Re: Guide: How to counter nightcap
by Koochi-QOriginal Post
Long overdue guide especially since nightcap nerf were announced not long ago. I'm pretty much done with it so might as well post it.
Nightcap is a character that is in the heart of balance discussion right now, while she's definitely one of the better plants, thanks to the short TTK spore strike have compared to the competition, having a pierce primary by default, a very good group cleaner damage ability and multiple escape options, she's still a character with some fairly abusable weakness and blind spots that I feel like people fail to take advantage of when fighting her, his guide is there to help those people struggling to find an answer to Fung fu but also contain good tip to deal with her in general.
Note that I currently don't know the extent of how strong some of her upgrade are as I don't have access to them yet, if there a particular upgrade nightcap have that need special treatment of otherwise nullifie one of the counter proposed let's me know.
General:
- Nightcap currently have the lowest hp in the game with 75 hp, she share that hp count with acorn and imp, however, unlike those two, Nightcap have a rather large hitbox for her hp, being more similar to a middle hp character size like Peashooter and Sunflower. Thus she’s very vulnerable to any sort of burst damage, some of them being a One Hit Kill against her, like super brain fully charged punch and deadboard fully charged peg shot headshot. Any options that OHK a nightcap is a very strong tool as nightcap will have to play around it if she want to survive, I put specific for each character in their page and a list at the end of the guide of those options.
- Her primary weapon: Spore strike is not particularly good in long range despite the lack of damage dropoff due to the weird projectile it throw and mid-speed travel time, sniper can make her easy picking from afar.
- Her primary also pierce by default, avoid standing in line or too close with your teammate when fighting her. It still won’t go through shield like Super Brain Alpha better shield and All-star dome shield though.
- Taking her by surprise with a burst attack to finish her off is best so that she don’t shadow sneak away.
Casting Shadow:
- Don’t fight in the smoke ever, it disorend like hell, it slow you and you won’t know at all where the nightcap is while she can attack you for free.
- Using an ability to get out of the smoke bomb is a good idea but don't make yourself vulnerable from Fung fu if she's in range.
- If a nightcap throw a smoke bomb in you up close, be ready for the immediate fung fu followup.
- If you suspect a plant is hiding inside the smoke, a AOE ability/weapon around the smoke can be a good idea to get some damage inside. The largest the radius the better.
Fung Fu:
- You have a whole second to react to fung fu before it come out, didn’t seem alots but it has a very obvious animation and sound effect for his startup. If you aren’t completely caught by surprise you should be able to at least sprint out of there.
- If you want a faster option, any abilities that get you in mid-air is a good choice in general, be careful of low ceiling though.
- Quick movement ability like warp are also good options to escape from it.
- Don't challenge a nightcap during fung fu unless she’s very low as it have around 60% damage resist during it. If you have a high damage options it usually better to wait after the end of it.
Shadow sneak:
- Not much you can say about it but remember that you see his step with sound + the small dirt effect that she do when she walk. So you can have somewhat a idea of where he’s going.
- Shadow sneak can’t be canceled and least for a minimum of 3 second (if they move) and a maximum of 6 second (if they stand still), you can usually safely reload during it in a 1v1 situation.
- Remember that nightcap isn't invincible during it so try to finish her off if you can! She do have a upgrade that give her some damage resist during it though.
- Also in general, even if a plant is invisible, your cursor can still turn red if you’re currently aiming at an invisible enemy, useful vs foot soldier smoke bomb too as plant.
Class specific:
Good class to deal with nightcap:
- Superbrain (multiple easy OHK options)
- Space cadet (by itself, have homing shot, 2 OHK abilities and good options to escape Fung fu)
- Engineer (stun is a free kill and get him out of Shadow sneak)
- 80s Action hero (Can punish bad Fung fu use for an easy vanquish, 2 abilities to dodge fung fu, Bow blaster is annoying for nightcap in general)
Avoid Imp and foot soldier, both of them have too low damage output to deal with nightcap in general currently.
