Plants vs. Zombies Wiki
Register
Advertisement

This is a strategy page about Survival: Endless. Feel free to add your strategies, but see the rules page first.

Beginner's Guide: Survival Endless builds.[]

Getting the upgrade plants and seed slots[]

Before you can truly start out in Survival: Endless, you need upgrade plants and additional seed slots! I recommend that you beat all the minigames and puzzles to get prize money to buy upgrade plants and seed slots. I recommend that you buy Gold Magnet first, as it is cheap (only $3000!) and grants you the ability to collect money by itself and opens up money farming strategies for you.

By the time you unlock Survival: Endless, you should have 9 seed slots, and most or all upgrade plants. You can additionally use money farming strategies for Last Stand. You can incorporate 2 Gold Magnets to easy Cob strategies (like the 8 Cob Cannon strategy below) and collect a lot of money to buy out Crazy Dave's shop.


3C8 5-1

Traditional 8 Cob Cannon build by 3Cๅฆนๅฆน. The flower pots are optional and contribute nothing significant.

Setting up any sustainable endgame builds usually requires a lot of sun to set up. Therefore, anyone new to Survival: Endless should at least read this section before venturing off to other builds.

Setting up the builds[]

Since most endgame builds need a lot of sun, the player should jump-start the sun economy by having a lot of Sunflower while fending off the zombies. The build used for setting up is a traditional 8 Cob Cannons build. Imitater or 10th seed slot is optional in setting up this build.

Beginner1-12

By the time the second flag is up, the pool should have at least 4 Gloom-shrooms with Pumpkins as well as the land mostly filled with Sunflowers.

The choice of seed packets for the third flag and onward is based on the zombies and setup. So be sure to understand what respective seed packets should be taken to handle the zombies while developing further into the desired endgame build.

Examples of adapting to specific zombies at 3rd and 4th flags are shown in the gallery:

Gallery of a playthrough building the traditional 8 Cob Cannon setup after flag 2:

Traditional 8 Cob Cannon by 3Cๅฆนๅฆน.[]

Now obviously the main damage dealer for this build are the 8 Cob Cannons. For the timing of this build, send the Cob Cannons shown below as soon as the next horde of normal zombies or Gargantuars become visible on the screen. You can still survive without the Spikerocks at the 7th column as well as the Gloom-shrooms at the 8th and 9th column provided the timing of Cob Cannons is done right.

3C8 cob spot

Because the Cob Cannon recharges its ammo every 34.75 seconds, in this build, you must fire every 8.68 seconds with any two cannons in order to keep a steady stream of cobs.

Be sure to bring the right plants to maintain the endgame build such as:

  • Blover
    • For blowing off Balloon Zombies.
  • Pumpkins
    • For maintenance, priority for repairing should go to
      1. Dolphin Rider Zombies
      2. Imps
      3. Digger Zombies
  • Squash and Cherry Bomb
    • In case if there is not enough firepower to suppress the advancement of zombie hordes.
  • Lily Pad, Fume-shroom, Gloom-shroom and Coffee Bean (optional)
    • For Jack-in-the-Box Zombies encounter.
    • They can explode and take down the Gloom-shrooms in the pool.
    • When rebuilding the Gloom-shrooms, suppress the zombie hordes using instants.
  • Spikeweed and Spikerock (optional)
  • Imitater (optional)
    • A second Pumpkin is very useful for newcomers as they are getting in the ropes for the timing of 8 Cob Cannons.
  • Ice-shroom and Coffee Bean (optional)
    • 3.5 seconds is a lot of time to recharge the next pair of Cob Cannon as well as getting some breathing space.
  • Jalapeno (optional)
    • Despite Squash's smaller effective range, Squash is still a better option as it recharges twice as fast.

Example video isn't available anymore.

8cob low maintenance

Here is a low maintenance version of the setup. The need for maintenance due to Digger Zombies is reduced significantly and Tall-nut is maintained for Dolphin Rider Zombies. Therefore the build is less stressful on repairing defenses while requires a slightly more precise timing for the 8 Cob Cannons.

4 Cob Cannon Builds[]

Standard4cobs

Traditional 4 Cob Cannon builds are versatile and slow-paced. The build can handle Zombonis and Gargantuars finely, although not Giga-gargantuars and Balloon Zombies. You can just let the game run by itself and moderate the build sparingly. Even if the Gloom-shrooms are destroyed by Jack-in-the-Box Zombies, 4 Cob Cannons and any instants (Squash, Cherry Bomb and Ice-shroom) is still good enough to sustain the weakened row 2 or 5. Giving as much as 10+ flags for repairing as well.

