There are a variety of ways to through PvZ 2, but on one of the biggest requirements is the number of stars that you have –having enough means being able to pass through a star gate and continue towards the next world. There are a variety of simple techniques one could employ in order to do this with the least amount of effort, but of course, there are those of you who will not be able to resist moving on to the next set of stages until you have fully mastered the previous ones –and that means acquiring all three stars available per regular stage.
Stars are earned by finishing stages and meeting certain conditions. When you play through the stages normally, there will be a few special ones (ones that require you to play in a special manner –such as the one with the treadmill on the side) that when finished, will earn you a bonus star. These stars are important as they will be used to unlock the Star Gates that connect the game’s various worlds.
Of course, just relying on the stars you get through normal progression will not be enough. Players will have to replay older stages and meet certain special conditions in order to gain a star. While we find the one-star-at-a-time earning method to be particularly slow, it does help that the gameplay is quite fun and dynamic, allowing you to at least enjoy the slightly grind-ish experience of going back to old stages and collecting items. Also, doing so will net you some extra keys as well (and keys are important for unlocking special plant units and also, for providing you access to other playable stages in a certain time era).
If you only seek to net enough stars to get past the gate, then your task is significantly much easier than those who seek to unlock every single star available in a stage (particularly, obsessive compulsive players, purists, and completionists). The idea here is that each stage has (roughly) three stars to provide. Each of these three stars will have its own set of challenges, and each on will be progressively harder than the one before it. Finishing the first is often just a matter of playing as fast and as efficiently as you can. The second will often require you to keep a close eye on objectives that can be easily missed. The third star is often meant to be earned through some serious lawn-style strategizing.
The best of going about this is to earn the first star of every single stage –if needed, maybe a few of the second stars too. Going after the third star is already optional as you can carry over earned but unused stars to later areas of the game. It is an easy tactic, and one that require little to no effort, just plenty of time.
Since we are not going to develop individual per-stage strategies, here are a few general strategies that players should take note of when playing this game. These rules pretty much apply to the entirety of the game so try to remember them as best as you can.
Sunlight is important and it will not stay onscreen forever. This means that you will want to pick them up as fast as you can in order to gain enough energy for planting new seeds. Now, there are rumors that picking up the light from the sky fast will make the next one fall down sooner (like the cooldown does not start until you acquired the last one that fell). While we cannot verify that, being able to earn the light orbs fast is still a critical matter that you should pay attention to it. Also, sunflowers (and double sunflowers) produce plenty of energy throughout the game; never underestimate their value as a major source of energy in the game.
Gravestones will block almost any projectile (except the ballistic and piercing ones) so chipping them down to crumbly bits is going to help you. When you are using long range attackers, your advantage from the fact that the zombies’ defenses will be broken down by the time they get near. When gravestones block your attacks, you lose this massive advantage. The key is in knowing what units to use at a given time. Often, a well placed melee veggie with a power up boost can take out a whole screen of these stones (provided you can place it in the center of the formation). In other cases, having a mine potato in the center of a lane can do a lot of wonders too. While not entirely effective at taking out the stones, those boomerang throwing plants are still able to hit zombies in the lane without any trouble.
Tougher Zombies are easy to spot since they have a bucket on their head (or something similar looking). The exact visuals detail according to the era you are currently playing, but the idea is the same: they take a long time to kill. This means that first line defending plants are often at their mercy –a wall-nut will not last against one if not provided with a substantial attack setup. Fortunately, spotting them in a big crowd of zombies is relatively easy, and a single well placed mine would be able to take them out. If it boils down to it (say, you are unable to plant adequate defenses before they advance), you might have to make use of a special gesture attack to take them out.
There are plenty of plants in the game, but you can basically classify them according to their performance: projectile, melee, sunlight production, special purpose. Projectile units rely on being able to hit enemies from afar. Some like the catapult can hit multiple units clumped together, the boomerang will hit all enemies in the lane “twice”, but basically, projectile units are good for taking out enemies from afar. When a zombie gets too close, expect them to get eaten up easily.
Melee units make for a good balance of offense and defense. First off, melee damage has stopping power –forcing zombies to slow down in their advance. The damage they deal is a good combination of fast and strong, allowing you to take down normal zombies without much of a problem. The only time you need to worry is when dealing with large groups or heavily armored ones (like the bucket types). The best way to support a melee unit is to give it a long range plant (or two) behind it.
Sunlight production plants are sunflowers –and we suggest going for the double sunflower as early as you can. While the initial 125 sunlight energy seems steep, the fact that it produces orbs twice as fast will help you in the long run. Having about 5 of these will ensure that you have a decent amount of energy for your defensive needs (just be sure to be fast in collecting the orbs).
