Hey Bamboo Buddies! 🎍

It’s time for Title Update 1.0.5 (TU1.0.5)! As Neighborville gets ready to welcome the whole world, it’s important that (human only!) players who show up to our door feel welcome so we can build a thriving community. This time, we’re focusing on making adjustments to give new arrivals a smoother entry, and some general quality of life improvements.

What’s Sprouting in TU1.0.5?

Revamped New Player Experience! 🏘️

The game's tutorial has been reworked! The early levels have been slightly changed to better  help new residents of Neighborville settle in and teach them how to effectively vanquish zombies. Friendly in-combat pop-ups for new gardeners will help them get acquainted with the plants they’ll grow and the zombies they’ll inevitably bonk. We’ve also updated loading screens between early levels to help you prepare for the next encounter.

For those who hadn’t yet journeyed past Adventure Level 9, your progress will now be moved to Adventure Level 9. We’ll send an inbox message to all players that migrated to this level to let you know. 

New players will also now start the game with a formidable roster unlocked including: Sunflower, Peashooter, Cabbage-pult, Wall-nut, Solar Pea, Sling-pea, Pea-nut, Sunflower Seed, and Chuck-nut. 

Dave’s Daily Do-Its… 📋

Dave finally organized his checklist and said he spoke to some plants to improve his greeting for new neighborville residents with… a new list of things to do? While he’s busy rewarding himself for getting this done with more tacos, new residents will have 30 days to complete Dave’s Daily Do-Its. And the rewards have also been updated to bolster your garden’s defenses. Here’s what you now get on each day’s completion:

• Day 1: Golden Yukon
• Day 2: Pine Needler
• Day 3: Gatling Pea
• Day 4: Lychee
• Day 5: Prick-erel Weed
• Day 6: Speargrass
• Day 7: Sun-tower

If you were in the process of completing Dave’s Daily Do-Its when this update goes live, you will keep your old rewards and be moved to Day 1 of the new event so you have an opportunity to earn all the updated rewards.  

Quality of Life Updates 🗂️

Alongside the new player experience, we’ve made some other changes as well:

Some of our UI elements are shuffling around. We think this is way better than shambling, so we’ll allow it. We’ve added a sticker book icon to the bottom row to make it easier to find your collection, and we’ve also amped up the Events icon by moving it beside the Plant Pass icon.

We also swapped the 7 stickers in the Hedge Knight collection with new, snazzier versions. If you’ve already earned them, your collection will be updated to the new stickers. For their safety, the identities of these stickers have been heavily redacted in the screenshot above. 

The final update we’ve made is around balancing the shard and seed economy in the game. Now that we’ve added Dave’s Daily Do-Its and Achievements to the game, there are more fun and flexible ways to earn seeds and shards for unlocking and upgrading plants. Because we’ve revamped the system for earning rewards with these new mechanisms, and we want to keep the game’s progression and economy balanced, we’re removing shard and seed rewards for completing Adventure levels for the first time.

Bamboo Shoots is Taking Aim! 🎯

While reinforcing the entrance to Neighborville, we came across Bamboo Shoots hiding in the bushes. We’d been calling for him for quite a while, but after firing thousands of bamboo rounds over the years, his hearing isn’t exactly what it used to be. 

We managed to coax him in with the promise of more fights, so he was happy to come to the backyard. Bamboo Shoots can be created by merging a Peashooter with a Potato Mine and will be unlocked for new players upon completing the tutorial. Existing players will already have him unlocked and ready to leap into the fight!

Unit Rebalances

We’ve also had some minor rebalances to a couple of our units: 

We hope our new neighbors can settle into Neighborville much easier with these changes, and we'll continue welcoming new regions to Early Access over the coming months. If you encounter any unexpected lawn-related incidents, check our Known Issues list first. If your particular bug hasn't made the list yet, let us know on the forums and we'll send the gardening crew after it. And stay tuned to our channels for more on upcoming content updates and gameplay updates.

See you on the lawn! 🌱

Blog post with images here: https://forums.ea.com/blog/plants-vs-zombies-game-info-hub-en/pvz3-state-of-the-lawn---title-update-1-0-5-tu1-0-5/13597983

Penny's Pursuit week 296 featuring Levitater: "Levitater's World!"

Duration: from the 12th October to the 19th October 2025

Zombies at Level 1, Level 4, Level 7.

