Tips and Tricks for any player (Wall of Texts) [ Edited ]

[Ziago_J]

Hello! I've been a loyal PvZ player for quite some time!

When I get taunted after dying I initiate vendetta style hunting of the prey tactics :P  if revivals happen darn it I chase that healer around and try to keep him safe so he can  try to do that to others, and when it comes to hoping for a balanced game you won't find anyone anywhere who would appreciate such a thing more..!

So let's begin, because there are quite a few oddities within the game that seem to be normal for really crazy players who seem to shift the balance of the game with their presence alone!

-All Characters-

~Momentum based movement~

You may or may not know this, but when you use a skill such as the Superhero's Heroic Kick, the Citron Balls spin dash or simply jump while not moving on stairs then jump as soon as you land... --> WHEN YOU DON'T TOUCH THE MOVEMENT STICK, YOUR MOMENTUM STAYS CONSTANT WHILST AIRBORNE!! <---

This means that if you use the Soldiers Rocket Leap (Not Rocket JUMP) and jump as he lands, you can actually skip in a straight line quite quickly. This is why Toxic Brainz players will kick from a mile away, jump and disappear and somehow LAND Turbo Twistering ON YOUR HEAD! O_O It's normal!

In the case of Citron, you should spin dash off of a ledge of some kind (He is quite tricky but rewarding), this way you have a chance to retain his MAXIMUM momentum by hopping as soon as you touch the ground.

PLEASE READ: IF YOU TOUCH YOUR MOVEMENT STICK AT ALL, IT WILL STOP THE MOMENTUM AND SET YOU TO YOUR DEFAULT MAX SPEED. DO NOT MOVE. MOVE WHEN IT IS TIME TO SLOW DOWN!!!! Thank you.

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~Moving while resurrecting~

It is actually possible to move while reviving your fellow players! And it's easy to boot and has been there since GW1. :P When I saw nobody was doing it I abused it most profanely, and it seems to be catching on a little bit in Gw2!!

When "Revive (Button)" is on the screen, you must begin moving in the direction you'll be going, 'cause you can't move while the revival is in process. Jump as you are moving and the Revive prompt is still on-screen, hold down the revive button and continue hopping, using the momentum trick explained above.

So long as you continue to hold the revival button and hop, you will successfully revive your poor dead team buddy. They will teleport to you as well. This can be used (By backing up & jumping skillfully while initiating a resurrection) to pull that very good aiming team buddy of yours who just got gunned down at a choke point like the right side for zombie in Azia during herbal assault. That waterfall cave? Always lose a buddy there and they camp him if you try to rez. So back jumping works pretty well in those if the enemy don't know you are privvy to such a sneaky revival....... to them it just look like you tried to revive, then jumped away from their gun fire!!!

These are issues that complicate the game more than they help. But as I see more and more people doing... say, infinite flower glitches and trying to unbalance the game through glitchy means, I figure everyone can benefit from easy to understand knowledge involving simple in-game mechanics that seem to be working as intended... since GW1. o.o

Remember everyone, if you use Heroic Foot kick on SuperManBrainz and jump without touching movement? Like hold jump in the middle of kick, you will get perfect jump every time, he will fly so far and so fast that YOU will see and understand why EA did not give him speed boosts X_X

Good luck and happy Planting! Help me re-balance the game by ensuring everyone can perform a resurrection despite insatiable "I must have that kill" camping of bodies!

By ensuring everyone can pull off that crazy 5-kills from landing on top of a group of plants with Super Man Brain (I am calling him this intentionally.) simply because he didn't get rained on by the 3 people on a roof watching him move like a snail behind the unsuspecting group! (Really that is so hard on the ego! Especially since overwatching is so helpful, I do it myself... << >>)

I hope that at least some folk will see this and tell their friends. Prompting an update to finally fix it or prompting all players, new and old alike, to not be confused as to why the guy who is jumping in a straight line dragged a dead body with him or why a Frozen Citron was able to teleport to you, stun you and destroy you... from behind... WHILE YOU WERE WATCHING HIM! :O He's so quick I love it.

