Enhanced Guide (Screens/Videos) at: http://www.playhaven.com/guides/pc/plants-vs-zombies/endless-survival-guide/Vn3 xd_ld4vHr/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || Endless Survival Guide || || Plants vs. Zombies || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO Written by: eyao (http://www.playhaven.com/profile/eyao/) Last updated: 2009-08-01 04:21:25 =============================================================================== Table of Contents =============================================================================== - Introduction - The first few waves - The Basic Setup - Iamsooty's setup - Sven The Slayer's setup - Proz's Setup - Taikanatur's setup - Videos - Credits =============================================================================== Introduction =============================================================================== o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o >> This guide is based on a post by Tikanatur in the PvZ Steam Forums o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o When you have exhausted all other options of this game, the final true challenge of Plants vs. Zombies is how far you can get in Endless Survival. Attaining wave 20 will get you an achievement, but if you're reading this, you want more. What are the limits? What are the best layouts for your plants? All these questions and more will be covered in this guide as we analyze the best ways to survive as long as possible. Endless Survival is also a GREAT way (if not the best) to farm cash to grow your tree (even more so than Last Stand). If you need a ton of money, this is the way to go. Also, it is worthy to note that all kinds of plants drop for your Zen Garden on this mode (night and water plants along with the daytime ones). =============================================================================== The first few waves =============================================================================== o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o >> This guide assumes you have ALL the extra plants and 10 slots. If you don't have these, you're going to have a tough time. o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o Since the first couple waves are easy, you're going to go for a different setup than the end results shown below. The idea is to maximize the number of sun reserves while slowly building to the basic setup explained in the next section. My personal selection of types of plants for the first couple waves are as follows: > * Sunflower > * Twin Sunflower > * Lily Pad > * Cattail > * Melon-pult > * Potato Mine The cattails will do most of the work for you since they can pretty much hit the entire screen (and the zombies won't be that strong). I recommend between 4-5 rows of sun flowers to collect sun before starting to replace them with plants in the next section. You can place twin sunflowers as well, but I only recommend you place them where they'll be there permanently for the rest of the time. Thus, read this entire guide and pick a strategy, find out where the Twin Sunflowers should go, and then upgrade them during this stage now. The rest will be dug up and replaced later. Once the zombies start becoming stronger and you have a good supply of sun (few thousand), start creating your initial basic setup. =============================================================================== The Basic Setup =============================================================================== å In order to create a successful set up, there's is a base setup that needs to be followed. Every variation discussed later in this guide uses this base setup. It is recommended to have a winter melon in every row. The following is a list of what you need: > * Imitater (Pumpkin) > * Cob Cannon > * Spike Rock > * Fume Shroom > * Pumpkin > * Lily Pad Of course to get to these, you need the basic plants as well to upgrade: > * Melon-pult > * Kernel-pult > * Coffee Bean > * Fume-Shroom > * Spikeweed A picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll let the following image display how to arrange them (remember this is the BASIC setup - you'll have sunflowers, melons, etc in the empty pumpkins across the map) - IMAGE: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://media.playhaven.com/A3sTzIHQ0swgGoo4fm-MNQ/original/basicsetup.jpg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Skeleton Layout - start with this! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- å Some notes regarding this setup: > * There are four empty squares at the end mainly for spaces to put additional spikerocks and more importantly, space to place cherry bombs, jalapenos, and squashes later on > * Yes, you need 8 Cob Cannons - I personally would like more, but they will be the staple of your attacks in much later rounds. > * The Fume-shrooms on the back are for diggers - remember to always protect the back row! > * Always pumpkin anything that's not Spike Rocks or Cob Cannons! When there's a million zombies on the screen, it's always safe to have more protection. Now that you're progressing at later levels, here are some plants that are great to always have in your slots (unless you're replacing something): > * Pumpkin > * Imitator (Pumpkin) > * Spikeweed > * Spikerock > * Jalapeno > * Cherry Bomb > * Squash > * Kernel-put > * Cob Cannon The following now are different people's strategies and how far they've gotten with it with pros and cons of each setup. =============================================================================== Iamsooty's setup =============================================================================== - IMAGE: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://media.playhaven.com/dD07ewMRl2UvFy6ww6AfKQ/original/endlessiamsooty.jpg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Made it to flag: 100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Advantages: > * One of the first strategies created - and what subsequent strategies are based from Disadvantages: > * Nothing to deal with balloon zombies. If you see them coming on a flag, grab the blower in one of your slots. > * Nothing to deal with bungee zombies. The only way to stop them is a cob cannon shot. > * Small amount of cob cannons. Remember when I said you need as much cob cannons as possible? Well 6 isn't going to cut it past 100, you'll need at least 8 later. =============================================================================== Sven The Slayer's setup =============================================================================== - IMAGE: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://media.playhaven.com/NMVKYZ08_LOff3uT8KbvYQ/original/endlesssventheslayer .jpg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Made to flag: 220 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Advantages: > * More cob cannons! > * Cattails to handle balloon zombies, no worries about blowers anymore Disadvantages: > * Catapults and bungee zombie vulnerabilities - trust me, they can get extremely annoying =============================================================================== Proz's Setup =============================================================================== - IMAGE: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://media.playhaven.com/2JGw3l5TMZlXD-0XDKzKtg/original/endlessproz.jpg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Made to flag: 320 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Advantages: > * Two gold magnets to get cash money > * Umbrella leafs in the back to offer some protection from bungees and catapults Disadvantages: > * Only 4 twin sunflowers, this is the bare minimum I recommend since you'll be needing a lot of sun later for bombs/jalapenos, etc. =============================================================================== Taikanatur's setup =============================================================================== - IMAGE: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://media.playhaven.com/eTgGqw6kncWmGtDUzmzgew/original/endlesstaikanatur.jp g ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Made to flag: 500+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Advantages: > * Maximum bungee/catapult protection > * 6 sunflowers for a lot of sun resources Disadvantages: > * No gold magnets to pick up cash > * A reduction in number of winter melons means most top and most bottom rows are slightly more vulnerable. =============================================================================== Videos =============================================================================== Two of the creators of the methods above have generously provided videos of their progress. You can see from beginning to end! - VIDEO: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.youtube.com/v/HvkXb90D9uA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proz' Video ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - VIDEO: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.youtube.com/v/GClKWyNeOso ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iamsooty's video ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Credits =============================================================================== > * Thanks to Taikanatur for his guide this guide is based on in the PvZ forums on Steam. > * Thanks to Iamsooty, Proz, Taikanatur again, and Sven the Slayer for their examples. > * Thanks to all the players experimenting to try to survive longer > * Thanks to Popcap for creating this addictive game. Be sure to check out my Last Stand guide as well on PlayHaven! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This guide was created at http://www.playhaven.com/. See the full guide here: http://www.playhaven.com/guides/pc/plants-vs-zombies/endless-survival-guide/Vn3 xd_ld4vHr/