Re: How to play as Acorn & Oak (Guide)
by TheSprinter85Original Post
How to play as Acorn & Oak (Guide)
Introduction
The aim of this guide is to help you get through the difficult years of acornhood and help you grow up to be a beautiful tree. All jokes aside, I will focus on these main points: gameplay, abilities, best upgrades, useful tips and social etiquette.
General gameplay
Acorn & Oak are team-play classes, which means multiple players can fight as one. Space cadet and Space station are the zombie equivalents to this.
To join forces, an Acorn might turn into an Oak by using one of his abilities and let other Acorns join as Acorn Passengers or if there already is another oak join as an Acorn Passenger itself.
Because the gameplay styles for these characters vary a lot depending on their current form, I will be going through them separately.
Acorn
Gameplay
Acorn is a low health character with a small hitbox and great mobility. It is advised to keep moving at all times. Jumping in combat can help a lot and might be referred to as "bunny hopping". You may encounter negative comments about it, but for low health classes like Acorn and Imp it is part of their intended play style. If jumping in combat confuses you and disrupts your aim, don't use it, or use it only once or twice while shooting at your target. It will force your opponent to change their aim and you will have an advantage, as your character is most likely a lot smaller.
Abilities
Left ability - Sap Trap
Sap Trap is primarily used to deal a lot of damage to a zombie. As a side effect, it will make every zombie in range bounce up. It is fired using L1 and has to be detonated by pressing L1 again. It can be used in more creative ways as well, which will be mentioned in the "Useful Tips" section.
Middle ability - Invoke Oak
As the name suggests, this ability is used to transform into Oak. Please keep in mind you are very vulnerable while transforming, as there are visual and acoustic indicators that tell everyone, including your enemies, that you are transforming (Your acorn will start yodeling!). There is no way of cancelling this ability until it has finished, which makes you even more vulnerable during the process.
Right ability - Acorn Dash
Acorn dash is a great way of dodging enemy attacks. It is activated by pressing R1 and is omnidirectional. Use your left thumb stick to aim in the direction you want to dash. As of the latests update, it has 2 charges.
It is also very useful for reaching difficult to reach places, but more on this in the "Useful Tips" section.
Teaming up
A player who wants to team up as Acorn has 2 options to do so:
- Use your middle ability to turn into Oak, which will allow other players to join you as Acorn Passengers.
- Get close to another player who has transformed into Oak and join as an Acorn Passenger yourself.
Once you are close enough to the Oak, you need to press the button displayed on screen in order to join the Oak.
Please keep in mind that only 3 other Acorns can join an Oak as Acorn Passengers. If there already are 3 Acorns on top of an Oak, you will not be able to join them.
Acorn Passenger
Gameplay
Acorn Passengers are placed on top of an Oak. They can't move, therefore their aim is dependent on the movements of their Oak. Acorn Passengers have a different primary weapon. Compared to normal acorns, their primary weapon is a little bit weaker. To make up for it, it has infinite ammo, but can also overheat. Make sure that your weapon icon on the bottom right of the screen doesn't turn completely red, as it means your primary has overheated and needs to cool down. It is advised to shoot in intervals so that doesn't happen.
Another job of Acorn Passengers is to heal their Oak.
Abilities
Left ability - Sap Trap
This ability is the same as normal Acorn's.
Middle ability - Treeject
This ability is used to leave passenger mode and separate from your Oak.
Right ability - Lumber support
This ability is used to heal your oak and yourself quickly. The latest patch enabled this ability to overheal both Acorn and Oak. Overhealing means your health bar will be extended to have more health than usual. The extra capacity is indicated by the yellow color and is only temporary.
Oak
Gameplay
Oak is a strong tank-like character with a lot of health. Oak's main disadvantages are his gigantic hitbox and slow movement. He deals a lot of damage per shot and has a slow rate of fire. His abilities are focused on dealing large amounts of damage to multiple zombies.
Oak is defense class, which means he is best used to defend a capture point. His slow movement and high damage output contribute to his classification. Capture points often offer some objects that can be used as cover, which helps staying alive, despite the big hitbox.
Abilities
Left ability - Super Sap Trap
Super Sap Trap is an even bigger version of Sap Trap and therefore covers a bigger area and deals more damage. Just like normal Sap Trap, it has to be detonated by pressing L1 again.
Middle ability - Treeject
This ability is used to revert back into Acorn.
Right ability - Roll for damage
This ability enables you to roll a log towards your enemies. There is an achievement called "Natural Twenty", which is unlocked after scoring 20 multi vanquishes using this ability.
Upgrades
Introduction to upgrades
Upgrades can be used to give your character certain benefits. They can be selected in the character selection menu. This menu is presented to you at the beginning of every match or after visiting a changing booth in Giddy Park.
Many upgrades have to be unlocked by achieving a higher character rank. Once you reach level 10 with a character, you can promote your character in Giddy Park to gain a higher character rank. Every promotion until the grandmaster rank unlocks new upgrades. Make sure to always adjust your combination after every promotion!
Upgrades for Acorn & Oak
There are many different upgrades for Acorn and Oak, many of which are only beneficial for one form or the other. Therefore, I recommend using the 3 character loadouts you can have to create specific upgrade combinations for playing as Acorn or Oak.
Here are some of the upgrades I consider to be the best:
Leveling up - With this upgrade it is possible to earn 10% more xp. It is very useful for beginners and will enable you to unlock other upgrades faster by leveling up at a faster rate.