Lastly, special use units serve a variety of purpose. The wall-nut, for one, is a great defensive wall that is best placed in front of a melee unit. The wall-nut will hold off the also plants that are one use only –like the mines, ice, grave destroyers, etc. Bringing them along also helps, they take a small amount of energy to cast and they help manage mobs early in the game.
When you are in a pinch, having special abilities will sure help a lot. There are two types to choose from. The first is the plant activated ability that you can acquire buy buying with a 1000 credits or by picking up the power-ups from glowing zombies when they die. You can stack up to three of these at a time (so when you are full, try to use up even one).
Early in the game, they are best used on sunflowers as these will provide a slight boost to your energy (also, useful when dealing with sunlight production requirements). But in the late stage when you already have lots of energy, this is best used on defense units (most projectile shooter will spam hundreds of attacks, while defense units get a boost). The most unique use of this is on the potato mine –it will cause two additional mine to spawn randomly on the stage. This is actually a pretty useful ability when you need to take out large chunks of the zombie forces in a single go. Using this on an ice plant will instantly freeze all enemies for a short duration. Not really all that destructive, but there are times when it proves to be useful. Used on the catapult type, this boost is not as effective –you get to launch a single attack on all enemies onscreen, and this is not as strong as it sounds like.
The other type of special ability is the gesture control. If you played through the tutorial, you will learn that there are three different kinds and each one is slightly different from the other. The key is to focus on being good at just one. We particularly like the launch and toss (where you flick the zombies away) as opposed to the pinch or the zapper (zap is when you drag electricity across the screen). Of course, each player will have their own preferred gesture, so try to work more with the one that feels most natural to you.
One catch of the gesture special is that it activates for a very short amount of time, so be sure to get your fingers ready for a workout the moment you do turn it on. If used properly, you can pretty much wipe out an entire screen full of zombies in a single go. While plant activated specials are easy to use, players should be a little more conservative when it comes to using the gestures –as using them will use up your coins (whereas you can pickup plant powerups from glowing zombies).
While there are many stages and stars in the game (and each with their own unique combination of requirements), the bonus objectives, per line, follow a certain set of rules. Being familiar with each one will allow you to adapt your gameplay strategies without having to feel lost with each new stage.
Lawnmowers – this is easy enough; do not let the enemies breach your plant defenses. At the start of the game, ensure that you wait for an enemy to appear on the lane before placing down your initial defenses (this ensures that your limited starting funds are not wasted). Late in the game, try to reinforce your defenses with walnuts are tactically placed mines near the end (of course, support from attack units in both options is needed).
Do Not Plant on Area – with this rule in place, you are actually working with a limited amount of space (usually two columns less). This means that the zombies will reach your plants faster since they will need to cover less ground. Fortunately, this is not too restrictive of what you can do. A strong lineup of units (particularly well placed melee types) can easily compensate for the shorter distance (and melee types do not rely on hitting the enemies before they get close enough). Also, try to focus offensive strengths on lanes that have gravestones that are shielding enemies.
Do Not Let Enemy Go Past Line – usually marked by small column of flowers, your main objective is to not let a single zombie past this line. This is easy to do if you can make a wall of nuts and melee units (just provide special armor ability to the nuts that are about to lose their defensive health). It does get a little dodgy when combined with a sunlight spending limit or an active plant limit, so in those cases, expect to have to pull out a few gesture attacks in order to compensate.
Sunlight Spending Limits/Sunlight Generation Objective – be sure to read the total sunlight value before jumping into the round. Knowing what you can spend determines what units you should bring. Calculate the cost of each unit you would like to put into all the active lanes. Whatever is left should be spent on sunflowers to help you speed up the process. As always, do not lay down an attack plant until a zombie appears in that lane. The opposite of this rule will require you to generate a certain amount of sunlight energy (the ones that fall from the sky do not count). Dual sunflower types work well here, and to maximize, use up special powers on them to produce more orbs instantly.
Active Plant Limit – when stages say that you can only have a certain number of plants at any time, you will want to know what kinds of plants you want to have in a lineup. Do know that one-time use plants will have their count active only until they are removed from play. Also, once your main line of defense is ready (and you have enough sunlight), dig out the sunflowers to make room for attackers.
Do Not Lose A Number of Plants – losing a plant is easy, and the one-time use types (as well as digging) will also count against your score. So build only what is necessary and focus on beefing up the defense of each line. Special powered walnuts get a permanent armor buff which helps a lot with crowd control (but it is not invulnerable), and they work well with a few good ranged units helping them out.
No Spending Sunlight for a Period of Time – there is no particular best time to do this for all the stages since waves vary in pacing. But try to observe points in a stage where there is a lull in the waves or a point where your defenses are doing just right without additional units. You can still cast gestures, collect sunlight, and use powerups, but you cannot plant for a short while. The game provides a nice countdown on the top left of the screen so you can see if your fulfilled the objective or not.