Traditional Cobless build[]

StandardCobless

Traditional Cobless (no Cob Cannon) build functions similarly to the 4 Cob Cannon build except relying heavily on instants. This can be stressful since you spend more focus on instants while maintaining the Pumpkins. Jack-in-the-Box Zombie is a real threat here. Consecutive explosions can happen and take out 3 Gloom-shrooms on the pool and severely weaken rows 2 or 5. No amount of instants can save you from this kind of abrupt situation. Therefore, it will be a miracle that the Traditional Cobless build can survive for 1000 flags.

Classic_2_Cob_(Slow_tempo)

Classic 2 Cob (Slow tempo)

Other Traditional Cob Cannon builds[]

2 Cob Cannon build[]

  • Functions similarly to Rear Cobless. For each wave, either use an Ice, a Doom, or 2 Cobs.
  • For slow tempo, use 2 Cobs and Squash to damage Gigas.
  • For fast tempo, use the sequence Doom | 2 Cobs | Ice | Ice | Ice to suppress Jacks.
Square_6_Cob

Square 6 Cob

6 Cob Cannon build[]

  • The timing for this is using a single Cob Cannon shot that should hits majority of the zombies in the spot for every time the zombie icon at the bottom moves. 12 seconds per 2 cobs, which is slightly slower than 8 Cob Cannon builds.
  • Specifically for this square strategy, hit between column 7 and 8. Make sure not to hit any Gargangtuars from the current wave. Otherwise, they may throw Imps on column 4.
Classic_10_cob

Classic 10 cob

10 Cob Cannon build[]

  • Having two Cob Cannons on the pool where ambush zombies can appear.
  • Timing is 7 seconds per 2 cobs, which is slightly faster than 8 Cob Cannon builds.
  • Either use the Cob Cannons to blast the ambush zombies in the pool or Ice-shroom to freeze the surface of the water.
  • You can also place a lily pad and a Doom-shroom on the ninth column in the pool. Plant the coffee bean on the Doom-shroom the exact moment the โ€œA HUGE WAVE OF ZOMBIES IS APPROACHINGโ€ text disappears. This will kill all ambush zombies before they can take a bite out of your cobs.

The Structure of Traditional Builds and Common Variants[]

Pool Glooms and Jack-in-the-Box explosion[]

Pool Glooms

Pool Glooms are important in smoothing the incoming waves of zombies in 4 or more Cob Cannons while being the main damage output for 4 or less Cob Cannon builds. 3 of them are able to handle Zombonis and slowed down Gargantuars without squishing the lone Pumpkin in the 2nd row. However, it cannot handle Giga-gargantuars even when they were slowed during their entrance. So players are advised to use instants or cheap stalling plants like Puff-shrooms or Sun-shrooms to deal with them. Another issue is that the Winter Melon has limited range, therefore it is possible for Football Zombies and Gargantuars to damage plants in column 6.

Last but not least, Jack-in-the-Box Zombies are notorious for blasting the pool Gloom-shrooms due to their speed. Jacks' timers do not slow down if the Jacks are slowed down, although if the Jack is frozen, his timer will stop. They explode at a known probability. 5% of Jacks (Early Jack) explode 4.4 - 7.54 seconds after spawning. 95% of Jacks (Late Jack) explode 13.22 - 22.68 seconds after spawning. A Jack will explode 1.1 seconds after opening his surprise. During this time, he could be blown up using Cobs/explosives or he could be eaten by Chomper. There are two possible initial explosions that can occur to the build.

Pool Glooms Jack 1

This is when the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie was slowed/frozen during his entrance. He can take down one Gloom-shroom along with the Pumpkins. Apparently Pumpkins are considered as separate plants when it comes to Jack-in-the-Box while grouped into one or when squished by vehicles or Gargantuar.

Pool Glooms Jack 2

This is when the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie enters the lawn without being slowed down and has stayed for too long. Here he takes down two Gloom-shrooms, severely weakening the defense for the affected lane. Instants are heavily used to maintain the incoming zombies. If another Jack-in-the-Box explodes again in the affected lane, it will be very difficult to fight off the hordes as well as putting a dent on the sun resources.

Land of Fumes[]

Outer Fume 2

This structure of Fume-shrooms and Gloom-shrooms are able to take down Zombonis and any slowed down zombies before touching them except for Football Zombies and Giga-gargantuars.

