We have all played Plants vs Zombies by now. And we all have a favourite plant, right? Maybe it’s the triple pea plant. Maybe it’s the sweetcorn catapult that lobs hunks of ghoul-paralysing butter. Maybe it’s the impressively apocalyptic Jalapeño pepper. For me, there is no question. Tall-nut is my super-unit, the answer to all my problems, the nemesis of all zombies. My one true love.
Tall-Nut is Wall-Nut Plus: the least conceptually interesting of all Plants vs Zombies 40-something defensive units, the static wall that has no ability beyond mere delay. Wall-nut is a suicide bomber without the bombing: he is there only to be destroyed in the name of a noble cause. He’s simply absorption, delaying the inevitable. His big bother Tall-Nut, though: brrrrrrr. No-one’s getting past Tall-Nut.
Of all the many units deployed to PvZ’s slightly too repetitive battlefields, the mighty Tall-Nut stands out the most by a country mile. Significantly bigger than anything else in the game, and with an expression that screams only rage, murder and contempt, nothing is his equal. If zombies somehow manage to chomp their way through his hairy chitin skull, you’ve failed – and not because Tall-Nut has some inherent weakness, but because you’re so poor at the game that your last, ultimate defense is too little, too late. Tall-Nut can defeat pogo sticks, ladders, zombie dolphins… You name it, he’s nemesised it. If he falls, it’s only because you’re bloody rubbish.
Tall-Nut. King of all the plants.
I mean, really, read his bio from PvZ’s incredible almanac:
“People wonder if there’s a rivalry between Wall-Nut and Tall-Nut. Tall-Nut laughs a rich, baritone laugh. “How could there be anything between us? We are brothers. If you knew what Wall-Nut has done for me…” Tall-Nut’s voice trails off and he smiles knowingly.”
Brrrrr. Marry me, Tall-Nut.
That stiff, strangely tiny lower-lip, those furious, vengeful eyes, the way he towers beyond anything else on that tile-based grass battlefield: truly, Tall-Nut is a hero for the ages.
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My favorite would have to be the Potato Mine, on account of always arming itself riiiiiiiight before catastrophe.
Btw, check the in-game help button. It’s brilliant :)
I’d have to go with Torchwood’s badass grimace. It’s a wonder the zombies don’t just turn around under his baleful glare – particularly if there’s a Gatling Pea behind him.
That’s in terms of attitude. In terms of overall effectiveness, Melon Pult. (If only because the Corncob Cannon is unshieldable runt fodder.)
@ D: It’s not my fave, but the potato mine does appear to be able to read your mind.
No matter when you lay it, it seems to wait until right because you’re thinking back-up plans when it arms itself and makes some zombie mash. The little scamp.
SPUDOW!
@ Rosti: The Tall-Nut would keep right at it while the Witch failed to get past his mighty defences.
Oh, and if we don’t get any more articles with the “horribly confused homoeroticism” tag you can colour me disappointed.
What strategies do you use for Last Stand minigame? I can’t get through it. Always get badly battered on flag 4 and subsequently loose on flag 5.
Chomper + Tall-Nut is infallible.
Her Majesty should knight Tall-nut.
Sir Tall-nut, anyone?
@Kolduna
For the Last Stand I use Cold Pease to slow down the enemy as they wander slowly over spikes. At the back are a number of 3-way shooters, and of course Tall-Nuts guard it all. Two magnet-shrooms (woken by coffee beans) help against screen doors, footballers etc.
Top tip: Type ‘future’ whilst playing to make the zombies look like they come from the future!
We should probably make a forum thread at this point, as replying to comment threads the messages tend to get lost of just missed out…
anyway, soldiering on!
@Morph, that only works if you’ve got your Tree of Knowledge high enough to tell you about it. Otherwise you could discover all the codes by typing in random words (for instance, dance. I’ve typed it, the tree hasn’t told me it, but it made a little noise and told me a “no can do…yet” type of message).
Also I’d say a different stratergy for the Last Stand minigame, tall nuts + Torchwood + 2xRepeaters on each row (cheaper than 1x gatling pea) + associated lillies + about 2~4x magnet shrooms (with coffee beans natch) + some cattails (sacrificing a repeater on the pool rows if you need points/space). It’s just totally overwhelming.
Also also @NoahApples, the balloon zombie, miner zombie and possibly even the ladder zombie all laugh at your tall nut + chomper combo. The truly infallible plan uses a lot more magnets, lobbers, fire or ice (both is silly unless you’re using winter melons) and something to pop balloons/blow them away.
Tall-Nut is definitely a standard pick in the equpiment.
