The Tale of The Spooky Squash: Tutorial

The Tale of the Spooky Squash is a Boss Hunt in which the Players operate as a team of Zombies against a horde of Plants and a powerful Plant Boss. The game mode relies heavily on coordinated team work between four (4) Players. Microphones are encouraged, if not vital.

TIME LIMIT: 30 Minutes

There is a time limit to game play and should the thirty (30) minutes allowed for play expire the Spooky Squash will become "Enraged" and at that point Boss Hunt will make every effort to completely destroy the Players as the difficulty will dramatically increase with Big Stumps and additional plants spawning in. Once the Spooky Squash becomes Enraged you have only 90 additional seconds to vanquish him before he flees and the game is lost.

PLANT OPPONENTS

The Plant enemies featured in the The Tale of the Spooky Squash Boss Hunt are limited but can appear in larger hordes. Weeds are the most abundant while the various Plant Hero Classes have a more limited appearance.When selecting your character class base your choice on how well you can tackle these types of Plant opponents;

The Spooky Squash
Torchwood

Big Stump
Citron (default)
Kernal Corn (default)
Rose (default)
Rock Pea
Chomp Thing
Puff Dandelions
Weeds (variety with emphasis on Pumpkin and Cauldron wearing Weeds)

TEAM COMPOSITION

Character choice plays a large role in the success or failure of the Boss Hunt as well as the individual skill level of each Player, how well they can use their chosen Character and how well they can function as a team both with or without verbal instructions,

When reviewing the composition of your team bear in mind that during the course of game play the Zombie team will be divided into two teams of two Players, which will be explained more below, and due to this and the elevated level of difficulty associated with the Boss Hunt some characters can of more effective than others.

Basic team composition must include at least one Scientist, if not two or more.The Doctor Toxic variant is useful due to the fact that his Toxic Aura will damage nearby Plants. The Computer Scientist is also a good choice to to the wide spread of his weapon coupled with decent range and his Crunch Time Legendary ability which will buff his speed and damage. The Physicist is also useful due to his range and the electrical arcing of his weapon upon a hit. The Chemist has possibly the widest damage spread of any Scientist which makes him excellent at crowd control, but the short range of his weapon means that he is not well suited to Anchoring the Guardian (more on that later). Scientists should be equipped with the Heal Beam to ensure good mobility while healing and the Mega-Heal Bomb for both self-healing and bulk team healing.

The elevated Health of the Super Brainz class makes them a good fit for a team as well. The Toxic Brains can be particularly useful as his Toxic aura can damage opponents who are simply nearby and his Toxic Overload Legendary ability provides him with buffed damage and speed. Lacking a Toxic Brainz the Electro Brainz varant is also a good option as his electrical beam attack can arc among close groups of Plant opponents and Party Brainz also benefits from his Legendary Party Time mode for a similar buff in speed and damage. Because the Super Brainz is most damaging when punching it is a good idea to pair with a Scientist who can operate slightly at a distance with a Heal Beam to keep Super Brainz on his feet.

The All Star also benefits from high Health and can be roughly interchanged for a Super Brainz. Unlike Super Brainz the All Star primary weapon characteristics vary greatly among the variants so select one with which you are comfortable. Some notable considerations are the Rugby Star for the Fire effect of his Flaming Cricket Blaster, the Goalie Star for his ability to freeze Plants with his Ice Puck Cannon and the Moto-X Star's ability to disable Plant abilities and attacks with his Dirt Devastator. Tactically the All Star's Dummy Shield can serve both as protective cover as well as a distraction or decoy for the Plant Opponents as they tend to demonstrate a tendency to want to destroy them over performing other actions.

The Engineer class, while lower in Health, deals Splash damage with most of his variants. The Welder, Electrician and Sanitation Expert all have useful elemental effects to their primary weapon and their Sonic Grenades or Sonic Mines can provide a short respite should things get a bit dicey in combat.