Fire Peas[]

This Gatling Peas and Torchwood combo disintegrate almost every zombie in its lane with its massive damage output and small splash range. With at least three Gatling Peas, you can ensure the constant stream of damage dealt to the horde of zombies. One interesting point is while burning peas unfreeze the first zombie in the front, their splash damage do not unfreeze the affected zombies. Moreover, Catapult Zombies will never get unfrozen by the burning peas by direct damage. So Ice-shrooms are very handy when it comes to slowing down the horde at the back.

However, the massive damage done is never good enough to hold off groups of Gargantuars, screen doors , and ice resurfacers. Gargantuars just take too long to die while the metallic duo negates the splash effect. However, there are ways to work around these pests.

Fire Peas 3

Here we have a common structure for Fire Peas structure. By using Gloom-shrooms to filter out any Screen Door Zombies too near to the defense and Spikerocks to pop off Zombonis and stall Gargantuars. This is a very common and solid structure for dealing with these zombies. However, its weakness here is doing the massive splash damage at the very last moment. So instants should be used to support the lane well.

Fire Peas 2

Here is another variant of the build where a Fume-shroom is used to deal with Screen Door Zombies. Screen Door Zombies without slowdown will collapse just as they are about to reach the Fume-shroom. So this is another good variant of Firepeas in Endless builds.

Imps[]

Imps 1

Imps are launched onto the back of the defense at columns 2, 3, and 4 as they are occupied by the Pumpkins. The regular Pumpkins represents where the Imps would normally land in the traditional endgame builds while the Imitater Pumpkins represent where they can also land if the Gargantuars throw them from column 9. Two Gloom-shrooms are recommended to deal with these critters. Imps come in abundance so the Pumpkins' maintenance should be prioritized first.

Digger Zombie[]

Digger Gloom 1

Digger Zombies will tunnel to the back of the lawn, snaps out from a couple seconds of dizziness and begin eating from the opposite direction. Once again, two Gloom-shrooms are recommended at dealing with them as they take at 2 to 4 bites off the Pumpkins.

Digger Gloom 2

Alternatively you can use three Gloom-shrooms to handle the Digger Zombies. The bites the Digger Zombies can make is reduced down to 0 to 2 with this Gloom-shrooms position. Cutting down the need of maintenance to a point you can repair those Pumpkins every 2 flags/5 minutes.

Digger Gloom 3

This is an odd structure to deal with Digger Zombies as it leaves a single tile of empty space. They can snap out of dizziness and begin waddling towards the plants but they will be dead before they can even touch the plants even if you plant the Pumpkins. However, I would not recommend this structure as having a single Gloom-shroom to deal with the nasty Imps is a bad idea.

Strategy 129837129873

On mobile, you can put 2 Gloom-shrooms on the eighth column and 1 or 2 plants on the ninth column. The Gloom-shrooms will 100% kill the Diggers before they can take a bite out of the plants the ninth column. The reason this works is because on mobile, the Digger Zombies emerge farther back and will walk for a longer time before starting to eat your plants. Doing this reduces the maintenance needed for pumpkins.

Modern Guide for Skilled Players[]

Hitbox[]

Plants have different hitboxes. Pumpkin > Tall-nut > other plants > Cob Cannon.

Plant Hitboxes

An image describing various common Survival Endless plants and their hitboxes

Pumpkin[]

Zombonis and Gargantuars will collide with pumpkins earlier than if there had not been a pumpkin. If these zombies are about to destroy any plant with a Pumpkin on, try removing the pumpkin so that the plant will be less likely to be flattened. Always be mindful of Football Zombies when doing so, as the plant is now unguarded. Jack-in-the-Box Zombies' explosions can take out the Pumpkin only, leaving the plant in it behind because of the slightly larger hitbox.

Cob Cannon[]

Plant_Hitbox

Plant Hitbox

Undamaged Cob Cannon after Jack-in-the-Box explosion.

Cob cannons have smaller hitboxes than normal plants (about 10 px), such as Lily Pad and Flower Pot. We can utilize it to let Zombonis/Jack-in-the-Box zombies take out the front Flower Pot/Lily Pad only without damaging the Cob Cannon.

Mushrooms[]

Puff-shroom, Sun-shroom, and Sea-shroom can have random shifts in their coordinates when planted. For Puff-shrooms and Sea-shrooms, the shifts (x, y) are (-5~+4, -3~+2), and for Sun-shroom it is (-5~+4, -5~+4). We can use this coordinate shift to let a jack-in-the-Box zombie take out the Lily Pad only, without harming the mushroom above. Therefore, with the right coordinates, we can have a "floating" mushroom above the pool, similarly to the undamaged cob cannon.