I found the game to be exceedingly easy. Unless you combine stuff that REALLY doesn’t go together – or do not know the necessary hard counters – you need to go to Endless Survivor mode to find any challenge that is somewhat build related. At the moment, I am stuck at flag 21, but I think the trick is simply to use a lot of one-use explosives later on, together with a shitload of ice melons, cat tails and gatling peas, and those two way pea shooters in the last row to fight off those pesky miners (the gatling peas just to keep upgrade cost viable and be able to scale more effectively).
“explosives later on, together with a shitload of ice melons, cat tails and gatling peas”
A thousand cookies for anyone that can find another in context use for this sentence.
Gatling peas, torchwood, ice melons, cat tails, magnets, iron spikes and tall nuts combined made me all the way to flag 21 in survivor. After that it gets pretty impossible with 100+ zombies at the same time..
Back to the article, my favourite plant is the gold magnet cus it can easily earn me 10k money in survival ^^ Else I would be too busy to collect all the coins while I’m building my defences.
In terms of most-used plant, pumpkins. Bar none. In survival I get every single plant which can be covered, covered.
Spike Rocks are by far my favourite ‘plant’ though. More durable than tall-nut (and angrier too!), lasts 3-5 blows from a [Giga-]Gigantaur, deals damage, stops zombonies and catapults before they become an issue… What’s not to love?
Most disappointing, I would say, was the cob cannon. Sure, it’s “active” and fun to shoot and situationally useful, but you’re sacrificing two plant slots, and you can’t pumpkin it – which makes it very vulnerable to the Imps that gigantaurs throw. It’s just not worth it. Edit: I have been meaning to give only a couple of them a shot just on lilypads though, since the water way is typically less of an issue.
P.S.: I got to 28 in Endless before buying cob cannons. Upon trying them, I only made it to 22.
@Alex
once you get above 6 cob cannons you can blast the gargs before they can throw the imps. Then you get 2 skulls falling into a pile of dust!
Most irrationally impressive plant i’ve found so far is the gloom shroom. Gloom shrooms in the pool kill pretty much everything in the four middle rows.
I have to say, I’m amazed that more of you fellows don’t agree with me and Felice Leonardo Buscaglia (1924-1998) that
“There are many miracles in the world to be celebrated and, for me, garlic is the most deserving.”
Garlic totally revolutionized the game for me, transforming it from a game of “build relatively similar defenses on 5 lanes” game into a game of “build Garlic on 3 lanes, then you only have to defend two of them and do whatever you want with the extra space!” Tall-Nut is pretty great, but Garlic is cheaper, you can put him down faster, and they often last *longer* since they only get 1 bite taken out of them, plus they group multiple lanes together into a tight bunch for maximum winterpult awesomeness! Remember always, gentlemen and ladies, that
“Garlic used as it should be used is the soul, the divine essence, of [Plant-Based Zombie Defense]. The [Lawn Defender] who can employ it successfully will be found to possess the delicacy of perception, the accuracy of judgment, and the dexterity of hand which go to the formation of a great artist.”
Mrs. W. G. Waters in ‘The [Suburban Defender]’s Decameron,’ 1920
I’m with you on the tall-nut.
I tend to double tall-nuts with pumpkins. That way, ladders, a tall-nut’s only weakness, can be dealt with by digging out the nut, and you still have some basic defence until the seed recharges.
My only fear is the gargantuns… a couple of them in the harder survival missions and you’re gonna loose your protection by tall-nuts pretty quickly…
@Zindaras.
Marry me <3
I was disappointed the game gave no recognition of the fact I played through adventure mode without buying a single thing from the store, not even the seed slot. My RPG habits set in.
So, it sounds like the challenge is in the survival modes. Only played through the daytime survival, which I used to farm marigolds as I held off the zombies.
@ Zindaras: I find garlic is most effective when combined with gloom-shrooms, so much so that together they make a mockery of the Last Stand mini-game.
I’d have to say my biggest soft spot is for the humble Peashooter, who holds the line with a satisfying rhythmic splat while I gear up the economy and ready the big guns.
One of my favorites too.
i’ve changed my mind the gloom shroom is my fav
I’ve only just started playing… and the number of plants I don’t recognise listed here is utterly befuddling. Here I thought I was being creative by placing potato mines and flytraps behind wall-nuts to surprise those dastardly pole-vaulting zombies.
@ Fenchurch: Only if you promise not to vanish abruptly during a hyperspace jump. ;)
@ Man Raised By Puffins: NICE. I have to admit to wanting to try that myself. And by “wanting to try that”, I mean “doing that right now”.
Lessons learned: posting on RPS gets you awesome strategy suggestions AND marriage proposals from ladies who can fly. Remind me to post here more often.
Cattails are my go-to plant. Pop balloons and attack any lane. Awesome.