The Foot Soldier is another class where the primary weapon characteristics can vary greatly among the different variants so be familiar and comfortable with the weapon of your chosen Foot Soldier. General Supremo has an advantage of infinite ammo offset by an overheat penalty and rapidly decreasing accuracy during burst fire but both of those negatives can be mitigated through good burst control. The Arctic Soldier has the ability to slow and freeze the Plant opponents which can be an advantage and the Park Ranger has an equivalent Toxic effect. The Scuba Soldier also has the benefit of higher damage with Splash damage. The high mobility options for the Foot Soldiers are an asset, as is the Stink Bomb which can be used to blind the opponents to your presence

Captain Deadbeard and his variants have the advantage of a broad damage spread in close range but must Zoom in order to reach any significant range, which can be a disadvantage since you become less aware of your immediate surroundings when Zoomed. Because of this I would recommend these variants only for particularly skilled Players who are comfortable with the classes quirks. Another negative is due to the fact that the Parrot Pal special ability will be largely useless due to the large number of enemies which constantly spawn; you cannot count of a "safe" area where you can be undisturbed long enough to make any decent use of the Parrot Pal without being so far away from the action that you cannot be helped should Plants mob you while you are controlling it. Should you choose this class Captain Flameface is recommended for the fire effect of his weapon as is Captain Partyman for his Legendary Party Time ability which will buff his speed and damage.

The low standard Health of the Imp means that I recommend it only for skilled players. While the Z-Mech associated with each Imp can be a powerful ally on the field when on foot an Imp Player must be extremely skilled to stay alive among the hordes of Plants which try to overrun you. If you elect to play an Imp choose the variant with which you are most comfortable and lean toward the variants which can call down Z-Mechs with longer range weaponry. When Playing an Imp you should not be the Player to carry The Hungry Bucket (more on this later).

Hover Goat 3000 has a lot of tactical advantages in its Special Abilities which make it a good fit for the team. It's ability to Buff the damage of other Players and to impart a temporary Speed Boost can both prove invaluable. It is also important to note that the damage buff imparted by the Hover Goat 3000 also stacks with the damage buff imparted by Sugar Rush (more on that later).

STARTING THE GAME

The game will not start until four (4) Players have entered the map. The first task will be to choose Candy Bait to lure the Plants; the choice of Bait will determine the difficulty level and the first person to arrive at the baiting location is allowed to choose the Bait, and therefore the difficulty level;

Normal Mode: Scary Candy
Hard Mode: Enchanted Candy
Crazy Mode: Scrumptious Candy

Once the Bait has been chosen it must be defended through three waves of Plants, a basic wave followed by the Pumpkin Legion which is then followed by a wave including a Big Stump. If the bait is destroyed at any point during these initial waves the game ends. If the bait is successfully defended the Spooky Squash will spawn at the Bait location.

THE SPOOKY SQUASH

The Spooky Squash is not actually invulnerable; it features a Health pool which is capable of absorbing massive amounts of damage- I would estimate upwards of 100,000+ damage. The health pool is large enough that your characters in their default state cannot inflict enough damage to noticeably effect it's visible Health bar. In order to inflict meaningful damage you must enter a state of Sugar Rush, which is explained below.

If left alone the Spooky Squash will randomly wander the map and only attack Players who are close by and in line of sight by using a Fireball or Flame Breath attack. If attacked it will return fire and target the attacker(s)- this is a losing proposition for the team at this point since it cannot be meaningfully damaged during most of the time spent in the Hunt. Avoiding or hiding from the Spooky Squash is the tactic to follow at this time.

After the spawn of the Spooky Squash the team should leave the Bait site and split up into two teams of two. 

ANCHORING THE GUARDIAN

In order to enter Sugar Rush you must first obtain the Hungry Bucket, and in order to find the Hungry Bucket you must first summon and defeat it's Guardian
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The first team of two will need to retreat to the rooftop area where the team initially spawned. In this area will be found two Graveyard sites. At a certain point the game will announce that you must "Anchor the Guardian" and a ring will appear around each Graveyard site. One Player and must enter and remain in each ring for the next phase of the Hunt- they are the "Anchor Players".
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After both rings are occupied for a few moments a Torchwood Guardian will spawn on the map. If at any point an Anchor Player leaves their ring for more than a a couple of seconds or if they are vanquished and not revived in a couple of seconds the Anchor will be broken and this Torchwood Guardian will disappear and will need to be re-summoned, a process which will restore it to full Health.