Source: https://pvz.lmintlcx.com/wiki/

Tempo[]

The rate of zombie waves arriving is affected by the amount of damage done to the current wave of zombies, not previous ones. The minimum time between the two zombie waves is 6.01 seconds. Otherwise, a new wave begins 2 seconds after there are enough damage to the zombies (0.50-0.65 of the total hp, laddersโ€™, newspapersโ€™, and screen doorsโ€™ hp are multiplied by 0.2). After 25 to 30s after the current wave, a new wave of zombies can spawn at any time, regardless of the damage done to the zombies. For waves 9 and 19 (just before flag waves), there will be an additional 7.45-to-46.44-second break, and there will be an additional 5-to-60-second break after wave 20. Those breaks can be used to wait for the Cob Cannons, Ice-shrooms and Doom-shrooms to recharge. The tempo can be either slowed down using Ice-shrooms or sped up with massive damaging instants. Tempo should be maintained steadily or there will be too many zombies to deal with while your seed packets are still recharging.

Ice Tempo[]

Classic_4_Cob

Classic 4 Cob

An application of ice tempo

Ice Tempo is a powerful tool in Survival: Endless. There is a time interval between when a new wave of zombies spawn and when zombies threaten your build. "Ice Tempo" means activating an Ice-shroom immediately after the zombies spawn, extending that time, giving time for the Cob Cannons and other instants to recharge. In Pool Endless, it requires precise timing of the Coffee Beans in order to make the Ice-shroom freeze immediately after a new wave of zombies spawn. A common reference is to put a Coffee Bean immediately after the Cobs land.

Common cobless tempo[]

For cobless and other builds with high DPS, there are 5 main types of tempos:

  1. Slow: With Giga-gargangtuar and Gargangtuar. The tempo is slow and steady.
  2. Normal varying: With Giga-gargantuar and Football Zombie, but no Gargangtuar. The tempo depends on the density of Gigas.
  3. Extreme varying: With Giga-gargantuar but no Gargangtuar, Football, or Buckethead Zombies. The tempo heavily depends on the density of Gigas.
  4. Fast: Without Giga-gargantuar or Gargangtuar, but with Football Zombie. The tempo is fast but steady.
  5. Extreme: Without Giga-gargantuar, Gargangtuar, Football, or Buckethead Zombies. The tempo is extremely fast but steady.

Common cob tempo[]

Cob builds have a relatively fixed tempo, because the DPS is low and the main damage is done by the Cob Cannons.

For example, the traditional 8 cob uses Cob 4 tempo. Using the Double-ice 4 tempo is more stable, but requires more sun and more skills

List of common PvZ Endless tempos
Name Description Timing for reference (s) Chinese name Total time (s)
Cob 3 Cob | Cob | Cob 12 | 12 | 12 P3 โ‰ฅ 34.75
Cob 4 Cob | Cob | Cob | Cob 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 P4 โ‰ฅ 34.75
Cob 5 Cob | Cob | Cob | Cob | Cob 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 P5 โ‰ฅ 34.75
Cob 5~ Cob | Cob | Cob | Cob | Cob 6 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9

or 6.6 | 7.5 | 6.6 | 7.5 |6.6

P5u โ‰ฅ 34.75
Cob 6 Cob | Cob | Cob | Cob | Cob | Cob 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 P6 36.06
Card 2 Ice - Doom | Ice - Cherry Jalepeno

or Jalapeno Ice - Doom | Cherry - Doom

25 | 25 C2 50.01
Card 3 Doom | Ice - Doom | Cherry Jalepeno 17 | 17 | 17 C3 โ‰ฅ 50.01
Single-ice 2 Ice - Cob | Cob 25 | 10 S3 (Formerly C3u-36s) โ‰ฅ 34.75
Single-ice 3 Ice - Cob | Cob | Cob 18 | 9 | 9 S4 (Formerly C4u-36s) โ‰ฅ 34.75
Single-ice 4 Ice - Cob | Cob | Cob | Cob 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 S5 (Formerly C5u-36s) โ‰ฅ 34.75
Single-ice 5 Ice - Cob | Cob | Cob | Cob | Cob 12 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 S6 (Formerly C6u-36s) โ‰ฅ 34.75
Double-ice 2 Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob 18 | 18 ch4 โ‰ฅ 34.75
Double-ice 2~ Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob 16 | 19 ch4u โ‰ฅ 34.75
Double-ice 2* Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob 20 | 20 ch4* 40 ~ 42
Double-ice 3 Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Cob 15 | 15 | 6 ch5 โ‰ฅ 34.75
Double-ice 3~ Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Cob 14 | 16 | 6 ch5u โ‰ฅ 34.75
Double-ice 4

