ _ _ R Repeater S S P R s R W W . W Wall-nut S S P R s R W W . Double Wall-nuts on land protect against Pole Vaulters, and those in column 6 protect against resurfacing Zombies in the water. As in other examples, the specific defenses can be modified. For example, the early-game Peashooters on land can become more Repeaters. --- 335: Level 3-5, Mini-Game: Big Trouble Little Zombie --------------------- Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Snorkel Zombie Football Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Jalapeno Seed Packet Plants: Peashooter Wall-nut Lily Pad Cherry Bomb The Key: At Crazy Dave's shop, first buy what's useful for Adventure mode. Notes: When Crazy Dave's shop first opens, the inventory is as follows: 8 Slot Seed Tray $5000 Pool Cleaners $1000 Garden Rake $ 200 Gatling Pea Seed Packet $5000 Twin Sunflower Seed Packet $5000 From the tips section, we know that most plant upgrades aren't very useful in Adventure mode, so we'll skip the last two. With this guide, you shouldn't need the Pool Cleaners or Garden Rake to get through the levels, so that leaves the 8-slot upgrade. Having more slots is very useful in Adventure mode though. We should be nearing $5000 in the bank, so we'll buy this upgrade this round or next. As for the level itself, we'll put Peashooters at the left, building towards the right. Wall-nuts will be planted in column 6 so we can place Cherry Bombs in column 8 and rows 2 or 4 to maximize damage. --- 336: Level 3-6 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Zomboni Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Spikeweed Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Peashooter Lily Pad Snow Pea Wall-nut Repeater Jalapeno Squash The Key: Fire melts ice. And Zombies too! Notes: If you haven't bought the 8-slot upgrade yet, do so now. We see that the 9-slot upgrade costs $20,000. Yikes! Anyway, select your plants and let's get going. During this level, Zombonis will slowly roll across the field, with three problems. First of all, Zombonis instantly squish any plants they reach, including Wall-nuts. Secondly, they leave a trail of ice behind them that cannot be planted on. Lastly, Zombie Bobsled Teams will slide in on the ice. Thankfully, Jalapenos can be used at any point to get rid of a Zomboni and its ice trail, or a Bobsled Team and the ice it's on. It takes many peas to kill a Zomboni, but a single "massive damage" plant such as a Potato Mine, Cherry Bomb, Jalapeno, or Squash will do it quickly, preventing the Zomboni from leaving a lot of ice behind. For that reason, we use two such plants to make sure that Zombonis don't get far. --- 337: Level 3-7 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Snorkel Zombie Buckethead Zombie Zomboni Flags: 3 / ? Reward: Torchwood Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Peashooter Lily Pad Snow Pea Wall-nut Repeater Jalapeno Spikeweed The Key: Spikeweed et. al. will be useful 'til the end. Notes: This time, there are three flags but Zombonis don't appear until the second flag. Target the following build, replacing your early Pea- shooters with Repeaters. Spikeweeds are used to instantly kill Zombonis before they can leave an ice trail, and Jalapenos are used as backup to melt the ice of Zombonis that get past the Spikeweeds. S S R s R . W w w S Sunflower S S R s R . W w w R Repeater S S R s R W _ _ _ s Snow Pea S S R s R W _ _ _ W Wall-nut S S R s R . W w w w Spikeweed S S R s R . W w w --- 338: Level 3-8 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Dolphin Rider Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Tall-nut Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Peashooter Lily Pad Repeater Wall-nut Torchwood Cherry Bomb [-- open slot --] The Key: Learn when to plant Torchwoods, and remember that fire melts ice. Notes: Remember The Key to the last level? Well, Spikeweeds and such are most useful against vehicles, which we don't have in this level. That said, you could certainly put them in the 8th slot of your seed tray if you wish, but I suggest another one-shot plant such as a Squash or Tangle Kelp. Torchwoods are great for increasing your damage and dealing with big swarms. While the explosive fireballs do some splash damage, the range is much lower than the range of a Fume-shroom so the power- doubling feature is more significant. The only downside is that it melts Snow Peas, so we won't use Snow Peas and Torchwoods together. Torchwoods effectively double the output of each Pea plant for 175 Sun, so plant them when a row has two or more peas. For example, a row with a Repeater already has two peas of attack power. This could be doubled with another Repeater for 200 Sun, but a better way would be to use a Repeater for 25 less sun, and get splash damage in the deal. On the other hand, a row with a single Peashooter has one pea of attack power. You could spend 175 on a Torchwood to double that, or spend 200 sun and triple that row's attack power. --- 339: Level 3-9 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Dolphin Rider Zombie Buckethead Zombie Pole Vaulting Zombie Zomboni Flags: 3 / ? Reward: Zombie Note Plants: Sunflower Peashooter Lily Pad Repeater Tall-nut Torchwood Jalapeno Spikeweed The Key: Tall-nuts stop vaulters, so you can bring in the front lines. Notes: A common initial thought is to keep the Tall-nuts out to the right, but this results in a lot of damage to them because Zombies get to them more quickly. By keeping the Tall-nuts back towards the left, our peas will kill individual Zombies before they start chewing on the Tall-nuts. In this way, Tall-nuts are actually a second line of defense after our Pea plants even though they are farther to the right. The result of this train of thought is that Tall-nuts take less damage and have to be replaced less often, which is useful as their recharge timer is so long. As you build up your Sunflowers and initial Peashooters, start planting Tall-nuts as soon as possible. They have a slow recharge timer, so you'll have to start early to have as many as possible up before the first flag. For the last flag, I had two columns of Sunflowers, two of Repeaters, one of Torchwoods, and one of Tall- nuts all flush to the left, with some Spikeweed out front. --- 33F: Level 3-10, Conveyor Belt Level -------------------------------------- Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Snorkel Zombie Buckethead Zombie Dolphin Rider Zombie Zomboni Flags: 3 / ? Reward: Sea-shroom Seed Packet Plants: Threepeater Spikeweed Lily Pad Squash Torchwood Jalapeno Tall-nut Tangle Kelp The Key: Plan out your Lily Pad use, as there are few in the late-game. Notes: Lily Pads drop more often before the first flag, so use those early Pads to set up your final water defenses. After the first flag, you will see fewer Lily Pads, so be sure to get Tall-nuts up to block Dolphin Riders. Our primary attacker in this game is the Three- peater, which should be placed in rows 2-5 to maximize their power. My final build looked like this: . . . . Y T . . w w Spikeweed 3 3 3 3 Y T . . w 3 Threepeater _ _ 3 3 Y T _ _ _ Y Torchwood _ _ 3 3 Y T _ _ _ T Tall-nut 3 3 3 3 Y T . . w . . . . Y T . . w Threepeaters with Torchwoods should be enough to keep walkers and swimmers at bay, so you can save your Squash and Jalapenos for Zombonis and emergencies. As a reminder, plant those extra Torchwoods, Lily Pads, etc. towards the end of the level just to clear out the seed tray for more useful plants. _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 340: Stage 