Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville features a lot of mechanics that cater to beginners while also allowing players to experiment and explore for themselves. Most things are pretty obvious and explained by the game's tutorials or descriptions. The game even shows arrows to point the player in the right direction a lot of the time. Some things however, have remained hidden until recently.
Many characters have secret abilities, side effects to certain perks, and some have little Easter eggs tied to their game play. In order to play the game at a high level, it's important to learn these little tricks to improve performance.
Foot Soldier Stink Bomb
The Foot Soldier is a standard Zombie class that deals good damage from most ranges and has slightly above average movement speed. This class is versatile and doesn't have many downsides to their build. Their Super Stink Cloud is an ability that allows them to deal damage over time to enemies within the cloud, and extra damage when enemies are shot in the cloud.
This ability has a secret ability that the game doesn't tell players as well. When players are surrounded by their own cloud, they actually remain hidden from Kernel Corn's Butter Beacon ability which reveals his enemy's location. Using this secret technique can help Zombie players get the jump on Kernel Corn and his allies.
Cooldown Times
Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville is based around the abilities of each character class and how they interact with the abilities of their allies and opponents. Some moves recover quickly and allow for improved escape options, and others recover very slowly but deal massive damage when used properly.
With all that said, it's important for players to know the cool downs of their skills in their heads before using them in battle. If there're two fire fights happening close to each other, players should save their defensive ability until they absolutely need it, or use it at a time they know it can cool down before the next fight. It's a small tip but it goes a long way in gauging risk vs. reward during battle.
Electric Slide
Electric Slide is a fun and dynamic class that has a variety of skills aimed at hindering their opponent. Their normal attack has a slow fire rate but gains a secret skill as a trade off for its slow attack speed. If players manage to hit 6 hits of their normal attack in a row on a single enemy, that enemy becomes stunned and can't attack. This is a great support ability to use on large tank units like Oak to slow down their offensive approach and leave them open for attacks from allied Zombies.
Captain Deadbeard Anchors Away
Generally, Anchors Away is a mobility skill that lets Captain Deadbeard get a height advantage over his enemies or escape a sticky situation. These skills are extremely useful in Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville since the arenas have a lot of vertical reach for players to explore.
Anchors Away has another use, not mentioned by the game itself. If players aim the anchor directly on top of an enemy, they can use it to deal about 20 damage. This also puts him in very close range with the opponent so players need to be careful what unit they use this attack on. Being close is usually pretty good for Deadbeard since his normal attack has short range and fires like a shotgun.
Scientist Revive
The Scientist class can revive its allies by standing in a purple circle around a downed ally and pressing the revive button. What makes this so special for the Scientist is that they can use their healing ability at the same time as reviving, to ensure their ally has full health on revival.
To do this, players should get the Super Savior upgrade which allows players to jump and use abilities while healing. Combining the revival with the Sticky Healy Thingy is a great tactic to maximize the Scientist. Players can also revive multiple allies as long as they're within the circle.
Engineer Speed Boost
Battle For Neighborville involves a lot of running between points and it can become really tedious. Luckily there're support characters like Rose for the Plants that can boost speed and Engineer for the Zombies. When Engineer is on his jackhammer, white lines trail off his body and appear behind him for other players to see. His hidden secret ability allows players to get a speed boost as long as they follow directly behind him. This ability is great for certain game modes and helps players close the gap between them and their opponents.
Super Brainz Tips
Super Brainz is a great example of a character with synergy within themselves and their own moves. Lots of characters work together well with others, but Super Brainz is a solo machine with his own cool combos and ways to increase damage. This combo specifically involves his Hyper Jump Thump and Super Ultra Ball.
When using Hyper Jump Thump, players can actually cancel the part where Super Brainz lands with the explosive attack. Right when he reaches the pinnacle of his jump, use Super Ultra Ball and aim it at the nearest enemies. As long as the upper cut connects, this combo does more damage overall than the Hyper Jump Thump itself, and if the right skills are equipped, can lead to faster kills and refresh times.
Teamwork Makes The Dream Work
The newest class added to the Zombie family, TV Head, has a special ability that boosts its defense when near other players. When TV Head is near another TV Head character in battle, it receives a 20% boost to its defense. This ability also stacks for each TV Head player so each TV Head near the player boosts their defense as well. This means 2 players nearby would give a boost of 35% and 3 grants 45%. Players should try to abuse this bonus whenever they can to extend the lives of their TV Heads and make it hard for the enemy to press any advantage on them.
Smart Spawning
Being vanquished in Battle For Neighborville is a hindrance that can sometimes place players in sticky situations. A lot of times, the spawn beacon actually isn't safe and there could be a battle happening around it, resulting in consecutive deaths.
To avoid this, players can actually switch their camera view to the player who killed them, their death point, or the spawn beacon. This means it's possible to scope out the situation around the spawn beacon before appearing there, saving a possible headache for another time.
All Star Abilities
All Star is a defensive class for the Zombies in Battle For Neighborville with a few unique interactions between his upgrades and abilities. A great example of this is his Shoot The Gap upgrade. On paper, the upgrade mentions allowing Sprint Tackle to travel further but it also has a hidden upgrade. Using Shoot The Gap also allows Sprint Tackle to hit multiple enemies if they're close enough to each other.
Huge Fuse is another example of an upgrade with a secret boost. On paper, Huge Fuse deals additional damage when hitting an enemy directly with Imp Punt. In effect, this also makes Imp Punt explode immediately if it makes direct contact with an enemy. There're tons of secrets like this the game doesn't tell players so be sure to experiment!