Hardened - This upgrade extends your health bar permanently and is highly beneficial.
Party Supplies - Allows you to heal yourself and your Oak much faster as Acorn Passenger using Lumber Support.
Health Regeneration - This upgrade cuts the time required to regenerate health after taking damage in half. When using this upgrade, getting behind cover for a short time will be enough to fully recover.
Log Jam - Increases Roll for Damage's area coverage by an incredible 75%.
Social Etiquette
As there is no way of letting other Acorns and Oaks know if you prefer playing as Acorn on your own, joining an Oak as an Acorn Passenger or being an Oak yourself, several other ways of communicating have developed.
If there are multiple Acorns next to each other and no Oak is around, an Acorn might shoot the ground next to you in an attempt to tell you it wants you to transform into an Oak. Similarly, you could try to tells others they should be the Oak by shooting the ground next to them.
If an Oak wants you to join it as an Acorn Passenger, it might follow you by tracking the Icon symbolizing other Acorns and shooting in your direction.
Once Oak and Acorns are teamed up, they could start expressing their excitement by saying "For Acorns Everywhere" and "Happy" or "Loving". It is totally fine to communicate with your fellow Acorn Passengers as long as there are no enemies around. As soon as you see an enemy, stop communicating and start shooting.
Sometimes Acorns and Oaks use Sap Trap on each other. It could be a way of expressing the desire to team up. In most cases, however, it is just for fun and does not have any further meaning. If an Acorn reacts negatively to it by saying "Sadness" you should apologize by replying "Sorry!" This only happens rarely, though.
Useful Tips
Don't detonate Sap Trap immediately. Try to aim directly at a zombie, so it sticks to him. Then, instead of detonating it, continue shooting your target as normal until it reachers about half health or lower. As soon as your target is low health, detonate your Sap Trap. It will be vanquished instantaneously. This tactic can be used to counter players trying to flee once they are low health.
Sap Trap can be used as a way to reach high places. In order for this to work, shoot your Sap Trap at just below your jump height. Jump and detonate Sap Trap as you are about to fall back down and the explosion will bounce you upwards.
While using Sap Trap for mobility is helpful, I wouldn't recommend it. There is a much better way to achieve this. Most maps have objects you can jump on to gain height. From there you can jump and use Acorn Dash to get on top of even higher places.
When on top of an Oak as Acorn Passenger, it might happen that a zombie your Oak has been able to get to low health tries to sprint away. Many zombies can easily outrun Oak. In these cases you can use Treeject to temporarily get off of your Oak. While still airborne, use Acorn Dash to get closer to the fleeing target. Vanquish the zombie and return to your Oak once you are done.
If you are on top of an Oak with other Acorn Passengers and your oak takes damage, don't heal it immediately. Wait 1 second to see if other Acorn Passengers activate their "Lumber Support"-ability, so you don't waste yours if they do. This way you will be able to heal your Oak if it suffers more damage.
Certain maps have buildings on them. Many of these buildings offer a great hideout for you in front of their doors. You should know, however, that bots will still be able to find you.
Thank you for reading!
With all of the tips provided in this guide, there's nothing holding you back from being the best Acorn in town!
This guide was inspired by the many awesome guides of @TheSprinter85.
All of his guides can be found here: https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion/Guides-Tips-and-Tricks-for-Plants-vs-Zombies-Battle-for...
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Re: How to play as Acorn & Oak (Guide)
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Re: How to play as Acorn & Oak (Guide)
@gametrieukThank you for your kind feedback 
. This is my first guide so I was a little nervous how the feedback on it would be.
I plan on making a guide on Peashooter as well if people find this guide to be helpful.
@benn1nat0r What an absolute legend! 
I read through your entire guide and more slowly than I normally would read something. The title is excellent and you have put tons of wonderful content into your guide, and I learned stuff from it as well. 
I do hope that you make guides for more characters in the future, although I heard you may be doing one for Peashooter ...
Well done, and a massive thanks for mentioning me and giving me credit! Let me know if you would like me to add the links to your guide/s in my thread. And I will absolutely give you credit in there. 
@TheSprinter85 Thank you so much for your amazing feedback !
And of course I gave you credit! After all, I got the idea from you and said I would mention you 
.
As for linking my guide in your collection:
You asked me in your collection thread if I wanted to do a collection of my own that you would link to.
I don't know if making a collection for my guides would be better or linking them directly in your collection.
As I have only one guide at the moment, I think it would be best if you could include it in yours directly.
Thanks !
I don't know yet if I'm going to make more besides the Peashooter one, as I wouldn't have many useful tips to offer for all the other characters. I mean I play as every character a lot, but I can't think of many tips for all of them.
@Fork_x_Spoon Thanks for the feedback !
I don't actually know about different Sap Trap fire speeds. It feels like it is faster as Acorn Passenger, but I haven't found any info on that.
@Pvz300085 Thank you for your nice feedback .
I wrote this guide as more of a beginner friendly guide.
I don't know some of the strategies you mentioned or maybe know them but not the name the community has given them.
Suicide bomb - Is that the one where an Oak fires Super Sap Trap at an Acorn and the Acorn then runs into a group of zombies?
If so, it's only really useful in split screen, in my opinion.
One thing you wrote is especially intriguing to me:
"Instakill Steam Blasters without using Super Sap Trap"
How might an Oak do that?
I just need to know, uuhhh, for a friend of mine!