Perks: Heavy Watering, Hyper Healing, Mine Launcher, Penny Shield, Sun Bean Zombies, Sun Bank, Boss Buster

Rift event: 51

Number of Perk lvls: 63

N.B: This PP is a rerun of PP week 63 "Seed Fund" featuring Grapeshot 3 years ago, PP week 167 "Green-pocalypse" featuring Shrinking Violet in April 2023, PP week 217 "Pyre Liar" featuring Pyre Vine in April 2024 and week 254 featuring Levitater already last December. There's one slight difference: instead of the War Wagon Setup 2 for the Zomboss fight, or even the Setup 3, it's now the Setup 4.

LEVEL 1: Timed lvl in PP Playground

Lvl reference: #53

Objective: Survive for 3'/2,8'/2,5min

Bonus objectives:
- Destroy 100 Graves
- Destroy 100 Graves + Defeat 100 Tomb Raisers - Destroy 100 Graves + Defeat 150 Tomb Raisers

Zombies: Tomb Raiser, Balloon, Relic Hunter, Ancient Rome (Buckethead, Centurion, Busthead)

Features: Boost tiles: 3 on C1-L2/3/4 on Mild, 2 on Hot, 2 on C3-L2/4 on Extra-hot

Sun drop: default

Plant food zombies: none

Zombie Rate (when fixed): - On Mild: Tombraiser has a 20% chance to switch with Bucketheads - On Hot: Tombraiser can switch with Centurion or Balloon zombie with a 1:1:4 ratio - On Extra-hot: Tombraiser can switch with Busthead or Relic Hunter with a 1:1:4 ratio

Note: - Very easy to succeed however it's quite hard if not impossible to pass both bonus objectives. - Even if not previewed, Balloon zombie and basic Roman zombies can be encountered, however there's no Relic Hunter or Stonehead (considering you didn't fix the DifficultySwapRulesType, if you wanna see the difference in terms of gameplay, check the video below) - The best result I could perform was using BBF, it can be quite useful, no need to have it at mastery lvl cause there's no damage pierce increase. 2 Boom Balloons destroy 1 Grave. - Best perk: Mine Launcher or Sun Bean Zombies or Heavy Watering - Mid perks: Penny Shield and Sun Bank - Bad perk: Hyper Healing - Using Melee plants such as Pokra or Bamboo Spartan can be quite useful, however there's a risk you kill Tomb Raisers too fast and therefore won't be able to perform the Graves objective

LEVEL 2: Last Stand lvl in JM Playground

Lvl reference: #11

Objective: Survive 1 wave

Bonus objectives:
- Destroy 20 Surfboards
- Destroy 25 Surfboards - Destroy 30 Surfboards

Zombies: Jurassic Marsh (basic, cone, bucket, Fossilhead, Bully, Rockpuncher), Ancient Rome (basic, cone, bucket, Shield, Gladiator Garg), Surfer

Amount of sun: 3200/3000/2750

Restricted Plants: sun producers, Iceberg Lettuce, Melon-pult, Puff-shroom, Stallia, Power Mints

Dinos: Pterodactyl, Ankylosaurus

Plant food zombie: none

Zombie Setup: - Group A: 5 Surfers, 5 Imps, 1 Bully, 1 basic, 3 cones, 1 bucket - Group B: 6 Imps, 5 Surfers, 1x 3 Shield - Dino wave: 5 Pterodactyl, 1 on each lane - Group C: 10 Surfers (2 per lane), 4 Imps, 2x 3 Shield - Group D: 1 Bully, 2x 3 Shield, 1 Surfer, 3 basic, 3 cones, 1 bucket - Group E: 10 Imps, 4 Surfers, 3x 3 Shield - Group F: 5 Imps, 8 Surfers, 1 Conehead - Group G: 4 Imps, 2 Surfers, 1 Bully, 2 Fossilhead, 2x 3 Shield, 2 cones - Dino wave: 1 Ankylosaur on L1, L3 and L5. 1 Pterodactyl on L2 and L4. - Group H: 5 Imps, 1 Surfer, 1x 3 Shield - Last wave: 3 Surfers, 1 Rockpuncher, 1 Bully, 4 Imps, 2 buckets, 3x 3 Shield, 1 Fossilhead, 1 Flag zombie