4 - Back Yard, Pool and Fog -----------------------------------' The fourth stage is the nighttime version of the last stage, known as the "Fog" stage in the game. Instead of gravestones on the ground, we have fog creeping in from the right. While you can plant in fog-covered spaces, you can't see anything in fog, not even your plants. This is especially annoying in the case of Nuts, as you want to monitor their status. The fog will begin the stage in only the right-most columns, but it will move closer to the house as the stage progresses. Each level guide below will note which columns are foggy. Keep in mind that the leading edge of the fog (the column closest to the house) is slightly translucent but columns further out will be opaque. --- 341: Level 4-1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Fog: Columns 7-9 Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Jack-in-the-Box Zombie Flags: 1 / ? Reward: Plantern Seed Packet Plants: Sun-shroom Puff-shroom Lily Pad Sea-shroom Wall-nut Fume-shroom Cherry Bomb [your choice] The Key: Get used to the annoying fog. Notes: While you probably have 8 slots in the seed tray now by following this guide, the core strategy here only uses 7 plants. Feel free to experiment with plants of your choice! Let's recap a few strategies from stage 2. Since the early offense (Puff-shrooms and Sea-shrooms) are free, plant them as soon as possible! However, since Puff-shrooms have limited range, we'll start them farther to the right than with other early attackers, and place them in columns 4-5. Jack-in-the-Box Zombies are one of the biggest threats in the game because they destroy a 3x3 area when they blow up, just like a Cherry Bomb. Try to kill them quickly so they don't have time to blow up and take out your Wall-nuts! --- 342: Level 4-2 ------------------------------------------------------------ Fog: Columns 6-9 Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Jack-in-the-Box Zombie Football Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Cactus Seed Packet Plants: Sun-shroom Puff-shroom Lily Pad Sea-shroom Wall-nut Fume-shroom Plantern Cherry Bomb The Key: "Practice placing pretty planterns," Practical Platypus pronounces. Notes: Planterns are your first weapon against fog. Each lights up a 5 row by 7 column area around it, so you'll generally want two to cut through the fog across the entire field. If you want to use just the bare minimum, you can place a plantern in the fourth row. This would take care of most of the fog in rows 2-6, and you can see the heads of attacking Zombies over the fog in row 1. However, that strategy has its own problems so we'll opt to place a Plantern in each of rows 2 and 5. Remember that you can place plants in fog, which is useful here because a Plantern in column 5 won't shine all the way to column 9. To maximize visibility with just 2 Planterns, we will place them in column 6. The only question left is WHEN to place Planterns. During the very early stages, you're working with Sun-producers, Puff-shrooms, and Sea-shrooms in the left half of the screen. The fog isn't a problem then because you're working with a non-foggy area anyway, and there are few if any Zombies attacking you. You only need to take care of the fog when you push your late-game defenses forward to the right. At that point, after you have around 2 columns of Puff-shrooms and 1 of Sea-shrooms, you can start thinking about placing Planterns and saving up some Sun. You want to be able to place defenses in front of your Planterns to protect them, so you'll need some Sun for a Wall-nut and/or an attacking plant. In the end, I had the following: S S F F F F W . . S Sun-shroom S S F F F < W . . s Sea-shroom S S F F s s s _ _ F Fume-shroom S S F F s s s _ _ < Plantern S S F F F < W . . W Wall-nut S S F F F F W . . I didn't use any Wall-nuts in the water. Instead, I opted to simply plant more Sea-shrooms as free cannon fodder. --- 343: Level 4-3 ------------------------------------------------------------ Fog: Columns 6-9 Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Balloon Zombie Flags: 1 / ? Reward: Blover Seed Packet Plants: Sun-shroom Puff-shroom Lily Pad Sea-shroom Wall-nut Fume-shroom Plantern Cactus The Key: Crafty Cacti can crash crazy ... balloonists. Notes: Balloonists are annoying because they can appear in any row, so you will eventually need a full-field defense against them. Not only are you wasting a full six spaces on the field to deal with a single type of enemy, but balloonists will drop onto the ground when their balloons are popped. As you may imagine, they can drop behind your Wall-nuts and start attacking your more vulnerable plants directly! We must keep in mind that the majority of Zombies will still come on land and in the pool, so we'll have to build up our defenses as normal, and only start adding Cacti after our normal defense is established. Especially in this short 1-flag level, there simply isn't enough time and Sun to build a full column of Cacti. The final setup can look like: S S C F F P W . . S Sun-shroom < Plantern S S C F F < W . . s Sea-shroom W Wall-nut S S C F s s _ _ _ F Fume-shroom C Cacti (possible S S C F s s _ _ _ P Puff-shroom positions) S S C F F < W . . S S C F F P W . . --- 344: Level 4-4 ------------------------------------------------------------ Fog: Columns 6-9 Enemies: Zombie Balloon Zombie Conehead Zombie Dolphin Rider Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Taco Plants: Sun-shroom Puff-shroom Lily Pad Sea-shroom Wall-nut Fume-shroom Tall-nut Blover The Key: Whenever you see Balloonists or fog from now on, use the Blover. Notes: The Blover is the solution to both Balloonists and fog. In fact, it is a better solution than Planterns or Cacti alone or together! First, let's review the problems with Planterns and Cacti: o Planterns take up valuable spaces on the right side of the field, where your front line defenses should be. o Planterns don't actually kill Zombies themselves. o Cacti use up a ton of real estate: a full vertical column. o They are only useful against one enemy, as a normal Peashooter does the same damage for less Sun. o A Cactus can only take care of enemies to its right; if a Balloon Zombie makes it to the left edge, Cacti don't help. o A Cactus can pop a balloon behind your Wall-nuts, making a Zombie land deep within your ranks where it can cause a lot of damage. o Combined, they take up two seed tray slots for very narrow uses. o Combined, they take up 8 spaces on the field. How do Blovers solve these problems? They only need a single space to protect the entire field against Balloonists and drive back fog for about 25 seconds. They only take up a single seed tray slot to take care of both fog and Balloonists. They instantly remove Balloonists, meaning there won't be any Zombies dropping right onto your plants. They get rid of all the Balloonists on the screen, even ones at the very left edge. While they are only a single-use item, they are usually only needed later in a level when you have plenty of Sun anyway. Since we're on the subject, let's also consider the Cattail, a plant available later in the game. Cattails attack Balloonists or any other Zombie in any row, which partially solves the problems of the Cacti. Unfortunately, you might still need 3-4 Cattails during the harder levels to pop every Balloon, and they may still drop a Zombie in the midst of your plants and cause great losses. As with the Cactus, they don't get rid of fog. Lastly, they're only usable on levels with water. As The