Battlez
Battlez is a game mode in Plants vs. Zombies 2 that was introduced in the 6.6.1 update. This mode can be unlocked after getting the Map of Space-Time-Ness from Ancient Egypt - Day 1 and requires to get at least six plants to unlock.
To start a match, the player has to pay one gauntlet. Gauntlets can be bought with gems. However, every four hours, the player receives a free play. Two free gauntlets per day can be obtained by watching ads.
When an opponent is found, the player needs to choose five plants, with the first slot reserved for the currently featured Weekly Premium Plant (This week, it is Electric Peashooter). Once you have chosen the plants, you are set in the Last Stand format, then after setting-up, the "battle" begins. The player gains points based on the distance the zombies are away from the house. 500 is the most for a single zombie and 100 being the least. However, higher scores can be obtained as the game continues.
This mode is time-based, and as the time decreases the zombies get stronger and stronger, to a point where they could be unkillable unless you either have some instant-kill plants or leveled up plants to take on this challenge. The faster you kill the harder the zombies will get.
Each week, there will be a different type of tournament that the player will have to compete in. Each type of tournament has its own way of changing the gameplay (the change can be quite minor, however). For example, a tournament can shorten the time it takes for a match to finish.
Also, this mode also has several different leagues; the player gets promoted if they place top 3. If they are placed in one of the last three spots, they will be demoted to the league before that one. Several gems and coins are rewarded in promotions.
It has been noted that this mode does appear to be lacking a "real" matchmaking feature that pairs you as the player fairly. There have been reports of people that had low-leveled plants to still be paired with a person with max-level plants or still high-level plants. Of the players with max level plants, there has been speculation and proven facts that either a bot, a cheater from PopCap, or someone who took the effort of high-leveled plants ran that through.
There could be a fix coming soon though as per this Reddit post.
| League | Gem Rewards (maximum) | Coin Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Jade | 450 | 15000 |
| Gold | 350 | 10000 |
| Silver | 275 | 9000 |
| Bronze | 220 | 8000 |
| Iron | 180 | 7000 |
| Brick | 150 | 6000 |
| Wood | 125 | 5000 |
| Soil | 100 | 4000 |
Types of tournaments
Garden Party: Unknown
Escalating: Unknown
Brainstorm: You start with 350 sun. You can easily destroy zombies with a specific strategy.
Blitz: You start with 1500 sun. The battle lasts 1:30 minutes instead of 3:00 minutes.
All Out: You start with 5000 sun and there are a lot of zombies. Caulipower, Shrinking Violet, Hypno-shroom and Witch Hazel are banned.
Distortion: You start with 3000 sun. A big amount of sun falls from the sky. Sun producing plants like Sunflower or Gold Bloom are banned.
Tournament list
| Tournament | Special plant | Restricted plants* | Duration | Zombies | Starting sun | Special mechanics | Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Bloom's Garden Party Tournament | 
|
N/A | 3:00 |  
|
750 | N/A | March 14, 2018- March 20, 2018 |
| Caulipower's Escalating Tournament | 
|
N/A | 3:00 |  
|
750 | N/A |
March 21, 2018- March 27, 2018 |
| Dandelion's Brainstorm Tournament | 
|
N/A | 3:00 |  
|
350 | Speed potions | March 28, 2018-April 3, 2018 |
| Power Lily's Garden Party Tournament | 
|
N/A | 3:00 |  
|
750 | Minecarts | April 4, 2018-April 10, 2018 |
| Wasabi Whip's Blitz Tournament | 
|
N/A | 1:30 |  
|
1500 |  (Perfume-shroom still can’t be used)
|
April 11, 2018-April 17, 2018 |
| Explode-O-Nut's All-Out Tournament | 
|
 
|
3:00 |  
|
5000 | Slider tile, frozen  (2) (Hot Potato still can’t be used)
|
April 18, 2018-April 26, 2018 |
| Bombegranate's Garden Party Tournament | 
|
N/A | 3:00 |  
|
750 | Dark Ages gravestones, Ancient Egypt gravestones (made by Tomb Raiser Zombie) |
*Plants that are normally restricted, such as Gold Leaf and Lily Pad are excluded.
Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Arena.
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Trivia
- When tapping on the Battlez icon, the Dark Ages Zomboss Battle intro plays, along with the boss music.
- The player gets five crowns for winning and one for losing.
- No extra crowns are given for obtaining higher scores or beating your opponent by ???%.
- If the player breaks a streak, they can pay ten gems to retain/fix it, with the cost increasing by ten per retain.
- This is the only mode in the game where zombies cannot eat your brains. This is because when a lawn mower is activated, it is automatically regenerated. If a zombie somehow manages to reach your house, it will get instantly killed.
- All upgrades, except for Wall-nut First Aid, Instant Recharge and Mower Launch, are disabled on Battlez.
- Also, plants that are boosted in the Zen Garden will not have the boost in this mode.
- The player does not get points for the zombies destroyed by lawn mowers.
- However, it scores points when it destroys a Surfboard.
- World exclusive plants can’t be used in this mode.
- Wasabi Whip’s Blitz Tournament is one of the four levels/battles where dinosaurs appear outside of Jurassic Marsh. The others are Modern Day - Days 12, 26 and 29.
- Perfume-shroom still can’t be used in those levels/battles even knowing there’s dinosaurs in them.
- Wasabi Whip’s Blitz Tournament is one of the four levels/battles where dinosaurs appear outside of Jurassic Marsh. The others are Modern Day - Days 12, 26 and 29.
- According to a PopCap community manager (referred to Haemophilus EA on Reddit), the player is not actually fighting against other players in real-time, rather, just "ghosts". The score progression seen in gameplay is just a replay of the "ghost" player's previous Battlez round.
- Other affirmations that support this are:
- You can spend infinite time on the pause menu, Choose Your Seeds screen, and the Last Stand defense preparation stage.
- The Turbo Button can be used.
- There is no feature in which time must be synchronized with the other player due to lag, pausing the game, or the Turbo Button.
- A list of over 9900 names for these "ghost" opponents may also be found here.
- Some bot names also include Solar Flare, Spudow, Rose from Plants vs. Zombies Heroes.
- Other affirmations that support this are:
- In the textures for the trophies that identify for each league, there appears to be an unused crystal-like trophy.
- Potions from Dark Alchemy also appear in Dandelion's Brainstorm Tournament.
- The setting in this mode is the same as Player's House and Modern Day worlds, but in the style of Dark Ages.
- This can be seen that if a zombie in this mode eats a boosted Hypno-Shroom, it transforms into a hypnotized Dark Ages Gargantuar.
- Removing armor and destroying gravestones can score you points.