Happy Hunting everybody! And EA... c'mon man. Gimme my Tank Commander back. idc what anyone is saying, Tank Artillery spam shouldn't hit for 10. It shouldn't even hit for 15. It should be 20, at all ranges. Those darn Pea's..... they get all the splash damage, and if I wanted to play Scuba guy... I WOULD! I want tank commander back! .-. Give me my GW1 TANK COMMANDER ON GW2!!!!!!!! /doneranting

[pandareno1999]

Good stuff, though I find both of these actions difficult to execute with my fingers.  The common term for this is "swooce" or "swoocing."  Here is a pretty complete discussion of these techniques:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PvZGardenWarfare/comments/54g7hy/how_to_swooce_right_in_updated

And, for fun, here's the inspiration for the term:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gghBcjgOdd0

[Ziago_J]

Six months ago those reddit users were two years late to my party! Lol thats fascinating that they coined a term and everything thank you for showing me that :D

It is difficult to pull off, not everybody's fingers work the same. I wish I could help you out some...

I can usually hold down the revive button (circle on ps4) with the crease on my thumb while tapping (x) to jump around... then I'll move my left hand off of movement stick to try and aim in case someone is hunting me as I do so >< so I guess I've been at it so long it's all just second nature. There's also the timing of it all 'cause you could still hit revive and jump too late & get stuck! Ack!!

As for the jumping around, Heroic kick will always work so long as you press and hold jump during his kick :o So there's that for you! But practice practice! lol They're real gamechangers they are and I just know that you'll get the hang of them in time! Don't give up Vanquisher! :O

I have however never played on the PC... if that's your platform then things can get kinda quirky... unless they'll let you change keybindings lol ~.^

[pandareno1999]

Guys who are on the reddit have been doing this since GW1 as well, that's just when that guide was made.  But, unlike those guys, I'm absolutely not interested in arguing about who was there first, I don't care!  There are many clever people who play this game and find these techniques independently from one another.

Great job presenting this content!

@EA_Andy Could we get this made sticky?

[pandareno1999]

I've managed to gracefully swooce revive in TT a small handful of times, I'm just not dextrous enough to be consistent.  I do it the same way you described - and thank you for adding that.

I've had a lot of trouble pulling off the swooce trick with husk hop.  I've seen people rebound from husk hop just as high as the hop itself.  I know it has to do with the timing of when to hit the jump button, but I can't figure it out.

[EA_Andy]

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@pandareno1999 wrote:

@EA_Andy Could we get this made sticky?

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Consider it done!

Keep the tips coming.

- Andy -

[Ziago_J]

Husk Hop is a tough one I find if you barely touch anything during the hop, even a small ledge just in front of your feet, it will cancel the hops ammunition discharge and completely ruin your momentum... He's my Favorite plant by far but some of the jumps people can pull off with him I can't even fathom without lots of planning and a good run first.

Sure enough Mr. EA_Andy buddy!

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"Shooting from the Right"

You can fire safely from behind cover as most zombies so long as you can angle the barrel of your gun "To the right" of the cover you are hiding behind. So if you hold down the button you use to aim (L2 by default on PS4) and zoom in, you can see perfectly where the barrel of your gun is resting. This makes nesting in those high places with chimneys or walls you can hide behind as a Foot Soldier much better since you can consistently return fire so long as you don't over do it. People run, but if you're behind that wall firing every now and then, then only the most perceptive player will engage your position!

This makes using the Tackle Dummy very useful for extending cover as well, but keep in mind that All-Stars by default move their cannons in a sort of circular motion, which will cause you to hit your own dummy now and then so take your dummy durability into consideration as you do so! Practice makes perfect! (You can also place the dummy to extend cover while staying behind the initial location you would be firing from as any other class in order to fire between your cover and the dummy. Anyone who shoots the dummy may think they scored a hit on you and stay out to try and continue hitting it!)

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Air-Bombing Citron tip

Here's one for the Citron:

This is more just a tip than some kind of sneaky trick, using your Ball Form you can activate Hyper in order to move around, jump high, or even evade and escape large groups of Zombies. Not many consider ending the cooldown early for any reason since it's such a helpful skill  -- HOWEVER, you can in fact use this skill to pretend you are running away, charge the enemy or simply let them come to you while dodging fire, hop OVER THEM with Peashooter Hyper grace not known to most Citron, activate your Assault Form mid-aid above your target, land behind them, ALL THE WHILE MASHING THE EMPEACH ABILITY BUTTON. By the time you land, your enemy will have about a 0.3-0.8 second time to respond before they are stunned and primed for vanquish.