Key states above, just use Blovers for fog and Balloonists! Since Blovers can get rid of Balloonists anywhere on the screen, wait until they get close to the left edge before your use a Blover. If several waves of Balloonists spawn close to each other, you'll be able to get rid of all of them with a single Blover if you wait for the screen to be filled. Waiting until you absolutely need a Blover will also maximize your fog-free time. Ok, enough of that. This level introduces the Dolphin Rider Zombie, the aquatic version of the Pole Vaulting Zombie. To take care of the Dolphin Riders, we'll plant some Tall-nuts in the water. Having both Wall-nuts and Tall-nuts enables us to set up a full column of them more quickly, as their recharge timers will be running simultaneously. As with other water levels, submerged Zombies will resurface for the final wave, so don't place the Tall-nuts any further than column 6. The final build will have 2 columns of Sun-shrooms, 3 of Fume-shrooms, and a column of assorted nuts. Blovers can still be placed anywhere in columns 7-9. --- 345: Level 4-5, Mini-Game: Vasebreaker ------------------------------------ Vases: Columns 7-9 Enemies: Zombie Buckethead Zombie Plants: Peashooter Squash Vases: Columns 6-9 Enemies: Zombie Football Zombie Buckethead Zombie Plants: Peashooter Squash Snow Pea Vases: Column 5-9 Enemies: Zombie Dancing Zombie Buckethead Zombie Jack-in-the-Box Zombie Plants: Peashooter Hypno-shroom Snow Pea Reward: Split Pea Seed Packet The Key: Take it slow, a row at a time, starting from the right. Notes: The Taco from the last level gives you $1000 and access to two more plant upgrades (see section 335 for more about the other items): Gloom-shroom Seed Packet $ 7500 Cattail Seed Packet $10000 Let's take a moment to discuss these in reverse order. See section 344 above to see why the Cattail isn't very useful. While some have talked about Cattail-centric setups, there are almost always better uses for the slots in your seed tray. There are certainly better uses for $10,000! Among these better uses is the Gloom-shroom, an upgrade we'll be working towards in the near future. Yes, the Gloom-shroom should be the first plant upgrade that you buy, and is even very useful in Adventure mode. For more on the Gloom-shroom, see the next section. For now, we've got a Mini-Game to play. There are three stages to this Mini-Game, in increasing difficulty and complexity. It takes place in the "Night" stage, so the field size is 5x9. When you break a vase, either a Zombie or seed packet will pop out. The goal is to use the seed packets wisely to destroy the Zombies before they make it to the house. To beat these stages easily, concentrate on one row at a time. I generally start at the bottom, but you could start at the top. For each row, break the vase in column 9 and gradually work your way to the left. The goal is to use as few plants as possible to defeat the Zombies in the row, and plant the rest of the plants in the next row. For example, if a row of three vases yield a Zombie, a Squash, and a Peashooter, place the Peashooter at the left of that row, and save the Squash for the next row. Either plant could kill the one Zombie, but there is plenty of time for the Peashooter to do the job so we can save the more powerful Squash. Just make sure to plant seed packets as soon as practical, as they disappear after a few seconds on the ground. --- 346: Level 4-6 ------------------------------------------------------------ Fog: Columns 6-9 Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Digger Zombie Flags: 1 / ? Reward: Starfruit Seed Packet and Puzzles mode Plants: Sun-shroom Puff-shroom Lily Pad Fume-shroom Wall-nut Gloom-shroom Blover Squash The Key: Gloom-shrooms are awesome. Notes: As we noted above, the Gloom-shroom is one of the few plant upgrades that are useful in Adventure mode. By this point in my game, I had about $6500 in the bank. The Gloom-shroom takes $7500, so let's go beat the ZomBotany Mini-Game (section 401 below) and earn $1000, giving us enough to buy the Gloom-shroom. So, what's good about the Gloom-shroom? Zombies are all about huge numbers, and the Gloom-shroom is the best answer to huge swarms for several reasons. First, it covers a 3x3 area with its spores, so two Gloom-shrooms will cover every row on the field. Second, it has a piercing attack just like the Fume-shroom, hitting every Zombie in those 9 squares (compared to a Peashooter, which can only hit a single Zombie in a single square). Lastly, it has a fast attack, pulsing out spores very often to quickly dispatch Zombies. It does have a slow recharge and takes up a lot of seed tray slots and Sun. In spite of these costs, it's still a critical part of almost every strategy for difficult levels. There are few enough Diggers on this level that you can just use Squashes on them instead of the more expensive and less generally- useful Split Peas. In order for the Squash plan to work, we need to leave space for them on the left. The core of the final setup is like the following, with Puff-shrooms scattered throughout: . S S . . . . . . S Sun-shroom . S S . . G W . . G Gloom-shroom S S _ _ W _ _ _ _ W Wall-nut S S _ _ W _ _ _ _ . S S . . G W . . . S S . . . . . . The crowd control capability of the Gloom-shroom is evident here; with only two attacking plants, we can cover all six rows! --- 347: Level 4-7 ------------------------------------------------------------ Fog: Columns 5-9 Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Digger Zombie Buckethead Zombie Jack-in-the-Box Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Pumpkin Seed Packet Plants: Sun-shroom Puff-shroom Lily Pad Fume-shroom Wall-nut Gloom-shroom Blover Squash/Starfruit The Key: Gloom-shrooms are so awesome! Notes: This level plays out the same as the last one, but you should make four Gloom-shrooms instead of two. Also, you can either use Squash or Starfruit to take care of Digger Zombies. --- 348: Level 4-8 ------------------------------------------------------------ Fog: Columns 5-9 Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Pogo Zombie Flags: 1 / ? Reward: Magnet-shroom Seed Packet Plants: Sun-shroom Puff-shroom Lily Pad Fume-shroom Wall-nut Gloom-shroom Blover Squash The Key: Once again, Gloom-shrooms are awesome! Notes: While the Pumpkin is very useful, it won't stop the Pogo Zombies in this level so we'll look to other plants for now. As before, Gloom- shrooms are the answer. Two Gloom-shrooms will kill a Pogo, as well as anything else this level. If anything makes it past your Glooms, use a Squash or other massive damage plant to finish the job. --- 349: Level 4-9 ------------------------------------------------------------ Fog: Columns 5-9 Enemies: Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Conehead Zombie Pogo Zombie Buckethead Zombie Balloon Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Zombie Note Plants: Sun-shroom Puff-shroom Lily Pad Fume-shroom Wall-nut Gloom-shroom Blover Magnet-shroom The Key: Guess what? Gloom-shrooms are awesome! Notes: Once again, a setup like the one shown for Level 4-6 will work just fine. Instead of the Magnet-shroom, you can use Squash, or another support plant to kill whatever gets past the Gloom-shrooms. --- 34F: Level 4-10, Conveyor Belt Level -------------------------------------- Enemies: Zombie Digger Zombie Conehead Zombie Pogo Zombie Buckethead Zombie Balloon Zombie Ducky Tube Zombie Jack-in-the-Box Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Cabbage-pult Seed Packet