Foot soldier:
He currently have the hardest time at dealing with nightcap in general due to the horrid damage output he got currently. He can’t even OHK nightcap with the AOE of ZPG unlike superbrain. If nightcap give you trouble with him I can only recommend switching character, he’s just that bad currently.
If you’re adamant at keeping him though, remember that rocket jump into zpg can dodge fung fu while still dealing some damage to nightcap.
Imp:
Low hp and low damage didn't combine well when against nightcap but imp at least have good mobility to get out of Fung fu, 1v1'ing nightcap is still a problem though
- Nightcap have no options to get out of gravity grenade except becoming invisible, howener imp lack the damage output to finish him by himself. It catch fung fu too if needed but you have to aim in the middle of it
- Impkata as always is a good option to finish off an enemy. Nightcap can punish bad use of it VERY hard. Both with fung fu which have a way better damage output and just throwing her dagger at you.
(as Z-mech):
Z-mech is not the best equipped to deal with nightcap but still have a few options:
- Stomp can OHK nightcap but she will most likely have already started using fung fu in that range, if you have the hp to tank it, you can catch her at the end of it with it...Or if she decides to stay in your face anyway.
- Both your primary and missile madness attack can make short work of nightcap in range. Missile madness can deal with fung fu in close range but not in reaction to it. (The startup time is too slow)
- If you don't have enough hp to survive a Fung fu anyway, you can still eject > gravity grenade in the mech to hopefully catch nightcap and kill her in the explosion.
Super Brain: Super brain is one of the best zombie in the game right now and part of why is because he’s undoubtedly the best equipped to deal with a nightcap currently:
- Fully charged punch cleanly kill her in one hit, it have limited range though
- Outside of that, you also have super ultra ball, A close AOE hit do exactly 75 damage. Even just throwing in the close range work well enough to vanquish a nightcap easily
- Hyper jump thump is an excellent options to avoid fung fu, it can be canceled in mid-air into super ultra ball, handy
- His punch and turbo twister are still good options in close range, don’t commit to the latter against fung fu as you will be stuck in the midlle of it otherwise. Know that you only need to hit punch 2 and 3 to always kill night cap too.
80s Action Hero: thanks to having a few burst options that allow him to usually 2HK or finish off nightcap as well as 2 ability that allow him to escape and punish Fung fu happy nightcap, 80s action hero is one of the best counter against the mushroom available to zombie.
- Fully charged arrow > half charged arrow is enough to 2HK a nightcap before she have a chance to escape.
- Rocket ride not only avoid fung fu in reaction but it also give you a free kill toward the nightcap that attempted it by just aiming at the general direction of where she is.
- If Rocket ride is in cooldown or you’re in a low ceiling, his Dynamite dodge is also a good options to avoid fung fu while still doing some damage.
- Can’t Miss-ile can be used after nightcap become invisible to have somewhat a idea of where he did go if you tagged him beforehand. It also a clean OHK if she’s fully tagged.
Electric slide: While her primary lack the damage output to kill nightcap effectively, she make it up with 2 ability that can be used to avoid Fung fu easily and a last ability that is fairly threatening to nightcap.
- As excepted, Outta fight! avoid fung fu without any trouble.
- If Outta fight! is in cooldown, his Funk bouncer can also be used to push fung fu away, nightcap have no options to get out of it if caught inside.
- Disco tornado is an excellent damage options with a large AOE and probably the best ability to discourage plant to hide inside casting shadow.
Captain Deadboard: Deadboard can easily support his teammates from nightcap with his Spyclass shot in range, however he's is a clear target for nightcap, but the pirate have a few trick in his sleeve to answer that.
- A fully charged headshot is a clean OHK,go hunt nightcap with it, it not that hard to hit.
- Anchor’s away can be used as an alternative to sprinting if the situation call for it.
- Barrel blast can also tank a few hit of fung fu but it will most likely be destroyed by it. Don’t try to chase nightcap with it, he will just shadow sneak away.