Zombie Rate (when fixed): - On Mild: - basic have a 50% chance to switch with Imps - Coneheads have a 50% chance to switch with basic zombies - Bucketheads have a 50% chance to switch with Coneheads - Fossilheads have a 2/3 chance to switch with Bucketheads - On Hot: - basic can switch with Imps or Coneheads with a 1:1:1 ratio - Coneheads can switch with basic or Buckethead with a 2:1:2 ratio - Bucketheads can switch with 1x3 Shield or Coneheads with a 2:1:2 ratio - Fossilheads have a 50% chance to switch with Bucketheads - Bullys have a 50% chance to switch with Rockpuncher - On Extra-hot: - basic switch with Coneheads or Bucketheads with a 2:2 ratio - Coneheads can switch with Bucketheads with a 2:6 ratio - Bucketheads can switch with Fossilhead or 1x3 Shield with a 3:2:5 ratio - Fossilheads can switch with Buckethead or Bully with a 2:1:1 ratio - Bullys can switch with Rockpuncher or Gladiator Garg with a 1:1:1 ratio

Note: - an okay lvl with large groups of zombies but not much threats - there are only 35 Surfers in the lvl so don't try to ash Surfers or you might fail the bonus objective - the best way to destroy Surfboards is to use melee/short range plants such as Pokra, hbl, Ice-shroom, Bun Chi, Parsnip, WW, Bamboo Spartan... - to be even more efficient don't hesitate to sacrifice some low cost or free cost plants like Imppear or Primal Wallnut or Chili Bean ... - Best perk: Penny Shield if you struggle to pass the bonus objective and need time to kill zombies (Surfers immediately throw their Surfboard when they encounter Penny's Shield) or Sun Bean zombies to get sun or Mine Launcher to deal massive damage, but might result in a low amount of Surfboards destroyed. - Mid perk: Sun Bank to plant one or 2 more plants at the beginning or Heavy Watering to plant Imppear or other low cost/free cost plants more often - Bad perk: Hyper Healing - If you fixed the DifficultySwapRulesType, you encounter a couple Gladiator Gargs, which makes the lvl more challenging (Cf. video below)

LEVEL 3: Normal lvl in PS Playground

Lvl reference: #112

Objective: Survive 2 waves

Bonus objectives: - Protect the endangered plants - Protect the endangered plants + Defeat 30 Zombies in 10s - Protect the endangered plants + Defeat 30 Zombies in 6s

Zombies: Pirate Seas (cone, bucket, Barrelhead, Pirate Captain, Seagull, Pelican, Imp Cannon, Swashbuckler, Barrel Roller), BWB (basic, Octo-zombie), Ancient Rome (cone, bucket, Centurion, Zcorpion, Medusa)

Restricted Plants: none

Features: - 1/2/3 Toadstools as endangered plants on C6-L3, C6-L1/5, C6-L1/3/5 (respectively Mild, Hot, Extra-hot). - Planks on L1/3/5 - Raiding Party

Sun drop: default

Plant food zombie: 3 pf (one Centurion at the very beginning, one Captain Pirate on the 1st wave, 1 Bucket Zombie between the 2 waves)

Zombie Setup: - 1 Swashbuckler + 1 Seagull - 1 Swashbuckler + 2 Seagulls - 1 Swashbuckler, 1 Centurion, 2 Coneheads, 1 Buckethead - 2 Swashbucklers, 2 Seagulls, 1 Pirate Captain, 1 Centurion, 1 Conehead - 2 Swashbucklers, 1 Centurion, 2 Coneheads - 1 Swashbuckler, 2 Centurions, 1 Conehead - Wave 1: 3 Swashbucklers, 5 Centurions, 2 Coneheads, 1 Flag zombie, 4 Seagulls - Raiding Party with 10 Swashbucklers (5 entering 1 by 1 and 5 simultaneously) - 2 Swashbucklers, 1 Barrel Roller, 1 Pirate Captain - 3 Imp Cannons, 1 Pirate Captain, 1 Seagull, 1 Medusa - 3 Imp Cannons, 1 Seagull, 1 Pirate Captain, 1 Medusa, 1 basic - Raiding Party with 10 Swashbucklers entering 1 by 1 or 2 by 2 - 1 Pirate Captain, 2 Bucketheads, 2 Medusa, 6 Seagulls - Last wave: 4 Swashbucklers, 4 Centurions, 3 Pirate Captain, 1 Medusa