(para)

Ice - Cob | Cob | Ice - Cob | Cob 12 | 6 | 12 | 6 (ๅฏน)ch6 โ‰ฅ 34.75
Double-ice 4

(ortho)

Ice - Cob | Ice-Cob | Cob | Cob 12 | 12 | 6 | 6 ้‚ปch6 โ‰ฅ 34.75
Night 2 Ice - Cob | Ice -Cob 25 | 25 C4u (Formerly C2 for Cob-builds) โ‰ฅ 50.01
Night 3 Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Doom 21 | 21 | 8 C5u (Formerly C5u-50s) โ‰ฅ 50.01
Night 4

(ortho)

Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Doom | Cob 18 | 18 | 9 | 9 (้‚ป)C6u (Formerly C6u-50s) โ‰ฅ 52.13
Night 4

(para)

Ice - Cob | Cob | Ice - Cob | Cob 19 | 6 | 19 | 6 ๅฏนC6u โ‰ฅ 50.01
Night 5 Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Doom | Cherry | Cob 18 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 ้‚ปC7u (Formerly ch7) โ‰ฅ 52.13
Night 5

(I or ortho)

Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Cob | Doom | Cob 17 | 17 | 6 | 6 | 6 ้‚ปC7u โ‰ฅ 52.13
Night 5

(II or meta)

Ice - Cob | Cob | Ice - Cob | Doom | Cob 17 | 6 | 17 | 6 | 6 ้—ดC7u โ‰ฅ 52.13
Night 6 Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Cob | Doom | Cherry | Cob 15 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 ้‚ปC8u (Formerly ch8) โ‰ฅ 52.79
Night 6

(I or ortho)

Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Cob | Cob | Doom | Cob 13 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 ้‚ปC8u โ‰ฅ 50.01
Night 6

(II or meta)

Ice - Cob | Cob | Ice - Cob | Cob | Doom | Cob 13 | 6 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 6 ้—ดC8u โ‰ฅ 50.01
Night 6

(III or para)

Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Cob | Cob | Doom | Cob 13 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 6 | 6 ๅฏนC8u โ‰ฅ 50.01
Night 7 Ice - Cob | Cob | Ice - Cob | Cob | Doom | Cherry | Cob 12 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 C9u (Formerly ch9) โ‰ฅ 52.78
Triple-ice 3 Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob 12 | 12 | 12 C6i โ‰ฅ 34.75
Triple-ice 4 Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Ice - Doom | Cob 18 | 18 | 12 | 6 Ch4-N (Formerly C7i) โ‰ฅ 52.13
Triple-ice 5 Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Ice - Cob | Doom | Cob 12 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 6 C6i-N (Formerly C8i-48s) 48
Reuse 2continious Ice - Cobs | Ice - Cobs 15.6 | 15.6 I4i 27.8 ~ 34.75
Reuse 3continious Ice - Cobs | Ice - Cobs | Ice - Cobs (with glitchy ices) 13.62 | 13.62 | 13.62 I6i 34.75 ~ 41.7
Reuse 3fragmented Ice - Cobs | Ice - Cobs | Cobs 13.3 | 13.3 | 6 I5 <34.75
Reuse 4 Ice - Cobs | Ice - Cobs | Ice - Cobs | Cobs tba I7 >34.75

All waves above with length of 6s are exactly 6.01s-lengthed.

Source: https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv13534815 and https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv6941883

Laddering[]

Imps 2

By now you have probably noticed maintaining Pumpkins is very tedious, despite the Imps that cause the damage being 10 normal pea shots weak. Attempting to ladder the Pumpkins is a challenging task for newcomers, so one must be careful while doing this.

The terrible encounters for newcomers to ladder the Pumpkins for the two flags are Jack-in-the-Box Zombies, Giga-gargantuars ,and Dancing Zombies. Zombonis can be halted with Spikeweed. Ladders are removed when explosives are in range, pumpkin gets repaired, Imitaters, the plant in it is dug out or upgraded. Although it is possible to ladder with Jacks in the round, they are still dangerous and must be killed before they could even get close to your setup. Laddering with Jacks is NOT recommended.