All-star: While all-star is a mediocre zombie currently, he still have overall good options to deal with a nightcap getting a bit to personal against him.
- Sprint tackle is a clean OHK and come fast enough to hit a nightcap before his fung fu come out.
- Imp punt can also OHK if you manage to hit the max damage radius but it very hard to do so.
- You can generally win a 1v1 with your primary alone vs him thank to your bulk. As long as you don’t miss too much
Space cadet: Another zombie that is generally a good option to deal with nightcap as both his primary and his ability threat him in some way. As a space station though, he’s kinda a target for nightcap.
- His primary is specially designed to deal with highly mobile character thanks to having homing by default, You shouldn’t have trouble hitting your shoot with him. The homing even stay if he’s invisible as long as you can keep your cursor into her.
- His gravity smash can avoid fung fu and then punish her afterward, hard to hit though.
- His Big bang beam is a clean OHK as long as your aim is good, a good nightcap will shadow sneak in reaction to avoid it though. (Last minute edit: It actually hard to react to lol)
(as space station):
- Laser obviate everything coming too close to you and a nightcap attempting to fung fu you is no exception.
- Crewmate missile can OHK a nightcap...I think
Scientist: Scientist is one of the few characters nightcap want to fight in longer range due to his dangerous shotgun and warp giving him a easy escape from Fung fu
- Should usually kill in 2 hit with his primary if your aim is good, easier said then done though.
- Warp is very good to avoid fung fu, you shouldn’t be hit by it at all as scientist.
- Obv your healing option can help your teammate, just be careful about nightcap piercing primary.
Engineer: Engineer have various strong options to support himself and more importantly his teammates, his stun can help your teammate survive and his turret always help, a good choice vs nightcap overall.
- His primary is a clean 3 Hit kill if you hit at least 2 direct hit.
- Bullhorn Swarm make nightcap a easy kill for engineer and deny a area from where she could come from otherwise, it also get her out of shadow sneak but it don't interrupt Fung fu (altrough the slow help escaping from it)
- Nightcap usually struggle vs lone heavy helper if she can't poke it out of range, she can hide inside his own smoke cloud to take it out though. It however a good target for her if there people inside it altrough still risky
Quick handy list:
OHK Options:
- Foot soldier Zpg ( direct hit only)
- Z-mech stomp
- Z-mech explosive escape (good luck hitting it, gravity grenade w/ supermassive upgrade help)
- Super brain fully charged punch
- Super brain super ultra balls ( close AOE or direct hit)
- 80s Action hero Can’t Miss-ile (Only if fully tagged)
- Captain deadbeard fully charged spyglass shot headshot
- Captain deadbeard barrel blast (but good luck hitting it)
- All-star tackle
- Space cadet gravity smash
- Space cadet big bang beam
Quick vanquish options:
- Engineer w/ heavy helper
- Engineer Bullhorn Swarm
- 80s action hero rocket ride
- 80s action hero fully charged shot > half charged shot
- Electric slide Disco Tornado
- Space station craker maker
Class specific options to avoid Fung fu:
- Foot soldier rocket jump (can cancel into zpg for damage)
- Super brain Hyper jump thump (can cancel into super ultra ball for a kill attempt, Hyper jump thump itself do damage in landing)
- 80s action hero rocket ride
- 80s action hero Dynamite Dodge
- Electric slide Outta fight!
- Electric slide Funk bouncer
- Deadboard barrel blast
- All-star Sprint tackle (recommend to save it to kill him instead)
- Space cadet gravity smash
- Space station craker maker
- Scientist warp
- Engineer Bullhorn swarm (don’t really stop it but help escaping)
- Engineer double time (alternative to Sprint…Or you can do both)
And that it for the guide,again if you guys have any questions or want some more details, you can just ask.
Tl;dr version: Check list above, you want to kill him before he do anything, if he Fung fu, use your escape options listed above or just sprint lol.