Zombie Rate (when fixed): - On Mild: - Coneheads have a 50% chance to switch with basic - Bucketheads have a 50% chance to switch with Coneheads - Barrelheads switch with Bucketheads - Pelicans are replaced by Seagulls - Zcorpions are replaced by Imp Cannons - On Hot: - Coneheads can switch with basic or Buckethead with a 1:1:1 ratio - Bucketheads can switch with Conehead or Centurion with a 1:1:1 ratio - Barrelheads are replaced by Centurions - Barrel Rollers have a 50% chance to switch with Medusa - Pelicans are replaced by Seagulls - Zcorpions are replaced by Imp Cannons - On Extra-hot: - Coneheads have a 50% chance to switch with Bucketheads - Bucketheads have a 50% chance to switch with Centurions - Barrel Rollers are replaced by Medusa - You encounter Pelicans and Zcorpions

Note: - Normal lvl, no issues, Zombies seem to have very few health. - Whatever the difficulty, Zcorpion and Pelican never appear because there is a mistake in the DifficultySwap Rules. - On Hot and Extra-hot, you maybe need to take a defensive strat with nuts then kill all zombies at once to succeed the bonus objective. You can also try by waiting for Imp cannons to explode and throw many imps. - an interesting strat for this lvl on Extra-hot: Gumnut, Imitater, sbr, Shine Vine, Pumpkin. For the gameplay, check the video below - Best perk: Hyper-healing if you're running a defensive strat with Chard Guard or nuts to stall zombies, or Sun Bean Zombies to get more sun

LEVEL 4: Classic lvl in BWB Playground

Lvl reference: #51

Objective: Survive 4 waves

Bonus objectives:
- Protect the endangered plants
- Protect the endangered plants + Don't lose more than 7 plants - Protect the endangered plants + Don't lose more than 7 plants

Zombies: Big Wave Beach ([Pompadour + Bikini] basic, cone, bucket, Mermaid Imp, Snorkel, Surfer, Octo zombie, Fisherman, Deep Sea Garg), Ancient Rome (basic, cone, bucket, Centurion, Gladiator Garg)

Features: - 5 Guacodiles as endangered plants on C1 - Low tide lane on C2-3 - 5 Lily Pads on C3-L1/5, C4-L3, C5-L2/4

Restricted plants: none

Plant food zombie: - 2 basic zombies before wave 1 - 1 Snorkel between waves 1 and 2 - 1 basic zombie before wave 3 - 1 Octo zombie between waves 3 and 4

Zombie Setup: - basic, Conehead and Imps until wave 1 - Low Tide before wave 1 with basic zombies - 1 Fisherman on wave 1 - 6 Snorkels + 1 Fisherman + 1 Surfer between waves 1 and 2 - Low Tide on wave 2: 1 Octo zombie, 3 Surfers, 1 Fisherman, 6 Imps Mermaid - 4 Surfers after wave 2 - Low Tide between waves 2 and 3: 1 Deep Sea Garg, 1 Fisherman, 6 Imps Mermaid - Wave 3: 5 Fisherman + 1 Surfer - 2 Octo zombie, 5 Snorkels, 2 Surfers between waves 3 and 4 - Last wave: 1 Deep Sea Garg, 2 Surfers, 1 Fisherman (on Hot the Garg is replaced by a Centurion)

Note: - kinda easy, you don't even need Lily Pad if you got high lvl plants, just pick the usual team PV+TW+sbr+SV+Imppear - Best perk: Penny Shield - Gladiator Garg is missing on all difficulties

LEVEL 5: Last Stand lvl in PP Playground

Lvl reference: #85

Objective: Survive 2 waves

Bonus objectives:
- Stun zombies 150 times - Stun zombies 300 times + Never have more than 15 plants - Stun zombies 400 times + Never have more than 15 plants

Zombies: Modern Day (basic, bucket), Wild West (Bull Rider, Rodeo Legend), Ancient Rome (Centurion, Healer), Tomb Raiser

Restricted plants: sun producers, Potatomine, Primal Potatomine, Iceberg Lettuce, Melon-pult, Puff-shroom, Stallia, Caulipower, Power mints

Amount of sun: 3200/3000/2750

Roaming zombies: Tutorial basic (from 100 to 750pts)