Plants_vs_zombies_tutorial_-_How_to_put_the_ladders_for_survival_endless_setups_(_Test_v0.0_)

Plants vs zombies tutorial - How to put the ladders for survival endless setups ( Test v0.0 )

Laddering_Strategy_for_Survival_Endless_1

Laddering Strategy for Survival Endless 1

Laddering_Strategy_for_Survival_Endless_2

Laddering Strategy for Survival Endless 2

Videos by hitoridakeno.

DPS level[]

Giga-gargangtuars are some of the toughest zombies to deal with. You usually need a combination of normal DPS and instants to kill them. DPS level (also known as IO level) is used to measure the amount of natural DPS (usually by Gloom-shrooms, Winter Melons, and Fume-shrooms). For example, if a row's DPS level is 1, you have to use 3 instants against Gigas, and then they will be killed by other plants. Also, the DPS level depends on the use of Ice-shroom and cannon fodders. Below shows each lane's approximate DPS level of some common builds. A side-gloom with melon to slow down is approximately one level.

Jack Suppression[]

Quartz Clock Cobless (GS) (WM) (FS) FS FS \n (UL) (GS) (WM) (GS) (FS) GS \n TS TS TS CT (IS) (IS) (GS) (GS) (GS) \n TS TS TS IS (IS) (CT) (GS) (GS) (GS) \n (UL) (GS) (WM) (GS) (FS) GS \n (GS) (WM) (FS) FS FS

Quartz Clock Cobless by ๅนณๆธŠ

Jack-in-the-Box Zombies have always been a notorious threat in Survival: Endless, most notably for endgame builds using 4 or fewer Cob Cannons.

5% of the Jacks begin to explode between 4.40 to 7.54 seconds after spawning, and the others begin to explode between 13.22 to 22.68 seconds after spawning. The exploding countdown pauses while the Jack is frozen, but is not affected while the Jack is slowed down. Once a Jack begins to explode, it can no longer be killed by normal attacks (such as Melons, Gloom-shrooms, Ice-shrooms and Squashes), and also immune to freezing. And the Jack will explode in 1.10 seconds, and during this interval, it is still able to be kill by an explosion (such as Cob, Doom-shroom, Cherry bomb and Jalapeno). However, an instant plant spends at least 1.00 second to prepare, so it is almost impossible to kill an exploding Jack without prejudging.

The concept of Jack suppression is to eliminate Jack-in-the-Box Zombies before they can pose a threat to the endgame build. Initially, everyone has the idea of suppressing Jack-in-the-Box by rotating Instants in rows 2 and 5 to minimize the possibility of Jack-in-the-Box destruction while providing consistent damage for the other rows.

There are three ways that you can approach Jacks.

  1. Kill all Jacks in less than 4.4 seconds (or kill them in less than 5.5 seconds with explosions) . This way they can't even blow up and inflict damage to your setup at all.
  2. Recede plants and let Early Jacks blow up nothing. Kill the remaining late Jacks before they could explode (13.22 seconds after spawning).
  3. Recede plants even further and let all Jacks blow up. (22.68 seconds after spawning).
Jack Explosion

Gloom-shrooms got blown up by Jacks...

Jack_Suppression_(1)-_Early_Jack

Jack Suppression (1)- Early Jack

Early Jacks pose a significant threat to many non-Cob strategies. They begin to explode after 4.4s. They are only 5% of all Jacks. There are mainly 3 ways to suppress early Jacks.

  1. Gloom-shroom on column 9. Freeze Jack after about 3 seconds. Almost Jacks are frozen within the Gloom-shroom and killed before they explode. However, A single Gloom sometimes fails. To have 100% suppression, it's better to have Glooms at columns 8 and 9.
  2. Instants. A rotation of instants and Cobs can kill Jack. However, if the instants are used late, Jacks can also blow it up. Also, Squash cannot kill Jacks that have already opened their surprise.
  3. Garlic + Spikeweed. You can use Garlic to poke Zombonis and Catapult Zombies, and then use Garlic to guide Jacks into other safe lanes.

Here is the first cobless build(optimized) to integrate the structure of Jack suppression. Gloom-shroom seed packet is not brought along when there is no Gloom-shroom taken down. With the proper use of ice-shrooms and other instants, it can either freeze jack-in-the-Box zombies inside the attacking range of the gloom-shrooms before any of them explode or blast them using instants before they explode.