Plants: Lily Pad Cactus Magnet-shroom Split Pea Pumpkin Starfruit Blover Sea-shroom The Key: Make the most of the lightning by placing multiple plants each time. Notes: This level shows the true power that can result from a field full of Starfruit. In spite of the stormy weather, you have plenty of tools at your disposal to get rid of Zombies. Cacti and Blover handle the Balloonists, Magnet-shrooms make dealing with Diggers, Pogos, and Jack-in-the-Box Zombies much easier, and Starfruit and Split Peas kill everything else. Save the Pumpkins for use at the front lines, because with all the rear-firing plants along with Magnets, you won't need to worry about the left side. As with all conveyor belt levels, make sure you have some room on the belt for new plants to slide in. If this means placing some plants in non-optimal positions, so be it! The only single-use plant on this level is the Blover, which doesn't have fog or Balloons to blow away (because of the many Cacti) so there is little reason to save up plants on the belt. _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 350: Stage 5 - Roof ------------------------------------------------------' The fifth stage takes place on the roof of the house, so naturally it is known as the "Roof" stage in the game. Since there is no soil on the roof, you are required to plant in Flower Pots; just as land-based plants need a Lily Pad to be placed on water, they need a Flower Pot to be placed on the roof. The field here is actually composed of two parts. At the left is a 5x5 pitched roof, and to the right of that is a flat 5x4 area. Straight-shooting plants such as Peashooters will hit the pitched roof unless they are planted in column 5 or beyond. To get around this problem, you have access to several catapult- like plants that lob their projectiles over the roof to hit Zombies. --- 351: Level 5-1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Bungee Zombie Conehead Zombie Flags: 1 / ? Reward: Flower Pot Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Cabbage-pult Wall-nut Chomper Tall-nut Jalapeno [your choice] [your choice] The Key: Don't let Zombies eat your Flower Pots! Notes: This is a rather straight-forward level, meant to introduce the roof environment. It also introduces the Bungee Zombie, who targets a plant and then grabs it from above. Bungee Zombies will also drop down during the final wave and place other Zombies (such as Bucket- head Zombies) behind your front lines. If a dropped Zombie eats one of your plants, quickly place a Wall-nut or Tall-nut there to stall it while your Cabbage-pults take care of it. You can also place a single-use plant such as a Jalapeno in the now-open Flower Pot to get rid of the offending Zombie right away. Note that we tend to use the Jalapeno over the Cherry Bomb in stage 5. The Jalapeno can be planted on the left side of the field and still affect the right side, whereas a Cherry Bomb requires that we first place a sacrificial Flower Pot on the right side, which takes more time and more sun. Lastly, we don't have the ability to place new flower pots yet, so try to keep Zombies from eating them! --- 352: Level 5-2 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Bungee Zombie Conehead Zombie Pole Vaulting Zombie Buckethead Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Kernel-pult Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Cabbage-pult Flower Pot Chomper Wall-nut Jalapeno Tall-nut [your choice] The Key: Draw a line in the sand, then fill in behind it. Notes: Once again, Crazy Dave adds a few items for sale (see sections 335 and 345 for discussion about other available items). Roof Cleaners $ 3000 Spikerock Seed Packet $ 7500 Gold Magnet Seed Packet $ 3000 Unused Roof Cleaners are worth $50 each at the end of a level, just like Lawnmowers in previous stages. In the remaining 9 levels of stage 5, Roof Cleaners can earn $2250, bringing the $3000 cost down to $750. Since we're going to eventually want Roof Cleaners for the harder game modes, we'll buy them now to start earning the $50 each. We didn't buy the Pool Cleaners because there are Lawnmowers on pool rows regardless, and they still give 50 gold each per level. In other words, buying Roof Cleaners eventually pays for itself even if you don't need them to beat a level, but buying Pool Cleaners is not necessary unless Zombies actually reach the end of the pool. The Spikerock upgrade is useful in general, but Spikeweed cannot be planted on the roof to begin with, so it is useless for the rest of Adventure mode. Lastly, the goal for now should be getting through Adventure mode. Collecting money can be done later, so we'll also wait before we buy the Gold Magnet. You may need to play a Mini- Game to get enough money to afford the Roof Cleaners. Either way, buy them and then start the level! Starting on Level 5-2, there will only be three columns of Flower Pots at the beginning, and you'll need to have the Flower Pot in the seed tray in order to expand towards the right. On this level, Wall-nuts are optional. You usually have enough time to set up a full column of Tall-nuts before anything can get to your Cabbages. When you do start placing Wall-nuts or Tall-nuts, place them in column 6 or beyond. Unlike the short-range Mushrooms in the last stage, our Cabbages can hit Zombies at the very right edge, so we can set our front lines first, then build from the left towards that point. Place more attacking plants in rows that don't have a Tall-nut yet, so the stronger offense can offset the weaker defense. You might have something like this halfway through: S S C C . . . . . S Sunflower S S C C . . . . . C Cabbage-pult S S C C . . . . . T Tall-nut S S C . . T . . . S S C . . T . . . Towards the end, you'll want 3-4 columns of Cabbages and/or Chompers behind a column of Tall-nuts. As discussed in section 351 above, Bungee Zombies may drop high-toughness Zombies among your Cabbages, so keep a Jalapeno or Wall-nut handy to deal with them. --- 353: Level 5-3 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Ladder Zombie Conehead Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Coffee Bean Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Kernel-pult Flower Pot Cherry Bomb Wall-nut Jalapeno [your choice] [your choice] The Key: Butter is your friend. Notes: The Kernel-pult is the best general purpose early attacker in the game. While its corn kernels do little damage, its butter attacks temporarily immobilize enemies in addition to doing full "normal" damage. This means that fast enemies such as Football and Pole Vaulting Zombies can't charge at you, dangerous Zombies such as Dancing Zombies and Jack-in-the-Box Zombies can't trigger their effects, and Zombies that reach your front lines can't eat your plants. In the late game, Kernel-pults don't need to be replaced as quickly because in spite of their lower damage, they hold Zombies in place so they get pounded by the more powerful late-game plants. Lastly, they can be upgraded with another plant available later on. Ladder Zombies can set their ladders on Tall-nuts so they and others can climb over them, so we elect to use the cheaper Wall-nuts instead. Just in case some ladders are set up, we include the Cherry Bomb to knock them down. The final build should consist of a ton of Kernel-pults behind a column of Nuts. --- 354: Level 5-4 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Ladder Zombie Conehead Zombie Pogo Zombie Football Zombie Flags: 3 / ? Reward: Watering Can (and Zen Garden mode) Plants: Sunflower