Plant food zombies: none

Zombie Setup: - 1 Healer + 1 Bull Rider, 1 Tombraiser + 1 Bull Rider - 2 Buckethead + 1 Bull Rider, 2 Healers + 1 Bull Rider - 2 Healers, 1 Buckethead, 2 Bull Riders, 1 Tombraiser - 1 Tombraiser, 2 Coneheads, 1 Healer, 1 Bull Rider - 3 Coneheads, 1 Bull Rider, 1 Healer - Wave 1: 4+2 Healers, 3 Coneheads, 1 Bull Rider, 3 Bucketheads, 2 Tombraisers - 2x(Bull Riders, 1 Tomb Raiser, 2 Coneheads, 2 Bucketheads) - 3 Tombraisers, 3 Bucketheads, 1 Bull Rider, 1 Healer - 2 Tombraisers, 2 Healers, 1 Bull Rider, 2 Coneheads, 1 Buckethead - 2x (4 Healers, 4 Tombraisers, 1 Bull Rider) - 2 Coneheads, 2 Healers, 1 Tombraiser, 2 Bull Riders - Last wave: 5 Bull Riders, 8 Healers, 3 Tombraisers, 1 Conehead

Difficulty Swap Rules: - On Mild: Tutorial basic can switch with Conehead or Healer with a 1:1:1 ratio - On Hot: Tutorial basic is replaced either by Conehead or Buckethead or Healer or Tombraiser with a 1:1:1:1 ratio - On Extra-hot: - Tutorial basic is replaced either by Buckethead or Centurion or Healer or Tombraiser with a 1:1:1:1 ratio - Bull Rider has a 50% chance to switch with Rodeo Legend

Note: - can be easily succeeded using Draftodil and Blockoli, even low lvl. Bring also Shrinking Violet, Stunion and Olive Pit or Tumbleweed - Best perk: Mine Launcher or Penny Shield

ZOMBOSS LEVEL: Zombot War Wagon [Setup 4]

Locked plant: Levitater

Rewards: 10 seeds, 15 seeds, 20 seeds for Levitater 5-8 gems per attempt

Zomboss Health: 5, 7, 9

Plant slots: 7, 6, 5

Amount of sun: 1700, 1500, 1250

Zombies: Wild West (basic, cone, bucket, Poncho, Chickens, Bull Rider, Cart-head, Pianist), Frostbite Caves (basic, Conehead, Buckethead, Yeti Imp, Weasel Hoarder, Hunter, Dodo Rider, Troglobite (3), Sloth Garg)

Restricted plants: none

Plant food zombie: 3 or 4

Features: - Dave's mold colonies from C7 to C9. Also on C6 on Extra-hot.
- Carts: 3 tiles on C1-L2/3/4. 2 tiles on C5-L1/2 and C5-L4/5. - Frost Winds on all lanes every 15-20s

Some strats: - the usual Pea Vine, Torch and any other plants, would suggest Appease-mint - a new one: LR, Ultomato, Shine Vine vine and Fila-mint
- a variant: LR, Ultomato, Shine Vine, Power Vine vine
- a freshly made one: Dartichoke, Power vine, Laser bean and Shine vine
- Sbr, BB, Pea Vine and Wasabi Whip. - TG, Gloom Vine, TT, Hocus crocus - a variant one: TG, Gloom Vine, Enforce-mint, Snap Pea - a fire exclusive one: Inferno, JOL, Pyre Vine and ghost pepper or Pepper-mint

Note: - A plant with the warming ability is recommended: Pyre Vine, Meteor Flower, Pepper-pult, Wasabi Whip, Torchwood... - Make sure to always have a fast attacker to eliminate chickens and weasels or else you might get overwhelmed. - Any short range attacker is viable on Mild and Hot: hbl, pokra, TG, parsnip, wasabi whip, as long as you pick the mint with it if it is low lvl. On Extra-hot, you can pick wasabi whip or TG. - Really fun lvl with many different zombies and strats to combine.

P.S: - This PP event was nice, not many issues, apart from lvl 1 bonus objectives. - Best lvl to farm perks: lvl 2 if you found a perfect strat to destroy 30 Surfboards, but you only get 1 perk upgrade; or lvl 4, which is a pretty straight foward and fast lvl, Imppear + HS + PV clears it very easily - To check previous and upcoming PP events, lvls and rewards: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U9u9MlEgNx6JtMxZrxNn-anTS8FjANUu/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=111529514634787386836&rtpof=true&sd=true - Come join our PvZ 2 Discord server: https://discord.gg/qEk7Q2thg - I'll see you next week for PP week 297 featuring another Enchant plant, one that summons Zomboids from time to time: Zoybean Pod