The two rings are too far apart for a Scientist in one ring to directly Heal Beam the Player in the other ring but a strategic toss of the Mega Heal Bomb can have the Bomb roll the entire distance from one Anchor Point to the other. There is also a strategically placed turret mount where a Dr Heals can be placed. Anchor Players must defend themselves from within the rings and the Tombstone in the center can be used to hide from, or as cover against, the Spooky Squash should it decide to randomly wander up onto the rooftop during this phase.

While the Anchor Players maintain defend themselves at the Graveyard points the other two players must engage and defeat the Torchwood Guardian while also dealing with additional Plant reinforcements.

Also bear in mind that a Foot Soldier's  Zombie Stink Cloud can provide concealment from the Spooky Squash should he climb onto the rooftop where the Anchors are located, as well as from the Torchwood Guardian and other Plant Heroes as long as the Zombie Stink Cloud is positioned so that they cannot see you they will not fire upon you.

Should the Guardian be defeated the next phase will begin and the Anchor Players are once again free to roam the map.

THE HUNGRY BUCKET

In the next phase of achieving Sugar Rush you must find the Hungry Bucket which will appear randomly on the map. Once player must retrieve this bucket which they will then carry for the remainder of the phase; should the Bucket Player be vanquished this phase will reset and any progress will be lost so the character with the Bucket should act accordingly and the other Players should act to protect and heal this Player. While carrying the Hungry Bucket the player will be unable to access their Special Abilities so bear this in min before deciding which character should have the task.

Once Bucket has been acquired the Hungry Bucket will desire Sour Candy. The Sour Candy can be obtained from three Plant Champions which must be defeated within certain a short time limit. When defeated each Champion will drop one piece of Sour Candy. Retrieving this Candy will add more time to the counter to defeat the next Champion.

During this Sour Candy retrieval phase it is important to note that only the player carrying the Hungry Bucket can safely retrieve the Sour Candy. If any Player other than the one carrying the Hungry Bucket picks up the Candy he will be vanquished by the Sourness of the Candy and no time will be added to the timer.

If the three Plant Champions are not defeated and their Sour Candy retrieved within the time limit "All Hallows Eve" will occur and the team will automatically be vanquished.

If all three pieces of Candy are successfully retrieved the Bucket will experience Sugar Rush.

SUGAR RUSH

During Sugar Rush the entire team will experience a massive, but temporary, buff in damage which will multiply their damage output by a thousandfold, enough to inflict meaningful damage on the Spooky Squash, and they will gain an immunity to being set on fire by the attacks of the Spooky Squash. The entire team should then engage the Spooky Squash and inflict as much damage as possible before the timer expires; during this time any other Plants and Plant Heroes can be vanquished in a single hit due to the massive damage buff. Remember that the damage buff provided by the Hover Goat 3000 will stack with Sugar Rush, as will damage buffs provided by any Legendary modes such as Party Time, Toxic Overload or Crunch time.

RINSE AND REPEAT

Once the timer expires the buff ends and the Spooky Squash once again cannot be meaningfully damaged by the team.

At this point game play repeats with Anchoring the Guardian and the team splitting into two pairs once again with one pair acting as Anchors at the Graveyards and the other two engaging a new Torchwood Guardian, followed again by another phase of gathering Sour Candy for the Bucket and another Sugar Rush phase until the Spooky Squash is defeated.

Expect to do this three times on average, twice if you have an exceptional team, but on the third go around of the cycle "Spooky Trees" will appear and two Big Stumps will spawn with the Plant reinforcements. It is highly suggested that both Big Stumps be vanquished before attempting to Anchor the Guardian the third time.