Kernel-pult Flower Pot Fume-shroom Pumpkin Gloom-shroom Coffee Bean Magnet-shroom The Key: Coffee lets us use our powerful nocturnal plants during the day. Notes: Remember how we used nothing but Gloom-shrooms once we got them in Stage 4? Well, with Coffee Beans in our seed tray, we can use them during the day. We'll get one more tool to help us perfect our Gloom-shroom strategy, but for now we can still mount an effective defense with Magnets and Gloom-shrooms. Start with the usual column of Kernel-pults, then plant Gloom-shrooms in Pumpkins in rows 2 and 4 in column 7. After that, plant a couple of Magnet-shrooms to snag ladders, pogo sticks, and football helmets. Plant a third Gloom in between the existing two. The resulting overlapping spore clouds combined with butter from the Kernel-pults will dispatch Zombies before they can do much damage to your front-line Pumpkins. Towards the end, you can replace some Sunflowers with more Kernel-pults and protect more plants with Pumpkins, resulting in something like this: S c [c] . . . . . . S Sunflower S c [c] . . [u][G] . . c Kernel-pult S c [c] . . . [G] . . u Magnet-shroom S c [c] . . [u][G] . . G Gloom-shroom S c [c] . . . . . . [ ] Pumpkin As in most other cases, you can modify this setup, add more plants, etc. but this should be more than enough to beat the level. --- 355: Level 5-5, Mini-Game: Bungee Conveyor -------------------------------- Enemies: Zombie Ladder Zombie Conehead Zombie Bungee Zombie Buckethead Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Garlic Seed Packet Plants: Flower Pot Cherry Bomb Pumpkin Chomper The Key: You'll want two sets of defenses, each with two columns of Chompers. Notes: The Zen Garden, unlocked last level, is one of the best ways to make money in this game. For more information, see section 300 of the Gold Farming Guide [16]. As Crazy Dave warns us, we will be facing a lot of Bungee Zombies, so (1) they'll drop Zombies down on our plants and (2) they'll target individual plants and pluck them out of their pots. Since we have no ranged units, we'll gradually build up towards the right, and keep some space to the left as a buffer zone in case anything gets past our Chompers. Protect your Flower Pots and Pumpkins, but let Chompers go if they are already digesting. Chompers take a long time to digest Zombies, so you'll find yourself digging up full Chompers and replacing them with new ones. You can have up to two columns of Chompers at a time as they have a range of two. To keep Zombies from bunching up too much, construct two zones of two columns each: . C C . . C C . . C Chomper . C C . . C C . . . C C . . C C . . . C C . . C C . . . C C . . C C . . [16] http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/959255/56559 --- 356: Level 5-6 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Catapult Zombie Conehead Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Umbrella Leaf Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Kernel-pult Flower Pot Fume-shroom Garlic Gloom-shroom Coffee Bean Jalapeno The Key: The Gloom-shroom plan is complete! Notes: Let's discuss Gloom-shroom strategy again. As we found in Stage 4 and Level 5-4, Zombies in rows adjacent to Gloom-shrooms just walk past them, taking huge amounts of damage in the three spaces covered by the Gloom-shrooms. This leaves Zombies in the same rows as our Glooms. They bunch up and start chewing on the Pumpkins protecting the Glooms. While they still die pretty quickly, Pumpkins are too expensive to replace all the time. We use Garlic to divert Zombies into adjacent rows and protect our Glooms at the same time. This has the additional benefit of letting us have two or three sets of Gloom-shrooms for destroying faster and sturdier Zombies. With two sets of Glooms, all Zombies will be diverted into rows with four spaces of spore-filled goodness, two of which have double spore density! For this level, a single set of Glooms will suffice. As the level goes on, use Jalapenos to destroy the odd Catapult Zombie, and keep on building Kernel-pults. You'll end up with something like this: S c c c . . . . . S Sunflower S c c c . . G g . c Kernel-pult S c c c . . . . . G Gloom-shroom S c c c . . G g . g Garlic S c c c . . . . . Remember to keep a column of open Flower Pots for Jalapenos when Catapult Zombies arrive! Note: This Gloom-shroom plan is so powerful that we've just beaten a level for the first time without any Wall-nuts or Tall-nuts! --- 357: Level 5-7 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Catapult Zombie Conehead Zombie Bungee Zombie Ladder Zombie Flags: 3 / ? Reward: Marigold Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Kernel-pult Flower Pot Fume-shroom Garlic Gloom-shroom Coffee Bean Umbrella Leaf The Key: The Gloom-shroom plan is complete! Notes: Umbrella Leaves protect a 3x3 area, so we can simply repeat last level's build but sprinkle some Umbrella Leaves in: S S c c c . . . . S Sunflower c ^ c c ^ . G g . c Kernel-pult S S c c c . ^ . . G Gloom-shroom c ^ c c ^ . G g . g Garlic S S c c c . . . . ^ Umbrella Leaf Something like the setup above gives us even Umbrella Leaf coverage, three Kernel-pults per row, and six Sunflowers in total. --- 358: Level 5-8 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Gargantuar Conehead Zombie Flags: 2 / ? Reward: Melon-pult Seed Packet Plants: Sunflower Kernel-pult Flower Pot Fume-shroom Coffee Bean Gloom-shroom Garlic Jalapeno The Key: Use explosives and stalling tactics on Gargantuars Notes: This level introduces the Gargantuar, the most dangerous Zombie. It takes 2 massive-damage attacks (such as a Squash or Cherry Bomb) to destroy one, and after he takes 50% damage, he throws an Imp five columns to the left to eat your more vulnerable rear ranks. Lastly, instead of nibbling on your plants as the other Zombies do, he smashes them in one hit. To counter this threat, we'll use a combination of Kernel-pults to slow them down and Jalapenos to hit them from afar. In front we'll place our normal Gloom-shroom defense seen in previous levels. At the end we'll replace some Sunflowers with even more Kernel-pults: S c c c c . . . . S Sunflower S c c c c G g . . c Kernel-pult S c c c c . . . . G Gloom-shroom S c c c c G g . . g Garlic S c c c c . . . . Note that we keep two columns open to the right, to make Gargantuars cross more space before they can start smashing our plants. This is the ranged vs. melee strategy we talked about in Level 1-1 (section 311). Gargantuars spawning in odd rows don't pose as much of a threat. They will often enter Gloom-shroom range and get frozen by butter. The worst threat there will actually be the Imps, which will get thrown onto your Sunflowers or rear Kernel-pults. You may wish to keep your Jalapeno ready to destroy both the Imp and the Gargantuar at once (once the Imp is thrown, it means the Gargantuar has taken at least 50% damage so the Jalapeno will finish the job). Gargantuars spawning in even rows are a much bigger threat, as they only need to cross two columns and can start smashing your plants. Don't worry too much about the Garlics as they are easy to replace, but try to stall them from getting to your expensive Gloom-shrooms. Note: In the more difficult game modes unlocked later, you'll see Gargantuars with red eyes. These "super-Gargantuars" take three massive-damage attacks to destroy. Note: Umbrella Leaves don't deflect thrown Imps, and Garlic and Hypno-shrooms don't work on Gargantuars because they don't actually eat your plants. --- 359: Level 5-9 ------------------------------------------------------------ Enemies: Zombie Jack-in-the-Box Zombie Conehead Zombie Bungee Zombie Buckethead Zombie Catapult Zombie Ladder Zombie Gargantuar Flags: 3 / ? Reward: Zombie Note Plants: Sunflower Umbrella Leaf Flower Pot Pumpkin or Wall-nut Kernel-pult Cherry Bomb Melon-pult Jalapeno The Key: Use the Gloom-shroom if you have more seed tray slots. Notes: Since we're facing such a wide array of Zombies in this level, we'll choose more conventional weapons instead of using Gloom-shrooms. If you have more slots in you seed tray, you can consider Gloom-shrooms instead. The final build looks like the one for Level 5-7: S S c m m [W] . . . S Sunflower c ^ m m ^ [W] . . . c Kernel-pult S S c m m [W] . . . m Melon-pult c ^ m m ^ [W] . . . ^ Umbrella Leaf S S c m m [W] . . . [W] Pumpkin or Wall-nut While we're losing our most powerful attacker, the Melon-pult is not a bad replacement. Melons do "splash" damage to Zombies close to where they hit, so they have some crowd control capability. Also, they can hit Zombies from far away, so they can be kept back from the powerful attacks of Gargantuars and Jack-in-the-Box Zombies. Note that we use the Wall-nut instead of the Tall-nut, so any losses from Jack-in-the-Box Zombies will be easier to recover. Alternately you can use open Pumpkins and place single-use plants in them. --- 35F: Level 5-10, Conveyor Belt Level -------------------------------------- Enemies: Zombie Bungee Zombie Conehead Zombie Jack-in-the-Box Zombie Buckethead Zombie Ladder Zombie Catapult Zombie Football Zombie Dr. Edgar Zomboss Flags: None Reward: Silver Sunflower Trophy, Survival Mode, more Puzzles and Mini-Games Plants: Flower Pot Jalapeno Kernel-pult Ice-shroom Cabbage-pult Melon-pult The Key: Time your single-use plants well. Notes: This is the boss fight against the leader of the Zombies. The level completion meter at the bottom of the screen tracks the damage dealt to the boss. The boss has several attacks, which will be discussed separately. First, the boss can place Zombies on the surface of the roof to attack you as in previous levels. To defend against these, place plants to defend each row as normal. Sometimes, the boss will hang Bungee Zombies over your plants. To keep them from plucking your powerful Melon-pults, destroy them with Jalapenos or place an Ice- shroom to freeze them in place, giving your catapults more time to destroy them conventionally. Since Kernel-pults and Cabbage-pults aren't as powerful, you may choose to let them go, and save your single-use plants for more powerful Zombies. Next, the boss can duck down to generate a fireball or snowball from his mouth. These projectiles will roll down the roof and destroy everything in their path, including roof cleaners if you've bought them from Crazy Dave. To destroy a snowball, place a Jalapeno on the same row. To destroy a fireball, place a Ice-Shroom anywhere on the screen. If you build on the flat portion of the roof (columns 6-9) the boss will step on your plants. Since you want to have an empty pot on each row to deal with incoming snowballs, this limits your building to 4 plants per row. Of course, if you have a surplus of pots and plants in the seed tray, you can certainly plant on the flat portion. Even if they fire once, it's better than sitting in your seed tray doing nothing. The last attack is a camper that the boss will smash down on your plants, destroying a 3 column by 2 row area. The only defense against this attack is to spread out your plants out to minimize losses. It is especially important to spread the high-damage Melon- pults far apart so you don't lose many of them at once. Your only chance to damage the boss comes when he ducks down to spit out a fireball or snowball. To maximize the damage, once he generates the projectile use the Jalapeno or Ice-Shroom right away to freeze or damage him and any Zombies, and also get rid of the projectile. By freezing the boss, you'll give your plants more time to shoot him. ,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------, | 400: Mini-Games Walkthrough | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' --- 401: ZomBotany ------------------------------------------------------------ In this game, Zombies have the properties of their plant heads, so Peashooter Zombies will not only eat any plants in range, they'll also shoot at your plants. Wall-Nut Zombies will have much higher defense than normal Zombies. A single Peashooter plant will be able to take down a single Peashooter Zombie, but the next Peashooter Zombie will destroy the Peashooter plant. For this reason, after one of your early Peashooters kills a Peashooter Zombie, place another Peashooter or Wall-nut in front of it to protect it against further attacks. Wall-nut Zombies are best taken out with Squash, Chompers, and other massive-damage plants. By the end of the level, try to have two columns of Sunflowers, one of Repeaters, one of Snow Peas, one of Chompers, and one of Wall-nuts. --- 402: Wall-nut Bowling ----------------------------------------------------- This is just like Level 1-5 of the Adventure but more difficult because more Zombies will spawn, so the strategies discussed in section 315 will be all the more important here. In short, wait until the Zombies are far to the left to maximize the hits for each Wall-nut, and save the Explode-o-nuts for tight packs of Zombies three rows tall to maximize the effect of the blast radius. --- 403: Slot Machine --------------------------------------------------------- You're dependent on the slot machine to get plants for defense, so pull the lever to spin the machine as often as possible. The ultimate goal is to get 2000 sun, and your overall progress is tracked using the meter in the lower- right corner as with standard levels. --- 404: It's Raining Seeds --- 405: Beghouled --- 406: Invisi-ghoul --------------------------------------------------------- --- 407: Seeing Stars --------------------------------------------------------- You can generally follow the Gloom-shroom and Garlic plan to get through this level. Once you've stabilized, start planting Star Fruit to finish the level. --- 408: Zombiquarium --- 409: Beghouled Twist ------------------------------------------------------ This Mini-Game is a Plants vs. Zombies take on Popcap's puzzle game Bejeweled Twist. The goal is to rotate 2x2 squares of four spaces to create matches (three or more adjacent columns or rows of the same plant). You need to make 75 such matches to complete the level. As you match up the plants, you'll earn sun which can be spent to rearrange plants or upgrade your plants. The challenge here is that it's more difficult to see possible matches when rotating blocks than when sliding them. To help, here are the four situations (each of which can be in 4 rotated orientations). Keep an eye out for these patterns for an easier time. | | | .o --> .. | .o --> .. | .o --> .. | o.oo --> .ooo .oo ooo | o.o ooo | ..oo .ooo | .. .. | | | --- 410: Big Trouble Little Zombie --- 411: Portal Combat --- 412: Column Like You See 'Em --- 413: Bobsled Bonanza Use Squashes to destroy Zombonis as you build up your resources. Try to use Jalapenos to kill Bobsledders and melt the ice simultaneously. After every Jalapeno, quickly place a Spikerock in column 9 to stop Zombonis in that row for a long time. Once you have four Spikerocks at the very right, the level becomes much easier. I used Kernel-pults as my main offensive unit to slow down attackers. --- 414: Zombie Nimble Zombie Quick --- 