Mechanical Clock Cobless (WM) [GS] [WM] (FS) FS \n (UL) (GS) (IS) (WM) (GS) GS \n TS IS IS IS TS (CT) (GS) (GS) (GS) \n TS TS IS CT TS (TS) (GS) (GS) (GS) \n (GS) [GS] [WM] (WM) (FS) GS \n (UL) (WM) (FS) (FS) FS

Mechanical Clock Cobless by czmppppp, with better Zomboni and Imp resistance

Gloom-shrooms on 3-8 and 3-9

Freeze the jacks within the range of gloom-shrooms

When playing, put a coffee bean on an Ice-shroom whenever a new wave of Jack-in-the-Box zombies spawn. It will freeze the jacks within the range of Gloom-shrooms.

However, there is one weakness of this build. The Gloom-shrooms are too strong against zombies with low hp. When there are no Gargantuars, Football Zombies, or Buckethead Zombies, the tempo will be extremely fast. It can be faster than the rotation of instants, or even faster than the recharge of Coffee Beans. This will make it almost impossible to perfectly suppress Jack-in-the-Box Zombies. Whenever a Jack-in-the-Box Zombie takes out a gloom-shroom, the rest of the build is not immune to Zombonis and gigas on the next time you select your card. If you want to fix your build while both column 8 and 9 glooms are out, it's better to repair column 9 first.

Winter melon on 1-3, fume-shroom on 1-4 and 1-5

Two Fume-shrooms have "natural" jack-suppression

On rows 1 and 6, Jack-suppression is also vital, because it can take out the gloom-shrooms on 2-6 and 5-6. Two fume-shroom are used to suppress jack-in-the-Box zombies in rows 1 and 6. Generally, Fume-shrooms on columns n and n-1 can protect plants from Jack explosion on column n+1. The probability of a Jack-in-the-Box Zombie on an upper row taking out a Gloom-shroom on a lower row is 0, while a lower jack has a 9/10000 chance to take out an upper Gloom-shroom. This is because the explosion range of Jack-in-the-Box Zombies is larger against the upper row.



Fume-shroom on 2-4, gloom-shrooms on 3-6 and 3-7

Kills jacks within its non-exploding interval

Fume-shrooms on 1-3 and 1-4

Naturally kills jacks

So the players have been trying to the gloom-shrooms to slow down the tempo while making it still able to fight Zombonis and Gigas. The idea of suppressing Jack-in-the-Box further developed that year. Since 5% of the Jack-in-the-Box Zombies will explode at either column 8 or 9. Players have decided to move their builds two tiles back to negate this 5%. The remaining 95% will be frozen within the range of gloom-shrooms and fume-shrooms, and they will be killed before they explode during their 5.68-seconds non-explosion period. However, a very small amount of Jack explosions (We're talking about less than 1% here) can still occur due to premature freezing by the Winter Melons or wrong timing of ice-shrooms. In pool endless, put a coffee bean on an ice-shroom immediately after the Jack-in-the-Box Zombies spawn.

1CobSuppression

1 Cob Suppression Build by ๅพ็ˆฑๅคง่’œ (2010)

This build is one of the refined builds of Jack suppression. There are two different tempos with each having a unique method of Jack suppression.

Bungee Zombies and Pool Ambush[]

Those zombies are annoying in Survival: Endless since they can attack your plants directly from above (or below). The best way to deal with Bungee Zombies is to use Umbrella Leaves, but sometimes there is not enough space to plant enough Umbrella Leaves. The best way to deal with the pool ambush is to put a pumpkin on every plant in columns 6-9, but unfortunately, Pumpkins cannot protect Cob Cannons.

An alternative way to deal with Bungee Zombies is to freeze them with Ice-shroom when they land. Pool Ambush can also be dealt with by waking up an Ice-shroom 5 seconds after the "A HUGE WAVE OF ZOMBIES IS APPROACHING!" text appears, or waking up a Doom-shroom after the text disappears. The former will stop the Pool Ambush from spawning in the first place, while the latter blows up the Pool Ambush in their spawn animation, preventing them from getting a single bite in. You could also cob the Pool Ambush, but this has a smaller margin of error. When you do so, please cob row 4.

See: Bungee Zombie: Strategies

See: Surprise Attacks: Strategies: Plants vs. Zombies

Harmless[]

Harmless is a term coined for builds that can be untouchable by zombies (including Jack-in-the-Box) with proper management. There are easily harmless 4+ Cob Cannon builds at the year 2009. However, combining cobless builds and Jack-in-the-Box suppression poses a problem. It is impossible to have a build with such traits without making another structure vulnerable.