If you are unsure about your aiming speed, you may consider (Taking a few vanquishes yourself in the process, in the name of practice) activating your shield while they are stunned. This has gotten me vanquished for more than I'd like since I end up needing that shield later down the line. >< Please also keep in mind, you CAN NOT ACTIVATE CITRON'S PEEL SHIELD MID-AIR!!! He can only activate it while standing firm on the ground. This is why EMPeach is favored over the shield, as it can be a sort of sneak attack.

It takes practice, and you have to aim while swapping from ball to assault mid-air, and since the empeach will usually launch near the time you hit the ground to a little bit after you are punished for poor aim AND timing (Dependent on your height when you activate Assault Form).

But the reward is great. Especially if you are caught behind enemy lines by that one lone roamer zombie who has a knack for ruining good subterfuge. Imagine their face when they thought they had you on the run just to get taken down by a 25% health Citron who decided to just jump once! They don't expect you to come down ready to fight after using the shiny run skill. Who stays and fights when they do?

As Frozen Citron, nobody can recover from this, especially with Ice Upgrade (Gold Rank Plate lvl5) and fair aim... beware zoologists who can somehow still hit you in the air and pirates who are privvy to this and unleash the barrel of doom. Flee from the barrel.

Finally, always expect to take at least 25 damage from this. If you can dodge EVERY bullet, okay, but if you try to do this with say, 5-35 health, it's not gonna save your life. I'd suggest just running away with the hyper.

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Another simple trick

Foot Soldiers!!! FOOT SOLDIERS!!!!! Your smoke Grenade is for more than choking out a capture point! And this is key.

Many of you might know this, it could be common knowledge, but when I realized it it had changed the way I played entirely as the Foot Soldier.

When standing in your Smoke Grenade, you are NOT TARGETED by game AI (Within Reason. if they walk in it and see you, you exist to them. If they saw you run into it after you engaged them, they will run through it sometimes.) But for the absolute most part, everything ignores you while in that happy little stinky cloud...

....Now get this... it works on players.

Not even joking! When I first started playing, plants used to FIRE at smoke clouds... they just don't seem to anymore! And if they do, it's a simple matter of backing out of the cloud until they stop! Would YOU fire at a cloud when you have other stuff to worry about?!

You as a zombie are immune to the smoke grenade. If you fire from it the only way someone can tell your position is by damaging you or successfully guessing where you're shooting from, leading by that guess, and firing at where you will be. (Just fire in bursts! Don't stand still! They're gonna move anyway don't waste bullets! It also resets your recoil to let go of fire button, ensuring accuracy when you fire again. :D)

There's tactic with the smoke bomb as well! Take some time to stand in your smoke bomb. Inhale the air. Enjoy it. Mmm taste the stink of it. Become one with that stink cloud and you'll see. As you stand within and examining it (In your backyard for safety :P) there are spots you can put your camera that allow you decent to fair visibility of the field for harassing plants. Throwing the smoke bomb to the location you intend to fire from while running to it can almost ENSURE that no plant will know you intend to strike from there. Looks more like someone accidentally threw their bomb in the wrong spot to me.

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And finally... spotting? You see those little heads on the map? I don't really know what makes those pop up, but I do know that when somebody fires their weapon, it makes it pop up.

I don't know if you head pops up while firing in the smoke cloud. But I do know this friendly tip from me to you o_o

Do not fire your weapon, unless you want someone to know where you're at. It's fun, yes, but your head will linger for a while there, and any route you take you just might encounter someone who saw they could head you off.

Thanks for the sticky and the XP! I'm happy these tips come in handy, and as always, I only hope they increase balance in the game for everyone, most so by ensuring tactical approaches to character and skill technique can be accessed by those who can comprehend them... but cannot come up with them on their own due to harrowing experience during newbie play. (I always got gunned down when I first started playing and stood in smoke bombs but now a smoke bomb is like a gigantic evil death cloud I can strike and flee from at any time. But I had to consider that nobody was firing at them... they just knew I was standing there in one spot firing from it, punishing me for it, then I decide standing there is bad idea for eternity. Nope!)

Happy Easter everybody, and good vanquishing!

