Plants Town Center - Elusive Foes Guide!

Hi everyone,

In this thread here I am going to provide information on finding the Elusive Foes in Plants Town Center. I will include information about what they are, what they look like and how to defeat them, along with more information.

What are Elusive Foes?

Elusive Foes are relatively rare enemies located around each free-roam region. Each free-roam region has a total of 3 Elusive Foes. They are found in particular areas or circumstances, and reward you if you defeat them. To complete the Plants Town Center region fully, you must defeat each Elusive Foe at least once, as they reward you with an exclusive medal if you vanquish them - either a shared or direct one counts. Elusive Foes have a special name that is displayed around their head and have an aura around them, some of them have a special gimmick and they are all elite foes, which means you cannot eat them as a Chomper. Elite foes have more health than a Champion or regular hero. 

Names of Elusive Foes

The names for the Elusive Foes in Plants Town Centre are Fantastico, Pack Rat and Squiddy Shaw. I will give detailed information on where to find them, such as their location and their approximate rarity to find, as well as other information. I will include my personal tips to help defeat them, and include a picture of me battling them.  

THE ELUSIVE FOES

Fantastico

Fantastico is an Elusive Foe found in Sundrop Hills. He will always appear in this area, but when you get to the bridge, turn right instead and go along the long road, until you get to a dead end. He will appear when you get to the end of the road. He is guaranteed to appear, so get ready to fight him when he appears. He is an 80s Action Hero who is wearing the "Unicorn Hero" set. 

• Location: Sundrop Hills.
• Rarity: Common.
• Special Gimmicks: Turns invincible every few seconds and can still attack you.
• Medal Received for Defeating Him: ELUSIVE FOE: Fantastico.

My tips for having an easier time defeating him are as follows:

• When he is invincible, use cover to hide or use this time to regenerate, reload or start charging up an ability that has a delay before it is used, such as Sap Trap.
• Use your damaging abilities while he is not invincible, otherwise you will waste them and need to wait to use them again.
• He is not going anywhere, if your health is getting low, you can retreat and come back when you are at full health or when your abilities have recharged.
• Damaging abilities such as Pea Gatling and Sunbeam are effective against him, but save your ammo and other abilities while he is invincible.
• He will always appear at the end of the road, so consider what character and their upgrades you will use before fighting him.

To find out more about Fantastico, including his exact location in Sundrop Hills, go to this page: https://plantsvszombies.fandom.com/wiki/Fantastico

To find out more about the Fantastico medal you obtain by defeating him, go to this page: https://plantsvszombies.fandom.com/wiki/ELUSIVE_FOE:_Fantastico

To watch someone finding Fantastico, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H-3MzMgilw

Pack Rat

Pack Rat is an Elusive Foe found in the Sewers of the Town Center. He will be located near where you start the Plumbing Gig, and behind the movie theater in Up-Down Uptown. However, he will not always appear, and other enemies will take his place. If this happens, you can reload your Town Center to reattempt and try and get him to spawn again. If not, rinse and repeat. He will also sometimes be located near the museum in Up-Down Uptown as well. He is a Foot Soldier who is wearing the "Corporal Shootypants" costume and the "Rubbish Ranger" set. 

• Location: The Sewers or the Museum.
• Rarity: Uncommon.
• Special Gimmicks: Permanent increased damage. 
• Medal Received for Defeating Him: ELUSIVE FOE: Pack Rat.

My tips for having an easier time defeating him are as follows: 

• He has an increased damage buff, so characters with more health and healing capabilities will increase your chances of survival.
• Use cover around the sewers or museum if your health is getting low. 
• Try and use your abilities to quickly take him out, the longer he lingers around, the more chance he has of being able to vanquish you.

To find out more about Pack Rat, including his exact location in The Sewers, go to this page: https://plantsvszombies.fandom.com/wiki/Pack_Rat

To find out more about the Pack Rat medal you obtain by defeating him, go to this page: https://plantsvszombies.fandom.com/wiki/ELUSIVE_FOE:_Pack_Rat

To watch someone finding Pack Rat, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDmJI2OqI5s

Squiddy Shaw

Squiddy Shaw is an Elusive Foe found in Pressure Pier. To get him to appear, trigger Battle Zones to appear around Pressure Pier and he will have a small chance of appearing throughout the Battle Zone or Skirmish. If you complete a Battle Zone and he does not appear, you will have to repeat until he appears. To try and find him faster, attempt to start and complete Battle Zones faster, by using characters with mobility to get around to enemies more quickly and/or damage to vanquish random enemies or enemies that appear in the Battle Zone faster. He is a Captain Deadbeard who is wearing the "Captain Shipwreck" costume and the "Octo-Dinner" hat. 

• Location: Pressure Pier (sometimes during Battle Zones).
• Rarity: Legendary.
• Medal Received for Defeating Him: ELUSIVE FOE: Squiddy Shaw.

My tips for having an easier time defeating him are as follows:

• Squiddy Shaw should not leave the area, so to make it easier to defeat him, finish the Battle Zone and leave him until last, then vanquish him. However, if his health is getting low due to other plants attacking him in the area, deal damage to him so you can still get the medal.
• He has a lot of health, so use attacks and abilities that deal a lot of damage to him to guarantee a shared vanquish, or to quickly and directly vanquish him.
• Try to use attacks and abilities that have an area-of-effect or splash damage to clear out other enemies in the area, while also damaging Squiddy Shaw himself.
• If any Scientists are healing Squiddy Shaw, vanquish them quickly as he will be up to full health in no time.
• When he appears, you could change to a different character which you are more experienced with, he will not despawn and you will hopefully have an easier time defeating him.

To find out more about Squiddy Shaw, go to this page: https://plantsvszombies.fandom.com/wiki/Squiddy_Shaw

To find out more about the Squiddy Shaw medal you obtain by defeating him, go to this page: https://plantsvszombies.fandom.com/wiki/ELUSIVE_FOE:_Squiddy_Shaw

To watch someone finding Squiddy Shaw, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdN2HOBWj90

CONCLUSION AND REWARDS

While some of these Elusive Foes can be quite rare to find or hard to defeat, you will gain 75 XP for each one you defeat with the character you are playing as, which is nice for levelling up with that character. For this reason, I suggest switching to a character that you want XP for when an Elusive Foe appears to grant XP for that character. Also, the first time you defeat that Elusive Foe, you get a special medal, so defeating the Elusive Foes are required to fully complete Plants Town Center and collect all of the medals. If you learn their (potential) gimmicks and can get around them, you will be rewarded for your efforts. As some of these Elusive Foes can take a while to find, you may want to get a friend to join you and help you find them. If you do, you and your friends can each get the medal if they have not already, from each of you contributing enough damage to get a shared vanquish (which should be pretty easy due to their significantly increased health). Elusive Foes wear exclusive costumes and have special auras that no other characters have in PvE, so they should be pretty easy to spot. Just make sure that when you are in the right area, that you keep a lookout for them and their auras. I hope that this guide was helpful, I will see you next time!

Bye now!

Regards

@TheSprinter85