Survival Endless Guide

[engineer gaming]

I am posting this here because Steam doesn't let users post Guides for games they don't own on Steam. Help from a kind soul to copy and paste this on to an actual Guide page would be greatly appreciated. I permit it.

Defence Layout in a Nutshell

From left to right, the plants are:
1st and 6th Rows: Twin Sunflower, Gloom–shroom, Winter Melon, Fume–shroom (5 empty spaces)
2nd and 4th Rows: Umbrella Leaf, Gloom–shroom, Winter Melon, 3 Gloom–shrooms (3 empty spaces)
Pool Rows: 2 Cob Cannons, Cattail, Winter Melon, 3 Gloom–shrooms

Note that all plants that can be protected with Pumpkins should have Pumpkins planted on them, for preventing Zombies which manage to reach your plants from taking a bite. Wall–nut Repair (which also covers Pumpkins) should be purchased to ensure that all plants have a Pumpkin protecting it at all times.

Defence Building Procedure

Plant Sunflowers in the first 5 or 6 columns of the lawn, to maximise your Sun output in order to build up a large Sun reserve, to keep up with the costs of expensive plants later on. When you want to plant another plant on the space a Sunflower is, just dig it up. The loss of Sunflowers will not affect you much in the long run.

Plant the Cattails first, as they can defend for all lanes while you build up sun for Melon–pults and Fume–shrooms, which will be your second line of defense. Cattails will only be used for countering Balloon Zombies later in the game, though. Remember to plant Kernel–pults for the Cob Cannons later on. Just keep planting until you finish the build, and you’re done! The 2 Twin Sunflowers you have left will be sufficient, as you will have a huge surplus of Sun stored up already.

Not a necessary tactic, but you can plant Flower Pots below your land plants to slow down the Zombies in the event of a plant being eaten, as they take a slightly longer time to chew through. I plant them just for fun.

Why Winter Melons, and why in all Rows?

Slowing down Zombies to half their walking speed effectively multiplies the damage your plants do per distance travelled by 2. Also, the Area of Effect allows it to slow down multiple Zombies. However, since their range is limited to 2 spaces in their own rows at best, it will be better for Winter Melons from other Rows to do the job for Zombies out of reach.

In this build, the Pool Row Winter Melons will help slow down the Zombies in the 2nd and 4th Rows, and Winter Melons in the 2nd and 4th Rows will help slow down the Zombies in the 1st and 6th Rows.

Why Gloom–shrooms?

They are able to output huge Area of Effect damage in all directions, allowing them to damage a huge number of Zombies while in the safety of another Row (Gloom–shrooms in 2nd, 4th and Pool Rows), and also cover multiple defence roles at the same time (Gloom–shrooms at the back countering both Imps and Digger Zombies).

For an idea of how strong they can be, a Zomboni can be killed within the first 3 spaces of the 2nd and 4th Rows in this build (note that they cannot be slowed by Winter Melons), and a group of Gloom–shrooms are strong enough to kill a Bungee Zombie, so you don't have to worry about them stealing anything (although there are rare occasions in which they do).

Why Fume–shrooms? They’re n00b plants!

The answer is Area of Effect. This may come as a shock to you, but there is simply no other plant which can output the same amount of damage (in the Fume–shroom's range), especially when Zombie densities reach monstrous levels in later stages. Also, note that their damage is further amplified by Winter Melons.

Things to Bring (after the build is done)

Jalapeño, Cherry Bomb, Squash, Ice–shroom, Imitator Ice–shroom, Lily Pad, Pumpkin, Fume–shroom, Coffee Bean, Gloom–shroom.

The last 5 are for replacing Gloom–shrooms, which are often destroyed by Jack–in–the Box Zombies. Replace them as fast as possible, because the lack of just 1 Pool Gloom–shroom can be enough to cause the downfall of your defences. That’s how important the Pool Gloom–shrooms are.

The first 3 plants are Instant–kills used primarily for countering Giga–Gargantuars, in conjunction with the Cob Cannons. They can also be used for managing the rest of the Horde if you cannot manage to replant a destroyed Gloom–shroom, which would lower damage output tremendously.

Ice–shrooms are used for stalling the Horde in the event of a crucial plant being eaten to ease the burden on your defenses, even if it's only for a few seconds. Consider replacing them with any other plant you need to re–plant.

Note that it is usually pointless to have an Imitator of an Instant–kill or Pumpkin because they’re always eaten before they can transform.

Further Notes, Things to Look Out For

1. Repair all Pumpkins as soon as possible. Even though it is more economical to repair it at the brink of death, many other Pumpkins would also be in the same situation at that point in time and you would not have enough time to repair them all.

2. Put at least 1 Insta–kill for every Giga–Gargantuar. While this build can output monstrous amounts of damage, Gigas can still survive it. This is what the Cob Cannons are for.

3. Turn on the in–game sound, or at least the SFX. This way, even with all the chaos on screen you would know when a Jack–in–the–Box explodes, allowing you to replace destroyed plants as fast as possible.