[Ziago_J]

~The Imp Tip~

It's no secret that the Imp is one bad dude. If played right, he's downright mean. If played wrong, he's absolutely adorable. And even the best of players know that when you call in your Mech, there's always that chance some Peashooter or Sunflower is nearby in root mode just WAITING to make you wish you hadn't! Once your Mech is destroyed you're forced to endure a veyr lengthy cooldown in-between the destructive awesomeness that is your favorite robotic companion.

Fret not however, for there's real reason to level all Imps equally and try to have them all at top upgrade specs!

Each Imp's Mech cooldown is unique to that Imp in particular! So say you were playing Scallywag Imp and summoned your Mech just to have it get thrashed by a heavily defended point - Simply switch Imps! This won't help with the cooldown on the Imp you were just using, but the Cooldown for the next Imp you choose will be at Half, just like when you first began the match. :o This goes for every Imp you switch to, and if you aren't too easy to spot, you'll actually have difficulty doing this with every as there may not be enough time in the game depending on how attatched you get to your vanquish streaks! (I usually respawn right away if my Mech runs outta juice while shooting from afar. Just so I can hop into another mech as I'm not very nimble with the 75 health little guy )

So in short, this can lead to your team having a Mech driver (Of unknown skill level :P) nearly every life you have as Imp.

[realitysquared]

HEALING vs ELEMENTAL EFFECTS

Everyone knows that some characters carry an elemental effect with their shots and while Electric simply arcs around Fire and Toxic will inflict lingering damage which you carry around, and even if you initially survive your encounter and vanquish your opponent the lingering fire and poison can deplete your Health and give that opponent a From the Grave vanquish and as far as Ice is concerned everyone hate the movement penalty and being frozen in place as a sitting duck.

What a lot of people don't seem to realize is the role that Healing has in mitigating these lingering effects; either removing them or preventing them entirely.

The Sunflower Heal Beam, Heal Flower, Rainbow Heal Flower and the Heal Flower Pots which can be spawned along with the Scientist Heal Beam of Science, Heal Stations, Mega Heal Bomb and Dr. Heals Bot all effectively counter being slowed, frozen, set on fire or poisoned.

If you are currently on fire, poisoned, slowed or frozen receiving even a moment of healing from any source will cancel that effect, and having the benefit of having a Heal Beam placed on you or standing in the healing radius of a stationary source like a Heal Flower or Dr. Heals will prevent it from even happening in the first place- you'll still take damage from any hits but those hits won't set your face on fire, or freeze you or poison you.

This is not only useful in Multiplayer or Co-Op play but it's a vital tactic in some Boss Hunts, like The Kings Day Out where you are in constant danger of being frozen or slowed, or A Banquet for Sasquatch where the Sasquatch keeps turning you into a walking bonfire. This is why so many experienced Sunflower players fight with a Heal Flower by their side almost constantly during those events; not just for the Health benefits but to stop themselves from being set on fire by Sasquatch or frozen by the Yeti King, or even those annoying Yeti Bosses in Garden Ops.

If you play a Scientist or a Sunflower and you see a teammate slowly burning, poisoned or just stuck in place frozen just snap out your Heal Beam or drop a Heal Flower and you'll instantly cure them and return them to normal.

One thing to remember though is that the Vampire Flowers ability to steal Health from Zombies with every hit won't cure these elemental effects; but if you are only facing a single opponent or a couple and aren't taking large amounts of damage you should find that a constant barrage of successful hits on the Zombies might just offset that extra Toxic or Fire damage and keep you alive; but as far as Ice is concerned you're just as vulnerable as anyone else to being frozen without a Sunflower teammates assistance or backup from your own Heal Flower.

[Ziago_J]

I'm already seeing people use many of the tactics described in this topic, I'm quite overjoyed to be perfectly honest. I had actually engaged in a 2 minute or so shoot out with someone who made it very difficult to hit his hand behind a wall. I got him, oh yes, but at the cost of my vanquish number total due to hyper-fixating on a target who should've been left alone or approached by route of "However he got to his nest" ;3 I'm such a dork.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Basic Quality of Life Tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-The Jackhammer-

As Engineer, your Jackhammer actually gives you a slight increase to your jump height as well as your speed, thereby with practice allowing you to jump over fences and ledges which are slightly too tall to leap over when not riding the jackhammer. A good example of this would be on Zen Peak (Let us use Gnome bomb as a reference):

At Zombie side-Tombstone "C" (The one under the Gazebo/Pagoda,) you can only access by running through Zombie spawn, taking the bridge, or waterfall side stairway. There is also a little Ledge located along the creek bed that Roses and Citron can jump to due to their incredible jump right! Well, while operating a Jackhammer, you can actually make this jump too, effectively allowing you to hop up "Behind" the point, possibly even snagging a vanquish (Or getting vanquished yourself if they see you coming)... the point is, you can hop higher on that Hammering tool of yours!

