Spooky Squash


 * For other uses, see Squash (disambiguation)

Spooky Squash is a plant boss in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. From October 26, 2016 to October 29, 2016. He is the main boss in the "Tale of The Spooky Squash" Boss Hunt gamemode in the mystery portal. Spooky Squash mainly hops around Aqua Center with no destination in mind, attacking any player that comes near with his fire breath and fireballs. He has an obscenely large amount of health, requiring players to complete a set of objectives in order to gain a temporary "Sugar Rush" boost which allows all players to deal large amounts of damage, and then they are actually able to take away substantial amounts of Spooky Squash's health. Completing the Boss Hunt rewards the player 15 Rainbow Stars and one of several special Halloween customization item obtained only by completing this Boss Hunt.

Spooky Squash also appears in an objective in Graveyard Ops. He acts similarly to Squash. Like Squash, once he reaches the Tombstone, he jumps and squashes next to it, taking away a chunk of the tombstone's health, depending on the difficulty. In Garden Ops, he is an objective where the player has to defend him until the end of the wave, resulting in coins earned from Squash when it explodes. If the player gets close to the Spooky Squash, it squashes the player, instantly vanquishing them.

Strategies
Like Sasquatch, Spooky Squash is a very difficult boss unless the entire team knows what to do. Teamwork is key in defeating Spooky Squash. Players should aim to get two scientists and two heavy-hitting zombies as part of their team (Super Brainz, All-Star and possibly Foot Soldier are good choices). Having Toxic Brainz as one of the characters is very useful as his special abilities are useful later on, however, Scientists are the most important class, as you will likely get vanquished multiple times and the Scientists are of utmost importance for healing.

Upon being revealed, Spooky Squash should not be attacked as it would do almost no damage to him. Instead, players should progress through the first phase where the zombies are required to raise two tombstones and keep them raised to anchor the guardian (A Giga Torchwood). Players should have two team members stay behind (either both scientists or one scientist and one heavy-hitter) and keep the two tombstones raised whilst the other two head out to vanquish the guardian (either both heavy-hitters or one scientist and one heavy hitter). Players holding up the tombstone should keep in mind that if they are vanquished or leave the circle, the guardian will disappear and the team has to redo the entire phase.

After defeating the guardian, players must locate a candy bucket before defeating a few plant champions to fill it up with candy as part of a curse. It is recommended that a non-scientist character picks up the bucket as not only are scientists unable to use their healing abilities when holding it, but their low health makes them easier to vanquish, therefore restarting the entire phase. Another important point is that players without the bucket should not pick up/eat the candy as this would trigger the curse "Hallows Eve", vanquishing the team and potentially costing them the game.

After collecting the required amount of candy from vanquished champions, players receive a "Sugar Rush" boost which buffs their damage by around 50 times. In this state, all players should locate the Spooky Squash and inflict as much damage as they can onto it before the boost ends. After this, the entire cycle must be repeated until Spooky Squash is vanquished.

Trivia

 * According to the loading screen before starting the Boss Hunt, the Spooky Squash exists because Crazy Dave put candy in the soil.
 * He appears to have a candle inside of him, similarly to a jack-o-lantern.