415: Whack a Zombie This is a more difficult version of Level 2-5, so see section 325. This same strategies will apply, but you might still get overwhelmed towards the end. If the situation looks grim for the final wave, concentrate your efforts on one or two rows and let the Lawnmowers take care of the rest. --- 416: Last Stand This level is often used for gold farming. For more information, see my Gold Farming Guide [17]. It contains a lot of theory behind my chosen setup, but if you just want the quick answer, here's a good 30-Marigold setup: M M M M [M] . . . . Symbol Legend M M M M U G G [G] g . Open Land U Gold Magnet M M M M [M][M] _ _ _ _ Open Water M Marigold M M M M [M][M] _ _ _ G Gloom-shroom M M M M U G G [G] g g Garlic M M M M [M] . . . . [ ] Pumpkin [17] http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/959255/56559 --- 417: Zombotany 2 Use the gloomshroom plan again (see above). --- 418: Wall-nut Bowling 2 Giant Wall-nuts are good at taking out long strings of Zombies. That ability makes this even easier than the first Wall-nut Bowling. Mentally split up the attackers into loners, long rows, and tight clumps. Hit the clumps with Explode-o-nuts, the long rows with the Giant Wall-Nuts, and the stragglers with normal Wall-nuts. Only drop Explode-o-nuts in rows 2-4 so you don't waste the 3x3 blast radius. --- 419: Pogo Party sunflower, pot, squash, squash copy, magnet, bean, wall, corn pult, jalapeno Start building two rows of sunflowers. Use squash to kill the first few pogos as you build up funds. when you get 200, create a magnet in the front middle, and soon after create a wallnut in front of it. A single magnet will take care of all the pogo sticks until the first flag, so you have some time to set up Kernel-pults and Wall-nuts to kill the grounded Pogos. By the second flag, I started replacing wallnuts with tallnuts, though that is an optional step. By the last flag, you should chop down a row of sunflowers to make room for a fourth row of Kernel-pults, and have 6 magnets up front. Mid-Game S S c c . . W . . Symbol Legend S S c c . . W . . . Open Land S S c c . M M W . S Sunflower S S c c . . W . . c Kernel-pult S S c c . . W . . M Magnet W Wallnut/Tallnut Final S c c c c M W . . S c c c c M W . . S c c c c M M W . S c c c c M W . . S c c c c M W . . --- 420: Dr. Zomboss's Revenge This is a repeat of the last level of the Adventure mode, so use the same strategies as outlined in section 250. ,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------, | 500: Puzzles Walkthrough | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' --- Vasebreaker --- I, Zombie ,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------, | 600: Survival Walkthrough | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' There are 11 levels in the Survival Game mode. First, there's a normal- difficulty level in each location (day, night, pool, fog, and roof) with five flags to survive. Then there's a hard level in each location with ten flags. Finally, there's an unlimited level which takes place in the pool location and keeps increasing in difficulty until you lose. My strategy for each level is exactly the same. For the theory behind a good initial defense, see section 400 of my Plants Vs Zombies Gold Farming Guide [18]. Since the Survival levels are more difficult than Last Stand, we'll need to make a few changes. First of all, we'll need to move the front lines back to make room for a column of Spikerock. For additional security, we'll add two more Gloom-shrooms. Lastly, we'll need to set up some heavy artillery on the left side of the field instead of a Marigold farm. This results in four major groups of defenses: 1) Winter Melons keep Zombies on the Spikerocks longer while doing heavy splash damage. Spikerocks also hinder Gargantuars and stop vehicles. 2) Garlic and Gloom-shroom defense kills nearly anything else. 3) Magnet-shrooms grab Pogo sticks, Jack-in-the-boxes, and mining picks. 4) Cob cannons help destroy Gargantuars and other dangerous threats. [18] http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/959255/56559 The following is written primarily for the hard and unlimited levels. The strategy is the same for the normal difficulty levels as well, but you'll be building slower, so you'll only get to the third stage or so. _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 610: First Stage (Flags 1-2) ---------------------------------------------' For the first stage, choose Sunflower, Kernel-pult, Fume-shroom, Gloom-shroom, Pumpkin, Garlic, and Spikeweed. A few slots are intentionally empty as you'll need other plants depending on the level (see section 640). Build Sunflowers and Kernel-pults (Puff-shrooms on night levels), and try to set up Garlic to redirect Zombies soon. As soon as possible, start setting up Gloom-shrooms. You want to have a pair up by the first flag, and three pairs up by the second flag. The limiting factor will be the recharge timer on the Gloom-shroom, so start early! Goals: Destroy any gravestones Set up a column of Spikeweed Set up a 6x Gloom-shroom defense Set up two columns of Sunflowers Set up Pumpkin protection on all rows Sample build: S S c . [.] . . . # Symbol Legend S S c . G G [G] g # . Open Land G Gloom-shroom S S c _ [.] _ _ _ _ _ Open Water g Garlic S S c _ [.] _ _ _ _ S Sunflower # Spikeweed S S c . G G [G] g # c Kernel-pult S S c . [.] . . . # [ ] Pumpkin _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 620: Second Stage (Flags 3-4) --------------------------------------------' For this stage, choose Twin Sunflower, Kernel-pult, Melon-pult, Winter Melon, Magnet-shroom, Spikerock, Pumpkin, Garlic, and whatever else is needed. If you didn't get 6 Gloom-shrooms or a full column of Spikeweeds yet, you'll have to work on those goals first. Goals: Upgrade to a column of Spikerock Upgrade to a column of Twin Sunflowers Plant Magnet-shrooms Finish off Pumpkin defenses (generally two per row) Start building Melon-pults and Kernel-pults for later upgrading Sample Build: t c c [m][u] . . . # Symbol Legend t c c m G G [G] g # . Open Land G Gloom-shroom t c c _ [u] _ _ _ _ _ Open Water g Garlic t c c _ [u] _ _ _ _ t Twin-Sunflower # Spikerock t c c m G G [G] g # c Kernel-pult u Magnet-shroom t c c [m][u] . . . # [ ] Pumpkin m Melon-pult _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 630: Later Stages (Flags 5-10) -------------------------------------------' These stages are described together because the goals are the same, but small changes will be necessary depending on the specific Zombies that attack during each stage. To begin with, we'll try to finish upgrading to our final setup: t CCCC [W][u] . . . # Symbol Legend t CCCC W G [G][G] g # . Open Land # Spikerock t CCCC [W][u] _ _ _ _ _ Open Water u Magnet-shroom t CCCC [W][u] _ _ _ _ G Gloom-shroom W Winter Melon t CCCC W G [G][G] g # g Garlic C Cob Cannon t CCCC [W][u] . . . # [ ] Pumpkin t Twin Sunflower The first order of business is getting Winter Melons on odd-numbered rows for overlapping freeze effects. Next, get a couple Cob Cannons up for defense against Gargantuars. Then, finish off the colums of each. Balloon Zombies are a common occurrence, and Blovers are the best way to take care of them, especially on Fog levels. For further discussion on Blovers vs. other fog/balloon solutions, see section 344 in the Adventure mode walkthrough. Towards the end, you may wish to keep some open spaces in the Winter Melon column to protect your Cob Cannons. Gargantuars that take 50% damage will toss their