Speaking of the Jackhammer, it's a very useful tool for making the life of a Plant really hard to cope with! Ramming a plant while riding the Jackhammer will knock them back. If you ram a Chomper while he's trying to burrow and you're on the hammer, it will knock them back AND cause them to lose their burrow cooldown entirely! You can also ram into rooted Sunflowers or Peashooters to cause them to get knocked out of their super damaging Gatling Pea or Sunbeam skills, and cause their cooldowns to be wasted too! (I do not know if they have to fire first for this to be true).

Not only that, but let us go into detail about "Aggressive Engineer tactic". A glance at the random tips while loading will clue you in to hop around on your Jackhammer to outmaneuver your foe and make yourself hard to hit, but while riding the Jackhammer and jumping around (Possibly while ramming the enemy) you can be shooting the ground during this entire ordeal and overwhelm plants who have no idea how to back up and aim at this offensive style of play. (Which isn't all that easy to do either if the Engineer is locked onto you, they will chase and continuously stun you).

This is very useful as the Default Engineer, as his concrete launcher cracks out 20 damage in a very generous splash radius per throw. Couple this with you bouncing around and running into people, possibly even jumping over them to make yourself as har dto hit as possible, it will only take 5 shots to the ground to vanquish a sunflower. 7 for a Peashooter who doesn't try to use his hyper. -- WHILE AIMING THOSE DIRECT HIT 36-40 DAMAGE CRITICALS IS KEY TO REALLY BEING A MENACE AS ENGINEER, AND TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION HE MAKES A MUCH BETTER DEFENSIVE PLAYER IN MY OWN OPINION, THIS TACTIC GOES AGAINST EVERYTHING I KNOW TO BE TRUE ABOUT THE ENGINEER. But there is no doubt that Aggressive Jackhammering can take players by surprise, especially ones who aren't knocked over by the hammer that often or have difficulty chasing their target in circles while being moved.

Lastly, your Jackhammer will actually deal REALLY STRONG damage to Tallnuts and Potted plants. Ramming into an enemy deals 5 damage. Ramming into something that doesn't move when you bump it causes that 5 damage to occur at a very rapid rate. As always, be mindful of Potato Mines, remember that jumping over obstacles can be more quick than trying to destroy them, and that the entire mention of this is so that if you do decide to destroy a tallnut and are riding on a jackhammer at the time, you can conserve precious ammo simply by ramming the barricade.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Really cheap tip for Sunflower ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunflower when behind "Low cover" that you can jump and get a free shot out of just to land and be safe again, can actually drop their Heal/Dark Flower, and jump on it. An example would be the All-Star Mansions fencing, (The Marble/Stone, not the Picket/Wood). As a Fire Flower, hopefully with friends because you really won't last long if 2 or 3 people come looking for you to punish you for your annoyance -- Plop down that Heal Flower, hop on its head, and peg the poor little defenders with that ultra-sweet Fire damage burn as they hide in the corner attempting to ambush players trying to capture their point. It is NOT wise to keep your head above cover on top of your flower for too long. Once you take a hit or two, hop down and hide in cover as per usual, allowing your fire damage to whittle the enemies health away while your Heal flower recovers your health, giving you little downtime, and more time to hop back on your flower and continue your assault until you draw enough attention to have to flee.

There are other places to use this, and you can even use this flower like a Tallnut to access areas you normally wouldn't be able to AS a Flower. (Keep in mind that this comes at the expense of your Flower Cooldown.) These locations aren't many (There's lots of spots that aren't "That good" which are open and allow easy visibility of your dainty little flower self, beware!)

The right Fire Flower in the right place can make all the difference, since she can spray 10 or so pulses onto a point in Herbal Assault and nearly FORCE players to leave that capture zone.

The same is true for any character played just right however. :D Take care out there P's & Z's! And thanks for contribution to the Strategy thread reality. We should all try to enlighten our fellow players. For stronger teammates. FOR BETTER OPPOSITION! lol