Naked_Plants_vs._Zombies-_The_Reckoning_(COBLESS_Flag_300_and_Beyond)

Naked Plants vs. Zombies- The Reckoning (COBLESS Flag 300 and Beyond)

This is one of the first attempts on harmless and cobless in the western community. The build is by draco89123. However, there is not a single attempt to suppress Jack-in-the-Box Zombies. So this is actually a pseudo/semi-harmless build. Column 4 is unladdered so there is a possibility of Imps eating the Winter Melons and Fume-shrooms. Laddering column 4 would deny Doom-shroom use on column 7. There is also no permanent Ice-shroom slot too.

True Harmless

This design is based around the idea of Jack suppression, although the probability is not 100% on consecutive fast tempo levels. Ice-shroom is required to time on the Bungee Zombies. But since that's the case, Ambush Zombies from the pool can take a bite at the Gloom-shroom at the instant they spawned. However, with a Buckethead Zombie emerging in front of the frontmost Gloom-shrooms on the pool, this setup is not perfectly harmless.

Imps may be able to survive the Spikerocks and reach your Lawn Mowers/brains if not slowed down. It also doesn't use Winter Melons for the outer rows either, making you rely on strong zombies with high HP to splash the outer row zombies, or you'll have to depend on Ice-shroom for that. Protecting the Fume-shrooms on 1-4 and 6-4 is also hard as the Pumpkins make the hitbox bigger.

No-Sunflower Setup[]

If you're considering a no-Sunflower challenge, it is highly recommended that you use a laddered Cob Cannon strategy so sun spending is little to none. You should also have a sustainable way of stopping the pool ambush. You can Cob them when they spawn so you have used up no sun at all in a single round.

Plants Needed:

  • Puff-shroom1
  • Imitater1
  • Lily Pad1
  • Sea-shroom1
  • Cattail1
  • Pumpkin1
  • Coffee Bean1
  • Fume-shroom1
  • Gloom-shroom1
  • Kernel-pult1
  • Cob Cannon1
  • Melon-pult1
  • Winter Melon1
  • Umbrella Leaf1

Begin by building up sun, this can be done by planting sleeping Puff shrooms for the zombies to chew on while you build your defense. Begin by planting Cattails in the pool as you build up sun. Place Sea shrooms in the pool to protect the cattails, Start to plant Gloom shrooms near the entrance and pumpkin them. Now, begin setting up Kernel pults and then getting cob cannons there. Start laddering empty pumpkins (more info on the next paragraph) and plant umbrella leaves, winter melons and fume shrooms in them. You should have 6-10 cob cannons to deal with the gargs that come later in the level. use puff shrooms to stall the digger zombies and plant gloom shrooms in the back to kill them. Optionally, you can decorate by putting some plants in flower pots but that isn't necessary. I hope this helped and you can check the link below for more tips.

Survival endless no sunflower: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAwy58xUqdw

Strategies[]

Feel free to add your own strategies here, but see the rules page first.

Special Thanks[]

George Fan: For making this game very appealing especially the game mechanics. I may have doubts in giving my gratitude for making Jack-in-the-Box infuriating to play against though.

Draco89123: Being the first Western player to invent one of the first Cobless build and attempted to communicate with Baidu. Also introduced me to Cobless and the mechanics of Plants vs Zombies.

ๆค็‰ฉๅคงๆˆ˜ๅƒตๅฐธๅง: For being extremely disciplined and dedicated to making huge advancements to the structure of Survival Endless builds. Still the biggest Plants vs Zombies community out there!

Hitori Dakeno: Being one of the first person outside of ๆค็‰ฉๅคงๆˆ˜ๅƒตๅฐธๅง to develop into post-2009 strategies and attempted to introduce the more advanced Plants vs Zombies builds especially from the community.

V ยท T ยท E
Survival Mode
Normal Day ^ ยท Night ยท Pool ยท Fog ยท Roof ยท Great Wall
Hard Day ^ ยท Night ^ ยท Pool ยท Fog ^ ยท Roof ^
Endless Day ^ ยท Night ^ ยท Pool ^ ยท Fog ^ ยท Roof ^ ยท Night Roof ^ ยท Dr. Zomboss's Revenge ยท Column Like You See 'Em ยท Great Wall ยท Great Wall (Night) ยท Great Wall (Pool) ยท Great Wall (Fog)
Galleries General ยท Icons ยท Survival: Endless
^: Strategy page
Advertisement