Imps into your support ranks, and there's little time before they eat up your Cannons. The open spaces allow you to place Cherry Bombs to kill Imps. You could also use the Cob Cannons to get rid of the Imps but they fire slowly and it may be too late unless you accurately anticipate the Imps' arrival time. If Digger Zombies consistently get past your Magnet-shrooms, you may wish to place Pumpkins around your Twin Sunflowers. This will give you some time to use a Cob Cannon or Jalapeno to kill the Digger. Note that you have some time after the Digger resurfaces to kill him anyway, but Pumpkins will cut you some slack. _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 640: Location-specific Tactics -------------------------------------------' While the overall strategy is the same for every level, there are obviously some minor changes required by the level's location: Day: Use Coffee for the Fume-shrooms and Magnet-shrooms Night: Use Puff-shroom as your early attack unit Use Grave Buster to destroy gravestones Pool: Use Lily Pads for planting in the pool Use Coffee for Fume-shrooms and Magnet-shrooms Fog: Use Lily Pads for planting in the pool Use Puff-shroom as your early attack unit For early stages, use Planterns to cut through the fog For later stages, use Blovers for both Balloon Zombies and fog Roof: Use Flower Pots for planting on the roof Use Umbrella Leaf for protection from Bungee and Catapult Zombies Use Coffee for the Fume-shrooms and Magnet-shrooms In levels with 5 rows, the leading edge of the middle row is brought forward because that row is covered by every Gloom-shroom and any Zombies there will all fall quickly. This allows us to plant an extra Magnet-shroom: t CCCC [W][u] . . . # t CCCC W G [G][G] g # t CCCC W [u][u] . . # t CCCC W G [G][G] g # t CCCC [W][u] . . . # _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 650: Survival Endless ----------------------------------------------------' Survival Endless is largely the same as Survival Pool (Hard) except that all Zombies can spawn (e.g. Bungee Zombies) and there are endless waves of Zombies. The techniques described above can finish around 20-30 flags, but better defenses are required for the later flags. The following build Pull the land defenses back and into the water to create a larger kill zone Defend the back lines better against Miners, Bungees, etc. Use more winter melons to slow down attackers Use at least 6 Cob Cannons to deal effectively with Gargantuars ,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------, | 700: Zen Garden Walkthrough | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' The Zen Garden is a "stress-free" game mode that is unlocked after completing Level 5-4 in Adventure mode. There, you can cultivate the plants that you receive as gifts in other modes, and earn money to spend on upgrades. At the beginning there's only the Greenhouse environment, but there's also a Mushroom Garden environment and an Aquarium Garden environment for your nocturnal and aquatic plants respectively. Lastly, there's a Tree of Wisdom that you can grow to receive tips on playing the game. The game's readme file has general information [19] on the Zen Garden, and section 300 of my Plants vs Zombies Gold-Farming Guide [20] describes how to earn money in two ways there. [19] http://www.popcap.com/faq/plantsvszombies/1033/pc/readme.html#GM/ZG [20] http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/959255/56559 ,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------, | 800: Plant and Zombie Armies | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' As stated above, the goal of this guide is to present a walkthrough of the main game modes, not to repeat information easily accessible elsewhere. Tips and strategies for using many of the plants are given above, as are strategies for countering and destroying the more powerful Zombies. There are in-depth guides for the Plants [21] and Zombies [22] if you need more information. Below are lists of plants and Zombies, with simple ratings and references to other sections in this guide with further discussion. [21] http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/959255/56547 [22] http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/959255/56558 _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 810: Plants Overview -----------------------------------------------------' Plant Name Rating See Sections Plant Name Rating See Sections '''''''''''''' '''''' '''''''''''' '''''''''''''' '''''' '''''''''''' Peashooter ***-- 311 Sea-shroom ----- Sunflower ***** 312,322 Plantern *---- Cherry Bomb ****- 313 Cactus *---- Wall-nut ***-- 314-318,330 Blover ***-- Potato Mine **--- Split Pea ----- Snow Pea ****- 317 Starfruit *---- Chomper **--- 318 Pumpkin ****- Repeater ***-- 319 Magnet-shroom ***-- Puff-shroom ***-- 321 Cabbage-pult **--- Sun-shroom ***** 322 Flower Pot **--- Fume-shroom ****- 323 Kernel-pult ****- Grave Buster ***-- 324 Coffee Bean ****- Hypno-shroom **--- 326 Garlic ****- 260 Scaredy-shroom ----- Umbrella Leaf **--- Ice-shroom *---- Marigold **--- 260 Doom-shroom ***-- Melon-pult ***-- Lily Pad **--- 331 Gatling Pea ----- 260 Squash **--- 332 Twin Sunflower **--- Threepeater **--- 333 Gloom-shroom ***** 260 Tangle Kelp **--- 334 Cattail *---- Jalapeno ****- 336 Winter Melon ****- Spikeweed ***-- 337 Gold Magnet *---- Torchwood **--- 338 Spikerock ***-- Tall-nut ****- 339 Cob Cannon ****- Imitater ****- _______________________________________________________________________________ '-- 820: Zombies Overview ----------------------------------------------------' Below, Threat refers to how dangerous Zombies are, and 1st refers to the levels in which Zombies first appear. Look in the corresponding sections for tips on how to defeat each Zombie. Zombie Name Threat 1st Zombie Name Threat 1st ''''''''''''''''''''''' '''''' ''' ''''''''''''''''''''''' '''''' ''' Zombie *---- 1-1 Jack-in-the-Box Zombie ***** 4-1 Flag Zombie *---- 1-2 Balloon Zombie ***-- 4-3 Conehead Zombie **--- 1-3 Digger Zombie ****- 4-6 Pole Vaulting Zombie ***-- 1-6 Pogo Zombie ***-- 4-8 Buckethead Zombie ***-- 1-8 Zombie Yeti ***-- 4-10 Newspaper Zombie **--- 2-1 Bungee Zombie ****- 5-1 Screen Door Zombie **--- 2-3 Ladder Zombie ***-- 5-3 Football Zombie ***-- 2-6 Catapult Zombie ****- 5-6 Dancing Zombie ***-- 2-8 Gargantuar ***** 5-8 Backup Dancer *---- 2-8 Imp ***-- 5-8 Ducky Tube Zombie **--- 3-1 Dr. Edgar Zomboss ***** 5-10 Snorkel Zombie ***-- 3-3 Zomboni ****- 3-6 Zombie Bobsled Team **--- 3-6 Dolphin Rider Zombie ****- 3-8 Notice that the introductions of Zombies are done very systematically. In each stage, a new Zombie is introduced in the first level. This new Zombie shares a theme with the stage, and the intro level is short and features only basic Zombies along with the new Zombie. Then there's a longer level with a wider range of Zombies. This process repeats for the next two levels with the intro- duction of another Zombie. Then there's a Mini-game, and two more Zombies are introduced. The ninth level therefore features all of the stage's Zombies. At the end is a conveyor-belt level which again has all of that stage's Zombies. Each stage only introduces four primary Zombies, and a related or incidental Zombie. The first stage has the unimpressive Flag Zombie, the second has the Backup Dancer (summoned by the Dancing Zombie), the third has the Zombie Bob- sled Team (slides in after the Zomboni), the fourth eventually yields the Yeti, and the fifth has the Imp (thrown by the Gargantuar).